Correspondence 0001829126-22-020612 from Roth CH Acquisition Co. (USCTF, USTWF) (CIK 0001860514)
Roth CH Acquisition Co. (USCTF, USTWF) (CIK 0001860514)
Date: Dec. 30, 2022 · CIK: 0001860514 · Accession: 0001829126-22-020612
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 001-40959
Referenced dates: December 28, 2022
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CORRESP
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filename1.htm
December 30, 2022
VIA EDGAR
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
Division of Corporation Finance
Office of Real Estate & Construction
100 F Street, NE
Washington, D.C. 20549
Attn:
Joseph Ambrogi
Pamela Long
Re:
TKB Critical Technologies 1
Preliminary Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A
Filed December 12, 2022
File No. 001-40959
Dear Mr. Ambrogi and Ms. Long:
On behalf of our client, TKB
Critical Technologies 1, a Cayman Islands exempted company (the “Company”), we are submitting supplementally
to the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Staff”)
responses to the Staff’s comments conveyed orally on December 28, 2022 and contained in the Staff’s letter dated December
28, 2022 (collectively, the “Comments”), with respect to the above-referenced Preliminary Proxy Statement on
Schedule 14A filed on December 12, 2022 (the “Proxy Statement”). We are also submitting supplementally in Annex
A to this letter proposed marked copies of the pages of the Proxy Statement reflecting revised disclosures responsive to the Comments.
For ease of reference, each
of the Staff’s Comments is printed below in bold and is followed by the Company’s response. All page number references in
the responses set forth below refer to page numbers in the Proxy Statement. Capitalized terms used but not defined herein have the meanings
set forth in the Proxy Statement.
Preliminary Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A
filed December 12, 2022
General
1.
We note that the Company is seeking stockholder
approval to extend the date by which the Company must consummate a business combination to a date to be determined. We further note your
factor entitled “If we are deemed to be an investment company…” beginning on page 34 which states that the Company
“may determine, in our discretion, to liquidate the securities held in the Trust Account prior to the 18-month anniversary if we
have not entered into an agreement with a target company for a Business Combination prior to that time, or may determine in our discretion
to otherwise due so prior to the 24-month anniversary, and instead hold all funds in the Trust Account in cash or an interest-bearing
bank deposit account...” Please clarify your intention to liquidate the U.S. government treasury obligations or money market funds
held in the trust account and thereafter to hold all funds in the trust account in cash or disclose the heightened risk that that the
Company may be deemed an unregistered investment company if it continues to invest the amounts held in the trust account in U.S. government
treasury obligations or money market funds.
We also note your disclosure in such
risk factor that there is uncertainty concerning the applicability of the Investment Company Act to a SPAC “because the SPAC Rule
Proposals have not yet been adopted” and similar disclosure in the risk factor entitled “The SEC has recently proposed rules
to regulate special purpose acquisition companies…” Please revise your disclosure to remove statements that the risk that
the Company may be deemed to be operating in the future or to have been operating as an unregistered investment company arises from the
SPAC Rule Proposals.
Response: In response to the Staff’s
comment, as Annex A to this letter, the Company is providing disclosure proposed to be included on pages 33-34 of the Proxy Statement.
2.
With a view toward disclosure, please tell us whether your sponsor is, is controlled by, has any members who are, or has substantial ties with, a non-U.S. person. Also revise your filing to include risk factor disclosure that addresses how this fact could impact your ability to complete your initial business combination. For instance, discuss the risk to investors that you may not be able to complete an initial business combination with a target company should the transaction be subject to review by a U.S. government entity, such as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), or ultimately prohibited. Disclose that as a result, the pool of potential targets with which you could complete an initial business combination may be limited. Further, disclose that the time necessary for government review of the transaction or a decision to prohibit the transaction could prevent you from completing an initial business combination and require you to liquidate. Disclose the consequences of liquidation to investors, such as the losses of the investment opportunity in a target company, any price appreciation in the combined company, and the warrants, which would expire worthless.
Response: In response to the Staff’s
comment, the Company respectfully advises the Staff that the Company’s Sponsor, TKB Sponsor I, LLC, is not a non-U.S. person, is
not controlled by a non-U.S. person, and has no substantial ties with a non-U.S. person. The Sponsor is a Delaware limited liability company
with three managing members, each of whom are U.S. citizens. One of the Sponsor’s managing members, Philippe Tartavull, is a dual
U.S. and French citizen, resident in the U.S. Additionally, one of the Sponsor’s minority members holding approximately 1% of the
Sponsor equity is a non-US citizen. By virtue of these relationships, the Sponsor is not controlled by and does not have substantial ties
with a non-U.S. person.
* * *
2
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
December 30, 2022
Please do not hesitate to contact Elliott Smith
of White & Case LLP at (212) 819-7644 with any questions or comments regarding this letter.
Sincerely,
/s/ White & Case LLP
White & Case LLP
cc:
Greg Klein, TKB Critical Technologies 1
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
December 30, 2022
Annex A
Proposed Risk Factor Disclosures
Risk Factors, page 33-34
The SEC has recently issued proposed rules
to regulate special purpose acquisition companies. Certain of the procedures that we, a potential Business Combination target, or others
may determine to undertake in connection with such proposals may increase our costs and the time needed to complete an initial Business
Combination and may constrain the circumstances under which we could complete a Business Combination. The need for compliance
with the SPAC Rule Proposals (as defined below) may cause us to liquidate the funds in the Trust Account or liquidate the Company at an
earlier time than we might otherwise choose.
On March 30, 2022, the
SEC issued proposed rules (the “SPAC Rule Proposals”) relating, among other items, to disclosures in SEC filings in
connection with Business Combination transactions between special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) such as us
and private operating companies; the financial statement requirements applicable to transactions involving shell companies; the use of
projections in SEC filings in connection with proposed Business Combination transactions; the potential liability of certain participants
in proposed Business Combination transactions; and the extent to which SPACs could become subject to regulation under the Investment Company
Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), including a proposed rule that would provide SPACs a safe harbor
from treatment as an investment company if they satisfy certain conditions that limit a SPAC’s duration, asset composition, business
purpose and activities. The SPAC Rule Proposals have not yet been adopted and may be adopted in the proposed form or in a different form
that could impose additional regulatory requirements on SPACs.
Certain of the procedures
that we, a potential initial Business Combination target, or others may determine to undertake in connection with the SPAC Rule Proposals,
or pursuant to the SEC’s views expressed in the SPAC Rule Proposals, may increase the costs and time of negotiating and completing
a Business Combination, and may make it more difficult to complete an initial Business Combination. The need for compliance with
the SPAC Rule Proposals may cause us to liquidate the funds in the Trust Account or liquidate the Company at an earlier time than we might
otherwise choose.
If we are deemed to be an investment company
for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we would be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities would
be severely restricted and, as a result, we may abandon our efforts to consummate a Business Combination and liquidate the Company. To
mitigate the risk of that result, we intend to liquidate the securities held in the Trust Account prior to the 24-month anniversary of
the IPO Registration Statement and instead hold all funds in the Trust Account in cash or an interest-bearing bank deposit account, which
may earn less interest than we otherwise would have if the Trust Account had remained invested in U.S. government securities or money
market funds.
As described further above,
the SPAC Rule Proposals relate, among other matters, to the circumstances in which SPACs such as the Company could potentially be subject
to the Investment Company Act and the regulations thereunder. The SPAC Rule Proposals would provide a safe harbor for such companies from
the definition of “investment company” under Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act, provided that a SPAC satisfies
certain criteria, including a limited time period to announce and complete a Business Combination. Specifically, to comply with the safe
harbor, the SPAC Rule Proposals would require a company to file a report on Form 8-K announcing that it has entered into an agreement
with a target company for a Business Combination no later than 18 months after the effective date of its registration statement for its
initial public offering (the “IPO Registration Statement”). The company would then be required to complete a Business Combination
no later than 24 months after the effective date of the IPO Registration Statement.
Because the SPAC Rule
Proposals have not yet been adopted, tThere is currently uncertainty concerning the applicability of the Investment
Company Act to a SPAC., including a company like ours, where it has been less than 18 months since the effective
date of its IPO Registration Statement. While the funds in the Trust Account have, since the Company’s IPO, been
held only in 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 money market funds meeting certain conditions of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company
Act, it is possible that a claim could be made that we have been operating as an unregistered investment company, including under the
subjective test of Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act. We do not believe that our principal activities will
subject us to regulation as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. However, i If we are deemed
to be an investment company and subject to compliance with and regulation under the Investment Company Act, our activities would be severely
restricted and we might be forced to abandon our efforts to complete an initial business combination and instead be required to
liquidate the Company. If we are required to liquidate the Company, our shareholders would not be able to realize the benefits of owning
shares in a successor operating business, including the potential appreciation in the value of our shares and warrants following such
a transaction, and our warrants would expire worthless. In addition, we would be subject to additional burdensome regulatory requirements
and expenses for which we have not allotted funds.
As a result, if we
believe we may be deemed to be an are To mitigate the risk of being deemed an investment company under the Investment
Company Act, we intend may determine, in our discretion, to liquidate the securities held in the Trust
Account prior to the 18-month anniversary if we have not entered into an agreement with a target company for a Business Combination
prior to that time, or may determine in our discretion to otherwise due so prior to the 24-month anniversary of the IPO
Registration Statement, and instead hold all funds in the Trust Account in cash or an interest-bearing bank deposit account, which
may earn less interest than we otherwise would have if the Trust Account had remained invested in U.S. government securities or money
market funds. This may mean that the amount of funds available for redemption would not increase, or would only minimally increase, thereby
reducing the dollar amount our Public Shareholders would receive upon any redemption or liquidation of the Company. Alternatively, if
we believe we may be deemed to be an are deemed an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may
determine we may abandon our efforts to consummate a Business Combination and instead liquidate the Company.
In addition, even prior
to the 24-month anniversary of the effective date of the IPO Registration Statement, we may be deemed to be an investment company.
The longer that the funds in the Trust Account are held in short-term U.S. government securities or in money market funds invested
exclusively in such securities, there is a greater risk that we may be considered an unregistered investment company, in which case we
may be required to liquidate. For so long as the funds in the Trust Account are held in short-term U.S. government securities or
in money market funds invested exclusively in such securities, the risk that we may be considered an unregistered investment company and
required to liquidate is greater than that of a special purpose acquisition company that has elected to liquidate such investments and
to hold all funds in its Trust Account in cash (i.e., in one or more bank accounts). Accordingly, we may determine, in our discretion,
to liquidate the securities held in the Trust Account at any time, even prior to the 24-month anniversary of the effective date of
the IPO Registration Statement, and instead hold all funds in the Trust Account in cash, which would further reduce the dollar amount
our public shareholders would receive upon any redemption or our liquidation.