As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 10, 2007

File No. 333-144871

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

 

 

Amendment No. 3

to

Form S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

 

 

 

NRDC ACQUISITION CORP.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

3 Manhattanville Road

Purchase, New York 10577

(914) 272-8067

(Address, including zip code and telephone number,

including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

 

 

 

 

Richard A. Baker, Chief Executive Officer

3 Manhattanville Road

Purchase, New York 10577

(914) 272-8067

(Name, address, including zip code and telephone number,

including area code, of agent for service)

 

 

 

 

Copies to:

 

 

 

 

 

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:  As soon as practicable after this Registration Statement becomes effective.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED OCTOBER 10, 2007

 

Prospectus

$300,000,000

NRDC ACQUISITION CORP.

 

30,000,000 Units

 

 

 

 

 

NRDC Acquisition Corp. is a recently organized blank check company formed to acquire one or more operating businesses through a merger, capital stock exchange, stock purchase, asset acquisition or similar business combination. Our efforts in identifying a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic location. We do not have any specific business combination under consideration or contemplation. We have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, contacted or been contacted by, any potential target business or had any discussions, formal or otherwise, with respect to such a transaction.

 

This is an initial public offering of our securities. Each unit will be offered at a price of $10.00 per unit and will consist of:

 

 

Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of our common stock at a price of $7.50. Each warrant will become exercisable on the later of our consummation of an initial business combination or          , 2008 and will expire on          , 2011 or earlier upon redemption of the warrants by us.

 

NRDC Capital Management, LLC, an entity indirectly owned and controlled by our executive officers, has agreed to purchase an aggregate of 8,000,000 warrants from us at a price of $1.00 per warrant for an aggregate purchase price of $8,000,000 in a private placement immediately prior to the completion of this offering. All of the proceeds we receive from this purchase will be placed in the trust account described below. The “private placement warrants” to be purchased will be identical to the warrants underlying the units being offered by this prospectus except that the private placement warrants are exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the original purchaser or its permitted transferees. NRDC Capital Management, LLC has agreed that, with certain exceptions described herein, the private placement warrants will not be sold or transferred until after we have consummated our initial business combination. None of the shares purchased by NRDC Capital Management, LLC prior to the completion of this offering will have any right to liquidating distributions in the event we fail to consummate a business combination. The holders of our common stock on the date of this prospectus, whom we refer to as our existing stockholders, including our executive officers and directors, have agreed that they will vote all shares of common stock owned by them prior to the completion of this offering with respect to a business combination in the same manner that the majority of the shares of common stock offered hereby are voted by our public stockholders, other than our existing stockholders, and they will not have any conversion rights with respect to such shares.

 

In addition, NRDC Capital Management, LLC has agreed to purchase from us an aggregate of 2,000,000 of our units, which we refer to as the co-investment, at a price of $10.00 per unit for an aggregate purchase price of $20,000,000 in a private placement that will occur immediately prior to our consummation of our initial business combination. These co-investment units will be identical to the units sold in this offering except that the common stock and the warrants included in the co-investment units, and the common stock issuable upon exercise of those warrants, with certain limited exceptions, may not be transferred or sold for one year after the consummation of our initial business combination. Additionally, the warrants included in the co-investment units are (1) exercisable only after the date on which the last sales price of our common stock on the American Stock Exchange, or other national securities exchange on which our common stock may be traded, equals or exceeds $14.25 per share for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading-day period beginning at least 90 calendar days after the consummation of our initial business combination, (2) exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the original purchaser or its permitted transferees and (3) not subject to redemption by us.

 

NRDC Capital Management, LLC, NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners and our executive officers and directors have also entered into a right of first offer agreement under the terms of which they have agreed, subject to the respective pre-existing fiduciary duties of our executive officers and directors, to submit opportunities to enter into a business combination with an operating business to us before any other entity. These pre-existing fiduciary duties may limit the opportunities that are available to us to consummate our initial business combination.

 

We have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 4,500,000 additional units solely to cover over-allotments, if any. The over-allotment option will be used only to cover the net short position resulting from the initial distribution.

 

There is currently no public market for our units, common stock or warrants. We anticipate that the units will be listed on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol NAQ.U on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. The common stock and warrants each will begin separate trading five trading days after the earlier to occur of the termination of the underwriters’ over-allotment option or the exercise in full by the underwriters of that option. Once the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, we anticipate that the common stock and warrants will be listed on the American Stock Exchange under the symbols NAQ and NAQ.WS, respectively. We cannot assure you, however, that our securities will be or will continue to be listed on the American Stock Exchange.

 

 

 

 

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 21 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.

 

 

 

We are offering the units for sale on a firm-commitment basis. Banc of America Securities LLC is acting as the sole manager of this offering and expects to deliver our securities to investors in the offering on or about          , 2007.

Banc of America Securities LLC

The date of this prospectus is          , 2007.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

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 or additional information. If such information is provided to you, you should not rely on it. We are not making an offer to sell these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. You should not assume that the information in this prospectus is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front cover of this prospectus, as our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since that date.

	•	references to “we,” “us,” or “our” refer to NRDC Acquisition Corp.;
	•	the term “business combination” as used in this prospectus means an acquisition by us through a merger, capital stock exchange, stock purchase, asset acquisition, or other similar business combination with one or more operating businesses;
	•	the term “existing stockholders” refers to those persons who owned shares of our common stock immediately prior to the completion of this offering and includes all of our executive officers and directors;
	•	the term “sponsor” refers to NRDC Capital Management, LLC, one of our existing stockholders;
	•	the term “public stockholder” refers to those persons who purchase securities offered by this prospectus in this offering or in the secondary market, including any of our existing stockholders; and
	•	the information in this prospectus reflects a 6 for 5 stock split of our common stock to be effected prior to this offering.

	•	An Established Business with a Proven Operating Track Record.  We will seek established businesses with records of strong financial performance and sound operating results, or ones which our management team believes have the potential for positive operating cash flow. It is not our intention to acquire a start-up company.
	•	Strong Industry Position.  We will seek to acquire strong competitors in industries with appealing prospects for future growth and profitability. We will examine the ability of these target businesses to defend and improve their advantages in areas such as customer base, branding, intellectual property, vendor relationships, working capital and capital investments.
	•	Experienced Management Team.  We will concentrate on target businesses with an experienced management team that has created an effective corporate culture and utilized best business practices in areas such as customer service, vendor relationships, recruiting and retention.
	•	Ability For Us To Add Value.  We will seek a target company where our management team has identified opportunities to improve the operating business through the implementation of marketing, operational, growth and management strategies to augment the company’s existing capabilities.
	•	Underlying Real Estate Value.  Given the inherent skills and experience of our management team, we will focus initially on operating businesses where we have the opportunity to create value from the real estate underlying the business.

	•	Mr. Mack is affiliated with, and owes pre-existing fiduciary duties, to:

	•	the Mack Organization, a national owner of industrial buildings and other income-producing real estate investments, as a Senior Partner, and

	•	Mack-Cali Realty, a publicly traded real estate investment trust, as its non-executive chairman.

	•	Mr. Richard A. Baker is affiliated with, and owes pre-existing fiduciary duties, to:

	•	Lord & Taylor Holdings LLC, a national upscale specialty department store, as Chairman of its board of directors, and

	•	Hudson’s Bay Company, Canada’s largest diversified general merchandise retailer holding interests in discount, specialty and department stores, as a director.

	•	Mr. Neibart is affiliated with, and owes pre-existing fiduciary duties, to Linens ‘N Things, a national retailer of home textiles, housewares and home accessories, as a director.

	•	Michael J. Indiveri is affiliated with, and owes pre-existing fiduciary duties, to Amalgamated Bank, a union-owned banking services company, as Chief Financial Officer.

	•	Edward H. Meyer is affiliated with, and owes pre-existing fiduciary duties, to:

	•	Ethan Allen Inc., a national home furnishings company, as a director,

	•	Ocean Road Advisors, Inc., an investment management company that directs the investment and related activities of several family offices, as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer,

	•	The Jim Pattison Group, a conglomerate based in Canada that focuses on the automotive, media, packaging, food sales and distribution, magazine distribution, entertainment, export and financial industries, as a director,

	•	National Cinemedia LLC, a national cinema advertising company, as a director, and

	•	Harman International Industries Inc., a developer, manufacturer and marketer of high-end audio products and electronic systems, as a director.

	•	Laura H. Pomerantz is affiliated with, and owes pre-existing fiduciary duties, to:

	•	PBS Realty Advisors LLC, a commercial real estate advisory firm, as a Principal, and

	•	G-III, the world’s premiere designer and manufacturer of quality leather outerwear, dresses, women’s suits and sportswear, as a director.

	•	Vincent S. Tese is affiliated with, and owes pre-existing fiduciary duties, to

	•	Mack-Cali Realty Corporation, as a director,

	•	The Bear Stearns Companies Inc., an investment banking, securities trading and brokerage firm, as a director,

	•	Bowne and Company Inc., a provider of financial, marketing and business communications services, as a director,

	•	Cablevision, Inc., a telecommunications, media and entertainment company, as a director,

	•	Gabelli Asset Management, an investment services firm, as a director, and

	•	Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., an operator of a global, electronic marketplace for trading both futures contracts and other financial products, as a director.

	•	Ronald W. Tysoe is affiliated with, and owes pre-existing fiduciary duties, to

	•	E.W. Scripps Company, a media company with interests in newspaper publishing, broadcast television stations and cable television networks, as a director, and

	•	Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a banking and business services enterprise, as a director.

Securities Offered:		30,000,000 units, at $10.00 per unit, each unit consisting of:
		• one share of common stock; and
		• one warrant.
		The units will begin trading on or promptly after the date of this prospectus.
Trading Commencement and Separation of Common Stock and Warrants:		The common stock and warrants will begin trading separately five trading days after the earlier to occur of the termination of the underwriters’ option to purchase up to 4,500,000 additional units to cover over-allotments and the exercise in full of that option. In no event will separate trading of the common stock and warrants commence until we have filed an audited balance sheet reflecting our receipt of the proceeds of this offering and issued a press release announcing when separate trading will begin. We will file a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet, promptly after the completion of this offering. The audited balance sheet will include proceeds we receive from the exercise of the over-allotment option if the over-allotment option is exercised prior to the filing of the Current Report on Form 8-K and, if such over-allotment option is exercised after such time, we will file an additional Current Report on Form 8-K including a balance sheet reflecting our receipt of the proceeds from the exercise of the over-allotment option. For more information, see the section in this prospectus entitled “Description of Securities — Units.”
Common Stock:
Number of shares outstanding before the date of this prospectus:		7,500,000 shares (does not include 1,125,000 shares sold to our sponsor that are subject to forfeiture to the extent the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option but gives effect to a 6 for 5 stock split of our common stock effected on September 4, 2007)
Number of shares to be outstanding after completion of this offering:		37,500,000 shares (does not include 1,125,000 shares sold to our sponsor that are subject to forfeiture to the extent the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option but gives effect to a 6 for 5 stock split of our common stock effected on September 4, 2007)
Warrants:
Number of warrants outstanding before the date of this prospectus:		0 warrants
Number of warrants to be outstanding after completion of this offering and the private placement:		38,000,000 warrants
Exercisability:		Each warrant is exercisable for one share of common stock.

Exercise price:		$7.50
Exercise period:		The warrants will become exercisable on the later of the consummation of our initial business combination and          , 2008 on the terms described in this prospectus; provided that a registration statement covering the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective and a current prospectus is available for use.
		The warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on          , 2011 or earlier upon redemption of the warrants by us.
Redemption:		We may redeem the outstanding warrants (excluding the warrants included in the co-investment units) at any time after the warrants become exercisable:
		• in whole and not in part;
		• at a price of $0.01 per warrant;
		• upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice; and
		• only if the last sales price of our common stock on the American Stock Exchange, or other national securities exchange on which our common stock may be traded, equals or exceeds $14.25 per share for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading-day period ending three business days before we send the notice of redemption, a registration statement under the Securities Act relating to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective and expected to remain effective to and including the redemption date, and a prospectus relating to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is available for use by the public warrant holders and remains available for use to and including the redemption date.
		We established the last criterion to provide warrant holders with a premium to the initial warrant exercise price, as well as a degree of liquidity to cushion the market reaction, if any, to our election to redeem the warrants. If the above conditions are satisfied and we call the warrants for redemption, the warrant holders will then be entitled to exercise their warrants before the date scheduled for redemption. However, there can be no assurance that the price of the common stock will exceed $14.25 or the warrant exercise price after the redemption call is made. We do not need the consent of the underwriters or our stockholders to redeem the outstanding warrants.
Initial shares:		In July 2007, our sponsor purchased 8,625,000 shares of our common stock (after giving effect to a 6 for 5 stock split of our common stock effected on September 4, 2007) for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. The initial shares are identical to the shares included in the units being sold in this offering, except that:
		• the initial shares are subject to transfer restrictions, subject to the exceptions described under the section entitled “Underwriting — Lock-up Agreement”;

		• our existing stockholders have agreed to vote the initial shares in the same manner as a majority of the public stockholders in connection with the vote required to approve our initial business combination;
		• our existing stockholders will not be able to exercise conversion rights (as described below) with respect to their initial shares; and
		• our existing stockholders have agreed to waive their rights to participate in any liquidation distribution with respect to their initial shares if we fail to consummate a business combination.
		Of the 8,625,000 shares of common stock originally purchased by our sponsor, 1,125,000 shares will be forfeited to us to the extent the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option. After giving effect to such forfeiture and assuming no purchase of units by our existing shareholders in this offering, the number of shares of common stock owned by our existing stockholders will be 20% of the total number of shares of common stock outstanding after completion of this offering.
Private placement:		Our sponsor has agreed to purchase an aggregate of 8,000,000 warrants from us at a price of $1.00 per warrant, for an aggregate purchase price of $8,000,000, in a private placement immediately prior to the completion of this offering. With certain exceptions, the private placement warrants may not be sold or transferred until after we have consummated our initial business combination. The private placement warrants will be identical to the warrants underlying the units offered by this prospectus except that the private placement warrants are exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
		Our sponsor and its permitted transferees will have the right to exercise the private placement warrants on a cashless basis, after delivery of a notice of redemption by us. Warrants included in the units issued in this offering are not exercisable on a cashless basis.
		Our sponsor will be permitted to transfer its private placement warrants to its members, former members, members of their immediate families or controlled affiliates of our sponsor, which we refer to as “permitted transferees.” Our sponsor and its permitted transferees may make transfers of these private placement warrants to charitable organizations and trusts for estate planning purposes, to our other officers and directors, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order and in the event of a merger, capital stock exchange, stock purchase, asset acquisition or other similar transaction which results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock or other securities for cash, securities or other property subsequent to our consummation of our initial business combination.
Co-Investment units purchased through private placement:		Our sponsor has agreed to purchase from us an aggregate of 2,000,000 of our units at a price of $10.00 per unit for an aggregate purchase price of $20,000,000 in a private placement that will

		occur immediately prior to the consummation of our initial business combination. Our initial business combination will not occur until after the signing of a definitive business combination agreement and the approval of that business combination by our stockholders, provided that holders of less than 30% of the shares of common stock sold in this offering both vote against our initial business combination and exercise their conversion rights as described in this prospectus, and a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock are voted in favor of an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to provide for our perpetual existence. Each unit will consist of one share of common stock and one warrant. We refer to this private placement as the co-investment and these private placement units, shares of common stock and warrants as the co-investment units, co-investment common stock and co-investment warrants, respectively, throughout this prospectus.
		The co-investment units will be identical to the units sold in this offering except that the common stock and the warrants included in the co-investment units, and the common stock issuable upon exercise of those warrants, with certain limited exceptions, may not be transferred or sold for one year after the consummation of our initial business combination. Additionally, the warrants included in the co-investment units are (1) exercisable only after the date on which the last sales price of our common stock on the American Stock Exchange, or other national securities exchange on which our common stock may be traded, equals or exceeds $14.25 per share for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading-day period beginning at least 90 calendar days after the consummation of our initial business combination, (2) exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the original purchaser or its permitted transferees and (3) not subject to redemption by us.
		Upon consummation of the co-investment, our sponsor would own approximately 24.1% of our outstanding common stock, assuming that no additional shares are otherwise issued as consideration for our initial business combination and that our sponsor does not purchase any additional shares of our common stock in this offering or in the secondary market. Pursuant to the registration rights agreement, the holder of our co-investment units and the common stock and the warrants included therein will be entitled to certain registration rights one year after the consummation of our initial business combination, or such later time as when such securities become transferable or exercisable.
		As the proceeds from the sale of the co-investment units will not be received by us until immediately prior to our consummation of a business combination, these proceeds will not be deposited into the trust account and will not be available for distribution to our public stockholders in the event of a liquidating distribution. Our sponsor will not receive any additional carried interest (in the form of additional units, common stock, warrants or otherwise) in connection with the co-investment.

		Our sponsor has agreed, subject to certain exceptions described below, not to transfer, assign or sell any of its co-investment units, the co-investment common stock or co-investment warrants (including the common stock to be issued upon exercise of the co-investment warrants) until one year after we consummate a business combination.
		Our sponsor will be permitted to transfer its co-investment units, the co-investment common stock or co-investment warrants (including the common stock to be issued upon exercise of the co-investment warrants) to its permitted transferees. Our sponsor and its permitted transferees may make transfers of these securities to charitable organizations and trusts for estate planning purposes, to our other officers and directors, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order and in the event of a merger, capital stock exchange, stock purchase, asset acquisition or other similar transaction which results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock or other securities for cash, securities or other property subsequent to our consummation of our initial business combination.
		The business purpose of the co-investment is to provide additional capital to us and to demonstrate our sponsor’s further commitment to our completion of a business combination. In the event that the co-investment units are not purchased immediately prior to our consummation of our initial business combination, each person that has a co-investment obligation has agreed to forfeit all of the shares and private placement warrants that such person purchased from us prior to the completion of this offering.

Units:		NAQ.U
Common Stock:		NAQ
Warrants:		NAQ.WS
Offering proceeds to be held in the trust account:		$296,450,589 of the proceeds from this offering and the private placement (approximately $9.88 per unit) will be deposited in a trust account at JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as trustee, pursuant to an agreement to be signed prior to the date of this prospectus. Of the proceeds held in the trust account, $10,500,000, representing deferred underwriting discounts and commissions, will be paid to the underwriters upon consummation of our initial business combination (subject to a $0.35 per share reduction for public stockholders who vote against the initial business combination and exercise their conversion rights as described below). The proceeds held in the trust account will not be released until the earlier of (x) the consummation of our initial business combination on the terms described in this prospectus or (y) our liquidation. There can be released to us from the trust account (i) interest income earned on the trust account balance to pay any income taxes on such interest and (ii) interest income earned, after taxes payable, on the trust

		account of up to an aggregate amount of $2,250,000 to fund our working capital requirements, including, in such an event, the costs of our liquidation. See “Use of Proceeds.” All remaining interest earned on the trust account (after taxes payable) will remain in the trust account for our use in consummating an initial business combination and for payment of the deferred underwriting compensation or released to the public stockholders upon their exercise of conversion rights or upon our liquidation. Unless and until an initial business combination is consummated, the proceeds held in the trust account will not be available for our use for any expenses related to this offering or any expenses which we may incur related to the investigation and selection of a target business or the negotiation of an agreement to consummate an initial business combination, including to make a down payment or deposit or fund a lock-up or “no-shop” provision with respect to a potential business combination. These expenses may be paid prior to an initial business combination only from the $250,000 of net proceeds from this offering not held in the trust account plus interest earned on the trust account of up to $2,250,000, after tax, as set forth above.

		Although we do not know the exact rate of interest to be earned on the trust account, we believe that the recent historical interest rates of U.S. Treasury Bills with less than six months maturities are indicative of the interest to be earned on the funds in the trust account. According to the Federal Reserve Statistical Release dated October 1, 2007, referencing historical interest rate data which appears on the Federal Reserve website, U.S. Treasury Bills with four week, three month and six month maturities were yielding, as of the week ended September 28, 2007, 3.25%, 3.69% and 3.93% per annum, respectively. However, the actual interest rates that we receive on the funds in the trust account may be different than these rates.

		None of the warrants may be exercised until after the consummation of our initial business combination. Thus, after the proceeds of the trust account have been disbursed, upon the exercise of any warrants, the warrant exercise price will be paid directly to us.
Payments to executive officers and directors and existing stockholders:		There will be no compensation, fees or other payments paid to our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders or any of their respective affiliates prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the consummation of our initial business combination other than:
		• repayment of a $200,000 interest-free loan made by our sponsor to cover expenses relating to the offering contemplated by this prospectus;
		• payment to our sponsor or its assignee of a monthly fee of $7,500 for general and administrative services, including office space, utilities, and secretarial support. We believe that, based on rents and fees for similar services in Purchase, New York, the fees charged by our sponsor are at least as favorable as we could have obtained from unaffiliated third parties; and

		• reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by our executive officers and directors in connection with activities on our behalf, such as identifying and investigating target businesses for our initial business combination.
Right of first offer:		We have entered into a business opportunity right of first offer agreement with our sponsor, NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners and with our executive officers and directors. This right of first offer provides that, subject to the respective pre-existing fiduciary duties of our executive officers and directors, from the date of this prospectus until the earlier of the consummation of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will have a right of first offer if any of these parties becomes aware of, or involved with, a business combination opportunity with any operating business. Subject to the respective pre-existing fiduciary duties of our executive officers and directors, these parties to the right of first offer agreement will, and will cause companies or entities under their management or control, to first offer any such business opportunity to us and they will not, and will cause each other company or entity under their management or control not, to pursue any such business opportunity unless and until our board of directors, including a majority of our disinterested independent directors, has determined that we will not pursue such opportunity.

		We recognize that each of our executive officers and directors may be deemed an affiliate of any company for which such executive officer or director serves as an officer or director or for which such executive officer or director otherwise has a pre-existing fiduciary duty and that a conflict of interest could arise if an opportunity is appropriate for one of such companies. For a complete description of these affiliations, please see the sections entitled “Management” and “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions — Conflicts of Interest.” As part of this right of first offer, we have established procedures with respect to the sourcing of a potential business combination by our executive officers and directors to eliminate such conflict for our executive officers and directors, whereby a potential business combination that must be presented to any company for which such executive officer or director, as the case may be, serves as an officer or director or otherwise has a pre-existing fiduciary duty (other than our sponsor, NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners) will not be presented to us until after such executive officer or director has presented the opportunity to such company and such company has determined not to proceed. These executive officers and directors have a pre-existing fiduciary duty to each of these companies and entities and may not present opportunities to us that otherwise may be attractive to us unless these companies and entities have declined to accept such opportunities. These pre-existing fiduciary duties may limit the opportunities that are available to us to consummate our initial business combination.

The stockholders must approve our initial business combination:		We will seek stockholder approval before we consummate our initial business combination, even if the nature of the acquisition

		would not ordinarily require stockholder approval under applicable state law. In connection with any vote required for our initial business combination, our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders have agreed to vote all of the shares of common stock owned by them prior to the completion of this offering with respect to our initial business combination in the same manner that the majority of the shares of common stock offered hereby are voted by our public stockholders other than our existing stockholders. Our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders also have agreed that if they acquire shares of common stock in or following completion of this offering, they will vote all such acquired shares in favor of our initial business combination. We will proceed with our proposed initial business combination only if:
		• a majority of the shares of common stock voted by the public stockholders are voted in favor of the initial business combination;
		• public stockholders owning less than 30% of the shares sold in this offering both vote against our initial business combination and exercise their conversion rights as described below; and
		• a majority of our outstanding shares of common stock are voted in favor of an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to provide for our perpetual existence, as described below.
		Voting against the initial business combination alone will not result in an election to exercise a stockholder’s conversion rights. A stockholder must also affirmatively exercise such conversion rights at or prior to the time an initial business combination is voted upon by the stockholders. We view the procedures governing the approval of our initial business combination, each of which are set forth in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as obligations to our stockholders, and neither we nor our board of directors will propose, or seek stockholder approval of, any amendment of these procedures. For more information, see the section entitled “Proposed Business — Consummating an Initial Business Combination — Stockholder Approval of Our Initial Business Combination.”
Conversion rights for stockholders voting to reject our initial business combination:		Public stockholders voting against our initial business combination will be entitled to convert their stock into a pro rata share of the aggregate amount then in the trust account (including the amount held in the trust account representing the deferred portion of the underwriting discounts and commissions), including any interest earned on their pro rata share (net of taxes payable on such interest income and after release of an aggregate amount up to $2,250,000 of interest income, after tax, to fund working capital requirements), if the initial business combination is approved and consummated. Public stockholders who convert their stock into a pro rata share of the trust account will continue to have the right to exercise any

		warrants they may hold. Our existing stockholders will not have any conversion rights with respect to shares of common stock held by them prior to the completion of this offering or with respect to any of the shares sold in this offering that they may acquire and there will be no conversion rights with respect to the 2,000,000 shares of common stock included in the co-investment units.
		This conversion could have the effect of reducing the amount distributed to us from the trust account by up to approximately $85,785,167 (assuming conversion of the maximum of up to 8,999,999 of the eligible shares of common stock) (or up to approximately $98,340,167 assuming the over-allotment option is exercised in full). We intend to structure and consummate any potential business combination in a manner such that our public stockholders holding up to 8,999,999 of our shares voting against our initial business combination could convert their shares of common stock for a pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, and the business combination could still go forward.
		An eligible stockholder may request conversion at any time after the mailing to our stockholders of the proxy statement and prior to the vote taken with respect to a proposed business combination at a meeting held for that purpose, but the request will not be granted unless the stockholder votes against the initial business combination and the initial business combination is approved and consummated. In addition, no later than the business day immediately preceding the vote on the business combination, the stockholder must present written instructions to our transfer agent stating that the stockholder wishes to convert its shares into a pro rata share of the trust account and confirming that the stockholder has held the shares since the record date and will continue to hold them through the stockholder meeting and the closing of our initial business combination. We may also require public stockholders to tender their certificates to our transfer agent or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System no later than the business day immediately preceding the vote on the business combination. There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC system. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker approximately $35 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the converting holder.
		The proxy solicitation materials that we will furnish to stockholders in connection with the 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 we send out our proxy statement up until the business day immediately preceding the vote on 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 is within the stockholder’s control and, whether or not he is a record holder or his shares are held in “street name,” can be accomplished by the stockholder in a matter of hours simply by 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 investors generally. However, because we do not have any control over the process, it may take significantly longer than we anticipated and investors may not be able to seek conversion in time. Accordingly, we will only require stockholders to deliver their certificates prior to the vote if, in accordance with the America Stock Exchange’s proxy notification recommendations, the stockholders receive the proxy solicitation materials at least twenty days prior to the meeting.
		Any request for conversion, once made, may be withdrawn at any time prior to the vote taken with respect to a proposed business combination at the meeting held for that purpose. Furthermore, if a stockholder delivers his certificate for conversion and subsequently withdraws his request for conversion, he may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically).
Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation:		As discussed below, there are specific provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that may not be amended prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including our requirements to seek stockholder approval of such a business combination and to allow our stockholders to seek conversion of their shares if they do not approve of such a business combination. While we have been advised that such provisions limiting our ability to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may not be enforceable under applicable Delaware law, we view these provisions, which are contained in Article Sixth of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as obligations to our stockholders and our officers and directors have agreed that they will not recommend or take any action to amend or waive these provisions.
		Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation also provides that we will continue in existence only until          , 2009. If we have not completed a business combination by such date, our corporate existence will automatically cease except for the purposes of winding up our affairs and liquidating, pursuant to Section 278 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. This has the same effect as if our board of directors and stockholders had formally voted to approve our dissolution pursuant to Section 275 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. Accordingly, limiting our corporate existence to a specified date as permitted by Section 102(b)(5) of the Delaware General Corporation Law removes the necessity to comply with the formal procedures set forth in Section 275 (which would have required our board of directors and stockholders to formally vote to approve our liquidation and to have filed a certificate of dissolution with the Delaware Secretary of State). In connection

		with any proposed initial business combination, we will submit to stockholders a proposal to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to provide for our perpetual existence, thereby removing the 24-month limitation on our corporate life. We will only consummate a business combination if stockholders vote both in favor of such business combination and our amendment to provide for our perpetual existence. The approval of the proposal to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to provide for our perpetual existence would require the affirmative vote of a majority of our outstanding shares of common stock. Our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders have agreed to vote all of the shares of stock owned by them in favor of this amendment. We view this provision terminating our corporate life by          , 2009 as an obligation to our stockholders and our officers and directors have agreed that they will not take any action to amend or waive this provision to allow us to survive for a longer period of time except upon the consummation of our initial business combination.
Liquidation if no business combination:		If we are unable to complete a business combination prior to the date 24 months after completion of this offering, our corporate existence will cease except for the purposes of winding up our affairs and liquidating pursuant to Section 278 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, in which case we will as promptly as practicable thereafter adopt a plan of distribution in accordance with Section 281(b) of the Delaware General Corporation Law. Section 278 provides that our existence will continue for at least three years after its expiration for the purpose of prosecuting and defending suits, whether civil, criminal or administrative, by or against us, and of enabling us gradually to settle and close our business, to dispose of and convey our property, to discharge our liabilities and to distribute to our stockholders any remaining assets, but not for the purpose of continuing the business for which we were organized. Our existence will continue automatically even beyond the three-year period for the purpose of completing the prosecution or defense of suits begun prior to the expiration of the three-year period, until such time as any judgments, orders or decrees resulting from such suits are fully executed. Section 281(b) will require us to pay or make reasonable provision for all then-existing claims and obligations, including all contingent, conditional, or unmatured contractual claims known to us, and to make such provision as will be reasonably likely to be sufficient to provide compensation for any then-pending claims and for claims that have not been made known to us or that have not arisen but that, based on facts known to us at the time, are likely to arise or to become known to us within 10 years after the date of dissolution. Under Section 281(b), the plan of distribution must provide for all of such claims to be paid in full or make provision for payments to be made in full, as applicable, if there are sufficient assets. If there are insufficient assets to provide for all such claims, the plan must provide that such claims and obligations be paid or provided for according to their priority and, among claims of equal priority,

		ratably to the extent of legally available assets. These claims must be paid or provided for before we make any distribution of our remaining assets to our stockholders. While we intend to pay such claims, if any, from the $250,000 of proceeds held outside of the trust account and from the $2,250,000 of interest income, after taxes, earned on amounts in the trust account available to us, we cannot assure you those funds will be sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims. Although we will seek to have all third parties (including any vendors or other entities we engage after this offering) and any prospective target businesses enter into valid and enforceable agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements. We have not engaged any such third parties or asked for or obtained any such waiver agreements at this time. There is no guarantee that the third parties would not challenge the enforceability of these waivers and bring claims against the trust account for monies owed them. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Our sponsor and each of our executive officers has agreed that they will be personally liable on a joint and several basis to ensure that the proceeds in the trust account are not reduced 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.
		We estimate that, in the event we liquidate the trust account, a public stockholder will receive approximately $9.88 per share, without taking into account interest earned on the trust account that remains in the trust account at such time (net of taxes payable on such interest income and after release of up to $2,250,000 of interest income, after tax, to fund our working capital requirements, including the costs of our liquidation).
		We expect that all costs associated with implementing our plan of liquidation as well as payments to any creditors will be funded out of the $250,000 of proceeds of this offering not held in the trust account and the up to $2,250,000 of interest income, after taxes, on amounts in the trust account that may be released to us. We estimate that our total costs and expenses for implementing and completing our liquidation will be in the range of $15,000 to $25,000. This amount includes all costs and expenses relating to our winding up. We believe that there should be sufficient funds available from the proceeds not held in the trust account, plus interest earned on the trust account available to us as working capital, to fund these expenses, although we cannot give you assurances that these will be sufficient funds for such purposes. If these funds are insufficient to cover the costs of our liquidation, our sponsor and our executive officers have each agreed, on a joint and several basis, to indemnify us for our direct, out-of-pocket costs associated with such liquidation and winding-up, including litigation that would result from

		claimants disputing the validity of waivers that they have delivered, pertaining to such liquidation.
		For more information regarding the liquidation and winding-up procedures and the factors that may impair our ability to distribute our assets, or cause distributions to be less than $9.88 per share, please see the sections entitled “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to the Company and the Offering — If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share liquidation price received by our public stockholders would be less than approximately $9.88 per share,” “— Risks Relating to the Company and the Offering — Our stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them in our liquidation,” and “Proposed Business — Consummating an Initial Business Combination — Liquidation if No Business Combination.”
Audit Committee:		We have established and will maintain an Audit Committee which initially will be composed of a majority of independent directors and will be within one year composed entirely of independent directors to, among other things, monitor compliance with the terms described above and the other terms relating to this offering and review and approve any affiliated transactions involving our company. If any noncompliance is identified, then the Audit Committee will be charged with responsibility to immediately take all action necessary to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise to cause compliance with the terms of this offering. For more information, see the section entitled “Management — Committees of the Board of Directors — Audit Committee.”

		As of July 13, 2007
		Actual				As Adjusted
Balance Sheet Data:
Working capital		$	5,232			$	286,224,858
Total assets			244,037				296,724,858
Total liabilities			219,768				10,500,000	(1)
Value of common stock that may be converted to cash(2)			—				85,785,167
Total stockholders’ equity		$	24,269			$	200,439,691

(1)		Represents deferred underwriting discounts and commissions being held in the trust account ($12,075,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) which is payable to the underwriters upon completion of a business combination less $0.35 per share that the underwriters have agreed to forego with respect to shares public stockholders have elected to convert into cash pursuant to their conversion rights.
(2)		If the initial business combination is approved and consummated, public stockholders who voted against the combination will be entitled to convert their stock for cash of approximately $9.88 per share (or up to $88,935,167 in the aggregate), which amount represents approximately $9.53 per share (or $85,785,167 in the aggregate) representing the net proceeds of the offering and $0.35 per share (or $3,150,000 in the aggregate) representing deferred underwriting discounts and commissions which the underwriters have agreed to deposit into the trust account and to forego to pay converting stockholders, and does not take into account interest earned on and retained in the trust account.

 

RISK FACTORS

 

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

 

Risks Relating to the Company and the Offering

 

We are a development stage company with no operating history and, accordingly, you will have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.

 

We are a recently incorporated development stage company with no operating results to date. Therefore, our ability to begin operations is dependent upon obtaining financing through the public offering of our securities. Because 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 consummate an initial business combination with one or more operating businesses. We do not have any specific business combination under consideration, and we have neither identified, nor been provided with the identity of, any prospective target businesses. Neither we, nor any representative acting on our behalf, have had any contacts or discussions with any prospective target business regarding an initial business combination or taken any direct or indirect measures to locate a specific target business or consummate an initial business combination. As a result, you have a limited basis to evaluate whether we will be able to identify an attractive target business. We will not generate any revenues (other than interest income on the proceeds from this offering and the private placement) until, if at all, after the consummation of an initial business combination. We cannot assure you as to when, or if, our initial business combination will occur.

 

We may not be able to consummate an initial business combination within the required time frame, in which case we will be required to liquidate our assets.

 

We must consummate a business combination with one or more operating businesses with a collective fair market value at least equal to 80% of the balance in the trust account (less the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions of $10,500,000, or $12,075,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, and taxes payable) at the time of the acquisition within 24 months after the completion of this offering. If we fail to consummate an initial business combination within the required time frame, in accordance with our amended and restated certificate of incorporation our corporate existence will terminate, except for purposes of liquidation and winding-up. Because we do not have any specific business combination under consideration and we have neither identified nor been provided with the identity of any specific target business or taken any measures to locate a specific target business or consummate an initial business combination, we may not be able to find suitable target businesses within the required time frame. In addition, our negotiating position and our ability to conduct adequate due diligence on any potential target may be reduced as we approach the deadline for the consummation of an initial business combination.

 

If we are required to liquidate without consummating an initial business combination, our public stockholders will receive less than $10.00 per share upon distribution of the funds held in the trust account and our warrants will expire with no value.

 

If we are unable to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the date of this prospectus and are required to liquidate our assets, the per-share liquidation amount may be less than $10.00 because of the expenses related to this offering, our general and administrative expenses, and the anticipated costs associated with seeking an initial business combination. Furthermore, there will be no distribution with respect to our outstanding warrants, which will expire with no value if we liquidate before the consummation of our initial business combination.

If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination, our public stockholders will likely be forced to wait the full 24 months before receiving liquidation distributions.

 

We have 24 months after the completion 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 our initial business combination prior thereto and only then to those investors that have both voted against the business combination and requested conversion of their shares at or prior to the stockholder vote. Only after the expiration of this full time period will public stockholders be entitled to liquidation distributions if we are unable to complete a business combination. Accordingly, investors’ funds may be unavailable to them until such date.

 

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

 

Because 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 United States securities laws. However, because we expect that our securities will be listed on the American Stock Exchange, a national securities exchange, and 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 with the SEC promptly following completion of this offering including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which we refer to as the SEC, to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419 under the Securities Act. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Because we are not subject to those rules, including Rule 419, our units will be immediately tradable and we have a longer period of time to complete a business combination than we would if we were subject to those rules. For a more detailed comparison of our offering to offerings under Rule 419, see the section entitled “Proposed Business — Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419.”

 

Under Delaware law, the requirements and restrictions relating to this offering contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended, which could reduce or eliminate the protection afforded to our stockholders by such requirements and restrictions.

 

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 an initial business combination. Specifically, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that:

 

 

 

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires that we obtain the unanimous consent of our stockholders to amend certain of the above provisions. However, the validity of unanimous consent provisions under Delaware law has not been settled. A court could conclude that the unanimous consent requirement constitutes a practical prohibition on amendment in violation of the stockholders’ implicit rights to amend the corporate charter. In that case, some or all of the above provisions could be amended without unanimous consent and any such amendment could reduce or eliminate the protection afforded to our stockholders. However, we view the foregoing provisions as obligations to our stockholders and our officers and directors have agreed that they will not recommend or take any action to waive or amend any of these provisions that would take effect prior to the consummation of our initial business combination.

 

Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, we may not be able to consummate an attractive business combination.

 

Identifying, executing and realizing attractive returns on business combinations is highly competitive and involves a high degree of uncertainty. We expect to encounter intense competition for potential target businesses from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including venture capital funds, leveraged buyout funds, operating businesses, and other entities and individuals, both foreign and domestic. Many of these competitors are well established and have extensive experience in identifying and consummating 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. Furthermore, over the past several years, other “blank check” companies have been formed, and a number of such companies have grown in size. Additional investment funds and blank check companies with similar investment objectives as ours may be formed in the future by other unrelated parties and these funds and companies may have substantially more capital and may have access to and utilize additional financing on more attractive terms. While we believe that there are numerous potential target businesses with which we could combine using the net proceeds of this offering, the private placement and the co-investment, together with additional financing, if available, our ability to compete in combining with certain sizeable target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing a business combination with certain target businesses. In addition:

 

 

 

Any of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in consummating an initial business combination on favorable terms or at all.

 

To the extent that our initial business combination entails the contemporaneous combination with more than one operating business, we may not have sufficient resources, financial or otherwise, to effectively and efficiently conduct adequate due diligence and negotiate definitive agreements on terms most favorable to our stockholders. In addition, because our initial business combination may be with different sellers, we will need to convince such sellers to agree that the purchase of their businesses is contingent upon the simultaneous closings of the other acquisitions.

 

Because there are numerous “blank check” companies similar to ours seeking to consummate an initial business combination, it may be more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.

 

Based upon publicly available information, as of August 31, 2007, approximately 115 similarly structured “blank check” companies have completed initial public offerings in the United States since the start of 2004 and 45 others have filed registration statements. Of the “blank check” companies that have completed initial public offerings, 30 companies have consummated a business combination, while 24 other companies have announced that they have entered into definitive agreements or letters of intent with respect to potential business combinations but have not yet consummated such business combinations. Five companies have failed to complete previously announced business combinations and have announced their pending dissolution and return of trust proceeds to stockholders. Accordingly, the remaining 56 “blank check” companies that we estimate to have raised approximately $5.7 billion that is currently held in trust accounts, and potentially an additional 45 “blank check” companies that have filed registration statements to raise approximately $6.9 billion, will be seeking to enter into business combinations. As a result, we may be subject to competition from these and other companies seeking to consummate a business combination which, in turn, will result in an increased demand for target businesses. Further, the fact that 30 “blank check” companies have consummated a business combination, 24 other companies have entered into definitive agreements or letters of intent with respect to potential business combinations, and five companies have failed to complete a business combination, may be an indication that there are a limited number of attractive target businesses available or that many target businesses may not be inclined to enter into a business combination with a publicly held “blank check” company. Because of this competition, we cannot assure you that we will be able to consummate an initial business combination within the required time periods. If we are unable to find a suitable target operating business within the required time period, the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require us to liquidate.

 

We may have insufficient resources to cover our operating expenses and the expenses of consummating an initial business combination.

 

We believe that the $250,000 available to us outside of the trust account upon consummation of this offering and interest earned of up to $2,250,000, after tax, on the balance of the trust account that we expect to be available to us will be sufficient to cover our working capital requirements for the next 24 months,

including expenses incurred in connection with an initial business combination, based upon our executive officers’ estimate of the amount required for these purposes. This estimate may prove inaccurate, especially if a portion of the available proceeds is used to make a down payment or pay exclusivity or similar fees in connection with an initial business combination or if we expend a significant portion of the available proceeds in pursuit of a business combination that is not consummated. If we do not have sufficient proceeds available to cover our expenses, we may be required to obtain additional financing from our executive officers, our directors, our existing stockholders or third parties. Such additional financing may include loans from third parties to cover the costs associated with the search for and consummation of an initial business combination, although we currently have no intention of obtaining third party loans. We would seek to have any third party lenders waive any claim to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of the public stockholders. Our sponsor and each of our executive officers have agreed to be jointly and severally liable to reimburse the trust account for any claims made by such lenders to the extent that the payment of any debts or obligations owed to such lenders actually reduces the amount in the trust account. We may not be able to obtain additional financing. None of our executive officers, directors or existing stockholders are obligated to provide any additional financing. If we do not have sufficient proceeds and are unable to obtain additional financing, we may be required to liquidate prior to consummating an initial business combination.

 

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

 

When we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, we will offer each public stockholder (but not our existing stockholders) the right to have his, her or its shares of common stock converted to cash if the stockholder votes against the initial business combination and the initial business combination is approved and completed. Such holder must both vote against such business combination and exercise his, her or its conversion rights to receive a pro rata portion of the trust account. Accordingly, 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 such conversion rights, 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 case a larger percentage of stockholders exercise their conversion rights than we expect. Since we have no specific business combination under consideration, we have not taken any steps to secure third party financing. Therefore, we may not be able to consummate an initial business combination that requires us to use all of the funds held in the trust account as part of the purchase price, or we may end up having a leverage ratio that is not optimal for our business combination. This may limit our ability to effectuate the most attractive business combination available to us.

 

A decline in interest rates could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete a business combination since we will depend on interest earned on the trust account to pay our tax obligations, to fund our search and to consummate our initial business combination.

 

Of the net proceeds of this offering, only $250,000 will be available to us initially outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. We will depend on sufficient interest being earned on the proceeds held in the trust account to provide us with additional working capital in order to identify one or more target businesses and to complete our initial business combination, as well as to pay any tax obligations that we may owe. Although we do not know the exact rate of interest to be earned on the trust account, we believe that the recent historical interest rates of U.S. Treasury Bills with less than six month maturities are indicative of the interest to be earned on the funds in the trust account. According to the Federal Reserve Statistical Release dated October 1, 2007, referencing historical interest rate data which appears on the Federal Reserve website, U.S. Treasury Bills with four week, three month and six month maturities were yielding, as of the week ended September 28, 2007, 3.25%, 3.69% and 3.93% per annum, respectively. While we cannot assure you the balance of the trust account will be invested to yield these rates, we believe such rates are representative of those we may receive on the balance of the trust account.

 

While we are entitled to have released to us for such purposes certain interest earned on the funds in the trust account, a substantial decline in interest rates may result in our having insufficient funds available with

which to structure, negotiate and close an initial business combination. In such event, we may need to borrow funds from our existing stockholders to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Our existing stockholders are under no obligation to advance funds in such circumstances.

 

Our determination of the offering price of our units and of the aggregate amount of proceeds we are raising in this offering was more arbitrary than typically would be the case if we were an operating company rather than an acquisition vehicle.

 

Prior to this offering, we had no operating history and there was no public market for any of our securities. The public offering price of the units, the terms of the warrants, the aggregate proceeds we are raising and the amount to be placed in a trust account were the products of negotiations between the underwriters and us. The factors that were considered in making these determinations included:

 

 

We expect that an initial public offering of $300,000,000 will enable us to consummate an initial business combination with a business whose fair market value is at least $228,760,471. The actual amount of consideration which we will be able to pay for the initial business combination will depend on whether we choose, or are able, to pay a portion of the business combination consideration with shares of our common stock or if we are able to finance a portion of the consideration with shares of our common stock or with debt financing. Although these factors were considered, the determination of our per unit offering price and aggregate proceeds was more arbitrary than typically would be the case if we were an operating company, as it is based on our executive officers’ estimate of the amount needed to fund our operations for the next 24 months and to consummate an initial business combination, since we have no operating history or financial results. In addition, because we have not identified any specific target businesses, management’s assessment of the financial requirements necessary to consummate an initial business combination may prove to be inaccurate, in which case we may not have sufficient funds to consummate an initial business combination and we will be required to either find additional financing or liquidate.

 

A stockholder who abstains from voting will lose the ability to receive a pro rata share of the funds in the trust account if we consummate an initial business combination.

 

Prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will submit the transaction to our stockholders for approval, even if the nature of the acquisition is such as would not ordinarily require stockholder approval under applicable state law. If we achieve a quorum for the meeting, only stockholders who exercise their right to vote will affect the outcome of the stockholder vote. Abstentions are not considered to be voting “for” or “against” the transaction. Any stockholder who abstains from voting would be bound by the decision of the majority of stockholders who do vote. As a result, an abstaining shareholder will lose the ability to receive a pro rata share of the trust account, including accrued interest (net of taxes payable on such interest income and after release of up to $2,250,000 of interest income, after tax, to fund working capital requirements), which would be available to a shareholder that votes against the initial business combination and exercises its conversion rights.

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.

 

We may require public stockholders who wish to exercise their conversion rights regarding their shares in connection with a proposed business combination to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using the Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System at any time up until the business day immediately preceding the vote taken at the stockholder meeting relating to such 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 the process, it may take significantly longer than two weeks to obtain a physical stock certificate and you may not be able to convert your shares in time. 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, we will only require stockholders to deliver their certificates prior to the vote if, in accordance with the American Stock Exchange’s proxy notification recommendations, stockholders receive the proxy solicitation materials at least twenty days prior to the meeting. However, if it takes longer than we anticipate for stockholders to deliver their shares, stockholders who wish to exercise their conversion rights may be unable to meet the deadline for exercising their conversion rights and thus may be unable to convert their shares.

 

We will proceed with a business combination even if public stockholders owning in the aggregate one share less than 30% of the shares sold in this offering exercise their conversion rights.

 

We will proceed with a business combination only if public stockholders owning at most an aggregate of one share less than 30% of the shares sold in this offering exercise their conversion rights. Accordingly, the public stockholders owning in the aggregate one share less than 30% of the shares sold in this offering may exercise their conversion rights and we could still consummate a proposed business combination. We have increased the conversion percentage (from the 20% that is customary in similar offerings to 30%) in order to reduce the likelihood that a small group of investors holding a block of our stock will be able to stop us from completing a business combination that may otherwise be approved by a large majority of our public stockholders. As a result of this change, it may be easier for us to complete a business combination even in the face of a strong stockholder dissent, thereby negating some of the protections of having a lower conversion threshold to public stockholders. Furthermore, the ability to consummate a transaction despite shareholder disapproval in excess of what would be permissible in a traditional blank check offering may be viewed negatively by potential investors seeking shareholder protections consistent with traditional blank check offerings.

 

Our business combination may require us to use substantially all of our cash to pay the purchase price. In such a case, because we will not know how many stockholders may exercise their conversion rights, we may need to arrange third party financing to help fund our business combination in case a larger percentage of stockholders exercise their conversion rights than we expect. Additionally, even if our business combination does not require us to use substantially all of our cash to pay the purchase price, if a significant number of stockholders exercise their conversion rights, we will have less cash available to use in furthering our business plans following a business combination and may need to arrange third party financing. We have not taken any steps to secure third party financing for either situation, and we cannot assure you that we would be able to obtain such financing on terms favorable to us or at all.

 

If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share liquidation price received by our public stockholders would be less than approximately $9.88 per share.

 

Placing the funds in a trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, providers of financing, if any, prospective target businesses and other entities with whom we execute agreements waive 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, we are not obligated to obtain a waiver from any potential creditor or potential target business and there is no guarantee that they will agree to provide such a waiver, which is not a condition to our doing business with anyone. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by our executive officers and directors to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or if our executive officers and directors are unable to find a provider of required services willing to provide the waiver. In any event, our executive officers and directors would perform an analysis of the alternatives available to us and would enter into an agreement with a third party that did not execute a waiver only if they believed that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. We will seek to secure waivers that we believe are valid and enforceable, but it is possible that a waiver may later be found to be invalid or unenforceable. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts, or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Accordingly, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to claims that would take priority over the claims of our public stockholders and the per share liquidation price could be less than approximately $9.88, plus interest, due to claims of such creditors or other entities. If we are unable to consummate an initial business combination and are required to liquidate, our sponsor and each of our executive officers have agreed, on a joint and several basis, to reimburse us for our debts to any vendor for services rendered or products sold to us, potential target businesses or to providers of financing, if any, in all cases only to the extent necessary to ensure that such claims do not reduce the amount in the trust account. Based on representations made to us by our sponsor and each of our executive officers, we currently believe that they are of substantially means and capable of funding a shortfall in our trust account to satisfy their foreseeable indemnification obligations. However, we have not asked them to reserve for such an eventuality. We cannot assure you that our sponsor and our executive officers will be able to satisfy those obligations or that the proceeds in the trust account will not be reduced by such claims. In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced and our sponsor and our executive officers assert that they are unable to satisfy their obligations or that they have no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether we would take legal action against our sponsor and our executive officers to enforce their indemnification obligations. Furthermore, creditors may seek to interfere with the distribution of the trust account pursuant to federal or state creditor and bankruptcy laws, which could delay the actual distribution of such funds or reduce the amount ultimately available for distribution to our public stockholders. If we are required to file a bankruptcy case or an involuntary bankruptcy case is filed against us that is not dismissed, the funds held in the trust account will 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, the per share liquidation distribution would be less than the initial $9.88 per share held in the trust account.

 

Our independent directors may decide not to enforce our sponsor’s and our executive officers’ indemnification obligations, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders.

 

Our sponsor and our executive officers have agreed to reimburse us for our debts to any vendor for services rendered or products sold to us, potential target businesses or to providers of financing, if any, in each case only to the extent necessary to ensure that such claims do not reduce the amount in the trust account. In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced and our sponsor and our executive officers assert that they are unable to satisfy their obligations or that they have no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether we would take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take action on our behalf against our sponsor and our executive officers to enforce their indemnification obligations, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in a particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce our sponsor’s and our executive officers’ indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for

distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced and the per share liquidation distribution could be less than the initial $9.88 per share held in the trust account.

 

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

 

If we are unable to complete an initial business combination within 24 months after the completion of this offering, our corporate existence will cease except for the purposes of winding up our affairs and liquidating pursuant to Section 278 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, in which case we will, as promptly as practicable thereafter, adopt a plan of distribution in accordance with Section 281(b) of the Delaware General Corporation Law. Section 278 provides that our existence will continue for at least three years after its expiration for the purpose of prosecuting and defending suits, whether civil, criminal or administrative, by or against us, and of enabling us gradually to settle and close our business, to dispose of and convey our property, to discharge our liabilities and to distribute to our stockholders any remaining assets, but not for the purpose of continuing the business for which we were organized. Our existence will continue automatically even beyond the three-year period for the purpose of completing the prosecution or defense of suits begun prior to the expiration of the three-year period, until such time as any judgments, orders or decrees resulting from such suits are fully executed. Section 281(b) will require us to pay or make reasonable provision for all then-existing claims and obligations, including all contingent, conditional, or unmatured contractual claims known to us, and to make such provision as will be reasonably likely to be sufficient to provide compensation for any then-pending claims and for claims that have not been made known to us or that have not arisen but that, based on facts known to us at the time, are likely to arise or to become known to us within 10 years after the date of dissolution. Accordingly, we would be required to provide for any creditors known to us at that time or those that we believe could be potentially brought against us within the subsequent 10 years prior to distributing the funds held in the trust account to stockholders. 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 that we engage after the consummation of this offering (such as accountants, lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) and potential target businesses. We intend to have all vendors that we engage after the consummation of this offering and prospective target businesses execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account. Accordingly, we believe the claims that could be made against us should be limited, thereby lessening the likelihood that any claim would result in any liability extending to the trust account. However, 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 (but not more) received by them in a liquidation and any liability of our stockholders may extend well beyond the third anniversary of such liquidation.

 

If we are required 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          , 2009, 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 directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, thereby exposing themselves and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.

 

Because we have not selected any specific target businesses, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.

 

Because we have not yet identified or approached any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s

operations, financial condition, or prospects. To the extent we consummate an initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our executive officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors, or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control, meaning that we can do nothing to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in an acquisition target. Except for the limitation that an acquisition target have a fair market value of at least 80% of the balance in the trust account (excluding the amount held in the trust account representing the deferred underwriting discount and commissions and taxes payable) at the time of the acquisition, we will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting a prospective acquisition target. For a more complete discussion of our selection of target businesses, see the section entitled “Proposed Business — Consummating an Initial Business Combination — Selection of a Target and Structuring of an Initial Business Combination.”

 

A significant portion of working capital could be expended in pursuing business combinations that are not consummated.

 

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. In addition, we may opt to make down payments or pay exclusivity or similar fees in connection with structuring and negotiating a business combination. If a decision is made not to consummate a specific business combination, the costs incurred up to that point in connection with the abandoned transaction, potentially including down payments or exclusivity or similar fees, will not be recoverable. Furthermore, even if an agreement is reached relating to a specific target business, we may fail to consummate an initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control, such as if our public stockholders holding 30% or more of our common stock vote against an initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders approve the transaction. 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 combine with another business.

 

We may issue additional shares of our capital stock, including through convertible debt securities, to consummate an initial business combination, which would reduce the equity interest of our stockholders and may cause a change in control of our ownership.

 

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 106,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 5,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. Immediately after this offering, there will be 16,375,000 authorized but unissued shares of our common stock available for issuance (after appropriate reservation of shares issuable upon full exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option, all outstanding warrants and the warrants included in the co-investment units) and all of the 5,000 shares of preferred stock available for issuance. Although we have no commitments as of the date of this offering to issue any additional securities, we may issue a substantial number of additional shares of our common stock, preferred stock or a combination of both, including through convertible debt securities, as consideration for or to finance a business combination. The issuance of additional shares of our common stock or any number of shares of preferred stock, including upon conversion of any debt securities may:

 

 

 

Our agreement with the underwriters prohibits us, prior to an initial business combination, from issuing additional units, additional common stock, preferred stock, additional warrants, or any options or other securities convertible or exchangeable into common stock or 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 additional shares of our common stock as consideration for or to finance an initial business combination, which may dilute the equity interest of our stockholders.

 

We may acquire all or part of a target business through a share for share exchange or to finance a portion of the initial business combination consideration by issuing additional shares of our common stock. Such additional equity may be issued at a price below the then current trading price for shares of our common stock, resulting in dilution of the equity interest of our then current public stockholders. At this time, no financing arrangements have been entered into or are contemplated with any third parties to raise any additional funds to finance an initial business combination through the sale of additional equity or otherwise.

 

We may be unable to obtain additional financing, if required, to consummate an initial 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 or approached any prospective target businesses, we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular business combination. If the net proceeds of this offering prove to be insufficient, because of the size of the initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of target businesses, or because we become obligated to convert into cash a significant number of shares from dissenting stockholders, we may be required to seek additional financing through the issuance of equity or debt securities or other financing arrangements. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all.

 

Although we have no current plans to do so, if we were to incur a substantial amount of debt to finance a business combination, such incurrence of debt could:

 

 

 

To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to consummate a particular business combination, we may be compelled to restructure or abandon that particular business combination and seek alternative target businesses. In addition, if we consummate a business combination, we may require additional financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business or businesses. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of our combined business or businesses. None of our executive officers, directors or stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after the consummation of an initial business combination.

 

The desire of our current executive officers and directors to remain with us following an initial business combination may result in a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is appropriate for a business combination and in the public stockholders’ best interests.

 

Messrs. Mack, Robert Baker, Richard Baker and Neibart currently intend to continue to be involved in our management following our initial business combination. If any or all of them decide to do so, the personal and financial interests of our current executive officers and directors may influence them to condition a business combination on their retention by us and to view more favorably target businesses that offer them a continuing role, either as an officer, director, consultant, or other third-party service provider, after the business combination. Messrs. Mack, Robert Baker, Richard Baker and Neibart, in their capacity as our executive officers, could be negotiating the terms and conditions of the business combination on our behalf at the same time that they, as individuals, were negotiating the terms and conditions related to an employment, consulting or other agreement with representatives of the potential business combination candidate. As a result, there may be a conflict of interest in the negotiation of the terms and conditions related to such continuing relationships as our executive officers and directors may be influenced by their personal and financial interests rather than the best interests of our public stockholders.

 

If we acquire a target business in an all-cash transaction, it would be more likely that our current executive officers and directors would remain with us, if they choose to do so. If our initial business combination were structured as a merger in which the owners of the target business were to control us following a business combination, it may be less likely that our current management would remain with us because control would rest with the owners of the target business and not our current management, unless otherwise negotiated as part of the transaction in the acquisition agreement, an employment agreement or other arrangement.

 

Our executive 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 executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the consummation of an initial business combination. Each of our executive officers and directors is engaged in several other business endeavors and they are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Mr. Mack continues to serve as senior partner of Apollo Real Estate Advisors, or Apollo, and is president of the corporate partners of the Apollo Real Estate Funds. Mr. Robert Baker continues to serve as the Chairman of National Realty & Development Corporation and a founder of NRDC Equity Partners. Richard Baker continues to serve as president and chief executive officer of NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners. Mr. Neibart is a partner of Apollo. Our outside directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, Amalgamated Bank, PBS Realty Advisors LLC, Ethan Allen Inc., the Jim Pattison Group, National Cinemedia, LLC, Harman International Industries, Inc., The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc., Bowne and Company, Inc., Cablevision, Inc., Gabelli Asset Management, Intercontinental

Exchange, Inc., E.W. Scripps Company and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. If our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to consummate an initial business combination.

 

Our executive officers and directors are, and may in the future become, affiliated with entities and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.

 

Following the completion of this offering and until we consummate an initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more operating businesses. Our executive officers and directors are, or may in the future become, affiliated with entities that are engaged in a similar business. In each case, our executive officers’ and directors’ existing directorships may give rise to fiduciary obligations that take priority over any fiduciary obligation owed to us.

 

We have entered into a business opportunity right of first offer agreement with our sponsor, NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners and with our executive officers and directors. This right of first offer provides that, subject to the respective pre-existing fiduciary duties of our executive officers and directors, from the date of this prospectus until the earlier of the consummation of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will have a right of first offer if any of these parties becomes aware of, or involved with, a business combination opportunity with any operating business. Subject to the respective pre-existing fiduciary duties of our executive officers and directors, these parties to the right of first offer agreement will, and will cause companies or entities under their management or control, to first offer any such business opportunity to us and they will not, and will cause each other company or entity under their management or control not, to pursue any such business opportunity unless and until our board of directors, including a majority of our disinterested independent directors, has determined that we will not pursue such opportunity.

 

We recognize that each of our executive officers and directors may be deemed an affiliate of any company for which such executive officer or director serves as an officer or director or for which such executive officer or director otherwise has a pre-existing fiduciary duty and that a conflict of interest could arise if an opportunity is appropriate for one of such companies. For a complete description of these affiliations, please see the sections entitled “Management” and “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions — Conflicts of Interest.” As part of this right of first offer, we have established procedures with respect to the sourcing of a potential business combination by our executive officers and directors to eliminate such conflict for our executive officers and directors, whereby a potential business combination that must be presented to any company for which such executive officer or director, as the case may be, serves as an officer or director or otherwise has a pre-existing fiduciary duty (other than our sponsor, NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners) will not be presented to us until after such executive officer or director has presented the opportunity to such company and such company has determined not to proceed. These pre-existing fiduciary duties may limit the opportunities that are available to us to consummate our initial business combination.

 

None of our executive officers or directors has ever been associated with a publicly held blank check company.

 

None of our executive officers or directors has ever served as an officer or director of a development stage public company with the business purpose of raising funds to acquire an operating business. Accordingly, you may not be able to adequately evaluate their ability to successfully consummate an initial business combination through a blank check company or a company with a structure similar to ours.

 

Because each of our executive officers and directors directly or indirectly owns shares of our common stock that will not participate in liquidating distributions, they may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is appropriate for an initial business combination.

 

Messrs. Mack, Robert Baker, Richard Baker and Neibart, each indirectly owns shares of our common stock through ownership in our sponsor. In addition, our other directors own shares of our common stock. Each of our sponsor and our executive officers and directors have agreed to waive their right to receive distributions from the trust account upon our liquidation with respect to shares of our common stock they acquired prior to the completion of this offering, and it and they would lose its and their entire investment in us were this to occur. Therefore, our executive officers’ and directors’ personal and financial interests may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting target businesses and consummating an initial business combination in a timely manner. This may also 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.

 

Our executive officers’ and directors’ interests in obtaining reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them may lead to a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is appropriate for a business combination and in the public stockholders’ best interest.

 

Our executive officers and directors will not receive reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them to the extent that such expenses exceed the amount of available proceeds not deposited in the trust account, unless the initial business combination is consummated. The amount of available proceeds is based upon our executive officers’ estimate of the amount needed to fund our operations for the next 24 months and consummate an initial business combination. This estimate may prove to be inaccurate, especially if a portion of the available proceeds is used to make a down payment in connection with an initial business combination or pay exclusivity or similar fees or if we expend a significant portion of the available proceeds in pursuit of an initial business combination that is not consummated. The financial interest of our executive officers and directors could influence their motivation in selecting a target and thus, there may be a conflict of interest when determining whether a particular business combination is in our public stockholders’ best interest.

 

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

 

In light of our executive officers’, directors’ and existing stockholders’ involvement with other companies and our intent to consummate an initial business combination, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our executive officers, directors or existing stockholders. Certain of our executive officers and directors, identified below, are affiliated with the following entities that may compete with us for combination with target businesses: Mr. Mack with Mack-Cali Realty Corporation; Mr. Richard Baker with Lord & Taylor and Hudson’s Bay Company; Mr. Neibart with Linens ’N Things; and our other directors with companies including, without limitation, Amalgamated Bank, PBS Realty Advisors LLC, Ethan Allen Inc., the Jim Pattison Group, National Cinemedia, LLC, Harman International Industries, Inc., The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc., Bowne and Company, Inc., Cablevision, Inc., Gabelli Asset Management, Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., E.W. Scripps Company and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders are not currently aware of any specific opportunities to consummate a business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no preliminary discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would consider such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination as set forth in “Proposed Business — Consummating an Initial Business Combination — Selection of a Target and Structuring of an Initial Business Combination.” Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm regarding the fairness to our stockholders from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more businesses affiliated with our existing stockholders, or our current executive officers and directors, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the initial business combination may not be as advantageous to our public stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.

 

We will not generally be required to obtain a determination of the fair market value of a target business or target businesses from an unaffiliated, independent investment banking firm.

 

Our initial business combination must be with one or more operating businesses whose fair market value is at least equal to 80% of the balance in the trust account (less the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions and taxes payable) at the time of such combination. The fair market value of such business or businesses will be determined by our board of directors based upon standards generally accepted by the financial community, such as actual and potential sales, earnings, cash flow and book value. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine that the target business has a sufficient fair market value to meet the threshold criterion or if one of our executive officers, directors or existing stockholders is affiliated with that target business, we will obtain an opinion from an unaffiliated, independent investment banking firm which is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) with respect to the fair market value of the target business. In all other instances, we will have no obligation to obtain or provide our stockholders with a fairness opinion. Investment banking firms providing fairness opinions typically place limitations on the purposes for which the opinion may be used, and there can be no assurances that, as a result of such limitations or applicable law, stockholders will be entitled to rely on the opinion. We expect to require that any firm selected by us to provide a fairness opinion will adhere to general industry practice in stating the purposes for which its opinion may be used. If no opinion is obtained or if stockholders are not permitted to rely on the opinion, our stockholders will be relying solely on the judgment of our board of directors with respect to the determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination.

 

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

 

We intend that our units, and, after the date of separation, shares of common stock and warrants, which we refer to, collectively, as our securities, will be listed on the American Stock Exchange on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We cannot assure you that our securities will be, or will continue to be, listed on the American Stock Exchange in the future, prior to a business combination. Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, it is likely that the American Stock Exchange may 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 the American Stock Exchange delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board or the “pink sheets.” As a result, 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.” Since we expect that our units, and eventually our common stock and warrants will be listed on the American Stock Exchange, our units, common stock 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 the American Stock Exchange, our securities would not be covered securities and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.

 

If our common stock becomes subject to the SEC’s penny stock rules, broker-dealers may experience difficulty in completing customer transactions and trading activity in our securities may be adversely affected.

 

If at any time our securities are no longer listed on the American Stock Exchange or another exchange or we have net tangible assets of $5,000,000 or less or our common stock has a market price per share of less than $5.00, transactions in our common stock may be subject to the “penny stock” rules promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which we refer to as the Securities Exchange Act. Under these rules, broker-dealers who recommend such securities to persons other than institutional accredited investors must:

 

 

If our common stock becomes subject to these rules, broker-dealers may find it difficult to effect customer transactions and trading activity in our securities may be adversely affected. As a result, the market price of our securities may be depressed, and you may find it more difficult to sell our securities.

 

We may only be able to consummate one business combination, which may cause us to be solely dependent on a single business and a limited number of services or products.

 

The net proceeds from this offering and the private placement, after reserving $250,000 of the proceeds for our operating expenses, will provide us with approximately $285,950,589 (or $327,800,589 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full), excluding deferred underwriting discounts and commissions, which we may use to consummate our initial business combination. Although we are permitted to consummate our initial business combination with more than one target business, we currently intend to consummate our initial business combination with a single operating business whose fair market value is at least equal to 80% of the balance in the trust account (less the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions and taxes payable) at the time of the initial business combination. If we acquire more than one target business, additional issues would arise, including possible complex accounting issues, which would include generating pro forma financial statements reflecting the operations of several target businesses as if they had been combined, and numerous logistical issues, which would include attempting to coordinate the timing of negotiations, proxy statement disclosure and closing, with multiple target businesses. In addition, we would be exposed to the risk that conditions to closings with respect to the initial business combination with one or more of the target businesses would not be satisfied, bringing the fair market value of the initial business combination below the required threshold of 80% of the balance in the trust account (less the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions and taxes payable). As a result, we are likely to consummate an initial business combination with only a single operating business, which may have only a limited number of services or products. The resulting lack of diversification may:

 

 

 

In this case we will not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities that may have the resources to consummate several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry so as to diversify risks and offset losses. Further, the prospects for our success may be entirely dependent upon the future performance of the initial target business or businesses we acquire.

 

Any attempt to consummate more than one transaction as our initial business combination will make it more difficult to consummate our initial business combination.

 

In the event that we are unable to identify a single operating business with which to consummate an initial business combination, we may seek to combine contemporaneously with multiple operating businesses whose collective fair market value is at least equal to 80% of the balance in the trust account (less the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions and taxes payable) at the time of those combinations. Business combinations involve a number of special risks, including diversion of management’s attention, legal, financial, accounting and due diligence expenses, and general risks that transactions will not be consummated. To the extent we try to consummate more than one transaction at the same time, all of these risks will be exacerbated, especially in light of our limited financial and other resources. Consummating our initial business combination through more than one transaction likely would result in increased costs as we would be required to conduct a due diligence investigation of more than one business and negotiate the terms of the initial business combination with multiple entities. In addition, due to the difficulties involved in consummating multiple business combinations concurrently, our attempt to consummate our initial business combination in this manner would increase the chance that we would be unable to successfully consummate our initial business combination in a timely manner. In addition, if our initial business combination entails simultaneous transactions with different entities, each entity will need to agree that its transaction is contingent upon the simultaneous closing of the other transactions, which may make it more difficult for us, or delay our ability, to consummate the initial business combination. As a result, if we attempt to consummate our initial business combination in the form of multiple transactions, there is an increased risk that we will not be in a position to consummate some or all of those transactions, which could result in our failure to satisfy the requirements for an initial business combination and force us to liquidate.

 

We may combine with a target business with a history of poor operating performance and there is no guarantee that we will be able to improve the operating performance of that target business.

 

Due to the competition for business combination opportunities, we may combine with a target business with a history of poor operating performance if we believe that target business has attractive attributes that we believe could be the basis of a successful business after consummation of our initial business combination. A business with a history of poor operating performance may be characterized by, among other things, several years of financial losses, a smaller market share than other businesses operating in a similar geographical area or industry or a low return on capital compared to other businesses operating in the same industry. In determining whether one of these businesses would be an appropriate target, we would base our decision primarily on the fair market value of such a business. We would consider, among other things, its operating income, its current cash flows and its potential to generate cash in the future, the value of its current contracts and our assessment of its ability to attract and retain new customers. However, combining with a target business with a history of poor operating performance can be extremely risky and we may not be able to improve operating performance. If we cannot improve the operating performance of such a target business following our business combination, then our business, financial condition and results of operations will be

adversely affected. Factors that could result in our not being able to improve operating performance include, among other things:

 

 

If we effect an initial business combination with a business 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 an initial business combination with a business located outside of the United States. If we do, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with businesses operating in the target’s 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 an initial business combination with a business located outside of the United States, the laws applicable to such business will likely govern all of our material agreements and we may not be able to enforce our legal rights.

 

If we effect an initial business combination with a business located outside of the United States, the laws of the country in which such business 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 business 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.

 

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

 

Upon completion of our offering, our existing stockholders will beneficially own approximately 20% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock and, at the time of our initial business combination, this percentage will increase as a result of the co-investment. In addition, there is no restriction on the ability of our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders to purchase units, shares of our common stock or warrants either in this offering or in the market after completion of this offering. If they were to do so, the percentage of our outstanding common stock held by our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders would increase. Any common stock acquired by our sponsor or our executive officers and directors in this offering or in the secondary market will be considered part of the holdings of public stockholders. As a result of their substantial beneficial ownership through their control of NRDC Capital Management, LLC, Mr. Mack, our Chairman, Mr. Robert Baker, our Vice Chairman, Mr. Richard Baker, our Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Neibart, our President, each may exert considerable influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, including the election of executive officers and directors, amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, the approval of benefit plans, mergers and similar transactions (including approval of the initial business combination). Other than in respect of the co-investment, our existing stockholders, directors and officers have not established any specific criteria that would trigger purchases of our securities in the aftermarket or in private transactions, but they would most likely consider a variety of factors, including whether they believed that such securities were undervalued and represented a good investment. Any such purchases would be made in compliance with all applicable securities laws and our insider trading policy.

 

Because our existing stockholders, including our directors and officers, will lose their entire investment in us if a business combination is not consummated, our existing stockholders, directors or officers may purchase shares of our common stock from stockholders who would otherwise choose to vote against a proposed business combination or exercise their conversion rights in connection with such business combination.

 

Our sponsor owns shares of our common stock (which were purchased for an aggregate of $25,000) which will be worthless if we do not consummate a business combination. In addition, our sponsor will purchase warrants in a private placement immediately prior to the completion of this offering, which will also be worthless if we do not consummate a business combination. Given the interest that our existing stockholders, directors and officers have in a business combination being consummated, it is possible that our existing stockholders, directors or officers will acquire securities from public stockholders that have indicated their intention to vote against the business combination and exercise their conversion rights in order to help to insure that the business combination will be approved. Accordingly, such purchases could result in a business combination being approved that may have otherwise not been approved by our public stockholders, but for the purchases made by our existing stockholders, directors or officers.

 

Our staggered board may entrench management and discourage unsolicited stockholder proposals that may be in the best interests of stockholders.

 

Our board of directors will be divided into three classes, each of which generally will serve for a term of three years, with only one class of directors being elected in each year. There may not be an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of an initial business combination, in which case, all of the current directors will continue in office at least until the consummation of the initial business combination. If there is an annual meeting, as a consequence of this “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors would be considered for election. Moreover, except to the extent stockholder proposals are properly and timely submitted, our directors will determine which matters, including prospective business combinations, to submit to a stockholder vote. As a result, they will exert substantial control over actions requiring a stockholder vote both before and following an initial business combination.

Our existing stockholders paid approximately $0.003 per share for their shares, and accordingly, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution from the purchase of our common stock.

 

The difference between the public offering price per share of our common stock and the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our common stock after this offering is dilutive to you and the other investors in this offering. The fact that our existing stockholders acquired their shares of common stock at a nominal price has significantly contributed to this dilution. Assuming the offering is completed, you and the other new investors will incur an immediate and substantial dilution of 29.7% or $2.97 per share (the difference between the pro forma net tangible book value per share of $7.03 and the initial offering price of $10.00 per unit).

 

Our outstanding warrants may have an adverse effect on the market price of common stock and make it more difficult to consummate an initial business combination.

 

In connection with this offering, as part of the units, we will be issuing warrants to purchase 30,000,000 shares of common stock. In addition, in connection with the private placement, we will be issuing warrants to our sponsor to purchase 8,000,000 shares of common stock. Contemporaneously with the consummation of our initial business combination, as part of the co-investment units to be purchased by our sponsor, we will issue 2,000,000 warrants to purchase 2,000,000 shares of our common stock. To the extent we issue shares of common stock to consummate an initial business combination, the potential for the issuance of substantial numbers of additional shares upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive partner for a business combination in the eyes of a target business, as such securities, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of our common stock and the potential for such issuance could reduce the value of the shares that may be issued to consummate the initial business combination. Accordingly, the existence of our warrants may make it more difficult to consummate an initial business combination or may increase the cost of a target business if we are unable to consummate an initial business combination solely with cash. Additionally, the sale, or potential sale, of the shares underlying the warrants could have an adverse effect on the market price for our securities or on our ability to obtain future public financing. If and to the extent these warrants are exercised, you may experience dilution to your holdings.

 

Our existing stockholders’ exercise of their registration rights may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock, and the existence of these rights may make it more difficult to consummate an initial business combination.

 

Our sponsor is entitled to demand on up to three occasions that we register the resale of its shares of common stock and private placement warrants and its co-investment units, including the co-investment shares of common stock, the co-investment warrants and the shares of common stock underlying the co-investment warrants. Our sponsor and our directors also have certain “piggyback” registration rights and the right to unlimited registration on Form S-3 to the extent that we are eligible to use Form S-3. If our sponsor and our directors exercise their registration rights with respect to all of their shares of common stock and warrants, then there will be an additional 20,625,000 shares (including 1,125,000 shares sold to our sponsor that are subject to forfeiture to the extent the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option) of common stock eligible for trading in the public market. This potential increase in trading volume may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock. In addition, the existence of these rights may make it more difficult to consummate an initial business combination or may increase the cost of a target business in the event that we are unable to consummate an initial business combination solely with cash, as the stockholders of a particular target business may be discouraged from entering into a business combination with us or will request a higher price for their securities as a result of these registration rights and the potential future effect their exercise may have on the trading market for our common stock.

 

Failure to maintain an effective registration statement and a prospectus available for use relating to the common stock underlying our warrants may deprive our warrants of value and the market for our warrants may be limited.

 

No warrants will be exercisable and we will not be obligated to issue shares of common stock unless at the time of exercise a registration statement relating to shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the

warrants is effective and a prospectus relating to shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is available for use and those shares of common stock have been registered or qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the holder of our warrants. The private placement warrants will not be exercisable at any time when a registration statement relating to the shares of common stock underlying the public warrants is not effective and a prospectus relating to those shares is not available for use by the public warrant holders. So long as any of the public warrants remain outstanding, the co-investment warrants will not be exercisable at any time when a registration statement relating to the shares of common stock underlying the public warrants is not effective and a prospectus relating to those shares is not available for use by the public warrant holders. Holders of the warrants are not entitled to net cash settlement and the warrants may only be settled by delivery of shares of our common stock and not cash. Under the terms of a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us, we have agreed to use our reasonable best efforts to maintain an effective registration statement and prospectus available for use relating to common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants until the expiration of the warrants, and to take such action as is necessary to qualify the common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants for sale in those states in which this offering was initially qualified. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to do so. We have no obligation to settle the warrants for cash, in any event, and the warrants may not be exercised and we will not deliver securities therefore in the absence of an effective registration statement or a prospectus available for use. The warrants may never become exercisable if we never comply with these registration requirements and, in any such case, the total price paid for each unit would effectively have been paid solely for the shares of common stock included therein. In any case, the warrants may be deprived of value and the market for the warrants may be limited if a registration statement relating to the common stock issuable upon the exercise of the warrants is not effective, a prospectus relating to the common stock issuable upon the exercise of the warrants is not available for use or if the common stock is not qualified or exempt from qualification in the jurisdictions in which the holders of the warrants reside.

 

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 consummate an initial business combination or operate over the near term or long term in our intended manner.

 

We do not plan to operate as an investment fund or investment company, or to be engaged in the business of investing, reinvesting or trading in securities. Our plan is to acquire, hold, operate and grow for the long term one or more operating businesses. We do not plan to operate as a passive investor or as a merchant bank seeking dividends or gains from purchases and sales of securities. Our principals are experienced as officers and directors of operating companies.

 

Companies that fall within the definition of an “investment company” set forth in Section 3 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and the regulations thereunder, which we refer to as the 1940 Act, are subject to registration and substantive regulation under the 1940 Act. Companies that are subject to the 1940 Act that do not become registered are normally required to liquidate and are precluded from entering into transactions or enforceable contracts other than as an incident to liquidation. The basic definition of an “investment company” in the 1940 Act and related SEC rules and interpretations includes a company (1) that is, proposes to be, or holds itself out as being engaged primarily in investing, reinvesting or trading in securities; or (2) that has more than 40% of its assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) in “investment securities,” or (3) that is a “special situation investment company” (such as a merchant bank or private equity fund).

 

For example, if we were deemed to be an investment company under the 1940 Act, we would be required to become registered under the 1940 Act (or liquidate) and our activities would be subject to a number of restrictions, including, among others:

 

 

each of which may make it difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.

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

 

 

compliance with which would reduce the funds we have available outside the trust account to consummate our initial business combination.

 

In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the 1940 Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in an initial business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities.” Our business will be to identify and consummate a business combination and thereafter to operate the acquired business or businesses for the long term. We do not plan to buy operating businesses with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or to be a passive investor. We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the 1940 Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested by the trustee in U.S. government securities and in assets that are considered “cash items” for purposes of Section 3(a)(2) of the 1940 Act. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in securities or assets that are considered “investment securities” within the meaning of Section 3(a) of the 1940 Act. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring, growing and operating businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund) we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the 1940 Act. This offering is not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The trust account and the purchase of government securities for the trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earlier to occur of either: (i) the consummation of our primary business objective, which is a business combination, or (ii) absent a business combination, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public stockholders as part of our plan of liquidation. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the 1940 Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the 1940 Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expense for which we have not accounted.

 

Our directors, including those we expect to serve on our Audit Committee, may not be considered “independent” under the policies of the North American Securities Administrators Association, Inc., and, therefore, may take actions or incur expenses that are not deemed to be independently approved or independently determined to be in our best interest.

 

Under the policies of the North American Securities Administrators Association, Inc., an international organization devoted to investor protection, because all of our directors may receive reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them in connection with activities on our behalf, such as attending meetings of the board of directors, identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations, and all of our directors, directly or indirectly, own shares of our securities, state securities administrators could take the position that such individuals are not “independent.” If this were the case, they would take the position that we would not have the benefit of independent directors examining the propriety of expenses incurred on our behalf and subject to reimbursement. There is no limit on the amount of out-of-pocket expenses that could be incurred, and there will be no review of the reasonableness of the expenses by anyone other than our board of directors, which would include persons who may seek reimbursement, or a court of competent jurisdiction if such reimbursement is challenged. To the extent such out-of-pocket expenses exceed the available proceeds not deposited in the trust account, such out-of-pocket expenses would not be reimbursed by us unless we consummate an initial business combination. Although we believe that all actions taken by our directors on our behalf will be in our best interests, whether or not they are deemed to be “independent,” we cannot assure you that this will actually be the case. If actions are taken or expenses are incurred that actually are not in our best interests, it could have a material adverse effect on our business and operations and the price of our stock held by the public stockholders.

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. Investors therefore have no access to information about prior market history on which to base their investment decision. 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.

 

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 requires that we have such system of internal controls audited beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2008. 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 business 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 securities.

 

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

 

This prospectus contains “forward-looking statements,” which include information relating to future events, future financial performance, strategies, expectations, competitive environment and regulation. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding our:

 

 

These forward-looking statements reflect our current views about future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. We wish to caution readers that certain important factors may have affected and could in the future affect our actual results and could cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.

 

USE OF PROCEEDS

 

We estimate that the net proceeds of this offering and the private placement will be used as set forth in the following table:

 

 

 

 

After non-deferred expenses of this offering and the private placement, $296,450,589 (or $339,875,589 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be deposited in a trust account at JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as trustee. Except for payment of taxes and interest income earned of up to $2,250,000 to fund our working capital requirements, the proceeds will not be released from the trust account until the earlier of the consummation of an initial business combination or our liquidation. We expect to use the proceeds held in the trust account to acquire one or more domestic or foreign operating businesses. Interest earned on the trust account (net of taxes payable) will be held in the trust account for use in consummating an initial business combination or released to investors upon exercise of their conversion rights or upon our liquidation, as the case may be. However, we may not use all of the funds remaining in the trust account in connection with a business combination, either because the consideration for the initial business combination is less than the proceeds in the trust account or because we finance a portion of the consideration with our capital stock or debt securities. In that event, the remaining proceeds held in the trust account, as well as any other net proceeds not expended, will constitute working capital for our business after our initial business combination. While it is difficult to determine what the specific operating expenses of our business after consummation of an initial business combination may be, we expect that they may include some or all of the following: capital expenditures, general ongoing expenses, including overhead, payroll and costs involved in expanding markets and in developing strategic acquisitions or alliances. In addition, we may use any remaining proceeds held in the trust account to satisfy any unpaid reimbursable out-of-pocket expenses incurred by our executive officers and directors, as well as any unpaid finder’s fees or similar fees or compensation to the extent such expenses, fees or compensation exceed the available proceeds not deposited in the trust account. If we consummate an initial business combination, $10,500,000 (or $12,075,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be paid to the underwriters as deferred underwriting discounts and compensation, as set forth in this prospectus (subject to a $0.35 per share reduction for public stockholders who exercise their conversion rights).

 

Net proceeds of this offering and the private placement in the amount of $250,000 will not be held in the trust account and may be used to fund our operations up to the next 24 months, as described below.

 

We expect to use approximately $800,000 for legal, accounting and other expenses attendant to the structuring and negotiation of an initial business combination, $800,000 for expenses related to due diligence and investigation of prospective target businesses, and $50,000 for legal and accounting fees relating to SEC reporting obligations. We expect that due diligence of prospective target businesses will be performed by some or all members of our executive officers and directors and may include engaging market research and valuation firms as well as other third-party consultants. None of our executive officers or directors will receive any compensation for any due diligence efforts, other than reimbursement of any out-of-pocket expenses they may incur on our behalf while performing due diligence of prospective target businesses. Any reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses would occur at our discretion. To the extent such out-of-pocket expenses exceed the available proceeds not deposited in the trust account, such out-of-pocket expenses would not be reimbursed by us unless and until we consummate a business combination.

 

We have agreed to pay NRDC Capital Management, LLC a monthly fee of $7,500 for general and administrative services, including office space, utilities and secretarial support. We believe that, based on rents and fees for similar services in Purchase, New York, the fees charged by NRDC Capital Management, LLC are at least as favorable as we could have obtained from unaffiliated third parties.

We expect to use approximately $300,000 for premiums for director and officer insurance for a 24-month period. In addition, we have reserved approximately $120,000 for the payment of corporate franchise taxes. We intend to use the excess working capital (approximately $250,000) for other expenses incurred in structuring and negotiating an initial business combination and, if necessary, to cover the costs and expenses associated with our liquidation and winding-up (which we estimate would be in the range of $15,000 to $25,000). For example, we may opt to make a deposit or down payment or pay exclusivity or similar fees in connection with structuring and negotiating our initial business combination. While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms that specialize in business acquisitions, we may do so in the future to assist us in locating suitable target businesses, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, or other compensation. We have not reserved any specific amounts for a deposit, down payment, exclusivity fees, finder’s fees or similar fees or compensation, each of which may have the effect of reducing the available net proceeds not deposited in the trust account for payment of our ongoing expenses and reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred on our behalf. To the extent that any such fees or compensation exceeds the available proceeds not deposited in the trust account, we would not be able to pay such fees or compensation unless we consummate an initial business combination. In addition, the excess working capital will be used to cover miscellaneous expenses that we have not yet identified, which may include, without limitation, the reimbursement of our executive officers and directors for out-of-pocket expenses in connection with this offering, such as roadshow expenses and advances for offering costs made by them and not covered by the amounts set aside for offering expenses described above.

 

We believe that, upon consummation of this offering and the private placement, we will have sufficient available funds to operate at least for the next 24 months, assuming that an initial business combination is not consummated during that time. The amount of available proceeds is based on our executive officers’ and directors’ estimate of the amount needed to fund our operations for the next 24 months and to consummate a business combination. This belief is based on the fact that in-depth due diligence will be undertaken only after we have negotiated and signed a letter of intent or other preliminary agreement that addresses the terms of an initial business combination. Although we do not know the rate of interest to be earned on the trust account and are unable to predict an exact amount of time it will take to complete any initial business combination, we believe that following the completion of this offering, it will take a significant amount of time to find a prospective target business and take all of the steps necessary to complete an initial business combination. We anticipate that, even at an interest rate of 3.0% per annum, the interest that will accrue on the trust account during the time it will take to identify a target and complete an acquisition will be sufficient to fund our working capital requirements. Given the limited amount of time it will take to generate $2,250,000 million of interest on the trust account, we anticipate receiving such interest income generally shortly after we incur working capital expenses. However, if our estimate 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 if interest payments are not available to fund the expenses at the time we incur them, 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. To the extent that our expenses exceed the amounts not held in the trust account and the interest income of up to $2,250,000 million that may be released to us from the trust account subject to the tax holdback (as described in more detail in this prospectus), such out-of-pocket expenses could not be reimbursed by us unless we consummate an initial business combination. Although our executive officers currently intend to continue to be involved in the management of the combined company after our initial business combination, because the role of our officers and directors after an initial business combination is uncertain, we have no current ability to determine what remuneration, if any, will be paid to current officers and directors after our initial business combination. Our officers and directors may, as part of any such combination, negotiate the repayment of some or all of the out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them that have not been reimbursed by us prior to the closing of our initial business combination. If the owners of the target business do not agree to such repayment, this could cause our officers and directors to view such potential initial business combination unfavorably and result in a potential conflict of interest.

However, if we do not have sufficient proceeds available to cover our expenses, we may be required to obtain additional financing, either from our executive officers and directors, NRDC Capital Management, LLC or third parties. We may not be able to obtain additional financing, and none of our management, including our executive officers and directors, our existing stockholders or NRDC Capital Management, LLC is obligated to provide any additional financing. If we do not have sufficient proceeds not held in the trust account and cannot find additional financing, we may be required to dissolve and liquidate prior to consummating an initial business combination.

 

NRDC Capital Management, LLC has loaned a total of $200,000 to us for the payment of offering expenses. The loan is interest free and will be repaid upon the completion of this offering out of the gross proceeds.

 

The net proceeds of this offering that are not immediately required for the purposes set forth above will be held in the trust account and invested only in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the 1940 Act, or securities issued by the United States so that we are not deemed to be an investment company under the 1940 Act.

 

Other than (i) the repayment of the $200,000 loan described above and (ii) administrative services arrangement for services rendered to us, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid to any of our executive officers, directors, or existing stockholders or any of their respective affiliates prior to or in connection with the initial business combination. However, our executive officers and directors will receive reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them in connection with activities on our behalf, such as participating in the offering process, identifying potential target businesses, and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Although our executive officers currently intend to continue to be involved in the management of the combined company after our initial business combination, because the role of our current executive officers and directors after an initial business combination is uncertain, we have no current ability to determine what remuneration, if any, will be paid to current officers and directors after an initial business combination.

 

A public stockholder will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account, including interest earned on its pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account (net of taxes payable and after release of up to $2,250,000 of interest income, after tax, to fund working capital requirements, including the costs of our liquidation), only in the event of our liquidation upon our failure to consummate an initial business combination or if that public stockholder were to seek to convert shares into cash in connection with our initial business combination that the public stockholder previously voted against and which we actually consummate. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account.

 

CAPITALIZATION

 

The following table sets forth our capitalization as of July 13, 2007 and as adjusted to give effect to the sale of our units in this offering and the sale of warrants in the private placement, the application of the estimated net proceeds derived from the sale of such securities, the repayment of a $200,000 loan payable to NRDC Capital Management, LLC and to a 6 for 5 stock split of our common stock. This table should be read in conjunction with our selected financial data and the financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

 

 

 

 

DILUTION

 

The difference between the public offering price per share of common stock, assuming no value is attributed to the warrants included in the units, and the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our common stock after this offering constitutes the dilution to investors in this offering. 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 common stock that may be converted into cash), by the number of outstanding shares of our common stock.

 

As of July 13, 2007, after giving effect to a 6 for 5 stock split of our common stock, our net tangible book value was $5,232, or approximately $0.00 per share of common stock. After giving effect to the sale of 30,000,000 shares of common stock included in the units (but excluding shares underlying the warrants included in the units) in this offering and from the private placement, the deduction of underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses of this offering and after giving effect to a 6 for 5 stock split of our common stock, our pro forma net tangible book value (as decreased by the value of 8,999,999 shares of common stock which may be converted into cash and the potential forfeiture of 1,125,000 shares to the extent the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised) as of July 13, 2007 would have been $200,439,691 or approximately $7.03 per share, representing an immediate increase in net tangible book value of approximately $7.03 per share to our existing stockholders and an immediate decrease in net tangible book value of approximately $2.97 per share or approximately 29.7% to new investors not exercising their conversion rights.

 

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:

 

 

For purposes of presentation, our pro forma net tangible book value after this offering has been reduced by $85,785,167 because, if we consummate an initial business combination, the conversion rights of our public stockholders, other than our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders may result in the conversion into cash of up to 8,999,999 shares of the 30,000,000 shares included in the units sold in this offering, at a per share conversion price equal to the amount in the trust account (including the amount representing the deferred portion of the underwriting discounts and commissions) calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the proposed business combination, inclusive of any interest income (net of taxes payable on such interest income and after release of up to $2,250,000 of interest income, after tax, to fund working capital) divided by the number of shares sold in this offering. In addition, our pro forma net tangible book value after this offering has been reduced by $10,500,000, representing the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions payable on consummation of an initial business combination.

The pro forma net tangible book value per share after this offering and the private placement is calculated as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

The following table sets forth information with respect to our existing stockholders and the public stockholders after giving effect to a 6 for 5 stock split of our common stock:

 

 

 

 

DIVIDEND POLICY

 

We have not paid any dividends on our common stock to date. Prior to consummating an initial business combination, which is subject to approval by our public stockholders, substantially all of our earnings will consist of interest accrued on funds in the trust account that are required to be maintained therein until consummation of an initial business combination or our liquidation, except as set forth in the next sentence. There can be released to us from the trust account (i) interest income earned on the trust account balance to pay any income taxes on such interest and (ii) interest income earned, after tax, on the trust account of up to $2,250,000 to fund our working capital requirements, including, in such an event, the costs of our liquidation. Subsequent to our initial business combination, our board of directors intends to retain all earnings, if any, for use in our business operations. Accordingly, our board of directors does not anticipate declaring any dividends in the foreseeable future. The payment of dividends, if any, after an initial business combination, will be contingent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements, and general financial condition and will be within the discretion of our then board of directors.

 

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

 

We were formed on July 10, 2007, as a blank check company for the purpose of acquiring, through a merger, capital stock exchange, stock purchase, asset acquisition or other similar business combination, one or more operating businesses. We do not have any specific merger, capital stock exchange, stock purchase, asset acquisition or other similar business combination under consideration and neither we, nor any representative acting on our behalf, has had any contacts or discussions with any prospective target business with respect to such a transaction or taken any direct or indirect measures to locate a specific target business or consummate an initial business combination. We intend to use cash derived from the proceeds of this offering, our capital stock, debt, or a combination of cash, capital stock, and debt, to consummate an initial business combination.

 

The issuance of additional capital stock or the incurrence of debt, could have material consequences on our business and financial condition. The issuance of additional shares of our capital stock (including, upon conversion, of convertible debt securities):

 

 

Similarly, our incurrence of debt may:

 

 

To date, our efforts have been limited to organizational activities. We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date.

 

We estimate that the net proceeds from the sale of the units in this offering and the sale of warrants in the private placement will be $286,200,589 (or $328,050,589 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), after deducting offering expenses of approximately $800,000 and underwriting discounts and commissions of approximately $21,000,000 (or $24,150,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full). As a result of the deferral of underwriting discounts and commissions of $10,500,000 (or $12,075,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), $296,450,589 (or $339,875,589 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be held in the trust account and $250,000 will not be held in the trust account and will be used by us as working capital. If we consummate an initial business combination, we will use $10,500,000 (or $12,075,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) of the net proceeds held in the trust account to pay the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions (subject to a $0.35 per share reduction for public stockholders who exercise their conversion

rights). We expect to use the remaining net proceeds of this offering and the private placement in the trust account, after the payment of deferred underwriting discounts and commissions, to acquire one or more operating businesses. However, we may not use all of the proceeds in the trust account in connection with an initial business combination, either because the consideration for the initial business combination is less than the proceeds in a trust account or because we finance a portion of the consideration with our capital stock or debt securities. In that event, the proceeds held in the trust account as well as any other net proceeds of this offering not expended will be used to finance the operations of the combined business or businesses.

 

We expect to use $250,000 of the proceeds not held in the trust account and interest earned on the trust account of up to $2,250,000, after tax, to fund our working capital requirements pending a business combination, including identifying and evaluating prospective target businesses, selecting one or more operating businesses, and structuring, negotiating and consummating the initial business combination. We believe that, upon the completion 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 24 months, assuming that an initial business combination is not consummated during that time. We anticipate that, even at an interest rate of 3.0% per annum, the interest that will accrue on the trust account during the time it will take to identify a target and complete an acquisition will be sufficient, together with the $250,000 held outside the trust, to fund our working capital requirements. Given the limited amount of time it will take to generate $2,250,000 of interest on the trust account, we anticipate receiving such interest income shortly after we incur working capital expenses. Over this time period, we anticipate making the following expenditures:

 

 

We do not anticipate that we will need additional financing following this offering in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business pending an initial business combination. However, we may need to obtain additional financing to the extent such financing is required to consummate an initial business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination.

 

On July 13, 2007 our sponsor made us an interest-free loan of $200,000 for payment of offering expenses. The loan will be repaid out of the proceeds of this offering.

 

On October 2, 2007, we entered into an agreement with our sponsor pursuant to which it had agreed to purchase an aggregate of 8,000,000 warrants at a purchase price of $1.00 per warrant. This private placement will occur immediately prior to completion of this offering. The purchase price of the private placement warrants approximates the fair value of such warrants.

 

PROPOSED BUSINESS

 

Overview

 

We are a recently organized blank check company formed for the purpose of acquiring, through a merger, capital stock exchange, stock purchase, asset acquisition or other similar business combination, one or more assets or control of one or more operating businesses, which we refer to as our “initial business combination.” Our efforts in identifying a prospective acquisition target will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic location. We intend to initially focus our search on businesses in the United States, but will also explore opportunities internationally. We do not have any initial business combination under consideration or contemplation. To date, our efforts have been limited to organizational activities as well as activities related to this offering. We have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, contacted or been contacted by, any potential acquisition target or had any discussions, formal or otherwise, with respect to such a transaction.

 

We expect to evaluate target businesses in various industries that may provide significant opportunities for growth and value creation. Although the nature and scope of the ultimate roles of our executive officers after an initial business combination will depend upon the structure of the business combination we consummate, the employment arrangements they negotiate and the skills and depth of our target business’ management team, we expect that our executive officers will continue to be actively involved in our business after the consummation of an initial business combination.

 

Business Strategy

 

Given our management team’s expertise in the real estate sector, we will initially focus our search for an initial business combination on operating businesses where we believe we can increase the value of the overall enterprise by altering the structure of or relationship between the operating business and its real estate and/or improving, expanding or repositioning the real estate underlying the operating business. We believe we can benefit from the expertise of the members of our management team in investing in and managing operating companies and that their skills in valuation, financial structuring, due diligence, governance and financial and management oversight will be valuable in our efforts to identify a business target.

 

We intend to use some or all of the following criteria to evaluate acquisition opportunities. However, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that does not meet any or all of these criteria if we believe such target business has the potential to create significant shareholder value.

 

 

These factors are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation 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 executive officers and directors. In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct an extensive due diligence review which will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, as well as review of financial and other information.

 

Competitive Advantages

 

We believe that we have several competitive advantages over other entities with similar business objectives.

 

Experienced Executive Management Team

 

Our executive officers are William Mack, Robert Baker, Richard Baker and Lee Neibart. William Mack and Lee Neibart are also Senior Partners of Apollo Real Estate Advisors. Robert Baker and Richard Baker are also the principals of National Realty & Development Corporation. All four of our executive officers together founded and own NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC, a private equity company that acquires businesses in the retail, luxury brand, lodging, leisure, and real estate industries. Our sponsor, NRDC Capital Management, LLC, is an affiliate of NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC. Our four executive officers have over 30 years experience acquiring, building, operating, selling and advising public and private companies.

 

William L. Mack — Chairman.  Mr. Mack is a founder of NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners. He is also a founder and Senior Partner of Apollo Real Estate Advisors since its inception in 1993 and the President of the corporate general partners of the Apollo real estate funds. Since 1993, Apollo has overseen the investment of 16 real estate funds and numerous joint ventures, through which it has invested over $7 billion in more than 350 transactions. The Apollo real estate funds target a broad range of opportunistic, value-added and debt investments in real estate assets and portfolios throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Mr. Mack is also a Senior Partner of the Mack Organization, a national owner of industrial buildings and other income-producing real estate investments. Mr. Mack serves as non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mack-Cali Realty Corporation, a publicly traded real estate investment trust. He has been a Director of Mack-Cali since the 1997 merger of the Mack Organization’s office portfolio into Mack-Cali.

 

Robert C. Baker — Vice-Chairman.  Mr. Baker is a founder of NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners. He also has been the Chairman and CEO of National Realty & Development Corporation since its founding in 1978. National Realty & Development Corporation owns and manages a real estate portfolio in excess of 18 million square feet, which includes shopping centers, corporate business centers and residential communities in 20 states. The company’s tenants include prominent retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Lowe’s, Toys ’R Us, The Home Depot, Sears, Staples, Supervalu, and T.J. Maxx among others. National Realty & Development Corporation remains one of the largest privately owned development companies in the United States. Mr. Baker has over 46 years experience in real estate acquisition, construction, financing and management. Robert Baker is the father of Richard Baker, our Chief Executive Officer.

 

Richard A. Baker — Chief Executive Officer.  Mr. Richard A. Baker is a founder and President and Chief Executive Officer of NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners. Mr. Baker is also Vice-Chairman of National Realty & Development Corporation, a real estate development company owned by him and Robert C. Baker. Richard Baker is Chairman of Lord & Taylor Holdings, LLC, and a director of the Hudson’s Bay Company and Brunswick School. Richard Baker is the son of Robert Baker, our Vice-Chairman.

 

Lee S. Neibart — President.  Mr. Neibart is a founder of NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners. He is also a Senior Partner of Apollo Real Estate Advisors, where he has been employed since 1993. Mr. Neibart oversees the global day to day activities of Apollo Real Estate Advisors including portfolio company and fund management, strategic planning and new business development. From 1989 to 1993, Mr. Neibart worked at the Robert Martin Company, a real estate development and management firm.

Mr. Neibart is a director of Linens ’N Things as well as a director on various boards relating to Apollo’s investment portfolio.

 

NRDC’s investments include Lord & Taylor Holdings, LLC, a specialty department store acquired in October 2006 for approximately $1.2 billion. In connection with the acquisition of Lord & Taylor, NRDC created separate real property and operating companies, which lowered financing costs and increased the value of the entire enterprise. In partnership with Apollo Management L.P., NRDC purchased Linens ‘N Things Inc., a home goods specialty chain, in February 2006 for approximately $1.3 billion. NRDC estimated that the standalone value of Linens ‘N Things’ real estate presented an alternative exit strategy, mitigating the risk of its turnaround plan for the operating business. In July of 2007 Mr. Mack, and Messrs. Richard and Robert Baker sold City & Suburban Federal Savings Bank to Ridgewood Savings Bank. City & Suburban Federal Savings Bank was a New York metropolitan area community bank that they had acquired in 1990.

 

Assistance from Senior Managers of NRDC and Apollo Real Estate Advisors

 

In addition to Messrs. Mack, Neibart, Robert Baker and Richard Baker, our executive officers and directors, the following senior managers of NRDC and Apollo Real Estate Advisors, as applicable, will be involved in helping us to source, analyze and execute our initial business combination. None of these individuals are required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs. Our sponsor and its affiliates and Apollo Real Estate Advisors have agreed to make these individuals available at no cost to us. Pursuant to this agreement, supporting us is part of the employment duties of such individuals to our sponsor and their affiliates and Apollo Real Estate Advisors.

 

Francis Casale.  As a Managing Partner of NRDC Equity Partners since 2005, Mr. Casale is responsible for the identification, evaluation, acquisition, and ongoing management of the NRDC investment portfolio. Before joining NRDC Equity Partners, Mr. Casale was the Managing Director of Private Equity at S.A.C. Capital Advisors, LLC from 1997 until 2002. There he was responsible for the research, analysis, negotiation, transaction execution and stewardship of more than 20 operating company investments domestically and abroad. From 1993 until 1997, Mr. Casale was a portfolio manager at Axe-Houghton Associates, Inc., a $4 billion investment management company, where he focused on investing in undervalued businesses in all capitalization ranges. He advises the boards and managers of all of the portfolio companies of NRDC Equity Partners. Mr. Casale is the corporate secretary of NRDC Capital Management, LLC. He is a member of the board of directors of Intraprise Solutions Inc. and a Managing Partner of Quotient Partners, LLC. Mr. Casale received his MBA from the Olin School at Babson College and his BA from the College of the Holy Cross.

 

Brian Pall.  As a Managing Partner of NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC since 2005, Mr. Pall is responsible for analyzing potential acquisitions from a real estate perspective and strategic planning for the real estate portfolios underlying NRDC operating companies. Mr. Pall joined NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC after 17 years with The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Inc., or A&P, where he most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer and served on the Management Executive Committee. He was responsible for all real estate activities of A&P, including store development, design, construction, location research, equipment procurement, real estate law, property disposition and store/shopping center leasing. Mr. Pall is a director of Linens ’N Things Inc. Mr. Pall received his Law Degree from Brooklyn Law School and a BS in Business and Economics from the State University of New York at Oswego.

 

Donald Watros.  Prior to joining NRDC as a Managing Director in 2006, Mr. Watros spent 18 years in the retail industry. He is responsible for analyzing the retail operations of potential acquisitions. He started his career with The May Department Stores Company and held various financial positions. Most recently, he served as Chief Administrative Officer for Saks Fifth Avenue. In this role he was responsible for finance, planning, information technology, logistics and the outlet division. Mr. Watros received his MBA from Binghamton University and his BS from Cornell University.

 

Brian M. Earle.  Mr. Earle is a Partner at Apollo Real Estate Advisors and is responsible for new investments and investment management. From 1996 to 2000, Mr. Earle was Vice President of Charlesbank Capital Partners/Harvard Private Capital Group making investments on behalf of the Harvard University Endowment. From 1993 to 1996, Mr. Earle was an associate at Copley Real Estate Advisors on the

Developmental Properties Account. Mr. Earle graduated with a BS in Business Administration, concentrating in finance, from Boston University.

 

Established Deal Sourcing Network

 

We believe that the extensive contacts and relationships of our executive officers and directors who average more than 30 years of experience finding and executing business, investment and acquisition transactions will enable us to source, evaluate and execute initial business combination opportunities successfully. Our executive officers and directors have strong reputations in the marketplace and long-term relationships with senior executives and decision-makers. We believe that these relationships with executives employed with, and consultants engaged by, public and private businesses in potential target industries, and with other boards in which our executive officers and directors participate, will provide us with an important advantage in sourcing and structuring potential business combinations. Additionally, our executive officers and directors have extensive contacts with consultants, investment bankers, attorneys, and accountants, among others. While the past successes of our executive officers and directors do not guarantee that we will successfully identify and consummate an initial business combination, they will play an important role in assisting us in finding potential targets and negotiating an agreement for our initial business combination.

 

Right of First Offer

 

We have entered into a business opportunity right of first offer agreement with our sponsor, NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners and with our executive officers and directors. This right of first offer provides that, subject to the respective pre-existing fiduciary duties of our executive officers and directors, from the date of this prospectus until the earlier of the consummation of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will have a right of first offer if any of these parties becomes aware of, or involved with, a business combination opportunity with any operating business. Subject to the respective pre-existing fiduciary duties of our executive officers and directors, these parties to the right of first offer agreement will, and will cause companies or entities under their management or control, to first offer any such business opportunity to us and they will not, and will cause each other company or entity under their management or control not, to pursue any such business opportunity unless and until our board of directors, including a majority of our disinterested independent directors, has determined that we will not pursue such opportunity.

 

We recognize that each of our executive officers and directors may be deemed an affiliate of any company for which such executive officer or director serves as an officer or director or for which such executive officer or director otherwise has a pre-existing fiduciary duty and that a conflict of interest could arise if an opportunity is appropriate for one of such companies. For a complete description of these affiliations, please see the sections entitled “Management” and “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions — Conflicts of Interest.” As part of this right of first offer, we have established procedures with respect to the sourcing of a potential business combination by our executive officers and directors to eliminate such conflict for our executive officers and directors, whereby a potential business combination that must be presented to any company for which such executive officer or director, as the case may be, serves as an officer or director or otherwise has a pre-existing fiduciary duty (other than our sponsor, NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners) will not be presented to us until after such executive officer or director has presented the opportunity to such company and such company has determined not to proceed. These pre-existing fiduciary duties may limit the opportunities that are available to us to consummate our initial business combination.

 

Consummating an Initial Business Combination

 

General

 

We intend to utilize the net proceeds after expenses of this offering and private placement as well as the co-investment, our capital stock, debt, or a combination of these as the consideration to be paid in an initial business combination. While substantially all of the net proceeds after expenses of this offering are allocated to consummating an initial business combination, the proceeds are not otherwise designated for more specific purposes. Accordingly, prospective investors will not, at the time of their investment in us, be provided an

opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of one or more target businesses. If we consummate an initial business combination with a target business using our capital stock and/or debt financing as the consideration to fund the initial business combination, proceeds from this offering then will be used to undertake additional acquisitions or to fund the operations of the combined business. We may enter into a business combination with an operating business that does not require significant additional capital but is seeking a public trading market for its shares and which wants to merge with a company that already is public in order to avoid the uncertainties associated with undertaking its own initial public offering. These uncertainties may include time delays, compliance and governance issues, significant expense, and the risk that market conditions will not be favorable for an offering at the time the offering is ready to be sold. Alternatively, we may seek to consummate an initial business combination with an operating business that is financially unstable or in the development stage. We may seek to consummate an initial business combination with more than one target business, although our limited resources may serve as a practical limitation on our ability to do so.

 

Prior to consummation of an initial business combination we will seek to have all vendors, providers of financing, if any, prospective target businesses, or other entities, 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. However, we are not obligated to obtain a waiver from any potential vendor, creditor target business or other entity. In the event that a potential contracted party were to refuse to execute such a waiver, we will execute an agreement with that entity only if our executive officers and directors first determine that we would be unable to obtain, on a reasonable basis, substantially similar services or opportunities from another entity willing to execute such a waiver. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by the executive officers and directors to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or a situation in which our executive officers and directors are unable to find a provider of required services willing to provide the waiver. We will seek to secure waivers that we believe are valid and enforceable, but it is possible that a waiver may later be found to be invalid or unenforceable. Our sponsor and our executive officers have agreed, on a joint and several basis, to reimburse us for our debts to any vendor for services rendered or products sold to us, to a potential target business or to providers of financing, if any, in each case only to the extent necessary to ensure that the amounts in the trust account are not reduced by claims made by such party to the extent that the payment of such debts or obligations actually reduces the amount in the trust account payable to our public stockholders in the event of our liquidation. The warrant agreement under which our sponsor has agreed to purchase warrants in the private placement includes an irrevocable waiver to any right, title, interest, or claim of any kind to monies held in the trust account.

 

None of our executive officers, directors, promoters, or other affiliates or any representatives acting on our behalf has had any contact or discussions with any prospective target business regarding an initial business combination or has taken any direct or indirect measures to locate a specific target business or consummate an initial business combination.

 

Subject to the requirement that our initial business combination must be with an operating business whose fair market value is at least equal to 80% of the balance in the trust account (less the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions and taxes payable) at the time of such business combination, we have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective target businesses. Accordingly, there is no current basis for investors in this offering to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any target business with which we may ultimately consummate an initial business combination. If we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity in the development stage, including an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or development stage entity. Although our executive officers and directors will endeavor to assess the risks inherent in a particular target business with which we may combine, we cannot assure you that this assessment will result in our identifying all risks that a target business may encounter. Furthermore, some of those risks may be outside of our control, meaning that we can do nothing to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.

We cannot assure you that we will identify, secure a definitive agreement with, or consummate an initial business combination with one or more target businesses. In addition, no financing arrangements have been entered into or are contemplated with any third parties to raise any additional funds, whether through the sale of securities or otherwise, that we may need if we decide to consummate our initial business combination for consideration in excess of our available assets at the time of the business combination.

 

Sources of Targets

 

We may identify a target business through our executive officers’ and directors’ current and previous business contacts or through our public relations and marketing efforts. Our executive officers and directors have long standing business relationships, have seats on the boards of various companies and are involved in several charitable organizations and industry associations in their respective fields. Our executive officers and directors have on average, over 30 years of professional experience. This breadth of experience, and tenure, may be a valuable basis with which to source business targets.

 

In addition to utilizing our experience and relationships within our executive officers and directors we anticipate that target businesses may also be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated parties such as brokers, private equity and venture capital firms, consultants, investment bankers, attorneys, and accountants, among other sources.

 

Our executive officers have committed to spending a significant portion of their time on our business but are not required to devote any specific amount of time to our affairs. Our directors have no commitment to spend a specified amount of time in identifying or performing due diligence on potential target businesses. Our executive officers and directors believe that the relationships they have developed over their careers, in combination with the possible sources discussed above, will generate a number of potential target businesses that will warrant further investigation.

 

We may pay fees or compensation to third parties for their efforts in introducing us to potential target businesses. Such payments are typically, although not always, calculated as a percentage of the dollar value of the transaction. We have not anticipated use of a particular percentage fee, but instead will seek to negotiate the smallest reasonable percentage fee consistent with the attractiveness of the opportunity and the alternatives, if any, that are then available to us. We may make such payments to entities we engage for this purpose or entities that approach us on an unsolicited basis. Payment of finders’ fees is customarily tied to completion of a transaction and certainly would be tied to a completed transaction in the case of an unsolicited proposal. Although it is possible that we may pay finders’ fees in the case of an uncompleted transaction, we consider this possibility to be remote. In no event will we pay our sponsor or any of our executive officers, directors, or existing stockholders or any entity with which they are affiliated any finder’s fee or other compensation for services rendered to us prior to or in connection with the consummation of an initial business combination. In addition, neither our sponsor or any of our executive officers, directors, or existing stockholders will receive any finder’s fee, consulting fees, or any similar fees from any person or entity prior to or in connection with any business combination involving us other than any compensation or fees that may be received for any services provided following such business combination.

 

Selection of a Target and Structuring of an Initial Business Combination

 

Subject to the requirement that our initial business combination must be with one or more operating businesses whose fair market value is at least equal to 80% of the balance in the trust account (less the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions and taxes payable) at the time of such business combination, our executive officers and directors will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting a prospective target business.

 

Consistent with our objectives, we will endeavor to structure an initial business combination so as to achieve the most favorable tax treatment to us and our stockholders, while also taking into consideration that favorable tax treatment to the target businesses and their stockholders could enable us to negotiate a lower purchase price or preserve our cash. We cannot assure you, however, that the Internal Revenue Service or appropriate state or local tax authorities will agree with our tax treatment of the initial business combination.

The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and consummate the initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which an initial business combination is not ultimately consummated will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to consummate another business combination. We will not pay any finders or consulting fees to our existing stockholders, or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered to or in connection with an initial business combination.

 

Fair Market Value of Target Business or Businesses

 

Our initial business combination must be with one or more operating businesses, or the portion of such business or businesses that we acquire, having a fair market value that is at least equal to 80% of the balance in the trust account (less the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions and taxes payable) at the time of such business combination. As a result, we expect that an initial public offering of $300,000,000 will enable us to consummate an initial business combination with an operating business with a fair market value of at least $228,760,471. The actual amount of the consideration which we will be able to pay for the initial business combination will depend on whether we choose, or are able, to pay a portion of the initial business combination consideration with shares of our common stock or if we are able to finance a portion of the consideration with debt financing. If we choose to acquire all or part of a target business through a share for share exchange or to finance a portion of the initial business combination consideration by issuing additional shares of our common stock, such additional equity may be issued at a price below the then current trading price for shares of our common stock, resulting in dilution of the equity interest of our then current public stockholders. No financing arrangements have been entered into or are contemplated with any third parties to raise any additional funds, whether through the sale of securities or otherwise, that we may need to consummate an initial business combination for consideration in excess of our available assets at the time of such business combination.

 

In contrast to many other companies with business plans similar to ours where the minimum fair market value of the target businesses for the initial business combination is based on 80% of the acquiror’s net assets, our minimum fair market value is based on 80% of the balance in the trust account (less the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions and taxes payable) at the time of such business combination. We have used this criterion to provide investors and our management team with greater certainty as to the fair market value that a target business or businesses must have in order to qualify for a business combination with us. The determination of net assets requires an acquiror to have deducted all liabilities from total assets to arrive at the balance of net assets. Given the on-going nature of legal, accounting, stockholder meeting and other expenses that will be incurred immediately before and at the time of a business combination, the balance of an acquiror’s total liabilities may be difficult to ascertain at a particular point in time with a high degree of certainty. Accordingly, we have determined to use the valuation threshold of 80% of the amount in the trust account (less deferred underwriting discounts and commissions and taxes payable) for the minimum fair market value of the target business or businesses with which we combine so that our management team will have greater certainty when selecting, and our investors will have greater certainty when voting to approve or disapprove a proposed combination with, a target business or businesses that will meet the minimum valuation criterion for our initial business combination.

 

The fair market value of a target business or businesses will be determined by our board of directors based upon standards generally accepted by the financial community, such as actual and potential sales, the values of comparable businesses, earnings and cash flow, and book value. Our executive officers and directors will consult with and engage such experts as they deem necessary and useful to evaluate the fair market value of the target business. Our board of directors will determine the fair market value of a target business or businesses and whether a proposed business combination is in the best interests of the stockholders and, in making that determination, will do so in accordance with the requirements of the Delaware General Corporation Law and consistent with their fiduciary obligations in the context of a business combination. We will not be required to obtain an opinion from an investment banking firm as to the fair market value of the target if our board of directors independently determines that the target meets the threshold criterion unless

one of our executive officers, directors or existing stockholders is affiliated with the target business. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine that the target business has a sufficient fair market value to meet the threshold criterion or one of our executive officers, directors or existing stockholders is affiliated with that target business, we will obtain an opinion from an unaffiliated, independent investment banking firm which is a member of the FINRA with respect to the fair market value of the target business. Any such opinion will be included in our proxy soliciting materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with our initial business combination. Investment banking firms providing fairness opinions typically place limitations on the purposes for which the opinion may be used, and there can be no assurances that, as a result of such limitations or applicable law, stockholders will be entitled to rely on the opinion. We expect to require that any firm selected by us to provide a fairness opinion will adhere to general industry practice in stating the purposes for which its opinion may be used.

 

We will not be required to obtain an opinion from an investment banking firm as to the fair market value of the business if (i) our board of directors independently determines that the target business has sufficient fair market value to meet the threshold criterion and (ii) none of our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders is affiliated with that target business. If no opinion is obtained or if stockholders are not permitted to rely on the opinion, our stockholders will be relying solely on the judgment of our board of directors with respect to the determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination.

 

Lack of Business Diversification

 

Our initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses whose fair market value is at least equal to 80% of the balance in the trust account (less the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions and taxes payable) at the time of such acquisition. We expect to consummate only a single business combination, although to satisfy the 80% test, we may need to consummate a simultaneous combination with more than one operating businesses at the same time. At the time of our initial business combination, we may not be able to acquire more than one target business because of various factors, including complex accounting or financial reporting issues. For example, in the proxy solicitation materials we distribute to our stockholders in connection with our initial business combination, we may need to present pro forma financial statements reflecting the operations of several target businesses as if they had been combined historically. Consummating our initial business combination through more than one acquisition would likely result in increased costs as we would be required to conduct a due diligence investigation of more than one business and negotiate the terms of the acquisition with multiple sellers. A simultaneous combination with several target businesses also presents logistical issues such as the need to coordinate the timing of negotiations, proxy statement disclosure and closings. Our attempt to consummate our initial business combination in this manner would increase the chance that we would be unable to successfully consummate our initial business combination in a timely manner. In addition, if conditions to closings with respect to one or more of the target businesses are not satisfied, the fair market value of the business could fall below the required fair market value threshold of 80% of the balance in the trust account (less the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions and net of taxes payable). Furthermore, the success of a business formed through the combination of smaller businesses will depend on our ability to integrate disparate organizations and achieve expected synergies. See “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to the Company and the Offering — Any attempt to consummate more than one transaction as our initial business combination will make it more difficult to consummate our initial business combination.”

 

Accordingly, while it is possible that we may attempt to consummate our initial business combination with more than one target business, we are more likely to choose a single target business if all other factors appear equal. This means that for an indefinite period of time, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to consummate business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we

will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. By consummating a business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:

 

 

If we consummate an initial business combination structured as a merger in which the consideration is our stock, we would have a significant amount of cash available to make add-on acquisitions following our initial business combination. See “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to the Company and the Offering — We may only be able to consummate one business combination, which may cause us to be solely dependent on a single business and a limited number of services or products.”

 

Limited Ability to Assess the Target’s Management

 

Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of consummating our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of the target’s 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, although our executive officers’ current intention is to continue to be involved in the management of the combined company after our initial business combination, the future role of our executive officers and directors, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. Moreover, our current executive officers and directors will only be able to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination if they are able to negotiate the same in connection with any such combination. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that our executive officers and directors will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.

 

Following our initial business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge, or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management. Although the current intention of our current executive officers is to remain actively involved in our business after consummation of our initial business combination, our executive officers only will be able to remain with us if they are able to negotiate mutually agreeable employment terms as a part of any such combination, which terms would be disclosed to our stockholders in any proxy statement relating to such transaction. If we acquired a target business in an all-cash transaction, it would be more likely that the current members of management would remain with us, if they chose to do so. If a business combination were structured as a merger in which the owners of the target business were to control us following an initial business combination, it may be less likely that our current executive officers and directors would remain with us because control would rest with the owners of the target business and not our current executive officers and directors unless otherwise negotiated as part of the transaction in the acquisition agreement, employment agreements or other arrangement. If our current executive officers and directors choose to remain with us after our initial business combination, they will negotiate the terms of the initial business combination as well as the terms of their employment arrangements, and may have a conflict of interest in negotiating the terms of the initial business combination while, at the same time, negotiating terms of their employment arrangements.

Stockholder Approval of Our Initial Business Combination

 

Prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will submit the proposed transaction to our stockholders for approval, even if the nature of the acquisition is such as would not ordinarily require stockholder approval under Delaware law. Pursuant to our by-laws, holders of a majority of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock who are entitled to vote, or a quorum, must vote on our initial business combination. Abstentions are not considered to be voting “for” or “against” a transaction and will have no effect on the outcome of the vote to approve our initial business combination. The American Stock Exchange, or AMEX, recommends that stockholders receive notice of any shareholder meeting a minimum of 20 days prior to the meeting. Therefore, if shares of our common stock are listed on AMEX, we will mail the notice at least 23 days prior to the meeting date to allow time for mailing. If shares of our common stock are not listed on AMEX, we will abide by our by-laws and Delaware law, which require us to provide at least ten days’ written notice, measured from the certification date of the mailing, before the date of any shareholders meeting. We will conduct any vote on our initial business combination, whether by a shareholder meeting or written consent, in accordance with the SEC’s proxy rules and the requirements of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and by-laws. In addition, even if our shareholders vote in favor of a business combination, under the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, we will not consummate a business combination if public stockholders owning 30% or more of the shares sold in this offering both vote against the business combination and exercise their conversion rights. See “— Conversion Rights.” If a majority of the shares of common stock voted by the public stockholders are not voted in favor of a proposed initial business combination, we may continue to seek other target businesses with which to consummate our initial business combination that meet the criteria set forth in this prospectus until the expiration of 24 months from completion of this offering. In connection with seeking stockholder approval of an initial business combination, we will furnish our stockholders with proxy solicitation materials prepared in accordance with the Securities Exchange Act, which, among other matters, will include a description of the operations of the target business and audited historical financial statements of the target business based on United States generally accepted accounting principles.

 

In connection with the vote required for any business combination, our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders have agreed to vote the shares of common stock acquired by them prior to the completion of this offering, either for or against an initial business combination in the same manner as the majority of the shares of common stock are voted by our public stockholders. Our existing stockholders have also agreed that they will not be eligible to exercise conversion rights with respect to those shares. In addition, our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders have agreed that they will vote any shares they purchase in the open market in or after this offering in favor of an initial business combination. As a result, an officer, director or existing stockholder who acquires shares in or after this offering must vote those shares in favor of the proposed initial business combination with respect to those shares, and will therefore not be eligible to exercise conversion rights for those shares if our initial business combination is approved by a majority of our public stockholders. We will proceed with the initial business combination only if (i) a majority of the shares of common stock voted by the public stockholders are voted in favor of the initial business combination, (ii) public stockholders owning less than 30% of the shares sold in this offering vote against the proposed business combination and exercise their conversion rights and (iii) our stockholders approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to provide for our perpetual existence. Voting against the initial business combination alone will not result in conversion of a stockholder’s shares into a pro rata share of the trust account. To do so, a stockholder must have also exercised the conversion rights described below.

 

After the consummation of our initial business combination, unless required by Delaware law, the federal securities laws, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, or the rules and regulations of an exchange upon which our securities are listed, we do not presently intend to seek stockholder approval for any subsequent acquisitions.

Conversion Rights

 

At the time we seek stockholder approval of any business combination, we will offer each public stockholder the right to have such stockholder’s shares of common stock converted to cash if the stockholder votes against the initial business combination and the initial business combination is approved and consummated. The actual per share conversion price will be equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including accrued interest income (net of taxes payable on such interest and after release of up to $2,250,000 of interest income, after tax, to fund working capital requirements), as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, divided by the number of shares of common stock sold in this offering. The initial per share conversion price would be approximately $9.88 before interest, or $0.12 less than the per-unit offering price of $10.00.

 

An eligible stockholder may request conversion at any time after the mailing to our stockholders of the proxy statement and prior to the vote taken with respect to a proposed business combination at a meeting held for that purpose, but the request will not be granted unless the stockholder votes against the initial business combination and the initial business combination is approved and consummated. In addition, no later than the business day immediately preceding the vote on the business combination, the stockholder must present written instructions to our transfer agent stating that the stockholder wishes to convert its shares into a pro rata share of the trust account and confirming that the stockholder has held the shares since the record date and will continue to hold them through the stockholder meeting and the closing of our initial business combination. We may also require public stockholders to tender their certificates to our transfer agent or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System no later than the business day immediately preceding the vote on the business combination. The proxy solicitation materials that we will furnish to stockholders in connection with the vote for any proposed initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring stockholders to satisfy such certification and delivery requirements. Traditionally, in contrast to the requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the stockholder meeting, in order to perfect conversion rights in connection with a blank check company’s initial business combination, 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 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 in consideration for the conversion price. Thus, the company would not have any control over the process and the conversion right, to which stockholders were aware they needed to exercise before the stockholder meeting, would become a continuing right until the converting holder delivered his certificate for conversion at the conversion price or such stockholder sold his shares in the open market. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the stockholder meeting is two-fold. First, it ensures that a converting stockholders holder’s election to convert is irrevocable once the business combination is approved. Second, it ensures that we will know the amount of proceeds that we will able to use to consummate our initial business combination.

 

The proxy solicitation materials that we will furnish to stockholders in connection with the 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 we send out our proxy statement up until the business day immediately preceding the vote on 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 is within the stockholder’s control and, whether or not he is a record holder or his shares are held in “street name,” can be accomplished by the stockholder in a matter of hours simply by 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 investors generally. However, because we do not have any control over the process, it may take significantly longer than we anticipated and investors may not be able to seek conversion in time. Accordingly, we will only require stockholders to deliver their certificates prior to the vote if, in accordance with the American Stock Exchange’s proxy notification

recommendations, the stockholders receive the proxy solicitation materials at least twenty days prior to the meeting.

 

In the event a stockholder tenders his or her shares and decides prior to the stockholder meeting that he or she does not want to convert his or her shares, the stockholder may withdraw the tender. In the event that a stockholder tenders shares and our initial business combination is not completed, these shares will not be converted into cash and the physical certificates representing these shares will be returned to the stockholder.

 

There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC system. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker approximately $35 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the converting holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise conversion rights to tender their shares prior to the meeting as the need to deliver shares is a requirement of conversion regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated. Accordingly, this would not result in any increased cost to shareholders when compared to the traditional process.

 

The steps outlined above will make it more difficult for our stockholders to exercise their conversion rights. In the event that it takes longer than anticipated to obtain a physical certificate, stockholders who wish to convert may be unable to obtain physical certificates by the deadline for exercising their conversion rights and thus will be unable to convert their shares. If a stockholder votes against the initial business combination but fails to properly exercise its conversion rights, such stockholder will not have its shares of common stock converted to its pro rata distribution of the trust account. Any request for conversion, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to the date of the meeting. It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to stockholders who properly elect conversion will be distributed promptly after consummation of our initial business combination. Public stockholders who convert their stock into their share of the trust account will still have the right to exercise the warrants that they received as part of the units. We will not consummate our proposed initial business combination if public stockholders owning 30% or more of the shares sold in this offering both vote against the business combination and exercise their conversion rights. We will not propose to our stockholders any transaction that is conditioned on holders of less than 30% of the public shares exercising their conversion rights.

 

If a vote on our initial business combination is held and the business combination is not approved, we may continue to try to consummate a business combination with a different target until 24 months from the completion of this offering. If the initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then public stockholders voting against our initial business combination who exercised their conversion rights would not be entitled to convert their shares of common stock for a pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account. In such case, if we have required public stockholders to tender their certificates prior to the meeting, we will promptly return such certificates to the tendering public stockholder. Public stockholders would be entitled to receive their pro rata share of the aggregate amount on deposit in the trust account only in the event that the initial business combination they voted against was duly approved and subsequently completed, or in connection with our liquidation, whether or not they have previously delivered their shares for conversion without any further action on their part.

 

We will not complete our proposed initial business combination if public stockholders owning 30% or more of the shares sold in this offering exercise their conversion rights. We intend to structure and consummate any potential business combination in a manner such that public stockholders holding up to in the aggregate one share less than 30% of our shares issued in this offering voting against our initial business combination could convert their shares of common stock into a pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, and the business combination could still go forward. As a result, we will be able to complete a business combination even in the face of strong stockholder dissent. Furthermore, the ability to consummate a transaction despite shareholder disapproval in excess of what would be permissible in a traditional blank check offering may be viewed negatively by potential investors seeking shareholder protections consistent with traditional blank check offerings. However, we believe the benefit of approving a transaction with a large majority outweighs these potential negatives.

The initial conversion price will be approximately $9.88 per share. As this amount is lower than the $10.00 per unit offering price and it may be less than the market price of the common stock on the date of conversion, there may be a disincentive on the part of public stockholders to exercise their conversion rights.

 

Liquidation if No Business Combination

 

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we will continue in existence only until          , 2009, 24 months from the completion of this offering. This provision may not be amended except in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. If we have not completed a business combination by such date, our corporate existence will cease except for the purposes of liquidating and winding up our affairs, pursuant to Section 278 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. This has the same effect as if our board of directors and stockholders had formally voted to approve our dissolution pursuant to Section 275 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. Accordingly, limiting our corporate existence to a specified date as permitted by Section 102(b)(5) of the Delaware General Corporation Law removes the necessity to comply with the formal procedures set forth in Section 275 (which would have required our board of directors and stockholders to formally vote to approve our liquidation and to have filed a certificate of dissolution with the Delaware Secretary of State). Instead, we will notify the Delaware Secretary of State in writing on the termination date that our corporate existence has ended, with any franchise tax due or assessable by the State of Delaware. We view this provision terminating our corporate life by          , 2009 as an obligation to our stockholders, and our executive officers and directors have agreed that they will not take any action to amend or waive this provision to allow us to survive for a longer period of time except in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination.

 

If we are unable to complete an initial business combination within 24 months after the completion of this offering, as soon as practicable thereafter, we will adopt a plan of distribution in accordance with Section 281(b) of the Delaware General Corporation Law. Section 278 provides that our existence will continue for at least three years after our expiration for the purpose of prosecuting and defending suits, whether civil, criminal or administrative, by or against us, and of enabling us gradually to settle and close our business, to dispose of and convey our property, to discharge our liabilities and to distribute to our stockholders any remaining assets, but not for the purpose of continuing the business for which we were organized. Our existence will continue automatically even beyond the three-year period for the purpose of completing the prosecution or defense of suits begun prior to the expiration of the three-year period, until such time as any judgments, orders or decrees resulting from such suits are fully executed. Section 281(b) will require us to pay or make reasonable provision for all then-existing claims and obligations, including all contingent, conditional, or unmatured contractual claims known to us, and to make such provision as will be reasonably likely to be sufficient to provide compensation for any then-pending claims and for claims that have not been made known to us or that have not arisen but that, based on facts known to us at the time, are likely to arise or to become known to us within 10 years after such date. Payment or reasonable provision for payment of claims will be made in the discretion of the board of directors based on the nature of the claim and other factors deemed relevant by the board of directors. Claims may be satisfied by direct negotiation and payment, purchase of insurance to cover the claim(s), setting aside money as a reserve for future claims, or otherwise as determined by the board of directors in its discretion. Under Section 281(b), the plan of distribution must provide for all of such claims to be paid in full or make provision for payments to be made in full, as applicable, if there are sufficient assets. If there are insufficient assets, the plan must provide that such claims and obligations be paid or provided for according to their priority and, among claims of equal priority, ratably to the extent of legally available assets. Any remaining assets will be available for distribution to our stockholders. 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 and service providers (such as accountants, lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) and potential target businesses. We will seek to have all vendors, service providers and prospective target businesses execute 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. A court could also conclude that such agreements are not legally enforceable. As a result, if we liquidate, the per-share distribution from the trust account could be less than $9.88 (or $9.85 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) 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 will notify 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. Our existing stockholders have waived their rights to participate in any liquidation distribution with respect to their initial shares of common stock. There will be no distribution from the trust account with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless.

 

We will pay the costs of liquidation from our remaining assets outside of the trust account. If such funds are insufficient, our sponsor has agreed to advance us the funds necessary to complete such liquidation (currently anticipated to be between $15,000 and $25,000) and has agreed not to seek repayment of such expenses.

 

If we were unable to consummate an initial business combination and expended all of the net proceeds of this offering, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest income, if any (and net of taxes payable on such interest income and release of up to $2,250,000 of interest income, after tax, available to us to fund working capital requirements), earned on the trust account, the per share liquidation price would be approximately $9.88, plus interest, or approximately $0.12 less than the per-unit offering price of $10.00. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which will be prior to the claims of our public stockholders. Our sponsor and our executive officers have agreed, on a joint and several basis, that, if we liquidate prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, they will reimburse the trust account for our debts to any vendor for services rendered, products sold or financing provided to us, to a potential target business or to providers of financing, if any, in each case only to the extent necessary to ensure that such claims do not reduce the amount in the trust account available for payment to our stockholders in the event of a liquidation. We currently believe that our sponsor and our executive officers are capable of funding a shortfall in our trust account to satisfy their foreseeable indemnification obligations. However, we cannot assure you that our sponsor and our executive officers will be able to satisfy those obligations. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account. Our executive officers have separately agreed with our sponsor to provide to our sponsor any funds required to meet these obligations. In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced and our sponsor or our executive officers assert that they are unable to satisfy their obligations or that they have no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether we would take legal action against our sponsor or our executive officers to enforce their indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take action on our behalf against our sponsor and our executive officers to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual per share liquidation price will not be less than approximately $9.88.

 

We will seek to obtain agreements from third parties waiving their rights or claims to the trust account. However, there is no guarantee that vendors, prospective target businesses, or other entities will execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility and other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account which could have higher priority than the claims of our public stockholders. Our sponsor and our executive officers have

agreed, on a joint and several basis, pursuant to agreements with us and Banc of America Securities, LLC that, if we liquidate prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, they will be liable to ensure that the proceeds in the trust account are not reduced by claims of target businesses or entities that are owed money by us for services rendered or contracted for or products sold to us. We cannot assure you, however, that they would be able to satisfy those obligations. Accordingly, the actual per-share liquidation price could be less than $9.88. We currently believe that our sponsor is capable of funding a shortfall in our trust account to satisfy their foreseeable indemnification obligations and, based on representations made to us by each of our executive officers, we currently believe that they are of substantial means and capable of funding a shortfall in our trust account to satisfy their foreseeable indemnification obligations, but we have not asked them to reserve for such an eventuality. Despite our belief, we cannot assure you that our sponsor and our executive officers will be able to satisfy those obligations. The indemnification obligations may be substantially higher than our sponsor and our executive officers currently foresee or expect and/or their financial resources may deteriorate in the future. As a result, the steps outlined above may not effectively mitigate the risk of creditors’ claims reducing the amounts in the trust account.

 

Furthermore, creditors may seek to interfere with the distribution of the trust account pursuant to federal or state creditor and bankruptcy laws which could delay the actual distribution of such funds or reduce the amount ultimately available for distribution to our public stockholders. If we are forced to file a bankruptcy case or an involuntary bankruptcy case is filed against us which is not dismissed, the funds held in our trust account will be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our public stockholders. To the extent bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return to our public stockholders the liquidation amounts they might otherwise receive.

 

We expect that our total costs and expenses associated with the implementing and completing our liquidation will be in the range of $15,000 to $25,000. This amount includes all costs and expenses related to our winding up and liquidation. We believe that there should be sufficient funds available from interest income, after tax, earned on the trust account available to us as working capital to fund the $15,000 to $25,000 of expenses, although we cannot give you assurances that there will be sufficient funds for such purposes.

 

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          , 2009, 24 months from the completion of this offering, 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 us 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 public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only in the event of the expiration of our corporate existence and liquidation or if the stockholders seek to convert their respective shares into cash upon a business combination which the stockholder voted against and which is actually consummated by us. In no other circumstances shall a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account.

 

Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation

 

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires that we obtain unanimous consent of our stockholders to amend certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. However, the validity of unanimous consent provisions under Delaware law has not been settled. A court could conclude that the unanimous consent requirement constitutes a practical prohibition on amendment in violation of the

stockholders’ implicit rights to amend the corporate charter. In that case, certain provisions of the restated certificate would be amendable without unanimous consent and any such amendment could reduce or eliminate the protection afforded to our stockholders. However, we view the foregoing provisions as obligations to our stockholders, and we will not take any action to waive or amend any of these provisions.

 

Neither we nor our board of directors will propose any amendment to these provisions, or support, endorse or recommend any proposal that stockholders amend any of these provisions at any time prior to the consummation of our initial business combination (subject to any fiduciary obligations our management or board may have). In addition, we believe we have an obligation in every case to structure our initial business combination so that not less than 8,999,999 of our shares sold in this offering have the ability to be converted to cash by public stockholders exercising their conversion rights and that, despite such conversions, the business combination may still proceed.

 

Competition

 

In identifying, evaluating, and selecting a target business for an initial business combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, and operating businesses seeking acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and consummating business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human, and other resources than us. While we believe there are numerous potential target businesses with which we could combine, our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing an initial business combination with a target business. In addition:

 

 

Any of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination. Our executive officers and directors believe, however, that a privately held target business may view our status as a well-financed public entity as offering advantages over other entities that have a business objective similar to ours.

 

Facilities

 

We currently maintain our executive offices at 3 Manhattanville Road, Purchase, New York 10577. The cost for this space is included in the $7,500 per-month fee our sponsor will charge us for general and administrative services commencing on the effective date of this offering pursuant to a letter agreement between us and our sponsor. The agreement provides for a term of up to two years, commencing on the effective date of this offering, until the earlier of our consummation of an initial business combination or our liquidation . We believe that based on rents and fees for similar services in the Purchase, New York area, that

the fee which will be charged by our sponsor is at least as favorable as we could have obtained from an unaffiliated party. We consider our existing office space adequate for our current operations.

 

Employees

 

We currently have four executive officers, all of whom are also members of our board of directors. Although our executive officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our business, following this offering, we anticipate that our executive officers will devote a portion of their working time to our business. As noted earlier, each of our executive officers is affiliated with other entities, including NRDC and Apollo, and the amount of time each of them will devote to us in any time period will vary based on the availability of suitable target businesses to investigate, the course of negotiations with target businesses, and the due diligence preceding and accompanying a possible business combination. We do not intend to have any employees prior to the consummation of an initial business combination.

 

Periodic Reporting and Financial Information

 

We have registered our securities under the Securities Exchange Act, as amended, and after this offering will have public reporting obligations, including the filing of annual and quarterly reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act, our annual report will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accounting firm and our quarterly reports will contain unaudited financial statements.

 

We will not acquire our initial target business if we cannot obtain current audited financial statements based on United States generally accepted accounting principles for such target business. We will provide these financial statements in the proxy solicitation materials sent to stockholders for the purpose of seeking stockholder approval of our initial business combination. Our executive officers and directors believe that the need for target businesses to have, or be able to obtain, three years of audited financial statements may limit the pool of potential target businesses available for an initial business combination.

 

Legal Proceedings

 

To the knowledge of management, there is no litigation currently pending or contemplated against us or any of our executive officers or directors in their capacity as such.

 

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

 

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

 

 

MANAGEMENT

 

Our executive officers and directors, their ages and positions are as follows:

 

 

Below is a summary of the business experience of each of our executive officers and directors.

 

William L. Mack — Chairman.  Mr. Mack is a founder of NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners. He is also a founder and Senior Partner of Apollo Real Estate Advisors since its inception in 1993 and the President of the corporate general partners of the Apollo real estate funds. Since 1993, Apollo has overseen the investment of 16 real estate funds and numerous joint ventures, through which it has invested over $7 billion in more than 350 transactions. The Apollo real estate funds target a broad range of opportunistic, value-added and debt investments in real estate assets and portfolios throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Mr. Mack is also a Senior Partner of the Mack Organization, a national owner of industrial buildings and other income-producing real estate investments. Mr. Mack serves as non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mack-Cali Realty Corporation, a publicly traded real estate investment trust. He has been a Director of Mack-Cali since the 1997 merger of the Mack Organization’s office portfolio into Mack-Cali. Mr. Mack also serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, as an Overseer of the Wharton School of Business, as Vice Chairman of the Board and as an Executive Committee Member of the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System and as the Chairman of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Mr. Mack attended the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and received a B.S. in Business Administration from the New York University School of Business.

 

Robert C. Baker — Vice-Chairman.  Mr. Baker is a founder of NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners. He is also the Chairman and CEO of National Realty & Development Corporation and has been since its founding in 1978. National Realty & Development Corporation has amassed a real estate portfolio in excess of 18 million square feet, which includes shopping centers, corporate business centers and residential communities in 20 states. The company’s tenants include prominent retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Lowe’s, Toys ‘R Us, The Home Depot, Sears, Staples, Supervalu, and T.J. Maxx, among others. National Realty & Development Corporation remains one of the largest privately owned development companies in the United States. Mr. Baker has over 46 years experience in land acquisition, construction, financing and management. Mr. Baker is a graduate of Yale University and Yale Law School. He has recently funded the Dean’s Discretionary Fund at Yale Law School and is a member of the Yale Law School Executive Committee. Mr. Baker is a Trustee of the Guggenheim Museum and is a member of the Executive Committee and the Real Estate and Development Committee. Mr. Baker is also a member of the Board of Directors of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Mr. Robert Baker is the father of Mr. Richard Baker, our Chief Executive Officer.

 

Richard A. Baker — Chief Executive Officer.  Mr. Baker is a founder and President and Chief Executive Officer of NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners. Mr. Baker is also vice chairman of National Realty & Development Corporation, a privately owned real estate development company owned by him and Mr. Robert Baker. Mr. Baker is Chairman of Lord & Taylor Holdings, LLC, and a director of the Hudson’s Bay Company and Brunswick School. Mr. Baker is a graduate of Cornell University and serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the hotel and real estate program. Mr. Richard Baker is the son of Mr. Robert Baker, our Vice-Chairman.

 

Lee S. Neibart — President.  Mr. Neibart is a founder of NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners. He has been a Senior Partner of Apollo Real Estate Advisors since 1993. Mr. Neibart oversees the global day-to-day activities of Apollo Real Estate Advisors, including portfolio company and fund

management, strategic planning and new business development. From 1989 to 1993, most recently as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Neibart worked at the Robert Martin Company, a real estate development and management firm. Mr. Neibart is a director of Linens ‘N Things. Mr. Neibart serves on the Advisory Boards of both The Enterprise Foundation and The Real Estate Institute of New York University. He is a past President of the New York Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks. Mr. Neibart graduated with a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and an M.B.A. from New York University.

 

Michael J. Indiveri — Director.  Michael J. Indiveri currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Amalgamated Bank in New York. From 1997 until July 2007, Mr. Indiveri served as the Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of City & Suburban Federal Savings Bank, where he was also a director. Mr. Indiveri served as Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of New York Federal Savings Bank from 1994 to 1997. Mr. Indiveri received a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and an M.B.A. from Fordham University.

 

Edward H. Meyer — Director.  Edward H. Meyer was Chairman and CEO of the advertising firm Grey Global Group from 1970 until 2006. Prior to becoming Chairman, he was President of Grey from 1968 until 1970. Prior to Grey, he was an associate at Bloomingdales. He also served as a director of the May Department Stores for 17 years. Since leaving Grey in 2006, Mr. Meyer has acted as a director for a number of companies. He is currently on the board of Ethan Allen Inc., the Jim Pattison Group, National Cinemedia, LLC, and Harman International Industries, Inc. Mr. Meyer serves as Treasurer and Trustee of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and as a Trustee of the New York University Medical Center. Mr. Meyer received a B.A. in Economics from Cornell University.

 

Laura H. Pomerantz — Director.  Laura Pomerantz is a Principal at PBS Realty Advisors LLC. Prior to joining PBS in 2001, Ms. Pomerantz was a Senior Managing Director at Newmark & Company Real Estate. Prior to joining Newmark in 1996, Ms. Pomerantz was Executive Managing Director of S.L. Green and prior to that she was the Executive Vice President of The Leslie Fay Companies, Inc., having responsibility for supervising several of its upscale fashion divisions. She was with Leslie Fay for over 18 years and served on the company’s Board of Directors. Ms. Pomerantz is a member of the Carnegie Hall Board of Trustees. She graduated from Miami Dade Community College.

 

Vincent S. Tese — Director.  Mr. Tese co-founded Cross Country Cable, Inc. in 1976 and served as its Chairman until its sale to Pacific Telesis in 1995. Since 1995, Mr. Tese has been managing personal investments. Mr. Tese served as New York State Superintendent of Banks from 1983 to 1985, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Urban Development Corporation from 1985 to 1994, director of economic development for New York State from 1987 to 1994 and Commissioner and Vice Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 1991 to 1995. Mr. Tese also served as a partner in the law firm of Tese & Tese, a partner in the Sinclair Group, a commodities trading and investment management company, and a co-founder of Cross Country Cable TV. Mr. Tese is a director of The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc., Bowne and Company, Inc., Cablevision, Inc., Gabelli Asset Management, Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and Mack-Cali Realty Corporation. In addition, he is Trustee of New York University School of Law and The New York Presbyterian Hospital. Mr. Tese received a B.S. in Accounting from Pace University and received a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School and an L.L.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law.

 

Ronald W. Tysoe — Director.  Mr. Tysoe was a Senior Advisor at Perella Weinberg Partners LP, a boutique investment banking firm, from October 2006 until September 2007. Prior to that he was Vice Chairman of Federated Department Stores, Inc., a position he held since April of 1990. Mr. Tysoe served as Chief Financial Officer of Federated from 1990 to 1997 and served on the Federated board of directors from 1988 until May 2005. Mr. Tysoe is currently a member of the board of directors of E.W. Scripps Company and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Mr. Tysoe received both his Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Law degrees at the University of British Columbia.

Number and Terms of Directors

 

Our board of directors has nine directors who are 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 Michael J. Indiveri, Edward H. Meyer and Laura H. Pomerantz will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of William L. Mack, Ronald W. Tysoe and Vincent Tese will expire at the second annual meeting. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Richard A. Baker, Robert C. Baker and Lee S. Neibart, will expire at the third annual meeting.

 

Our directors will play a key role in identifying and evaluating prospective target businesses, selecting the target business, and structuring, negotiating and consummating its combination with us. None of our directors has been a principal of or affiliated with a public blank check company that executed a business plan similar to our business plan and none of our directors is currently affiliated with such an entity.

 

Director Independence

 

The American Stock Exchange listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. Our board of directors has determined that Michael J. Indiveri, Edward H. Meyer, Laura H. Pomerantz, Vincent S. Tese and Ronald W. Tysoe are “independent directors” as defined in the American Stock Exchange listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present. In addition, the independent directors will monitor compliance on a quarterly basis with the terms of this offering. If any noncompliance is identified, then the independent directors will be charged with the responsibility to immediately take all necessary action to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise cause compliance with the terms of this offering. The independent directors’ approval will be required for any affiliated party transaction.

 

Committees of the Board of Directors

 

Audit Committee

 

Our board of directors has an Audit Committee that reports to the board of directors. Michael J. Indiveri, Vincent S. Tese and Ronald W. Tysoe serve as members of our Audit Committee. Under the American Stock Exchange listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have three members of the Audit Committee, all of whom must be independent. All of the members of our Audit Committee are independent.

 

Michael J. Indiveri, serves as the Chairman of the Audit Committee. Each member of the Audit Committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Michael J. Indiveri qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.

 

The Audit Committee is responsible for:

 

 

 

Compensation Committee

 

Our board of directors has a Compensation Committee that reports to the board of directors. Edward H. Meyer, Laura Pomerantz and Ronald W. Tysoe, each of whom is “independent” as defined in the rules of the American Stock Exchange and the SEC, serve as members of our Compensation Committee. Ronald W. Tysoe serves as the Chairman of the Compensation Committee. The functions of our Compensation Committee include:

 

 

Governance and Nominating Committee

 

We do not currently have a Governance and Nominating Committee. The independent members of our board of directors perform the functions of a Governance and Nominating Committee.

 

Executive Officer and Director Compensation

 

No compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid to any of our executive officers, directors, or existing stockholders, or any of their respective affiliates (except as otherwise set forth in this prospectus), for services rendered prior to or in connection with an initial business combination. However, our executive officers and directors will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf, such as attending board of directors meetings, participating in the offering process, identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. There is no limit on the amount of out-of-pocket expenses reimbursable by us and there will be no review of the reasonableness of the expenses by anyone other than our board of directors, which includes persons who may seek reimbursement, or a court of competent jurisdiction if such reimbursement is challenged. To the extent such out-of-pocket expenses exceed the available proceeds not deposited in the trust account, such out-of-pocket expenses would not be reimbursed by us unless we consummate an initial business combination.

In addition, our current executive officers and directors may or may not remain with us following an initial business combination, depending on the type of business acquired and the industry in which the target business operates. If they do remain with our company, we may enter into employment or other compensation arrangements with them following an initial business combination, the terms of which have not yet been determined. We cannot assure you that our current executive officers and directors will be retained in any significant role, or at all, and have no ability to determine what remuneration, if any, will be paid to them if they are retained following an initial business combination.

 

Code of Ethics

 

We have adopted a Code of Ethics that applies to our officers, directors and employees. We have filed a copy of our Code of Ethics as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. You will be able to review this document by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Form 8-K.

 

CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS

 

Prior Share Issuances

 

On July 13, 2007, we issued 8,625,000 shares of our common stock (including 1,125,000 shares that are subject to forfeiture to the extent the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option) to our sponsor for $25,000 in cash at a purchase price of approximately $0.003 per share, after giving effect to a 6 for 5 stock split of our common stock on September 4, 2007. NRDC Capital Management, LLC is a Delaware limited liability company, the sole members of which are our executive officers. Our sponsor will transfer to each of our independent directors an equal number of shares on the same conditions and for the same price per share as those we extended to our sponsor.

 

On October 2, 2007, we entered into an agreement with our sponsor pursuant to which it has agreed to purchase an aggregate of 8,000,000 warrants at a purchase price of $1.00 per warrant. These warrants will be purchased in a private placement pursuant to an exemption from registration contained in Section 4(2) of the Securities Act. The private placement will occur immediately prior to completion of this offering.

 

Our sponsor will be entitled to make up to three demands that we register these securities pursuant to an agreement to be signed prior to or on the date of this prospectus. Our sponsor can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time beginning three months prior to the date on which the transfer restriction period applicable to such shares expires. In addition, our sponsor has certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to these shares on registration statements filed subsequent to such date. Our other existing stockholders have piggy-back registration rights with respect to their shares on registration statements filed following the date three months prior to the date on which they become available for resale. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

 

Co-investment Units

 

Our sponsor has agreed to purchase 2,000,000 co-investment units in connection with our initial business combination at a purchase price of 10.00 per unit for an aggregate purchase price of $20,000,000, from us in a private placement that will occur immediately prior to the consummation of our initial business combination. This will not occur until the execution of a definitive business combination agreement and the approval of our initial business combination by our stockholders. These co-investment units will be identical to the units sold in this offering except that the common stock and the warrants included in the co-investment units, and the common stock issuable upon exercise of those warrants, with certain limited exceptions, may not be transferred or sold for one year after the consummation of our initial business combination. Additionally, the warrants included in the co-investment units are (1) exercisable only after the date on which the last sales price of our common stock on the American Stock Exchange, or other national securities exchange on which our common stock may be traded, equals or exceeds $14.25 per share for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading-day period beginning at least 90 calendar days after the consummation of our initial business combination, (2) exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the original purchaser or its permitted transferees and (3) not subject to redemption by us. As the proceeds from the sale of the co-investment units will not be received by us until immediately prior to our consummation of a business combination, these proceeds will not be deposited into the trust account and will not be available for distribution to our public stockholders in the event of a liquidating distribution. Our sponsor will not receive any additional carried interest (in the form of additional units, common stock, warrants or otherwise) in connection with the co-investment. The business purpose of the co-investment is to provide additional capital to us and to demonstrate our sponsor’s further commitment to our completion of a business combination. We have agreed with our sponsor that if any person that has a co-investment obligation does not consummate the co-investment when required to do so, that person will forfeit all of the shares and private placement warrants that such person purchased prior to the completion of this offering.

Conflicts of Interest

 

Potential investors should be aware of the following potential conflicts of interest:

 

 

 

 

In general, executive 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:

 

 

As a result of multiple business affiliations, our executive officers and directors may have similar legal obligations relating to presenting business opportunities meeting the above-listed criteria to other entities. In addition, conflicts of interest may arise when our board of directors evaluates a particular business opportunity with respect to the above-listed criteria. Thus, our executive officers and directors may present business combination opportunities to the other entities to which they owe a pre-existing fiduciary duty before presenting such opportunities to us. In this connection, we have entered into a business opportunity right of first offer agreement with our sponsor, NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners and with our executive officers and directors. This right of first offer provides that, subject to the respective pre-existing fiduciary duties of our executive officers and directors, from the date of this prospectus until the earlier of the consummation of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will have a right of first offer if any of these parties becomes aware of, or involved with, a business combination opportunity with any operating business. Subject to the respective pre-existing fiduciary duties of our executive officers and directors, these parties to the right of first offer agreement will, and will cause companies or entities under their management or control, to first offer any such business opportunity to us and they will not, and will cause each other company or entity under their management or control not, to pursue any such business opportunity unless and until our board of directors, including a majority of our disinterested independent directors, has determined that we will not pursue such opportunity.

 

We recognize that each of our executive officers and directors may be deemed an affiliate of any company for which such executive officer or director serves as an officer or director or for which such executive officer or director otherwise has a pre-existing fiduciary duty and that a conflict of interest could arise if an opportunity is appropriate for one of such companies.

 

Our executive officers and directors owe a pre-existing fiduciary obligation to the following companies and entities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As part of this right of first offer, we have established procedures with respect to the sourcing of a potential business combination by our executive officers and directors to eliminate such conflict for our executive officers and directors, whereby a potential business combination that must be presented to any company for which such executive officer or director, as the case may be, serves as an officer or director or otherwise has a pre-existing fiduciary duty (other than our sponsor, NRDC Real Estate Advisors, LLC and NRDC Equity Partners) will not be presented to us until after such executive officer or director has presented the opportunity to such company and such company has determined not to proceed. These pre-existing fiduciary duties may limit the opportunities that are available to us to consummate our initial business combination.

 

Our existing stockholders have waived their rights to participate in any liquidating distributions occurring upon our failure to consummate an initial business combination with respect to the shares of common stock that they acquire prior to this offering. Our existing stockholders will participate in any liquidating distributions with respect to any shares of common stock acquired by them in connection with or following this offering. In addition, in connection with any vote required for our initial business combination, our existing stockholders have agreed to vote all of the shares of common stock owned by them immediately before the completion of this offering either for or against an initial business combination and amending our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to provide for our perpetual existence in the same manner

that the majority of the shares of common stock are voted by our public stockholders. Our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders also have agreed that if they acquire shares of common stock in or following completion of this offering, they will vote all such acquired shares in favor of our initial business combination and in favor of amending our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to provide for our perpetual existence. Accordingly, our existing stockholders will not have any conversion rights with respect to those shares acquired in or following completion of this offering. A stockholder is eligible to exercise its conversion rights only if it votes against an initial business combination that is ultimately approved and consummated.

 

NRDC Capital Management, LLC, our sponsor and an existing stockholder, made us an interest-free loan of $200,000 for the payment of offering expenses. The loan will be repaid upon the completion of this offering out of the proceeds of this offering.

 

We will reimburse our executive officers and directors for any out-of-pocket business expenses incurred by them in connection with certain activities on our behalf such as identifying and investigating possible target businesses and business combinations. There is no limit on the amount of accountable out-of-pocket expenses reimbursable by us, which will be reviewed only by our board of directors or a court of competent jurisdiction if such reimbursement is challenged. To the extent such out-of-pocket expenses exceed the available proceeds not deposited in the trust account, such out-of-pocket expenses would not be reimbursed by us unless we consummate an initial business combination.

 

Other than the repayment of the $200,000 interest-free loan described above, the payment of $7,500 per month to our sponsor in connection with the office space and certain general and administrative services rendered to us and reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses payable to our executive officers and directors, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid to any of our executive officers, directors, or existing stockholders or any of their respective affiliates prior to or in connection with our initial business combination.

 

All ongoing and future transactions between us and any of our executive officers and directors or their respective affiliates, including loans by our executive officers and directors, will be on terms believed by us to be no less favorable than are available from unaffiliated third parties and such transactions or loans, including any forgiveness of loans, will require prior approval in each instance by a majority of our uninterested “independent” directors (to the extent we have any) or the members of our board of directors 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 consider Messrs. William L. Mack, Robert C. Baker, Richard A. Baker and Lee S. Neibart to be our “promoters” and our sponsor to be our “parent” as these terms are defined under the federal securities laws.

 

PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS

 

The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our common stock as of the date of this prospectus after giving effect to a 6 for 5 stock split of our common stock and as adjusted to reflect the sale of our common stock included in the units offered by this prospectus, (assuming no purchase of units in this offering) by:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition, in connection with any vote required for our initial business combination, our existing stockholders have agreed to vote all of the shares of common stock held by them prior to the completion of this offering either for or against a business combination and amending our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to provide for our perpetual existence in the same manner that the majority of the shares of common stock are voted by our public stockholders. Our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders also have agreed that if they acquire shares of common stock in or following completion of this offering, they

will vote all such acquired shares in favor of our initial business combination and in favor of amending our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to provide for our perpetual existence.

 

Our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders have entered into a lock-up agreement with the underwriters. Under the terms of this agreement, and other than in respect of the co-investment units, we may not issue any new units, shares of common stock or warrants, or publicly announce the intention to do any of the foregoing, without the prior written consent of Banc of America Securities LLC, until or in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Additionally, subject to certain limited exceptions described under the section entitled “Underwriting — Lock-up Agreement”, our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders have agreed not to enter into any agreement to sell or transfer any of their common stock held prior to the completion of this offering, if any, until one year after the consummation of our initial business combination, and any of their private placement warrants, if any, until after the consummation of our initial business combination. This consent may be given at any time without public notice. However, if (1) during the last 17 days of the applicable lock-up period, we issue material news or a material event relating to us occurs or (2) before the expiration of the applicable lock-up period, we announce that material news or a material event will occur during the 16-day period beginning on the last day of the applicable lock-up period, the applicable lock-up period will be extended for up to 18 days beginning on the issuance of the material news or the occurrence of the material event.

 

DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

 

General

 

We are authorized to issue 106,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 5,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. As of the date of this prospectus, 8,625,000 shares of common stock are outstanding, held by one record holder, and no shares of preferred stock are outstanding. If the underwriters do not exercise the over-allotment option in full, up to 1,125,000 of such shares are subject to forfeiture. The underwriting agreement prohibits us, prior to an initial business combination, from issuing additional units, additional common stock, preferred stock, additional warrants, or any options or other securities convertible or exchangeable into common stock or 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.

 

Units

 

Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one warrant. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of common stock. Each of the common stock and warrants will begin trading separately on the earlier to occur of the termination of the underwriters’ option to purchase up to 4,500,000 additional units to cover over-allotments or the exercise by the underwriters of such option. In no event may the common stock and warrants be traded separately until we have filed with the SEC a Current Report on Form 8-K that includes an audited balance sheet reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds of this offering. We will file a Current Report on Form 8-K that includes this audited balance sheet upon the completion of this offering, which is anticipated to take place three business days after the date of this prospectus. The audited balance sheet will reflect proceeds we receive from the exercise of the over-allotment option, if the over-allotment option is exercised prior to the filing of the Current Report on Form 8-K, and if such over-allotment option is exercised after such time, we will file an additional Current Report on Form 8-K including an audited balance sheet reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds from such exercise of the over-allotment option. Following the date the common stock and the warrants are eligible to trade separately, the units will continue to be listed for trading and any stockholder may elect to trade the common stock and the warrants separately or as a unit. Even if the component parts of the units are broken apart and traded separately, the units will continue to be listed as a separate security and any stockholder of our common stock and warrants may elect to combine them and to trade them as a unit. Stockholders will have the ability to trade our securities as units until such time as the warrants expire or are redeemed.

 

Common Stock

 

Our stockholders are entitled to one vote for each share held of record on all matters to be voted on by stockholders. In connection with any vote required for our initial business combination, our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders have agreed to vote all of the shares of common stock owned by them prior to the completion of this offering either for or against an initial business combination in the same manner that the majority of the shares of common stock are voted by our public stockholders. Our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders also have agreed that if they acquire shares of common stock in or following the completion of this offering, they will vote all such acquired shares in favor of our initial business combination. However, our executive officers, directors and existing stockholders will vote all of their shares in any manner they determine, in their sole discretion, with respect to any other items that come before a vote of our stockholders.

 

We will proceed with the initial business combination only if a majority of the shares of common stock voted by the public stockholders are voted in favor of the initial business combination, public stockholders owning less than 30% of the shares sold in this offering both vote against the proposed initial business combination and exercise their conversion rights as discussed above and a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock are voted in favor of an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to provide for our perpetual existence.

Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, if we do not consummate our initial business combination within 24 months after the completion 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 our initial business combination, our public stockholders are entitled to share ratably in the trust account, inclusive of any interest not previously released to us to fund working capital requirements and net of any income taxes due on such interest, which income taxes, if any, shall be paid from the trust account, and any assets remaining available for distribution to them. If we do not complete our initial business combination and the trustee must distribute the balance of the trust account, the underwriters have agreed that: (i) they will forfeit any rights or claims to their deferred underwriting discounts and commissions, including any accrued interest thereon, then in the trust account, and (ii) the deferred underwriting discounts and commission will be distributed on a pro rata basis among the public stockholders, together with any accrued interest thereon, net of income taxes payable on such interest. Our existing stockholders, including our executive officers and directors, have waived their right to participate in any liquidating distributions occurring upon our failure to consummate an initial business combination with respect to shares of common stock acquired by them prior to this offering. However, our existing stockholders will participate in any liquidating distributions with respect to any other shares of common stock acquired by any of them in connection with 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 common stock, except that public stockholders, other than our existing stockholders, have the right to have their shares of common stock converted to cash equal to their pro rata share of the trust account if they vote against the initial business combination and the initial business combination is approved and consummated. Public stockholders who 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

 

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of 5,000 shares of blank check 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 have been or 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. We may issue some or all of the preferred stock to consummate 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. However, the underwriting agreement prohibits us, prior to an initial 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. 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.

 

Warrants

 

No warrants are currently outstanding. Each warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one share of our common stock at a price of $7.50 per share, subject to adjustment as discussed below, at any time, unless we earlier redeem the warrants, commencing on the later of:

 

 

The warrants will expire four years from the completion of this offering at 5:00 p.m., New York City time. We may call the warrants for redemption at any time after the warrants become exercisable:

 

 

 

We have established this last criterion to provide warrant holders with a premium to the initial warrant exercise price as well as a degree of liquidity to cushion the market reaction, if any, to our redemption call. If the foregoing conditions are satisfied and we call the warrants for redemption, each warrant holder will then be entitled to exercise his warrants prior to the scheduled redemption date. There can be no assurance that the price of the common stock will exceed either the redemption price of $14.25 per share of common stock or the warrant exercise price of $7.50 per share of common stock after we call the warrants for redemption. Our right to redeem the outstanding warrants includes the private placement warrants.

 

The right to exercise the warrants will be forfeited unless they are exercised before the date specified in the notice of redemption. From and after the redemption date, the record holder of a warrant will have no further rights except to receive, upon surrender of the warrants, the redemption price.

 

The warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. You should review a copy of the warrant agreement, which has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, for a complete description of the terms and conditions applicable to the warrants.

 

The 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, or our recapitalization, reorganization, merger, or consolidation. However, the warrants will not be adjusted for issuances 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 check payable to us, for the number of warrants being exercised. The warrant holders do not have the rights or privileges of holders 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. The private placement warrants may be exercised on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.

 

No warrants will be exercisable unless at the time of exercise a registration statement relating to shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective and a prospectus relating to shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is available for use and the common stock 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. Holders of the warrants are not entitled to net cash settlement and the warrants may only be settled by delivery of shares of our common stock and not cash. Under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed to meet these conditions and use our best efforts to maintain an effective registration statement and a current prospectus relating to 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. We have no obligation to settle the warrants in the absence of an effective registration statement or a prospectus available for use. The warrants may never become exercisable if we never comply with these registration requirements. The warrants may be deprived of any value and the market for the warrants may be limited if an effective registration statement and the prospectus relating to the common stock issuable upon the exercise of the warrants is not current or if the common stock is not qualified or exempt from qualification in the jurisdictions in which the holders of the warrants reside and we will not be required to cash settle any such warrant exercise. Warrants included in the units issued in this offering will not be exercisable on a cashless basis. The private placement

warrants will not be exercisable at any time unless a registration statement is effective and a prospectus is available for the public warrant holders.

 

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.

 

Initial Shares and Co-investment Shares

 

Our sponsor and other holders of shares of our common stock issued prior to the consummation of this offering have the same rights as public stockholders, except that they will not participate in any distribution of amounts in the trust account in the event that we fail to consummate our initial business combination within 24 months after the date of this prospectus and are not entitled to conversion rights in the event of our initial business combination. Holders of the co-investment shares, if and when issued, will be entitled to the same rights as our public stockholders. The initial shares and the co-investment shares are not transferable or saleable, with limited exceptions described under the section entitled “Underwriting — Lock-up Agreement”, until one year after the consummation of our initial business combination. Additionally, because our executive officers are the sole members of our sponsor, these executive officers have agreed not to sell or otherwise transfer their ownership interests in our sponsor until we have consummated our initial business combination, subject to the same limitation as noted above.

 

Private Placement Warrants

 

The warrants issued in the private placement will be identical to the warrants included in the units to be sold and issued in this offering, except that our sponsor or its permitted transferees will have the right to exercise those warrants on a cashless basis. If a holder of the private placement warrants elects to exercise them on a cashless basis, that holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering his, her or its 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 common stock for the 10 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 reason that we have agreed that these warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our the sponsor and its permitted transferees is because it is not known at this time whether they will be affiliated with us following a business combination. If they remain affiliated with us, their ability to sell our securities in the open market will be significantly limited. We expect to have policies in place that prohibit insiders from selling our securities except during specific periods of time. Even during such periods of time when insiders will be permitted to sell our securities, an insider cannot trade in our securities if he or she is in possession of material non-public information. Accordingly, unlike public stockholders who could exercise their warrants and sell the shares of common stock received upon such exercise freely in the open market in order to recoup the cost of such exercise, the insiders could be significantly restricted from selling such securities. As a result, we believe that allowing the holders to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis is appropriate. We would not receive additional proceeds to the extent the warrants are exercised on a cashless basis. Warrants included in the units issued in this offering will not be exercisable on a cashless basis.

 

Our sponsor has agreed not to sell or otherwise transfer the private placement warrants until after consummation of our initial business combination. However, our sponsor will be permitted to transfer its private placement warrants to its permitted transferees. Our sponsor and its permitted transferees may make transfers of these private placement warrants to charitable organizations and trusts for estate planning purposes, to our other officers and directors, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order and in the event of a merger, capital stock exchange, stock purchase, asset acquisition or other similar transaction which results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock or other securities for cash, securities or other property subsequent to our consummation of our initial business combination.

Dividends

 

We have not paid any dividends on our common stock to date. 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. The payment of dividends, if any, will be contingent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition. We do not intend to pay any dividends prior to the consummation of our initial business combination. The payment of any dividends subsequent to an initial business combination will be within the discretion of our then board of directors.

 

Our Transfer Agent and Warrant Agent

 

The transfer agent for our securities and warrant agent for our warrants is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, 17 Battery Place, New York, New York 10004.

 

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

 

Staggered board of directors

 

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, which will be in effect upon consummation of this offering, will provide 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 chief executive officer, our chairman or secretary or 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 must be delivered to our principal executive offices not later than the close of business on the 90th day and not earlier than the close of business on the 120th day, prior to the first anniversary of the preceding year’s annual meeting of stockholders. For the first annual meeting of stockholders after the closing of this offering, a stockholder’s notice shall be timely if delivered to our principal executive offices not later than the 90th day prior to the scheduled date of the annual meeting of stockholders or the 10th 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.

 

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 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 the completion of this offering, we will have 38,625,000 shares of common stock (including 1,125,000 shares that are subject to forfeiture to the extent the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised) outstanding (or 43,125,000 shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full). Of these shares, the 30,000,000 shares sold in this offering (or 34,500,000 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 8,625,000 shares (7,500,000 shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised) are restricted securities under Rule 144, in that they were issued in private transactions not involving a public offering. None of these shares will be eligible for sale under Rule 144 prior to July 13, 2008. Notwithstanding this restriction, except in limited circumstances, (i) the private placement warrants will not be transferable until after the consummation of our initial business combination and (ii) the shares of common stock issued to the existing stockholders will not be transferable until one year following the consummation of our initial business combination. For more information about these exceptions, see the section entitled “Principal Stockholders.”

 

In addition, immediately prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, our sponsor will purchase 2,000,000 co-investment units at a purchase price of $10.00 per unit ($20,000,000 in the aggregate). The co-investment units, co-investment common stock and co-investment warrants, with limited exceptions, will not be transferable for one year after the date of our initial business combination. Our sponsor will be permitted to transfer its co-investment units, the co-investment common stock or co-investment warrants (including the common stock to be issued upon exercise of the co-investment warrants) to its permitted transferees. Our sponsor and its permitted transferees may make transfers of these securities to charitable organizations and trusts for estate planning purposes, to our other officers and directors, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order and in the event of a merger, capital stock exchange, stock purchase, asset acquisition or other similar transaction which results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock or other securities for cash, securities or other property subsequent to our consummation of our initial business combination. Additionally, the warrants included in the co-investment units are (1) exercisable only after the date on which the last sales price of our common stock on the American Stock Exchange, or other national securities exchange on which our common stock may be traded, equals or exceeds $14.25 per share for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading-day period beginning at least 90 calendar days after the consummation of our initial business combination, (2) exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the original purchaser or its permitted transferees and (3) not subject to redemption by us.

Rule 144

 

In general, under Rule 144 as currently in effect, a person who has beneficially owned restricted shares of our common stock for at least one year 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.

 

Rule 144(k)

 

Under Rule 144(k), a person who is not deemed to be one of our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale and who has beneficially owned the restricted shares proposed to be sold for at least two years, including the holding period of any prior owner other than an affiliate, is entitled to sell those shares without complying with the manner of sale, public information, volume limitation or notice provisions of Rule 144.

 

SEC Position on Rule 144 Sales

 

The SEC has taken the position that a promoter or affiliate of a blank check company and any of its transferees, both before and after a business combination, would act as an “underwriter” under the Securities Act when reselling the securities of a blank check company acquired prior to the completion of its initial public offering. Accordingly, the SEC believes that those securities can be resold only through a registered offering and that Rule 144 would not be available for those resale transactions despite technical compliance with the requirements of Rule 144.

 

Registration Rights

 

Our sponsor will be entitled to make up to three demands that we register the 8,625,000 shares of common stock (including 1,125,000 shares of common stock that are subject to forfeiture to the extent the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised), the 8,000,000 private placement warrants and the shares for which they are exercisable, and the 2,000,000 co-investment shares and the 2,000,000 co-investment warrants and the shares of common stock for which they are exercisable, pursuant to an agreement to be signed prior to the date of this prospectus. Our sponsor may elect to exercise its registration rights at any time beginning on the date three months prior to the expiration of the applicable transfer restrictions. The restricted transfer period for the shares and the co-investment shares of common stock expires on the date that is one year after the consummation of the initial business combination, and the restricted transfer period for the private placement warrants and the shares for which they are exercisable expires on the consummation of our initial business combination. Our directors will have “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to the share of common stock that they own prior to the completion of this offering, subject to the same limitations with respect to the transfer restriction period. In addition, our sponsor and our directors each have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to the shares held by them on registration statements filed by us on or subsequent to the expiration of the applicable transfer restriction period and unlimited registration rights with respect to a registration statement on Form S-3. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any registration statement. Pursuant to the registration rights agreement, our sponsor and our executive officers and directors will waive any claims to monetary damages for any failure by us to comply with the requirements of the registration rights agreement.

Listing

 

We have applied to have our units listed on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol “NAQ.U” and, once the common stock and warrants begin separate trading, to have our common stock and warrants listed on the American Stock Exchange under the symbols “NAQ” and “NAQ.WS,” respectively.

 

Based upon the proposed terms of this offering, after giving effect to this offering we expect to meet the minimum initial listing standards set forth in Section 101(c) of the American Stock Exchange Company Guide, which consist of the following:

 

 

UNITED STATES FEDERAL INCOME AND ESTATE TAX CONSIDERATIONS

 

The following is a general discussion of material United States federal tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership, and disposition of our units, common stock and warrants purchased pursuant to this offering. This discussion assumes that holders will hold our securities issued pursuant to this offering as capital assets within the meaning of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, which we refer to as the Code. This discussion does not address all aspects of United States federal taxation that may be relevant to a particular investor in light of the investor’s individual investment or tax circumstances. In addition, this discussion does not address (a) United States gift or estate tax laws except to the limited extent set forth below, (b) state, local or non-United States tax consequences, (c) the special tax rules that may apply to certain investors, including without limitation banks, insurance companies, financial institutions, broker-dealers, taxpayers that have elected mark-to-market accounting, taxpayers that are subject to the alternative minimum tax, tax-exempt entities, regulated investment companies, real estate investment trusts, taxpayers whose functional currency is not the United States dollar, or United States expatriates or former long-term residents of the United States, or (d) the special tax rules that may apply to an investor that acquires, holds, or disposes of our securities as part of a straddle, hedge, wash sale (except to the limited extent described below), constructive sale, or conversion transaction or other integrated investment. Additionally, the discussion does not consider the tax treatment of partnerships (including entities treated as partnerships for United States federal income tax purposes) or pass-through entities or persons who hold our units, common stock or warrants through such entities.

 

This discussion is based on current provisions of the Code, final, temporary and proposed United States Treasury Regulations, judicial opinions, and published positions of the Internal Revenue Service, which we refer to as the IRS, all as in effect on the date hereof and all of which are subject to differing interpretations or change, possibly with retroactive effect. We have not sought, and will not seek, any ruling from the IRS or any opinion of counsel with respect to the tax consequences discussed herein, and there can be no assurance that the IRS will not take a position contrary to the tax consequences discussed below or that any position taken by the IRS would not be sustained.

 

As used in this discussion, the term “United States person” means a person that is, for United States federal income tax purposes (i) an individual citizen or resident of the United States, (ii) a corporation (or other entity treated as a corporation for United States federal income tax purposes) created or organized in the United States or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof, or the District of Columbia, (iii) an estate the income of which is subject to United States federal income taxation regardless of its source, or (iv) a trust if (A) a court within the United States is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust and one or more United States persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust, or (B) it has in effect a valid election to be treated as a United States person. As used in this prospectus, the term “United States holder” means a beneficial owner of our securities that is a United States person and the term “non-United States holder” means a beneficial owner of our securities (other than a partnership or other entity treated as a partnership or as a disregarded or pass-through entity for United States federal income tax purposes) that is not a United States person.

 

The tax treatment of a partnership and each partner thereof will generally depend upon the status and activities of the partnership and such partner. A holder that is treated as a partnership for United States federal income tax purposes should consult its own tax advisor regarding the United States federal income tax considerations applicable to it and its partners of the purchase, ownership and disposition of our units, common stock and warrants.

 

This discussion is only a summary of material United States federal income and estate tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our securities. Investors are urged to consult their own tax advisors with respect to the particular tax consequences to them of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our securities, including the effect of any United States federal tax laws other than income and estate tax laws, any state, local or non-United States tax laws, and any applicable tax treaty.

General

 

There is no authority addressing the treatment, for United States federal income tax purposes, of securities with terms substantially the same as the units, and, therefore, such treatment is not entirely clear. We intend to treat each unit for United States federal income tax purposes as an investment unit consisting of one share of our common stock and a warrant to acquire one share of our common stock. Pursuant to this treatment, each holder of a unit must allocate the purchase price paid by such holder for such unit between the share of common stock and the warrant based on their respective relative fair market values. In addition, pursuant to this treatment, a holder’s initial tax basis in the common stock and the warrant included in each unit should equal the portion of the purchase price of the unit allocated thereto.

 

Our view of the characterization of the units described above and a holder’s purchase price allocation are not, however, binding on the IRS or the courts. Because there are no authorities that directly address instruments that are similar to the units, no assurance can be given that the IRS or the courts will agree with the characterization described above or the discussion below. Accordingly, prospective investors are urged to consult their own tax advisors regarding the United States federal tax consequences of an investment in a unit (including alternative characterizations of a unit) and with respect to any tax consequences arising under the laws of any state, local or non-United States taxing jurisdiction. Unless otherwise stated, the following discussions are based on the assumption that the characterization of the units and the allocation described above are accepted for United States federal tax purposes.

 

Tax Consequences of an Investment in our Common Stock

 

Dividends and Distributions

 

If we pay cash distributions to holders of shares of our common stock, such distributions generally will constitute dividends for United States federal income tax purposes to the extent paid from our current or accumulated earnings and profits, as determined under United States federal income tax principles. Distributions in excess of current and accumulated earnings and profits will constitute a return of capital that will be applied against and reduce (but not below zero) the holder’s adjusted tax basis in our common stock. Any remaining excess will be treated as gain realized on the sale or other disposition of the common stock and will be treated as described under “— Gain or Loss on Sale, Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Common Stock” below.