Description of Securities
Exhibit 4.7
DESCRIPTION OF VBI VACCINES INC. COMMON SHARES
The following description of the capital stock of VBI Vaccines Inc. (the “Company,” “VBI,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) is a summary of the rights of our common shares and certain provisions of our Articles as currently in effect. This summary does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by the provisions of our Articles, copies of which are filed as exhibits to this Annual Report on Form 10-K and are incorporated by reference herein. We encourage you to read our Articles and the applicable provisions of British Columbia Business Corporations Act (the “BCBCA”), for additional information.
Description of Common Shares
We are authorized to issue an unlimited number of common shares with no par value. We are governed by the BCBCA and other relevant laws, which may affect the rights of shareholders differently than those of a company governed by the laws of a U.S. jurisdiction, and may, together with our charter documents, including the advance notice provisions in our Articles for the nomination of directors, have the effect of delaying, deferring or discouraging another party from acquiring control of our Company by means of a tender offer, a proxy contest or otherwise, or may affect the price an acquiring party would be willing to offer in such an instance. The material differences between the BCBCA and Delaware General Corporation Law, or DGCL, that may have the greatest such effect include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) for material corporate transactions (such as mergers and amalgamations, other extraordinary corporate transactions or amendments to our articles), the BCBCA generally requires a two-thirds majority vote by shareholders, whereas DGCL generally only requires a majority vote; and (ii) under the BCBCA, one or more shareholders who, in the aggregate, hold 5% or more of our common shares can requisition a special meeting of shareholders, whereas such right does not exist under the DGCL.
Holders of our common shares are entitled to such dividends as may be declared by our board of directors out of funds legally available for such purpose. The BCBCA provides that we may declare or pay dividends unless there are reasonable grounds for believing that (a) the Company is insolvent, or (b) the payment of the dividend would render the Company insolvent.
Each holder of our common shares is entitled to one vote for each such share outstanding in the holder’s name. No holder of common shares is entitled to cumulate votes in voting for directors.
In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, the holders of our common shares are entitled to receive pro rata our assets which are legally available for distribution, after payments of all debts and other liabilities.
Our directors may, subject to our Articles and the BCBCA, issue, allot, sell, grant options on or otherwise dispose of the unissued shares, and issued shares held by the Company, at the times, to the persons, including directors, in the manner, on the terms and conditions and for the issue prices that the directors, in their absolute discretion, may determine by board resolution. Shares may be issued in consideration for past services, property or money. Shares must not be issued until they are fully paid. There are no preemptive, redemption, purchase or conversion rights attaching to our common shares. There are no sinking fund provisions applicable to our common shares. Our common shares are issued in fully registered form, although we are able to issue fractional shares.
Since we are authorized to issue an unlimited number of common shares with no par value, the authorized but unissued common shares are available for future issuance without any further vote or action by our shareholders. These additional shares may be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future public offerings to raise additional capital, corporate acquisitions, and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued common shares could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control over us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.
Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
Anti-takeover Effects of Provisions of VBI’s Articles and BCBCA, Alterations
The BCBCA does not contain a provision comparable to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) with respect to business combinations.
Under the BCBCA and our Articles, certain extraordinary company alterations, such as changes to authorized share structure, continuances, into or out of province, certain amalgamations, sales, leases or other dispositions of all or substantially all of the undertaking of a company (other than in the ordinary course of business) liquidations, dissolutions, and certain arrangements are required to be approved by ordinary or special resolution as applicable.
An ordinary resolution is a resolution (i) passed at a shareholders’ meeting by a simple majority, or (ii) passed, after being submitted to all of the shareholders, by being consented to in writing by shareholders who, in the aggregate, hold shares carrying at least two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast on the resolution. A special resolution is a resolution (i) passed by not less than two-thirds of the votes cast by the shareholders who voted in respect of the resolution at a meeting duly called and held for that purpose or (ii) signed by all shareholders entitled to vote on the resolution.
Under the BCBCA, an action that prejudices or interferes with a right or special right attached to issued shares of a class or series of shares must be approved by a special separate resolution of the holders of the class or series of shares being affected.
Under the BCBCA, arrangements are permitted and a company may make any proposal it considers appropriate “despite any other provision” of the BCBCA. In general, a plan of arrangement is approved by a company’s board of directors and then is submitted to a court for approval. It is not unusual for a company in such circumstances to apply to a court initially for an interim order governing various procedural matters prior to calling any security holder meeting to consider the proposed arrangement. Plans of arrangement involving shareholders must be approved by a special resolution of shareholders, including holders of shares not normally entitled to vote. The court may, in respect of an arrangement proposed with persons other than shareholders and creditors, require that those persons approve the arrangement in the manner and to the extent required by the court. The court determines, among other things, to whom notice shall be given and whether, and in what manner, approval of any person is to be obtained and also determines whether any shareholders may dissent from the proposed arrangement and receive payment of the fair value of their shares. Following compliance with the procedural steps contemplated in any such interim order (including as to obtaining security holder approval), the court would conduct a final hearing and approve or reject the proposed arrangement.
The BCBCA does not contain a provision comparable to Section 251(h) of the DGCL.
Election and removal of directors
According to our Articles, all directors cease to hold office immediately before the election or appointment of directors at every annual general meeting, but are eligible for re-election or re- appointment. Under Section 14.10 of VBI’s Articles, shareholders of VBI may remove any director before the expiration of his or her term of office by a special resolution of shareholders. This system of electing and removing directors generally makes it more difficult for shareholders to replace a majority of our directors.
Shareholder action; advance notification of stockholder nominations and proposals
Under the BCBCA, one or more shareholders holding in the aggregate at least 5% of our common shares may requisition that the directors call a meeting of shareholders for the purpose of transacting any business that may be transacted at a general meeting. Upon receiving a requisition that complies with the technical requirements set out in the BCBCA, the directors must, subject to certain limited exceptions, call a meeting of shareholders to be held not more than 4 months after receiving the requisition. If the directors do not call such a meeting within 21 days after receiving the requisition, the requisitioning shareholders or any of them holding in aggregate more than 2.5% of the issued shares of the Company that carry the right to vote at general meetings may call the meeting.
Under the BCBCA, shareholder proposals may be made by registered or beneficial owners of shares entitled to vote at general meetings of shareholders who have been the registered or beneficial owner of such shares for an uninterrupted period of at least two years before the date of signing of the proposal, and who together in the aggregate constitute at least 1% of the issued shares that carry on the right to vote at general meetings or have a fair market value of shares in excess of CAD$2,000. Those registered or beneficial holders must, alongside the proposal, submit and sign a declaration providing the requisite information under the BCBCA. To be a valid proposal, the proposal must be submitted at least three months before the anniversary of the previous year’s annual reference date (which is generally the date of the annual general meeting).
Under the advance notice provisions contained in Section 10.9 of VBI’s Articles, subject only to the BCBCA, only persons who are nominated in accordance with the procedures set forth therein shall be eligible for election as directors of the Company. Nominations of persons for election to the Board may be made at any annual meeting of shareholders, or at any special meeting of shareholders if one of the purposes for which the special meeting was called was the election of directors: (a) by or at the direction of the Board, including pursuant to a notice of meeting; (b) by or at the direction or request of one or more shareholders pursuant to a proposal made in accordance with the provisions of the BCBCA, or a requisition of the shareholders made in accordance with the provisions of the BCBCA; or (c) by any person (a “Nominating Shareholder”): (A) who, at the close of business on the date of the giving of the notice and on the record date for notice of such meeting, is entered in the securities register as a holder of one or more shares carrying the right to vote at such meeting or who beneficially owns shares that are entitled to be voted at such meeting; and (B) who complies with the notice procedures set forth in our Articles.
In addition to any other applicable requirements, for a nomination to be made by a Nominating Shareholder, the Nominating Shareholder must have given timely notice thereof in proper written form to the Secretary of the Company at the principal executive offices of the Company.
To be timely, a Nominating Shareholder’s notice to the Secretary of the Company must generally be made: (a) in the case of an annual meeting of shareholders, not less than 30 nor more than 65 days prior to the date of the annual meeting of shareholders; and (b) in the case of a special meeting (that is not also an annual meeting) called for a purpose that includes electing directors, not later than the close of business on the 15th day following the day on which public announcement of the date of the meeting is first made.
These provisions may have the effect of deterring unsolicited offers to acquire the Company or delaying changes in control of our management. These provisions could also have the effect of delaying until the next shareholder meeting any shareholder actions, even if they are favored by the holders of a majority of our outstanding voting securities.
Amendment to Articles
Under the BCBCA, a company may amend its articles or notice of articles by (i) the type of resolution specified in the BCBCA, (ii) if the BCBCA does not specify a type of resolution, then by the type specified in the company’s articles, or (iii) if the company’s articles do not specify a type of resolution, then by special resolution. The BCBCA permits many substantive changes to a company’s articles (such as a change in the company’s authorized share structure or a change in the special rights or restrictions that may be attached to a certain class or series of shares) to be changed by the resolution specified in that company’s articles.
Our Articles provide that, subject to the BCBCA, certain alterations to our share structure be done by way of directors’ resolution. Any creation, variation or deletion of special rights and restrictions attached to a series or class of shares must be done by way of special resolution.
Our Articles also provide that, the shareholders may from time to time, by ordinary resolution, make any alteration to our notice of articles and articles as permitted by the BCBCA.
Limitation of Liability and Indemnification
Section 21.2 of VBI’s Articles requires VBI, subject to the BCBCA, to indemnify a director, former director or alternate director and his or her heirs and legal representatives against all eligible penalties to which such person is or may be liable and after the disposition of an eligible proceeding pay the expenses actually and reasonably incurred by such person in respect of that proceeding.
Pursuant to Section 21.3 of VBI’s Articles, VBI may indemnify any person subject to the restrictions of the BCBCA.
Pursuant to Section 162 of the BCBCA, prior to the final disposition, VBI may pay, as they are incurred, the expenses actually and reasonably incurred by an eligible party, or the heirs and personal or other legal representatives in respect of that proceeding, if VBI first receives from such person a written undertaking that if the indemnification is ultimately determined to be prohibited pursuant to the BCBCA, such person will repay the amounts advanced.
Indemnification under the BCBCA is prohibited if any of the following circumstances apply: (1) if the indemnity or payment is made under an earlier agreement and at the time the agreement to indemnify or pay expenses was made the company was prohibited from doing so under its memorandum or articles; (2) if the indemnity or payment is made otherwise than under an earlier agreement and at the time the indemnity or payment is made, the company is prohibited from doing so under its memorandum or articles; (3) if, in relation to the subject matter of the eligible proceeding, the eligible party did not act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of the company or the associated corporation; or (4) in the case of an eligible proceeding other than a civil proceeding, if the eligible party did not have reasonable grounds for believing that the eligible party’s conduct in respect of which the proceeding was brought was lawful.
If an eligible proceeding is brought against an eligible party, or the heirs and personal or other legal representatives in respect of that proceeding, by or on behalf of VBI or an associated corporation, VBI must not indemnify that person for any penalties such person is or may be liable for and must not pay the expenses of that person in respect of the proceeding.
In addition, on the application of VBI or an eligible party, a court may: (a) order VBI to indemnify an eligible party against any liability incurred by the eligible party in respect of an eligible proceeding; (b) order VBI to pay some or all of the expenses incurred by an eligible party in respect of an eligible proceeding; (c) order the enforcement of, or any payment under, an agreement of indemnification entered into by VBI; (d) order VBI to pay some or all of the expenses actually and reasonably incurred by any person in obtaining an order under the BCBCA; (e) make any other order the court considers appropriate.
Control Block Distributions
Under applicable securities laws in Canada, any person (or group of persons) who owns a sufficient number of any of the securities of an issuer so as to affect materially the control of that issuer is considered to be a “control person”. For such purposes, any person who has or acquires control or direction over more than 20% of the voting securities of an issuer will be deemed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to be a “control person”. Any “trade” of securities by a control person is considered to be a “distribution”, and accordingly, the disposition of such securities must be qualified by a prospectus, absent an available exemption.
Certain Takeover Bid Requirements
Any offer made by a person (an “offeror”) to acquire outstanding shares of a Canadian entity that, when aggregated with the offeror’s holdings (and those of persons or companies acting jointly with the offeror), would constitute 20% or more of the outstanding shares, would be subject to the take-over provisions of Canadian securities laws, unless the offer constitutes an exempt transaction.
In addition to those take-over bid requirements noted above, the acquisition of shares may trigger the application of additional statutory regimes including amongst others, the Investment Canada Act and the Competition Act (Canada).
Listing
Our common shares are listed for trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “VBIV.”
Transfer Agent and Registrar
The transfer agent and registrar for our common shares is Computershare. Its address is 510 Burrard Street, 2nd Floor, Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3B9, and its telephone number is ###-###-####.
This summary is not a comprehensive description of relevant or applicable considerations regarding such requirements and, accordingly, is not intended to be, and should not be interpreted as, legal advice to any prospective purchaser and no representation with respect to such requirements to any prospective purchaser is made. Prospective investors should consult their own Canadian legal advisors with respect to any questions regarding securities law in the provinces and territories of Canada.
