Description of the registrants securities

EX-4.2 2 flgt-ex4_2.htm EX-4.2 EX-4.2

Exhibit 4.2

 

DESCRIPTION OF FULGENT GENETICS, INC.’S SECURITIES

REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

As of December 31, 2023, Fulgent Genetics, Inc. had one class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act: common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, or Common Stock.

Unless the context otherwise requires, all references to “we” or “us” in this Exhibit 4.2 refer to Fulgent Genetics, Inc.

DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK

The following summary description of our capital stock is based on the provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, or the Certificate, as well as our Bylaws, and the applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or the DGCL. The following description is only a summary and it may not contain all the information that is important to you. This information is qualified entirely by reference to the applicable provisions of our Certificate and Bylaws, which are exhibits to this report, and the DGCL.

As of the date of this report, our certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue 50,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share.

Common Stock

The holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders. The holders of our common stock do not have any cumulative voting rights. Because of this absence of cumulative voting, the holders of a majority of the shares of common stock entitled to vote in any election of directors have the power to elect all of the directors standing for election, if they should so choose. Holders of our common stock are entitled to receive ratably any dividends that may be declared by our board of directors from time to time out of funds legally available for that purpose, subject to any preferential dividend rights of any outstanding preferred stock. Our common stock has no preemptive rights, conversion rights or other subscription rights or redemption or sinking fund provisions. In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of our common stock will be entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining after payment of all debts and other liabilities and any liquidation preference of any outstanding preferred stock. All of the outstanding shares of our common stock, as well as any shares of common stock issuable upon the conversion of any securities convertible into our common stock, are (or will be upon issuance) fully paid and non-assessable.

Blank Check Preferred Stock

Our board of directors is authorized, subject to the limitations imposed by Delaware law, to issue up to 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share, in one or more series, without stockholder approval. Our board of directors may fix the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions of our authorized shares of preferred stock in one or more series and authorize their issuance without the approval of our stockholders. These rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions could include dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption, liquidation preferences, sinking fund terms and the number of shares constituting any series or the designation of such series, any or all of which may be greater than the rights of our common stock. The issuance of our preferred stock could adversely affect the voting power of holders of our common stock and the likelihood that such holders will receive dividend payments and payments upon liquidation. In addition, the issuance of preferred stock could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control of our company or other corporate action. As of the date of the filing of this report, no shares of preferred stock will be outstanding.

Antitakeover Provisions


 

Certain provisions of Delaware law, our Certificate and/or our Bylaws may have the effect of delaying, deferring or discouraging another person from acquiring control of our company, as described below.

 

 

Section 203 of the DGCL

We are subject to Section 203 of the DGCL, which prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any business combination with any interested stockholder for a period of three years after the date that such stockholder became an interested stockholder, with the following exceptions:

 

before such date, the board of directors of the corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder;

 

 

upon completion of the transaction that 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 began, excluding for purposes of determining the voting stock outstanding (but not the outstanding voting stock owned by the interested stockholder) those shares owned by (i) persons who are directors and also officers and (ii) employee stock plans in which employee participants do not have the right to determine confidentially whether shares held subject to the plan will be tendered in a tender or exchange offer; or

 

 

on or after such date, the business combination is approved by the board of directors and authorized at an annual or special meeting of the stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding voting stock that is not owned by the interested stockholder

In general, Section 203 defines a “business combination” to include the following:

 

any merger or consolidation involving the corporation and the interested stockholder;

 

 

any sale, transfer, pledge or other disposition of 10% or more of the assets of the corporation involving the interested stockholder;

 

 

subject to certain exceptions, any transaction that results in the issuance or transfer by the corporation of any stock of the corporation to the interested stockholder

 

 

any transaction involving the corporation that has the effect of increasing the proportionate share of the stock or any class or series of the corporation beneficially owned by the interested stockholder; or

 

 

the receipt by the interested stockholder of the benefit of any loans, advances, guarantees, pledges or other financial benefits by or through the corporation.

In general, Section 203 defines an “interested stockholder” as an entity or person who, together with the person’s affiliates and associates, beneficially owns, or within three years prior to the time of determination of interested stockholder status did own, 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation.

Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws

Our Certificate and Bylaws include a number of provisions that may discourage or delay attempts to take over our company or effect change to our management. These provisions are intended to enhance the likelihood of continued stability in the composition of our board of directors and its policies and to discourage coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids. These provisions are also designed to reduce our vulnerability to hostile takeovers and to discourage certain tactics that may be used in proxy fights. We believe the benefits of these provisions, including


 

increased protection of our potential ability to negotiate with the proponent of an unfriendly or unsolicited proposal to acquire or restructure our company, outweigh the disadvantages of discouraging takeover proposals.

No Cumulative Voting Rights

Because our Certificate does not provide for cumulative voting rights, stockholders holding a majority of our outstanding voting power will be able to elect all of our directors.

 

 

Removal of Directors; Number of Directors; Vacancies

Our Bylaws provide that directors may be removed by our stockholders upon the vote of a majority of our outstanding common stock, voting together as a single class, and subject to any rights of holders of any series of preferred stock that we may issue in the future, and that any such removal may be made with or without cause. Further, subject to any rights of holders of any series of preferred stock that we may issue in the future, the authorized number of directors may be changed only by the board of directors. Vacancies and newly created directorships on the board of directors may, except as otherwise required by law or determined by the board of directors, only be filled by a majority vote of the directors then serving on the board of directors, even though less than a quorum. These provisions will make it difficult for stockholders to remove directors and will 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.

Stockholder Actions; Special Meetings of Stockholders

Our Certificate and Bylaws provide that all stockholder actions must be effected at a duly called meeting of stockholders, thereby eliminating the right of stockholders to act by written consent without a meeting. Our Bylaws also provide that special meetings of stockholders may only be called by the Chairman of our board of directors, our President or our board of directors.

Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations

Our Bylaws provide advance notice procedures that must be followed by stockholders seeking to bring business before an annual meeting of our stockholders or to nominate candidates for election as directors at any meeting of our stockholders, which will require any such notice to be delivered to us at a specified time and in a specified form and contain certain specified information. These provisions may preclude our stockholders from bringing matters before our meetings of stockholders or from making nominations for directors at our meetings of stockholders if they do not comply with these requirements.

Issuance of Undesignated Preferred Stock

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 our company by means of a merger, tender offer, proxy contest or otherwise.

Limitations on Liability and Indemnification Matters

Our Certificate contains provisions that limit the liability of our directors for monetary damages to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL. Consequently, our directors will not be personally liable to us or our stockholders for monetary damages for any breach of fiduciary duties as directors, except liability for:

 

any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty to us or our stockholders;

 

 

any act or omission not in good faith or that involves intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law;

 


 

 

 

unlawful payments of dividends or unlawful stock repurchases or redemptions as provided in Section 174 of the DGCL; or

 

 

any transaction from which the director derived an improper personal benefit.

Additionally, our Certificate and Bylaws require us to indemnify our directors and officers to the maximum extent permitted by the DGCL and allow us to indemnify other employees and agents as set forth in the DGCL. These documents further provide that we shall pay expenses (including attorneys’ fees) incurred by an director or officer in defending any civil, criminal, administrative or investigative action, suit or proceeding for which such director or officer may be entitled to indemnification in advance of the final disposition of such action, suit or proceeding, upon receipt of an undertaking by or on behalf of such director or officer to repay such amount if it shall ultimately be determined that he or she is not entitled to be indemnified by us.

We have entered separate indemnification agreements with each of our directors which provide these individuals with indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws. These agreements, among other things, require us to indemnify our directors and officers for certain expenses, including attorneys’ fees, judgments, penalties, fines and settlement amounts actually and reasonably incurred by such director and officer in any action or proceeding arising out of his or her service to us or any of our subsidiaries or any other company or enterprise to which the individual provides services at our request. Subject to certain limitations, these indemnification agreements also require us to advance expenses incurred by our directors and officers for the defense of any action for which indemnification is required or permitted.

 

 

The limitation of liability and indemnification provisions in our Certificate, Bylaws and indemnification agreements may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our directors and officers for breach of their fiduciary duty. They may also reduce the likelihood of derivative litigation against our directors and officers, even though an action, if successful, might benefit us and other stockholders. Further, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent that we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers as required by these indemnification provisions.

Transfer Agent and Registrar

The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A. The transfer agent’s address is 250 Royall Street, Canton, Massachusetts 02021 and its telephone number is ###-###-####.

Listing on the Nasdaq Global Market

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “FLGT.”