Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(4)
Registration Nos. 333-220516 and

333-220815

PROSPECTUS

$120,000,000

Black Ridge Acquisition Corp.

12,000,000 Units

Black Ridge Acquisition Corp. is a blank check company formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities, which we refer to as a “target business.” Our efforts to identify a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic region although we intend to focus our search for target businesses in the energy or energy-related industries. We do not have any specific business combination under consideration and we have not (nor has anyone on our behalf), directly or indirectly, contacted any prospective target business or had any substantive discussions, formal or otherwise, with respect to such a transaction. If we are unable to consummate an initial business combination within 21 months from the closing of this offering, we will redeem 100% of the public shares for a pro rata portion of the trust account, 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, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law and as further described herein.

This is an initial public offering of our securities. Each unit that we are offering has a price of $10.00 and consists of one share of common stock, one right and one warrant. Each right entitles the holder thereof to receive one-tenth (1/10) of one share of common stock upon the consummation of an initial business combination, as described in more detail in this prospectus. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of common stock at a price of $11.50. Each warrant will become exercisable on the later of 30 days after the completion of an initial business combination or 12 months from the closing of this offering and will expire on the fifth anniversary of our completion of an initial business combination, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. We have granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,800,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any.

Black Ridge Oil & Gas, Inc. (OTCQB: ANFC), which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our “sponsor,” has committed to purchase from us an aggregate of 400,000 units, or “private units,” at $10.00 per unit (for a total purchase price of $4,000,000) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the consummation of this offering. Our sponsor has also agreed that if the over-allotment option is exercised by the underwriters in full or in part, it will purchase from us additional private units (up to a maximum of 45,000 private units) at a price of $10.00 per private unit in an amount that is necessary to maintain in the trust account $10.05 per unit sold to the public in this offering. These additional private units will be purchased in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the purchase of units resulting from the exercise of the over-allotment option. The private units are identical to the units sold in this offering, subject to certain limited exceptions as described in this prospectus.

There is presently no public market for our units, shares of common stock, rights or warrants. Our units have been approved for listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol “BRACU” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. The common stock, rights and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 90^th day following the date of this prospectus unless EarlyBirdCapital, Inc. informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our filing a Current Report on Form 8-K with the SEC containing an audited balance sheet reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds of this offering and issuing a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Once the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, the common stock, rights and warrants will be traded on Nasdaq under the symbols “BRAC,” “BRACR” and “BRACW,” respectively.

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act and will therefore be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements.

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 14 of this prospectus for a discussion of information that should be considered in connection with an investment in our securities.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission 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.

Upon consummation of the offering, an aggregate of $120,600,000 (or $138,690,000 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) or $10.05 per unit sold to the public in this offering will be deposited into a U.S.-based trust account at Morgan Stanley maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee. Except as described in this prospectus, these funds will not be released to us until the earlier of the completion of a business combination and our redemption of our public shares (which may not occur until July 4, 2019).

The underwriters are offering the units on a firm commitment basis. The underwriters expect to deliver the units to purchasers on or about October 10, 2017.

Sole Book-Running Manager

EarlyBirdCapital, Inc.

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus. We have not, and the underwriters have not, authorized anyone to provide you with different information. We are not, and the underwriters are not, making an offer of these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer is not permitted.

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROSPECTUS 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. References in this prospectus to “we,” “us” or “our company” refer to Black Ridge Acquisition Corp. References in this prospectus to our “public shares” are to shares of our common stock sold as part of the units in this offering (whether they are purchased in this offering or thereafter in the open market) and references to “public stockholders” refer to the holders of our public shares, including our sponsor (as defined below), officers and directors to the extent they purchase public shares, provided that their status as “public stockholders” shall only exist with respect to such public shares. References in this prospectus to our “management” or our “management team” refer to our offıcers and directors and references to our “sponsor” refer to Black Ridge Oil & Gas, Inc., a company affiliated with our executive officers. 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 blank check company formed under the laws of the State of Delaware on May 9, 2017. We were formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities, which we refer to as a “target business.” To date, our efforts have been limited to organizational activities as well as activities related to this offering. None of our officers, directors, promoters and other affiliates has engaged in any substantive discussions on our behalf with representatives of other companies regarding the possibility of a potential merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition or other similar business combination with us.

We intend to focus our search on businesses in the energy or energy-related industries with an emphasis on opportunities in the upstream oil and gas industry in North America where our management team’s networks and experience are suited although our efforts to identify a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic region. Although we anticipate acquiring a target business that is an operating business, we are not obligated to do so and may determine to merge with or acquire a company with no operating history if the terms of the transaction are determined by us to be favorable to our public stockholders and the target business has a fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination.

We intend to identify and acquire a business that could benefit from a hands-on owner with extensive experience in the upstream oil and gas industry in North America and that presents potential for an attractive risk-adjusted return profile under our stewardship. Even fundamentally sound companies can often under-perform their potential due to underinvestment, a temporary period of dislocation in the markets in which they operate, over-levered capital structures, excessive cost structures, incomplete management teams and/or inappropriate business strategies. Our management team has extensive experience in identifying and executing such full-potential acquisitions across the energy industries. In addition, our team has significant hands-on experience working with private companies in preparing for and executing an initial public offering and serving as active owners and directors by working closely with these companies to continue their transformations and help create value in the public markets.

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 will enable us to pursue a broad range of opportunities. Our management believes that its ability to identify and implement value creation initiatives will remain central to its differentiated acquisition strategy.

We will seek to capitalize on the significant operating and investing experience and contacts of our officers and directors in consummating an initial business combination. Kenneth DeCubellis, our chairman of the board and chief executive officer, has over 30 years of experience, primarily in the oil and gas and other energy-related industries, including 10 years at Exxon Mobil Corp. Mr. DeCubellis has served as chief executive officer of our sponsor, Black Ridge Oil & Gas, Inc., since November 2011. Black Ridge Oil & Gas, Inc. is an oil and gas company that pursues distressed asset acquisitions in all unconventional, onshore U.S. oil and gas basins, including over $100 million previously invested in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana. Our management team has significant access to both publicly available and proprietary business combination opportunities and have collectively bid on over $2.4 billion of opportunities since June 2015.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the past performance of our sponsor, officers and directors is not a guarantee that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination or of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of our management’s performance as indicative of our future performance. None of our officers or directors have had experience with blank check companies or special purpose acquisition companies in the past.

Acquisition Criteria

We have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective targets. 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:

We will seek to acquire the target on terms and in a manner that leverages our management team’s experience investing within the energy industry. Potential upside from growth in the target business and an improved capital structure will be weighed against any identified downside risks.

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 stockholder 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 Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC.

Effecting a Business Combination

We will either (1) seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination at a meeting called for such purpose at which stockholders may seek to convert their shares, regardless of whether they vote for or against the proposed business combination, into their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), or (2) provide our stockholders with the opportunity to sell their shares to us by means of a tender offer (and thereby avoid the need for a stockholder vote) for an amount equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), in each case subject to the limitations described herein. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of our proposed business combination or allow stockholders 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 stockholder approval. Unlike other blank check companies which require stockholder votes and conduct proxy solicitations in conjunction with their initial business combinations and related conversions of public shares for cash upon consummation of such initial business combinations even when a vote is not required by law, we will have the flexibility to avoid such stockholder vote and allow our stockholders to sell their shares pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC. In that case, we will file tender offer documents with the SEC which will contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules. We will consummate our initial business combination only if we have net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon such consummation and, if we seek stockholder approval, a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination.

We will have until 21 months from the closing of this offering to consummate an initial business combination. If we are unable to consummate an initial business combination within such time period, we will redeem 100% of our outstanding public shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the trust account, 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, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law and as further described herein, and then seek to dissolve and liquidate. We expect the pro rata redemption price to be approximately $10.05 per share of common stock (regardless of whether or not the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option), without taking into account any interest earned on such funds. However, we cannot assure you that we will in fact be able to distribute such amounts as a result of claims of creditors which may take priority over the claims of our public stockholders.

Our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have a fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination. The fair market value of the target or targets will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community (such as actual and potential sales, earnings, cash flow and/or book value). Even though our board of directors will rely on generally accepted standards, our board of directors will have discretion to select the standards employed. In addition, the application of the standards generally involves a substantial degree of judgment. Accordingly, investors will be relying on the business judgment of the board of directors in evaluating the fair market value of the target or targets. The proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents used by us in connection with any proposed transaction will provide public stockholders with our analysis of the fair market value of the target business, as well as the basis for our determinations. If our board is not able independently to determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm, or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions on the type of target business we are seeking to acquire, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria.

We currently anticipate structuring a business combination to acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination where we merge directly with the target business or where we acquire 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, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders 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 of a target. In this case, we could acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target; however, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% fair market value test.

Potential Conflicts

Each of our officers and directors is an officer and/or director of our sponsor. As described above, our sponsor is an oil and gas company that pursues distressed asset acquisitions in the energy industry, the same industry within which we intend to focus our search for a target business. Our sponsor recently completed a rights offering in which it raised an aggregate of approximately $5,182,000. Of this amount, up to $4,450,000 (assuming the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) would be used to purchase the private units with the balance being available to our sponsor for working capital purposes, including potential investments and acquisitions. However, our sponsor intends to acquire assets from businesses with private equity backing that are seeking to sell such assets for cash without retaining any equity interest in them, whereas we intend to acquire a target business from a seller that wishes to retain a significant equity interest in the combined company. Accordingly, our management team does not believe that there will be a meaningful conflict between our sponsor and our company in relation to consummating a business combination. Nevertheless, we cannot assure you of this fact and it is possible that a suitable business opportunity will be presented to our sponsor prior to its presentation to our company.

Additionally, if any of our officers becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he has pre-existing fiduciary or contractual obligations, he may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us. For more information on the relevant pre-existing fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our management team, see the section titled “Management – Conflicts of Interest.”

JOBS Act

We are an emerging growth company as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (which we refer to herein as the JOBS Act) and will remain such for up to five years. However, if our annual gross revenue is $1.07 billion or more, if our non-convertible debt issued within a three year period exceeds $1 billion or the market value of our shares of common stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million on the last day of the second fiscal quarter of any given fiscal year, we would cease to be an emerging growth company as of the following fiscal year. As an emerging growth company, we have elected, under Section 107(b) of the JOBS Act, to take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, for complying with new or revised accounting standards.

Private Placements

In May 2017, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 2,875,000 shares of our common stock, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as the “founders’ shares,” for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.01 per share. In October 2017, we effected a stock dividend of 0.2 shares for each outstanding share, resulting in our sponsor holding an aggregate of 3,450,000 founders’ shares. The founders’ shares held by our sponsor includes an aggregate of up to 450,000 shares subject to forfeiture to the extent that the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part, so that our sponsor will continue to own 20.0% of our issued and outstanding shares after this offering (not including ownership of the private units and assuming it does not purchase units in this offering).

In addition, our sponsor has committed to purchase an aggregate of 400,000 private units at a price of $10.00 per unit ($4.0 million in the aggregate) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Our sponsor has also agreed that if the over-allotment option is exercised by the underwriters in full or in part, it will purchase from us at a price of $10.00 per private unit an additional number of private units (up to a maximum of 45,000 private units) in order to maintain in the trust account $10.05 per unit sold to the public in this offering. These additional private units will be purchased in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the purchase of units resulting from the exercise of the over-allotment option. The proceeds from the private placement of the private units will be added to the proceeds of this offering and placed in a U.S.-based trust account at Morgan Stanley with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as trustee. If we do not complete an initial business combination within 21 months from the closing of this offering, the proceeds from the sale of the private units will be included in the liquidating distribution to our public stockholders and the private units will be worthless.

Our executive offices are located at 110 North 5th Street, Suite 410, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403, and our telephone number is (952) 426-1241.

The Offering

Risks

In making your decision on whether to invest in our securities, you should take into account the special risks we face as a blank check company, as well as the fact that this offering is not being conducted in compliance with Rule 419 promulgated under the Securities Act, and, therefore, 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 to offerings 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” beginning on page 14 of this prospectus.

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, and accordingly only balance sheet data is presented.

(1) The “as adjusted” calculation includes $120,600,000 cash held in trust from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private units, plus $500,000 of cash held outside the trust account, plus $100 from the issuance of the unit purchase option, plus $62,500 of offering costs paid in advance, less the actual working capital deficit of $37,823 at May 31, 2017.

(2) The “as adjusted” calculation equals $120,600,000 cash held in trust from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private units, plus $500,000 in cash held outside the trust account, plus $100 from the issuance of the unit purchase option, plus $62,500 of offering costs paid in advance, less the actual working capital deficit of $37,823 at May 31, 2017.

(3) The “as adjusted” calculation equals the “as adjusted” total assets, less the “as adjusted” total liabilities, less the “as adjusted” stockholders’ equity, which is set to approximate the minimum net tangible assets threshold of at least $5,000,001.

(4) Excludes 11,554,704 shares of common stock purchased in the public market which are subject to conversion in connection with our initial business combination. The “as adjusted” calculation equals the “as adjusted” total assets, less the “as adjusted” total liabilities, less the value of shares of common stock that may be converted in connection with our initial business combination ($10.05 per share).

The “as adjusted” information gives effect to the sale of the units we are offering, including the application of the related gross proceeds and the payment of the estimated remaining costs from such sale and the repayment of the accrued and other liabilities required to be repaid.

The “as adjusted” working capital and total assets amounts include the $120,600,000 to be held in the trust account, which, except for limited situations described in this prospectus, will be available to us only upon the consummation of a business combination within the time period described in this prospectus. If a business combination is not so consummated, the trust account, less amounts we are permitted to withdraw as described in this prospectus, will be distributed solely to our public stockholders (subject to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors).

We will consummate our initial business combination only if we have net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon such consummation and, solely if we seek stockholder approval, a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination.

RISK FACTORS

An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully the risks described below, which we believe represent the material risks related to the offering, together with the other information contained in this prospectus, before making a decision to invest in our units. This prospectus also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of specific factors, including the risks described below.

Risks Associated with Our Business

We are a newly formed company with no operating history and, accordingly, you will not have any basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.

We are a newly formed company with no operating results to date. Therefore, our ability to commence operations is dependent upon obtaining financing through the public offering of our securities. Since we do not have an operating history, you will have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective, which is to acquire an operating business. We have not conducted any substantive discussions and we have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective acquisition candidates. We will not generate any revenues until, at the earliest, after the consummation of a business combination.

Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”

As of May 31, 2017, we had $87,500 in cash and a working capital deficiency of $37,823. Further, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of our financial and acquisition plans. Management’s plans to address this need for capital through this offering are discussed in the section of this prospectus titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to consummate an initial business combination will be successful. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements contained elsewhere in this prospectus do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to consummate this offering or our inability to continue as a going concern.

If we are unable to consummate a business combination, our public stockholders may be forced to wait more than 21 months before receiving distributions from the trust account.

We have 21 months from the closing of this offering in which to complete a business combination. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to such date unless we consummate a business combination prior thereto and only then in cases where investors have sought to convert or sell their shares to us. Only after the expiration of this full time period will public security holders be entitled to distributions from the trust account if we are unable to complete a business combination. Accordingly, investors’ funds may be unavailable to them until after such date and to liquidate your investment, public security holders may be forced to sell their public shares, rights or warrants, potentially at a loss.

Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed business combination.

We will either (1) seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination at a meeting called for such purpose at which public stockholders may seek to convert their shares, regardless of whether they vote for or against the proposed business combination, into their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), or (2) provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to sell their shares to us by means of a tender offer (and thereby avoid the need for a stockholder vote) for an amount equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), in each case subject to the limitations described elsewhere in this prospectus. Accordingly, it is possible that we will consummate our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our public shares do not approve of the business combination we consummate. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow stockholders 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 stockholder approval. For instance, Nasdaq rules currently allow us to engage in a tender offer in lieu of a stockholder meeting but would still require us to obtain stockholder approval if we were seeking to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares to a target business as consideration in any business combination. Therefore, if we were structuring a business combination that required us to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares, we would seek stockholder approval of such business combination instead of conducting a tender offer.

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

Since the net proceeds of this offering are intended to be used to complete a business combination with a target business that has not been identified, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, since we will have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the successful consummation of this offering 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 of blank check companies such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules which would, for example, completely restrict the transferability of our securities, require us to complete a business combination within 18 months of the effective date of the initial registration statement and restrict the use of interest earned on the funds held in the trust account. Because we are not subject to Rule 419, our units will be immediately tradable, we will be entitled to withdraw amounts from the funds held in the trust account prior to the completion of a business combination and we will have a longer period of time to complete such a business combination than we would if we were subject to such rule.

If we determine to change our acquisition criteria or guidelines, many of the disclosures contained in this prospectus would be rendered irrelevant and you would be investing in our company without any basis on which to evaluate the potential target business we may acquire.

We could seek to deviate from the acquisition criteria or guidelines disclosed in this prospectus although we have no current intention to do so. For instance, we currently anticipate acquiring a target business that is an operating business. However, we are not obligated to do so and may determine to merge with or acquire a company with no operating history if the terms of the transaction are determined by us to be favorable to our public stockholders. In such event, many of the acquisition criteria and guidelines set forth in this prospectus would be rendered irrelevant. Accordingly, investors may be making an investment in our company without any basis on which to evaluate the potential target business we may acquire.

We may issue shares of our capital stock or debt securities to complete a business combination, which would reduce the equity interest of our stockholders and likely cause a change in control of our ownership.

As of the date of this prospectus, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 35,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $.0001 per share. Immediately after this offering and the purchase of the private units (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option), there will be 4,700,000 authorized but unissued shares of common stock available for issuance (after appropriate reservation for the issuance of the securities underlying the public and private units and the underwriters’ purchase option). Although we have no commitment as of the date of this offering, we may issue a substantial number of additional shares of common stock or shares of preferred stock, or a combination of common stock and preferred stock, to complete a business combination. The issuance of additional shares of common stock will not reduce the per-share conversion amount in the trust account. The issuance of additional shares of common stock or preferred stock:

Similarly, if we issue debt securities, it could result in:

If we incur indebtedness, our lenders will not have a claim on the cash in the trust account and such indebtedness will not decrease the per-share conversion amount in the trust account.

If the net proceeds of this offering not being held in trust are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 21 months, we may be unable to complete a business combination.

We believe that, upon consummation of this offering, the funds available to us outside of the trust account will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 21 months, assuming that a business combination is not consummated during that time. However, we cannot assure you that our estimates will be accurate. Accordingly, if we use all of the funds held outside of the trust account, we may not have sufficient funds available with which to structure, negotiate or close an initial business combination. In such event, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, officers or directors or their affiliates to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Our sponsor, officers, directors and their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount that they deem reasonable in their sole discretion for our working capital needs. Each loan would be evidenced by a promissory note. The notes would either be paid upon consummation of our initial business combination, without interest, or, at holder’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of the notes may be converted into warrants at a price of $10.00 per private unit.

If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in trust could be reduced and the per-share redemption price received by stockholders may be less than $10.05.

Our placing of funds in trust may not protect those funds from third party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors and service providers we engage and prospective target businesses we negotiate with 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 stockholders, they may not execute such agreements. Furthermore, even if such entities execute such agreements with us, they may seek recourse against the trust account. A court may not uphold the validity of such agreements. Accordingly, the proceeds held in trust could be subject to claims which could take priority over those of our public stockholders. If we are unable to complete a business combination and distribute the proceeds held in trust to our public stockholders, our sponsor has agreed (subject to certain exceptions described elsewhere in this prospectus) that it will be liable to ensure that the proceeds in the trust account are not reduced below $10.05 per share by the claims of target businesses or claims of vendors or other entities that are owed money by us for services rendered or contracted for or products sold to us. However, it may not be able to meet such obligation. Therefore, the per-share distribution from the trust account may be less than $10.05, plus interest, due to such claims.

Additionally, if we are forced to file a bankruptcy case or an involuntary bankruptcy case is filed against us which is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we may not be able to return to our public stockholders at least $10.05.

Our stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we will continue in existence only until 21 months from the closing of this offering. If we have not completed a business combination by such date, 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 outstanding public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including any interest not previously released to us but net of franchise and income taxes payable, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (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 stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject (in the case of (ii) and (iii) above) to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. We cannot assure you that we will properly assess all claims that may be potentially brought against us. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend well beyond the third anniversary of the date of distribution. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that third parties will not seek to recover from our stockholders amounts owed to them by us.

If we are forced to file a bankruptcy case or an involuntary bankruptcy case is filed against us which is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover all amounts received by our stockholders. Furthermore, because we intend to distribute the proceeds held in the trust account to our public stockholders promptly after expiration of the time we have to complete an initial business combination, this may be viewed or interpreted as giving preference to our public stockholders over any potential creditors with respect to access to or distributions from our assets. Furthermore, our board may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties 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 stockholders 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 directors may decide not to enforce our sponsor’s indemnification obligations, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders.

In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below $10.05 per public share 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 such indemnification obligations. It is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment 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 stockholders may be reduced below $10.05 per share.

If we do not file and maintain a current and effective prospectus relating to the common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, holders will only be able to exercise such warrants on a “cashless basis.”

If we do not file and maintain a current and effective prospectus relating to the common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants at the time that holders wish to exercise such warrants, they will only be able to exercise them on a “cashless basis” provided that an exemption from registration is available. As a result, the number of shares of common stock that holders will receive upon exercise of the warrants will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised his warrant for cash. Further, if an exemption from registration is not available, holders would not be able to exercise on a cashless basis and would only be able to exercise their warrants for cash if a current and effective prospectus relating to the common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is available. Under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed to use our best efforts to meet these conditions and to file and maintain a current and effective prospectus relating to the common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants until the expiration of the warrants. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to do so. If we are unable to do so, the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our company may be reduced or the warrants may expire worthless.

An investor will only be able to exercise a warrant if the issuance of shares of common stock upon such exercise has been registered or qualified or is deemed exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the holder of the warrants.

No warrants will be exercisable and we will not be obligated to issue shares of common stock unless the shares of common stock issuable upon such exercise has been registered or qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the holder of the warrants. If the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not qualified or exempt from qualification in the jurisdictions in which the holders of the warrants reside, the warrants may be deprived of any value, the market for the warrants may be limited and they may expire worthless if they cannot be sold.

We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding warrants.

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 holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision. The warrant agreement requires the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding warrants (including the private warrants) in order to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders.

We may amend the terms of the rights in a manner that may be adverse to holders with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding rights.

Our rights will be issued in registered form under a right agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as rights agent, and us. The right agreement provides that the terms of the rights may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision. The right agreement requires the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding rights (including the rights underlying the private units, or “private rights”) in order to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders.

Since we have not yet selected a particular industry or target business with which to complete a business combination, we are unable to currently ascertain the merits or risks of the industry or business in which we may ultimately operate.

Although we intend to focus our search for target businesses on companies in the energy or energy-related industries with an emphasis on opportunities in the upstream oil and gas industry in North America where our management team’s networks and experience are suited, we may consummate a business combination with a company in any industry we choose and are not limited to any particular industry or type of business. Accordingly, there is no current basis for you to evaluate the possible merits or risks of the particular industry in which we may ultimately operate or the target business which we may ultimately acquire. To the extent we complete a business combination with a financially unstable company or an entity in its development stage, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations of those entities. If we complete a business combination with an entity in an industry characterized by a high level of risk, we may be affected by the currently unascertainable risks of that industry. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular industry or target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly 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 target business.

Our ability to successfully effect a 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 a business combination. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after a business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct.

Our ability to successfully effect a business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our key personnel, at least until we have consummated our initial business combination. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain with us for the immediate or foreseeable future. In addition, none of our officers are required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, our officers will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have employment agreements with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our officers. The unexpected loss of the services of our key personnel could have a detrimental effect on us.

The role of our key personnel after a business combination, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel serve in senior management or advisory positions following a business combination, it is likely that most, if not all, of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after a 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 public company which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.

Our officers and directors may not have significant experience or knowledge regarding the jurisdiction or industry of the target business we may seek to acquire.

We may consummate a business combination with a target business in any geographic location or industry we choose. We cannot assure you that our officers and directors will have enough experience or have sufficient knowledge relating to the jurisdiction of the target or its industry to make an informed decision regarding a business combination.

Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following a 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 will be able to remain with the company after the consummation of a business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements or other appropriate arrangements 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 the company after the consummation of the business combination. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business.

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 could have a negative impact on our ability to consummate a business combination.

Our officers and directors are officers and/or directors of our sponsor and will not commit their full time to our affairs. We presently expect each of our employees to devote such amount of time as they reasonably believe is necessary to our business. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the consummation of our initial business combination. The foregoing could have a negative impact on our ability to consummate our initial business combination.

Our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is appropriate for a business combination.

Each of our officers and directors is an officer and/or director of our sponsor. As described elsewhere in this prospectus, our sponsor is an oil and gas company that pursues distressed asset acquisitions in the energy industry, the same industry within which we intend to focus our search for a target business. Our sponsor recently completed a rights offering in which it raised an aggregate of approximately $5,182,000. Of this amount, up to $4,450,000 (assuming the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) would be used to purchase the private units with the balance being available to our sponsor for working capital purposes, including potential investments and acquisitions. However, our sponsor intends to acquire assets from businesses with private equity backing that are seeking to sell such assets for cash without retaining any equity interest in them, whereas we intend to acquire a target business from a seller that wishes to retain a significant equity interest in the combined company. Accordingly, our management team does not believe that there will be a meaningful conflict between our sponsor and our company in relation to consummating a business combination. Nevertheless, we cannot assure you of this fact and it is possible that a suitable business opportunity will be presented to our sponsor prior to its presentation to our company.

Additionally, our sponsor has waived its right to convert its founders’ shares or any other shares purchased in this offering or thereafter, or to receive distributions from the trust account with respect to its founders’ shares upon our liquidation if we are unable to consummate a business combination. Accordingly, the shares acquired prior to this offering, as well as the private units and any warrants purchased by our officers or directors in the aftermarket, will be worthless if we do not consummate a business combination. 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 stockholders’ best interest.

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

Our units have been approved for listing on Nasdaq, a national securities exchange, on or promptly after the date of this prospectus, and our shares of common stock, rights and warrants on or promptly after their separation. However, we cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on Nasdaq in the future prior to an initial business combination. Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, it is likely that Nasdaq will require us to file a new initial listing application and meet its initial listing requirements as opposed to its more lenient continued listing requirements. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.

If Nasdaq delists our securities from trading on its exchange, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

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 common stock, rights and warrants will be listed on Nasdaq, our units, common stock, rights 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, 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 Nasdaq, our securities would not be covered securities and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.

We are an “emerging growth company” and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our shares of common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act. We will remain an “emerging growth company” for up to five years. However, if our non-convertible debt issued within a three year period or revenues exceeds $1.07 billion, or the market value of our shares of common stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million on the last day of the second fiscal quarter of any given fiscal year, we would cease to be an emerging growth company as of the following fiscal year. As an emerging growth company, we are not required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, we have reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and we are exempt from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. Additionally, as an emerging growth company, we have elected to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards that have different effective dates for public and private companies until those standards apply to private companies. As such, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company effective dates. We cannot predict if investors will find our shares of common stock less attractive because we may rely on these provisions. If some investors find our shares of common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our shares and our share price may be more volatile.

We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of this offering, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services.

It is likely we will consummate a business combination with a single target business, although we have the ability to simultaneously acquire several target businesses. By consummating a 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:

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

Alternatively, if we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses and such businesses 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 the 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.

The ability of our stockholders to exercise their conversion rights or sell their shares to us in a tender offer may not allow us to effectuate the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.

If our business combination requires us to use substantially all of our cash to pay the purchase price, because we will not know how many stockholders may exercise conversion rights or seek to sell their shares to us in a tender offer, we may either need to reserve part of the trust account for possible payment upon such conversion, or we may need to arrange third party financing to help fund our business combination. In the event that the acquisition involves the issuance of our stock as consideration, we may be required to issue a higher percentage of our stock to make up for a shortfall in funds. Raising additional funds to cover any shortfall may involve dilutive equity financing or incurring indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. This may limit our ability to effectuate the most attractive business combination available to us.

In connection with any vote to approve a business combination, we will offer each public stockholder the option to vote in favor of a proposed business combination and still seek conversion of his, her or its shares.

In connection with any vote to approve a business combination, we will offer each public stockholder (but not our sponsor, officers or directors) the right to have his, her or its shares of common stock converted to cash (subject to the limitations described elsewhere in this prospectus) regardless of whether such stockholder votes for or against such proposed business combination. This ability to seek conversion while voting in favor of our proposed business combination may make it more likely that we will consummate a business combination.

In connection with any stockholder meeting called to approve a proposed initial business combination, we may require stockholders who wish to convert their shares in connection with a proposed business combination to comply with specific requirements for conversion that may make it more difficult for them to exercise their conversion rights prior to the deadline for exercising their rights.

In connection with any stockholder meeting called to approve a proposed initial business combination, each public stockholder will have the right, regardless of whether he is voting for or against such proposed business combination, to demand that we convert his shares into a pro rata share of the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination. We may require public stockholders who wish to convert their shares in connection with a proposed business combination to either (i) tender their certificates to our transfer agent or (ii) deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using the Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holders’ option, in each case prior to a date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials sent in connection with the proposal to approve the business combination. In order to obtain a physical stock certificate, a stockholder’s broker and/or clearing broker, DTC and our transfer agent will need to act to facilitate this request. It is our understanding that stockholders should generally allot at least two weeks to obtain physical certificates from the transfer agent. However, because we do not have any control over this process or over the brokers or DTC, it may take significantly longer than two weeks to obtain a physical stock certificate. While we have been advised that it takes a short time to deliver shares through the DWAC System, we cannot assure you of this fact. Accordingly, if it takes longer than we anticipate for stockholders to deliver their shares, stockholders who wish to convert may be unable to meet the deadline for exercising their conversion rights and thus may be unable to convert their shares.

If, in connection with any stockholder meeting called to approve a proposed business combination, we require public stockholders who wish to convert their shares to comply with specific requirements for conversion, such converting stockholders may be unable to sell their securities when they wish to in the event that the proposed business combination is not approved.

If we require public stockholders who wish to convert their shares to comply with specific requirements for conversion and such proposed business combination is not consummated, we will promptly return such certificates to the tendering public stockholders. Accordingly, investors who attempted to convert their shares in such a circumstance will be unable to sell their securities after the failed acquisition until we have returned their securities to them. The market price for our shares of common stock may decline during this time and you may not be able to sell your securities when you wish to, even while other stockholders that did not seek conversion may be able to sell their securities.

Because of our structure, other companies may have a competitive advantage and we may not be able to consummate an attractive business combination.

We expect to encounter intense competition from entities other than blank check companies having a business objective similar to ours, including venture capital funds, leveraged buyout funds and operating businesses competing for acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe that there are numerous potential target businesses that we could acquire with the net proceeds of this offering, our ability to compete in acquiring certain sizable target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Additionally, our sponsor is an oil and gas company that pursues distressed asset acquisitions in the energy industry, the same industry within which we intend to focus our search for a target business. While our sponsor intends to acquire assets from businesses with private equity backing that are seeking to sell such assets for cash without retaining any equity interest in them (as opposed to our intent to acquire a target business from a seller that wishes to retain a significant equity interest in the combined company), it is not limited to this type of acquisition and we therefore could nevertheless be subject to competition for acquisitions with our sponsor. Furthermore, seeking stockholder approval or engaging in a tender offer in connection with any proposed business combination may delay the consummation of such a transaction. Additionally, our outstanding rights and warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Any of the foregoing may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination.

We may be unable to obtain additional financing, if required, to complete a business combination or to fund the operations and growth of the target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.

Although we believe that the net proceeds of this offering will be sufficient to allow us to consummate a business combination, because we have not yet identified any prospective target business, we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of this offering prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of the business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, or the obligation to convert into cash a significant number of shares from dissenting stockholders, we will be required to seek additional financing. Such financing may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to consummate a particular business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. In addition, if we consummate a business combination, we may require additional 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 sponsor, officers, directors or stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after a business combination.

Our sponsor will control a substantial interest in us and thus may influence certain actions requiring a stockholder vote.

Upon consummation of our offering, our sponsor will own approximately 22.1% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock (assuming it does not purchase any units in this offering). None of our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates has indicated any intention to purchase units in this offering or any units or shares of common stock from persons in the open market or in private transactions. However, our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates could determine in the future to make such purchases in the open market or in private transactions, to the extent permitted by law, in order to influence the vote or magnitude of the number of shareholders seeking to tender their shares to us. In connection with any vote for a proposed business combination, our sponsor, as well as all of our officers and directors, have agreed to vote the shares of common stock owned by them immediately before this offering as well as any shares of common stock acquired in this offering or in the aftermarket in favor of such proposed business combination.

Our board of directors 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. It is unlikely that there will be an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of a business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the consummation of the business combination. Accordingly, you may not be able to exercise your voting rights under corporate law for up to 21 months. 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 their ownership position, will have considerable influence regarding the outcome. Accordingly, our sponsor will continue to exert control at least until the consummation of a business combination.

Our sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000, or approximately $0.01 per share, for the founders’ shares and, accordingly, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution from the purchase of our shares of common stock.

The difference between the public offering price per share (allocating all of the unit purchase price to the common stock, including the common stock underlying the rights included in the units, and none to the warrants included in the units) and the pro forma net tangible book value per share of common stock after this offering constitutes the dilution to the investors in this offering. Our sponsor acquired the founders’ shares at a nominal price, significantly contributing to this dilution. Upon consummation of this offering, you and the other new investors will incur an immediate and substantial dilution of approximately 89.2% or $8.11 per share (the difference between the pro forma net tangible book value per share $0.98, and the initial offering price of $9.09 per share). This is because investors in this offering will be contributing approximately 96.8% of the total amount paid to us for our outstanding securities after this offering but will only own approximately 79.4% of our outstanding securities and this becomes exacerbated to the extent that public stockholders seek to convert their shares into a pro rata share of the trust proceeds. Accordingly, the per-share purchase price you will be paying substantially exceeds our per share net tangible book value.

Our outstanding rights, warrants and unit purchase options may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock and make it more difficult to effect a business combination.

We will be issuing rights to receive 1,200,000 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase 12,000,000 shares of common stock as part of the units offered by this prospectus and the private rights to receive 40,000 shares of common stock and private warrants to purchase 400,000 shares of common stock. We will also issue unit purchase options to purchase 600,000 units to the representative of the underwriters which, if exercised, will result in the issuance of 600,000 shares of common stock, rights to receive 60,000 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase an additional 600,000 shares of common stock. We may also issue other units to our sponsor, officers or directors in payment of working capital loans made to us as described in this prospectus. To the extent we issue shares of common stock to effect a business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle in the eyes of a target business. Such securities, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of common stock and reduce the value of the shares issued to complete the business combination. Accordingly, our rights, warrants and unit purchase options may make it more difficult to effectuate a business combination or increase the cost of acquiring the target business. Additionally, the sale, or even the possibility of sale, of the shares underlying the rights, warrants or unit purchase options could have an adverse effect on the market price for our securities or on our ability to obtain future financing. If and to the extent these warrants and option are exercised, you may experience dilution to your holdings.

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 outstanding warrants (excluding the private warrants and any warrants underlying additional units issued to our sponsor, officers or directors in payment of working capital loans made to us but including any outstanding warrants issued upon exercise of the unit purchase option issued to EarlyBirdCapital) at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sales price of the common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations and recapitalizations) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third business day prior to proper notice of such redemption provided that on the date we give notice of redemption and during the entire period thereafter until the time we redeem the warrants, we have an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available. 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. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you (i) to exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) to sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) to accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. None of the private warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.

Our management’s ability to require holders of our warrants to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis will cause holders to receive fewer shares of common stock upon their exercise of the warrants than they would have received had they been able to exercise their warrants for cash.

If we call our public warrants for redemption after the redemption criteria described elsewhere in this prospectus have been satisfied, our management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise his warrant (including any warrants held by our sponsor, officers or directors or their permitted transferees) to do so on a “cashless basis.” If our management chooses to require holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, the number of shares of common stock received by a holder upon exercise will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised his warrant for cash. This will have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our company.

If our security holders exercise their registration rights, it may have an adverse effect on the market price of our shares of common stock and the existence of these rights may make it more difficult to effect a business combination.

Our sponsor is entitled to make a demand that we register the resale of the founders’ shares at any time commencing three months prior to the date on which their shares may be released from escrow. Additionally, the holders of the private units and any units our sponsor, officers, directors, or their affiliates may be issued in payment of working capital loans made to us are entitled to demand that we register the resale of the private units and any other units we issue to them (and the underlying securities) commencing at any time after we consummate an initial business combination. The presence of these additional shares of common stock trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities. In addition, the existence of these rights may make it more difficult to effectuate a business combination or increase the cost of acquiring the target business, as the stockholders of the target business may be discouraged from entering into a business combination with us or will request a higher price for their securities because of the potential effect the exercise of such rights may have on the trading market for our shares of common stock.

EarlyBirdCapital may have a conflict of interest in rendering services to us in connection with our initial business combination.

We have engaged EarlyBirdCapital to assist us in connection with our initial business combination. We will pay EarlyBirdCapital a cash fee for such services upon the consummation of our initial business combination in an amount equal to 3.5% of the total gross proceeds raised in the offering. This financial interest may result in EarlyBirdCapital having a conflict of interest when providing the services to us in connection with an initial business combination.

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

A company that, among other things, is or holds itself out as being engaged primarily, or proposes to engage primarily, in the business of investing, reinvesting, owning, trading or holding certain types of securities would be deemed an investment company under the Investment Company Act, as amended, or the Investment Company Act. Since we will invest the proceeds held in the trust account, it is possible that we could be deemed an investment company. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in trust may be invested by the trustee only in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 180 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. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, we intend to meet the requirements for the exemption provided in Rule 3a-1 promulgated under the Investment Company Act.

If we are nevertheless deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be subject to certain restrictions that may make it more difficult for us to complete a business combination, including:

In addition, we may have imposed upon us certain burdensome requirements, including:

Compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expense for which we have not allotted.

The determination for the offering price of our units is more arbitrary than the pricing of securities for an operating company in a particular industry.

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 rights and warrants were negotiated between us and EarlyBirdCapital, Inc. Factors considered in determining the prices and terms of the units, including the shares of common stock, rights and warrants underlying the units, include:

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

If we do not conduct an adequate due diligence investigation of a target business, we may be required to subsequently 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 our stock price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.

We must conduct a due diligence investigation of the target businesses we intend to acquire. Intensive due diligence is time consuming and expensive due to the operations, accounting, finance and legal professionals who must be involved in the due diligence process. Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business, this diligence may not reveal all material issues that may affect a particular target business, and factors outside the control of the target business and outside of our control may later arise. If our diligence fails to identify issues specific to a target business, industry or the environment in which the target business operates, 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 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 common stock. In addition, 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.

The requirement that we complete an initial business combination within 21 months from the closing of this offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination.

We have 21 months from the closing of this offering to complete an initial business combination. Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware of this requirement. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete a business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete a business combination with any other target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the time limit referenced above.

We may not obtain a fairness opinion with respect to the target business that we seek to acquire and therefore you may be relying solely on the judgment of our board of directors in approving a proposed business combination.

We will only be required to obtain a fairness opinion with respect to the target business that we seek to acquire if it is an entity that is affiliated with any of our officers, directors or sponsor. In all other instances, we will have no obligation to obtain an opinion. Accordingly, investors will be relying solely on the judgment of our board of directors in approving a proposed business combination.

Resources could be spent researching acquisitions that are not consummated, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business.

It is anticipated 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 a decision is made not to complete a specific business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, even if an agreement is reached relating to a specific target business, we may fail to consummate the 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.

Compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 will require substantial financial and management resources and may increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls and may require that we have such system of internal controls audited beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2018. If we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, we could be subject to regulatory scrutiny, civil or criminal penalties and/or stockholder litigation. Any inability to provide reliable financial reports could harm our business. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act also requires that our independent registered public accounting firm report on management’s evaluation of our system of internal controls. A target company may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 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. Furthermore, any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in the implementation of adequate controls over our financial processes and reporting in the future, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. Inferior internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our stock.

If we effect a business combination with a company located outside of the United States, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.

We may effect a business combination with a company located outside of the United States. If we did, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in the target business’ home jurisdiction, including any of the following:

We cannot assure you that we would be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, our operations might suffer.

If we effect a business combination with a company located outside of the United States, the laws applicable to such company will likely govern all of our material agreements and we may not be able to enforce our legal rights.

If we effect a business combination with a company located outside of the United States, the laws of the country in which such company operates will govern almost all of the material agreements relating to its operations. We cannot assure you that the target business will be able to enforce any of its material agreements or that remedies will be available in this new jurisdiction. 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. Additionally, if we acquire a company located outside of the United States, it is likely that substantially all of our assets would be located outside of the United States and some of our officers and directors might reside outside of the United States. As a result, it may not be possible for investors in the United States to enforce their legal rights, to effect service of process upon our directors or officers or to enforce judgments of United States courts predicated upon civil liabilities and criminal penalties of our directors and officers under federal securities laws.

Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws and Delaware law may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our common stock and could entrench management.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. 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. As a result, at a given annual meeting only a minority of the board of directors may be considered for election. Since our “staggered board” may prevent our stockholders from replacing a majority of our board of directors at any given annual meeting, it may entrench management and discourage unsolicited stockholder proposals that may be in the best interests of stockholders. Moreover, our board of directors has the ability to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred stock.

We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions 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.

Because we must furnish our stockholders with target business financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles or international financial reporting standards, we will not be able to complete a business combination with prospective target businesses unless their financial statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

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. 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, 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. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with any tender offer documents we use, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. Additionally, to the extent we furnish our stockholders with financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS, such financial statements will need to be audited in accordance with U.S. GAAP at the time of the consummation of the business combination. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire.

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. Stockholders 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. 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.

Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, investments 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. 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 and results of operations.

There may be tax consequences to our business combinations that may adversely affect us.

While we expect to undertake any merger or acquisition so as to minimize taxes both to the acquired business and/or asset and us, such business combination might not meet the statutory requirements of a tax-free reorganization, or the parties might not obtain the intended tax-free treatment upon a transfer of shares or assets. A non-qualifying reorganization could result in the imposition of substantial taxes.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide, subject to limited exceptions, that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for certain stockholder litigation matters, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or stockholders.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against directors, officers and employees for breach of fiduciary duty and other similar actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.

This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

If we consummate a business combination with a target business in the energy industry, we would be subject to the risks attendant to such industry.

If we are successful in consummating a business combination with a target business in the energy industry, we would be subject to all of the risks attendant to such industry, including, among others:

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The statements contained in this prospectus that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management’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 “anticipates,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predicts,” “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:

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.

USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that the net proceeds of this offering, in addition to the funds we will receive from the sale of the private units (all of which will be deposited into the trust account), will be as set forth in the following table:

Our sponsor has committed to purchase the private units (for an aggregate purchase price of $4,000,000) from us on a private placement basis simultaneously with the consummation of this offering. Our sponsor has also agreed that if the over-allotment option is exercised by the underwriters in full or in part, it will purchase from us an additional number of private units (up to a maximum of 45,000 private units) at a price of $10.00 per private unit necessary to maintain in the trust account $10.05 per unit sold to the public in this offering. These additional private units will be purchased in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the purchase of units resulting from the exercise of the over-allotment option. The private units are identical to the units sold in this offering subject to certain limited exceptions as described elsewhere in this prospectus. All of the proceeds we receive from these purchases will be placed in the trust account described below.

$120,600,000, or $138,690,000 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full, of net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private units, will be placed in a U.S.-based trust account at Morgan Stanley, maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, New York, New York, as trustee. The funds held in trust will be invested only in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 180 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, so that we are not deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Except with respect to (i) interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our income or other tax obligations and (ii) up to $50,000 of interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our liquidation and dissolution expenses, the proceeds will not be released from the trust account until the earlier of the completion of a business combination or our redemption of 100% of the outstanding public shares if we have not completed a business combination in the required time period. The proceeds held in the trust account may be used as consideration to pay the sellers of a target business with which we complete a business combination. Any amounts not paid as consideration to the sellers of the target business may be used to finance operations of the target business.

The payment to our sponsor of a monthly fee of $10,000 is for general and administrative services including office space, utilities and secretarial support. This arrangement is being agreed to by our sponsor for our benefit and is not intended to provide our sponsor or affiliated officers and directors with compensation in lieu of a salary. We believe, based on rents and fees for similar services in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area, that the fee charged by our sponsor is at least as favorable as we could have obtained from an unaffiliated person. This arrangement will terminate upon completion of our initial business combination or the distribution of the trust account to our public stockholders. Other than the $10,000 per month fee and the repayment of the $125,000 loan from our sponsor (none of which payments will be made from the proceeds of this offering held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination), no compensation of any kind will be paid to our sponsor, officers, directors or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered to us prior to or in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, such entity and individuals will receive reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them in connection with activities on our behalf, such as identifying potential target businesses, performing business due diligence on suitable target businesses and business combinations as well as traveling to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses to examine their operations. Our audit committee will review and approve all reimbursements and payments made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their respective affiliates, with any interested director abstaining from such review and approval. There is no limit on the amount of such expenses reimbursable by us; provided, however, that to the extent such expenses exceed the available proceeds not deposited in the trust account, such expenses would not be reimbursed by us unless we consummate an initial business combination. Since the role of present management after a business combination is uncertain, we have no ability to determine what remuneration, if any, will be paid to those persons after a business combination.

Regardless of whether the over-allotment option is exercised in full, the net proceeds from this offering available to us out of trust for our working capital requirements in searching for a business combination will be approximately $500,000. We intend to use the proceeds for miscellaneous expenses such as paying fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business and for director and officer liability insurance premiums, with the balance being held in reserve in the event due diligence, legal, accounting and other expenses of structuring and negotiating business combinations exceed our estimates, as well as for reimbursement of any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by our sponsor, officers and directors in connection with activities on our behalf as described below.

The allocation of the net proceeds available to us outside of the trust account represents our best estimate of the intended uses of these funds. In the event that our assumptions prove to be inaccurate, we may reallocate some of such proceeds within the above described categories. 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. In this event, we could seek such additional capital through loans or additional investments from members of our management team, but such members of our management team are not under any obligation to advance funds to, or invest in, us.

We may use substantially all of the net proceeds of this offering, including the funds held in the trust account, to acquire a target business and to pay our expenses relating thereto, including a fee payable to EarlyBirdCapital equal to 3.5% of the gross proceeds raised in this offering (exclusive of any applicable finders’ fees which might become payable) upon consummation of our initial business combination for assisting us in connection with our initial business combination, as described under the section titled “Underwriting — Business Combination Marketing Agreement.” To the extent that our capital stock is used in whole or in part as consideration to effect a business combination, the proceeds held in the trust account which are not used to consummate a business combination will be disbursed to the combined company and will, along with any other net proceeds not expended, be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business. Such working capital funds could be used in a variety of ways including continuing or expanding the target business’ operations, for strategic acquisitions and for marketing, research and development of existing or new products.

To the extent we are unable to consummate a business combination, we will pay the costs of liquidation from the up to $50,000 of interest that may be released to us from the trust account to pay for our liquidation and dissolution expenses. If such interest is insufficient, our sponsor has agreed to advance us the funds necessary to complete such liquidation and has agreed not to seek repayment of such expenses.

As of the date of this prospectus, our sponsor has loaned us an aggregate of $125,000 which was used to pay a portion of the expenses of this offering referenced in the line items above for SEC registration fee, FINRA filing fee, the non-refundable portion of the Nasdaq listing fee and a portion of the legal and audit fees and expenses. The loan will be payable without interest on the consummation of this offering. The loan will be repaid out of the proceeds of this offering available to us for payment of offering expenses.

We believe that, upon consummation of this offering, we will have sufficient available funds (which includes amounts that may be released to us from the trust account) to operate for the next 21 months, assuming that a business combination is not consummated during that time. However, if necessary, in order to meet our working capital needs following the consummation of this offering, our sponsor, officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion. Each loan would be evidenced by a promissory note. The notes would either be paid upon consummation of our initial business combination, without interest, or, at holder’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of the notes may be converted into units at a price of $10.00 per unit. The units would be identical to the private units. 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, but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment.

A public stockholder will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account (including interest earned on his, her or its portion of the trust account to the extent not previously released to us) only in the event of (i) our redemption of 100% of the outstanding public shares if we have not completed a business combination in the required time period, (ii) if that public stockholder converts such shares, or sells such shares to us in a tender offer, in connection with a business combination which we consummate or (iii) we seek to amend any provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect our public stockholders’ ability to convert or sell their shares to us in connection with a business combination as described herein or affect the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete a business combination within 21 months from the closing of this offering. This redemption right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, whether proposed by our sponsor, any executive officer, director or director nominee, or any other person. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account.

DIVIDEND POLICY

We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of an 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 a business combination. The payment of any dividends subsequent to a business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. It is the present intention of our board of directors to retain all earnings, if any, for use in our business operations and, accordingly, our board of directors does not anticipate declaring any dividends in the foreseeable future. In October 2017, we effected a stock dividend of 0.2 shares for each outstanding share, resulting in our sponsor holding an aggregate of 3,450,000 founders’ shares. Our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any other stock dividends in the foreseeable future. Further, if we incur any indebtedness, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.

DILUTION

The difference between the public offering price per share, assuming no value is attributed to the warrants included in the units we are offering by this prospectus and the private warrants, and the pro forma net tangible book value per 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 warrants. 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 shares of common stock which may be converted into cash or sold in a tender offer), by the number of outstanding shares of common stock.

At May 31, 2017, our net tangible book deficit was $37,823, or approximately $(0.01) per share of common stock. For purposes of the dilution calculation, in order to present the maximum estimated dilution as a result of this offering, we have assumed (i) the issuance of 0.1 of a share for each right outstanding, as such issuance will occur upon a business combination without the payment of additional consideration and (ii) the number of shares included in the units offered hereby will be deemed to be 13,200,000 (consisting of 12,000,000 shares of common stock included in the units we are offering by this prospectus and 1,200,000 shares for the outstanding rights), and the price per share in this offering will be deemed to be $9.09. After giving effect to the sale of 12,000,000 shares of common stock included in the units we are offering by this prospectus, the sale of the private units and the deduction of underwriting commissions and estimated expenses of this offering, our pro forma net tangible book value at May 31, 2017 would have been $5,000,002 or $0.98 per share, representing an immediate increase in net tangible book value (as decreased by the value of the approximately 11,554,704 shares of common stock that may be converted to cash and assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option) of $0.99 per share to our sponsor and an immediate dilution of $8.11 per share or 89.2% to our public stockholders not exercising their conversion rights. The decrease attributable to public shares subject to conversion is included in the calculation below at $10.05 per share, as all public stockholders have the right to convert. The dilution to new investors if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full would be an immediate dilution of $8.19 per share or 90.1%.

The following table illustrates the dilution to the new investors on a per-share basis, assuming no value is attributed to the warrants included in the units and the private warrants:

The following table sets forth information with respect to our existing stockholders and the public stockholders:

The pro forma net tangible book value after the offering is calculated as follows:

CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth our capitalization at May 31, 2017 and as adjusted to give effect to the sale of our units and the private units and the application of the estimated net proceeds derived from the sale of such securities:

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

We were formed on May 9, 2017 for the purpose of entering into a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more target businesses. Our efforts to identify a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic region although we intend to focus our search for target businesses in the energy or energy-related industries with an emphasis on opportunities in the upstream oil and gas industry in North America where our management team’s networks and experience are suited. We intend to utilize cash derived from the proceeds of this offering, our securities, debt or a combination of cash, securities and debt, in effecting a business combination. The issuance of additional shares of common stock or preferred stock:

Similarly, if we issue debt securities, it could result in:

We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our entire activity since inception has been to prepare for our proposed fundraising through an offering of our equity securities.

We are an emerging growth company as defined in the JOBS Act. As an emerging growth company, we have elected to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards that have different effective dates for public and private companies until those standards apply to private companies. As such, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company effective dates.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As indicated in the accompanying financial statements, at May 31, 2017, we had $87,500 in cash and a working capital deficiency of $37,823. Further, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of our financing and acquisition plans. Management’s plans to address this uncertainty through this offering are discussed above. We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to consummate an initial business combination will be successful. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

Our liquidity needs have been satisfied to date through receipt of $25,000 from the sale of the founders’ shares, and a loan from our sponsor in an aggregate amount of $125,000 that is more fully described below. We estimate that the net proceeds from (i) the sale of the units in this offering, after deducting offering expenses of approximately $500,000 and underwriting discounts and commissions of $2.4 million (or $2.76 million if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) and (ii) the sale of the private units for a purchase price of $4.0 million (or $4.45 million if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be $121.1 million (or $139.19 million if the over-allotment option is exercised in full). Of this amount, $120.6 million (or $138.69 million if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be held in the trust account. The remaining $500,000 will not be held in trust.

We may use substantially all of the net proceeds of this offering, including the funds held in the trust account, to acquire a target business and to pay our expenses relating thereto, including a fee payable to EarlyBirdCapital equal to 3.5% of the gross proceeds raised in this offering (exclusive of any applicable finders’ fees which might become payable) upon consummation of our initial business combination for assisting us in connection with our initial business combination, as described under the section titled “Underwriting — Business Combination Marketing Agreement.” To the extent that our capital stock is used in whole or in part as consideration to effect a business combination, the remaining proceeds held in the trust account as well as any other net proceeds not expended will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business. Such working capital funds could be used in a variety of ways including continuing or expanding the target business’ operations, for strategic acquisitions and for marketing, research and development of existing or new products. Such funds could also be used to repay any operating expenses or finders’ fees which we had incurred prior to the completion of our business combination if the funds available to us outside of the trust account were insufficient to cover such expenses.

We believe that, upon consummation of this offering, the approximate $500,000 of net proceeds not held in the trust account, will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 21 months, assuming that a business combination is not consummated during that time. Over this time period, we will be using these funds for identifying and evaluating prospective acquisition candidates, performing business due diligence on prospective target businesses, traveling to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses, reviewing corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, selecting the target business to acquire and structuring, negotiating and consummating the business combination. We anticipate that we will incur approximately:

If our estimates of the costs of undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating an initial business combination is less than the actual amount necessary to do so, or we earn less interest on the funds held in the trust account than anticipated, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our initial business combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to consummate our initial business combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon consummation of our initial business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. We do not have a maximum debt leverage ratio or a policy with respect to how much debt we may incur. The amount of debt we will be willing to incur will depend on the facts and circumstances of the proposed business combination and market conditions at the time of the potential business combination. At this time, we are not party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising additional funds through the sale of our securities or the incurrence of debt. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would only consummate such financing simultaneously with the consummation of our initial business combination. In the current economic environment, it has become especially difficult to obtain acquisition financing. Following our initial business combination, if cash on hand is insufficient, we may need to obtain additional financing in order to meet our obligations.

Related Party Transactions

As of the date of this prospectus, our sponsor has loaned an aggregate of $125,000 to us, on a non-interest bearing basis, for payment of offering expenses on our behalf. The loan will be payable without interest on the earlier to occur of June 1, 2018, the consummation of this offering, or the abandonment of this offering. If the offering is consummated, the loan will be repaid out of the proceeds of this offering not being placed in trust.

We are obligated, commencing on the date of this prospectus, to pay our sponsor a monthly fee of $10,000 for general and administrative services.

Our sponsor has committed that it will purchase an aggregate of 400,000 private units at $10.00 per private unit (for a total purchase price of $4,000,000) from us. This purchase will take place on a private placement basis simultaneously with the consummation of this offering. Our sponsor has also agreed that if the over-allotment option is exercised by the underwriters in full or in part, it will purchase from us an additional number of private units (up to a maximum of 45,000 private units) at a price of $10.00 per private unit necessary to maintain in the trust account $10.05 per unit sold to the public in this offering. These additional private units will be purchased in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the purchase of units resulting from the exercise of the over-allotment option.

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. However, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we consummate an initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. 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, 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 units of the post business combination entity at a price of $10.00 per unit at the option of the lender. The units would be identical to the private units.

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, 2018. As of the date of this prospectus, we have not completed an assessment, nor have our auditors tested our systems, of 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. Target businesses we may consider for a business combination may have internal controls that need improvement in areas such as:

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 expense 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 auditors to audit and render an opinion on such report when required by Section 404. The independent auditors 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, including amounts in the trust account, will be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 180 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. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.

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

As of the date of this prospectus, 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 conducted no operations to date.

PROPOSED BUSINESS

Introduction

We are a Delaware blank check company incorporated on May 9, 2017 formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more target businesses.

We intend to focus our search on businesses in the energy or energy-related industries with an emphasis on opportunities in the upstream oil and gas industry in North America where our management team’s networks and experience are suited although our efforts to identify a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic region. Although we anticipate acquiring a target business that is an operating business, we are not obligated to do so and may determine to merge with or acquire a company with no operating history if the terms of the transaction are determined by us to be favorable to our public stockholders and the target business has a fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination.

We intend to identify and acquire a business that could benefit from a hands-on owner with extensive experience in the upstream oil and gas industry in North America and that presents potential for an attractive risk-adjusted return profile under our stewardship. Even fundamentally sound companies can often under-perform their potential due to underinvestment, a temporary period of dislocation in the markets in which they operate, over-levered capital structures, excessive cost structures, incomplete management teams and/or inappropriate business strategies. Our management team has extensive experience in identifying and executing such full-potential acquisitions across the energy industries. In addition, our team has significant hands-on experience working with private companies in preparing for and executing an initial public offering and serving as active owners and directors by working closely with these companies to continue their transformations and help create value in the public markets.

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 will enable us to pursue a broad range of opportunities. Our management believes that its ability to identify and implement value creation initiatives will remain central to its differentiated acquisition strategy.

We will seek to capitalize on the significant investing experience and contacts of our officers and directors in consummating an initial business combination. Kenneth DeCubellis, our chairman of the board and chief executive officer, has over 30 years of experience, primarily in the oil and gas and other energy-related industries, including 10 years at Exxon Mobil Corp. Mr. DeCubellis has served as chief executive officer of our sponsor since November 2011. Our management team has significant access to both publicly available and proprietary business combination opportunities and have collectively bid on over $2.4 billion of opportunities since June 2015.

Acquisition Criteria

We have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective targets. 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:

We will seek to acquire the target on terms and in a manner that leverages our management team’s experience investing within the energy industry. Potential upside from growth in the target business and an improved capital structure will be weighed against any identified downside risks.

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 stockholder 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.

Competitive Strengths

We believe we have the following competitive strengths:

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. In this situation, the owners of the target business would exchange their shares of stock in the target business for shares of our stock or for a combination of shares of our stock and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. We believe target businesses might find this method a more certain and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. In a typical initial public offering, there are additional expenses incurred in marketing, roadshow and public reporting efforts that will likely not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us. Furthermore, once the business combination is consummated, 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, that could prevent the offering from occurring. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital and an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with stockholders’ interests than it would have as a privately-held company. It 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 status as a public company will make us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may view the inherent limitations in our status as a blank check company as a deterrent and may prefer to effect a business combination with a more established entity or with a private company. These inherent limitations include limitations on our available financial resources, which may be inferior to those of other entities pursuing the acquisition of similar target businesses; the requirement that we seek shareholder approval of a business combination, which may delay the consummation of a transaction; and the existence of our outstanding rights and warrants, which may represent a source of future dilution.

Financial position

With funds in the trust account of $120.6 million (or $138.69 million if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) available to use for a business combination, we offer a target business a variety of options such as providing the owners of a target business with shares in a public company and a public means to sell such shares, 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 consummate 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, since we have no specific business combination under consideration, we have not taken any steps to secure third party financing and there can be no assurance that it will be available to us.

Effecting a Business Combination

General

We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any substantive commercial business for an indefinite period of time following this offering. We intend to utilize cash derived from the proceeds of this offering and the private placement of private units, our capital stock, debt or a combination of these in effecting a business combination which has not yet been identified. Accordingly, investors in this offering are investing without first having an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of any one or more business combinations. A business combination may involve the acquisition of, or merger with, a company which does not need substantial additional capital but which desires to establish a public trading market for its shares, while avoiding what it may deem to be adverse consequences of undertaking a public offering itself. These include time delays, significant expense, loss of voting control and compliance with various federal and state securities laws. In the alternative, we may seek to consummate a business combination with a company that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth. While we may seek to effect simultaneous business combinations with more than one target business, we will probably have the ability, as a result of our limited resources, to effect only a single business combination.

We Have Not Identified a Target Business

To date, we have not selected any target business on which to concentrate our search for a business combination. None of our sponsor, officers, directors, promoters and other affiliates has engaged in any substantive discussions on our behalf with representatives of other companies regarding the possibility of a potential merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition or other similar business combination with us. Additionally, we have not engaged or retained any agent or other representative to identify or locate such companies. As a result, we cannot assure you that we will be able to locate a target business or that we will be able to engage in a business combination with a target business on favorable terms or at all.

We will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting a prospective acquisition candidate. We have not established any other specific attributes or criteria (financial or otherwise) for prospective target businesses. Accordingly, there is no basis for investors in this offering to evaluate the possible merits or risks of the target business with which we may ultimately complete a business combination. To the extent we effect a business combination with a financially unstable company or an entity in its early stage of development or growth, including entities without established records of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business and operations of financially unstable and early stage or potential emerging growth companies. 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.

Sources of Target Businesses

While we have not yet identified any acquisition candidates, we believe based on our management’s business knowledge and past experience that there are numerous acquisition candidates. We expect that our principal means of identifying potential target businesses will be through the extensive contacts and relationships of our sponsor, officers and directors. While our officers and directors are not required to commit any specific amount of time in identifying or performing due diligence on potential target businesses, our officers and directors believe that the relationships they have developed over their careers and their access to our sponsor’s contacts and resources will generate a number of potential business combination opportunities that will warrant further investigation. We also anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment bankers, venture capital funds, private equity funds, leveraged buyout funds, management buyout funds and other members of the financial community. 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 they think we may be interested in on an unsolicited basis, since many of these sources will have read this prospectus and know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our sponsor, officers and directors, as well as their affiliates, 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. They must present to us all target business opportunities that have a fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the income accrued in the trust account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination, subject to any pre-existing fiduciary or contractual obligations. While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis (other than EarlyBirdCapital as described elsewhere in this prospectus), 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. In no event, however, will our sponsor, officers, directors or their respective affiliates be paid any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the consummation of an initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is) other than the $10,000 administrative services fee, the repayment of the $125,000 loan from sponsor and reimbursement of any out-of-pocket expenses. Our audit committee will review and approve all reimbursements and payments made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their respective affiliates, with any interested director abstaining from such review and approval. We have no present intention to enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with any of our officers, directors or sponsor. However, we are not restricted from entering into any such transactions and may do so if (i) such transaction is approved by a majority of our disinterested independent directors and (ii) we obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm, or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions on the type of target business we are seeking to acquire, that the business combination is fair to our unaffiliated stockholders from a financial point of view.

Selection of a Target Business and Structuring of a Business Combination

Subject to the limitations that a target business have a fair market value of at least 80% of the balance in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of the execution of a definitive agreement for our initial business combination, as described below in more detail, and that we must acquire a controlling interest in the target business, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting a prospective target business. Except for the general criteria and guidelines set forth above under the caption “Acquisition Criteria,” we have not established any specific attributes or criteria (financial or otherwise) for prospective target businesses. In evaluating a prospective target business, our management may consider a variety of factors, including one or more of the following:

These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular business combination will be based, to the extent relevant, on the above factors as well as other considerations deemed relevant by our management in effecting a business combination consistent with our business objective. In evaluating a prospective target business, we will conduct an extensive due diligence review which will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and inspection of facilities, as well as review of financial and other information which is made available to us. This due diligence review will be conducted either by our management or by unaffiliated third parties we may engage, although we have no current intention to engage any such third parties.

The time and costs required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete the business combination cannot presently be ascertained with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which a business combination is not ultimately completed will result in a loss to us and reduce the amount of capital available to otherwise complete a business combination.

Fair Market Value of Target Business

The target business or businesses that we acquire must collectively have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance of the funds in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of the execution of a definitive agreement for our initial business combination, although we may acquire a target business whose fair market value significantly exceeds 80% of the trust account balance.

We currently anticipate structuring a business combination to acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination where we merge directly with the target business or where we acquire 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, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders 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 of a target. In this case, we could acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target; however, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of trust account balance test. In order to consummate such an acquisition, we may issue a significant amount of our debt or equity securities to the sellers of such businesses and/or seek to raise additional funds through a private offering of debt or equity securities. Since we have no specific business combination under consideration, we have not entered into any such fund raising arrangement and have no current intention of doing so. The fair market value of the target will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community (such as actual and potential sales, earnings, cash flow and/or book value). The proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents used by us in connection with any proposed transaction will provide public stockholders with our analysis of the fair market value of the target business, as well as the basis for our determinations. If our board is not able to independently determine that the target business has a sufficient fair market value, we will obtain an opinion from an unaffiliated, independent investment banking firm, or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions on the type of target business we are seeking to acquire, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria.

We will not be required to obtain an opinion from an investment banking firm as to the fair market value if our board of directors independently determines that the target business complies with the 80% threshold.

Lack of Business Diversification

We may seek to effect a business combination with more than one target business, and there is no required minimum valuation standard for any single target at the time of such acquisition. We expect to complete only a single business combination, although this process may entail the simultaneous acquisitions of several operating businesses. Therefore, at least initially, the prospects for our success may be entirely dependent upon the future performance of a single business operation. Unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations of entities operating in multiple industries or multiple areas of a single industry, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses. By consummating a business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:

If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses and such businesses 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 acquisitions, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete the business combination. With multiple acquisitions, 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.

Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target Business’ Management

Although we intend to scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting a business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of the target business’ management will prove to be correct. In addition, we cannot assure you that the future management will have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of our officers and directors, if any, in the target business following a business combination cannot presently be stated with any certainty. While it is possible that some of our key personnel will remain associated in senior management or advisory positions with us following a business combination, it is unlikely that they will devote their full time efforts to our affairs subsequent to a business combination. Moreover, they would only be able to remain with the company after the consummation of a business combination 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 them to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to the company after the consummation of the business combination. While the personal and financial interests of our key personnel may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business, their ability to remain with the company after the consummation of a business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination. Additionally, we cannot assure you that our officers and directors will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.

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 any such additional managers we do recruit will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.

Stockholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve an Initial Business Combination

In connection with any proposed business combination, we will either (1) seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination at a meeting called for such purpose at which stockholders may seek to convert their shares, regardless of whether they vote for or against the proposed business combination, into their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), or (2) provide our stockholders with the opportunity to sell their shares to us by means of a tender offer (and thereby avoid the need for a stockholder vote) for an amount equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), in each case subject to the limitations described herein. If we determine to engage in a tender offer, such tender offer will be structured so that each stockholder may tender all of his, her or its shares rather than some pro rata portion of his, her or its shares. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow stockholders 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 stockholder approval. Unlike other blank check companies which require stockholder votes and conduct proxy solicitations in conjunction with their initial business combinations and related conversions of public shares for cash upon consummation of such initial business combination even when a vote is not required by law, we will have the flexibility to avoid such stockholder vote and allow our stockholders to sell their shares pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act which regulate issuer tender offers. In that case, we will file tender offer documents with the SEC which will contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules. We will consummate our initial business combination only if we have net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon such consummation and, if we seek stockholder approval, a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination.

We chose our net tangible asset threshold of $5,000,001 to ensure that we would avoid being subject to Rule 419 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. However, if we seek to consummate an initial business combination with a target business that imposes any type of working capital closing condition or requires us to have a minimum amount of funds available from the trust account upon consummation of such initial business combination, we may need to have more than $5,000,001 in net tangible assets upon consummation and this may force us to seek third party financing which may not be available on terms acceptable to us or at all. As a result, we may not be able to consummate such initial business combination and we may not be able to locate another suitable target within the applicable time period, if at all. Public stockholders may therefore have to wait 21 months from the closing of this offering in order to be able to receive a pro rata share of the trust account.

Our sponsor and our officers and directors have agreed (1) to vote any shares of common stock owned by them in favor of any proposed business combination, (2) not to convert any shares of common stock in connection with a stockholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination and (3) not sell any shares of common stock in any tender in connection with a proposed initial business combination.

None of our officers, directors, sponsor or their affiliates has indicated any intention to purchase units or shares of common stock in this offering or from persons in the open market or in private transactions. However, if we hold a meeting to approve a proposed business combination and a significant number of stockholders vote, or indicate an intention to vote, against such proposed business combination, our officers, directors, sponsor or their affiliates could make such purchases in the open market or in private transactions in order to influence the vote. Notwithstanding the foregoing, our officers, directors, sponsor and their affiliates will not make purchases of shares of common stock if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act, which are rules designed to stop potential manipulation of a company’s stock.

Conversion Rights

At any meeting called to approve an initial business combination, public stockholders may seek to convert their shares, regardless of whether they vote for or against the proposed business combination, into 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 the initial business combination, less any taxes then due but not yet paid. Alternatively, we may provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to sell their shares of our common stock to us through a tender offer (and thereby avoid the need for a stockholder vote) for an amount equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, less any taxes then due but not yet paid.

Our sponsor and our officers and directors will not have conversion rights with respect to any shares of common stock owned by them, directly or indirectly, whether acquired prior to this offering or purchased by them in this offering or in the aftermarket.

We may require public stockholders, whether they are a record holder or hold their shares in “street name,” to either (i) tender their certificates to our transfer agent or (ii) deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option, in each case prior to a date set forth in the proxy materials sent in connection with the proposal to approve the business combination.

There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced delivery process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker $45.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise conversion rights. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising conversion rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated. However, in the event we require stockholders seeking to exercise conversion rights prior to the consummation of the proposed business combination and the proposed business combination is not consummated this may result in an increased cost to stockholders.

Any proxy solicitation materials we furnish to stockholders in connection with a vote for any proposed business combination will indicate whether we are requiring stockholders to satisfy such certification and delivery requirements. Accordingly, a stockholder would have from the time the stockholder received our proxy statement up until the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination to deliver his shares if he wishes to seek to exercise his conversion rights. This time period varies depending on the specific facts of each transaction. However, as the delivery process can be accomplished by the stockholder, whether or not he is a record holder or his shares are held in “street name,” in a matter of hours by simply contacting the transfer agent or his broker and requesting delivery of his shares through the DWAC System, we believe this time period is sufficient for an average investor. However, we cannot assure you of this fact. Please see the risk factor titled “In connection with any stockholder meeting called to approve a proposed initial business combination, we may require stockholders who wish to convert their shares in connection with a proposed business combination to comply with specific requirements for conversion that may make it more difficult for them to exercise their conversion rights prior to the deadline for exercising their rights” for further information on the risks of failing to comply with these requirements.

The foregoing is different from the procedures historically used by some blank check companies. Traditionally, in order to perfect conversion rights in connection with a blank check company’s business combination, the company would distribute proxy materials for the stockholders’ 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 conversion rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such stockholder to arrange for him to deliver his certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the stockholder then had an “option window” after the consummation of the business combination during which he could monitor the price of the company’s stock in the market. If the price rose above the conversion price, he could sell his shares in the open market before actually delivering his shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the conversion rights, to which stockholders were aware they needed to commit before the stockholder meeting, would become a “continuing” right surviving past the consummation of the business combination until the holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a holder’s election to convert his shares is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.

Any request to convert such shares once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to the vote on the proposed business combination or the expiration of the tender offer. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share of common stock delivered his certificate in connection with an election of their conversion and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, he may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically).

If the initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public stockholders who elected to exercise their conversion rights would not be entitled to convert their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination. In such case, we will promptly return any shares delivered by public holders.

Liquidation if No Business Combination

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we will have only 21 months from the closing of this offering to complete an initial business combination. If we have not completed an initial business combination by such date, 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 outstanding public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including any interest not previously released to us but net of taxes payable, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (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 stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject (in the case of (ii) and (iii) above) to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.

Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect our public stockholders’ ability to convert or sell their shares to us in connection with a business combination as described herein or affect the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete a business combination within 21 months from the closing of this offering unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to convert their shares of common stock 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 not previously released to us but net of franchise and income taxes payable, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. This redemption right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment, whether proposed by our sponsor, any executive officer, director or director nominee, or any other person.

Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of 100% of our outstanding public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period may be considered a liquidation distribution under Delaware law. If the corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the Delaware General Corporation Law intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution.

Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of 100% of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period is not considered a liquidation distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful, then pursuant to Section 174 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidation distribution. If we are unable to complete a business combination within the prescribed time frame, 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 outstanding public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including any interest but net of franchise and income taxes payable, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (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 stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject (in the case of (ii) and (iii) above) to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Accordingly, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following our 21^st month, and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend well beyond the third anniversary of such date.

Because we will not be complying with Section 280 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, Section 281(b) of the Delaware General Corporation Law requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the subsequent ten years. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses.

We are required to have all third parties (including any vendors or other entities we engage after this offering) and any prospective target businesses enter into agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in or to any monies held in the trust account. As a result, the claims that could be made against us will be limited, thereby lessening the likelihood that any claim would result in any liability extending to the trust. We therefore believe that any necessary provision for creditors will be reduced and should not have a significant impact on our ability to distribute the funds in the trust account to our public stockholders. Nevertheless, we cannot assure you of this fact as there is no guarantee that vendors, service providers and prospective target businesses will execute such agreements. Nor is there any guarantee that, even if they execute such agreements with us, they will not seek recourse against the trust account. Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to ensure that the proceeds in the trust account are not reduced below $10.05 per share by the claims of target businesses or claims of vendors or other entities that are owed money by us for services rendered or contracted for or products sold to us, but we cannot assure you that it will be able to satisfy its indemnification obligations if it is required to do so. Additionally, the agreement our sponsor entered into specifically provides for two exceptions to the indemnity it has given: it will have no liability (1) as to any claimed amounts owed to a target business or vendor or other entity who has executed an agreement with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in or to any monies held in the trust account, or (2) as to any claims for indemnification by the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. As a result, if we liquidate, the per-share distribution from the trust account could be less than $10.05 due to claims or potential claims of creditors. We will distribute to all of our public stockholders, in proportion to their respective equity interests, an aggregate sum equal to the amount in the trust account, inclusive of any interest, plus any remaining net assets (subject to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors as described below).

We anticipate notifying the trustee of the trust account to begin liquidating such assets promptly after such date and anticipate it will take no more than 10 business days to effectuate such distribution. The holders of the founders’ shares have waived their rights to participate in any liquidation distribution with respect to such founders’ shares. There will be no distribution from the trust account with respect to our rights or warrants, which will expire worthless. We will pay the costs of any subsequent liquidation from the up to $50,000 of interest that may be released to us from the trust account to pay for our liquidation and dissolution expenses. If such interest is insufficient, our sponsor has contractually agreed to advance us the funds necessary to complete such liquidation and has contractually agreed not to seek repayment for such expenses.

If we are unable to complete an initial business combination and expend all of the net proceeds of this offering, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the initial per-share redemption price would be $10.05. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to claims of our creditors that are in preference to the claims of public stockholders.

Our public stockholders shall be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only in the event of our failure to complete a business combination within the required time period, if the stockholders seek to have us convert or purchase their respective shares upon a business combination which is actually completed by us or upon certain amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation prior to consummating an initial business combination. In no other circumstances shall a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account.

If we are forced to file a bankruptcy case or an involuntary bankruptcy case is filed against us which is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return to our public stockholders at least $10.05 per share.

If we are forced to file a bankruptcy case or an involuntary bankruptcy case is filed against us which is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover all amounts received by our stockholders. Furthermore, because we intend to distribute the proceeds held in the trust account to our public stockholders promptly after twenty-four months from the date of this prospectus, this may be viewed or interpreted as giving preference to our public stockholders over any potential creditors with respect to access to or distributions from our assets. Furthermore, our board may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties 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 stockholders 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.

Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains certain requirements and restrictions relating to this offering that will apply to us until the consummation of our initial business combination. These provisions cannot be amended without the approval of a majority of our stockholders. If we seek to amend any provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect our public stockholders’ ability to convert or sell their shares to us in connection with a business combination as described herein or affect the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete a business combination within 21 months from the closing of this offering, we will provide dissenting public stockholders with the opportunity to convert their public shares in connection with any such vote. This conversion right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment, whether proposed by our sponsor, any executive officer, director or director nominee, or any other person. Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to waive any conversion rights with respect to any founders’ shares, private shares and any public shares they may hold in connection with any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Specifically, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that:

Competition

In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources than us and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there may be numerous potential target businesses that we could acquire with the net proceeds of this offering, our ability to compete in acquiring certain sizable target businesses may be limited by our available financial resources.

The following also may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses:

Any of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. Our management believes, however, that our status as a public entity and potential access to the United States public equity markets may give us a competitive advantage over privately-held entities having a similar business objective as ours in acquiring a target business with significant growth potential on favorable terms.

If we succeed in effecting a business combination, there will be, in all likelihood, intense competition from competitors of the target business. We cannot assure you that, subsequent to a business combination, we will have the resources or ability to compete effectively.

Facilities

We currently maintain our principal executive offices at 110 North 5th Street, Suite 410, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403. The cost for this space is included in the $10,000 per-month fee our sponsor will charge us for general and administrative services commencing on the date of this prospectus pursuant to a letter agreement between us and our sponsor. We believe, based on rents and fees for similar services in Minneapolis, Minnesota area, that the fee charged by our sponsor is at least as favorable as we could have obtained from an unaffiliated person. We consider our current office space, combined with the other office space otherwise available to our executive officers, adequate for our current operations.

Employees

We have three executive officers. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters and intend to devote only as much time as they deem necessary to our affairs. The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for the business combination and the stage of the business combination process the company is in. Accordingly, once a suitable target business to acquire has been located, management will spend more time investigating such target business and negotiating and processing the business combination (and consequently spend more time on our affairs) than had been spent prior to locating a suitable target business. We presently expect our executive officers to devote such amount of time as they reasonably believe is necessary to our business. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the consummation of a business combination.

Periodic Reporting and Audited Financial Statements

We have registered our units, common stock, rights 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 report will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants.

We will provide stockholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of any proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents sent to stockholders to assist them in assessing the target business. These financial statements will need to be prepared in accordance with or reconciled to United States generally accepted accounting principles or international financial reporting standards. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential acquisition candidate will have the necessary financial statements. To the extent that this requirement cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business.

We may be required to have our internal control procedures audited for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2018 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. A target company may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 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.

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, and we and the members of our management team have not been subject to any such proceeding in the 12 months preceding the date of this prospectus.

Comparison to Offerings of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419

The following table compares and contrasts the terms of our offering and the terms of an offering of blank check companies under Rule 419 promulgated by the SEC assuming that the gross proceeds, underwriting discounts and underwriting expenses for the Rule 419 offering are the same as this offering and that the underwriters will not exercise their over-allotment option. None of the terms of a Rule 419 offering will apply to this offering because we will have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the successful consummation of this offering and will file a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact

MANAGEMENT

Directors and Executive Officers

Our current directors and executive officers are as follows:

Kenneth DeCubellis has been our chairman of the board and chief executive officer since our inception. Since November 2011, Mr. DeCubellis has served as chief executive officer of our sponsor, Black Ridge Oil & Gas, Inc. Black Ridge Oil & Gas, Inc. is an oil and gas company that pursues distressed asset acquisitions in all unconventional, onshore U.S. oil and gas basins, including over $100 million previously invested in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana. Prior to joining Black Ridge Oil & Gas, Mr. DeCubellis was the president and chief executive officer of Altra Inc., a venture capital backed biofuels company based in Los Angeles, California. He joined Altra in June 2006 as vice president, business development and was promoted to president in November of 2007 and chief executive officer in February 2008. When Mr. DeCubellis became chief executive officer of Altra Inc in 2008, the company was in deep financial distress. Mr. DeCubellis implemented a comprehensive corporate wide restructuring effort that was completed in 2009. This included restructuring and eliminating all of the debt at Altra Inc, raising capital at Altra Inc and refocusing the strategy of the company on a technology license. As part of this restructuring, certain wholly-owned subsidiaries of Altra, Inc. surrendered assets to lenders or entered in receivership. From 1996 to 2006, Mr. DeCubellis was an executive with Exxon Mobil Corp. in Houston, Texas. Mr. DeCubellis also previously served as the chairman of KD Global Energy Belize Ltd., a company that provides technical and business services for petroleum lease holders in Belize. Mr. DeCubellis holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an MBA from Northwestern University’s JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and a Masters of Engineering Management from Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering.

We believe Mr. DeCubellis is well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to his executive leadership and industry experience.

Michael Eisele has been our chief operating officer since May 2017. Mr. Eisele has been the chief operating officer of our sponsor since August 2013, and prior to that had served as our sponsor’s vice president of land from August 2012 to August 2013, overseeing its acreage portfolio and managing acquisitions and divestitures. Prior to joining our sponsor, Mr. Eisele was the co-owner and landman of High West Resources, Ltd. from 2011 to July 2012, the owner of Eisele Resources LLC from 2009 to 2012, and a self-employed landman from 2007 to 2009. Mr. Eisele is a graduate of Luther College (B.A.).

James Moe has been our chief financial officer, secretary and treasurer since May 2017. Mr. Moe has been the chief financial officer of our sponsor since March 2011. Mr. Moe had previously been the chief financial officer of Northern Contours Inc., a multi-state manufacturing company located in Mendota Heights, Minnesota specializing in cabinet doors and work surfaces, from August 2005 until March 2011. From January 2004 to August 2005, he was the chief financial officer of Trimodal Inc., a trucking and container handling company located in Bloomington, Minnesota, which operated in seven cities in the Midwest and East Coast. From April 2000 to December 2003, Mr. Moe was the corporate controller of Simondelivers.com, a venture capital backed start-up company located in Golden Valley, Minnesota providing home delivery of groceries ordered over the internet. From October 1994 to April 2000, he was the corporate controller of Recovery Engineering Inc., a publicly traded manufacturer and distributor of small-scale water filters located in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. From November 1989 to October 1994, Mr. Moe was the controller of Standard Iron and Wire Works, a privately held multi-division metal fabricator operating three plants in Minnesota. Upon graduating from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting in 1985, Mr. Moe worked as a senior accountant until November 1989 for Boulay, Heutmaker, Zibell & Company.

Bradley Berman has been a director since May 2017. He has been the chairman of our sponsor since November 2010 and has served as a director of our sponsor since its inception in April 2010. He was our sponsor’s chief executive officer from November 2010 to November 2011, its chief financial officer between November 12, 2010 and November 15, 2010, and its corporate secretary from November 2010 to February 2011. Mr. Berman is the president of King Show Games, Inc., a company he founded in 1998. Mr. Berman has worked in various capacities in casino gaming from 1992 to 2004 for Grand Casinos, Inc. and then Lakes Entertainment, Inc., achieving the position of Vice President of Gaming, after which he assumed a lesser role in that company. Mr. Berman was a director of Voyager Oil and Gas, Inc. (formerly Ante4 and WPT) from August 2004 to November 2010. Mr. Berman is the son of Lyle Berman, one of our directors.

We believe Mr. Berman is well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to his executive leadership and industry and financing experience.

Benjamin S. Oehler has been a director of ours since May 2017. Mr. Oehler has been a director of our sponsor since November 2010, and chairman of its audit committee and compensation committee since February 2011. Mr. Oehler is a Founding Partner of Windward Mark, LLC which advises business owners with regard to strategic planning, owner governance and education, business continuity, legacy, philanthropy and liquidity. Windward Mark LLC is a continuation of Mr. Oehler’s consulting practice at Bashaw Group. Inc. (2007-2017) and Linea Capital, LLC (2009 - 2017). From 1999 to 2007, Mr. Oehler was the president and chief executive officer of Waycrosse, Inc., a financial advisory firm for the family owners of Cargill Incorporated. While at Waycrosse, Mr. Oehler was the primary advisor to the five family members who were serving on the Cargill Incorporated board of directors from 1999 to 2006. Mr. Oehler played a key role in two major growth initiatives for Cargill: the merger of Cargill’s fertilizer business into a public company which is now Mosaic, Inc., and the transformation of Cargill’s proprietary financial markets trading group into two major investment management companies: Black River Asset Management, LLC and CarVal Investors, LLC. An investment banker for 20 years, Mr. Oehler’s transaction experience includes public offerings and private placements of debt and equity securities, mergers and acquisitions, fairness opinions and valuations of private companies. Prior to joining Waycrosse, Mr. Oehler was an investment banker for Piper Jaffray. By the time he left Piper Jaffray in 1999, he was group head for Piper’s Industrial Growth Team. He has also played a leadership role in a number of corporate buy-outs and venture stage companies, served on corporate and non-profit boards of directors, and has been involved in the creation and oversight of foundations and charitable organizations, as well as U.S. trusts and off-shore entities.

Mr. Oehler has been a board member and/or founder of many non-profit organizations including the Minnesota Zoological Society, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, The Lake Country Land School, Greencastle Tropical Study Center, Park Nicollet Institute, Afton Historical Society Press, United Theological Seminary and University of Minnesota Investment Advisor, Inc. He has been a director of Waycrosse, Inc., WayTrust Inc., Dain Equity Partners, Inc., Time Management, Inc., BioNIR, Inc. and Agricultural Solutions, Inc. In September 2007, Mr. Oehler completed the Stanford University Law School Directors Forum, a three-day update on key issues facing corporate directors presented by the Stanford Business School and Stanford Law School. From 1984 through 1999, Mr. Oehler was registered with the National Association of Securities Dealers (“NASD”) as a financial principal. Mr. Oehler is a graduate of the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts and has completed all course work at the University of Minnesota Business School with a concentration in finance.

We believe Mr. Oehler is well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to his executive leadership and industry and financing experience.

Joseph Lahti has been a director of ours since May 2017. Mr. Lahti has been a director of our sponsor since August 2012. Mr. Lahti is a Minneapolis native and leader in numerous Minnesota business and community organizations. As principal of JL Holdings since 1989, Mr. Lahti has provided funding and management leadership to several early-stage or distressed companies. From 1993 to 2002, he held the positions of chief operating officer, president, chief executive officer and chairman at Shuffle Master, Inc., a company that provided innovative products to the gaming industry. Mr. Lahti served as a director of PokerTek, Inc., a publicly traded company, from 2008 until it was sold in October 2014 (including serving as Chairman of the Board from 2012 to 2014), and he is also an independent director and Chairman of the Board of AFAM Capital, an investment manager. Within the past five years Mr. Lahti served on the board of directors of Voyager Oil & Gas, Inc., and more than five years ago Mr. Lahti served as the Chairman of the Board of directors of Shuffle Master, Inc. and served on the board of directors of Zomax, Inc. Through his public company Board experience, he has participated on, and chaired, both Audit and Compensation Committees.

We believe Mr. Lahti is well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to his executive leadership and industry and financing experience.

Lyle Berman has been a director of ours since May 2017. Mr. Berman has been a director of our sponsor since October 2016. Since June 1990, Mr. Berman has been the chairman and chief executive officer of Berman Consulting Corporation, a private consulting firm he founded. Mr. Berman began his career with Berman Buckskin, his family’s leather business, which he helped grow into a major specialty retailer with 27 outlets. After selling Berman Buckskin to W.R. Grace in 1979, Mr. Berman continued as president and chief executive officer and led the company to become one the country’s largest retail leather chains, with over 200 stores nationwide. In 1990, Mr. Berman participated in the founding of Grand Casinos, Inc. Mr. Berman is credited as one of the early visionaries in the development of casinos outside of the traditional gaming markets of Las Vegas and Atlantic City. In less than five years, the company opened eight casino resorts in four states. In 1994, Mr. Berman financed the initial development of Rainforest Cafe. He served as the chairman and chief executive officer from 1994 unti1 2000. In October 1995, Mr. Berman was honored with the B’nai B’rith “Great American Traditions Award.” In April 1996, he received the Gaming Executive of the Year Award; in 2004, Mr. Berman was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame; and in 2009, he received the Casino Lifetime Achievement Award from Raving Consulting & Casino Journal. In 1998, Lakes Entertainment, Inc. was formed. In 2002, as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Lakes Entertainment, Inc., Mr. Berman was instrumental in creating the World Poker Tour. Mr. Berman served as the executive chairman of the board of WPT Enterprises, Inc. (later known as Voyager Oil & Gas, Inc. and Emerald Oil, Inc.) from its inception in February 2002 until July 2013. Mr. Berman also served as a director of PokerTek, Inc. from January 2005 until October 2014, including serving as chairman of the board from January 2005 until October 2011. Mr. Berman is the father of Brad Berman, one of our directors.

We believe Mr. Berman is well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to his executive leadership and industry and financing experience.

Our board of directors is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class serving a three-year term. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Bradley Berman, will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Joseph Lahti and Benjamin Oehler, will expire at the second annual meeting. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Ken DeCubellis and Lyle Berman, will expire at the third annual meeting.

Executive Compensation

No executive officer has received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing on the date of this prospectus through the acquisition of a target business, we will pay our sponsor an aggregate fee of $10,000 per month for providing us with office space and certain office and secretarial services. However, this arrangement is solely for our benefit and is not intended to provide our executive officers or directors compensation in lieu of a salary.

Other than the $10,000 per month administrative fee and the repayment of the $125,000 loan made by our sponsor to us, no compensation or fees of any kind, including finder’s, consulting fees and other similar fees, will be paid to our sponsor, members of our management team or their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, they will receive reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them in connection with activities on our behalf, such as identifying potential target businesses, performing business due diligence on suitable target businesses and business combinations as well as traveling to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses to examine their operations. There is no limit on the amount of out-of-pocket expenses reimbursable by us.

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 stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of a stockholder meeting held to consider an initial business combination, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation. In this event, such compensation will be publicly disclosed at the time of its determination in a Current Report on Form 8-K, as required by the SEC.

Director Independence

Currently Messrs. Berman, Oehler, Lahti and Berman would each be considered an “independent director” under the Nasdaq listing rules, which is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship, which, in the opinion of the company’s board of directors would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director.

Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.

Any affiliated transactions will be on terms no less favorable to us than could be obtained from independent parties. Our board of directors will review and approve all affiliated transactions with any interested director abstaining from such review and approval.

Audit Committee

Effective upon the date of this prospectus, we will establish an audit committee of the board of directors, which will consist of Benjamin Oehler (chairman), Joseph Lahti and Lyle Berman, each of whom is an independent director under Nasdaq’s listing standards. The audit committee’s duties, which are specified in our Audit Committee Charter, include, but are not limited to:

Financial Experts on Audit Committee

The audit committee will at all times be composed exclusively of “independent directors” who are “financially literate” as defined under Nasdaq’s listing standards. Nasdaq’s standards define “financially literate” as being able to read and understand fundamental financial statements, including a company’s balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement.

In addition, we must certify to Nasdaq that the committee has, and will continue to have, at least one member who has past employment experience in finance or accounting, requisite professional certification in accounting, or other comparable experience or background that results in the individual’s financial sophistication. The board of directors has determined that Mr. Oehler qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert,” as defined under rules and regulations of the SEC.

Nominating Committee

Effective upon the date of this prospectus, we will establish a nominating committee of the board of directors, which will consist of Bradley Berman (chairman), Benjamin Oehler and Lyle Berman, each of whom is an independent director under Nasdaq’s 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, stockholders, investment bankers and others.

Guidelines for Selecting Director Nominees

The guidelines for selecting nominees, which are specified in the Nominating Committee Charter, generally provide that persons to be nominated:

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 stockholders and other persons.

Compensation Committee

Effective upon the date of this prospectus, we will establish a compensation committee of the board of directors, which will consist of Lyle Berman (chairman), Joseph Lahti and Benjamin Oehler, each of whom is an independent director under Nasdaq’s listing standards. The compensation committee’s duties, which are specified in our Compensation Committee Charter, include, but are not limited to:

Code of Ethics

Effective upon consummation of this offering, we will adopt a code of ethics that applies to all of our executive officers, directors and employees. The code of ethics codifies the business and ethical principles that govern all aspects of our business.

Conflicts of Interest

In general, officers and directors of a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware are required to present business opportunities to a corporation if:

Each of our officers and directors is an officer and/or director of our sponsor. As described elsewhere in this prospectus, our sponsor is an oil and gas company that pursues distressed asset acquisitions in the energy industry, the same industry within which we intend to focus our search for a target business. As a result, it is possible that a potential opportunity could be suitable for us as well as our sponsor. Our sponsor recently completed a rights offering in which it raised an aggregate of approximately $5,182,000. Of this amount, up to $4,450,000 (assuming the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) would be used to purchase the private units with the balance being available to our sponsor for working capital purposes, including potential investments and acquisitions. However, our sponsor intends to acquire assets from businesses with private equity backing that are seeking to sell such assets for cash without retaining any equity interest in them, whereas we intend to acquire a target business from a seller that wishes to retain a significant equity interest in the combined company. Accordingly, our management team does not believe that there will be a meaningful conflict between our sponsor and our company in relation to consummating a business combination. Nevertheless, we cannot assure you of this fact and it is possible that a suitable business opportunity will be presented to our sponsor prior to its presentation to our company.

In relation to the foregoing, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that:

In addition to our sponsor, our officers and directors are, and may in the future become, affiliated with other companies. In order to minimize potential conflicts of interest which may arise from such other corporate affiliations, each of our officers and directors has contractually agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, until the earliest of our execution of a definitive agreement for a business combination, our liquidation or such time as he ceases to be an officer or director, to present to our company for our consideration, prior to presentation to any other entity, any suitable business opportunity which may reasonably be required to be presented to us, subject to any pre-existing fiduciary or contractual obligations he might have.

The following table summarizes the relevant pre-existing fiduciary or contractual obligations of our officers and directors besides our sponsor:

Investors should also be aware of the following potential conflicts of interest:

To further minimize conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with any of our officers, directors or sponsor including (i) an entity that is either a portfolio company of, or has otherwise received a material financial investment from, any private equity fund or investment company (or an affiliate thereof) that is affiliated with any of the foregoing, (ii) an entity in which any of the foregoing or their affiliates are currently passive investors, (iii) an entity in which any of the foregoing or their affiliates are currently officers or directors, or (iv) an entity in which any of the foregoing or their affiliates are currently invested through an investment vehicle controlled by them, unless we have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm, or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions on the type of target business we are seeking to acquire, and the approval of a majority of our disinterested independent directors that the business combination is fair to our unaffiliated stockholders from a financial point of view. Furthermore, in no event will any of our sponsor, members of our management team or their respective affiliates be paid any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other similar compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the consummation of an initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is) other than the $10,000 administrative services fee, repayment of the $125,000 loan from our sponsor and reimbursement of any out-of-pocket expenses.

PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS

The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our shares of common stock as of the date of this prospectus and as adjusted to reflect the sale of our shares of common stock included in the units offered by this prospectus (assuming none of the individuals listed purchase units in this offering), by:

Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record of beneficial ownership of the rights or warrants included in the units offered by this prospectus or the private units as these rights and warrants are not convertible or exercisable within 60 days of the date of this prospectus.

Immediately after this offering, our sponsor will beneficially own approximately 22.1% of the then issued and outstanding shares of common stock (assuming they do not purchase any units offered by this prospectus). None of our sponsor, officers and directors has indicated to us that it or they intend to purchase our securities in the offering. Because of the ownership block held by our sponsor, officers and directors, such individuals may be able to effectively exercise influence over all matters requiring approval by our stockholders, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions other than approval of our initial business combination.

If the underwriters do not exercise all or a portion of the over-allotment option, an aggregate of 450,000 founders’ shares will be forfeited. Only a number of shares necessary to maintain the 20% ownership interest in our shares of common stock after giving effect to the offering and the exercise, if any, of the underwriters’ over-allotment option (and excluding the private units and assuming our sponsor does not purchase any units in this offering) will be necessary.

All of the founders’ shares outstanding prior to the date of this prospectus will be placed in escrow with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as escrow agent, until (1) with respect to 50% of the founders’ shares, the earlier of one year after the date of the consummation of our initial business combination and the date on which the closing price of our common stock equals or exceeds $12.50 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share dividends, reorganizations and recapitalizations) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing after our initial business combination and (2) with respect to the remaining 50% of the founders’ shares, one year after the date of the consummation of our initial business combination, or earlier, in either case, if, subsequent to our initial business combination, we consummate a liquidation, merger, stock exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property. Up to 450,000 of the founders’ shares may also be released from escrow earlier than this date for cancellation if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full as described above.

During the escrow period, the holders of these shares will not be able to sell or transfer their securities except for transfers, assignments or sales (i) to our or our sponsor’s officers, directors, consultants or their affiliates, (ii) to an entity’s members upon its liquidation, (iii) to relatives and trusts for estate planning purposes, (iv) by virtue of the laws of descent and distribution upon death, (v) pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order, (vi) to us for no value for cancellation in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination, or (vii) in connection with the consummation of a business combination at prices no greater than the price at which the shares were originally purchased, in each case (except for clause (vi) or with our prior consent) where the transferee agrees to the terms of the escrow agreement and to be bound by these transfer restrictions, but will retain all other rights as our stockholders, including, without limitation, the right to vote their shares of common stock and the right to receive cash dividends, if declared. If dividends are declared and payable in shares of common stock, such dividends will also be placed in escrow. If we are unable to effect a business combination and liquidate, there will be no liquidation distribution with respect to the founders’ shares.

Our sponsor has committed to purchase the private units (for a total purchase price of $4,000,000) from us. These purchases will take place on a private placement basis simultaneously with the consummation of this offering. Our sponsor has also agreed that if the over-allotment option is exercised by the underwriters in full or in part, it will purchase from us an additional number of private units (up to a maximum of 45,000 private units) at a price of $10.00 per private unit necessary to maintain in the trust account $10.05 per unit sold to the public in this offering. These additional private units will be purchased in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the purchase of units resulting from the exercise of the over-allotment option. The private units are identical to the units sold in this offering except that the private warrants: (i) will not be redeemable by us and (ii) may be exercised for cash or on a cashless basis, as described in this prospectus, so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or any of their permitted transferees. If the private warrants are held by holders other than the initial purchasers or any of their permitted transferees, the private 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. Our sponsor has agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of the private units and underlying securities (except in connection with the same limited exceptions that the founders’ shares may be transferred as described above) until after the completion of our initial business combination.

In order to meet our working capital needs following the consummation of this offering, our sponsor, officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion. Each loan would be evidenced by a promissory note. The notes would either be paid upon consummation of our initial business combination, without interest, or, at holder’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of the notes may be converted into units at a price of $10.00 per unit. The units would be identical to the private units. 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, but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment.

Ken DeCubellis and Black Ridge Oil & Gas, Inc. are our “promoters,” as that term is defined under the federal securities laws.

CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS

In May 2017, we issued 2,875,000 shares of common stock to our sponsor, Black Ridge Oil & Gas, Inc., for $25,000 in cash, at a purchase price of approximately $0.01 per share, in connection with our organization. In October 2017, we effected a stock dividend of 0.2 shares for each outstanding share, resulting in our sponsor holding an aggregate of 3,450,000 founders’ shares.

If the underwriters do not exercise all or a portion of their over-allotment option, our sponsor will forfeit up to an aggregate of 450,000 shares of common stock in proportion to the portion of the over-allotment option that was not exercised.

If the underwriters determine the size of the offering should be increased (including pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act) or decreased, a share dividend or a contribution back to capital, as applicable, would be effectuated in order to maintain our sponsor’s ownership at a percentage of the number of shares to be sold in this offering.

Our sponsor has committed to purchase, pursuant to a written subscription agreement with us and Graubard Miller, as escrow agent, the 400,000 private units (for a total purchase price of $4,000,000) from us. This purchase will take place on a private placement basis simultaneously with the consummation of this offering. Our sponsor has also agreed that if the over-allotment option is exercised by the underwriters in full or in part, it will purchase from us at a price of $10.00 per private unit an additional number of private units (up to a maximum of 45,000 private units) necessary to maintain in the trust account $10.05 per unit sold to the public in this offering. These additional private units will be purchased in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the purchase of units resulting from the exercise of the over-allotment option. The purchase price for the private units will be delivered to Graubard Miller, our counsel in connection with this offering, who will also be acting solely as escrow agent in connection with the private sale of private units, at least 24 hours prior to the closing of this offering. Graubard Miller will deposit the purchase price into the trust account simultaneously with the consummation of the offering. The private units are identical to the units sold in this offering except that the private warrants: (i) will not be redeemable by us and (ii) may be exercised for cash or on a cashless basis, as described in this prospectus, so long as they are held our sponsor or any of its permitted transferees, the private 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. Our sponsor has agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of the private units and underlying securities (except to certain permitted transferees) until after the completion of our initial business combination.

In order to meet our working capital needs following the consummation of this offering, our sponsor, officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion. Each loan would be evidenced by a promissory note. The notes would either be paid upon consummation of our initial business combination, without interest, or, at holder’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of the notes may be converted into units at a price of $10.00 per private unit. The units would be identical to the private units. Accordingly, if $1,500,000 of notes were converted, it would result in the holders being issued 165,000 shares of common stock (as the rights included in such units would result in the issuance of an additional 15,000 shares), as well as 150,000 warrants to purchase an additional 150,000 shares. 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, but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment.

The holders of our founders’ shares issued and outstanding on the date of this prospectus, as well as the holders of the private units and any units our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may be issued in payment of working capital loans made to us (and all underlying securities), will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to an agreement to be signed prior to or on the effective date of this offering. The holders of a majority of these securities are entitled to make up to two demands that we register such securities. The holders of the majority of the founders’ shares can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time commencing three months prior to the date on which these shares of common stock are to be released from escrow. The holders of a majority of the private units and units issued in payment of working capital loans made to us (or underlying securities) can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time after we consummate a business combination. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our consummation of a business combination. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

As of the date of this prospectus, our sponsor has loaned us an aggregate of $125,000 to cover expenses related to this offering. The loan will be payable without interest on the consummation of this offering. We intend to repay this loan from the proceeds of this offering not being placed in trust.

Our sponsor has agreed that, commencing on the effective date of this prospectus through the earlier of our consummation of our initial business combination or our liquidation, it will make available to us certain general and administrative services, including office space, utilities and administrative support, as we may require from time to time. We have agreed to pay our sponsor $10,000 per month for these services. We believe, based on rents and fees for similar services in the Minneapolis, Minnesota metropolitan area, that the fee charged by our sponsor is at least as favorable as we could have obtained from an unaffiliated person.

Other than the $10,000 per month administrative fee, no compensation or fees of any kind, including finder’s, consulting fees and other similar fees, will be paid to our sponsor, members of our management team or their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, such individuals will receive reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them in connection with activities on our behalf, such as identifying potential target businesses, performing business due diligence on suitable target businesses and business combinations as well as traveling to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses to examine their operations. There is no limit on the amount of out-of-pocket expenses reimbursable by us.

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 stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of a stockholder meeting held to consider an initial business combination, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation. In this event, such compensation will be publicly disclosed at the time of its determination in a Current Report on Form 8-K, as required by the SEC.

All ongoing and future transactions between us and any of our officers and directors or their respective affiliates will be on terms believed by us to be no less favorable to us than are available from unaffiliated third parties. Such transactions will require prior approval by a majority of our uninterested “independent” directors or the members of our board who do not have an interest in the transaction, in either case who had access, at our expense, to our attorneys or independent legal counsel. We will not enter into any such transaction unless our disinterested “independent” directors determine that the terms of such transaction are no less favorable to us than those that would be available to us with respect to such a transaction from unaffiliated third parties.

Related Party Policy

Our Code of Ethics requires us to avoid, wherever possible, all related party transactions that could result in actual or potential conflicts of interests, except under guidelines approved by the board of directors (or the audit committee). Related-party transactions are defined as transactions in which (1) the aggregate amount involved will or may be expected to exceed $120,000 in any calendar year, (2) we or any of our subsidiaries is a participant, and (3) any (a) executive officer, director or nominee for election as a director, (b) greater than 5% beneficial owner of our shares of common stock, or (c) immediate family member, of the persons referred to in clauses (a) and (b), has or will have a direct or indirect material interest (other than solely as a result of being a director or a less than 10% beneficial owner of another entity). A conflict of interest situation can arise when a person takes actions or has interests that may make it difficult to perform his or her work objectively and effectively. Conflicts of interest may also arise if a person, or a member of his or her family, receives improper personal benefits as a result of his or her position.

Our audit committee, pursuant to its written charter, will be responsible for reviewing and approving related-party transactions to the extent we enter into such transactions. The audit committee will consider all relevant factors when determining whether to approve a related party transaction, including whether the related party transaction is on terms no less favorable to us than terms generally available from an unaffiliated third-party under the same or similar circumstances and the extent of the related party’s interest in the transaction. No director may participate in the approval of any transaction in which he is a related party, but that director is required to provide the audit committee with all material information concerning the transaction. We also require each of our directors and executive officers to complete a directors’ and officers’ questionnaire that elicits information about related party transactions.

These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, employee or officer.

To further minimize conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with any of our sponsor, officers or directors including (i) an entity that is either a portfolio company of, or has otherwise received a material financial investment from, any private equity fund or investment company (or an affiliate thereof) that is affiliated with any of the foregoing, (ii) an entity in which any of the foregoing or their affiliates are currently passive investors, (iii) an entity in which any of the foregoing or their affiliates are currently officers or directors, or (iv) an entity in which any of the foregoing or their affiliates are currently invested through an investment vehicle controlled by them, unless we have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm, or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions on the type of target business we are seeking to acquire, and the approval of a majority of our disinterested independent directors that the business combination is fair to our unaffiliated stockholders from a financial point of view.

DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

General

As of the date of this prospectus, we will be authorized to issue 35,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001. As of the date of this prospectus, 3,450,000 shares of common stock are outstanding. No shares of preferred stock are currently outstanding. The following description summarizes the material terms of our securities. Because it is only a summary, it may not contain all the information that is important to you. For a complete description you should refer to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, bylaws and the form of warrant agreement, which are filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and to the applicable provisions of Delaware law.

Units

Each unit consists of one share of common stock, one right and one warrant. Each right entitles the holder thereof to receive one-tenth (1/10) of one share of common stock upon the consummation of an initial business combination. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of common stock. The shares of common stock, rights and warrants will begin to trade separately on the 90^th day after the date of this prospectus unless EarlyBirdCapital, Inc. informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, provided that in no event may the shares of common stock, rights 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 of this offering. Once the shares of common stock, rights and warrants commence separate trading, holders will have the option to continue to hold units or separate their units into the component pieces.

We will file a Current Report on Form 8-K which includes an audited balance sheet promptly upon the consummation of this offering. The audited balance sheet will reflect proceeds we receive from the exercise of the over-allotment option, if the over-allotment option is exercised on the date of this prospectus. If the over-allotment option is exercised after the date of this prospectus, we will file an amendment to the Form 8-K to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the over-allotment option. We will also include in this Form 8-K, an amendment thereto, or in a subsequent Form 8-K information indicating if EarlyBirdCapital, Inc. has allowed separate trading of the shares of common stock, rights and warrants prior to the 90^th day after the date of this prospectus.

Common Stock

Our stockholders of record are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by stockholders. In connection with any vote held to approve our initial business combination, our sponsor, as well as all of our officers and directors, have agreed to vote their respective shares of common stock owned by them immediately prior to this offering and any shares purchased in this offering or following this offering in the open market in favor of the proposed business combination.

We will consummate our initial business combination only if we have net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon such consummation and, solely if a vote is held to approve a business combination, a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination.

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 eligible to vote for the election of directors can elect all of the directors.

Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, if we do not consummate an initial business combination by 21 months from the closing of this offering, our corporate existence will cease except for the purposes of winding up our affairs and liquidating. If we are forced to liquidate prior to an initial business combination, our public stockholders are entitled to share ratably in the trust account, based on the amount then held in the trust account, and any assets remaining available for distribution to them. Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to waive their rights to participate in any liquidation distribution occurring upon our failure to consummate an initial business combination with respect to the founder’s common stock and private shares. Our sponsor, officers and directors will therefore not participate in any liquidation distribution with respect to such shares. They will, however, participate in any liquidation distribution with respect to any shares of common stock acquired in, or following, this offering.

Our stockholders have no conversion, preemptive or other subscription rights and there are no sinking fund or redemption provisions applicable to the shares of common stock, except that public stockholders have the right to sell their shares to us in a tender offer or have their shares of common stock converted to cash equal to their pro rata share of the trust account if they vote on the proposed business combination in connection with such business combination and the business combination is completed. Public stockholders who sell or convert their stock into their share of the trust account still have the right to exercise the warrants that they received as part of the units.

Preferred Stock

There are no shares of preferred stock outstanding. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock with such designation, rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by our board of directors. No shares of preferred stock are being issued or registered in this offering. Accordingly, our board of directors is empowered, without stockholder approval, to issue preferred stock with dividend, liquidation, conversion, voting or other rights which could adversely affect the voting power or other rights of the holders of common stock. However, the underwriting agreement prohibits us, prior to a business combination, from issuing preferred stock which participates in any manner in the proceeds of the trust account, or which votes as a class with the common stock on a business combination. We may issue some or all of the preferred stock to effect a business combination. In addition, the preferred stock could be utilized as a method of discouraging, delaying or preventing a change in control of us. Although we do not currently intend to issue any shares of preferred stock, we cannot assure you that we will not do so in the future.

Rights

Each holder of a right will receive one-tenth (1/10) of one share of common stock upon consummation of our initial business combination, even if the holder of such right redeemed all shares of common stock held by it in connection with the initial business combination. No additional consideration will be required to be paid by a holder of rights in order to receive its additional shares upon consummation of an initial business combination, as the consideration related thereto has been included in the unit purchase price paid for by investors in this offering. If we enter into a definitive agreement for a business combination in which we will not be the surviving entity, the definitive agreement will provide for the holders of rights to receive the same per share consideration the holders of the common stock will receive in the transaction on an as-converted into common stock basis, and each holder of a right will be required to affirmatively convert its rights in order to receive the 1/10 share underlying each right (without paying any additional consideration) upon consummation of the business combination. More specifically, the right holder will be required to indicate its election to convert the rights into underlying shares as well as to return the original rights certificates to us.

If we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the required time period and we liquidate the funds held in the trust account, holders of rights will not receive any such funds with respect to their rights, nor will they receive any distribution from our assets held outside of the trust account with respect to such rights, and the rights will expire worthless.

As soon as practicable upon the consummation of our initial business combination, we will direct registered holders of the rights to return their rights to our rights agent. Upon receipt of the rights, the rights agent will issue to the registered holder of such rights the number of full shares of common stock to which it is entitled. We will notify registered holders of the rights to deliver their rights to the rights agent promptly upon consummation of such business combination and have been informed by the rights agent that the process of exchanging their rights for shares of common stock should take no more than a matter of days. The foregoing exchange of rights is solely ministerial in nature and is not intended to provide us with any means of avoiding our obligation to issue the shares underlying the rights upon consummation of our initial business combination. Other than confirming that the rights delivered by a registered holder are valid, we will have no ability to avoid delivery of the shares underlying the rights. Nevertheless, there are no contractual penalties for failure to deliver securities to the holders of the rights upon consummation of an initial business combination. Additionally, in no event will we be required to net cash settle the rights.

The shares issuable upon exchange of the rights will be freely tradable (except to the extent held by affiliates of ours). We will not issue fractional shares upon exchange of the rights. If, upon exchange of the rights, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exchange, either round up to the nearest whole number the number of shares to be issued to the right holder or otherwise comply with Section 155 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (which provides that Delaware companies shall either (1) arrange for the disposition of fractional interests by those entitled thereto, (2) pay in cash the fair value of fractions of a share as of the time when those entitled to receive such fractions are determined or (3) issue scrip or warrants in registered form (either represented by a certificate or uncertificated) or in bearer form (represented by a certificate) which shall entitle the holder to receive a full share upon the surrender of such scrip or warrants aggregating a full share). We will make the determination of how we are treating fractional shares at the time of our initial business combination and will include such determination in the proxy materials we will send to stockholders for their consideration of such initial business combination.

Warrants

No warrants are currently outstanding. Each warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one share of common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as discussed below, at any time commencing on the later of 30 days after the completion of an initial business combination or 12 months from the closing of this offering. However, no warrants will be exercisable for cash unless we have an effective and current registration statement covering the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to such shares of common stock. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if a registration statement covering the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the public warrants is not effective within a specified period following the consummation of our initial business combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we shall have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis pursuant to the exemption provided by Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act, provided that such exemption is available. If that exemption, or another exemption, is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. In such event, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of shares of common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value”(defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” for this purpose will mean the average reported last sale price of the shares of common stock for the 5 trading days ending on the trading day prior to the date of exercise. The warrants will expire on the fifth anniversary of our completion of an initial business combination, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.

The private warrants, as well as any warrants underlying additional units we issue to our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates in payment of working capital loans made to us, will be identical to the warrants underlying the units being offered by this prospectus except that such warrants will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, at the holder’s option, and will not be redeemable by us, in each case so long as they are still held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.

We may call the warrants for redemption (excluding the private warrants and any warrants underlying additional units issued to our sponsor, officers or directors in payment of working capital loans made to us but including any outstanding warrants issued upon exercise of the unit purchase option issued to EarlyBirdCapital), in whole and not in part, at a price of $0.01 per warrant,

The right to exercise will be forfeited unless the warrants are exercised prior to the date specified in the notice of redemption. On and after the redemption date, a record holder of a warrant will have no further rights except to receive the redemption price for such holder’s warrant upon surrender of such warrant.

The redemption criteria for our warrants have been established at a price which is intended to provide warrant holders a reasonable premium to the initial exercise price and provide a sufficient differential between the then-prevailing share price and the warrant exercise price so that if the share price declines as a result of our redemption call, the redemption will not cause the share price to drop below the exercise price of the warrants.

If we call the warrants for redemption as described above, our management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise warrants to do so on a “cashless basis.” In such event, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of shares of common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the average reported last sale price of the shares of common stock for the 5 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of 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 any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval, by written consent or vote, of the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding warrants (including the private warrants) in order to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders.

The exercise price and number of shares of common stock issuable on exercise of the warrants may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a stock dividend, extraordinary dividend or our recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, the warrants will not be adjusted for issuances of shares of common stock at a price below their respective exercise prices.

The warrants may be exercised upon surrender of the warrant certificate on or prior to the expiration date at the offices of the warrant agent, with the exercise form on the reverse side of the warrant certificate completed and executed as indicated, accompanied by full payment of the exercise price, by certified or official bank check payable to us, for the number of warrants being exercised. The warrant holders do not have the rights or privileges of holders of shares of common stock and any voting rights until they exercise their warrants and receive shares of common stock. After the issuance of shares of common stock 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 stockholders.

Under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed to use our best efforts to have declared effective a prospectus relating to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and keep such prospectus current until the expiration of the warrants. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to do so and, if we do not maintain a current prospectus relating to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, holders will be unable to exercise their warrants for cash and we will not be required to net cash settle or cash settle the warrant exercise.

Warrant holders may elect to be subject to a restriction on the exercise of their warrants such that an electing warrant holder would not be able to exercise their warrants to the extent that, after giving effect to such exercise, such holder would beneficially own in excess of 9.8% of the shares of common stock outstanding.

No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the warrants. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round up to the nearest whole number the number of shares of common stock to be issued to the warrant holder.

Purchase Option

We have agreed to sell to EarlyBirdCapital (and/or its designees) an option to purchase up to 500,000 units at $11.50 per unit. The units issuable upon exercise of this option are identical to those offered by this prospectus. See “Underwriting.”

Dividends

We have not paid any cash dividends on our shares of common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of a 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 a business combination. The payment of any dividends subsequent to a business combination will be within the discretion of our then board of directors. It is the present intention of our board of directors to retain all earnings, if any, for use in our business operations and, accordingly, our board does not anticipate declaring any dividends in the foreseeable future.

Our Transfer Agent, Rights Agent and Warrant Agent

The transfer agent for our securities and rights agent for our rights and warrant agent for our warrants is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, 1 State Street Plaza, New York, New York 10004.

Listing of our Securities

We expect our units, common stock, rights and warrants to be quoted on Nasdaq under the symbols “BRACU,” “BRAC,” “BRACR” and “BRACW,” respectively. Our units have been approved for listing on Nasdaq on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. Following the date the shares of common stock, rights and warrants are eligible to trade separately, we anticipate that the shares of common stock, rights and warrants will be listed separately and as a unit on Nasdaq.

Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law and our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and By-Laws

Staggered board of directors

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our board of directors will be classified into three classes of directors of approximately equal size. 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 meetings.

Special meeting of stockholders

Our bylaws provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by a majority vote of our board of directors, by our president or by our chairman or by our secretary at the request in writing of stockholders owning a majority of our issued and outstanding capital stock entitled to vote.

Advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals and director nominations

Our bylaws provide that stockholders seeking to bring business before our annual meeting of stockholders, or to nominate candidates for election as directors at our annual meeting of stockholders must provide timely notice of their intent in writing. To be timely, a stockholder’s notice will need to be delivered to our principal executive offices not later than the close of business on the 60^th day nor earlier than the close of business on the 90^th day prior to the scheduled date of the annual meeting of stockholders. In the event that less than 70 days’ notice or prior public disclosure of the date of the annual meeting of stockholders is given, a stockholder’s notice shall be timely if delivered to our principal executive offices not later than the 10^th day following the day on which public announcement of the date of our annual meeting of stockholders is first made or sent by us. Our bylaws also specify certain requirements as to the form and content of a stockholders’ meeting. These provisions may preclude our stockholders from bringing matters before our annual meeting of stockholders or from making nominations for directors at our annual meeting of stockholders.

Authorized but unissued shares

Our authorized but unissued common stock and preferred stock are available for future issuances without stockholder 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 common stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.

Exclusive Forum Selection

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against directors, officers and employees for breach of fiduciary duty and other similar actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel. Although we believe this provision benefits our company by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.

Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Directors and Officers

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our directors and officers will be indemnified by us to the fullest extent authorized by Delaware law as it now exists or may in the future be amended. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our directors will not be personally liable for monetary damages to us for breaches of their fiduciary duty as directors, unless they violated their duty of loyalty to us or our stockholders, acted in bad faith, knowingly or intentionally violated the law, authorized unlawful payments of dividends, unlawful stock purchases or unlawful redemptions, or derived an improper personal benefit from their actions as directors.

Our bylaws also will permit us to secure insurance on behalf of any officer, director or employee for any liability arising out of his or her actions, regardless of whether Delaware law would permit indemnification. We will purchase a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our directors and officers against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify the directors and officers.

These provisions may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against directors and officers, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers 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 directors and officers.

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to our directors, officers and controlling persons pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, we have been advised that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable.

SHARES ELIGIBLE FOR FUTURE SALE

Immediately after this offering, we will have 15,400,000 shares of common stock outstanding, or 17,695,000 shares if the over-allotment option is exercised in full (in each case, excluding shares underlying rights to be sold in this offering). Of these shares, the 12,000,000 shares sold in this offering, or 13,800,000 shares if the over-allotment option is exercised in full, will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, except for any shares purchased by one of our affiliates within the meaning of Rule 144 under the Securities Act. All of the remaining shares are restricted securities under Rule 144, in that they were issued in private transactions not involving a public offering. All of those shares have been placed in escrow and will not be transferable until they are released except in limited circumstances described elsewhere in this prospectus.

Rule 144

A person who has beneficially owned restricted shares of common stock, rights 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. Persons who have beneficially owned restricted shares of common stock for at least six months but who are our affiliates at the time of, or 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 a number of shares that does not exceed the greater of either of the following:

Sales 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

Historically, the SEC staff had taken the position that Rule 144 is not available for the resale of securities initially issued by companies that are, or previously were, blank check companies, like us. The SEC has codified and expanded this position in the amendments discussed above by prohibiting the use of Rule 144 for resale of securities issued by any shell companies (other than business combination related shell companies) or any issuer that has been at any time previously a shell company. The SEC has provided an important exception to this prohibition, however, if the following conditions are met:

As a result, it is likely that pursuant to Rule 144, our sponsor will be able to sell its founders’ shares freely without registration one year after we have completed our initial business combination assuming it is not an affiliate of ours at that time.

Registration Rights

The holders of our founders’ shares issued and outstanding on the date of this prospectus, as well as the holders of the private units and any units our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may be issued in payment of working capital loans made to us (and all underlying securities), will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to an agreement to be signed prior to or on the effective date of this offering. The holders of a majority of these securities are entitled to make up to two demands that we register such securities. The holders of the majority of the founders’ shares can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time commencing three months prior to the date on which these shares of common stock are to be released from escrow. The holders of a majority of the private units and units issued to our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates in payment of working capital loans made to us (or underlying securities) can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time after we consummate a business combination. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our consummation of a business combination. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

MATERIAL U.S. FEDERAL TAX CONSIDERATIONS

The following are the material U.S. federal income and estate tax considerations with respect to your ownership and disposition of our units or components thereof, which we refer to collectively as our securities, assuming you purchase the securities in this offering and will hold them as capital assets within the meaning of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

This discussion does not address all of the U.S. federal income and estate tax considerations that may be relevant to you in light of your particular circumstances, and it does not describe all of the tax consequences that may be relevant to persons subject to special rules, such as:

The following does not discuss any aspect of state, local or non-U.S. taxation. This discussion is based on current provisions of the Code, Treasury regulations, judicial opinions, published positions of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and all other applicable authorities, all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect.

If an entity that is treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes holds our securities, the tax treatment of a partner will generally depend on the status of the partner and the activities of the entity. If you are a partner in such an entity, you should consult your tax advisor.

WE URGE PROSPECTIVE INVESTORS TO CONSULT THEIR TAX ADVISORS REGARDING THE U.S. FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND NON-U.S. INCOME, ESTATE AND OTHER TAX CONSIDERATIONS WITH RESPECT TO ACQUIRING, HOLDING AND DISPOSING OF OUR SECURITIES.

Each unit will be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as an investment unit consisting of one share of our common stock and one half of a warrant to acquire one share of our common stock, subject to adjustment. In determining your basis for the common stock and one half warrant composing a unit, you should allocate your purchase price for the unit between the components on the basis of their relative fair market values at the time of issuance.

Personal Holding Company Status

We could be subject to United States federal income tax at rates in excess of those generally applicable to corporations on a portion of our income if we are determined to be a personal holding company, or PHC, for United States federal income tax purposes. A U.S. corporation will generally be classified as a PHC for United States federal income tax purposes in a given taxable year if (i) at any time during the last half of such taxable year, five or fewer individuals (without regard to their citizenship or residency and including as individuals for this purpose certain entities such as certain tax-exempt organizations, pension funds, and charitable trusts) own or are deemed to own (pursuant to certain constructive ownership rules) more than 50% of the stock of the corporation by value and (ii) at least 60% of the corporation’s adjusted ordinary gross income, as determined for United States federal income tax purposes, for such taxable year consists of PHC income (which includes, among other things, dividends, interest, certain royalties, annuities and, under certain circumstances, rents).

Depending on the date and size of our initial business combination, it is possible that at least 60% of our adjusted ordinary gross income may consist of PHC income as discussed above. In addition, depending on the concentration of our stock in the hands of individuals, including the members of our sponsor and certain tax-exempt organizations, pension funds, and charitable trusts, it is possible that more than 50% of our stock will be owned or deemed owned (pursuant to the constructive ownership rules) by such persons during the last half of a taxable year. Thus, no assurance can be given that we will not become a PHC following this offering or in the future. If we are or were to become a PHC in a given taxable year, we would be subject to an additional PHC tax, currently 20%, on our undistributed taxable income, subject to certain adjustments.

U.S. Holders

This section is addressed to U.S. holders of our securities. For purposes of this discussion, you are a “U.S. holder” if you are a beneficial owner of a security that is:

Dividends and Distributions

As discussed under “Dividend Policy” above, we do not anticipate that any dividends will be paid in the foreseeable future. In the event that we do make distributions on our common stock, such distributions generally will be treated as dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent of our current or accumulated earnings and profits. Distributions in excess of our current or accumulated earnings and profits generally will first reduce your basis in the common stock (but not below zero) and then will be treated as gain realized on the sale or other disposition of the common stock (as described in the first paragraph under “— Sale or Other Disposition or Conversion of Common Stock” below).

The conversion feature of the common stock described under “Proposed Business — Effecting a Business Combination — Conversion Rights” may be viewed as a position with respect to substantially similar or related property which diminishes your risk of loss and thereby affects your ability to satisfy the holding period requirements for the dividends received deduction or the preferential tax rate on qualified dividend income with respect to the time period prior to the approval of an initial business combination.

Sale or Other Disposition or Conversion of Common Stock

Gain or loss you realize on the sale or other disposition of our common stock (other than conversion into cash but including a liquidation in the event we do not consummate a business combination within the required time) will be capital gain or loss. The amount of your gain or loss will be equal to the difference between your tax basis in the common stock disposed of and the amount realized on the disposition. The deductibility of capital losses is subject to limitations. Any capital gain or loss you realize on a sale or other disposition of our common stock will generally be long-term capital gain or loss if your holding period for the common stock is more than one year. However, the conversion feature of the common stock described under “Proposed Business — Effecting a Business Combination — Conversion Rights” could affect your ability to satisfy the holding period requirements for the long-term capital gain tax rate with respect to the time period prior to the approval of an initial business combination.

If you convert your common stock into a right to receive cash as described in “Proposed Business — Effecting a Business Combination — Conversion Rights,” the conversion generally will be treated as a sale of common stock described in the preceding paragraph (rather than as a dividend or distribution). The conversion will, however, be treated as a dividend or distribution and taxed as described in “— Dividends and Distributions” above if your percentage ownership in us (including shares that you are deemed to own under certain attribution rules, such as the shares into which the warrants are exercisable) after the conversion is not meaningfully reduced from what your percentage ownership was prior to the conversion. If you have a relatively minimal stock interest and, taking into account the effect of conversion by other stockholders, your percentage ownership in us is reduced as a result of the conversion, you may be regarded as having suffered a meaningful reduction in interest. For example, the IRS has ruled that any reduction in the stockholder’s proportionate interest will constitute a “meaningful reduction” in a transaction in which a holder held less than 1% of the shares of a corporation and did not have management control over the corporation. You should consult your own tax advisor as to whether conversion of your common stock will be treated as a sale or as a dividend under the Code and, if you actually or constructively own 5% (or, if our stock is not then publicly traded, 1%) or more of our common stock before conversion, whether you are subject to special reporting requirements with respect to such conversion.

Sale or Other Disposition, Exercise or Expiration of Warrants or Rights

Upon the sale or other disposition of a warrant (other than by exercise) or our rights, you will generally recognize capital gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized on the sale or other disposition and your tax basis in the warrant or right (as the case may be). This capital gain or loss will be long-term capital gain or loss if, at the time of the sale or other disposition, the warrant or right has been held by you for more than one year. The deductibility of capital losses is subject to limitations.

With respect to the warrants, in general, you will not be required to recognize income, gain or loss upon exercise of a warrant for its exercise price. Your basis in a share of common stock received upon exercise will be equal to the sum of (1) your basis in the warrant and (2) the exercise price of the warrant. Your holding period in the shares received upon exercise will commence on the day after you exercise the warrants. Although there is no direct legal authority as to the U.S. federal income tax treatment of an exercise of a warrant on a cashless basis, we intend to take the position that such exercise will not be taxable, either because the exercise is not a gain realization event or because it qualifies as a tax-free recapitalization. In the former case, the holding period of the common stock should commence on the day after the warrant is exercised. In the latter case, the holding period of the common stock would include the holding period of the exercised warrants. However, our position is not binding on the IRS and the IRS may treat a cashless exercise of a warrant as a taxable exchange. You are urged to consult your own tax advisor as to the consequences of an exercise of a warrant on a cashless basis.

If a warrant expires without being exercised, you will recognize a capital loss in an amount equal to your basis in the warrant. Such loss will be long-term capital loss if, at the time of the expiration, the warrant has been held by you for more than one year. The deductibility of capital losses is subject to limitations.

With respect to the rights, in general, you should not recognize gain or loss upon the acquisition of common stock pursuant to the rights. The tax basis of common stock acquired pursuant to the rights should be equal to your tax basis in such rights. The holding period of such common stock should begin on the day after the receipt of such common stock pursuant to such rights. The tax treatment of a right that expires worthless is unclear. Holders of rights should consult their own tax advisors regarding the tax treatment of any losses that result if the rights expire worthless.

Constructive Dividends on Warrants

As discussed under “Dividend Policy” above, we do not anticipate that any dividends will be paid in the foreseeable future. If at any time during the period you hold warrants, however, we were to pay a taxable dividend to our stockholders and, in accordance with the anti-dilution provisions of the warrants, the conversion rate of the warrants were increased, that increase would be deemed to be the payment of a taxable dividend to you to the extent of our earnings and profits, notwithstanding the fact that you will not receive a cash payment. If the conversion rate is adjusted in certain other circumstances (or in certain circumstances, there is a failure to make adjustments), such adjustments may also result in the deemed payment of a taxable dividend to you. You should consult your tax advisor regarding the proper treatment of any adjustments to the warrants.

Unearned Income Medicare Tax

A 3.8% Medicare contribution tax will generally apply to all or some portion of the net investment income of a U.S. holder that is an individual with adjusted gross income that exceeds a threshold amount ($250,000 if married filing jointly or if considered a “surviving spouse” for federal income tax purposes, $125,000 if married filing separately, and $200,000 in other cases). This 3.8% tax will also apply to all or some portion of the undistributed net investment income of certain U.S. holders that are estates and trusts. For these purposes, dividends and gains from the taxable dispositions of the common stock, rights and warrants will generally be taken into account in computing such a U.S. holder’s net investment income.

Information Reporting and Backup Withholding

Information returns may be filed with the IRS with respect to dividends or other distributions we may pay to you and proceeds from the sale of your shares of common stock, rights or warrants. You will be subject to backup withholding on these payments if you fail to provide your taxpayer identification number to the paying agent and comply with certain certification procedures or otherwise establish an exemption from backup withholding. Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Any amounts withheld with respect to your shares of common stock, rights or warrants under the backup withholding rules will be refunded to you or credited against your United States federal income tax liability, if any, by the IRS provided that certain required information is furnished to the IRS in a timely manner.

Non-U.S. Holders

This section is addressed to non-U.S. holders of the securities. For purposes of this discussion, a “non-U.S. holder” is a beneficial owner of a security (other than an entity treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) that is not a U.S. holder.

Dividends and Distributions

As discussed under “Dividend Policy” above, we do not anticipate that any dividends will be paid in the foreseeable future. If, however, we were to pay taxable dividends to you with respect to your shares of common stock (including any deemed distributions treated as a dividend on the warrants, as described in “— Constructive Dividends on Warrants” below), those dividends would generally be subject to United States withholding tax at a rate of 30% of the gross amount, unless you are eligible for a reduced rate of withholding tax under an applicable income tax treaty and you provide proper certification of your eligibility for such reduced rate (usually on an IRS Form W-8BEN or Form W-8BEN-E). A distribution generally will constitute a dividend for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent of our current or accumulated earnings and profits as determined under the Code. Any distribution not constituting a dividend generally will be treated first as reducing your basis in your shares of common stock and, to the extent it exceeds your basis, as gain from the disposition of your shares of common stock treated as described under “Sale or Other Disposition of Common Stock or Warrants” below. The full amount of any distributions to you may, however, be subject to United States withholding tax unless the applicable withholding agent elects to withhold a lesser amount based on a reasonable estimate of the amount of the distribution that would be treated as a dividend. In addition, if we determine that we are likely to be classified as a “United States real property holding corporation”(see “Sale or Other Disposition of Common Stock or Warrants” below), we will withhold at least 10% of any distribution that exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits as provided by the Code.

Dividends we pay to you that are effectively connected with your conduct of a trade or business within the United States (and, if certain income tax treaties apply, are attributable to a United States permanent establishment maintained by you) generally will not be subject to United States withholding tax if you comply with applicable certification and disclosure requirements (usually by providing an IRS Form W-8ECI). Instead, such dividends generally will be subject to United States federal income tax, net of certain deductions, at the same graduated individual or corporate rates applicable to United States persons. If you are a corporation, effectively connected income may also be subject to a “branch profits tax” at a rate of 30% (or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty).

Exercise of Warrants

You generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the exercise of the warrants into shares of common stock. However, if a cashless exercise of warrants results in a taxable exchange, as described in “— U.S. Holders — Sale or Other Disposition, Exercise or Expiration of Warrants,” the rules described below under “Sale or Other Disposition of Common Stock or Warrants” would apply.

Sale or Other Disposition of Common Stock, Rights or Warrants

You generally will not be subject to United States federal income tax on any gain realized upon the sale, exchange or other disposition of our common stock (which would include a dissolution and liquidation in the event we do not consummate an initial business combination within the required timeframe), rights or warrants (including an expiration or redemption of our warrants), unless:

Gain that is effectively connected with your conduct of a trade or business within the United States generally will be subject to United States federal income tax, net of certain deductions, at the same rates applicable to United States persons. If you are a corporation, the branch profits tax also may apply to such effectively connected gain. If the gain from the sale or disposition of your shares of common stock, rights or warrants is effectively connected with your conduct of a trade or business in the United States but under an applicable income tax treaty is not attributable to a permanent establishment you maintain in the United States, your gain may be exempt from United States tax under the treaty. If you are described in the second bullet point above, you generally will be subject to United States federal income tax at a rate of 30% on the gain realized, although the gain may be offset by some United States source capital losses realized during the same taxable year. If you are described in the third bullet point above, gain recognized by you on the sale, exchange or other disposition of shares of common stock or warrants will be subject to U.S. federal income tax on a net income basis at normal graduated U.S. federal income tax rates. In addition, a buyer of your shares of common stock, rights or warrants may be required to withhold United States income tax at a rate of 10% of the amount realized upon such disposition.

If you convert your common stock into a right to receive cash as described in “Proposed Business — Effecting a Business Combination — Conversion Rights,” the conversion generally will be treated as a sale of common stock rather than as a dividend or distribution. The conversion will, however, be treated as a dividend or distribution and taxed as described in “Dividends and Distributions” if your percentage ownership in us (including shares that you are deemed to own under certain attribution rules, such as the shares into which the warrants are exercisable) after the conversion is not meaningfully reduced from what your percentage ownership was prior to the conversion. See the discussion in “— U.S. Holders — Sale or Other Disposition or Conversion of Common Stock.” You should consult your own tax advisor as to whether conversion of your common stock will be treated as a sale or as a dividend under the Code.

Constructive Dividends on Warrants

As discussed under “Dividend Policy” above, we do not anticipate that any dividends will be paid in the foreseeable future. If at any time during the period you hold warrants, however, we were to pay a taxable dividend to our stockholders and, in accordance with the anti-dilution provisions of the warrants, the conversion rate of the warrants were increased, that increase would be deemed to be the payment of a taxable dividend to you to the extent of our earnings and profits, notwithstanding the fact that you will not receive a cash payment. If the conversion rate is adjusted in certain other circumstances (or in certain circumstances, there is a failure to make adjustments), such adjustments may also result in the deemed payment of a taxable dividend to you. Any resulting withholding tax attributable to deemed dividends would be collected from other amounts payable or distributable to you. You should consult your tax advisor regarding the proper treatment of any adjustments to the warrants.

Information Reporting and Backup Withholding

We must report annually to the IRS the amount of dividends or other distributions we may pay to you on your shares of common stock and the amount of tax we withhold on any such distributions regardless of whether withholding is required. The IRS may make copies of the information returns reporting those dividends and amounts withheld available to the tax authorities in the country in which you reside pursuant to the provisions of an applicable income tax treaty or exchange of information treaty.

The United States imposes backup withholding on dividends and certain other types of payments to United States persons. You will not be subject to backup withholding on dividends you receive on your shares of common stock if you provide proper certification (usually on an IRS Form W-8BEN or Form W-8BEN-E) of your status as a non-United States person or you are a corporation or one of several types of entities and organizations that qualify for exemption (an “exempt recipient”).

Information reporting and backup withholding generally are not required with respect to the amount of any proceeds from the sale of your shares of common stock, rights or warrants outside the United States through a foreign office of a foreign broker that does not have certain specified connections to the United States. However, if you sell your shares of common stock, rights or warrants through a United States broker or the United States office of a foreign broker, the broker will be required to report to the IRS the amount of proceeds paid to you unless you provide appropriate certification (usually on an IRS Form W-8BEN or Form W-8BEN-E) to the broker of your status as a non-United States person or you are an exempt recipient. Information reporting also would apply if you sell your shares of common stock, rights or warrants through a foreign broker deriving more than a specified percentage of its income from United States sources or having certain other connections to the United States.

Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Any amounts withheld with respect to your shares of common stock, rights or warrants under the backup withholding rules will be refunded to you or credited against your United States federal income tax liability, if any, by the IRS provided that certain required information is furnished to the IRS in a timely manner.

Estate Tax

Common stock owned or treated as owned by an individual who is not a citizen or resident (as defined for United States federal estate tax purposes) of the United States at the time of his or her death, or by an entity the property of which is potentially includible in such an individual’s gross estate, will be included in the individual’s gross estate for United States federal estate tax purposes and therefore may be subject to United States federal estate tax unless an applicable estate tax treaty provides otherwise. The foregoing may also apply to rights or warrants.

Unearned Income Medicare Tax

If you are a foreign estate or trust, you may be subject to the Medicare contribution tax described under “U.S. Holders — Unearned Income Medicare Tax” above. Non-U.S. holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the possible implications of the Medicare contribution tax on their investments in the units.

FATCA

A 30% withholding tax will be imposed on payments to certain foreign entities of U.S.-source dividends and the gross proceeds of dispositions of stock (including our securities) that can produce U.S.-source dividends, unless various U.S. information reporting and due diligence requirements (generally relating to ownership by U.S. persons of interests in or accounts with those entities) have been satisfied or an exemption has otherwise been established. This withholding tax will not apply, however, to payments of gross proceeds from dispositions of stock before January 1, 2017. Potential investors should consult their tax advisors regarding the possible implications of this withholding tax on their investment in the units.

UNDERWRITING

We are offering the units described in this prospectus through the underwriters named below. EarlyBirdCapital, Inc. is acting as representative of the underwriters. We have entered into an underwriting agreement with the representative. Subject to the terms and conditions of the underwriting agreement, the underwriters have agreed to purchase, and we have agreed to sell to the underwriters, the number of units listed next to each of its name in the following table:

The underwriting agreement provides that the underwriters must buy all of the units if they buy any of them. However, the underwriters are not required to purchase the units covered by the option to purchase additional units as described below.

Our units are offered subject to a number of conditions, including:

In connection with this offering, the underwriters or securities dealers may distribute prospectuses electronically.

Option To Purchase Additional Units

We have granted the underwriters an option to buy up to an aggregate of 1,800,000 additional units. The underwriters have 45 days from the date of this prospectus to exercise this option. If the underwriters exercise this option, they will purchase additional units approximately in proportion to the amounts specified in the table above.

Underwriting Discount

Units sold by the underwriters to the public will initially be offered at the initial offering price set forth on the cover of this prospectus. Any units sold by the underwriters to securities dealers may be sold at a discount of up to $0.12 per unit from the initial public offering price and the dealers may reallow a concession not in excess of $0.01 per unit to other dealers. Sales of units made outside of the United States may be made by affiliates of the underwriters. If all the units are not sold at the initial public offering price, the representative may change the offering price and the other selling terms. Upon execution of the underwriting agreement, the underwriters will be obligated to purchase the units at the prices and upon the terms stated therein.

The following table shows the per unit and total underwriting discount we will pay to the underwriters assuming both no exercise and full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase up to 1,800,000 additional units.

We estimate that the total expenses of the offering payable by us, not including the underwriting discount, will be approximately $500,000. In addition, we have agreed to pay for the FINRA-related fees and expenses of the underwriters’ legal counsel, not to exceed $15,000, the expenses of transaction “bibles” and lucite cube “mementos,” not to exceed $3,000, and the expenses of investigations and background checks, not to exceed $24,500. We have paid EarlyBirdCapital $25,000 as an advance against its actual out-of-pocket expenses. To the extent that the out-of-pocket expenses are less than this advance, EarlyBirdCapital will refund the excess to us.

Indemnification

We have agreed to indemnify the underwriter against certain liabilities, including certain liabilities under the Securities Act. If we are unable to provide this indemnification, we have agreed to contribute to payments the underwriter may be required to make in respect of those liabilities.

NASDAQ Listing

Our units have been approved for listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “BRACU” and, once the common stock, rights and warrants begin separate trading, to be listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “BRAC,” “BRACR” and “BRACW,” respectively.

Business Combination Marketing Agreement

We have engaged EarlyBirdCapital as an advisor in connection with our business combination to assist us in holding meetings with our shareholders to discuss the potential business combination and the target business’ attributes, introduce us to potential investors that are interested in purchasing our securities, assist us in obtaining shareholder approval for the business combination and assist us with our press releases and public filings in connection with the business combination. We will pay EarlyBirdCapital a cash fee for such services upon the consummation of our initial business combination in an amount equal to 3.5% of the gross proceeds of this offering (exclusive of any applicable finders’ fees which might become payable).

Purchase Option

We have agreed to sell to EarlyBirdCapital (and/or its designees), for $100, an option to purchase up to a total of 600,000 units exercisable at $11.50 per unit (or an aggregate exercise price of $6,900,000) upon the closing of this offering. The purchase option may be exercised for cash or on a cashless basis, at the holder’s option, at any time during the period commencing on the later of the first anniversary of the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part and the closing of our initial business combination and terminating on the fifth anniversary of such effectiveness date. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, EarlyBirdCapital has agreed that neither it nor its designees will be permitted to exercise the option or the warrants underlying the option after the five year anniversary of the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. The option and such units purchased pursuant to the option, as well as the shares of common stock underlying such units, the warrants included in such units and the shares of common stock that are issuable for the warrants included in such units have been deemed compensation by FINRA and are therefore subject to a lock-up for a period of 180 days immediately following the date of the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part pursuant to Rule 5110(g)(1) of FINRA’s NASD Conduct Rules. Pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110(g)(1), these securities will not be the subject of any hedging, short sale, derivative, put or call transaction that would result in the economic disposition of the securities by any person for a period of 180 days immediately following the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, nor may they be sold, transferred, assigned, pledged or hypothecated for a period of 180 days immediately following the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part except to any underwriter and selected dealer participating in the offering and their bona fide officers or partners. The option grants to holders demand and “piggy back” rights for periods of five and seven years, respectively, from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part with respect to the registration under the Securities Act of the securities directly and indirectly issuable upon exercise of the option. We will bear all fees and expenses attendant to registering the securities, other than underwriting commissions, which will be paid for by the holders themselves. The exercise price and number of units issuable upon exercise of the option may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a stock dividend, or our recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, the option will not be adjusted for issuances of shares of common stock at a price below its exercise price. We will have no obligation to net cash settle the exercise of the purchase option or the rights or warrants underlying the purchase option. The holder of the purchase option will not be entitled to exercise the purchase option or the rights or warrants underlying the purchase option unless a registration statement covering the securities underlying the purchase option is effective or an exemption from registration is available. If the holder is unable to exercise the purchase option or underlying rights or warrants, the purchase option, rights or warrants, as applicable, will expire worthless.

The exercise price and number of units issuable upon exercise of the option (and the underlying securities) may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a stock dividend, or our recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, the option will not be adjusted for issuances of shares of common stock at a price below its exercise price.

Price Stabilization, Short Positions

In connection with this offering, the underwriters may engage in activities that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the price of units during and after this offering, including:

Stabilizing transactions consist of bids or purchases made for the purpose of preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of our units while this offering is in progress. Stabilization transactions permit bids to purchase the underlying security so long as the stabilizing bids do not exceed a specified maximum. These transactions may also include making short sales of our units, which involve the sale by the underwriters of a greater number of units than they are required to purchase in this offering and purchasing units on the open market to cover short positions created by short sales. Short sales may be “covered short sales,” which are short positions in an amount not greater than the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units referred to above, or may be “naked short sales,” which are short positions in excess of that amount.

The underwriters may close out any covered short position by either exercising their option, in whole or in part, or by purchasing units in the open market. In making this determination, 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.

Naked short sales are short sales made in excess of the over-allotment option. The underwriters must close out any naked short position by purchasing units in the open market. A naked short position is more likely to be created if the underwriters are concerned that there may be downward pressure on the price of the units in the open market that could adversely affect investors who purchased in this offering.

The underwriters also may impose a penalty bid. This occurs when a particular underwriter repays to the representative of the underwriters a portion of the underwriting discount received by it because the representative has repurchased units sold by or for the account of that underwriter in stabilizing or short covering transactions.

These stabilizing transactions, short sales, purchases to cover positions created by short sales, the imposition of penalty bids and syndicate covering transactions 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 our units. As a result of these activities, the price of our units may be higher than the price that otherwise might exist in the open market. The underwriters may carry out these transactions on the Nasdaq, in the over-the-counter market or otherwise. Neither we nor the underwriters make any representation or prediction as to the effect that the transactions described above may have on the price of the units. Neither we, nor the underwriters, make any representation that the underwriter will engage in these stabilization transactions or that any transaction, once commenced, will not be discontinued without notice.

Determination of Offering Price

Prior to this offering, there was no public market for our units. The initial public offering price will be determined by negotiation between us and the representative of the underwriters. The principal factors to be considered in determining the initial public offering price include:

The estimated public offering price range set forth on the cover page of this preliminary prospectus is subject to change as a result of market conditions and other factors. Neither we nor the underwriters can assure investors that an active trading market will develop for our units, warrants or common stock or that the units will trade in the public market at or above the initial public offering price.

Affiliations

EarlyBirdCapital and its affiliates are full service financial institutions engaged in various activities, which may include securities trading, commercial and investment banking, financial advisory, investment management, investment research, principal investment, hedging, financing and brokerage activities. EarlyBirdCapital and its affiliates may from time to time in the future engage with us and perform services for us or in the ordinary course of their business for which they will receive customary fees and expenses. In the ordinary course of their various business activities, the underwriters and their respective affiliates may also 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, and such investment and securities activities may involve securities and/or instruments of us. The underwriters and its affiliates may also make investment recommendations and/or publish or express independent research views in respect of these securities or instruments and may at any time hold, or recommend to clients that they acquire, long and/or short positions in these securities and instruments.

Additional Future Arrangements

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, 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 underwriter and no fees for such services will be paid to any underwriter prior to the date that is 90 days from the date of this prospectus, unless FINRA determines that such payment would not be deemed underwriter’s compensation in connection with this offering.

Electronic Distribution

A prospectus in electronic format may be made available on the Internet sites or through other online services maintained by the underwriters participating in this offering, or by their affiliates. In those cases, prospective investors may view offering terms online and, depending upon the particular underwriter, prospective investors may be allowed to place orders online. The underwriters may agree with us to allocate a specific number of units for sale to online brokerage account holders. Any such allocation for online distributions will be made by the underwriters on the same basis as other allocations. Other than the prospectus in electronic format, the information on any underwriter’s website and any information contained in any other website maintained by an underwriter is not part of the prospectus or the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, has not been approved and/or endorsed by us or any underwriter in its capacity as underwriter and should not be relied upon by investors.

Selling Restrictions

Canada

Resale Restrictions

We intend to distribute our securities in the Province of Ontario, Canada (the “Canadian Offering Jurisdiction”) by way of a private placement and exempt from the requirement that we prepare and file a prospectus with the securities regulatory authorities in such Canadian Offering Jurisdiction. Any resale of our securities in Canada must be made under applicable securities laws that will 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. Canadian resale restrictions in some circumstances may apply to resales of interests made outside of Canada. Canadian purchasers are advised to seek legal advice prior to any resale of our securities. We may never be a “reporting issuer”, as such term is defined under applicable Canadian securities legislation, in any province or territory of Canada in which our securities will be offered and there currently is no public market for any of the securities in Canada, and one may never develop. Canadian investors are advised that we have no intention to file a prospectus or similar document with any securities regulatory authority in Canada qualifying the resale of the securities to the public in any province or territory in Canada.

Representations of Purchasers

A Canadian purchaser will be required to represent to us and the dealer from whom the purchase confirmation is received that:

Rights of Action — Ontario Purchasers Only

Under Ontario securities legislation, certain purchasers who purchase a security offered by this prospectus during the period of distribution will have a statutory right of action for damages, or while still the owner of our securities, for rescission against us in the event that this prospectus contains a misrepresentation without regard to whether the purchaser relied on the misrepresentation. The right of action for damages is exercisable not later than the earlier of 180 days from the date the purchaser first had knowledge of the facts giving rise to the cause of action and three years from the date on which payment is made for our securities. The right of action for rescission is exercisable not later than 180 days from the date on which payment is made for our securities. If a purchaser elects to exercise the right of action for rescission, the purchaser will have no right of action for damages against us. In no case will the amount recoverable in any action exceed the price at which our securities were offered to the purchaser and if the purchaser is shown to have purchased the securities with knowledge of the misrepresentation, we will have no liability. In the case of an action for damages, we will not be liable for all or any portion of the damages that are proven to not represent the depreciation in value of our securities as a result of the misrepresentation relied upon. These rights are in addition to, and without derogation from, any other rights or remedies available at law to an Ontario purchaser. The foregoing is a summary of the rights available to an Ontario purchaser. Ontario purchasers should refer to the complete text of the relevant statutory provisions.

Enforcement of Legal Rights

All of our directors and officers as well as the experts named herein are 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 of our assets and the assets of those persons are 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.

Collection of Personal Information

If a Canadian purchaser is resident in or otherwise subject to the securities laws of the Province of Ontario, the Purchaser authorizes the indirect collection of personal information pertaining to the Canadian purchaser by the Ontario Securities Commission (the “OSC”) and each Canadian purchaser will be required to acknowledge and agree that the Canadian purchaser has been notified by us (i) of the delivery to the OSC of personal information pertaining to the Canadian purchaser, including, without limitation, the full name, residential address and telephone number of the Canadian purchaser, the number and type of securities purchased and the total purchase price paid in respect of the securities, (ii) that this information is being collected indirectly by the OSC under the authority granted to it in securities legislation, (iii) that this information is being collected for the purposes of the administration and enforcement of the securities legislation of Ontario, and (iv) that the title, business address and business telephone number of the public official in Ontario who can answer questions about the OSC’s indirect collection of the information is the Administrative Assistant to the Director of Corporate Finance, the Ontario Securities Commission, Suite 1903, Box 5520, Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 3S8, Telephone: (416) 593-8086, Facsimile: (416) 593-8252.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Australia

No placement document, prospectus, product disclosure statement or other disclosure document has been lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (“ASIC”), in relation to the offering. This prospectus does not constitute a prospectus, product disclosure statement or other disclosure document under the Corporations Act 2001 (the “Corporations Act”), and does not purport to include the information required for a prospectus, product disclosure statement or other disclosure document under the Corporations Act.

Any offer in Australia of the shares may only be made to persons (the “Exempt Investors”) who are “sophisticated investors” (within the meaning of section 708(8) of the Corporations Act), “professional investors” (within the meaning of section 708(11) of the Corporations Act) or otherwise pursuant to one or more exemptions contained in section 708 of the Corporations Act so that it is lawful to offer the shares without disclosure to investors under Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act.

The shares applied for by Exempt Investors in Australia must not be offered for sale in Australia in the period of 12 months after the date of allotment under the offering, except in circumstances where disclosure to investors under Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act would not be required pursuant to an exemption under section 708 of the Corporations Act or otherwise or where the offer is pursuant to a disclosure document which complies with Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act. Any person acquiring shares must observe such Australian on-sale restrictions.

This prospectus contains general information only and does not take account of the investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any particular person. It does not contain any securities recommendations or financial product advice. Before making an investment decision, investors need to consider whether the information in this prospectus is appropriate to their needs, objectives and circumstances, and, if necessary, seek expert advice on those matters.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the Dubai International Financial Centre

This prospectus relates to an Exempt Offer in accordance with the Offered Securities Rules of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (“DFSA”). This prospectus is intended for distribution only to persons of a type specified in the Offered Securities Rules of the DFSA. It must not be delivered to, or relied on by, any other person. The DFSA has no responsibility for reviewing or verifying any documents in connection with Exempt Offers. The DFSA has not approved this prospectus nor taken steps to verify the information set forth herein and has no responsibility for the prospectus. The shares to which this prospectus relates may be illiquid and/or subject to restrictions on their resale. Prospective purchasers of the shares offered should conduct their own due diligence on the shares. If you do not understand the contents of this prospectus you should consult an authorized financial advisor.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the European Economic Area

In relation to each member state of the European Economic Area that has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a “relevant member state”), with effect from and including the date on which the Prospectus Directive is implemented in that relevant member state (the “relevant implementation date”), an offer of units described in this prospectus may not be made to the public in that relevant member state prior to the publication of a prospectus in relation to the units that has been approved by the competent authority in that relevant member state or, where appropriate, approved in another relevant member state and notified to the competent authority in that relevant member state, all in accordance with the Prospectus Directive, except that, with effect from and including the relevant implementation date, an offer of our units may be made to the public in that relevant member state at any time:

Each purchaser of units described in this prospectus located within a relevant member state will be deemed to have represented, acknowledged and agreed that it is a “qualified investor” within the meaning of Article 2(1)(e) of the Prospectus Directive.

For the purpose of this provision, the expression an “offer to the public” 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 the units to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe for the units, as the expression may be varied in that member state by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that member state, and the expression “Prospectus Directive” means Directive 2003/71/EC (and amendments thereto, including the PD 2010 Amending Directive to the extent implemented by the relevant member state) and includes any relevant implementing measure in each relevant member state, and the expression 2010 PD Amending Directive means Directive 2010/73/EU.

We have not authorized and do not authorize the making of any offer of units through any financial intermediary on their behalf, other than offers made by the underwriters with a view to the final placement of the units as contemplated in this prospectus. Accordingly, no purchaser of the units, other than the underwriters, is authorized to make any further offer of the units on behalf of us or the underwriters.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Switzerland

The shares may not be publicly offered in Switzerland and will not be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (“SIX”) or on any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. This document has been prepared without regard to the disclosure standards for issuance prospectuses under art. 652a or art. 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or the disclosure standards for listing prospectuses under art. 27 ff. of the SIX Listing Rules or the listing rules of any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the shares or the offering may be publicly distributed or otherwise made publicly available in Switzerland.

Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the offering, the Company, the shares have been or will be filed with or approved by any Swiss regulatory authority. In particular, this document will not be filed with, and the offer of shares will not be supervised by, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA (FINMA), and the offer of shares has not been and will not be authorized under the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes (“CISA”). The investor protection afforded to acquirers of interests in collective investment schemes under the CISA does not extend to acquirers of shares.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the United Kingdom

This prospectus is only being distributed to, and is only directed at, persons in the United Kingdom that are qualified investors within the meaning of Article 2(1)(e) of the Prospectus Directive that are also (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the “Order”) or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as a “relevant person”). The units are only available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to purchase or otherwise acquire such units will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. This prospectus and its contents are confidential and should not be distributed, published or reproduced (in whole or in part) or disclosed by recipients to any other persons in the United Kingdom. Any person in the United Kingdom that is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents.

Notice to Prospective Investors in France

Neither this prospectus nor any other offering material relating to the units described in this prospectus has been submitted to the clearance procedures of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers or by the competent authority of another member state of the European Economic Area and notified to the Autorité des Marchés Financiers. The units have not been offered or sold and will not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, to the public in France. Neither this prospectus nor any other offering material relating to the units has been or will be:

Such offers, sales and distributions will be made in France only:

The units may be resold directly or indirectly, only in compliance with Articles L.411-1, L.411-2, L.412-1 and L.621-8 through L.621-8-3 of the French Code monétaire et financier.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Hong Kong

The units may not be offered or sold in Hong Kong by means of any document other than (i) in circumstances which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32, Laws of Hong Kong), or (ii) to “professional investors” within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder, or (iii) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32, Laws of Hong Kong) and no advertisement, invitation or document relating to the units may be issued or may be in the possession of any person for the purpose of issue (in each case whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere), 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 laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to units which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Japan

The units have not been and will not be registered under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of Japan (Law No. 25 of 1948, as amended) and, accordingly, will not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, in Japan, or for the benefit of any Japanese Person or to others for re-offering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to any Japanese Person, except in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and ministerial guidelines promulgated by relevant Japanese governmental or regulatory authorities in effect at the relevant time. For the purposes of this paragraph, “Japanese Person” shall mean any person resident in Japan, including any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Singapore

This prospectus has not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this prospectus and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the units may not be circulated or distributed, nor may the units be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore (the “SFA”), (ii) to a relevant person pursuant to Section 275(1), or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A), and in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the SFA or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA, in each case subject to compliance with conditions set forth in the SFA.

Where the units are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is:

LEGAL MATTERS

Graubard Miller, New York, New York, is acting as our counsel in connection with the registration of our securities under the Securities Act, and as such, will pass upon the validity of the securities offered in this offering. Graubard Miller represents EarlyBirdCapital, Inc. in matters unrelated to this offering. Greenberg Traurig, LLP, New York, New York, is acting as counsel to the underwriters.

EXPERTS

The financial statements of Black Ridge Acquisition Corp. at May 31, 2017 and for the period from May 9, 2017 (inception) through May 31, 2017 included in this Prospectus have been audited by Marcum LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, as set forth in their report, thereon (which contains an explanatory paragraph relating to substantial doubt about the ability of Black Ridge Acquisition Corp. to continue as a going concern as described in Note 1 to the financial statements), appearing elsewhere in this prospectus, and are included in reliance on such report given upon such firm as experts in auditing and accounting.

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. You may also read and copy any document we file with the SEC at its public reference facility at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549.

You may also obtain copies of the documents at prescribed rates by writing to the Public Reference Section of the SEC at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the public reference facilities.

INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Directors and Shareholder
of Black Ridge Acquisition Corp.

We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of Black Ridge Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) as of May 31, 2017, and the related statements of operations, stockholder’s equity and cash flows for the period from May 9, 2017 (inception) through May 31, 2017. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. Our audit included consideration of internal control over financial reporting as a basis for designing audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, 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. An audit also includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Black Ridge Acquisition Corp., as of May 31, 2017, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the period from May 9, 2017 (inception) through May 31, 2017 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming the Company will continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company has no present revenue, its business plan is dependent on the completion of a financing and the Company’s cash and working capital as of May 31, 2017 are not sufficient to complete its planned activities for the upcoming year. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans regarding these matters are also described in Notes 1 and 3. These financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

/s/ Marcum LLP
  
Marcum LLP
New York, NY
June 9, 2017, except for Note 7, as to which the date is October 5, 2017

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

BALANCE SHEET

May 31, 2017

(1) This number includes an aggregate of up to 450,000 shares subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part by the underwriters

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS

For the Period from May 9, 2017 (Inception) through May 31, 2017

(1) This number excludes an aggregate of up to 450,000 shares subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part by the underwriters.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

STATEMENT OF STOCKHOLDER'S EQUITY

(1) This number includes an aggregate of up to 450,000 shares subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised by the underwriters

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

For the Period from May 9, 2017 (Inception) through May 31, 2017

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the Period from May 9, 2017 (Inception) to May 31, 2017

Note 1 – Description of Organization and Business Operations

Black Ridge Acquisition Corp. (“BRAC”, the “Company”, “we”, “us” or “our”) was incorporated in Delaware on May 9, 2017 as a blank check company for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities (a “Business Combination”). The Company’s efforts to identify a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic region, although we intend to focus our search for target businesses in the energy or energy-related industries with an emphasis on opportunities in the upstream oil and gas industry in North America.

As of May 31, 2017, the Company had not yet commenced any operations. All activity through May 31, 2017 relates to the Company’s formation and the proposed public offering described below. The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year-end. The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.

The Company’s ability to commence operations is contingent upon obtaining adequate financial resources through the proposed public offering of 12,000,000 units (or 13,800,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a purchase price of $10.00 per Unit as discussed in Note 3 (the “Proposed Public Offering”). Each unit consists of consists of one share of common stock, one right and one warrant. Each right will convert to one-tenth (1/10) of one share of common stock upon consummation of a Business Combination. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of common stock at a price of $11.50. Each warrant will become exercisable on the later of 30 days after the completion of an initial business combination or 12 months from the closing of this offering and will expire on the fifth anniversary of our completion of an initial business combination, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. The company has granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,800,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any.

Black Ridge Oil & Gas, Inc. (“BROG” and “the Sponsor”) has committed to purchase from us an aggregate of 400,000 units, or “private units,” at $10.00 per unit (for a total purchase price of $4,000,000) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the consummation of this offering. The Sponsor has also agreed that if the over-allotment option is exercised by the underwriters in full or in part, it will purchase from us additional private units (up to a maximum of 45,000 private units) at a price of $10.00 per private unit in an amount that is necessary to maintain in the trust account $10.05 per unit sold to the public in this offering. These additional private units will be purchased in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the purchase of units resulting from the exercise of the over-allotment option. The private units are identical to the units sold in this offering, subject to certain limited exceptions.

The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Proposed Public Offering and private units, 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. Upon the closing of the Proposed Public Offering, management has agreed that at least $10.05 per Unit sold in the Proposed Public Offering, including the proceeds of the Private Placements will be held in a trust account (“Trust Account”) until the earlier of (i) the consummation of its initial Business Combination or (ii) the Company’s failure to consummate a Business Combination within 21 months from the consummation of the Proposed Public Offering. Placing funds in the Trust Account may not protect those funds from third party claims against the Company. Although the Company will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities it engages, execute agreements with the Company waiving any claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the Trust Account, there is no guarantee that such persons will execute such agreements. The remaining net proceeds (not held in the Trust Account) may be used to pay for business, legal and accounting due diligence on prospective acquisitions and continuing general and administrative expenses. Additionally, the interest earned on the Trust Account balance may be released to the Company for any amounts that are necessary to pay the Company’s income and other tax obligations.

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the Period from May 9, 2017 (Inception) to May 31, 2017

Note 1 – Description of Organization and Business Operations (Continued)

The amount of proceeds not held in Trust is expected to be approximately $500,000, after the payment of approximately $2.9 million in expenses related to the Proposed Public Offering, inclusive of $2.4 million of underwriting fees. In order to meet its working capital needs following the consummation of the Proposed Public Offering, the Company’s Sponsor or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required. The loans would either be paid upon consummation of the Company’s initial Business Combination, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted upon consummation of the Company’s Business Combination into units at a price of $10.00 per unit. These units would be identical to the private units. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination, the loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside of the Trust Account.

Subject to certain exceptions, the sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to ensure that the proceeds in the trust account are not reduced below $10.05 per share by the claims of target businesses or claims of vendors or other entities that are owed money by the Company for services rendered or contracted for or products sold to us.

Initial Business Combination

Pursuant to the Nasdaq Capital Markets listing rules, the Company’s initial Business Combination must be with a target business or businesses whose collective fair market value is at least equal to 80% of the balance in the Trust Account, net of taxes payable, at the time of the execution of a definitive agreement for such Business Combination, although this may entail simultaneous acquisitions of several target businesses. The fair market value of the target will be determined by the Company’s board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community (such as actual and potential sales, earnings, cash flow and/or book value). The target business or businesses that the Company acquires may have a collective fair market value substantially in excess of 80% of the Trust Account balance. In order to consummate such a Business Combination, the Company may issue a significant amount of its debt or equity securities to the sellers of such business and/or seek to raise additional funds through a private offering of debt or equity securities. If the Company’s securities are not listed on NASDAQ after the Proposed Public Offering, the Company would not be required to satisfy the 80% requirement. However, the Company intends to satisfy the 80% requirement even if the Company’s securities are not listed on NASDAQ at the time of the initial Business Combination.

The Company will provide the public stockholders, who are the holders of the Common stock (“Public Shares”) which will be sold as part of the Units in the Proposed Public Offering, whether they are purchased in the Proposed Public Offering or in the aftermarket and the Company’s shareholders prior to the Proposed Public Offering (included the Sponsor) (the “Initial Stockholders”) to the extent that they purchase such Public Shares (“Public Stockholders”), with an opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares of the Company’s Common stock, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or if the Company conducts a tender offer, upon the completion of the initial Business Combination either (1) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination, or (ii) by means of a tender offer, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account including interest (net of taxes payable, divided by the number of then outstanding shares of Common stock. The amount in the Trust Account is initially anticipated to be $10.05 per Public Share. The common stock subject to redemption will be recorded at a redemption value and classified a temporary equity upon the completion of the Proposed Public Offering, in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity”. In such case, the Company will proceed with a Business Combination only if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon such consummation of a Business Combination and in the case of a stockholder vote, a majority of the outstanding shares voted are voted in favor of the Business Combination. The decision as to whether the Company will seek stockholder approval of a proposed Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion, based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require it to seek stockholder approval under the law or stock exchange listing requirement. If a stockholder vote is not required and the Company decides not to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, the Company will, pursuant to the proposed amended and restated certificate of incorporation, (i) conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers, and (ii) file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing the 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.

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the Period from May 9, 2017 (Inception) to May 31, 2017

Note 1 – Description of Organization and Business Operations (Continued)

The Initial Stockholders will agree to vote their Founder Shares (as described in Note 6) and any Public Shares purchased during or after the Proposed Public Offering in favor of the initial Business Combination, and the Company’s executive officers, directors and director nominees have also agreed to vote any Public Shares purchased during or after the Proposed Public Offering in favor of the initial Business Combination. The Initial Stockholders will enter into a letter agreement, pursuant to which they agree to waive their redemption rights with respect to the Founder Share, the shares underlying the Private Units and Public Shares in connection with the completion of the initial Business Combination. In addition, the Initial Stockholders will also agree to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to the Founder Shares and the shares underlying the Private Units if the Company fails to complete the initial Business Combination within the prescribed time frame. However, if the Initial Stockholders (or any of the Company’s executive officers, directors or affiliates) acquire Public Shares in or after the Proposed Public Offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to such Public Shares in the event the Company does not complete the initial Business Combination within such applicable time period.

Failure to Consummate a Business Combination

If the Company is unable to complete the initial Business Combination within 21 months from the consummation of the Proposed Public Offering, the Company must: (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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and up to $50,000 that may be used to pay for liquidation expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (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 stockholders and the Company’s Board of Directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) to the Company’s obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.

Going Concern Consideration

At May 31, 2017, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $87,500 and a working capital deficit of $37,823. Further, the Company has incurred, and expects to continue to incur, significant costs in pursuit of its financing and acquisition plans. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for at least one year from the issuance of these financial statements. Management plans to address this uncertainty through the Proposed Public Offering as discussed in Note 3. There is no assurance that the Company’s plans to raise capital or to consummate a Business Combination will be successful or successful within the required time period. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

Note 2 – Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and pursuant to the accounting and disclosure rules and regulations of the SEC.

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the Period from May 9, 2017 (Inception) to May 31, 2017

Note 2 – Significant Accounting Policies (Continued)

Emerging growth company

The Company is 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”), 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 auditor 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 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 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 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 accountant standards used.

Cash and cash equivalents

The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. The Company did not have any cash equivalents as of May 31, 2017.

Concentration of credit risk

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentration of credit risk consist of a cash account in a financial institution which, at times may exceed the Federal depository insurance coverage of $250,000. At May 31, 2017, the Company had not experienced losses on this account and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such account.

Loss per share

Loss per share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period excluding shares subject to forfeiture. Weighted average shares was reduced for the effect of an aggregate of 450,000 shares of common stock that are subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised by the underwriters. At May 31, 2017, the Company did not have any dilutive securities and other contracts that could, potentially, be exercised or converted into common stock and then share in the earnings of the Company. As a result, diluted loss per share is the same as basic loss per share.

Use of estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires 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 financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the Period from May 9, 2017 (Inception) to May 31, 2017

Note 2 – Significant Accounting Policies (Continued)

Fair value of financial instruments

The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under ASC Topic 820, “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures”, approximates the carrying amounts represented in the accompanying balance sheet, primarily due to their short-term nature.

Deferred offering costs

Deferred offering costs consist principally of legal, underwriting fees and other costs incurred through the balance sheet date that are directly related to the Proposed Public Offering and that will be charged to stockholder’s equity upon the receipt of the capital raised. 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.

Income taxes

The Company accounts for income taxes under ASC Topic 740 “Income Taxes” (“ASC 740”). ASC 740 requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for both the expected impact of differences between the financial statement and tax basis of assets and liabilities and for the expected future tax benefit to be derived from tax loss and tax credit carry forwards. ASC 740 additionally requires a valuation allowance to be established when it is more likely than not that all or a portion of deferred tax assets will not be realized.

ASC 740 also clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an enterprise’s financial statements and prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement process for financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position 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. ASC 740 also provides guidance on derecognition, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim periods, disclosure and transition. Based on the Company’s evaluation, it has been concluded that there are no significant uncertain tax positions requiring recognition in the Company’s financial statements. Since the Company was incorporated on May 9, 2017, the evaluation was performed for the upcoming 2017 tax year, which will be the only period subject to examination upon filing of appropriate tax returns. The Company believes that its income tax positions and deductions would be sustained on audit and does not anticipate any adjustments that would result in a material changes to its financial position.

The Company’s policy for recording interest and penalties associated with audits is to record such expense as a component of income tax expense. There were no amounts accrued for penalties or interest as of or during the period from May 9, 2017 (inception) through May 31, 2017. Management is currently unaware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviations from its position.

The provision for income taxes was deemed to be immaterial for the period ended May 31, 2017.

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the Period from May 9, 2017 (Inception) to May 31, 2017

Note 2 – Significant Accounting Policies (Continued)

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

The Company has evaluated recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting pronouncements and does not believe they would have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements.

Note 3 — Proposed Public Offering and Private Placement

Proposed Public Offering

The Proposed Public Offering calls for the Company to offer for public sale 12,000,000 Units at a proposed offering price of $10.00 per Unit (plus up to an additional 1,800,000 Units solely to cover over-allotments, if any). Each Unit consists of one share of the Company’s Common stock, one right and one warrant. Each right will convert into one-tenth (1/10) of one share of common stockupon consummation of a Business Combination. Each warrant to purchase one share of Common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment (“Warrants”). The Warrants will become exercisable on the later of (i) 30 days after the completion of the initial Business Combination and (ii) 12 months from the closing of the Proposed Public Offering, and will expire five years after the completion of the initial Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.

The Company may redeem the Warrants, in whole and not in part, at a price of $0.01 per Warrant upon 30 days’ notice (“30-day redemption period”), only in the event that the last sale price of the Common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which notice of redemption is given, provided there is an effective registration statement with respect to the shares of common stock underlying such Warrants and a current prospectus relating to those shares of common stock is available throughout the 30-day redemption period. If the Company calls the Warrants for redemption as described above, the Company’s management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise Warrants to do so on a “cashless basis.” In determining whether to require all holders to exercise their warrants on a “cashless basis,” the management will consider, among other factors, the Company’s cash position, the number of Warrants that are outstanding and the dilutive effect on the Company’s stockholders of issuing the maximum number of shares of Common stock issuable upon the exercise of the Warrants.

There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to the Warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our business combination within the 21-month time period.

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the Period from May 9, 2017 (Inception) to May 31, 2017

Note 3 — Proposed Public Offering and Private Placement (Continued)

Private Placement

The Sponsor has committed to purchase from us an aggregate of 400,000 units, or “private units,” at $10.00 per unit (for a total purchase price of $4,000,000) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the consummation of this offering. The Sponsor has also agreed that if the over-allotment option is exercised by the underwriters in full or in part, it will purchase from us additional private units (up to a maximum of 45,000 private units) at a price of $10.00 per private unit in an amount that is necessary to maintain in the trust account $10.05 per unit sold to the public in this offering. These additional private units will be purchased in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the purchase of units resulting from the exercise of the over-allotment option. The private units are identical to the units sold in this offering, subject to certain limited exceptions.

Note 4 — Related Party Transactions

Founders Shares

In connection with the organization of the Company, a total of 2,875,000 shares of common stock were sold to the Sponsor at a price of approximately $0.01 per share for an aggregate of $25,000 (“Founder Shares”). On October 4, 2017, the Company effected a stock dividend of 0.2 shares for each outstanding shares, resulting in 3,450,000 shares outstanding. The 3,450,000 Founders Shares include an aggregate of up to 450,000 shares of common stock subject to forfeiture to the extent that the over-allotment option is not exercised by the underwriters in full or in part. The Sponsor will be required to forfeit only a number of shares of common stock necessary to continue to maintain the 20.0% ownership interest in our shares of common stock after giving effect to the offering and exercise, if any, of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

Related Party Loans

As of May 31, 2017, the Sponsor has loaned an aggregate of $125,000 to cover expenses related to the Company’s formation and the Proposed Public Offering. This note is payable without interest and shall be payable on the earlier of (i) June 1, 2018, (ii) consummation of the initial Business Combination, or (iii) the date on which it is determined not to proceed with the Proposed Public Offering. The Company intends to repay the note from the proceeds of the Proposed Public Offering not placed in the Trust Account.

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. However, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we consummate an initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. 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, 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 units of the post business combination entity at a price of $10.00 per unit at the option of the lender. The units would be identical to the private units.

Administrative Service Agreement

Commencing on the effective date of the prospectus for Proposed Public Offering through the earlier of our consummation of our initial Business Combination or our liquidation, the Sponsor will make available to us certain general and administrative services, including office space, utilities and administrative support, as we may require from time to time. The Company has agreed to pay the Sponsor $10,000 per month for these services. We believe, based on rents and fees for similar services in the Minneapolis, Minnesota metropolitan area, that the fee charged by the Sponsor is at least as favorable as we could have obtained from an unaffiliated person.

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the Period from May 9, 2017 (Inception) to May 31, 2017

Note 4 — Related Party Transactions (Continued)

As discussed in Note 1, the Sponsor has committed that it will purchase an aggregate of 400,000 private units at $10.00 per private unit (for a total purchase price of $4,000,000) from us simultaneous with the Proposed Public Offering. The Sponsor has also agreed that if the over-allotment option is exercised by the underwriters in full or in part, it will purchase from us an additional number of private units (up to a maximum of 45,000 private units) at a price of $10.00 per private unit necessary to maintain in the Trust Account $10.05 per unit sold to the public in the Proposed Public Offering.

Note 5 — Commitments and Contingencies

Agreements with underwriters

The Company will grant the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to 1,800,000 additional Units to cover the over-allotment at the Proposed Public Offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions. In addition, the underwriters will be entitled to an underwriting discount of 2.0%, payable in cash at the closing of the Proposed Public Offering. No discounts or commissions will be paid on the sale of the Private Placement Units.

Business Contribution Marketing Agreement

The Company engaged the underwriters as advisors in connection with our business combination to assist us in holding meetings with our shareholders to discuss the potential business combination and the target business’ attributes, introduce us to potential investors that are interested in purchasing our securities, assist us in obtaining shareholder approval for the business combination and assist us with our press releases and public filings in connection with the business combination. The Company will pay the underwriters a cash fee for such services upon the consummation of our initial business combination in an amount equal to 3.5% of the gross proceeds of this offering (exclusive of any applicable finders’ fees which might become payable).

Registration Rights

The holders of our founders’ shares issued and outstanding on the date of the prospectus for the Proposed Public Offering, as well as the holders of the private units and any units our Sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may be issued in payment of working capital loans made to us (and all underlying securities), will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to an agreement to be signed prior to or on the effective date of this offering. The holders of a majority of these securities are entitled to make up to two demands that we register such securities. The holders of the majority of the founders’ shares can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time commencing three months prior to the date on which these shares of common stock are to be released from escrow. The holders of a majority of the private units and units issued to our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates in payment of working capital loans made to us (or underlying securities) can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time after we consummate a Business Combination. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our consummation of a Business Combination. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

Other General and Administrative Services

Commencing on the effective date of the prospectus for the Proposed Public Offering through the earlier of our consummation of our initial Business Combination or our liquidation, the Sponsor will make available to us certain general and administrative services, including office space, utilities and administrative support, as we may require from time to time. The Company has agreed to pay the Sponsor $10,000 per month for these services (see Note 4).

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the Period from May 9, 2017 (Inception) to May 31, 2017

Note 5 — Commitments and Contingencies (Continued)

Unit Purchase Option

The Company has agreed to sell the underwriter (and/or its designees), for $100, an option to purchase up to 600,000 Units exercisable at $11.50 per Unit (or an aggregate exercise price of $6,900,000) upon the closing of a proposed public offering. The unit purchase option may be exercised for cash or on a cashless basis, at the holder’s option, at any time during the period commencing on the later of the first anniversary of the effective date of the registration statement for the proposed offering and the closing of an initial business combination and terminating on the fifth anniversary of the effective date for the proposed offering. The Units issuable upon exercise of this option are identical to those offered in the proposed offering. The Company intends to account for the unit purchase option, inclusive of the receipt of $100 cash payment, as an expense of the proposed offering resulting in a charge directly to stockholders’ equity. The Company estimates that the fair value of this unit purchase option is approximately $1,713,785 (or $2.86 per Unit) using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The fair value of the unit purchase option to be granted to the underwriters is estimated as of the date of grant using the following assumptions: (1) expected volatility of 35%, (2) risk-free interest rate of 1.71% and (3) expected life of five years. The option and such units purchased pursuant to the option, as well as the ordinary shares underlying such units, the rights included in such units, the ordinary shares that are issuable for the rights included in such units, the warrants included in such units, and the shares underlying such warrants, have been deemed compensation by FINRA and are therefore subject to a 180-day lock-up pursuant to Rule 5110(g)(1) of FINRA’s NASDAQ Conduct Rules. Additionally, the option may not be sold, transferred, assigned, pledged or hypothecated for a one-year period (including the foregoing 180-day period) following the date of Proposed Offering except to any underwriter and selected dealer participating in the Proposed Offering and their bona fide officers or partners. The option grants to holders demand and “piggy back” rights for periods of five and seven years, respectively, from the effective date of the registration statement with respect to the registration under the Securities Act of the securities directly and indirectly issuable upon exercise of the option. The Company will bear all fees and expenses attendant to registering the securities, other than underwriting commissions which will be paid for by the holders themselves. The exercise price and number of units issuable upon exercise of the option may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a stock dividend, or the Company’s recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, the option will not be adjusted for issuances of ordinary shares at a price below its exercise price. The Company will have no obligation to cash settle the exercise of the purchase option or the rights and warrants underlying the purchase option. The holder of the purchase option will not be entitled to exercise the purchase option or the rights or warrants underlying the purchase option unless a registration statement covering the securities underlying the purchase option is effective or an exemption from registration is available. If the holder is unable to exercise the purchase option or underlying rights and warrants, the purchase option, rights or warrants, as applicable, will expire worthless.

Note 6 — Stockholders’ Equity

Preferred Stock

The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share with such designation, rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by the Company’s board of directors. As of May 31, 2017, no preferred stock is issued or outstanding.

Common Stock

The Company was authorized to issue 30,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share. On October 4, 2017, the Company filed an amended and restated certificate of incorporation pursuant to which it increased the authorized shares to 35,000,000 shares.

A total of 3,450,000 Founder Shares of common stock were sold to the Sponsor at a price of approximately $0.01 per share for an aggregate of $25,000. The Founders Shares include an aggregate of up to 450,000 shares of common stock subject to forfeiture to the extent that the over-allotment option is not exercised by the underwriters in full or in part. The Sponsor will be required to forfeit only a number of shares of common stock necessary to continue to maintain the 20.0% ownership interest in our shares of common stock after giving effect to the offering and exercise, if any, of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

BLACK RIDGE ACQUISITION CORP.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the Period from May 9, 2017 (Inception) to May 31, 2017

Note 6 — Stockholders’ Equity (Continued)

Subject to certain limited exceptions, 50% of the Founder Shares will not be transferred, assigned, sold until the earlier of: (i) one year after the date of the consummation of the initial Business Combination or (ii) the date on which the closing price of the Company’s common stock equals or exceeds $12.50 per share (as adjusted) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing 150 days after the initial Business Combination, and the remaining 50% of the Founder Shares will not be transferred, assigned, sold until one year after the date of the consummation of the initial Business Combination, or earlier, in either case, if, subsequent to the Company’s initial Business Combination, the Company consummates a subsequent liquidation, merger, stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction which results in all of shareholders having the right to exchange their common stock for cash, securities or other property.

Rights

Each holder of a right will receive one-tenth (1/10) of one share of common stock upon consummation of a Business Combination, even if a holder of such right converted all ordinary shares held by it in connection with a Business Combination. No fractional shares will be issued upon exchange of the rights. No additional consideration will be required to be paid by a holder of rights in order to receive its additional shares upon consummation of a Business Combination as the consideration related thereto has been included in the Unit purchase price paid for by investors in the Proposed Public Offering. If the Company enters into a definitive agreement for a Business Combination in which the Company will not be the surviving entity, the definitive agreement will provide for the holders of rights to receive the same per share consideration the holders of the shares of common stock will receive in the transaction on an as-converted into shares of common stock basis and each holder of rights will be required to affirmatively covert its rights in order to receive 1/10 of a share of common stock underlying each right (without paying additional consideration). The shares of common stock issuable upon exchange of the rights will be freely tradable (except to the extent held by affiliates of the Company).

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 rights will not receive any of such funds with respect to their rights, nor will they receive any distribution from the Company’s assets held outside of the Trust Account with respect to such rights, and the rights will expire worthless. Further, there are no contractual penalties for failure to deliver securities to the holders of the rights upon consummation of a Business Combination. Additionally, in no event will the Company be required to net cash settle the rights. Accordingly, the rights may expire worthless.

The rights included in the Private Units being sold in the Private Placement will be identical to the rights included in the Units being sold in the Proposed Public Offering, except that, among others, the rights including the shares issuable upon exchange of such rights, are being purchased pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and will become tradable only after certain conditions are met or the resale of such rights (including underlying securities) is registered under the Securities Act.

Warrants

Warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of shares. No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the Warrants. The Warrants will become exercisable on the later of (a) 30 days after the consummation of a Business Combination or (b) 12 months from the effective date of the registration statement relating to the Proposed Public Offering. No Warrants will be exercisable for cash unless the Company has an effective and current registration statement covering the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the Warrants and a current prospectus relating to such shares. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if a registration statement covering the shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of the Warrants is not effective within a to-be-determined number of days from the consummation of a Business Combination, the holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when the Company shall have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise the Warrants on a cashless basis pursuant to an available exemption from registration under the Securities Act. If an exemption from registration is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their Warrants on a cashless basis. The Warrants will expire five years from the consummation of a Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.

The Warrants underlying the private units (“Private Warrants”) will be identical to the Warrants underlying the Units being sold in the Proposed Public Offering, except the Private Warrants will be exercisable for cash (even if a registration statement covering the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of such Private Warrants is not effective) or on a cashless basis, at the holder’s option, and will not be redeemable by the Company, in each case so long as they are still held by the Initial Stockholders or their affiliates.

The Company may call the Warrants for redemption (excluding the Private Warrants but including any outstanding Warrants issued upon exercise of the unit purchase option issued to EarlyBirdCapital), in whole and not in part, at a price of $.01 per Warrant:

If the Company calls the Warrants for redemption, management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise the Warrants to do so on a “cashless basis,” as described in the warrant agreement.

The exercise price and number of shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the Warrants may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a stock dividend, extraordinary dividend or recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, the Warrants will not be adjusted for issuances of shares of common stock at a price below its exercise price. Additionally, in no event will the Company be required to net cash settle the Warrants. 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 respect to such Warrants. Accordingly, the Warrants may expire worthless.

Note 7 — Subsequent Events

The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date up to the date the financial statements were available to be issued. The Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements except as noted below.

On October 4, 2017, the Company effected a stock dividend of 0.2 shares for each outstanding shares, resulting in 3,450,000 shares outstanding. All share and per share amounts have been retroactively restated to effect the stock dividend.

On October 4, 2017, the Company filed an amended and restated certificate of incorporation pursuant to which it increased the authorized shares to 35,000,000 shares.

As a result of the execution of the underwriting agreement on October 4, 2017, the financial statements have been modified to reflect the final terms of the agreement.

12,000,000 Units

Black Ridge Acquisition Corp.

PROSPECTUS

October 4, 2017

Sole Book-Running Manager

EarlyBirdCapital, Inc.

Until October 29, 2017, all dealers that buy, sell or trade our common stock, 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 their unsold allotments or subscriptions.