Exhibit 3.1
AMENDED AND RESTATED
ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION
OF
BALTIC TRADING LIMITED
FIRST: The name of the corporation shall be
Baltic Trading Limited.
SECOND: The purpose of the
Corporation is to engage in any lawful business purpose or purposes for which
corporations may now or hereafter be organized under the Marshall Islands
Business Corporations Act (the BCA).
THIRD: The registered
address of the Corporation in the Marshall Islands is Trust Company Complex,
Ajeltake Road, Ajeltake Island, Majuro, Marshall Islands MH96960. The name of
the Corporations registered agent at such address is The Trust Company of the
Marshall Islands, Inc.
FOURTH: The total number of shares
of stock which the Corporation shall have authority to issue is seven hundred million
(700,000,000), of which (a) five hundred million (500,000,000) shares
shall be registered shares of Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share (the Common Stock), (b) one hundred million (100,000,000)
shares shall be registered shares of Class B Stock, par value $0.01 per
share (the Class B Stock), and (c) one
hundred million (100,000,000) shares shall be registered shares of Preferred
Stock, par value $0.01 per share (the Preferred Stock).
The rights, preferences and
limitations of said classes of stock are as follows:
1. The Preferred
Stock may be issued from time to time by the Board of Directors as shares of
one or more series of Preferred Stock; provided, however, the
Board of Directors shall not issue any Preferred Stock without the written
consent of Genco Shipping & Trading Limited (Genco).
The Board of Directors is expressly authorized, prior to issuance of any
Preferred Stock, in the resolution or resolutions providing for the issue of
shares of each particular series, to fix the following:
(a) The distinctive
serial designation of such series which shall distinguish it from other series;
(b) The number of
shares included in such series, which number may be increased or decreased from
time to time to the extent unissued, authorized shares of Preferred Stock
remain available for such purpose, unless otherwise provided by the Board of
Directors in creating the series;
(c) The annual
dividend or other rate (or method for determining such rate) for shares of such
series and the date or dates upon which such dividends shall be payable;
(d) Whether
dividends on the shares of such series shall be cumulative, and, in the case of
shares of any series having cumulative dividend rights, the date or dates (or
method for determining the date or dates) from which dividends on the shares of
such series shall be cumulative;
(b) The restrictions contained in this
section shall not apply if:
(1) A shareholder becomes an Interested
Shareholder inadvertently and: (i) as soon as practicable divests itself
of ownership of sufficient shares so that the shareholder ceases to be an
Interested Shareholder; and (ii) would not, at any time within the
three-year period immediately prior to a Business Combination between the
Corporation and such shareholder, have been an Interested Shareholder but for
the inadvertent acquisition of ownership; or
(2) The Business Combination is proposed
prior to the consummation or abandonment of and subsequent to the earlier of
the public announcement or the notice required hereunder of a proposed
transaction which: (i) constitutes one of the transactions described in
the following sentence; (ii) is with or by a person who either was not an
Interested Shareholder during the previous three years or who became an
Interested Shareholder with the approval of the Board of Directors; and (iii) is
approved or not opposed by a majority of the members of the Board of Directors
then in office (but not less than one) who were Directors prior to any person
becoming an Interested Shareholder during the previous three years or were
recommended for election or elected to succeed such Directors by a majority of
such Directors.
The
proposed transactions referred to in the preceding sentence are limited to:
(I) a merger or consolidation of the Corporation (except for
a merger in respect of which, pursuant to the BCA, no vote of the shareholders
of the Corporation is required);
(II) a sale, lease, exchange, mortgage, pledge, transfer or
other disposition (in one transaction or a series of transactions), whether as
part of a dissolution or otherwise, of assets of the Corporation or of any
direct or indirect majority-owned subsidiary of the Corporation (other than to
any direct or indirect wholly-owned subsidiary or to the Corporation) having an
aggregate market value equal to 50% or more of either that aggregate market
value of all of the assets of the Corporation determined on a consolidated
basis or the aggregate market value of all the outstanding shares of the
Corporation; or
(III) a proposed tender or exchange offer for 50% or more of the
outstanding voting shares of the Corporation.
The Corporation shall give
not less than 20 days notice to all Interested Shareholders prior to the
consummation of any of the transactions described in clause (I) or (II) of
the second sentence of this paragraph.
(c) For the purpose of this Article Ninth
only, the term:
(1) Associate,
when used to indicate a relationship with any person, means: (i) any
corporation, partnership, unincorporated association or other entity of which
such person is a director, officer or partner or is, directly or indirectly,
the owner of 20% or more of any class of voting shares; (ii) any trust or
other estate in which such person has at least a 20% beneficial interest or as
to which such person serves as trustee or in a similar fiduciary capacity;
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and (iii) any relative
or spouse of such person, or any relative of such spouse, who has the same
residence as such person.
(2) Business Combination,
when used in reference to the Corporation and any Interested Shareholder of the
Corporation, means:
(i) Any merger or consolidation of the
Corporation or any direct or indirect majority-owned subsidiary of the
Corporation with (A) the Interested Shareholder, or (B) with any
other corporation, partnership, unincorporated association or other entity if
the merger or consolidation is caused by the Interested Shareholder and, as a
result of such merger or consolidation, Paragraph (a) of this Article Ninth
is not applicable to the surviving entity;
(ii) Any sale, lease, exchange, mortgage,
pledge, transfer or other disposition (in one transaction or a series of
transactions), except proportionately as a shareholder of the Corporation, to
or with the Interested Shareholder, whether as part of a dissolution or
otherwise, of assets of the Corporation or of any direct or indirect
majority-owned subsidiary of the Corporation which assets have an aggregate
market value equal to 10% or more of either the aggregate market value of all
the assets of the Corporation determined on a consolidated basis or the
aggregate market value of all the outstanding shares of the Corporation;
(iii) Any transaction which results in the
issuance or transfer by the Corporation or by any direct or indirect
majority-owned subsidiary of the Corporation of any shares, or any shares of
such subsidiary, to the Interested Shareholder, except: (A) pursuant to
the exercise, exchange or conversion of securities exercisable for,
exchangeable for or convertible into shares of the Corporation, or shares of
any such subsidiary, which securities were outstanding prior to the time that
the Interested Shareholder became such;
(B) pursuant to a merger with a direct or indirect
wholly-owned subsidiary of the Corporation solely for purposes of forming a
holding company; (C) pursuant to a dividend or distribution paid or made,
or the exercise, exchange or conversion of securities exercisable for,
exchangeable for or convertible into shares of the Corporation, or shares of
any such subsidiary, which security is distributed, pro rata to all holders of
a class or series of shares subsequent to the time the Interested Shareholder
became such; (D) pursuant to an exchange offer by the Corporation to
purchase shares made on the same terms to all holders of said shares; or (E) any
issuance or transfer of shares by the Corporation; provided, however,
that in no case under items (C) - (E) of this subparagraph shall
there be an increase in the Interested Shareholders proportionate share of any
class or series of shares of the Corporation;
(iv) Any transaction involving the
Corporation or any direct or indirect majority-owned subsidiary of the
Corporation which has the effect, directly or indirectly, of increasing the
proportionate share of any class or series of shares of the Corporation, or
securities convertible into any class or series of shares of the Corporation,
or shares of any such subsidiary, or securities convertible into such shares,
which is owned by the Interested Shareholder, except as a result of immaterial
changes due to fractional share adjustments or as a result of any purchase or
redemption of any shares not caused, directly or indirectly, by the Interested
Shareholder; or
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ELEVENTH: A director of the Corporation shall
not be personally liable to the Corporation or its shareholders for monetary
damages for any breach of duty in such capacity except that the liability of a
director shall not be eliminated or limited: (a) for any breach of such
directors duty of loyalty to the Corporation or its shareholders; (b) for
acts or omissions not undertaken in good faith or which involve intentional
misconduct or a knowing violation of law; or (c) for any transaction from
which such director derived an improper personal benefit. If the BCA hereafter
is amended to authorize the further elimination or limitation of the liability
of directors for actions taken or omitted to be taken then the liability of a
director of the Corporation, in addition to the limitation on personal
liability provided herein, shall be limited to the fullest extent permitted by
the amended BCA in respect of actions or omissions to act which occurred during
any period to which the BCAs amended provisions pertain. Any repeal or
modification of this Article Tenth by the shareholders of the
Corporation shall be prospective only, and shall not adversely affect any
limitation on the personal liability of the director existing at the time of
such repeal or modification.
TWELFTH: At
each meeting of shareholders, the holders of a majority of the voting power of
the outstanding shares entitled to vote at the meeting, present in person or
represented by proxy, shall constitute a quorum; provided
that in no event shall a quorum consist of fewer than one third of the shares
entitled to vote at a meeting.
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