EX-4.9 2 exhibitno49vrt04302021.htm EX-4.9
Exhibit 4.9
VERTIV HOLDINGS CO DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES REGISTERED UNDER SECTION 12 OF THE EXCHANGE ACT
The following is a brief description of the securities of Vertiv Holdings Co (the “Company,” “we,” “us” and “our”), registered pursuant to Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the “Exchange Act,” as of February 26, 2021. This description of the terms of our securities registered under Section 12 of the Exchange Act speaks as of February 26, 2021, does not purport to be complete and is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to the applicable provisions of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the “DGCL”), and the full text of our Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (our “Certificate of Incorporation”) and Bylaws (our “Bylaws”), in each case as in effect on February 26, 2021.
Authorized and Outstanding Stock
Our Certificate of Incorporation authorizes the issuance of 725,000,000 shares of capital stock, consisting of (1) 720,000,000 shares of common stock, including (a) 700,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, and (b) 20,000,000 shares of undesignated common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, and (2) 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share
As of February 22, 2021, our issued and outstanding share capital consisted of: (i) 351,440,743 shares of Class A common stock, held of record by approximately 60 holders, (ii) no shares of preferred stock and (iii) 10,533,333 private placement warrants, held of record by approximately 2 warrant holders. Such numbers do not include DTC participants or beneficial owners holding shares through nominee names.
Voting Power
Except as otherwise required by law or as otherwise provided in any certificate of designation for any series of preferred stock, under our Certificate of Incorporation, the holders of our common stock possess or will possess all voting power for the election of our directors and all other matters requiring stockholder action and will be entitled to one vote per share on matters to be voted on by stockholders. The holders of our common stock will at all times vote together as one class on all matters submitted to a vote of the holders of our common stock.
Dividends
Subject to the rights, if any of the holders of any outstanding shares of preferred stock, holders of our common stock will be entitled to receive such dividends and other distributions, if any, as may be declared from time to time by our Board in its discretion out of funds legally available therefor and shall share equally on a per share basis in such dividends and distributions.
Liquidation, Dissolution and Winding Up
In the event of our voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution or winding-up, the holders of our common stock will be entitled to receive all of our remaining assets available for distribution to stockholders, ratably in proportion to the number of shares of our common stock held by them, after the rights of the holders of the preferred stock have been satisfied.
Preemptive or Other Rights
Our stockholders will have no preemptive or other subscription rights and there are no sinking fund or redemption provisions applicable to our common stock.
Election of Directors
There is no cumulative voting with respect to the election of directors, with the result that directors will be elected by a plurality of the votes cast at a meeting of stockholders by holders of our Class A common stock.
Preferred Stock
Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that shares of preferred stock may be issued from time to time in one or more series. Our Board is authorized to fix the voting rights, if any, designations, powers, preferences and relative, participating, optional, special and other rights, if any, and any qualifications, limitations and restrictions thereof, applicable to the shares of each series. Our Board may, without stockholder approval, issue preferred stock with voting and other rights that could adversely affect the voting power and other rights of the holders of the common stock and could have anti-takeover effects. The ability of our Board to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control of us or the removal of

existing management. We have no preferred stock outstanding at the date hereof. 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.
Dividends
On December 17, 2020, we paid our first annual dividend of $0.01 per share of Class A common stock, payable to shareholders of record, including holders of record of our units, on December 2, 2020. We are a holding company without any direct operations and have no significant assets other than our ownership interest in a merger subsidiary. Accordingly, our ability to pay dividends depends upon the financial condition, liquidity and results of operations of, and our receipt of dividends, loans or other funds from, our subsidiaries. Our subsidiaries are separate and distinct legal entities and have no obligation to make funds available to us. In addition, there are various statutory, regulatory and contractual limitations and business considerations on the extent, if any, to which our subsidiaries may pay dividends, make loans or otherwise provide funds to us. For example, the ability of our subsidiaries to make distributions, loans and other payments to us for the purposes described above and for any other purpose may be limited by the terms of the agreements governing our outstanding indebtedness. The declaration and payment of dividends is also at the discretion of our Board of Directors and depends on various factors including our results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements, prospects and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors.
In addition, under Delaware law, our Board of Directors may declare dividends only to the extent of our surplus (which is defined as total assets at fair market value minus total liabilities, minus statutory capital) or, if there is no surplus, out of our net profits for the then-current and/or immediately preceding fiscal year.
Transfer Agent
The transfer agent for our common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A. and our warrant agent for our private placement warrants is Computershare Trust Company, N.A. and Computershare Inc. (collectively, “Computershare”), acting together. We have agreed to indemnify and hold harmless Computershare in its roles as transfer agent from and against any and all losses, claims, damages, costs, charges, counsel fees and expenses, payments, expenses and liability arising out of or attributable to Computershare’s duties as transfer agent, except for Computershare’s negligence, willful misconduct or breach of confidentiality. We have also agreed to indemnify and hold harmless Computershare in its roles as warrant agent against any costs, expenses (including reasonable fees of its legal counsel), losses or damages, which may be paid, incurred or suffered by or to which it may become subject, arising from or out of, directly or indirectly, any claims or liability resulting from its actions as warrant agent; provided, however, that such covenant and agreement of us does not extend to, and Computershare shall not be indemnified with respect to, such costs, expenses, losses and damages incurred or suffered by Computershare as a result of, or arising out of, its gross negligence, bad faith or willful misconduct (each as determined by a final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction).
Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law, the Charter and Bylaws
Our Certificate of Incorporation contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together, these provisions may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities. Certain of these provisions provide:
•no cumulative voting in the election of directors, which limits the ability of minority stockholders to elect director candidates;
•the requirement that directors may only be removed from the Board for cause;
•the right of our Board to elect a director to fill a vacancy created by the expansion of our Board or the resignation, death or removal of a director in certain circumstances, which prevents stockholders from being able to fill vacancies on our Board;
•a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent, which forces stockholder action to be taken at an annual or special meeting of our stockholders;
•a prohibition on stockholders calling a special meeting and the requirement that a meeting of stockholders may only be called by members of our Board or the Chief Executive Officer of the Company, which may delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or to take action, including the removal of directors; and

•advance notice procedures that stockholders must comply with in order to nominate candidates to our Board or to propose matters to be acted upon at a meeting of stockholders, which may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of the Company.
Forum Selection
Our Certificate of Incorporation includes a forum selection clause, which provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for any stockholder (including a beneficial owner) to bring: (a) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company; (b) any action asserting a claim of breach of fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees of the Company to the Company or our stockholders; (c) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our Certificate of Incorporation or bylaws; or (d) any action asserting a claims governed by the internal affairs doctrine, except for, as to each of (a) through (d) above, any claim (i) as to which the Court of Chancery 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), (ii) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, (iii) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction or (iv) arising under the federal securities laws, including the Securities Act, as to which the Court of Chancery and the federal district court for the District of Delaware shall concurrently be the sole and exclusive forums. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the forum selection clause will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the sole and exclusive forum.
Stockholders Agreement
Pursuant to the Stockholders Agreement, the Vertiv Stockholder has the right to nominate up to four directors to our Board of Directors, subject to its ownership percentage of the total outstanding shares of Class A common stock. If the Vertiv Stockholder holds: (i) 30% or greater of the outstanding Class A common stock, it will have the right to nominate four directors (two of which must be independent); (ii) less than 30% but greater than or equal to 20% of the outstanding Class A common stock, it will have the right to nominate three directors (one of which must be independent); (iii) less than 20% but greater than or equal to 10% of the outstanding Class A common stock, it will have the right to nominate two directors; (iv) less than 10% but greater than or equal to 5% of the outstanding Class A common stock, it will have the right to nominate one director; and (iv) less than 5% of the outstanding Class A common stock, it will not have the right to nominate any directors. As long as the Vertiv Stockholder has the right to nominate at least one director, the Vertiv Stockholder shall have certain rights to appoint its nominees to committees of the Board of Directors and the Company shall take certain actions to ensure the number of directors serving on the Board of Directors does not exceed nine. In addition, the Stockholders Agreement provides that so long as the Company has any Executive Chairman or Chief Executive Officer as a named executive officer, the Company shall take certain actions to include such Executive Chairman or Chief Executive Officer on the slate of nominees recommended by the Board of Directors for election. The Stockholders Agreement also provides that, for so long as the Vertiv Stockholder holds at least 5% of our outstanding Class A common stock, the Vertiv Stockholder will have the right to designate an observer to attend meetings of the Board, subject to certain limitations.
Listing
Our Class A common stock are traded on the NYSE under the symbols “VRT.”