Description of Registrant's Securities
EX-4.3 2 ef20043984_ex4-3.htm EXHIBIT 4.3
Exhibit 4.3
DESCRIPTION OF THE REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES
REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
The following description sets forth certain material terms and provisions of the securities of Anteris Technologies Global Corp. (the “Company”) that are registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. This description is a summary and does not purport to be complete. It is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by reference to, the applicable provisions of our Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and our Amended and Restated Bylaws, each of which is incorporated by reference as an exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this Exhibit 4.3 is a part. We encourage you to read our Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and our Amended and Restated Bylaws for additional information.
Authorized Capital Stock
Our authorized share capital is divided into 400,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Common Stock”), and 40,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share (“Preferred Stock”).
Common Stock
Except as otherwise required by law, as provided in our Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation or as provided in the resolution or resolutions, if any, adopted by our Board of Directors with respect to any series of the Preferred Stock, the holders of our Common Stock exclusively possess all voting power. Each holder of shares of Common Stock is entitled to one vote for each share held by such holder. Our stockholders do not have cumulative voting rights in the election of directors. Accordingly, holders of a majority of the voting shares are able to elect all of the directors. Subject to the rights of holders of any series of outstanding Preferred Stock, holders of shares of our Common Stock have equal rights of participation in the dividends and other distributions in cash, stock or property of the Company when, as and if declared thereon by our Board of Directors from time to time out of assets or funds legally available therefor and have equal rights to receive the assets and funds of the Company available for distribution to stockholders in the event of any liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the affairs of the Company, whether voluntary or involuntary.
CDIs
CHESS Depositary Interests (“CDIs”) confer the beneficial ownership of our Common Stock on each CDI holder, with the legal title to such securities held by an Australian depositary entity, CHESS Depositary Nominees Pty Limited (the “Depositary Nominee”), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ASX Limited, being the operator of the Australian Securities Exchange (the “ASX”). The Depositary Nominee is the registered holder of those shares of our Common Stock held for the benefit of the holders of CDIs. The Depositary Nominee does not charge a fee for providing this service.
Each CDI represents an interest in one share of our Common Stock. Holders of CDIs do not hold the legal title to the underlying shares of our Common Stock to which the CDIs relate, as the legal title is held by the Depositary Nominee. Each holder of CDIs, however, has a beneficial interest in the underlying shares of our Common Stock. Each holder of CDIs that elects to vote at a stockholder meeting is entitled to one vote for every one CDI held by such holder. In order to vote at a stockholder meeting, a CDI holder may:
• | instruct the Depositary Nominee, as legal owner of the shares of Common Stock, to vote the Common Stock represented by their CDIs to vote the shares of our Common Stock represented by their CDIs in a particular manner. A voting instruction form will be sent to holders of CDIs and must be completed and returned to the share registry for the CDIs prior to a record date fixed for the relevant meeting, or the CDI Voting Instruction Receipt Time, which is notified to CDI holders in the voting instructions included in a notice of meeting; |
• | inform us that they wish to appoint themselves or a third party as the Depositary Nominee’s proxy with respect to our shares of Common Stock underlying the holder’s CDIs for the purposes of attending and voting at the meeting. The instruction form must be completed and returned to the share registry for the CDI prior to the CDI Voting Instruction Receipt Time; or |
• | convert their CDIs into shares of our Common Stock and vote those shares at the meeting. The conversion must be undertaken prior to a record date fixed by the Board of Directors for determining the entitlement of stockholders to attend and vote at the meeting. If the holder later wishes to sell their investment on the ASX, it would first be necessary to convert those shares of Common Stock back to CDIs. Further details on the conversion process are set out below. |
Voting instruction forms and details of these alternatives are included in each notice of meeting sent to CDI holders by the Company.
Conversion of CDIs to Shares of Common Stock
CDI holders may at any time convert their CDIs to a holding of shares of Common Stock by instructing the share registry for the CDIs, either:
• | Directly in the case of CDIs held on the issuer sponsored sub-register operated by the Company (holders of CDIs are provided with a CDI issuance request form to return to the share registry for the CDIs); or |
• | Through their “sponsoring participant” (usually their broker) in the case of CDIs which are held on the CHESS sub-register (in this case, the sponsoring broker will arrange for completion of the relevant form and its return to the share registry for the CDIs). |
In both cases, once the share registry for the CDIs has been notified, it will arrange the transfer of the relevant number of shares of Common Stock from the Depositary Nominee into the name of the CDI holder in book entry form or, if requested, deliver the relevant shares of Common Stock to their Depository Trust Company participant in the U.S. Central Securities Depositary. The share registry for the CDIs will not charge a fee for the conversion (although a fee may be payable by market participants). Holding shares of Common Stock will, however, prevent a person from selling their shares of Common Stock on the ASX, as only CDIs can be traded on that market.
Conversion of Shares of Common Stock to CDIs
Shares of Common Stock may be converted into CDIs and traded on the ASX. Holders of shares of Common Stock may at any time convert those shares to CDIs by contacting our transfer agent. The underlying shares of Common Stock will be transferred to the Depositary Nominee, and CDIs (and a holding statement for the corresponding CDIs) will be issued to the relevant security holder. No trading in the CDIs may take place on the ASX until this conversion.
Our transfer agent will not charge a fee to a holder of shares of Common Stock seeking to convert their shares of Common Stock to CDIs, although a fee may be payable by market participants.
In either case, it is expected that each of the above processes will be completed within 24 hours, provided that our transfer agent is in receipt of a duly completed and valid request form. No guarantee can, however, be given about the time required for this conversion to take place.
Dividends and Other Stockholder Entitlements
Holders of CDIs are entitled to receive all the direct economic benefits and other entitlements in relation to the underlying shares of Common Stock that are held by the Depositary Nominee, including dividends and other entitlements that attach to the underlying shares of Common Stock.
If a cash dividend or any other cash distribution is declared in a currency other than Australian dollars, we currently intend to convert that dividend or other cash distribution to which a holder of CDIs is entitled to Australian dollars and distribute it to the relevant holder of CDIs in accordance with their entitlement.
Due to the need to convert dividends from U.S. dollars to Australian dollars in the above mentioned circumstances, holders of CDIs may potentially be advantaged or disadvantaged by exchange rate fluctuations, depending on whether the Australian dollar weakens or strengthens against the U.S. dollar during the period between the resolution to pay a dividend and conversion into Australian dollars.
Takeovers
If a takeover bid is made in respect of any of our Common Stock of which the Depositary Nominee is the registered holder, the Depositary Nominee will be prohibited from accepting the offer made under the takeover bid except to the extent that acceptance is authorized by the CDI holders in respect of the shares of Common Stock represented by their holding of CDIs.
The Depositary Nominee must accept a takeover offer in respect of shares of Common Stock represented by a holding of CDIs if the relevant holder of CDIs instructs it to do so and must notify the entity making the takeover bid of the acceptance.
Preferred Stock
Our Board of Directors is authorized to provide, out of the unissued shares of Preferred Stock, for one or more series of Preferred Stock and, with respect to each such series, to fix the number of shares constituting such series and the designation of such series, the voting powers, if any, of the shares of such series, and the preferences and relative, participating, optional or other special rights, if any, and any qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof, of the shares of such series, as are stated in the resolution or resolutions providing for the issuance of such series adopted by the Board of Directors. The authority of the Board of Directors with respect to each series of Preferred Stock includes determination of the following:
• | the designation of the series; |
• | the number of shares of the series; |
• | the dividend rate or rates on the shares of that series, whether dividends will be cumulative and, if so, from which date or dates, and the relative rights of priority, if any, of payment of dividends on shares of that series; |
• | whether the series will have voting rights in addition to the voting rights provided by law and, if so, the terms of such voting rights; |
• | whether the series will have conversion privileges and, if so, the terms and conditions of such conversion, including provision for adjustment of the conversion rate in such events as the Board of Directors determines; |
• | whether or not the shares of that series will be redeemable, in whole or in part, at the option of the Company or the holder thereof and, if made subject to such redemption, the terms and conditions of such redemption, including the date or dates upon or after which they will be redeemable, and the amount per share payable in case of redemptions, which amount may vary under different conditions and at different redemption rates; |
• | the terms and amount of any sinking fund provided for the purchase or redemption of the shares of such series; |
• | the rights of the shares of that series in the event of voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the Company, and the relative rights of priority, if any, of payment of shares of that series; |
• | the restrictions, if any, on the issue or reissue of any additional Preferred Stock; and |
• | any other relative rights, preferences and limitations of that series. |
Classified Board of Directors
In accordance with our Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, our Board of Directors is divided into three classes with staggered three-year terms. At each annual general meeting of stockholders, the successors to directors whose terms then expire will be elected to serve from the time of election and qualification until the third annual meeting following election.
We expect that any additional directorships resulting from an increase in the number of directors will be distributed among the three classes so that, as nearly as possible, each class will consist of one-third of the directors. The division of our Board of Directors into three classes with staggered three-year terms may delay or prevent a change of our management or a change in control.
Certain Anti-Takeover Effects of Provisions of our Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and our Amended and Restated Bylaws
Our Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws contain provisions that could delay, deter or prevent a change in control of our company. These provisions could also make it difficult for stockholders to elect directors who are not nominated by the current members of our Board of Directors or take other corporate actions, including effecting changes in our management. These provisions include:
• | the ability of our Board of Directors to issue shares of Preferred Stock and to determine the price and other terms of those shares, including preferences and voting rights, without stockholder approval, which could be used to significantly dilute the ownership of a hostile acquirer; |
• | a staggered Board of Directors divided into three classes serving staggered three-year terms, such that not all members of our Board of Directors will be elected at one time; |
• | allowing only our Board of Directors to fill director vacancies, which prevents stockholders from being able to fill vacancies on our Board of Directors; |
• | a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent, which forces stockholder action to be taken at an annual or special meeting of our stockholders; |
• | a requirement for the affirmative vote of holders of at least 75% of the voting power of all of the then-outstanding shares of the voting stock, voting together as a single class, to amend certain provisions of our Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation or our Amended and Restated Bylaws, which may inhibit the ability of an acquirer to effect such amendments to facilitate an unsolicited takeover attempt; |
• | the ability of our Board of Directors to amend our Amended and Restated Bylaws, which may allow our Board of Directors to take additional actions to prevent an unsolicited takeover and inhibit the ability of an acquirer to amend the Amended and Restated Bylaws to facilitate an unsolicited takeover attempt; |
• | advance notice procedures with which stockholders must comply to nominate candidates to our Board of Directors or to propose matters to be acted upon at a stockholders’ meeting, which may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of our company; and |
• | a prohibition of cumulative voting in the election of our Board of Directors, which would otherwise allow less than a majority of stockholders to elect director candidates. |
Listing
Our Common Stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “AVR” and our CDIs are listed on the ASX under the symbol “AVR.”
Transfer Agent and Registrar
The transfer agent and registrar for our Common Stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A.