Description of Capital Stock

Contract Categories: Business Finance - Stock Agreements
EX-4.3 2 d109589dex43.htm EX-4.3 EX-4.3

Exhibit 4.3

DESCRIPTION OF REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES

REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS AMENDED

The following summary describes our capital stock and certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our amended and restated bylaws, and the Delaware General Corporation Law. Because the following is only a summary, it does not contain all of the information that may be important to you. For a complete description, you should refer to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, copies of which have been publicly filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as Exhibits 3.1 and 3.2, respectively, to our Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Laird Superfood, Inc. has one class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”): our common stock, par value $0.001 per share. References herein to “we,” “us,” “our”, and the “Company” refer to Laird Superfood, Inc. and not to any of our subsidiaries.

Authorized Capital Stock

Our authorized capital stock consists of 100,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share and 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share, the rights and preferences of which our board of directors may establish from time to time.

Common Stock

Holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each share of common stock held of record for the election of directors and on all matters submitted to a vote of shareholders. A majority vote of the holders of common stock is generally required to take action under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws. Holders of our common stock are entitled to receive dividends ratably, if any, as may be declared by our board of directors out of legally available funds, subject to any preferential dividend rights of any preferred stock then outstanding. Upon our dissolution, liquidation or winding up, holders of our common stock are entitled to share ratably in our net assets legally available after the payment of all our debts and other liabilities, subject to the preferential rights of any preferred stock then outstanding. Holders of our common stock have no preemptive, subscription, redemption or conversion rights and no sinking fund provisions are applicable to our common stock. The rights, preferences and privileges of holders of our common stock are subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of shares of any series of preferred stock that we may designate and issue in the future.

Transfer Agent and Registrar

The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Broadridge Corporate Issuers Solutions, Inc.

Preferred Stock

Our board of directors has the authority, without further action by the shareholders, to issue up to 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock in one or more series and to fix the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions thereof. These rights, preferences and privileges could include dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, redemption rights, 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 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 change in our control or other corporate action.

Our board of directors will make any determination to issue shares of preferred stock based on its judgment as to the best interests of the Company and the best interests of our shareholders. We have no shares of preferred stock outstanding and we have no current plans to issue any shares of preferred stock.

Anti-Takeover Effects of Provisions of Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, Amended and Restated Bylaws and Delaware Law

Some provisions of Delaware law and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that could make the following transactions more difficult: acquisition of us by means of a tender offer; acquisition of us by means of a proxy contest or otherwise; or removal of our incumbent officers and directors. It is possible that these provisions could make it more difficult to accomplish or could deter transactions that shareholders may otherwise consider to be in their best interest or in our best interests, including transactions that might result in a premium over the market price for our shares.

These provisions, summarized below, are expected to discourage coercive takeover practices and 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. We believe that the benefits of increased protection of our potential ability to negotiate with the proponent of an unfriendly or unsolicited proposal to acquire or restructure us outweigh the disadvantages of discouraging these proposals because negotiation of these proposals could result in an improvement of their terms.

Delaware Takeover Statute

We are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. 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:

 

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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;

 

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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

 

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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.

Section 203 defines a business combination to include:

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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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

 

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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.

 

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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.

No Written Consent of Shareholders

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that all shareholder actions are required to be taken by a vote of the shareholders at an annual or special meeting, and that shareholders may not take any action by written consent in lieu of a meeting. This limit may lengthen the amount of time required to take shareholder actions and would prevent the amendment of our amended and restated bylaws or removal of directors by our shareholders without holding a meeting of shareholders.

Meetings of Shareholders

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that a special meeting of shareholders may be called only by our board of directors, the chairperson of our board of directors or our chief executive officer or president (in the absence of a chief executive officer), and only those matters set forth in the notice of the special meeting may be considered or acted upon at a special meeting of shareholders. Our amended and restated bylaws also limit the business that may be conducted at an annual meeting of shareholders to those matters properly brought before the meeting.

Advance Notice Requirements

Our amended and restated bylaws establish advance notice procedures with regard to shareholder proposals relating to the nomination of candidates for election as directors or new business to be brought before meetings of our shareholders. These procedures provide that notice of shareholder proposals must be timely given in writing to our corporate secretary prior to the meeting at which the action is to be taken. Generally, to be timely, notice must be received at our principal executive offices not less than 90 days nor more than 120 days prior to the first anniversary date of the annual meeting for the preceding year. Our amended and restated bylaws specify the requirements as to form and content of all shareholders’ notices. These requirements may preclude shareholders from bringing matters before the shareholders at an annual or special meeting.

Amendment to Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation or Amended and Restated Bylaws

Any amendment of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation must first be approved by a majority of our board of directors, and if required by law or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, must thereafter be approved by two-thirds of the then outstanding voting power of our capital stock entitled to vote thereon in the case of amendments relating to certain matters involving our board of directors, shareholder action by written consent in lieu of a meeting, special meetings of shareholders, amendments to our bylaws, and forum selection provisions, and a majority of the then outstanding voting power of our capital stock entitled to vote thereon in the case of other amendments. In addition, our amended and restated bylaws may be amended or repealed by a majority vote of our board of directors or by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the then outstanding voting power of our capital stock entitled to vote thereon.

Undesignated Preferred Stock

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides for 5,000,000 authorized shares of preferred stock. The existence of authorized but unissued shares of preferred stock may enable our board of directors to discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a merger, tender offer, proxy contest or otherwise. For example, if in the due exercise of its fiduciary obligations, our board of directors were to determine that a takeover proposal is not in the best interests of our shareholders, our board of directors could cause shares of preferred stock to be issued without shareholder approval in one or more private offerings or other transactions that might dilute the voting or other rights of the proposed acquirer or insurgent shareholder or shareholder group. In this regard, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation grants our board of directors broad power to establish the rights and preferences of authorized and unissued shares of preferred stock. The issuance of shares of preferred stock could decrease the amount of earnings and assets available for distribution to holders of shares of common stock. The issuance may also adversely affect the rights and powers, including voting rights, of these holders and may have the effect of delaying, deterring or preventing a change in control of us.

 

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Choice of Forum

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative form, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if the Court of Chancery does not have jurisdiction, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware) will be the sole and exclusive forum for: (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (2) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty or other wrongdoing by any of our directors, officers, employees or agents to us or our shareholders; (3) any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware or our certificate of incorporation or bylaws; (4) any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our certificate of incorporation or bylaws; or (5) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). This provision does not apply to claims under the Exchange Act. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation also provides that any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock will be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to these choice of forum provisions. It is possible that a court of law could rule that the choice of forum provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation are inapplicable or unenforceable if they are challenged in a proceeding or otherwise. Although we believe these provisions benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law and the Securities Act for the specified types of actions and proceedings, the provisions may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against us or our directors and officers.

 

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