Copley Acquisition Corp

S-11 copleyacq_s1.htm S-1

As filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on December 20, 2024

Registration No. 333-

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Suite 4005-4006, 40/F, One Exchange Square

8 Connaught Place, Central, Hong Kong

Telephone: +852 2861 3335

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

Cogency Global Inc.

122 East 42 nd Street, 18 th Floor

New York, NY 10168

Phone: (800) 221-0102

Fax: (800) 944-6607

****(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 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 registered 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 nonaccelerated filer, 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 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 this registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

The information in this preliminary 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 preliminary 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.

$150,000,000

15,000,000 Units

Copley Acquisition Corp is a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company with limited liability and incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, 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 specific 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.

This is an initial public offering of our securities. Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one of our Class A ordinary shares 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 provided herein, and 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 liquidation, as described in this prospectus. We have also granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,250,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any.

We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our initial business combination, regardless of whether they vote for or against the proposed business combination or do not vote at all, 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 (less taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares that were sold as part of the units in this offering, which we refer to collectively as our public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. See “Summary — The Offering — Redemption rights for public shareholders upon completion of our initial business combination” 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 exercising redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering without our prior consent. However, we would not restrict 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 or to abstain from voting. See “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” for further discussion on certain limitations on redemption rights.

If we have not completed our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering (which can be extended two times without shareholder approval, each by an additional three months, for a total completion window of up to 30 months) 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 (less taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. See “Summary — The Offering — Redemption of public shares and distribution and liquidation if no initial business combination” for more information.

Our sponsor, Copley Acquisition Sponsors, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, has committed to purchase 387,500 placement units (or up to 426,875 units if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full) at a price of $10.00 per unit in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Each placement unit will be identical to the units sold in this offering, except as described in this prospectus. We refer to these units as the placement units throughout this prospectus. The sponsor also holds 5,750,000 Class B ordinary shares, which we refer to as “founder shares” as further described herein. [ ] (which is not affiliated with any member of our management), which we refer to as the “non-managing sponsor member” throughout this prospectus, has expressed an interest to indirectly purchase, through the purchase of non-managing sponsor membership interests, [ ] of the placement units at a price of $10.00 per unit ($[ ] in the aggregate) in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Subject to the non-managing sponsor member purchasing, through the sponsor, the placement units allocated to it simultaneously with the closing of this offering, the sponsor will issue membership interests at a nominal purchase price ($0.004) to the non-managing sponsor member reflecting its interest in an aggregate of [ ] founder shares held by the sponsor (or up to [ ] founder shares held by the sponsor if the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised in full). Due to such nominal purchase price, the non-managing sponsor member will have the potential to realize enhanced economic returns from its investment as compared to other investors in the offering. Under no circumstances will we issue more than an aggregate of 426,875 placement units in this offering. As a result, the number of placement units purchased by the non-managing sponsor member through the sponsor, if any, will proportionally reduce the number of placement units that would otherwise be purchased by the managing member of the sponsor through the sponsor. The non-managing sponsor member will have no right to vote the founder shares, placement units or securities comprising the placement units that it holds indirectly through its membership interests in the sponsor.For a discussion of certain additional arrangements with the non-managing sponsor member, see “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to our Search for, and Consummation of or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination — Since our sponsor, officers and directors, any other holder of our founder shares, including the non-managing sponsor member, will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they may acquire during or after this offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination; in addition, we are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, the non-managing sponsor member, or completing the business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or directors or the non-managing sponsor member.”

Our executive officers and directors are located in Hong Kong, with significant ties to Hong Kong and, to a lesser degree, the People’s Republic of China, including, solely for purposes of this prospectus, Taiwan and Macau. We collectively refer to the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau throughout this prospectus as the “PRC”. We will not undertake our initial business combination with any company being based in or having a majority of its operations in the PRC.

While we intend to conduct a global search for target businesses without being limited by geographic region, we intend to focus our search for a business combination in the Asia Pacific (excluding the PRC) and North American regions. Our executive officers and directors have experience investing in and building businesses in Asia and have a deep understanding of the region’s business environment, regulations, regulatory bodies and culture.

Since several of our directors and officers have significant ties to the PRC, the PRC government may have potential oversight and discretion over the conduct of our directors’ and officers’ search for a target company. The PRC government may intervene or influence our operations at any time through the directors and officers who have significant ties to the PRC, which could result in a material change in our search for a target business and/or the value of the securities we are offering. Changes in the policies, regulations, rules, and the enforcement of laws of the PRC government may be adopted quickly with little advance notice and could have a significant impact upon our ability to operate and may limit or completely undermine our ability to search for a target company.

Since several of our executive officers and directors are located in or have significant ties to the PRC, we may be a less attractive partner to potential target companies outside the PRC, thereby limiting our pool of acquisition candidates. This would impact our search for a target company and make it harder for us to complete an initial business combination with a non-PRC-based target company. For example, a combination with a U.S. target company may be subject to review by a U.S. government entity or may ultimately be prohibited. Furthermore, the additional time that could be required for governmental review of the transaction or complete prohibition of the transaction could prevent us from completing an initial business combination and require us to liquidate. In the event of liquidation, investors would lose their investment opportunity in potential target companies, any price appreciation in a combined company, and their financial investment in the rights, which would expire worthless, see “Risk Factors — Our ability to complete a business combination may be impacted by the fact that our sponsor has substantial ties with non-U.S. persons and our officers and directors are located in or have significant ties to the PRC. This may make us a less attractive partner to potential target companies outside the PRC, thereby limiting our pool of acquisition candidates and making it harder for us to complete an initial business combination with a non-PRC-based target company. For example, we may not be able to complete an initial business combination with a U.S. target company since such initial business combination may be subject to U.S. foreign investment regulations and review by a U.S. government entity, such as CFIUS, or ultimately prohibited.”

Our sponsor has purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 Class B ordinary shares for an aggregate of $25,000, 750,000 of which are subject to forfeiture by the holder thereof depending on the extent to which the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised. The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination, or at any time and from time to time at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as provided herein. The Class A ordinary shares issuable in connection with the conversion of the Class B ordinary shares may result in material dilution to our public shareholders due to the anti-dilution rights of our Class B ordinary shares that may result in an issuance of Class A ordinary shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion. 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 sold in this offering and related to or in connection with 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 (i) the founder shares and public shares issued and outstanding upon the completion of this offering, plus (ii) all Class A ordinary shares issued or deemed issued or issuable upon the conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued, in connection with the closing of our initial business combination (excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the business combination and any private placement-equivalent units issued to our sponsor or any of its affiliates or to our officers or directors upon conversion of working capital loans and extension loans made to us), minus (iii) any redemptions of Class A ordinary shares by public shareholders in connection with an initial business combination; provided that such conversion of founder shares will never occur on a less than one-for-one basis. Prior to our initial business combination, holders of the Class B ordinary shares will have the right to appoint all of our directors and may remove members of the board of directors for any reason. In the event that there are no longer any Class B ordinary shares outstanding prior to our initial business combination, holders of Class A ordinary shares will have the right to vote on the appointment or removal of any member of the board of directors. On any other matter submitted to a vote of our shareholders, 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 “Summary — The Offering — Sponsor Information,” “Summary — The Offering — Founder Shares,” “Summary — The Offering — Founder Shares Conversion and Anti-Dilution Rights” and “Description of Securities — Founder Shares” for further discussion on our sponsor’s and our affiliates’ securities and compensation.

As more fully discussed in “Management — Conflicts of Interest,” certain 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 placement units will 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. Upon consummation of this offering, we will repay up to $700,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses. In order to fund working capital deficiencies, finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, or cover the cost of the extension options available to us under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our directors and officers may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. The full amount of such loans may be convertible into units at the time of the business combination at a price of $10.00 per unit at the option of the lender. The amount of such loans to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination which we may receive is uncertain, as is the extent to which the lender(s) of such loans would elect to convert the loans into units instead of receiving cash. Based on the size of this proposed offering, up to $3,450,000 in extension loans (assuming the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option, and no public shares have been redeemed at the time of each extension), may be convertible into units at the time of the business combination at a price of $10.00 per unit, at the option of the lender.See the sections titled “Summary — The Offering — Sponsor Information,” “Summary — The Offering — Limited payments to insiders,” “Summary — The Offering — Conflicts of Interest”, “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to our Search for, Consummation of, or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination and Post-Business Combination Risks — Since our sponsor, officers and directors and any other holder of our founder shares, including the non-managing sponsor member, will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to any public shares they may acquire during or after this offering), and because our sponsor, officers and directors and any other holder of our founder shares directly or indirectly may profit substantially from a business combination as a result of their ownership of founder shares even under circumstances where our public shareholders would experience losses in connection with their investment, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination, including in connection with the shareholder vote in respect thereto; in addition, we are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, the non-managing sponsor member, or completing the business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or directors or the non-managing sponsor member,” “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to our Securities — The conversion of any loans into units at the time of the business combination may result in significant dilution to your public shares,” “Proposed Business — Sponsor Information — Amount of Compensation to be Received or Securities Issued or to be Issued,” and “Management — Conflicts of Interest” for more information.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants. We have applied to list our units on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “[ ]”. NYSE listing approval of our securities is a condition to the closing of this offering. The Class A ordinary shares and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus unless Clear Street LLC (“Clear Street”) informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our filing a Current Report on Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, containing an audited balance sheet reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds of this offering, and issuing a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Once the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, we expect that the Class A ordinary shares and warrants will be listed on NYSE under the symbols “[ ]” and “[ ],” respectively. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on NYSE.

We are responsible for the information contained in this prospectus. We have not authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus. We and the underwriters take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. This prospectus is an offer to sell only the units offered hereby, but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. The information contained in this prospectus is current only as of its date.

We are an “emerging growth company” under applicable federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. Investing in our securities involves risks. See “Risk Factors” on page 41. Investors will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings.

Of the proceeds we receive from this offering and the sale of the placement units described in this prospectus, $150,750,000 or $173,362,500 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full ($10.05 per unit) will be deposited into a U.S.-based trust account maintained with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee. Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our tax obligations, if any, the funds held in the trust account will not be released from the trust account until the earliest to occur of (a) the completion of our initial business combination, (b) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption 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, or (ii) with respect to any other material provisions relating to the rights of holders of Class A ordinary shares or pre-initial business combination activity and (c) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to complete our business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering (which can be extended two times without shareholder approval, each by an additional three months, for a total completion window of up to 30 months) or by such earlier liquidation date as our board of directors may approve, subject to applicable law. Pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, in order to avail ourselves to each individual three-month extension, we must deposit, or cause to be deposited, into the trust account funds equal to the product of (x) $0.10 and (y) the number of public shares then issued and outstanding. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could become subject to the claims of our creditors, if any, which could have priority over the claims of our public shareholders. Public shareholders will not have voting or redemption rights with respect to the first extension option and second extension option.

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 material 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 Sponsor and Management Team — The nominal purchase price paid by our sponsor for the founder shares may result in significant 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 64.

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 section entitled “Dilution” on page 100 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 “Proposed Business — Other Acquisition Considerations” on page 115 and “Management — Conflicts of Interest” on page 152 for more information.

The underwriters are offering the units for sale on a firm commitment basis. Delivery of the units will be made on or about , 2025.

Neither the SEC 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.

Sole Book-Running Manager

Clear Street

The date of this prospectus