Description of the Registrants Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

EX-4.10 3 d860834dex410.htm EX-4.10 EX-4.10

Exhibit 4.10

DESCRIPTION OF PARTY CITY HOLDCO INC’S REGISTERED SECURITIES

PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

The following is a description of the material terms of the common stock, $0.01 par value per share (the “common stock”), of Party City Holdco Inc. (the “Company,” “we,” “our” or “us”), which is the only security of the Company registered pursuant to Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). This description may not contain all of the information that is important to you. To understand them fully, you should read our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “Certificate of Incorporation”) and amended and restated bylaws (the “Bylaws”), copies of which are filed as exhibits to our Annual Report on Form 10-K, as well as the relevant portions of the Delaware General Corporation Law, as amended (“DGCL”).

Description of Common Stock

General. Our Certificate of Incorporate authorizes the issuance of up to 300,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.01. None of our common stock has been designated as non-voting.

Voting Rights. Holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders and do not have cumulative voting rights. An election of directors by our stockholders shall be determined by a plurality of the votes cast by the stockholders entitled to vote on the election. Holders of common stock are entitled to receive proportionately any dividends as may be declared by our board of directors, subject to any preferential dividend rights of any series of preferred stock that is outstanding at the time of the dividend.

Liquidation and Dissolution. In the event of our liquidation or dissolution, the holders of common stock are entitled to receive proportionately our net assets available for distribution to stockholders after payment of all debts and other liabilities, subject to the prior rights of any outstanding preferred stock.

Rights, Preferences and Privileges. The rights, preferences and privileges of holders of common stock are subject to the rights of the holders of shares of any series of preferred stock that we may designate and issue in the future.

Preemptive Rights. Our common stock is not entitled to preemptive rights and is not subject to conversion, redemption or sinking fund provisions.

Assessment. All outstanding shares of our common stock are fully paid and nonassessable.

Preferred Stock

Under our Certificate of Incorporation, our board of directors has the authority, without further action by our stockholders, except as described below, to issue up to 15,000,000 shares of preferred stock in one or more series and to fix the voting powers, designations, preferences and the relative participating, optional or other special rights and qualifications, limitations and restrictions of each series, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption, liquidation preferences and the number of shares constituting any series. Because the board of directors has the power to establish the preferences and rights of the shares of any additional series of preferred stock, it may afford holders of any preferred stock preferences, powers and rights, including voting and dividend rights, senior to the rights of the holders of the common stock, which could adversely affect the holders of the common stock and could discourage a takeover of us even if a change of control of our company would be beneficial to the interests of our stockholders.

Anti-takeover Effects of the DGCL and our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws

Our Certificate of Incorporation and our bylaws contain provisions that may delay, defer or discourage another party from acquiring control of us. We expect that these provisions, which are summarized below, will 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 the 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 the board of directors the power to discourage acquisitions that some stockholders may favor.


Board of Directors

Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that the authorized number of directors may be changed only by resolution of the board of directors. A director may be removed with or without cause by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 75% of the voting power of our outstanding shares of capital stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class. Any vacancy on our board of directors, including a vacancy resulting from an enlargement of our board of directors, may be filled only by vote of a majority of our directors then in office.

Action by Written Consent

The DGCL provides that, unless otherwise stated in a corporation’s certificate of incorporation, the stockholders may act by written consent without a meeting. Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that any action required or permitted to be taken by our stockholders at an annual meeting or special meeting of the stockholders may only be taken at an annual or special meeting before which it is properly brought, and not by written consent without a meeting.

Special Meeting of Stockholders and Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals

Our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws provide that, except as otherwise required by law, special meetings of the stockholders can only be called by (a) our chairman or vice chairman of the board of directors or (b) the board of directors through a special resolution.

In addition, our Bylaws require advance notice procedures for stockholder proposals to be brought before an annual meeting of the stockholders, including the nomination of directors. Stockholders at an annual meeting may only consider the proposals specified in the notice of meeting or brought before the meeting by or at the direction of the board of directors or any committee thereof, or by a stockholder of record on the record date for the meeting, who is entitled to vote at the meeting and who has delivered a timely written notice in proper form to our secretary, of the stockholder’s intention to bring such business before the meeting.

These provisions could have the effect of delaying until the next stockholder meeting any stockholder actions, even if they are favored by the holders of a majority of our outstanding voting securities.

Amendment to Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws

The DGCL provides generally that the affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding stock entitled to vote on amendments to a corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws is required to approve such amendment, unless a corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws, as the case may be, requires a greater percentage. Our Bylaws may be amended or repealed by a majority vote of our board of directors or, in addition to any other vote otherwise required by law, by the holders of two thirds of the voting power of our outstanding shares of capital stock entitled to vote. Additionally, the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the voting power of the outstanding shares of capital stock entitled to vote on the adoption, alteration, amendment or repeal of our Certificate of Incorporation, voting as a single class, is required to amend or repeal or to adopt any provision of our Certificate of Incorporation.

Renouncement of Corporate Opportunity

Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any business opportunity that may from time to time be presented to Exempted Persons (as defined in the Certificate of Incorporation) and that may be a business opportunity for such Exempted Person, even if the opportunity is one that we might reasonably have pursued or had the ability or desire to pursue if granted the opportunity to do so. No such Exempted Person will be liable to us for breach of any fiduciary or other duty, as a director or officer or otherwise, by reason of the fact that such person, acting in good faith, pursues or acquires any such business opportunity, directs any such business opportunity to another person or fails to present any such business opportunity, or information regarding any such business opportunity, to us. None of the Exempted Persons or their representatives has any duty to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us or any of our subsidiaries. In addition, the affirmative vote of 80% of the voting power of the outstanding shares of capital stock entitled to vote on the adoption, alteration, amendment or repeal of our Certificate of Incorporation, voting together as a single class, shall be required to alter, amend or repeal, or to adopt any provision inconsistent with provisions related to the “Renouncement of Corporate Opportunity.”


Business Combinations

We have opted out of Section 203 of the DGCL. However, our Certificate of Incorporation contains similar provisions providing that we may not engage in certain “business combinations” with any “interested stockholder” for a three-year period following the time that the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless:

 

   

prior to such time, our board of directors approved either the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder;

 

   

upon consummation of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of our voting stock outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding certain shares; or

 

   

at or subsequent to that time, the business combination is approved by our board of directors and by the affirmative vote of holders of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding voting stock that is not owned by the interested stockholder.

Generally, a “business combination” includes a merger, asset or stock sale or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. Subject to certain exceptions, an “interested stockholder” is a person who, together with that person’s affiliates and associates, owns, or within the previous three years owned, 15% or more of our voting stock.

Under certain circumstances, this provision will make it more difficult for a person who would be an “interested stockholder” to effect various business combinations with a corporation for a three-year period. This provision may encourage companies interested in acquiring our company to negotiate in advance with our board of directors because the stockholder approval requirement would be avoided if our board of directors approves either the business combination or the transaction which results in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder. These provisions also may have the effect of preventing changes in our board of directors and may make it more difficult to accomplish transactions which stockholders may otherwise deem to be in their best interests.

Section 102(b)(7) of the DGCL enables a corporation in its certificates of incorporation to eliminate or limit the personal liability of a director for violations of the director’s fiduciary duty, except (i) for any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty to the corporation or its stockholders, (ii) for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (iii) for liability of directors for unlawful payment of dividends or unlawful stock purchase or redemptions pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL or (iv) for any transaction from which a director derived an improper personal benefit. Our Certificate of Incorporation includes a provision that eliminates the personal liability of directors for monetary damages for actions taken as a director to the fullest extent authorized by the DGCL.

Exclusive Jurisdiction for Certain Actions

Our Certificate of Incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in the name of the Company, actions against directors, officers and employees for breach of a fiduciary duty and other similar actions, may be brought only in specified courts in the State of Delaware. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.


Transfer Agent and Registrar

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

Listing

Our common stock is listed on the NYSE under the symbol “PRTY.”