Conflicts of Interest

Under Cayman Islands law, directors and officers owe the following fiduciary duties:

•        duty to act in good faith in what the director or officer believes to be in the best interests of the company as a whole;

•        duty to exercise powers for the purposes for which those powers were conferred and not for a collateral purpose;

•        directors should not improperly fetter the exercise of future discretion;

•        duty to exercise powers fairly as between different sections of shareholders;

•        duty not to put themselves in a position in which there is a conflict between their duty to the company and their personal interests; and

•        duty to exercise independent judgment.

In addition to the above, directors also owe a duty of care which is not fiduciary in nature. This duty has been defined as a requirement to act as a reasonably diligent person having both the general knowledge, skill and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person carrying out the same functions as are carried out by that director in relation to the company and the general knowledge skill and experience of that director.

As set out above, directors have a duty not to put themselves in a position of conflict and this includes a duty not to engage in self-dealing, or to otherwise benefit as a result of their position. However, in some instances what would otherwise be a breach of this duty can be forgiven and/or authorized in advance by the shareholders provided that there is full disclosure by the directors. This can be done by way of permission granted in the amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or alternatively by shareholder approval at general meetings.

Our sponsor and its affiliates manage numerous investment vehicles which may compete with us for acquisition opportunities and if pursued by them we may be precluded from such opportunities for our initial business combination. Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary and contractual duties to other entities. As a result, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, then, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, he or she will need to honor such fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, before we can pursue such opportunity. If these other entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing the same. However, we do not expect these duties to materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity for any director or officer, on the one hand, and us, on the other.

In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. However, we do not believe that any potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.

Below is a table summarizing the entities to which our executive officers and directors currently have fiduciary duties, contractual obligations or other material management relationships:

Our sponsor, officers and directors, as well as Rice Investment Group, Mercuria and their respective portfolio companies, may sponsor, form or participate in other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination, particularly in the event there is overlap among investment mandates. See “Risk Factors — Past performance by the Rice family, Rice Investment Group and its portfolio companies, Rice I, Rice II, Mercuria and its portfolio companies and our management team may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the company, and we may be unable to provide positive returns to shareholders” for more information. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence.

There may be actual or potential material conflicts of interest between our sponsor, its affiliates or promoters on the one hand, and the investors in this offering on the other hand. Potential investors should also be aware of the following other potential conflicts of interest:

•        Our officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses, on the other hand. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our executive officers and directors is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he is entitled to substantial compensation and has substantial time commitments, and our executive officers and directors are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs.

•        Our sponsor subscribed for founder securities prior to the date of this prospectus and will purchase private placement warrants in a transaction that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. The low price of $26,000, or $0.002 per unit, that the initial shareholders paid for 11,500,000 founder securities creates an incentive whereby the initial shareholders could potentially make a substantial profit even if the company selects an acquisition target that subsequently declines in value and is unprofitable for public investors.

•        Our sponsor, officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us and will not be reimbursed for any loans extended, fees due or out-of-pocket expenses if we do not complete an initial business combination.

•        Our sponsor and each member of our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder securities and public shares held by them in connection with (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window.

Additionally, our sponsor has agreed that it will not be entitled to rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to its founder securities or sponsor securities if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, the private placement warrants will expire worthless. Except as described herein, our sponsor and our directors, advisory board members and executive officers have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder securities until the earliest of (i) six months after the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) subsequent to our initial business combination, the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property. Except as described herein, the private placement warrants will not be transferable until 30 days following the completion of our initial business combination. Because each of our executive officers and director nominees will own ordinary shares or warrants directly or indirectly, they may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination.

Our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors is included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target, particularly in the event there is overlap among investment mandates.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or any of our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that such initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.

Furthermore, in no event will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or their respective affiliates, be paid by us any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination. Further, commencing on the date our securities are first listed on the NYSE, we will also reimburse our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, utilities, secretarial support and administrative services provided to us and for certain legal expenses of our sponsor or related to its formation in the amount of $20,000 per month.

We cannot assure you that any of the above-mentioned conflicts will be resolved in our favor.

If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. In such case, our sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote their founder securities and public shares in favor of our initial business combination (other than public shares purchased after the company publicly announces its intention to engage in such proposed initial business combination).