Concord Acquisition Corp II: Form 10-Q for the period ended Sep 30, 2023

References in this report (the “Quarterly Report”) to “we,” “us” or the “Company” refer to Concord Acquisition Corp II. References to our “management” or our “management team” refer to our officers and directors, references to the “Sponsors” refer to Concord Sponsor Group II LLC and CA2 Co-Investment, LLC. The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the condensed financial statements and the notes thereto contained elsewhere in this Quarterly Report.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This Quarterly Report includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), that are not historical facts and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected and projected. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included in this Quarterly Report including, without limitation, statements in this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” regarding the Company’s financial position, the business strategy, plans and objectives of management for future operations, and the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the Company’s search for a Business Combination (as defined below), are forward-looking statements. Words such as “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “seek” and variations and similar words and expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance, but reflect management’s current beliefs, based on information currently available. A number of factors could cause actual events, performance or results to differ materially from the events, performance and results discussed in the forward-looking statements. For information identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The Company’s securities filings can be accessed on the EDGAR section of the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov (http://www.sec.gov). Except as expressly required by applicable securities law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Overview

We are a blank check company incorporated on February 18, 2021, for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities (a “Business Combination”). We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of our offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our shares, debt or a combination of cash, equity and debt.

We expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our acquisition plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to complete a Business Combination will be successful.

Recent Developments

In August 2023, the Company and the Sponsor entered into Non-Redemption Agreements with a number of the Company’s stockholders in exchange for them agreeing not to redeem shares of the Company’s Class A common stock sold in the IPO (the “Non-Redeemed Shares”) in connection with the special meeting of stockholders called by the Company and held on August 29, 2023 (described below). In exchange for the foregoing commitments not to redeem such shares, the Company has agreed to allocate to such investors an aggregate of 2,326,496 shares of Class A Common Stock (the “Promote Shares”) and the Sponsor has agreed to surrender and forfeit to the Company for no consideration of a number of shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of the Company equal to the number of Promote Shares upon closing of the initial business combination.

On August 29, 2023, the Company’s stockholders approved at the special meeting of stockholders a proposal to amend the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “charter”) to extend the date by which the Company has to consummate a business combination from September 3, 2023 (the “Termination Date”) to June 3, 2024, (as discussed below) or such earlier date as may be determined by the board of directors of the Company (such later date, the “Extended Date”). In connection with the votes to approve the Charter Amendment, the holders of 13,310,731 shares of Class A common stock of the Company properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for cash at a redemption price of approximately $10.35 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of $137,792,552, leaving $152,164,096 in the Trust Account immediately after the redemptions.

Results of Operations

We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities since inception have been organizational activities and those necessary for our initial public offering (“IPO”) and activities related to seeking and consummating a business combination with an acquisition target. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after completion of our initial business combination. Until such time that a business combination occurs, we will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash and cash equivalents from the proceeds derived from the Initial Public Offering, and non-operating income or expense from the changes in the fair value of warrant liability. There has been no significant change in our financial or trading position and no material adverse change has occurred since the date of our audited financial statements. Until the completion of our initial business combination, we expect to incur increased expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses.

For the three months ended September 30, 2023, we had net income of $112,410, which consisted of other income of $1,655 and income from investments held in the Trust Account of $3,088,363, partially offset by change in the fair value of the warrant liability of $947,343, operating costs of $1,391,861 and income taxes of $638,404.

For the three months ended September 30, 2022, we had net income of $883,364, which consisted of the change in the fair value of the warrant liability of $144,138 and income from investments held in the Trust Account of $1,264,480, partially offset by operating costs of $270,213 and income taxes of $255,041.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2023, we had net income of $5,704,456, which consisted of change in the fair value of the warrant liability of $168,437, other income of $5,228 and income from investments held in the Trust Account of $9,501,203, partially offset by operating costs of $2,005,514 and income taxes of $1,964,898.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2022, we had net income of $11,500,638, which consisted of change in the fair value of the warrant liability of $10,992,894 and income from investments held in the Trust Account of $1,684,780, partially offset by operating costs of $883,350 and income taxes of $293,686.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of September 30, 2023, we had available to us $605,724 of proceeds held outside the Trust Account (which included approximately $133,050 of cash withdrawn by the Company from the Trust Account to pay taxes not yet paid and excluding excise taxes). Excluding $133,050 of cash withdrawn from the Trust Account for the payment of taxes, we will use cash primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, structure, negotiate and complete a business combination, and to pay taxes to the extent the interest earned on the Trust Account is not sufficient to pay our taxes.

If the estimate of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating a Business Combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, the Company may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to a Business Combination. Moreover, the Company may need to obtain additional financing either to complete a Business Combination or because the Company becomes obligated to redeem a significant number of public shares upon consummation of a Business Combination, in which case the Company may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such Business Combination. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, the Company would only complete such financing simultaneously with the completion of a Business Combination. If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination because it does not have sufficient funds available, the Company will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the Trust Account. In addition, following a Business Combination, if cash on hand is insufficient, the Company may need to obtain additional financing in order to meet its obligations.

The Company has until June 3, 2024 to consummate a Business Combination. If a Business Combination is not consummated by this date, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of the Company. Although the Company intends to consummate a Business Combination on or before June 3, 2024, it is uncertain whether the Company will be able to consummate a Business Combination by this time. In connection with the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with ASC Subtopic 205-40, “Presentation of Financial Statements – Going Concern”, Management has determined that the mandatory liquidation, should a Business Combination not occur and potential subsequent dissolution, as well as the potential for the Company to have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to a Business Combination, raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should the Company be required to liquidate after June 3, 2024.

Off-Balance Sheet Financing Arrangements

We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of September 30, 2023. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.

Contractual Obligations

We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities, other than an agreement to pay an affiliate of the Sponsor a monthly fee of $20,000 for office space, administrative and support services. Further, on May 3, 2022, the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company up to $350,000 to be used to pay operating expenses. This loan is non-interest bearing, unsecured, is not convertible into warrants or any other securities, and due at the closing of a business combination. The Company had not borrowed any amount under the promissory note. There was no balance outstanding as of both September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022. Additionally, our underwriters are entitled to a deferred underwriting discount of $9,803,413 of the gross proceeds of the IPO held in the Trust Account upon the completion of the Company’s initial Business Combination subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.

On August 21, 2023, we engaged a capital markets advisor in connection with seeking an extension for completing a Business Combination, a possible acquisition of a third party by merger, consolidation, acquisition of stock or assets or other business combination, and as a placement agent in connection with a private placement of debt, equity, equity-linked or convertible securities. We agreed to pay the capital markets advisor a transaction fee in connection with the services provided, payable upon and subject to our consummation of an initial business combination (“Capital Markets Advisor Fee”). The fee consists of a fixed and determinable portion and a variable portion contingent upon certain future events expected to take place upon completion of a Business Combination. As of September 30, 2023, $1,000,000 was accrued for the fee as the amount was fixed and determinable. These costs may be paid using the proceeds of the cash available once a Business Combination is complete.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates

We prepare our unaudited condensed financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. The preparation of unaudited condensed financial statements also requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, costs and expenses and related disclosures. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results could differ significantly from the estimates made by our management.

There have been no material changes to our critical accounting policies and estimates from those disclosed in our financial statements and the related notes and other financial information included in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on February 27, 2023, other than discussed below.

In August 2023, the Company, the Sponsor, and certain investors (“Investors”) of our Class A common stock entered into Non-Redemption Agreements. Pursuant to the Non-Redemption Agreements, the Company agreed to allocate to such investors an aggregate of 2,326,496 Class A Common Stock (“Promote Shares”) and the Sponsor agreed to surrender and forfeit to us for no consideration of a number of shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of the Company equal to the number of Promote Shares upon closing of the initial Business Combination. We estimated the aggregate fair value of the shares attributable to the Investors to be

$1,143,605 or $0.49 per share. We comply with the requirements of SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin (“SAB”) Topic 5(A) – “Expenses of Offering” and SAB Topic 5(T): Miscellaneous Accounting - Accounting for Expenses or Liabilities Paid by Principal Stockholder(s). As such, the value of Promote Shares assigned to the Investors are recognized as offering costs and charged to stockholders’ deficit. The value of the Class B common stock forfeited by the Sponsors is reported as an increase to stockholders’ deficit.

JOBS Act

On April 5, 2012, the JOBS Act was signed into law. The JOBS Act contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. We will qualify as an “emerging growth company” and under the JOBS Act will be allowed to comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements based on the effective date for private (not publicly traded) companies. We are electing to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.

Additionally, we are in the process of evaluating the benefits of relying on the other reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, if, as an “emerging growth company”, we choose to rely on such exemptions we may not be required to, among other things: (1) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; (2) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; (3) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the PCAOB regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis); and (4) disclose certain executive compensation-related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the CEO’s compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of the IPO or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier.

We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act and are not required to provide the information otherwise required under this item.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial and accounting officer or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

We do not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all errors and all instances of fraud. Disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the disclosure controls and procedures are met. Further, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all disclosure controls and procedures, no evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures can provide absolute assurance that we have detected all our control deficiencies and instances of fraud, if any. The design of disclosure controls and procedures also is based partly on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions.

As required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of September 30, 2023. Based upon their evaluation, and due to a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting over the accounting for complex financial instruments, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) were not effective as of September 30, 2023.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2023, covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

The Company has made changes in its internal control over financial reporting to enhance our processes to identify and appropriately apply applicable accounting requirements to better evaluate and understand the nuances of the complex accounting standards that apply to our financial statements, including providing enhanced access to accounting literature, research materials and documents and increased communication among our personnel and third-party professionals with whom we consult regarding complex accounting applications. The Company can offer no assurance that these changes will ultimately have the intended effects.

Factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those in this Quarterly Report are any of the risks described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on February 27, 2023 (the “Annual Report”). Any of these factors could result in a significant or material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition. Additional risk factors not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business or results of operations. As of the date of this Quarterly Report, there have been no material changes to the risk factors disclosed in our Annual Report except for the below and that, as reported in our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on September 5, 2023, (i) on August 29, 2023, we filed an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “Charter Amendment”) which extended the date by which we have to consummate a Business Combination from September 3, 2023 to June 3, 2024, or such earlier date as may be determined by our board of directors, without the requirement that our Sponsor deposit additional funds into the Trust Account, and (ii) in connection with the stockholder vote to approve the Charter Amendment, holders of 13,310,731 shares of our Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for cash at a redemption price of approximately $10.35 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $137.8 million, leaving approximately $152.2 million in the Trust Account (and resulting in our initial stockholders owning a significantly greater percentage of the total number of shares of our outstanding common stock).

Were we considered to be a “foreign person,” we might not be able to complete an initial business combination with a U.S. target company if such initial business combination is subject to U.S. foreign investment regulations and review by a U.S. government entity such as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), or ultimately prohibited.

Certain federally licensed businesses in the United States, such as broadcasters and airlines, may be subject to rules or regulations that limit foreign ownership. In addition, CFIUS is an interagency committee authorized to review certain transactions involving foreign investment in the United States by foreign persons in order to determine the effect of such transactions on the national security of the United States. Were we considered to be a “foreign person” under such rules and regulations, any proposed business combination between us and a U.S. business engaged in a regulated industry or which may affect national security could be subject to such foreign ownership restrictions and/or CFIUS review. The scope of CFIUS was expanded by the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (“FIRRMA”) to include certain non-controlling investments in sensitive U.S. businesses and certain acquisitions of real estate even with no underlying U.S. business. FIRRMA, and subsequent implementing regulations that are now in force, also subject certain categories of investments to mandatory filings. If a potential initial business combination with a U.S. business falls within the scope of foreign ownership restrictions, we may be unable to consummate an initial business combination with such business. In addition, if a potential initial business combination falls within CFIUS’s jurisdiction, we may be required to make a mandatory filing or determine to submit a voluntary notice to CFIUS, or to proceed with the initial business combination without notifying CFIUS and risk CFIUS intervention, before or after closing the initial business combination.

Both our company and our sponsor are U.S. entities, and the managers of our sponsor are U.S. citizens. Each of our officers and directors is a U.S. citizen. If CFIUS has jurisdiction over our initial business combination, as a result of these existing relationships or otherwise, CFIUS may decide to block or delay our initial business combination, impose conditions to mitigate national security concerns with respect to such initial business combination or order us to divest all or a portion of a U.S. business of the combined company if we had proceeded without first obtaining CFIUS clearance. If we were considered to be a “foreign person,” the foreign ownership limitations, and the potential impact of CFIUS, may limit the attractiveness of a transaction with us or prevent us from pursuing certain initial business combination opportunities that we believe would otherwise be beneficial to us and our stockholders. As a result, in such circumstances, the pool of potential targets with which we could complete an initial business combination could be limited and we may be adversely affected in terms of competing with other SPACs that do not have similar foreign ownership issues.

Moreover, the process of government review, whether by CFIUS or otherwise, could be lengthy. Because we have only a limited time to complete our initial business combination, our failure to obtain any required approvals within the requisite time period may require us to liquidate. If we liquidate, the public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, and our warrants will expire worthless. This will also cause you to lose any potential investment opportunity in a target company and the chance of realizing future gains on your investment through any price appreciation in the combined company.