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Global Partner Acquisition Corp II

For the period ended Dec 31, 2023. Filed Mar 19, 2024.

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FY2023 · Filed Mar 19, 2024

SDST$0.01-29.0%Stored close · as of Oct 22, 2026
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**UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

**Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31,2023

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission file number:001-39875

**GLOBAL PARTNER ACQUISITION CORP II

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

Cayman IslandsN/A
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
200 Park Avenue 32nd Floor New York, NY10166
(Address of principal executive offices)(Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:(646) 585-8975

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of Each Class:Trading Symbol(s)Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered:
Units, each consisting of one Class A ordinary share, $.0001 par value, and one-sixth of one redeemable warrantGPACUThe NASDAQ Stock Market LLC
Class A ordinary sharesGPACThe NASDAQ Stock Market LLC
Redeemable warrantsGPACWThe NASDAQ Stock Market LLC

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ☒

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 definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer, “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer☐Accelerated filer☐
Non-accelerated filer☒Smaller reporting company☒
Emerging growth company☒

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 13(a) of the Exchange Act.☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.☐

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements.☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes☒ No ☐

The aggregate market value of the units outstanding, other than units held by persons who may be deemed affiliates of the registrant, computed by reference to the closing price of the units on June 30, 2023, as reported on the Nasdaq Capital Market, was approximately $41,656,563.

As of March 19, 2024, there were 1,794,585 Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value, and 7,500,000 Class B ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value, issued and outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

None.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
PART I1
Item 1.Business1
Item 1A.Risk Factors25
Item 1B.Unresolved Staff Comments61
Item 2.Properties61
Item 3.Legal Proceedings61
Item 4.Mine Safety Disclosure61
PART II62
Item 5.Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities62
Item 6.Reserved62
Item 7.Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations63
Item 7A.Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk71
Item 8.Financial Statements and Supplementary Data71
Item 9.Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure71
Item 9A.Controls and Procedures71
Item 9B.Other Information73
Item 9C.Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections73
PART III74
Item 10.Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance74
Item 11.Executive Compensation82
Item 12.Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters83
Item 13.Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence87
Item 14.Principal Accountant Fees and Services89
PART IV90
Item 15.Exhibit and Financial Statement Schedules90

i

Unless otherwise stated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (the “Annual Report”), references to:

●“amended and restated memorandum and articles of association” are to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association;
●“board of directors” or “board” are to the board of directors of the Company;
●“Class A ordinary shares” and “Public Shares” are to the Class A ordinary shares of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share;
●“Class B ordinary shares” are to the Class B ordinary shares of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share;
●“Companies Law” are to the Companies Act (2020 Revision) of the Cayman Islands as the same may be amended from time to time;
●“Continental” are to Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, trustee of our trust account (as defined below) and warrant agent of our public warrants (as defined below);
●“combined team” are to our management and sponsor team, collectively;
●“detachable redeemable warrants” are to the redeemable warrants included as part of the units, with one-sixth of one detachable redeemable warrant included in each unit;
●“directors” are to our current directors;
●“distributable redeemable warrants” are to the redeemable warrants which our public shareholders have the contingent right to receive, in certain circumstances described in this report, following the initial business combination redemption time, with one-sixth of one detachable redeemable warrant receivable per each public share not redeemed in connection with our initial business combination;
●“distribution time” are to the time at which the distributable redeemable warrants will be distributed, which will occur immediately after the initial business combination redemption time and immediately prior to the closing of our initial business combination;
●“Exchange Act” are to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended;
●“FINRA” are to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority;
●“founder shares” are to our Class B ordinary shares initially issued to our sponsor in a private placement and the Class A ordinary shares that will be issued upon the automatic conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination or earlier at the option of the holders thereof (for the avoidance of doubt, such Class A ordinary shares will not be “public shares”). Founder shares are subject to vesting and transfer restrictions;

ii

●“GAAP” are to the accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America;
●“GPAC” is to Global Partner Acquisition Corp II, a Cayman Islands exempted company;
●“IFRS” are to the International Financial Reporting Standards, as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board;
●“initial business combination” are to a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses;
●“initial business combination redemption time” are to the time of exercise of our public shareholders’ rights to redeem public shares in connection with our initial business combination;
●“IPO” or “initial public offering” are to our initial public offering, which we completed on January 14, 2021;
●“Investment Company Act” are to the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended;
●“JOBS Act” are to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012;
●“management” or our “management team” are to our executive officers and directors;
●“Nasdaq” are to the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC;
●“ordinary shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares;
●“PCAOB” are to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States);
●“private placement warrants” are to the warrants issued to our sponsor in a private placement, or issued upon conversion of working capital loans, if any;
●“public shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares sold as part of our units;
●“public shareholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our sponsor and management team to the extent our sponsor or members of our management team purchase public shares, provided that our sponsor and each member of our management team will be a “public shareholder” only with respect to such public shares;
●“redeemable warrants” are to our detachable redeemable warrants and our distributable redeemable warrants;
●“Registration Statement” are to the Form S-1 initially filed with the SEC on December 21, 2020 (File No. 333-251558), as amended;

iii

●“Sarbanes-Oxley Act” are to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002;
●“SEC” are to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission;
●“Securities Act” are to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended;
●“SPAC” are to one or more special purpose acquisition companies, including, when required by the context, the Company;
●“Sponsor” or “initial shareholder” are to Global Partner Sponsor II LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, the managers of which are Chandra R. Patel, Richard C. Davis and Jarett Goldman;
●“sponsor team” are to certain members of our sponsor who will be acting as our advisors;
●“Stardust Power” are to Stardust Power, Inc., a Delaware corporation, the proposed target of the Business Combination Agreement, dated as of November 21, 2023;
●“Trust Account” are to the trust account in which the net proceeds of the sale of the units (as defined below) in the initial public offering and private placement warrants was placed following the closing of the initial public offering;
●“Termination Date” are to the date by which we are required to consummate a business combination pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association;
●“units” are to the units sold in our initial public offering, which consist of one public share and one-sixth of one public warrant; and
●“we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company,” or “our Company” are to Global Partner Acquisition Corp II, a Cayman Islands exempted company.

iv

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some of the statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K may constitute “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and our announced proposed business combination with Stardust Power, our ability to consummate the business combination, the benefits of the transaction, the post-combination company’s future financial performance following the business combination and the post-combination company’s strategy, expansion plans, future operations, future operating results, estimated revenues, losses, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this report may include, for example, statements about:

●our ability to complete our proposed business combination with Stardust Power;
●the risk that the proposed business combination may not be completed by the Termination Date;
●the effect of the announcement or pendency of the proposed business combination on Stardust Power’s business relationships, performance, and business generally;
●risks that the proposed business combination disrupts current plans of Stardust Power and potential difficulties in Stardust Power’s employee retention as a result of the proposed business combination;
●the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against us related to the agreement and the proposed business combination;
●the ability to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq;
●the price of our securities, including volatility resulting from changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Stardust Power plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations affecting Stardust Power’s business and changes in the combined capital structure;
●the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations after the completion of the proposed business combination, and identify and realize additional opportunities;
●our expectations around the performance of Stardust Power;
●our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination;
●our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination;
●our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination;
●the ability of our public shareholders to redeem their shares for cash prior to our initial business combination;
●our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading;
●the use of proceeds from our IPO not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance;
●the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties; or
●our financial performance.

The forward-looking statements contained in this report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

v

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