Description of Securities
Exhibit 4.1
DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES
The following is a summary of the material terms of securities of Surf Air Mobility Inc. (“we”, “us” and “our”) registered under Section 12 of the Securities Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), as of December 31, 2023. The summary does not purport to be complete, and is subject to and qualified its entirety by reference to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation”) and our amended and restated bylaws (the “Amended and Restated Bylaws”), copies of which have been filed as exhibits to the Annual Report on Form 10-K, and relevant provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”).
General
Our authorized capital stock consists of 800,000,000 shares of our common stock, $0.0001 par value (“Common Stock”), and 50,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, $0.0001 par value.
Common Stock
All issued and outstanding shares of our Common Stock are duly authorized, validly issued, fully paid, and non-assessable. All authorized but unissued shares of our Common Stock are available for issuance by our board of directors without any further stockholder action, except as required by the listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”).
The rights, preferences, and privileges of holders of 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.
Voting Rights
Subject to the limitations on foreign ownership described below, common stockholders of record are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by stockholders. Unless specified in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation or Amended and Restated Bylaws, or as required by applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of our shares of our Common Stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders.
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation does not provide for cumulative voting for the election of directors.
Dividend Rights
Subject to preferences that may be applicable to any then-outstanding preferred stock, holders of our Common Stock are entitled to receive ratably those dividends, if any, as may be declared by our board of directors out of legally available funds. Under Delaware law, we can only pay dividends either out of “surplus” or out of the current or the immediately preceding year’s net profits. Surplus is defined as the excess, if any, at any given time, of the net assets of a corporation over its total liabilities and statutory capital. The value of a corporation’s assets can be measured in a number of ways and may not necessarily equal their book value.
Right to Receive Liquidation Distributions
In the event of our liquidation, dissolution, or winding up, the holders of our Common Stock will be entitled to share ratably in the assets legally available for distribution to stockholders after the payment of or provision for all of our debts and other liabilities, subject to the prior rights of any preferred stock then-outstanding.
Other Matters
Our Common Stock does not have preemptive rights pursuant to the terms of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws. There are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to our Common Stock.
Preferred Stock
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that shares of preferred stock may be issued from time to time in one or more series. Our board of directors is authorized to fix the voting rights, if any, designations, powers, preferences, the relative, participating, optional or other special rights and any qualifications, limitations and restrictions thereof, applicable to the shares of each series. In addition, our board of directors is able to, without stockholder approval, issue preferred stock with voting and other rights that could adversely affect the voting power and other rights of the holders of our Common Stock and could have anti-takeover effects. The ability of our board of directors to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control of us or the removal of our management. Although we did not have any preferred stock outstanding as of December 31, 2023 and do not currently intend to issue any shares of preferred stock, we cannot assure you that we will not do so in the future.
Registration Rights
GEM
Pursuant to the terms of the registration rights agreement dated as of August 26, 2020, that we entered into with GEM Global Yield LLC SCS (“GEM”) and an affiliated entity, we were required to file a registration statement with respect to securities issued and are required to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement. Registration statements intended to satisfy such registration requirement became effective on September 28, 2023 and November 13, 2023, and registered 18,700,000 shares and 300,000,000 shares, respectively.
The registration rights agreement also provides that, in the event that we propose to register any of our securities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), either for our own account or for the account of other security holders, other than (i) on Form S-4, (ii) Form S-8 or (iii) their then equivalents relating to equity securities to be issued solely in connection with any acquisition of any entity or business or equity securities issuable in connection with our employee stock option or other employee benefit plans, GEM will be entitled to certain piggyback registration rights allowing it to include its shares in such registration, subject to certain marketing and other limitations. We will pay the registration expenses, other than underwriting discounts and commissions, of the shares registered by the registrations described above.
Other Registration Rights
The following parties were entitled to customary rights with respect to the registration of shares of our Common Stock:
A registration statement intended to satisfy such registration requirements was declared effective on September 29, 2023 and registered an aggregate of 1,983,333 shares of our Common Stock.
Palantir Technologies Inc. (“Palantir”) is entitled to certain customary rights with respect to the registration of 1,755,156 shares of Common Stock issued to Palantir as of December 31, 2023, in satisfaction of fees owed for services. We are required to use our commercially reasonable efforts to file a registration statement registering the resale of such shares as soon as reasonably practicable after their issuance and are required to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement. We will pay the registration expenses, other than underwriting discounts and commissions, of the shares registered by such registration.
Certain Foreign Ownership and Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law and our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws provide that at no time shall more than 25.0% of our total voting interest be owned or controlled by persons or entities who are not citizens of the United States (“Non-Citizens”). Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws implement this legally-required provision by limiting voting rights of Non-Citizens to Kuzari Investor 94647 LLC and our co-founders, Sudhin Shahani and Liam Fayed, and their respective affiliates (collectively, the “Permitted Holders”) in the event that Non-Citizens own (beneficially or of record) more than 25.0% of the total voting interest. All other Non-Citizens that own (beneficially or of record) or have voting control over any shares of our capital stock will have their voting rights subject to automatic suspension. The voting rights of the Permitted Holders will be reduced pro rata if their combined ownership percentage exceeds 25.0%. Additionally, our Amended and Restated Bylaws limit the amount of outstanding equity interests held by Non-Citizens who are a resident of a country that is not party to an “open-skies” agreement with the United States to 25.0% and all Non-Citizens collectively to 49.0%.
We are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL regulating corporate takeovers. This statute prevents certain Delaware corporations, under certain circumstances, from engaging in a “business combination” with:
A “business combination” includes a merger or sale of our assets with a market value of 10% or more of the aggregate market value of all of our assets or of all of our outstanding stock. However, the above provisions of Section 203 do not apply if:
Under certain circumstances, Section 203 of the DGCL will make it more difficult for a person who would be an “interested stockholder” to effect various business combinations with us for a three-year period. This provision may encourage companies interested in acquiring us 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 that results in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder. Section 203 of the DGCL also may have
the effect of preventing changes in our board of directors and may make it more difficult to accomplish transactions that stockholders may otherwise deem to be in their best interests.
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that our board of directors is classified into three classes of directors. As a result, in most circumstances, a person can gain control of our board of directors only by successfully engaging in a proxy contest at two or more annual meetings.
Lock-Up
Our Amended and Restated Bylaws contains certain lock-up provisions related to our Common Stock (i) received by former Surf Air Global Limited (“Surf Air Global”) shareholders as consideration in the transaction pursuant to which one of our wholly-owned subsidiaries was merged with and into Surf Air Global, after which Surf Air Global became our wholly-owned subsidiary (the “Internal Reorganization”), (ii) issued to our directors, officers and employees upon the settlement or exercise of stock options or other equity awards of Surf Air Global that we assumed after the Internal Reorganization and (iii) issued pursuant to certain of our convertible instruments, including warrants and SAFEs (holders thereof, collectively, the “Lock-Up Holders”). Shares of our Common Stock received by former stockholders of Southern in connection with our acquisition of Southern are not subject to any lock-up.
In addition, we waived the lock-up provisions in respect of the approximately 13.3 million shares of Common Stock held by lenders, including PFG, LamVen LLC and LamJam II LLC. Our Amended and Restated Bylaws provide that (1) 40% of the shares issued to the Lock-Up Holders will not be subject to any lock-up provisions, (2) 30% of the shares issued to the Lock-Up Holders will be restricted from being transferred, subject to certain limited exceptions, for a period of 90 days from the closing of the Internal Reorganization, which expired on October 19, 2023, and (3) the remaining 30% of the shares issued to the Lock-Up Holders will be restricted from being transferred, subject to certain limited exceptions, for a period of 180 days from the closing of the Internal Reorganization, provided that if the lock-up period would end during a Blackout Period (as defined in our Amended and Restated Bylaws), the lock-up period would then end on the first trading day following the end of the Blackout Period. The lock-up provisions may be waived by our board of directors, in its sole discretion, with respect to any shares held by a Lock-Up Holder. In addition, shares of any of our lenders who is party to a credit, financing or other agreements containing an express waiver of the lock-up provisions, will not be subject to any lock-up.
Authorized But Unissued Shares
Our authorized but unissued Common Stock and preferred stock are available for future issuances without stockholder approval (including a specified future issuance) and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions, and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued and unreserved Common Stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger, or otherwise.
Exclusive Forum for Certain Lawsuits
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against any of our current or former directors, officers, employees, or stockholders for breach of fiduciary duty and other similar actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware, or if such court does not have subject matter jurisdiction, the federal district court of the State of Delaware. Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation also requires, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the federal district courts of the United States to be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action under the Securities Act. In addition, the exclusive forum provision in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.
Although we believe these provisions benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, a court may determine that these provisions are unenforceable, and to the extent they are enforceable, the provisions may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers, although our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
Special Meeting of Stockholders
Our Amended and Restated Bylaws provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by a resolution adopted by our board of directors.
Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations
Our Amended and Restated Bylaws provide that stockholders seeking to bring business before our annual meeting of stockholders, or to nominate candidates for election as directors at our annual meeting of stockholders, must provide timely notice of their intent in writing. To be timely, a stockholder’s notice will need to be received by the company secretary at our principal executive offices not later than the close of business on the 90th day nor earlier than the opening of business on the 120th day prior to the anniversary date of the immediately preceding annual meeting of stockholders. Pursuant to Rule 14a-8 of the Exchange Act, proposals seeking inclusion in our annual proxy statement must comply with the notice periods contained therein. Our Amended and Restated Bylaws also specify certain requirements as to the form and content of a stockholders’ meeting. These provisions may preclude our stockholders from bringing matters before our annual meeting of stockholders or from making nominations for directors at our annual meeting of stockholders.
Action by Written Consent
Any action required or permitted to be taken at any annual and special meeting of stockholders may be taken only upon the vote of stockholders at an annual or special meeting duly noticed and called in accordance of the DGCL and may not be taken by written consent of the stockholders without a meeting.
Classified Board of Directors
Our board of directors is divided into three classes, Class A, Class B and Class C, with members of each class serving staggered three-year terms. As a result, in most circumstances, a person can gain control of our board of directors only by successfully engaging in a proxy contest at two or more annual meetings. Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws provide that the authorized number of directors may be changed only by resolution of our board of directors. Subject to the terms of any preferred stock, any or all of the directors may be removed from office at any time, but only for cause and only by the affirmative vote of holders of at least 66 2/3% of the voting power of all then outstanding shares of our 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.
Limitation of Liability of Directors and Officers
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that, to the fullest extent provided by Delaware law, no director or officer will be personally liable to us or our stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director or officer, as applicable.
Transfer Agent
The transfer agent for our Common Stock is Equiniti Trust Company, LLC. The transfer agent’s address is 6201 15th Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11219.
Listing
Our Common Stock is currently listed on the NYSE under the symbol “SRFM”.