Description of Securities Registered Under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, amended
EXHIBIT 4.6
Description of Securities Registered Under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
The following description of the capital stock of Select Energy Services, Inc. (the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our) is based upon our Fourth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and our Second Amended and Restated Bylaws, which we refer to as our “amended and restated certificate of incorporation” and “amended and restated bylaws,” respectively, and applicable provisions of law. The following summary does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the provisions of applicable law and to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws.
Authorized Capital Stock
Under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our authorized capital stock consists of (A) 50,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share, (B) 350,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, $0.01 par value (our “Class A common stock”), (C) 40,000,000 shares of Class A-2 common stock, par value $0.01 per share and (D) 150,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.01 per share (“Class B common stock”).
| Class A Common Stock |
Voting Rights. Holders of shares of our Class A common stock are entitled to one vote per share held of record on all matters to be voted upon by the stockholders. Under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, holders of shares of our Class A common stock do not have cumulative voting rights in the election of directors. Under the amended and restated certificate of incorporation, holders of shares of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock vote together as a single class on all matters presented to our stockholders for their vote or approval, except as required by law.
Dividend Rights. Holders of shares of our Class A common stock are entitled to ratably receive dividends when and if declared by our board of directors out of funds legally available for that purpose, subject to any statutory or contractual restrictions on the payment of dividends and to any prior rights and preferences that may be applicable to any outstanding preferred stock.
Liquidation Rights. Upon our liquidation, dissolution, distribution of assets or other winding up, holders of shares of our Class A common stock are entitled to receive ratably the assets available for distribution to the stockholders after payment of liabilities and the liquidation preference of any of our outstanding shares of preferred stock.
Other Matters. The shares of Class A common stock have no preemptive or conversion rights and are not subject to further calls or assessment by us. There are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to the Class A common stock. All outstanding shares of our Class A common stock are fully paid and non-assessable.
| Class B Common Stock |
Voting Rights. Holders of shares of our Class B common stock are entitled to one vote per share held of record on all matters to be voted upon by the stockholders. Holders of shares of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock vote together as a single class on all matters presented to our stockholders for their vote or approval, except as required by law.
Dividend and Liquidation Rights. Holders of our Class B common stock do not have any right to receive dividends, unless (i) the dividend consists of shares of our Class B common stock or of rights, options, warrants or other securities convertible or exercisable into or exchangeable for shares of Class B common stock paid proportionally with respect to each outstanding share of our Class B common stock and (ii) a dividend consisting of shares of Class A common stock or of rights, options, warrants or other securities convertible or exercisable into or exchangeable for shares of Class A common stock on the same terms is simultaneously paid to the holders of Class A common stock. Holders of our Class B common stock do not have any right to receive a distribution upon our liquidation or winding up.
Other Matters. The shares of Class B common stock have no preemptive rights and are not subject to further calls or assessment by us. There are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to the Class B common stock. All outstanding shares of our Class B common stock are fully paid and non-assessable.
| Class A-2 Common Stock |
General. Our shares of Class A-2 common stock were issued to holders of Class A-1 common stock in Rockwater Energy Solutions, Inc. (“Rockwater”) in connection with our November 1, 2017 business combination with Rockwater. Each share of our Class A-2 common stock converted automatically into a share of our Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis on March 29, 2018, and no shares of our Class A-2 common stock are outstanding.
| Anti-Takeover Effects of Provisions of Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, our Amended and Restated Bylaws and Delaware Law |
Some provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions that could make the following transactions more difficult: (i) acquisitions of us by means of a tender offer, proxy contest or otherwise or (ii) removal of our incumbent officers and directors. These provisions may also have the effect of preventing changes in our management. It is possible that these provisions could make it more difficult to accomplish or could deter transactions that stockholders 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 the board of directors or of our Class A common stock to first negotiate with us. We believe that the benefits of increased protection and 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, among other things, negotiation of these proposals could result in improved terms for our stockholders.
| Delaware Law |
In general, Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”)provides that, subject to certain exceptions set forth therein, a Delaware corporation shall not engage in any business combinations with any interested stockholder for a period of three years following the date that the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless:
| · | the transaction is approved by the board of directors before the date the interested stockholder attained that status; |
| · | upon consummation 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 commenced; or |
| · | on or after such time the business combination is approved by the board of directors and authorized at a meeting of stockholders by at least two-thirds of the outstanding voting stock that is not owned by the interested stockholder. |
For purposes of Section 203 of the DGCL, a business combination is defined to include a merger or consolidation, asset sale or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder, and an interested stockholder is defined to include (i) any person that is the owner of 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation, or is an affiliate or associate of the corporation and was the owner of 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation at any time within three years immediately prior to the date of determination and (ii) the affiliates and associates of such person.
We have opted out of Section 203 of the DGCL. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains, however, provisions that are similar to Section 203 of the DGCL (except with respect to certain of our owners prior
to our initial public offering, including Crestview Partners II GP, L.P., B-29 Investments, LP, and SCF-VI, L.P., SCF-VII, L.P. and SCF-VII(A), L.P., and any funds, limited partnerships or other investment entities or vehicles managed or controlled by SCF Partners, Inc.).
| Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws |
Provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may delay or discourage transactions involving an actual or potential change in control or change in our management, 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. Therefore, these provisions could adversely affect the price of our Class A common stock.
Among other things, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws:
| · | establish advance notice procedures with regard to stockholder proposals relating to the nomination of candidates for election as directors or new business to be brought before meetings of our stockholders. These procedures provide that notice of such stockholder proposals must be timely given in writing to our corporate secretary prior to the meeting at which the action is proposed 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’s annual meeting. Our amended and restated bylaws specify the requirements as to form and content of all stockholders’ notices. These requirements may deter stockholders from bringing matters before the stockholders at an annual or special meeting; |
| · | authorize our board of directors to issue undesignated preferred stock. This ability makes it possible for our board of directors to issue, without stockholder approval, preferred stock with voting or other rights or preferences that could impede the success of any attempt to change control of us. These and other provisions may have the effect of deferring hostile takeovers or delaying changes in control or management of our company; |
| · | provide that the authorized number of directors may be changed only by resolution of the board of directors; |
| · | provide that all vacancies, including newly created directorships, may, except as otherwise required by law or, if applicable, the rights of holders of a series of preferred stock, be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the total number of remaining authorized directors; |
| · | provide that any action required or permitted to be taken by the stockholders must be effected at a duly called annual or special meeting of stockholders and may not be effected by any consent in writing in lieu of a meeting of such stockholders, subject to the rights of the holders of any series of preferred stock with respect to such series; |
| · | provide that special meetings of our stockholders may only be called by a majority of the total number of authorized directors; and |
| · | provide that our amended and restated bylaws can be amended by unilateral action of a majority of the entire board of directors. |
| Forum Selection |
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, be the sole and exclusive forum for:
| · | any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; |
| · | any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers, employees or agents to us or our stockholders; |
| · | any action asserting a claim against us or any director or officer or other employee or agent of ours arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws; or |
| · | any action asserting a claim against us or any director or officer or other employee or agent of ours that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine; |
in each such case subject to such Court of Chancery having personal jurisdiction over the indispensable parties named as defendants therein.
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, this forum selection provision. Although we believe these provisions benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law for the specified types of actions and proceedings, the provisions may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors, officers, employees and agents. The enforceability of similar exclusive forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that, in connection with one or more actions or proceedings described above, a court could rule that this provision in our existing amended and restated certificate of incorporation is inapplicable or unenforceable.
The choice of forum provisions summarized above are not intended to, and would not, apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), or other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. To the extent that any such claims may be based upon federal law claims, Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Furthermore, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Stockholders may be subject to increased costs to bring these claims, and the choice of forum provisions could have the effect of discouraging claims or limiting investors’ ability to bring claims in a judicial forum that they find favorable.
