DESCRIPTION OF THE REGISTRANTS SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS AMENDED

EX-4.4 2 ex_495789.htm EXHIBIT 4.4 ex_495789.htm

Exhibit 4.4

 

 

DESCRIPTION OF THE REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS AMENDED

 

SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc. (“we,” “our,” “us” or the “Company”) has the following two classes of securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”): (i) its common stock, $0.0001 par value per share (“Common Stock”), and (ii) its warrants, with each whole warrant exercisable for one share of common stock for $11.50 per share (the “Warrants”).

 

The following summary of the material terms of our securities is not intended to be a complete summary of the rights and preferences of such securities. The descriptions below are qualified by reference to the actual text of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “Certificate of Incorporation”) and amended and restated bylaws (the “Bylaws”). We urge you to read our Certificate of Incorporation in its entirety for a complete description of the rights and preferences of our securities.

 

Our authorized capital stock consists of 490,000,000 shares of common stock $0.0001 par value per share, and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.0001 par value per share. As of March 28, 2023, there were 50,944,420 shares of our Common Stock issued and 50,397,762 shares of our Common Stock outstanding, and no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding. As of March 28, 2023, the Company has not designated any series of preferred stock.

 

Common Stock

 

Voting Power

 

Except as otherwise required by law or as otherwise provided in any certificate of designation for any series of preferred stock, the holders of common stock possess all voting power for the election of our directors and all other matters requiring stockholder action. Holders of common stock are entitled to one vote per share on matters to be voted on by stockholders.

 

Dividends

 

Holders 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.

 

Liquidation, Dissolution and Winding Up

 

In the event of our voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution, distribution of assets or winding-up, the holders of the common stock will be entitled to receive an equal amount per share of all of our assets of whatever kind available for distribution to stockholders, after the rights of the holders of the preferred stock have been satisfied.

 

Preemptive or Other Rights

 

Our stockholders have no preemptive or other subscription rights and there are no sinking fund or redemption provisions applicable to common stock.

 

Election of Directors

 

Our board of directors is divided into three classes, Class I, Class II and Class III, with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class serving a three-year term, except with respect to the election of directors at the special meeting held in connection with the Business Combination, Class I directors are elected to an initial one-year term (and three-year terms subsequently), the Class II directors are elected to an initial two-year term (and three-year terms subsequently) and the Class III directors are elected to an initial three-year term (and three-year terms subsequently). 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.

 

Warrants

 

Public Stockholders’ Warrants

 

Pursuant to the Warrant Agreement, each whole 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, at any time commencing 30 days after the completion of the merger. Pursuant to the Warrant Agreement, a warrant holder may exercise its Warrants only for a whole number of shares of Common Stock. This means only a whole warrant may be exercised at a given time by a warrant holder. The Warrants will expire five years after the completion of the merger, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.

 

The Company is not obligated to deliver any shares of Common Stock pursuant to the exercise of a warrant and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), covering the issuance of the shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Warrants is then effective and a current prospectus relating to those shares of Common Stock is available, subject to the Company satisfying its obligations described below with respect to registration. No Warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and the Company will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their Warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption from registration is available. 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. If the Common Stock is at the time of any exercise of a 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, the Company may, at its 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 the Company so elects, it will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but will use its reasonable best efforts to qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.

 

 
 

 

Redemption of Warrants.

 

Redemption of Warrants when the price per share of our common stock equals or exceeds $18.00.

 

Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may call the Warrants for redemption.

 

Warrants will not be exercisable for cash unless the Company has an effective and current registration statement covering the shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Warrants and a current prospectus relating to such shares of Common Stock.

 

The Company may call the Warrants for redemption, in whole and not in part, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, (i) at any time after the Warrants become exercisable, (ii) upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption to each holder of Warrants after the Warrants become exercisable, and (iii) if, and only if, the reported last sale price of the shares of Common Stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations and recapitalizations), for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading day period commencing after the Warrants become exercisable and ending on the third trading day prior to the notice of redemption to holders of Warrants.

 

The right to exercise will be forfeited unless the Warrants are exercised prior to the date specified in the notice of redemption. On and after the redemption date, a record holder of a Warrant will have no further rights except to receive the redemption price for such holder’s Warrant upon surrender of such warrant.

 

If the Company calls the Warrants for redemption as described above, the Company’s management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise Warrants to do so on a “cashless basis.” In such event, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the 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, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the Warrants and the “fair market value” (as defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” for this purpose means the average reported last sale price of the shares of Common Stock for the ten 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.

 

The exercise price and number of shares of Common Stock issuable on exercise of the Warrants may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a stock dividend, extraordinary dividend or our recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, except as described below, the Warrants will not be adjusted for issuances of shares of Common Stock at a price below their respective exercise prices.

 

No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the Warrants. If, upon exercise of the Warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, the Company will, upon exercise, round up to the nearest whole number the number of shares of Common Stock to be issued to the warrant holder.

 

Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law

 

Our Amended and Restated Bylaws provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by a majority vote of the board of directors, by the Chairperson of the board of directors, or by the chief executive officer.

 

Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations

 

Our Amended and Restated 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 under our current bylaws and the Amended and Restated Bylaws, 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 open of business on the 120th day prior to the first anniversary of the preceding year’s annual meeting. Pursuant to Rule 14a-8 of the Exchange Act, proposals seeking inclusion in our annual proxy statement must comply with the notice periods contained therein. Our Amended and Restated Bylaws also specify certain requirements as to the form and content of a stockholders’ meeting. 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

 

The 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 (subject to certain limited exceptions) shall be the sole and exclusive forum for any of the following claims (i) any derivative claim or cause of action brought on our behalf, (ii) any claim or cause of 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 to the Company’s stockholders, (iii) any claim or cause of action against us, our directors, officers or employees arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL, the Certificate of Incorporation or the Amended and Restated Bylaws, (iv) any claim or cause of action seeking to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of the Certificate of Incorporation or the Amended and Restated Bylaws, (v) any claim or cause of action as to which the DGCL confers jurisdiction to the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware; and (vi) any claim or cause of action against the Company or any current or former director, officer or other employee of the Company governed by the internal affairs doctrine, in all cases to the fullest extent permitted by law and subject to the court’s having personal jurisdiction over the indispensable parties named as defendants. Any person or entity holding, owning or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of capital stock of the Company shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to such provisions.

 

Although we believe these provisions benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which they apply, a court may determine that these provisions are unenforceable, and to the extent they are enforceable, the 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. Additionally, we cannot be certain that a court will decide that these provisions are either applicable or enforceable, and if a court were to find the choice of forum provisions contained in our Certificate of Incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

 

 
 

 

Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that the exclusive forum provision will be applicable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. As a result, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Furthermore, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Accordingly, both state and federal courts have jurisdiction to entertain such claims. To prevent having to litigate claims in multiple jurisdictions and the threat of inconsistent or contrary rulings by different courts, among other considerations, the Proposed Charter provides that the federal district courts of the United States will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act.

 

Anti-Takeover Provisions

 

We are subject to provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL regulating corporate takeovers under our Certificate of Incorporation. This statute prevents certain Delaware corporations, under certain circumstances, from engaging in a “business combination” with:

 

• a stockholder who owns 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock (otherwise known as an “interested stockholder”);

 

• an affiliated of an interested stockholder; or

 

• an associate of an interested stockholder, for three years following the date that the stockholder became an interested stockholder.

 

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

 

• our board of directors 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 our voting stock outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, other than statutorily excluded shares of common stock; 

 

• on or subsequent to the date of the transaction, our initial business combination is approved by our board of directors and authorized at a meeting of our 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.