Description of securities of the Registrant
Exhibit 4.2
VECTOIQ ACQUISITION CORP.
DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES
The following summary of the material terms of the securities of VectoIQ Acquisition Corp., a Delaware corporation (“we,” “us,” “our” or “the company”), is not intended to be a complete summary of the rights and preferences of such securities and is subject to and qualified by reference to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our bylaws and the warrant agreement, dated May 15, 2018, between the company and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company (the “Warrant Agreement”), in each case incorporated by reference as exhibits to the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 (the “Report”), and applicable Delaware law, including the Delaware General Corporation Law, or DGCL. We urge you to read our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our bylaws and the Warrant Agreement in their entirety for a complete description of the rights and preferences of our securities.
Certain Terms
In this document, unless the context otherwise requires:
• | references to our “sponsor” refer to VectoIQ Holdings, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; |
• | references to “founders” refer to our sponsor and Cowen Investments; |
• | references to “public units” refer to the units sold in our initial public offering; |
• | references to “public shares” refer to shares of our common stock sold as part of the public units in our initial public offering; |
• | references to “public warrants” refer to our redeemable warrants sold as part of the public units in our initial public offering; |
• | references to “final prospectus” refer to the final prospectus for our initial public offering filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, on May 17, 2018. |
• | references to “founder shares” refer to shares of our common stock initially purchased by our founders in a private placement or placements prior to our initial public offering; |
• | references to “private units” refer to the units sold to our founders and anchor investor in a private placement in connection with our initial public offering; |
• | references to “private shares” refer to the shares of our common stock sold as part of the private units; |
• | references to “private warrants” refer to the warrants sold as part of the private units; |
• | references to “common stock” refer to our common stock, par value $0.0001 per share; |
• | references to “public stockholders” refer to the holders of our public shares, including our sponsor, officers and directors to the extent they purchase public shares, provided that their status as “public stockholders” shall only exist with respect to such public shares; |
• | references to “management” refer to our officers and directors; |
• | references to “initial stockholders” refer to the holders of our founder shares prior to our initial public offering; |
• | references to our “anchor investor” refer to certain funds and accounts managed by subsidiaries of BlackRock, Inc.; and |
• | references to “Cowen Investments” refer to Cowen Investments LLC. |
General
We are a Delaware corporation formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, recapitalization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to in this document as our initial business combination, and our affairs are governed by our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our bylaws and Delaware law, including the DGCL. As of the date of the Report, we are authorized to issue 100,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. As of the date of the Report, 29,640,000 shares of common stock are outstanding and no shares of preferred stock are outstanding. The following description summarizes the material terms of our securities. For a complete description you should refer to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our bylaws and the Warrant Agreement, and to the applicable provisions of Delaware law. Because it is only a summary, it may not contain all the information that is important to you.
Units
Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase one share of common stock for a price of $11.50 per share of common stock, subject to adjustment (as more fully described in our final prospectus). Holders will need to have their brokers contact our transfer agent in order to separate the units into shares of common stock and warrants. The warrants will become exercisable 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. The warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on the fifth anniversary of our completion of an initial business combination, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation; provided, however, that the private warrants issued to Cowen Investments will not be exercisable more than five years from May 15, 2018. The common stock and warrants underlying the units began to trade separately on June 11, 2018, and holders have the option to continue to hold units or separate their units into the component pieces.
Common Stock
As of the date of the Report, 29,640,000 shares of common stock outstanding, consisting of 23,000,000 public shares, 5,750,000 founder shares held by our initial stockholders and 890,000 private shares held by our founders.
Holders of record of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each share of our common stock held on all matters to be voted on by stockholders. Unless specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, or as required by applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of our shares of common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders. Our stockholders are entitled to receive ratable dividends when, as and if declared by our board of directors out of funds legally available therefor. We will consummate our initial business combination only if we have net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon such consummation and, solely if a vote is held to approve a business combination, a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination.
Our board of directors is divided into two classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of stockholders) serving a two-year term. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Mr. Robert Gendelman and Mr. Richard Lynch, will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Mr. Stephen Girsky, Ms. Victoria McInnis and Ms. Sarah Hallac, will expire at the second annual meeting of stockholders. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination (unless required by the Nasdaq Capital Market, or Nasdaq). 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.
In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq, or December 31, 2019. Under Section 211(b) of the DGCL, we are, however, required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with our amended and restated certificate of incorporation unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, and thus we may not be in compliance with Section 211(b) of the DGCL, which requires an annual meeting. Therefore, if our stockholders want us to hold an annual meeting prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, they may attempt to force us to hold one by submitting an application to the Delaware Court of Chancery in accordance with Section 211(c) of the DGCL.
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price which is payable in cash and equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable by us) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations more fully described in our final prospectus. Our founders, executive officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares, private shares and public shares in connection with the completion of our business combination or any amendment to the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation relating to our pre-initial business combination activity and related stockholders’ rights.
Unlike many blank check companies that hold stockholder votes and conduct proxy solicitations in conjunction with their initial business combinations and provide for related redemptions of securities even when a vote is not required by law, if a stockholder vote is not required by law and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal 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 complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the shares of common stock voting at a stockholder meeting are voted in favor of the business combination. However, the participation of our founders, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates in privately-negotiated transactions, if any, could result in the approval of our business combination even if a majority of our public stockholders vote, or indicate their intention to vote, against such business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our business combination once a quorum is obtained. We intend to give approximately 30 days (but not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days) prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve our business combination.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares for or against our business combination.
If we seek stockholder approval in connection with our business combination, our founders, executive officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote their founder shares, private shares and any public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering in favor of our initial business combination. Additionally, each public stockholder may elect to redeem their public shares without voting, and, if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.
Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, if we are unable to complete our business combination by May 18, 2020, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but no more than 10 business days thereafter, subject to lawfully available funds therefor, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price which is payable in cash and equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable by us and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Our founders, executive officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to (1) waive their redemption rights with respect to any common stock held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination or any amendment to the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation relating to our pre-initial business combination activity and related stockholders’ rights and (2) waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our business combination within the prescribed timeframe (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold).
In the event of a liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the company after a business combination, our stockholders are entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining available for distribution to them after payment of liabilities and after provision is made for each class of stock, if any, having preference over the common stock. Our stockholders have no preemptive or other subscription rights. There are no sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock, except that we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable by us) upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations more fully described in our final prospectus.
Warrants
As of the date of the Report, there were 23,890,000 warrants to purchase our common stock outstanding, consisting of 23,000,000 public warrants and 890,000 private warrants held by our founders. Each warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one share of our common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as discussed below, at any time commencing 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. The warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on the fifth anniversary of our completion of an initial business combination, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.
Holders of our public warrants cannot pay cash to exercise of their public warrants unless we have an effective and current registration statement covering the issuance of the shares underlying such warrants and a current prospectus relating thereto. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if a registration statement covering the issuance of the shares issuable upon exercise of the public warrants is not effective within 90 days from the closing 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 or a current prospectus, exercise warrants on a cashless basis pursuant to an available exemption from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. If an exemption from registration is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under the Securities Act or applicable state securities laws. In addition, any private warrants held by Cowen Investments will not be exercisable more than five years from May 15, 2018.
The private warrants are identical to the public warrants underlying the units sold in our initial public offering except that such private warrants will be exercisable for cash (even if a registration statement covering the issuance of the warrant shares issuable upon exercise of such warrants is not effective) 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 founders or their affiliates.
Once the warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding warrants (excluding the private warrants):
· | in whole and not in part; |
· | at a price of $0.01 per warrant; |
· | upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption, which we refer to as the 30-day redemption period; and |
· | if, and only if, the last reported sale price of our common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders. |
We will not redeem the warrants unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the warrant shares underlying the warrants to be so redeemed is then effective and a current prospectus relating to those warrant shares is available throughout the 30-day redemption period, except if the warrants may be exercised on a cashless basis and such cashless exercise is exempt from registration under the Securities Act. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.
If the foregoing conditions are satisfied and we issue a notice of redemption, each warrant holder may exercise his, her or its warrants prior to the scheduled redemption date. However, the price of the shares of common stock may fall below the $18.00 trigger price (as adjusted) as well as the $11.50 exercise price (as adjusted) after the redemption notice is issued.
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 making such determination, our management will consider, among other factors, our cash position, the number of warrants that are outstanding and the dilutive effect on our stockholders of issuing the maximum number of warrant shares issuable upon exercise of outstanding warrants. In such event, the 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 warrant shares underlying the warrants to be so exercised, and the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the fair market value by (y) the fair market value.
A holder of a warrant may notify us in writing in the event it elects to be subject to a requirement that such holder will not have the right to exercise such warrant, to the extent that after giving effect to such exercise, such person (together with such person’s affiliates), to the warrant agent’s actual knowledge, would beneficially own in excess of 4.9% or 9.8% (or such other amount as a holder may specify) of the shares of common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise.
If the number of outstanding shares of common stock is increased by a stock dividend payable in shares of common stock, or by a split-up of shares of common stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such stock dividend, split-up or similar event, the number of shares of common stock issuable on exercise of each warrant will be increased in proportion to such increase in the outstanding shares of common stock. A rights offering to holders of common stock entitling holders to purchase shares of common stock at a price less than the fair market value will be deemed a stock dividend of a number of shares of common stock equal to the product of (i) the number of shares of common stock actually sold in such rights offering (or issuable under any other equity securities sold in such rights offering that are convertible into or exercisable for common stock) multiplied by (ii) one (1) minus the quotient of (x) the price per share of common stock paid in such rights offering divided by (y) the fair market value. For these purposes (i) if the rights offering is for securities convertible into or exercisable for common stock, in determining the price payable for common stock, there will be taken into account any consideration received for such rights, as well as any additional amount payable upon exercise or conversion and (ii) fair market value means the volume weighted average price of common stock as reported during the 10 trading day period ending on the trading day prior to the first date on which the shares of common stock trade on the applicable exchange or in the applicable market, regular way, without the right to receive such rights.
In addition, if we, at any time while the warrants are outstanding and unexpired, pay a dividend or make a distribution in cash, securities or other assets to the holders of common stock on account of such shares of common stock (or other shares of our capital stock into which the warrants are convertible), other than (a) as described above, (b) certain ordinary cash dividends, (c) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of common stock in connection with a proposed initial business combination or the approval of any amendment to the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation relating to our pre-initial business combination activity and related stockholders’ rights, including the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, (d) as a result of the repurchase of shares of common stock by us if the proposed initial business combination is presented to our stockholders for approval, or (e) in connection with the redemption of our public shares upon our failure to complete our initial business combination, then the warrant exercise price will be decreased, effective immediately after the effective date of such event, by the amount of cash and/or the fair market value of any securities or other assets paid on each share of common stock in respect of such event.
If the number of outstanding shares of our common stock is decreased by a consolidation, combination, reverse stock split or reclassification of shares of common stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such consolidation, combination, reverse stock split, reclassification or similar event, the number of shares of common stock issuable on exercise of each warrant will be decreased in proportion to such decrease in outstanding shares of common stock.
Whenever the number of shares of common stock purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants is adjusted, as described above, the warrant exercise price will be adjusted by multiplying the warrant exercise price immediately prior to such adjustment by a fraction (x) the numerator of which will be the number of shares of common stock purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants immediately prior to such adjustment, and (y) the denominator of which will be the number of shares of common stock so purchasable immediately thereafter.
In case of any reclassification or reorganization of the outstanding shares of common stock (other than those described above or that solely affects the par value of such shares of common stock), or in the case of any merger or consolidation of us with or into another corporation (other than a consolidation or merger in which we are the continuing corporation and that does not result in any reclassification or reorganization of our outstanding shares of common stock), or in the case of any sale or conveyance to another corporation or entity of the assets or other property of us as an entirety or substantially as an entirety in connection with which we are dissolved, the holders of the warrants will thereafter have the right to purchase and receive, upon the basis and upon the terms and conditions specified in the warrants and in lieu of the shares of our common stock immediately theretofore purchasable and receivable upon the exercise of the rights represented thereby, the kind and amount of shares of stock or other securities or property (including cash) receivable upon such reclassification, reorganization, merger or consolidation, or upon a dissolution following any such sale or transfer, that the holder of the warrants would have received if such holder had exercised their warrants immediately prior to such event. However, if such holders were entitled to exercise a right of election as to the kind or amount of securities, cash or other assets receivable upon such consolidation or merger, then the kind and amount of securities, cash or other assets for which each warrant will become exercisable will be deemed to be the weighted average of the kind and amount received per share by such holders in such consolidation or merger that affirmatively make such election, and if a tender, exchange or redemption offer has been made to and accepted by such holders (other than a tender, exchange or redemption offer made by the company in connection with redemption rights held by stockholders of the company as provided for in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or as a result of the repurchase of shares of common stock by the company if a proposed initial business combination is presented to the stockholders of the company for approval) under circumstances in which, upon completion of such tender or exchange offer, the maker thereof, together with members of any group (within the meaning of Rule 13d-5(b)(1) under the Exchange Act) of which such maker is a part, and together with any affiliate or associate of such maker (within the meaning of Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act) and any members of any such group of which any such affiliate or associate is a part, own beneficially (within the meaning of Rule 13d-3 under the Exchange Act) more than 50% of the outstanding shares of common stock, the holder of a warrant will be entitled to receive the highest amount of cash, securities or other property to which such holder would actually have been entitled as a stockholder if such warrant holder had exercised the warrant prior to the expiration of such tender or exchange offer, accepted such offer and all of the common stock held by such holder had been purchased pursuant to such tender or exchange offer, subject to adjustments (from and after the consummation of such tender or exchange offer) as nearly equivalent as possible to the adjustments provided for in the Warrant Agreement. Additionally, if less than 70% of the consideration receivable by the holders of common stock in such a transaction is payable in the form of common stock in the successor entity that is listed for trading on a national securities exchange or is quoted in an established over-the-counter market, or is to be so listed for trading or quoted immediately following such event, and if the registered holder of the warrant properly exercises the warrant within 30 days following public disclosure of such transaction, the warrant exercise price will be reduced as specified in the Warrant Agreement based on the per share consideration minus Black-Scholes Warrant Value (as defined in the Warrant Agreement) of the warrant in order to determine and realize the option value component of the warrant. This formula is to compensate the warrant holder for the loss of the option value portion of the warrant due to the requirement that the warrant holder exercise the warrant within 30 days of the event. The Black-Scholes model is an accepted pricing model for estimating fair market value where no quoted market price for an instrument is available.
The warrants are issued in registered form under the Warrant Agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The Warrant Agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants.
The warrants may be exercised upon surrender of the warrant certificate on or prior to the expiration date at the offices of the warrant agent, with the exercise form on the reverse side of the warrant certificate completed and executed as indicated, accompanied by full payment of the exercise price (or on a cashless basis, if applicable), by certified or official bank check payable to us, for the number of warrants being exercised. The warrant holders do not have the rights or privileges of holders of common stock and any voting rights until they exercise their warrants and receive shares of common stock. After the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of the warrants, each holder will be entitled to one vote for each share held of record on all matters to be voted on by stockholders.
Preferred Stock
As of the date of the Report, there were no shares of preferred stock outstanding. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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. Accordingly, 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 from our initial public offering 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.
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 of directors does not anticipate declaring any dividends in the foreseeable future. Further, if we incur any indebtedness, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
Our Transfer Agent and Warrant Agent
The transfer agent for our securities and warrant agent for our warrants is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, One State Street, New York, New York 10004.
Listing of Securities
Our units, common stock and warrants are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “VTIQU,” “VTIQ” and “VTIQW,” respectively.
Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law and our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation
Special meeting of stockholders
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by a majority vote of our board of directors, by our Chief Executive Officer or by our Chairman.
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 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 open 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 certificate of incorporation specifies 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.
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 amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 and, if 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 our company 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.
Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law
We have opted out of Section 203 of the DGCL. However, our amended and restated 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 certain other transactions 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.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our sponsor and its respective affiliates, any of their respective direct or indirect transferees of at least 15% of our outstanding common stock and any group as to which such persons are party to, do not constitute “interested stockholders” for purposes of this provision.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our board of directors is classified into two classes of 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.
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.
Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Directors and Officers
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our directors and officers will be indemnified by us to the fullest extent authorized by Delaware law as it now exists or may in the future be amended. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our directors will not be personally liable for monetary damages to us for breaches of their fiduciary duty as directors, unless they violated their duty of loyalty to us or our stockholders, acted in bad faith, knowingly or intentionally violated the law, authorized unlawful payments of dividends, unlawful stock purchases or unlawful redemptions, or derived an improper personal benefit from their actions as directors.
Our bylaws also permit us to secure insurance on behalf of any officer, director or employee for any liability arising out of his or her actions, regardless of whether Delaware law would permit indemnification. We may purchase a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our directors and officers against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify the directors and officers.
These provisions may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against directors and officers, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers pursuant to these indemnification provisions. We believe that these provisions, the insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced directors and officers.
Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to our directors, officers and controlling persons pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, we have been advised that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable.