Description of Securities
Exhibit 4.5
DESCRIPTION OF REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES
The following summary of Tuscan Holdings Corp.’s securities is based on and qualified by the Company’s Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation (the “Charter”). References to the “Company” and to “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Tuscan Holdings Corp.
General
The Company is authorized to issue 65,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001. There are no shares of preferred stock currently outstanding.
Units
Composition. Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one warrant. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of common stock.
Listing. The units are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “THCBU.”
Common Stock
Authorization. The outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock are duly authorized, validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.
Listing. The Company’s common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “THCB.”
Voting Rights. Common stockholders of record are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by stockholders.
Tuscan Holdings Acquisition LLC, our sponsor (“Sponsor”), as well as all of our officers and directors, have agreed to vote their respective shares of common stock owned by them immediately prior to our initial public offering (the “founder’s common stock”) and any shares purchased following the initial public offering in the open market in favor of any proposed business combination.
Conversion Rights. Holders of common stock issued in the Company’s initial public offering (which we refer to as “public shares”) have the right to demand that the Company convert such shares into a pro rata portion of the Company’s trust account upon the consummation of our initial business combination, either in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the business combination or by means of a tender offer.
The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek stockholder approval under the law or stock exchange listing requirement. We intend to conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) unless stockholder approval is required by law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to seek stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons.
If a stockholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our Charter, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to consummating our initial business combination. Our Charter requires these tender offer documents to contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules. If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law or Nasdaq, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, we will, like many blank check companies, offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If we seek stockholder approval, we will consummate our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination.
Outside Date. Pursuant to our Charter, if we do not consummate an initial business combination by April 30, 2021 (unless such date is extended by our stockholders pursuant to an amendment to our Charter), our corporate existence will cease except for the purposes of winding up our affairs and liquidating and we will redeem 100% of our outstanding public shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the trust account, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. Our Sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to waive their rights to participate in any liquidation distribution from the trust account occurring upon our failure to consummate an initial business combination with respect to the founder’s common stock. Our Sponsor, officers and directors will therefore not participate in any liquidation distribution from the trust account with respect to such shares. They will, however, participate in any liquidation distribution from the trust account with respect to any shares of common stock acquired after our IPO.
If we seek to amend any provisions of our Charter that would affect our public stockholders’ ability to convert their shares in connection with a business combination or affect the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete a business combination by the required date set forth in our Charter, we will provide public stockholders with the opportunity to convert their public shares in connection with any such vote. This conversion right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment, whether proposed by our Sponsor, any executive officer, director or director nominee, or any other person.
Preemptive Rights. Our stockholders have no conversion, preemptive or other subscription rights and there are no sinking fund or redemption provisions applicable to the shares of common stock, except that public stockholders have the right to sell their shares to us in a tender offer or have their shares of common stock converted to cash equal to their pro rata share of the trust account if they vote on the proposed business combination in connection with such business combination and the business combination is completed. Public stockholders who sell or convert their stock into their share of the trust account still have the right to exercise the warrants that they received as part of the units.
Dividends. We have not paid any cash dividends on our shares of common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of a business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of a business combination. The payment of any dividends subsequent to a business combination will be within the discretion of our then board of directors. It is the present intention of our board of directors to retain all earnings, if any, for use in our business operations and, accordingly, our board does not anticipate declaring any dividends in the foreseeable future.
Preferred Stock
There are no shares of preferred stock outstanding. Our Charter authorizes the issuance of 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock with such designation, rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by our board of directors. Our board of directors is empowered, without stockholder approval, to issue preferred stock with dividend, liquidation, conversion, voting or other rights which could adversely affect the voting power or other rights of the holders of common stock. However, the underwriting agreement prohibits us, prior to a business combination, from issuing preferred stock which participates in any manner in the proceeds of the trust account, or which votes as a class with the common stock on a business combination. We may issue some or all of the preferred stock to effect a business combination. In addition, the preferred stock could be utilized as a method of discouraging, delaying or preventing a change in control of us. Although we do not currently intend to issue any shares of preferred stock, we cannot assure you that we will not do so in the future.
Warrants
Listing. The Company’s warrants are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “THCBW.”
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Exercisability. Each warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one share of common stock during the exercise period. No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the warrants.
Exercise Price. $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment.
The exercise price and number of shares of common stock issuable on exercise of the warrants may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a stock dividend, extraordinary dividend or our recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, except as described below, the warrants will not be adjusted for issuances of shares of common stock at a price below their respective exercise prices.
In addition, if (x) we issue additional shares of common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.50 per share of common stock (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors, and in the case of any such issuance to our Sponsor, initial stockholders or their affiliates, without taking into account any founders’ shares held by them prior to such issuance), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the Market Value is below $9.50 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the greater of (i) the Market Value or (ii) the price at which we issue the additional shares of common stock or equity-linked securities. The “Market Value” for this purpose means the volume weighted average trading price of our common stock during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which we consummate our initial business combination.
Exercise Period. The warrants will become exercisable commencing 30 days after the completion of an initial business combination. The warrants will expire five years after the consummation of our initial business combination, at 5:00 p.m., New York time, or earlier upon our liquidation.
No warrants will be exercisable for cash unless we have an effective and current registration statement covering the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to such shares of common stock. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if a registration statement covering the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the public warrants is not effective within a specified period following the consummation of our initial business combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we shall have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis pursuant to the exemption provided by Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act, provided that such exemption is available. If that exemption, or another exemption, is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. In the event of such a cashless exercise, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of shares of common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” for this purpose will mean the average reported last sale price of the shares of common stock for the 5 trading days ending on the trading day prior to the date of exercise. The warrants will expire on the fifth anniversary of our completion of an initial business combination, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.
The warrants included in the units issued privately concurrently with our IPO (the “private warrants”), as well as any warrants underlying additional units we issue to our Sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates in payment of working capital loans made to us, will be identical to the warrants underlying the units offered in our IPO except that such warrants will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, at the holder’s option, and will not be redeemable by us, in each case so long as they are still held by our Sponsor or its permitted transferees.
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Redemption. We may call the warrants for redemption (excluding the private warrants and any warrants underlying additional units issued to our Sponsor, initial stockholders, officers, directors or their affiliates in payment of working capital loans made to us), in whole and not in part, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, (i) at any time after the warrants become exercisable, (ii) upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption to each warrant holder after the warrants become exercisable, (iii) if, and only if, the reported last sale price of the shares of common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations and recapitalizations), for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading day period commencing after the warrants become exercisable and ending on the third business day prior to the notice of redemption to warrant holders, and (iv) if, and only if, there is a current registration statement in effect with respect to the shares of common stock underlying such warrants.
The right to exercise will be forfeited unless the warrants are exercised prior to the date specified in the notice of redemption. On and after the redemption date, a record holder of a warrant will have no further rights except to receive the redemption price for such holder’s warrant upon surrender of such warrant.
If we call the warrants for redemption as described above, our management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise warrants to do so on a “cashless basis.” In such event, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of shares of common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” for this purpose shall mean the average reported last sale price of the shares of common stock for the 5 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants.
Fractional Shares. No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the warrants. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round up to the nearest whole number the number of shares of common stock to be issued to the warrant holder.
Certain Provisions of the Charter and Bylaws
Staggered Board of Directors
Our board of directors is divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. There is no cumulative voting with respect to the election of directors, with the result that the holders of more than 50% of the shares eligible to vote for the election of directors can elect all of the directors. As a result, in most circumstances, a person can gain control of our board only by successfully engaging in a proxy contest at two or more annual meetings.
Special Meeting of Stockholders
Our bylaws provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by a majority vote of our board of directors, by our president or by our chairman or by our secretary at the request in writing of stockholders owning a majority of our issued and outstanding capital stock entitled to vote.
Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations
Our 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 delivered to our principal executive offices not later than the close of business on the 60th day nor earlier than the close of business on the 90th day prior to the scheduled date of the annual meeting of stockholders. In the event that less than 70 days’ notice or prior public disclosure of the date of the annual meeting of stockholders is given, a stockholder’s notice shall be timely if delivered to our principal executive offices not later than the 10th day following the day on which public announcement of the date of our annual meeting of stockholders is first made or sent by us. Our 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.
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Authorized but Unissued Shares
Our authorized but unissued common stock and preferred stock are available for future issuances without stockholder approval 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 Selection
Our Charter requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against directors, officers and employees for breach of fiduciary duty and other similar actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware, except any action (A) as to which the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction or (D) any action arising under the Securities Act, as to which the Court of Chancery and the federal district court for the District of Delaware shall have concurrent jurisdiction. If an action is brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel. 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, a court may determine that this provision is unenforceable, and to the extent it is enforceable, the provision 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 and therefore bring a claim in another appropriate forum. Additionally, we cannot be certain that a court will decide that this provision is either applicable or enforceable, and if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
Our Charter provides that the exclusive forum provision will be applicable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. 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. As a result, the exclusive forum provision 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.
Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law
We will be subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law regulating corporate takeovers upon completion of this offering. This statute prevents certain Delaware corporations, under certain circumstances, from engaging in a “business combination” with:
● | a stockholder who owns 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock (otherwise known as an “interested stockholder”); |
● | an affiliate of an interested stockholder; or |
● | an associate of an interested stockholder, for three years following the date that the stockholder became an interested stockholder. |
A “business combination” includes a merger or sale of more than 10% of our assets. However, the above provisions of Section 203 do not apply if:
● | our board of directors approves the transaction that made the stockholder an “interested stockholder,” prior to the date of the transaction; |
● | after the completion of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, that stockholder owned at least 85% of our voting stock outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, other than statutorily excluded shares of common stock; or |
● | on or subsequent to the date of the transaction, the business combination is approved by our board of directors and authorized at a meeting of our stockholders, and not by written consent, by an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the outstanding voting stock not owned by the interested stockholder. |
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