Description of the Registrants Securities registered pursuant to Section 12 of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934

EX-4.7 2 ex4-7.htm

 

Exhibit 4.7

 

DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES OF HWH

 

General

 

The total amount of authorized capital stock of the Company consists of 56,000,000 shares, consisting of (a) 55,000,000 shares of common stock (the “Common Stock”), and (b) 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock (the “Preferred Stock”).

 

Common Stock

 

The holders of the Common Stock are entitled to one vote for each share held of record on all matters to be voted on by stockholders.

 

Holders of HWH Common Stock are entitled to receive dividends or other distributions, if any, as may be declared from time to time by the HWH board of directors in its discretion out of funds legally available therefor and share equally on a per share basis in all such dividends and other distributions. In the event of any liquidation, dissolution or winding up of HWH, either voluntary or involuntary, holders of HWH Common Stock will be entitled to receive their ratable and proportionate share of the remaining assets of HWH.

 

Holders of HWH Common Stock will have no cumulative voting rights, conversion, preemptive or other subscription rights and there are no sinking fund or redemption provisions applicable to HWH Common Stock.

 

Preferred Stock

 

Our Charter authorizes the issuance of 1,000,000 shares of Preferred Stock by the board of directors, in one or more series, and the board of directors may establish the number of shares to be included in each such series and may fix the voting rights, if any, designations, powers, preferences and relative, participating, optional, special and other rights, if any, of each such series and any qualifications, limitations, and restrictions thereof.

 

The rights of Preferred Stock could adversely affect the voting power or other rights of the holders of Common Stock. In addition, the Preferred Stock could be utilized as a method of discouraging, delaying, or preventing a change in control of the Company.

 

Warrants

 

As of February 28, 2024, we have public and private warrants outstanding to purchase an aggregate of 4,549,375 shares of Common Stock.

 

If the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock is increased by a stock dividend payable in shares of common stock, or by a split-up of shares of Common Stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such stock dividend, split-up or similar event, the number of shares of Common Stock issuable on exercise of each whole Warrant will be increased in proportion to such increase in the outstanding shares of Common Stock.

 

The Warrant holders, solely by virtue of holding Warrants, do not have the rights or privileges of holders of Common Stock or any voting rights until they exercise their Warrants and receive shares of Common Stock.

 

Public Warrants

 

Each whole warrant entitles the registered warrant holder to purchase one share of our common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments, at any time commencing on the later of February 2, 2023 and the completion of our initial business combination. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, a warrant holder may exercise its warrants only for a whole number of shares of common stock. This means that only a whole warrant may be exercised at any given time by a warrant holder.

 

 
 

 

The warrants expire five years after the Closing, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.

 

Terms and Conditions for Exercise

 

Unless a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to the HWH Common Stock is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, we will not be obligated to deliver any shares of HWH Common Stock pursuant to the exercise of our warrants and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise subject to our satisfying our obligations described below with respect to registration. None of our warrants will be exercisable and we will not be obligated to issue shares of our common stock upon exercise of a warrant unless our common stock issuable upon such warrant exercise has been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the registered holder of our warrants. In the event that the conditions in the two immediately preceding sentences are not satisfied with respect to a warrant, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant.

 

A warrant holder may notify us in writing in the event it elects to be subject to a requirement that such warrant holder will not have the right to exercise its warrant, to the extent that after giving effect to such exercise, such person (together with such person’s affiliates), to the warrant agent’s actual knowledge, would beneficially own in excess of 4.9% or 9.8% (or such other amount as a holder may specify) of the shares of HWH Common Stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise.

 

Redemption Terms

 

Once the warrants become exercisable, because such registration statement covering our common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective (and a prospectus relating thereto is current, and unless our common stock issuable upon such warrant exercise has been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the registered holder of our warrants), we may call the warrants for redemption:

 

  in whole and not in part;
     
  at a price of $0.01 per warrant;
     
  upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption given after our warrants become exercisable (the “30-day redemption period”) to each warrant holder; and
     
  if, and only if, the reported last sale price of HWH Common Stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period commencing once the warrants become exercisable and ending three business days before we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders.

 

Exercise Price Adjustment Upon Certain Events

 

If the number of outstanding shares of our common stock is increased by a stock dividend payable in shares of our common stock, or by a split-up of shares of our common stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such stock dividend, split-up or similar event, the number of shares of our common stock issuable on exercise of each whole warrant will be increased in proportion to such increase in the outstanding shares of our common stock. A rights offering to holders of our common stock entitling holders to purchase shares of our common stock at a price less than the fair market value will be deemed a stock dividend of a number of shares of our common stock equal to the product of (i) the number of shares of our common stock actually sold in such rights offering (or issuable under any other equity securities sold in such rights offering that are convertible into or exercisable for our common stock) and (ii) one (1) minus the quotient of the price per share of our common stock paid in such rights offering divided by (y) the fair market value. For these purposes (i) if the rights offering is for securities convertible into or exercisable for our common stock, in determining the price payable for our common stock, there will be taken into account any consideration received for such rights, as well as any additional amount payable upon exercise or conversion and (ii) fair market value means the volume weighted average price of our common stock as reported during the ten (10) trading day period ending on the trading day prior to the first date on which the shares of our common stock trade on the applicable exchange or in the applicable market, regular way, without the right to receive such rights.

 

 
 

 

If the number of outstanding shares of our common stock is decreased by a consolidation, combination, reverse stock split or reclassification of shares of our common stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such consolidation, combination, reverse stock split, reclassification or similar event, the number of shares of our common stock issuable on exercise of each of our warrants will be decreased in proportion to such decrease in outstanding shares of our common stock.

 

Whenever the number of shares of our common stock purchasable upon the exercise of our warrants is adjusted, as described above, the warrant exercise price will be adjusted by multiplying the warrant exercise price immediately prior to such adjustment by a fraction the numerator of which will be the number of shares of our common stock purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants immediately prior to such adjustment, and (y) the denominator of which will be the number of shares of our common stock so purchasable immediately thereafter.

 

In case of any reclassification or reorganization of the outstanding shares of common stock (other than those described above or that solely affects the par value of such shares of common stock), or in the case of any merger or consolidation of us with or into another corporation (other than a consolidation or merger in which we are the continuing corporation and that does not result in any reclassification or reorganization of our outstanding shares of common stock), or in the case of any sale or conveyance to another corporation or entity of the assets or other property of us as an entirety or substantially as an entirety in connection with which we are dissolved, the holders of the warrants will thereafter have the right to purchase and receive, upon the basis and upon the terms and conditions specified in the warrants and in lieu of the shares of our common stock immediately theretofore purchasable and receivable upon the exercise of the rights represented thereby, the kind and amount of shares of stock or other securities or property (including cash) receivable upon such reclassification, reorganization, merger or consolidation, or upon a dissolution following any such sale or transfer, that the holder of the warrants would have received if such holder had exercised their warrants immediately prior to such event. However, if less than 70% of the consideration receivable by the holders of Class A common stock in such a transaction is payable in the form of common stock in the successor entity that is listed for trading on a national securities exchange or is quoted in an established over-the-counter market, or is to be so listed for trading or quoted immediately following such event, and if the registered holder of the warrant properly exercises the warrant within thirty days following public disclosure of such transaction, the warrant exercise price will be reduced as specified in the warrant agreement based on the Black-Scholes value (as defined in the warrant agreement) of the warrant. The purpose of such exercise price reduction is to provide additional value to holders of the warrants when an extraordinary transaction occurs during the exercise period of the warrants pursuant to which the holders of the warrants otherwise do not receive the full potential value of the warrants in order to determine and realize the option value component of the warrant. This formula is to compensate the warrant holder for the loss of the option value portion of the warrant due to the requirement that the warrant holder exercise the warrant within 30 days of the event. The Black-Scholes model is an accepted pricing model for estimating fair market value where no quoted market price for an instrument is available.

 

General Terms

 

The warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Vstock Transfer LLC, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any mistake, including to conform the provisions of the warrant agreement to the description of the terms of the warrants and the warrant agreement, but requires the approval by the holders of at least a majority of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants.

 

We have agreed that, subject to applicable law, any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction will be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim.

 

 
 

 

Placement warrants

 

Except as described below, the placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of our public warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period.

 

The placement warrants (including our common stock issuable upon exercise of the placement warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the Closing of our Business Combination (except, among other limited exceptions, to our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with our Sponsor).

 

The placement warrants will not be redeemable by HWH so long as they are held by our Sponsor or its permitted transferees. If they are held by holders other than the Sponsor or its permitted transferees, the placement warrants will be redeemable by HWH and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the public warrants.

 

Our Sponsor or its permitted transferees have the option to exercise the placement warrants on a cashless basis. If holders of the placement warrants elect to exercise them on a cashless basis, they would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of shares of our common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing the product of the number of shares of our common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” for this purpose shall mean the average reported last sale price of our common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of warrant exercise is sent to the warrant agent. The reason that we have agreed that these warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees is because it is not known at this time whether they will be affiliated with us HWH following the Closing. If they remain affiliated with us, their ability to sell our securities in the open market will be significantly limited. We expect to have policies in place that prohibit insiders from selling our securities except during specific periods of time. Even during such periods of time when insiders will be permitted to sell our securities, an insider cannot trade in our securities if he or she is in possession of material non-public information. Accordingly, unlike public stockholders who typically could sell the shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants freely in the open market, the insiders could be significantly restricted from doing so. As a result, we believe that allowing the holders to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis is appropriate.

 

Dividends

 

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock, and we do not currently intend to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. We expect to retain future earnings, if any, to fund the development and growth of our business. Any future determination to pay dividends on our common stock will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon, among other factors, our financial condition, operating results, current and anticipated cash needs, plans for expansion, and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.

 

Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law

 

Special Meeting of Stockholders

 

HWH’s amended and restated bylaws provide that special meetings of its stockholders may be called only by a majority vote of HWH’s Board or by HWH’s Chief Executive Officer, President or Chairman.

 

Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations

 

HWH’s amended and restated bylaws provide that stockholders seeking to bring business before HWH’s annual meeting of stockholders, or to nominate candidates for election as directors at HWH’s annual meeting of stockholders, must provide timely notice of their intent in writing. To be timely, a stockholder’s notice will need to be received by HWH’s secretary at its principal executive offices not later than the 90th day nor earlier than the 120th day prior to the anniversary date of the proxy statement provided in connection with the immediately preceding annual meeting of stockholders. Pursuant to Rule 14a-8 of the Exchange Act, proposals seeking inclusion in HWH’s annual proxy statement will need to comply with the notice periods contained therein. HWH’s amended and restated bylaws also specify certain requirements as to the form and content of a stockholders’ meeting. These provisions may preclude HWH’s stockholders from bringing matters before HWH’s annual meeting of stockholders or from making nominations for directors at HWH’s annual meeting of stockholders.

 

 
 

 

Authorized but Unissued Shares

 

Our authorized but unissued Common Stock and Preferred Stock will be available for future issuances without stockholder approval and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions, and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued and unreserved Common Stock and Preferred Stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of the Company by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger, or otherwise.

 

Exclusive Forum Selection

 

The sole and exclusive forum for any stockholder (including a beneficial owner) of HWH to bring (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of HWH, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of Alset to Alset or its stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or its certificate of incorporation or bylaws, (iv) any action asserting a claim against a stockholder of HWH, or (v) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine shall be the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or if the Court of Chancery does not have jurisdiction, another federal or state court located within the State of Delaware). Although HWH believes this provision benefits Alset by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against its directors and officers. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this exclusive forum provision does not apply to claims arising under the Securities Act, the Exchange Act, or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive or concurrent federal and state jurisdiction.

 

Additionally, unless HWH otherwise consents in writing, the federal district courts of the United States will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any claims arising under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act. Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law

 

HWH will be subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL regulating corporate takeovers. This statute prevents certain Delaware corporations, under certain circumstances, from engaging in a “business combination” with:

 

  a stockholder who owns 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation (otherwise known as an “interested stockholder”);
     
  an affiliate of an interested stockholder; or
     
  an associate of an interested stockholder, for three years following the date that the stockholder became an interested stockholder.

 

 

A “business combination” includes a merger or sale of more than 10% of HWH’s assets. However, the above provisions of Section 203 do not apply if:

 

  the HWH Board approves the transaction that made the stockholder an “interested stockholder,” prior to the date of the transaction;
     
  after the completion of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, that stockholder owned at least 85% of HWH’s voting stock outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, other than statutorily excluded shares of common stock; or
     
  on or subsequent to the date of the transaction, the business combination is approved by the HWH Board and authorized at a meeting of HWH’s stockholders, and not by written consent, by an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the outstanding voting stock not owned by the interested stockholder.

 

 
 

 

Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Directors and Officers

 

HWH’s Charter, which became effective upon consummation of the Business Combination, limits HWH’s directors’ liability to the fullest extent permitted under the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”). The DGCL provides that directors of a corporation will not be personally liable for monetary damages for breach of their fiduciary duties as directors, except for liability:

 

  for any transaction from which the director derives an improper personal benefit;
     
  for any act or omission not in good faith or that involves intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law;
     
  for any unlawful payment of dividends or redemption of shares; or
     
  for any breach of a director’s duty of loyalty to the corporation or its stockholders.

 

If the DGCL is amended to authorize corporate action further eliminating or limiting the personal liability of directors, then the liability of HWH’s directors will be eliminated or limited to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL, as so amended.

 

Delaware law and HWH’s amended and restated bylaws, which were effective upon the consummation of the Business Combination, provide that HWH will, in certain situations, indemnify HWH’s directors and officers and may indemnify other employees and other agents, to the fullest extent permitted by law. Any indemnified person is also entitled, subject to certain limitations, to advancement, direct payment, or reimbursement of reasonable expenses (including attorneys’ fees and disbursements) in advance of the final disposition of the proceeding.

 

In addition, HWH will enter into separate indemnification agreements with its directors and officers. These agreements, among other things, require HWH to indemnify its directors and officers for certain expenses, including attorneys’ fees, judgments, fines, and settlement amounts incurred by a director or officer in any action or proceeding arising out of their services as one of HWH’s directors or officers or any other company or enterprise to which the person provides services at HWH’s request.

 

HWH plans to maintain a directors’ and officers’ insurance policy pursuant to which its directors and officers are insured against liability for actions taken in their capacities as directors and officers. We believe these provisions, and these indemnification agreements are necessary to attract and retain qualified persons as directors and officers.

 

These provisions may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against HWH’s directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against directors and officers, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit HWH and its stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent HWH pays the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers pursuant to these indemnification provisions. HWH believes that these provisions, the insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced directors and officers.

 

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, it has been advised that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable.

 

Transfer Agent and Warrant Agent

 

The transfer agent and registrar for the Common Stock and the warrant agent for the Warrants is Vstock Transfer, LLC, with an address of 18 Lafayette Place, Woodmere, NY 11598.