Description of Securities
Exhibit 4.2
DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK
The following is a description of the material terms of our capital stock. This summary does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the actual terms and provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws, copies of which are filed as exhibits to our most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and to the Delaware General Corporation Act. Our common stock is our only class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange of 1934, as amended.
Authorized Capitalization
Our authorized capital stock consists of 500,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share, and 50,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share.
Common Stock
The holders of our common stock are entitled to the following rights.
Voting Rights
Each share of common stock entitles the holder to one vote with respect to each matter presented to our stockholders on which the holders of common stock are entitled to vote. Directors are elected by a plurality of the votes of the shares present in person or by proxy at a stockholders meeting and voting for nominees in the election of directors, and holders of our common stock do not have cumulative voting rights. Except as otherwise provided in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or required by law, all matters to be voted on by our stockholders other than the election of directors must be approved by a majority of the shares present in person or by proxy at the meeting and entitled to vote on the subject matter.
Dividend Rights
Holders of common stock share equally in any dividend declared out of legally available funds by our board of directors, subject to any preferential rights of the holders of any outstanding preferred stock.
Liquidation Rights
In the event of any voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution or winding up of our affairs, holders of our common stock would be entitled to share ratably in our assets that are legally available for distribution to stockholders after payment of liabilities. If we have any preferred stock outstanding at such time, holders of the preferred stock may be entitled to distribution and/or liquidation preferences. In either such case, we must pay the applicable distribution to the holders of our preferred stock before we may pay distributions to the holders of our common stock.
Other Rights
Our stockholders have no subscription, redemption or conversion privileges. Our common stock does not entitle its holders to preemptive rights for additional shares and does not have any sinking fund provisions. All of the outstanding shares of our common stock are fully paid and nonassessable. The rights, preferences and privileges of the holders of our common stock are subject to the rights of the holders of shares of any series of preferred stock that we may issue.
Preferred Stock
Our board of directors is authorized to provide for the issuance of preferred stock in one or more series and to fix the preferences, powers and relative, participating, optional or other special rights, and qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof, including the dividend rate, conversion rights, voting rights, redemption rights and liquidation preference and to fix the number of shares to be included in any such series without any further vote or action by our stockholders. Any preferred stock so issued may rank senior to our common stock with respect to the payment of dividends or amounts upon liquidation, dissolution or winding up, or both. In addition, any such shares of preferred stock may have class or series voting rights. The issuance of preferred stock may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of our company without further action by the stockholders and may adversely affect the voting and other rights of the holders of our common stock. Our board of directors has not authorized the issuance of any shares of preferred stock, and we have no agreements or current plans for the issuance of any shares of preferred stock.
Anti-takeover Effects of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that may delay, defer or discourage another party from acquiring control of us. These provisions, which are summarized below, discourage coercive takeover practices or inadequate takeover bids. These provisions are also designed to encourage persons seeking to acquire control of us to first negotiate with our board of directors, which we believe may result in an improvement of the terms of any such acquisition in favor of our stockholders. However, they also give our board the power to discourage acquisitions that some stockholders may favor.
Board Composition and Filling Vacancies
We have a classified board of directors. This may discourage third-party proxy contests, tender offers or attempts to obtain control of us even if such changes would be beneficial to us and our stockholders.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that directors may be removed only for cause by the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the voting power of the outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote. Furthermore, any vacancy on our board of directors, however occurring, including a vacancy resulting from an increase in the size of our board, may only be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of our directors then in office even if less than a quorum.
No Stockholder Action by Written Consent
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, subject to the rights of any holders of preferred stock to act by written consent instead of a meeting, stockholder action may be taken only at an annual meeting or special meeting of stockholders and may not be taken by written consent instead of a meeting, unless affiliates of CCMP Capital Advisors, LLC, or CCMP, own at least 50% of our outstanding common stock or the action to be taken by written consent of stockholders and the taking of this action by written consent has been expressly approved in advance by the board of directors.
Meetings of Stockholders
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that only a majority of the members of our board of directors then in office or the Chief Executive Officer may call special meetings of the stockholders and only those matters set forth in the notice of the special meeting may be considered or acted upon at the special meeting of stockholders. Our amended and restated bylaws limit the business that may be conducted at an annual meeting of stockholders to those matters properly brought before the meeting.
Advance Notice Requirements
Our amended and restated bylaws establish an advance notice procedure for stockholders to make nominations of candidates for election as directors or to bring other business before an annual meeting of our stockholders. The amended and restated bylaws provide that any stockholder wishing to nominate persons for election as directors at, or bring other business before, an annual meeting must deliver to our secretary a written notice of the stockholder’s intention to do so. To be timely, the stockholder’s notice must be delivered to or mailed and received by us not later than the 90th day nor earlier than the 120th day prior to the anniversary date of the preceding annual meeting, except that if the annual meeting is not within 30 days before or 60 days after such anniversary date, we must receive the notice not earlier than the 120th day prior to such annual meeting and not later than the 90th day prior to such annual meeting. If a public announcement of the date of such annual meeting is made fewer than 100 days prior to the date of such annual meeting, then notice must be received by us no later than the tenth day following the public announcement of the date of the meeting. The notice must include the information specified in the amended and restated bylaws. These provisions may preclude stockholders from bringing matters before a meeting of stockholders or from making nominations for directors at a stockholders meeting.
Amendment to Bylaws and Certificate of Incorporation
Any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation must first be approved by a majority of our board of directors and (i) if required by law, thereafter be approved by a majority of the outstanding shares entitled to vote on the amendment or (ii) if related to provisions regarding the classification of the board of directors, the removal of directors, stockholder action by written consent, the ability to call special meetings of stockholders, indemnification, corporate opportunities or the amendment of our bylaws or certificate of incorporation, thereafter be approved by 662/3% of the outstanding shares entitled to vote on the amendment. Our amended and restated bylaws may be amended (x) by the affirmative vote of a majority of the directors then in office, subject to any limitations set forth in the amended and restated bylaws, without further stockholder action or (y) by the affirmative vote of at least 662/3% of the outstanding shares entitled to vote on the amendment, without further action by our board of directors.
Authorized but Unissued Shares
The authorized but unissued shares of our common stock and our preferred stock are available for future issuance without any further vote or action by our stockholders. These additional shares may be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future public offerings to raise additional capital, corporate acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued shares of our common stock and our preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control over us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.
Delaware Anti-takeover Statute
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or the DGCL, which relate to business combinations with interested stockholders, do not apply to us. Section 203 of the DGCL prohibits a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination transaction with an interested stockholder (a stockholder who owns more than 15% of the corporation’s common stock) for a period of three years after the interested stockholder became such unless the transaction fits within an applicable exemption, such as board approval of the business combination or the transaction that resulted in such stockholder becoming an interested stockholder.
Corporate Opportunities
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that CCMP and its affiliates have no obligation to offer us an opportunity to participate in business opportunities presented to CCMP or its respective affiliates even if the opportunity is one that we might reasonably have pursued (and therefore may be free to compete with us in the same business or similar businesses), and that neither CCMP nor its respective affiliates will be liable to us or our stockholders for breach of any duty by reason of any such activities unless, in the case of any person who is a director or officer of our company, such business opportunity is expressly offered to such director or officer in writing solely in his or her capacity as an officer or director of our company.
Listing
Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "GNRC."
Transfer Agent and Registrar
The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A.
