Description of El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. Capital Stock

The following is a summary of the rights and preferences of our capital stock and preferred stock, related provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, and certain applicable provisions of Delaware law. While we believe that the following description covers the material terms of our capital stock, the description may not contain all of the information that is important to you. The following description is qualified by reference to our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws, which are filed as exhibits to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 25, 2019 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Our authorized capital stock consists of 200,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share, and 100,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share. As of February 27, 2020, we had 35,089,983 shares of common stock outstanding, and no shares of preferred stock outstanding.

Under our certificate of incorporation, each outstanding share of common stock is entitled to one vote on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders. In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of common stock will be entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining after payment of liabilities and any amounts due to the holders of preferred stock. Holders of our common stock have no preemptive, conversion or subscription rights. No redemption or sinking fund provisions apply to our common stock. Holders of our common stock do not have the right of cumulative voting in elections of directors, which means that holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock can elect all of the directors standing for election at any annual meeting of stockholders.

Subject to preferences that may be applicable to any outstanding shares of preferred stock, holders of our common stock are entitled to receive ratably such dividends as may be declared from time to time by our board of directors out of legally available funds.

Our certificate of incorporation authorizes our board of directors, without stockholder approval, to issue up to 100,000,000 shares of preferred stock in one or more series and to fix the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions granted to or imposed upon each such series of preferred stock, including voting rights, dividend rights, conversion rights, terms of redemption, liquidation preference, sinking fund terms, subscription rights and the number of shares constituting any series or the designation of a series.

Our board of directors is able to issue, without stockholder approval, preferred stock with voting and conversion rights that could adversely affect the voting power of the holders of common stock and reduce the likelihood that such holders will receive dividend payments or payments upon liquidation. Such issuance could have the effect of decreasing the market price of the common stock.

The following is a summary of certain provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”), and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws that may be deemed to have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, deter or prevent a tender offer or takeover attempt that a stockholder might consider to be in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares held by stockholders.

Our certificate of incorporation provides for our board of directors to be divided into three classes of directors, as nearly equal in number as possible, serving staggered terms. Approximately one-third of our board of directors is to be elected each year. Under Section 141 of the DGCL, unless the certificate of incorporation provides otherwise, directors serving on a classified board can only be removed for cause. Our certificate of incorporation provides that our directors may only be removed for cause, by a majority of the voting power of the outstanding voting stock voting as a single class to remove the director at an annual or special meeting. However, if Trimaran Pollo Partners, L.L.C. (“LLC”) beneficially owns more than 40% of our common stock, our directors may be removed with or without cause, by a majority of the voting power of the outstanding stock voting as a single class. The provision for our classified board of directors may be amended, altered or repealed only upon the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of our outstanding voting stock.

Our certificate of incorporation provides that the number of directors on our board of directors is to be fixed exclusively pursuant to resolution adopted by our board of directors. The exact number of members on our board of directors is to be determined from time to time by resolution of a majority of our full board of directors.

Pursuant to our certificate of incorporation, each director is to serve until his or her successor is duly elected and qualified, unless he or she resigns, dies, becomes disqualified or is removed. Our certificate of incorporation further provides that, generally, vacancies or newly created directorships in our board of directors may only be filled by a resolution approved by a majority of our board of directors and any director so chosen will hold office until the next election of the class for which such director was chosen.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws prohibit our stockholders from calling special meetings once LLC ceases to beneficially own more than 40% of our common stock, in which event, special meetings of stockholders will be able to be called only by (i) the Chairman of our board of directors or (ii) our Secretary at the written request of a majority of the number of directors that we would have were there no vacancies on our board of directors.

The DGCL permits stockholder action by written consent unless otherwise provided by a corporation’s certificate of incorporation. Our certificate of incorporation prohibits stockholder action by written consent when LLC ceases to beneficially own more than 40% of our common stock.

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 does not provide for cumulative voting in the election of directors.

Our bylaws provide that stockholders seeking to bring business before an annual meeting of stockholders or to nominate candidates for election as directors at an annual meeting of stockholders must provide timely notice of such proposed business in writing. To be timely, a stockholder’s notice generally must be delivered to or mailed and received at our principal executive office not less than 90 days or more than 120 days prior to the first anniversary of the preceding year’s annual meeting.

Our bylaws also provide certain requirements as to the form and content of a stockholder’s notice. These provisions may preclude stockholders from bringing matters before an annual meeting of stockholders or from making nominations for directors at an annual meeting of stockholders. A stockholder’s notice must set forth, among other things, as to each business matter or nomination the stockholder proposes to bring before the meeting:

 

If the stockholder is nominating a candidate for director, the stockholder’s notice must also include the name, age, business address, residence address and occupation of the nominee proposed by the stockholder and the signed consent of the nominee to serve as a director on our board of directors if so elected. The candidate may also be required to present certain information and make certain representations and agreements at our request.

In addition, a stockholder must also comply with all applicable requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) and the rules and regulations under the Exchange Act with respect to matters relating to nomination of candidates for directors.

The DGCL generally provides that the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares entitled to vote on any matter is required to amend a corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws, unless the corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws require a greater percentage. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws require that the affirmative votes of holders of at least 75% of the total votes eligible to be cast in the election of directors are required to amend, alter, change or repeal specified provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation on and after the date LLC ceases to beneficially own at least 40% of the total votes eligible to be cast in the election of directors, including:

 

This requirement of a supermajority vote to approve amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws could enable a minority of our stockholders to exercise veto power over any such amendments.

Section 203 of the DGCL, subject to certain exceptions, prohibits a publicly-held Delaware corporation from engaging in any business combination with any interested stockholder for a period of three years following the date that such person or entity became an interested stockholder, unless:

 

In general, Section 203 defines an “interested stockholder” as any person that is:

 

A Delaware corporation may “opt out” of these provisions with an express provision in its original certificate of incorporation or an express provision in its certificate of incorporation or bylaws resulting from a stockholders’ amendment approved by at least a majority of the outstanding voting stock. We have opted out of these provisions. However, our certificate of incorporation provides that in the event that LLC ceases to beneficially own more than 15% of our common stock, we will automatically become subject to Section 203 of the DGCL.

Section 145 of the DGCL provides that a Delaware corporation may indemnify any persons who are, or are threatened to be made, parties to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by or in the right of such corporation), by reason of the fact that such person was an officer, director, employee or agent of such corporation, or is or was serving at the request of such person as an officer, director, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise. The indemnity may include expenses (including attorneys’ fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding, provided that such person acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the corporation’s best interests and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe that his or her conduct was illegal.

A Delaware corporation may indemnify any persons who are, or are threatened to be made, a party to any threatened, pending or completed action or suit by or in the right of the corporation by reason of the fact that such person was a director, officer, employee or agent of such corporation, or is or was serving at the request of such corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise. The indemnity may include expenses (including attorneys’ fees) actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with the defense or settlement of such action or suit provided such person acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the corporation’s best interests except that no indemnification is permitted without judicial approval if the officer or director is adjudged to be liable to the corporation. Where an officer or director is successful on the merits or otherwise in the defense of any action referred to above, the corporation must indemnify him or her against the expenses that such officer or director has actually and reasonably incurred. Our certificate of incorporation provides for the indemnification of our directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted under the DGCL.

Expenses incurred by any officer or director in defending any such action, suit or proceeding in advance of its final disposition shall be paid by us upon delivery to us of an undertaking, by or on behalf of such director or officer, to repay all amounts so advanced if it shall ultimately be determined that such director or officer is not entitled to be indemnified by us.

Section 102(b)(7) of the DGCL permits a corporation to provide in its certificate of incorporation that a director of the corporation shall not be personally liable to the corporation or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duties as a director, except for liability for any:

 

Our certificate of incorporation includes such a provision.

Section 174 of the DGCL provides, among other things, that a director who willfully or negligently approves of an unlawful payment of dividends or an unlawful stock purchase or redemption may be held liable for such actions. A director who was either absent when the unlawful actions were approved, or dissented at the time, may avoid liability by causing his or her dissent to such actions to be entered in the books containing minutes of the meetings of the board of directors at the time such action occurred or immediately after such absent director receives notice of the unlawful acts.

We have entered into indemnification agreements with each of our current directors and executive officers. These agreements require us to indemnify these individuals to the fullest extent permitted under Delaware law against liabilities that may arise by reason of their service to us and to advance expenses incurred as a result of any proceeding against them as to which they could be indemnified. We also intend to enter into indemnification agreements with our future directors and executive officers.

The registrar and transfer agent for our common stock is American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC.

Our common stock trades on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the symbol “LOCO.”