Description of Registrants Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Exhibit 4.4
Description of Registrant’s Securities Registered
Pursuant to Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
General
As of the end of the period covered by the most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K of ARKO Corp. (the “registrant”), the common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of the registrant (“Common Stock”) and redeemable warrants, with each whole warrant exercisable to purchase one share of Common Stock at an exercise price of $11.50 (“Public Warrants”), were registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Unless the context otherwise requires, all references herein to “we,” “our,” “ours,” “Company” and “us” refer to ARKO Corp.
The following description of the Common Stock and Public Warrants is a summary and does not purport to be complete. A copy of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, which we refer to as our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, and our bylaws, as amended, which we refer to as our Bylaws, have been filed as Exhibits 3.1 and 3.2, respectively, to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. Our Common Stock and the rights of the holders of our Common Stock are subject to the applicable provisions of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, which we refer to as the DGCL, our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, our Bylaws, as well as some of the terms of our outstanding indebtedness. Our Public Warrants and the rights of the holders of our Public Warrants are subject to the applicable provisions of that certain Warrant Agreement (the “Warrant Agreement”), originally dated June 12, 2019, as amended on December 22, 2020, by and among Haymaker Acquisition Corp. II, a Delaware corporation, us, and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, a New York corporation (the “Warrant Agent”), as well as some of the terms of our outstanding indebtedness. The description below of our Common Stock and Public Warrants and provisions of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, Bylaws and the Warrant Agreement (including the Form of Warrant included therein (the “Form of Warrant”)) are summaries and are qualified by reference to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, our Bylaws, the Warrant Agreement and Form of Warrant, as applicable, and by the applicable provisions of the DGCL. We encourage you to read that law and those documents carefully.
Common Stock
General
Our authorized capital stock consists of 405,000,000 shares of capital stock, of which: (i) 400,000,000 shares are designated as Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share; (ii) 5,000,000 shares are designated as preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. As of March 23, 2021, we had 124,427,805 shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding and 1,000,000 shares of our Series A convertible preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Series A Preferred Stock”).
Voting Rights
Except as otherwise required by law or as otherwise provided in any certificate of designation for any series of preferred stock, the holders of our Common Stock possess all voting power for the election of our directors and all other matters requiring stockholder action, and no holder of any series of preferred stock shall be entitled to any voting powers in respect thereof, except that the holders of Series A Preferred Stock shall be given notice by the Company of any meeting of stockholders or action to be taken by written consent in lieu of a meeting of stockholders as to which the holders of Common Stock are given notice at the same time as provided in, and in accordance with, the Bylaws; provided that notwithstanding any such notice, except as required by applicable law or as set forth in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, the holders of Series A Preferred Stock shall not be entitled to vote on any matter presented to the holders of Common Stock for their action or consideration unless and until the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Series A Preferred Stock provide written notification to the Company that such holders are electing, on behalf of all holders of Series A Preferred Stock, to activate their voting rights and thereby render the Series A Preferred Stock voting capital stock of the Company, after which, until such time, if at all, as the holders of at least a majority of the outstanding shares of Series A Preferred Stock provide further written notice
to the Company that they elect to deactivate the voting rights attributable to the Series A Preferred Stock, the holders of Series A Preferred Stock and the holders of Common Stock shall vote as a single class on an as-converted basis, with each holder of Common Stock entitled to one vote per share of Common Stock then held and each holder of Preferred Stock entitled to the number of votes equal to the number of shares of Common Stock into which the shares of Series A Preferred Stock held by such holder would be converted as of the record date, without giving effect to any limitations on conversion by such holder set forth in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation. The holders of shares of Common Stock are entitled to one vote per share in connection with the election of directors and all other matters submitted to a vote of stockholders.
Dividend Rights
Subject to any preferential dividend rights of holders of any then outstanding shares of our preferred stock and the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, the holders of shares of Common Stock will be entitled to receive such dividends, if any, as may be declared from time to time by our board of directors in its discretion out of funds legally available therefor. In no event will any stock dividends or stock splits or combinations of stock be declared or made on Common Stock unless the shares of Common Stock at the time outstanding are treated equally and identically.
No dividends have been paid to holders of shares of Common Stock since our incorporation, and no dividends are anticipated to be declared or paid in the reasonably foreseeable future.
Liquidation Rights
In the event of our voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution, distribution of assets or winding-up, after payments to creditors and subject to any preferential liquidation, dissolution or winding up rights of holders of any then outstanding shares of our preferred stock, the holders of shares of Common Stock are entitled to share ratably in all of our remaining assets and funds available for distribution to holders of shares of Common Stock.
Other Matters
Holders of shares of the Common Stock do not have any preemptive, subscription, redemption or conversion rights. All of the shares of the Common Stock currently issued and outstanding are fully-paid and nonassessable.
No Cumulative Voting
Section 214 of the DGCL provides that the certificate of incorporation of any corporation may provide stockholders with the right to cumulate votes in the election of directors. The Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation does not provide for cumulative voting of shares of the Common Stock.
Transfer Agent and Registrar
The transfer agent and registrar for our Common Stock is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company. The transfer agent’s address is 1 State Street, 30th Floor, New York, New York 1004.
Listing
Our Common Stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “ARKO.” Our Common Stock is currently also listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the symbol “ARKO.”
Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law, our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and our Bylaws
Delaware Anti-Takeover Law
We are a Delaware corporation subject to Section 203 of the DGCL. Under Section 203, certain “business combinations” between a Delaware corporation whose stock is listed on a national securities exchange or held of
record by more than 2,000 stockholders and an “interested stockholder” are prohibited for a three-year period following the date that such stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless:
| • |
| the corporation has elected in its certificate of incorporation not to be governed by Section 203; |
| • |
| the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder was approved by the board of directors of the corporation before the date of the business combination or the date such stockholder became an interested stockholder, as applicable; |
| • |
| upon consummation of the transaction that made such stockholder an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of the “voting stock” (as defined in Section 203) of the corporation outstanding at the commencement of the transaction excluding voting stock owned by directors who are also officers or held in employee benefit plans in which the employees do not have a confidential right to tender stock held by the plan in a tender or exchange offer; or |
| • |
| the business combination is approved by the board of directors and by the stockholders (acting at a meeting and not by written consent) by the affirmative vote of at least 66-2/3% of the outstanding voting stock which is not “owned” (as defined in Section 203) by the interested stockholder. |
The three-year prohibition also does not apply to some business combinations proposed by an interested stockholder following the announcement or notification of an extraordinary transaction involving the corporation and a person who had not been an interested stockholder during the previous three years or who became an interested stockholder with the approval of a majority of the corporation’s directors. The term “business combination” is defined generally to include mergers or consolidations between a Delaware corporation and an interested stockholder, transactions with an interested stockholder involving the assets or stock of the corporation or its majority-owned subsidiaries and transactions which increase an interested stockholder’s percentage ownership of stock, or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. The term “interested stockholder” is defined generally as those stockholders who become beneficial owners of 15% or more of a Delaware corporation’s voting stock, together with the affiliates or associates of that stockholder.
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that our board of directors is divided into three classes, where each of the newly elected director will generally serve for a term of three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. There is no cumulative voting with respect to the election of directors, with the result that the holders of more than 50% of the shares voted for the election of directors can elect all of the directors. As a result, in most circumstances, a person can gain control of our board only by successfully engaging in a proxy contest at two or more annual meetings. The classified board provision could discourage a potential acquiror from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of the Company and could increase the likelihood that incumbent directors will retain their positions.
Special Meetings of Stockholders
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by a majority vote of our board of directors, by our Chief Executive Officer or by our Chairman of the board. Our Bylaws provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by (i) a majority vote of our board of directors, (ii) our Chief Executive Officer or (iii) our Chairman of the board. Our Bylaws prohibit the conduct of any business at a special meeting other than as specified in the notice for such meeting. These provisions may have the effect of deferring, delaying or discouraging hostile takeovers, or changes in control or management of the Company.
Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations
Our Bylaws provide that stockholders seeking to bring business before our annual meeting of stockholders, or to nominate candidates for election as directors at our 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 the Company secretary at our principal executive offices not later than the close of business on the 90th day nor earlier than the close of business on the 120th day prior to the anniversary date of the immediately preceding annual meeting of stockholders. Pursuant
to Rule 14a-8 of the Exchange Act of, proposals seeking inclusion in our annual proxy statement must comply with the notice periods contained therein. Our Bylaws also specify certain requirements as to the form and content of such stockholder’s notice. These provisions may preclude our stockholders from bringing matters before our annual meeting of stockholders or from making nominations for directors at our annual meeting of stockholders.
Authorized but Unissued Shares
Our authorized but unissued Common Stock and preferred stock are 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 us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.
Exclusive Forum Selection
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if that court lacks subject matter jurisdiction, another federal or state court situated in the State of Delaware) shall be the sole and exclusive forum for any stockholder (including a beneficial owner) for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of the Company to the Company or the Company’s stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against the Company, its directors, officers or employees arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation or our Bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim against the Company, its directors, officers or employees governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation also requires that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States situated in the State of Delaware shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and the Exchange Act. Additionally, any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of capital stock of the Company shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provision.
The exclusive forum selection provisions may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers, although our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
Public Warrants
Each Public Warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one share of Common Stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as discussed below. Pursuant to the Warrant Agreement, a Public Warrant holder may exercise its warrants only for a whole number of shares of Common Stock. This means that only a whole Public Warrant may be exercised at any given time by a Public Warrant holder. The Public Warrants will expire on December 22, 2025, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. As of March 23, 2021, 17,333,333 Public Warrants and private warrants, which are identical to the Public Warrants, except that the private warrants are non-redeemable and exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by Haymaker Sponsor II LLC, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Stifel Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated or their permitted transferees, were issued and outstanding.
We will not be obligated to deliver any shares of Common Stock pursuant to the exercise of a Public Warrant and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to the shares of Common Stock underlying the Public Warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to our satisfying our obligations described below with respect to registration, or an exemption from registration is available. No Public Warrant will be exercisable and we will not be obligated to issue shares of Common Stock upon exercise of a Public Warrant unless 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 the warrants or an exemption from qualification is available. In the event that the conditions in the two immediately preceding sentences are not satisfied with respect to a Public Warrant, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such Public Warrant and such Public Warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In
no event will we be required to net cash settle any Public Warrant. We have agreed to use our reasonable best efforts to maintain the effectiveness of the resale registration statement, and a current prospectus relating thereto, until the expiration of the Public Warrants in accordance with the provisions of the Warrant Agreement.
Notwithstanding the above, if the Common Stock is at the time of any exercise of a Public Warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of Public Warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will be required to use our best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.
Redemption of Public Warrants
We may call the Public 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 (the “30-day redemption period”) to each warrant holder; and |
| • | if, and only if, the last reported sale price of the Common Stock (or the closing bid price of the Common Stock in the event shares of the Common Stock are not traded on any specific day) 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 ending three business days before we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders. |
If and when the Public Warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.
We have established the last of the redemption criterion discussed above to prevent a redemption call unless there is at the time of the call a significant premium to the warrant exercise price. If the foregoing conditions are satisfied and we issue a notice of redemption of the Public Warrants, each warrant holder will be entitled to exercise its warrant prior to the scheduled redemption date. However, the price of the Common Stock may fall below the $18.00 redemption trigger price (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) as well as the $11.50 (for whole shares) warrant exercise price after the redemption notice is issued.
Redemption Procedures and Cashless Exercise
If we call the Public Warrants for redemption as described above, our management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise its warrant to do so on a “cashless basis.” In determining whether to require all holders to exercise their warrants on a “cashless basis,” our management will consider, among other factors, our cash position, the number of warrants that are outstanding and the dilutive effect on our stockholders of issuing the maximum number of shares of Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of our warrants. If our management takes advantage of this option, all holders of Public Warrants would pay the exercise price by surrendering their Public Warrants for that number of shares of Common Stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Common Stock underlying the Warrants (as defined in the Warrant Agreement), multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” (defined below) over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” for the purpose of this paragraph shall mean the average last reported sale price of Common Stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants. If our management takes advantage of this option, the notice of redemption will contain the information necessary to calculate the number of shares of Common Stock to be received upon exercise of the Public Warrants, including the “fair market value” in such case. Requiring a cashless exercise in
this manner will reduce the number of shares to be issued and thereby lessen the dilutive effect of a Public Warrant redemption.
A holder of a Public Warrant may notify us in writing in the event it elects to be subject to a requirement that such holder will not have the right to exercise such 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 4.8% or 9.8% (or such other amount as a holder may specify) of the shares of Common Stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise.
Anti-Dilution
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 warrant will be increased in proportion to such increase in the outstanding shares of Common Stock. A rights offering to holders of Common Stock entitling holders to purchase shares of Common Stock at a price less than the fair market value will be deemed a stock dividend of a number of shares of Common Stock equal to the product of (i) the number of shares of 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 Common Stock) multiplied by (ii) one (1) minus the quotient of (x) the price per share of the Company’s 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 Common Stock, in determining the price payable for 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” for the purpose of this paragraph means the volume weighted average price of 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 Common Stock trade on the applicable exchange or in the applicable market, regular way, without the right to receive such rights.
In addition, if we, at any time while the Public Warrants are outstanding and unexpired, pay a dividend or make a distribution in cash, securities or other assets to the holders of Common Stock on account of such shares of Common Stock (or other shares of our capital stock into which the Public Warrants are convertible), other than (a) as described above or (b) certain ordinary cash dividends, then the warrant exercise price will be decreased, effective immediately after the effective date of such event, by the amount of cash and/or the fair market value of any securities or other assets paid on each share of Common Stock in respect of such event.
If the number of outstanding shares of our Common Stock is decreased by a consolidation, combination, reverse stock split or reclassification of shares of 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 Common Stock issuable on exercise of each warrant will be decreased in proportion to such decrease in outstanding shares of Common Stock.
Whenever the number of shares of the Common Stock purchasable upon the exercise of the Public Warrants is adjusted, as described above, the warrant exercise price per share will be adjusted by multiplying the warrant exercise price immediately prior to such adjustment by a fraction (x) the numerator of which will be the number of shares of Common Stock purchasable upon the exercise of the Public Warrants immediately prior to such adjustment, and (y) the denominator of which will be the number of shares of the Company’s 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 the Company’s 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 Public Warrants will thereafter have the right to purchase and receive, upon the basis and upon the terms and conditions specified in the Form of Warrant and in lieu of the shares of 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 Public Warrants would have received if such holder had exercised their Public Warrants immediately prior to such event. If less than 70% of the consideration receivable by the holders of Common Stock in such a transaction is payable in the form of the 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 a Public Warrant properly exercises such 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 Public Warrant.
Other Matters
The Public Warrants were issued in registered form under the Warrant Agreement. The Warrant Agreement provides that the terms of the Public Warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding Public Warrants to make all other modifications or amendments.
The Public Warrants may be exercised upon surrender of the warrant certificate on or prior to the expiration date at the offices of the Warrant Agent, with the exercise form on the reverse side of the warrant certificate completed and executed as indicated, accompanied by full payment of the exercise price (or on a cashless basis, if applicable), by certified or official bank check payable to us, for the number of Public Warrants being exercised. The Public Warrant holders do not have the rights or privileges of holders of Common Stock and any voting rights until they exercise their Public Warrants and receive shares of Common Stock. After the issuance of shares of Common Stock upon exercise of the warrants, each holder will be entitled to one (1) vote for each share held of record on all matters to be voted on by stockholders.
Public Warrants may be exercised only for a whole number of shares of Common Stock. No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the Public Warrants. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number of shares of Common Stock to be issued to the Public Warrant holder.
Transfer Agent and Registrar
The Warrant Agent for our Public Warrants is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company. The Warrant Agent’s address is 1 State Street, 30th Floor, New York, New York 1004.
Listing
Our Public Warrants are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “ARKOW.”