Roman DBDR Acquisition Corp II

S-11 tm2423509-1_s1.htm S-1

As filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 17, 2024.

Registration No. 333-​

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

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FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

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(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)​

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9858 Clint Moore Road, Suite 205

Boca Raton, FL 33496

Telephone: (650) 618-2524

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)​

9858 Clint Moore Road, Suite 205

Boca Raton, FL 33496

Telephone: (650) 618-2524

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)​

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Copies to:

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Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.

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

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. ☐

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. ☐

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. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐

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 of 1933, as amended, 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.

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The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED SEPTEMBER 17, 2024

$200,000,000

20,000,000 Units

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Roman DBDR Acquisition Corp. II is a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, amalgamation, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. We have not selected any business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target. While we may pursue an initial business combination target in any stage of its corporate evolution or in any industry or sector, we intend to focus our initial search on companies in the cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (“AI”) or financial technology (“FinTech”) industries.

This is an initial public offering of our securities. Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one Class A ordinary share and one-half of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described herein. Only whole warrants are exercisable. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. The warrants will become exercisable 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination and will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or our liquidation, as described herein. The underwriters have a 45-day option from the date of this prospectus to purchase up to an additional 3,000,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any.

We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem, regardless of whether they abstain, vote for, or vote against, our initial business combination, all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares that were sold as part of the units in this offering, which we refer to collectively as our public shares, upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account described below as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account (net of 10% of the interest amounts withdrawn to fund our working capital requirements, subject to an annual limit of $1,000,000, and to pay our taxes (“permitted withdrawals”), divided by the number of then outstanding public Class A ordinary shares, subject to the limitations and on the conditions described herein. See “Prospectus Summary — The Offering — Redemption rights for public shareholders upon completion of our initial business combination” on page 33 and “Prospectus Summary — The Offering — Redemption of public shares and distribution and liquidation if no initial business combination” on page 38 for more information.

Notwithstanding the foregoing redemption rights, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide 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 shares sold in this offering without our prior consent. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including all shares held by those shareholders that hold more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering) for or against our initial business combination. See “Prospectus Summary — The Offering — Limitation on redemption rights of shareholders holding 15% or more of the shares sold in this offering if we hold shareholder vote” on page 37 for further discussion on certain limitations on redemption rights.

Our sponsor, Roman DBDR Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, and B. Riley Securities (“B. Riley”), the representative of the underwriters in this offering, have committed to purchase an aggregate of 7,385,000 private placement warrants (or 8,135,000 private placement warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant for an aggregate purchase price of $7,385,000 (or $8,135,000 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full). Of these private placement warrants, our sponsor has agreed to purchase 4,885,000 private placement warrants (or 5,260,000 private placement warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) and B. Riley has agreed to purchase 2,500,000 private placement warrants (or 2,875,000 private placement warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full). Each private placement warrant will be identical to the warrants sold in this offering, except as described in this prospectus. The private placement warrants will be sold in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering, including the over-allotment option, as applicable. Nine institutional investors (none of which are affiliated with any member of our management, our sponsor or any other investor), which we refer to as the “non-managing sponsor investors” throughout this prospectus, have expressed an interest to indirectly purchase, through the purchase of non-managing sponsor membership interests, an aggregate of 3,165,000 private placement warrants ($3,165,000 in the aggregate) at a price of $1.00 per warrant (or 3,465,000 warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) ($3,465,000 in the aggregate) in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Subject to each non-managing sponsor investor purchasing, through the sponsor, the private placement warrants allocated to it in connection with the closing of this offering, the sponsor will issue membership interests at a nominal purchase price to the non-managing sponsor investors reflecting interests in an aggregate of 2,444,016 founder shares (or 2,856,450 founder shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) held by the sponsor.

The non-managing sponsor investors have expressed to us an interest in purchasing up to an aggregate of 13,087,000 units in this offering at the offering price (assuming the exercise in full of the underwriters’ over-allotment option), or up to approximately 56.9% of the units in this offering. None of the non-managing sponsor investors has expressed to us an interest in purchasing more than 9.9% of the units to be sold in this offering. There can be no assurance that the non-managing sponsor investors will acquire any units, either directly or indirectly, in this offering, or as to the amount of the units the non-managing sponsor investors will retain, if any, prior to or upon the consummation of our initial business combination. Because these expressions of interest are not binding agreements or commitments to purchase, non-managing sponsor investors may determine to purchase fewer units in this offering, or none at all. Depending on how many units are purchased by the non-managing sponsor investors, the post-offering trading volume, volatility and liquidity of our securities may be reduced relative to what they would have been had the units been more widely offered and sold to other public investors. We do not expect any purchase of units by the non-managing sponsor investors to negatively impact our ability to meet Nasdaq listing eligibility requirements. In addition, the underwriter has full discretion to allocate the units to investors and may determine to sell fewer units to the non-managing sponsor investors, or none at all, and the purchase of the non-managing sponsor membership interests is not contingent upon the participation in this offering or vice-versa. The underwriters will receive the same upfront discounts and commissions on units purchased by the non-managing sponsor investors, if any, as it will on the other units sold to the public in this offering. None of the non-managing sponsor investors has any obligation to vote any of their public shares in favor of our initial business combination. Nevertheless, the non-managing sponsor investors will be incentivized to vote any of their public shares in favor of a business combination due to their indirect ownership through the sponsor of 2,444,016 founder shares and 3,165,000 private placement warrants. B. Riley is expected to be a non-managing sponsor investor and as a result may have an indirect interest in 383,333 founder shares and 465,000 private placement warrants. These non-managing sponsor investors have the potential to realize enhanced economic returns from their investments compared to other investors in this offering. For a discussion of certain additional arrangements with the non-managing sponsor investors, see“Prospectus Summary — The Offering — Expressions of Interest” on page 27.

Our sponsor has purchased an aggregate of 7,666,667 Class B ordinary shares (up to 1,000,000 of which are subject to forfeiture by the holders thereof depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised) for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share. The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination, or at any time prior thereto at the option of the holder thereof, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional Class A ordinary shares, or equity-linked securities (as described herein), are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts issued in this offering and related to the closing of our initial business combination, the ratio at which the Class B ordinary shares will convert into Class A ordinary shares will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the issued and outstanding Class B ordinary shares agree to waive such anti-dilution adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all Class B ordinary shares will equal, in the aggregate, 25% of the sum of all Class A ordinary shares issued and outstanding upon the completion of this offering (including any Class A ordinary shares issued pursuant to the over-allotment option and excluding any Class A ordinary shares underlying the private placement warrants issued to the sponsor), plus all Class A ordinary shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination (excluding the private shares and any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the business combination or any private placement-equivalent warrants issued to our sponsor or its affiliates or to our officers and directors upon conversion of working capital loans made to us), minus the number of public shares redeemed in connection with the business combination. Prior to the closing of our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B ordinary shares (i) will have the right to vote to appoint and remove directors and (ii) will be entitled to vote on continuing our company in a jurisdiction outside the Cayman Islands (including any special resolution required to amend our constitutional documents or to adopt new constitutional documents, in each case, as a result of our approving a transfer by way of continuation in a jurisdiction outside the Cayman Islands). On any other matters submitted to a vote of our shareholders prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, holders of the Class B ordinary shares and holders of the Class A ordinary shares will vote together as a single class, except as required by law. See “Prospectus Summary — Our Sponsor,” “Prospectus Summary — The Offering — Founder Shares,” “Prospectus Summary — The Offering — Transfer Restrictions on Founder Shares”, and “Prospectus Summary — The Offering — Founder Shares Conversion and Anti-Dilution Rights” for further discussion on our sponsor’s and our affiliates’ securities and compensation.

As more fully discussed in “Management — Conflicts of Interest” on page 153, each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entities. The low price that our sponsor, executive officers and directors (directly or indirectly) paid for the founder shares creates an incentive whereby our officers and directors could potentially make a substantial profit even if we select an acquisition target that subsequently declines in value and is unprofitable for public shareholders. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the completion window, or by such earlier liquidation date as our board of directors may approve, the founder shares and private placement warrants may expire worthless, except to the extent they receive liquidating distributions from assets outside the trust account, which could create an incentive for our sponsor, executive officers and directors to complete a transaction even if we select an acquisition target that subsequently declines in value and is unprofitable for public shareholders. Further, each of 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 was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination. Additionally, commencing on the date on which our securities are listed on Nasdaq, we will pay an affiliate of our sponsor in an amount equal to $10,000 per month for office space, utilities, and secretarial administrative support made available to us, as described elsewhere in this prospectus. Upon consummation of this offering, we will repay up to $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses. In the event that following this offering we obtain working capital loans from our sponsor to finance transaction costs related to our initial business combination, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of our sponsor. Additionally, following consummation of a business combination, members of our management team will be entitled to reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination. As a result, there may be actual or potential material conflicts of interest between our sponsor and its affiliates on the one hand, and purchasers in this offering on the other hand. See the sections titled “Prospectus Summary — Our Sponsor” on page 4, “Proposed Business — Sourcing of Potential Business Combination Targets” on page 122 and “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions” on page 163 for more information.

We have until the date that is 24 months from the closing of this offering or until such earlier liquidation date as our board of directors may approve, to consummate our initial business combination. If we anticipate that we may be unable to consummate our initial business combination within such 24-month period, we may seek shareholder approval to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to extend the date by which we must consummate our initial business combination. If we seek shareholder approval for an extension, holders of public shares will be offered an opportunity to redeem their shares at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned thereon (less permitted withdrawals and taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, or by such earlier liquidation date as our board of directors may approve, we will redeem 100% of 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 thereon (less permitted withdrawals, taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest income to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law as further described herein.

Currently, there is no public market for our units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants. We intend to apply to have our units listed on The Nasdaq Global Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol “DRDBU,” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on Nasdaq. We expect the Class A ordinary shares and warrants comprising the units to begin separate trading on the 52 nd day following the date of this prospectus unless B. Riley, the representative of the underwriters, informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our satisfaction of certain conditions as described further herein. Once the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, we expect that the Class A ordinary shares and warrants will be listed on Nasdaq under the symbols “DRDB” and “DRDBW”, respectively.

We are an “emerging growth company” and a “smaller reporting company” under applicable federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 47 for a discussion of information that should be considered in connection with an investment in our securities. Investors will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings.

Neither the U.S. 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.

No offer or invitation, whether directly or indirectly, is being or may be made to the public in the Cayman Islands to subscribe for any of our securities.

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(1)

The underwriters will receive compensation in addition to the underwriting discount. See “Underwriting” for a description of the compensation and other items of value payable to the underwriters.

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Of the proceeds we receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, $201.0 million, or $231.15 million if the underwriters’ overallotment option is exercised in full ($10.05 per unit in either case), will be placed into a U.S.-based trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee.

Because our sponsor acquired the founder shares at a nominal price, our public shareholders will incur an immediate and substantial dilution upon the closing of this offering, assuming no value is ascribed to the warrants included in the units. Further, the Class A ordinary shares issuable in connection with the conversion of the founder shares may result in substantial dilution to our public shareholders due to the anti-dilution rights of our founder shares that may result in an issuance of Class A ordinary shares on a greater than one-for-one basis upon conversion. See the section titled “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to our Securities — The nominal purchase price paid by our sponsor for the founder shares may result in substantial dilution to the implied value of your public shares upon the consummation of our initial business combination, and our sponsor is likely to make a substantial profit on its investment in us in the event we consummate an initial business combination, even if the business combination causes the trading price of our ordinary shares to materially decline” on page 83.

The following table illustrates the difference between the public offering price per unit and our net tangible book value per share (“NTBV”), as adjusted to give effect to this offering and assuming the redemption of our public shares at varying levels and the exercise in full and no exercise of the over-allotment option. See the section titled “Dilution” on page 101 for more information.

Our sponsor and members of our management team will directly or indirectly own our securities following this offering, and accordingly, 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. Additionally, each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entities. As a result, there may be actual or potential material conflicts of interest between our sponsor and its affiliates on one hand, and purchasers in this offering on the other. See the sections titled “Prospectus Summary — The Offering — Conflicts of interest” on page 40, “Proposed Business — Sourcing of Potential Business Combination Targets” on page 122 and “Management — Conflicts of Interest” on page 153 for more information.

The underwriters are offering the units for sale on a firm commitment basis. The underwriters expect to deliver the units to the purchasers on or about , 2024.

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Sole Book-Running Manager

B. Riley Securities

, 2024