v3.25.1
Description of Organization and Business Operations
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2025
Description of Organization and Business Operations [Abstract]  
DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS

NOTE 1. DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS

 

Cohen Circle Acquisition Corp. I (the “Company”) was incorporated in the Cayman Islands on October 26, 2021. The Company was incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”).

 

The Company is not limited to a particular industry or sector for purposes of consummating a Business Combination. The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.

 

As of March 31, 2025, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from October 26, 2021 (inception) through March 31, 2025 relates to the Company’s formation and the initial public offering (“Initial Public Offering”), which is described below, and efforts in identifying a target to consummate an initial Business Combination. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of its initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company generates non-operating income in the form of interest income from the proceeds derived from the Initial Public Offering placed in the Trust Account (as defined below).

 

The registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on October 10, 2024. On October 15, 2024, the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of 23,000,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the Class A ordinary shares included in the Units being offered, the “Public Shares”), which includes the full exercise by the underwriters of their over-allotment option in the amount of 3,000,000 Units, at $10.00 per Unit, generating proceeds of $230,000,000 which is described in Note 3.

 

Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the sale of an aggregate of 715,000 units (each, a “Placement Unit” and collectively, the “Placement Units”) at a price of $10.00 per Placement Unit in a private placement to Cohen Circle Sponsor I, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (together with Cohen Circle Advisors I, LLC, the “Sponsor”), and the representative of the underwriters, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. (“Cantor”), generating gross proceeds of $7,150,000, which is described in Note 4.

 

Transaction costs amounted to $14,373,989, consisting of $4,000,000 of cash underwriting fee, $9,800,000 of deferred underwriting fee, and $573,989 of other offering costs.

 

The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of Placement Units, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to complete a Business Combination successfully. The Company must complete one or more initial Business Combinations with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the Trust Account (as defined below) (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the Trust Account). The Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”).

 

Following the closing of the Initial Public Offering, on October 15, 2024, an amount of $231,150,000 ($10.05 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units and the Placement Units was placed in a trust account (“Trust Account”), located in the United States and invested only in (i) U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations, (ii) as uninvested cash, or (iii) an interest bearing bank demand deposit account or other accounts at a bank, until the earlier of (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the funds held in the Trust Account as described below.

The Company will provide the holders of the outstanding Public Shares (the “Public Shareholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek shareholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company. The Public Shareholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the amount then in the Trust Account (initially anticipated to be $10.05 per Public Share, plus any pro rata interest then in the Trust Account, net of taxes payable). There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of a Business Combination with respect to the Company’s warrants. The Public Shares subject to redemption were recorded at redemption value and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering in accordance with the Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480, “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.”

 

If the Company seeks shareholder approval, it will proceed with a Business Combination only if it obtains the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, being the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the issued ordinary shares who, being present and entitled to vote at a general meeting of the Company, vote at a general meeting of the Company. If a shareholder vote is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements and the Company does not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons, the Company will, pursuant to its Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing a Business Combination. If, however, shareholder approval of the transactions is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements, or the Company decides to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, the Company will offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If the Company seeks shareholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor has agreed to vote any Founder Shares (as defined in Note 5), Placement Shares (as defined in Note 4) and Public Shares held by it in favor of approving a Business Combination. Additionally, each public shareholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares, without voting, and if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against a proposed Business Combination or if they vote at all.

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Company seeks shareholder approval of a Business Combination and it does not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, the Company’s Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association provides that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the Public Shares without the prior consent of the Company. The Company may waive this restriction in its sole discretion.

 

The Sponsor and Cantor have agreed to waive (i) their redemption rights with respect to any Founder Shares and Placement Shares held by them in connection with the completion of the Company’s Business Combination and (ii) their redemption rights with respect to the Founder Shares and Placement Shares held by them in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to the Company’s Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association (A) to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to allow redemption in connection with a Business Combination or to redeem 100% of the Public Shares if the Company does not complete a Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. However, the Sponsor will be entitled to redemption rights with respect to Public Shares if the Company fails to consummate a Business Combination or liquidates within 24 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering. Cantor will have the same redemption rights as the Public Shareholders with respect to any Public Shares they acquire.

The Company will have 24 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering to complete a Business Combination (the “Combination Period”). If the Company has not completed a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible, but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its tax obligations (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the Company’s remaining shareholders and the Company’s board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to the Company’s obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to the Company’s warrants, which will expire worthless if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period.

 

The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to the deferred underwriting commission held in the Trust Account in the event the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the other funds held in the Trust Account that will be available to fund the redemption of the Public Shares. In the event of such distribution, it is possible that the per share value of the assets remaining available for distribution will be less than $10.05 per share.

 

In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor has agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a third party (except for the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below the lesser of (i) $10.05 per Public Share and (ii) the actual amount per Public Share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account, if less than $10.05 per Public Share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to monies held in the Trust Account nor will it apply to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriters of the Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, the Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. The Company will seek to reduce the possibility that the Sponsor will have to indemnify the Trust Account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (except for the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which the Company does business, execute agreements with the Company waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the Trust Account.

Business Combination Agreement

 

On March 18, 2025, the Company entered into a business combination agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”) by and among (1) the Company, (2) VEON Amsterdam B.V., a private company with limited liability (besloten vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid) incorporated under Dutch law and registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel) under number 34378904 (the “Seller”), (3) VEON Holdings B.V., a private company with limited liability (besloten vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid) incorporated under Dutch law and registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel) under number 34345993 (“VEON Holdings,” and together with all of its direct and indirect Ukrainian Subsidiaries, the “Group Companies”), (4) Kyivstar Group Ltd., an exempted company with limited liability, incorporated and existing under the laws of Bermuda with registration number 202504557 (“PubCo”), and (5) Varna Merger Sub Corp., an exempted company incorporated with limited liability in the Cayman Islands with registration number 419635 (“Merger Sub,” and, together with VEON Holdings and PubCo, the “Kyivstar Group” and separately, a “Kyivstar Group Company”).

 

If the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement are consummated, (i) the Seller will sell to PubCo all of the issued and outstanding equity of VEON Holdings in exchange for newly issued common shares of PubCo, par value $0.001 per share (the “PubCo Common Shares”) and the Seller Loan Note (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement), and, as a result of the Sale, VEON Holdings will become a direct, wholly-owned subsidiary of PubCo (collectively, the “Sale”) and (ii) Merger Sub will be merged with and into the Company upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Business Combination Agreement, the Plan of Merger and in accordance with the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands (the “Companies Act”) (the “Merger” and together with the Sale and the other transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement, the “Business Combination”). As a result of the Merger, the separate corporate existence of Merger Sub will cease and the Company will continue as the surviving company of the Merger under the Companies Act (the Company, in its capacity as the surviving company of the Merger, is the “Surviving Company”). Following the Merger, the shares of the Surviving Company will be directly and solely held by PubCo, and the Surviving Company will become a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of PubCo.

 

Liquidity, Capital Resources and Going Concern

 

As of March 31, 2025, the Company had cash of $80,019 held outside of the Trust Account and a working capital deficit of $1,380,563. The Company will use such funds held outside the Trust Account primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, and structure, negotiate and complete a Business Combination.

  

In connection with the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with ASC 205-40, “Going Concern,” as of March 31, 2025, the Company will need to raise additional capital through loans or additional investments from its Sponsor. The Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor has committed to loan the Company up to $250,000 and may, but is not obligated to, loan the Company funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion, to meet the Company’s additional working capital needs. If the Company is unable to raise additional capital, it may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses. The Company cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to it on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. The Company’s liquidity condition raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of time within one year after the date that the accompanying unaudited condensed financial statements are issued. Management plans to address this uncertainty through consummation of a Business Combination. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should the Company be required to liquidate after the Combination Period.