Description of Securities Registered Under Section 12 of the Exchange Act
EX-4.3 3 bill-20230630xex43.htm EX-4.3 Document
Exhibit 4.3
DESCRIPTION OF THE REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES REGISTERED
PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
The following description summarizes the most important terms of the capital stock of BILL Holdings, Inc. (“we,” “us” or “our”). Because it is only a summary, it does not contain all the information that may be important to you. For a complete description, you should refer to our restated certificate of incorporation, as amended (our “certificate of incorporation”), and our second amended and restated bylaws (our “bylaws”) and to the applicable provisions of Delaware law.
Our authorized capital stock consists of 510,000,000 shares of capital stock, including 500,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.00001 par value per share, and 10,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, $0.00001 par value per share.
Common Stock
Dividend Rights
Subject to preferences that may apply to any shares of preferred stock outstanding at the time, the holders of our common stock are entitled to receive dividends out of funds legally available if our board of directors, in its discretion, determines to issue dividends and then only at the times and in the amounts that our board of directors may determine.
Voting Rights
Holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each share of common stock held on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders. Our certificate of incorporation does not provide for cumulative voting for the election of directors. Accordingly, holders of a majority of the shares of our common stock will be able to elect all of our directors. Our certificate of incorporation establishes a classified board of directors, divided into three classes with staggered three-year terms. Only one class of directors will be elected at each annual meeting of our stockholders, with the other classes continuing for the remainder of their respective three-year terms.
No Preemptive or Similar Rights
Our common stock is not entitled to preemptive rights, and is not subject to redemption or sinking fund provisions.
Right to Receive Liquidation Distributions
Upon our liquidation, dissolution, or winding-up, the assets legally available for distribution to our stockholders would be distributable ratably among the holders of our common stock and any participating redeemable convertible preferred stock outstanding at that time, subject to prior satisfaction of all outstanding debt and liabilities and the preferential rights of and the payment of liquidation preferences, if any, on any outstanding shares of redeemable convertible preferred stock.
Preferred Stock
We have no shares of preferred stock outstanding. Our board of directors is authorized, subject to limitations prescribed by Delaware law, to issue preferred stock in one or more series,
to establish from time to time the number of shares to be included in each series, and to fix the designation, powers, preferences, and rights of the shares of each series and any of its qualifications, limitations, or restrictions, in each case without further vote or action by our stockholders. Our board of directors can also increase or decrease the number of shares of any series of preferred stock, but not below the number of shares of that series then outstanding, without any further vote or action by our stockholders. Our board of directors may authorize the issuance of preferred stock with voting or conversion rights that could adversely affect the voting power or other rights of the holders of our common stock. The issuance of preferred stock, while providing flexibility in connection with possible acquisitions and other corporate purposes, could, among other things, have the effect of delaying, deferring, or preventing a change in our control and might adversely affect the market price of our common stock and the voting and other rights of the holders of our common stock. We have no current plan to issue any shares of preferred stock.
Anti-Takeover Provisions
The provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”), our certificate of incorporation, and our bylaws could have the effect of delaying, deferring, or discouraging another person from acquiring control of our company. These provisions, which are summarized below, are expected to discourage certain types of coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids and encourage persons seeking to acquire control of our company to first negotiate with our board of directors. We believe that the benefits of increased protection of our potential ability to negotiate with an unfriendly or unsolicited acquirer outweigh the disadvantages of discouraging a proposal to acquire us because negotiation of these proposals could result in an improvement of their terms.
Section 203 of the DGCL
We are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL regulating corporate takeovers. In general, Section 203 prohibits a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a “business combination” with an “interested stockholder” for a three-year period following the time that this stockholder becomes an interested stockholder, unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner. Under Section 203, a business combination between a corporation and an interested stockholder is prohibited unless it satisfies one of the following conditions:
•before the stockholder became interested, our board of directors approved either the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder;
•upon consummation of the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of the voting stock of the corporation outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding for purposes of determining the voting stock outstanding, shares owned by persons who are directors and also officers, and employee stock plans in some instances, but not the outstanding voting stock owned by the interested stockholder; or
•at or after the time the stockholder became interested, the business combination was approved by our board of directors and authorized at an annual or special meeting of the stockholders by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the outstanding voting stock which is not owned by the interested stockholder.
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Section 203 defines a business combination to include:
•any merger or consolidation involving the corporation and the interested stockholder;
•any sale, transfer, lease, pledge, or other disposition involving the interested stockholder of 10% or more of the assets of the corporation;
•subject to exceptions, any transaction that results in the issuance of transfer by the corporation of any stock of the corporation to the interested stockholder;
•subject to exceptions, any transaction involving the corporation that has the effect of increasing the proportionate share of the stock of any class or series of the corporation beneficially owned by the interested stockholder; and
•the receipt by the interested stockholder of the benefit of any loans, advances, guarantees, pledges or other financial benefits provided by or through the corporation
In general, Section 203 defines an interested stockholder as any entity or person beneficially owning 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation and any entity or person affiliated with or controlling or controlled by the entity or person.
Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaw Provisions
Our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws include a number of provisions that may have the effect of deterring hostile takeovers, or delaying or preventing changes in control of our management team or changes in our board of directors or our governance or policy, including the following:
•Board Vacancies. Our bylaws and our certificate of incorporation authorize generally only our board of directors to fill vacant directorships resulting from any cause or created by the expansion of our board of directors. In addition, the number of directors constituting our board of directors may be set only by resolution adopted by a majority vote of our entire board of directors. These provisions prevent a stockholder from increasing the size of our board of directors and gaining control of our board of directors by filling the resulting vacancies with its own nominees.
•Classified Board. Our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws provide that our board of directors is classified into three classes of directors. The existence of a classified board of directors could delay a successful tender offeror from obtaining majority control of our board of directors, and the prospect of that delay might deter a potential offeror.
•Directors Removed Only for Cause. Our certificate of incorporation provides that stockholders may remove directors only for cause.
•Supermajority Requirements for Amendments of Our Certificate of Incorporation and Our Bylaws. Our certificate of incorporation further provides that the affirmative vote of holders of at least 66 2/3% of our outstanding common stock is required to amend certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation, including provisions relating to the classified board, the size of the board of directors, removal of directors, special meetings, actions by written consent, and
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designation of our preferred stock. The affirmative vote of holders of at least 66 2/3% of our outstanding common stock is required to amend or repeal our bylaws, although our bylaws may be amended by a simple majority vote of our board of directors.
•Stockholder Action; Special Meetings of Stockholders. Our certificate of incorporation provides that our stockholders may not take action by written consent, but may only take action at annual or special meetings of our stockholders. As a result, holders of our capital stock would not be able to amend our bylaws or remove directors without holding a meeting of our stockholders called in accordance with our bylaws. Our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by a majority of our board of directors, the chairperson of our board of directors, or our chief executive officer, thus prohibiting a stockholder from calling a special meeting. These provisions might delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or for stockholders to take any action, including the removal of directors.
•Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations. Our bylaws provide advance notice procedures for stockholder seeking to bring business before our annual meeting of stockholder or to nominate candidates for election as directors at our annual meeting of stockholders. Our bylaws also specify certain requirements regarding the form and content of a stockholder’s notice. These provisions may preclude our stockholders from bringing matters before our annual meeting of stockholder or from making nominations for directors at our annual meeting of stockholders. We expect that these provisions might also 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.
•No Cumulative Voting. The DGCL provides that stockholders are not entitled to the right to cumulate votes in the election of directors unless a corporation’s certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws do not provide for cumulative voting.
•Issuance of Undesignated Preferred Stock. Our board of directors has the authority, without further action by the stockholders, to issue up to 10,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock with rights and preferences, including voting rights, designated from time to time by our board of directors. The existence of authorized but unissued shares of preferred stock enables our board of directors to render more difficult or to discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a merger, tender offer, proxy contest, or otherwise.
•Choice of Forum. Our certificate of incorporation provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by, or other wrongdoing by, any director, officer, stockholder, employee or agent to us or our stockholders; any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the DGCL, our certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws or as to which the DGCL confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware; any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws; or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Our bylaws also provide that
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the federal district courts of the United States of America, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). We refer to this provision of our bylaws as the “Federal Forum Provision”. While there can be no assurance that federal or state courts will follow the holding of the Delaware Supreme Court which found that such provisions are facially valid under Delaware law or determine that the Federal Forum Provision should be enforced in a particular case, application of the Federal Forum Provision means that suits brought by our stockholders to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act must be brought in federal court and cannot be brought in state court. Section 27 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all claims brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. In addition, neither the exclusive forum provision nor the Federal Forum Provision applies to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act. Accordingly, actions by our stockholders to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder also must be brought in federal court. Our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the regulations promulgated thereunder. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to our exclusive forum provisions, including the Federal Forum Provision. These provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum of their choosing for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers, and other employees.
Transfer Agent and Registrar
The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A.
Exchange Listing
Our common stock is listed on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “BILL.”
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