Description of Securities

Exhibit 4.1

DESCRIPTION OF THE REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES
REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

As of December 31, 2019, NCS Multistage Holdings, Inc. (“NCS,” the “Company,” “we,” “our” or “us”) had one class of securities, our common stock, par value $0.01 per share (“Common Stock”), registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

The following description of our Common Stock is a summary and does not purport to be complete. It is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to our Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Certificate of Incorporation”) and our Amended and Restated Bylaws (the “Bylaws”), each of which are incorporated by reference as an exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this Exhibit 4.1 is a part.

Authorized Capitalization

Our authorized capital stock consists of 225,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share. 

Common Stock

Holders of our common stock are entitled to the rights set forth below.

Voting Rights

Directors are elected by a plurality of the votes entitled to be cast except as set forth below with respect to directors elected by the holders of common stock. Our stockholders do not have cumulative voting rights. Except as otherwise provided in our Certificate of Incorporation or as required by law, all matters to be voted on by our stockholders other than matters relating to the election and removal of directors must be approved by a majority of the votes properly cast for or against such matter, and, for the avoidance of doubt, neither abstention nor broker non-votes shall be counted as votes cast for or against such matter or by a written resolution of the stockholders representing the number of affirmative votes required for such matter at a meeting.

Dividend Rights

Holders of common stock will share equally in any dividend declared by our board of directors (our “Board”), subject to the rights of the holders of any outstanding preferred stock.

Liquidation Rights

In the event of any voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution, distribution of assets 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.

Registration Rights

In connection with our initial public offering, funds (the “Advent Funds”), managed by Advent International Corporation (“Advent”), the Company and certain stockholders of the Company entered into a Registration Rights Agreement, dated May 3, 2017 (the “Registration Rights Agreement”). The Registration Rights Agreement provides for (i) demand registration rights for Advent, subject to a required anticipated aggregate gross proceeds of $25.0 million; (ii) piggyback registration rights for certain stockholders, subject to a pro rata reduction if the total amount of shares requested to be included exceeds the amount of securities which in the opinion of the underwriters can be sold; and (iii) shelf registration rights that may be requested by Advent to include registrable securities of Advent and certain stockholders, subject to a required anticipated aggregate gross proceeds of $10.0 million; provided that any such holders that are capable of selling all of their registrable securities pursuant to Rule 144 of the Securities Act, without timing or volume limitations will not have these piggyback registration rights. We will be responsible for fees and expenses in connection with the registration rights, other than underwriters’ discounts and brokers’ commissions, if any, relating to any such registration and offering.

Other Rights

Our stockholders have no preemptive or other rights to subscribe for additional shares. All holders of our common stock are entitled to share equally on a share-for-share basis in any assets available for distribution to common stockholders upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding up.

Preferred Stock

Our Board 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.

No shares of preferred stock are currently outstanding.

Anti-takeover Provisions

Our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws contain provisions that delay, defer or discourage transactions involving an actual or potential change in control of us or change in our management. We expect that these provisions, which are summarized below, discourage coercive takeover practices or inadequate takeover bids. These provisions are designed to encourage persons seeking to acquire control of us to first negotiate with our Board, 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 transactions that some stockholders may favor, including transactions in which stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares or transactions that our stockholders might otherwise deem to be in their best interests. Accordingly, these provisions could adversely affect the price of our common stock.

Requirements for Advance Notification of Stockholder Meetings, Nominations and Proposals

Our Bylaws provide that special meetings of the stockholders may be called only upon the request of a majority of our Board or upon the request of the Chief Executive Officer. Our Bylaws prohibit the conduct of any business at a special meeting other than as specified in the notice for such meeting. These provisions may have the effect of deferring, delaying or discouraging hostile takeovers or changes in control or management of our company.

Our Bylaws establish advance notice procedures with respect to stockholder proposals and the nomination of candidates for election as directors, other than nominations made by or at the direction of our Board or a committee of our Board. In order for any matter to be “properly brought” before a meeting, a stockholder will have to comply with the advance notice requirements described in our Bylaws. Our Bylaws allow the presiding officer at a meeting of the stockholders to adopt rules and regulations for the conduct of meetings which may have the effect of precluding the conduct of certain business at a meeting if the rules and regulations are not followed. These provisions may also defer, delay or discourage 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 Stockholder Action by Written Consent

Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that after the time that the Advent Funds collectively own less than 50.01% of our then outstanding common stock, 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 the directors then in office unanimously recommend that such action be permitted to be taken by written consent of stockholders. Failure to satisfy any of the requirements for a stockholder meeting could delay, prevent or invalidate stockholder action.

Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, as amended (“DGCL”)

Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that the provisions of Section 203 of 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 our 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. These provisions will apply even if the business combination could be considered beneficial by some stockholders. Although we have elected to opt out of the statute’s provisions, we could elect to be subject to Section 203 in the future.

Amendment to Bylaws and Certificate of Incorporation

Any amendment to our Certificate of Incorporation must first be approved by a majority of our Board 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 our Board, the removal of directors, director vacancies, forum selection for certain lawsuits, indemnification, corporate opportunities, business combinations, severability, the provision opting-out of Section 203 of the DGCL or the amendment of certain provisions of our Bylaws or Certificate of Incorporation, thereafter be approved by at least 66 2/₃% of the outstanding shares entitled to vote on the amendment. For so long as the Advent Funds beneficially owns 10% or more of our issued and outstanding common stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, any amendment to provisions regarding Section 203 of the DGCL or corporate opportunities must also receive Advent’s prior written consent. Our 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 bylaws, without further stockholder action or (y) by the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/₃% of the outstanding shares entitled to vote on the amendment, without further action by our Board.

Exclusive Forum

Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that, subject to certain exceptions, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for certain stockholder litigation matters. However, it is possible that a court could rule that this provision is unenforceable or inapplicable.



Listing

Our Common Stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “NCSM.”

Transfer Agent and Registrar

The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A.