EX-4.5 2 q4202410kexhibit45.htm EX-4.5
Exhibit 4.5
DESCRIPTION OF SJW GROUP’S CAPITAL STOCK
REGISTERED UNDER SECTION 12 OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
General
The following summary description of our capital stock is based on the provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”), our certificate of incorporation, as amended, and our bylaws, as amended. This description does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the DGCL, as it may be amended from time to time, and to the terms of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as each may be amended from time to time, which are incorporated by reference as exhibits to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this Exhibit 4.5 is a part. As used in this “Description of Capital Stock,” the terms “SJW,” the “Company,” “we,” “our” and “us” refer to SJW Group, a Delaware corporation, and do not, unless otherwise specified, include our subsidiaries.
Our authorized capital stock consists of 70,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share.
Common Stock
Each holder of record of our common stock is entitled to one vote for each share held on every matter properly submitted to our stockholders for their vote. Holders of our common stock do not have cumulative voting rights. After satisfaction of any dividend rights of holders of any outstanding preferred stock, holders of common stock are entitled ratably to any dividend declared by our board of directors out of funds legally available for this purpose.
Upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, the holders of our common stock are entitled to receive ratably our net assets available, if any, after the payment of all debts and other liabilities and subject to the prior rights of any outstanding preferred stock.
Our common stock is not subject to further calls or assessments by SJW, and holders of our common stock have no preemptive, subscription, redemption, conversion or exchange rights and no sinking fund provisions.
The rights, preferences and privileges of holders of common stock are subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of shares of any series of preferred stock that we may designate and issue in the future.
All outstanding shares of our common stock are fully paid and non-assessable.
Preferred Stock
Our certificate of incorporation permits us to issue up to 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share, in one or more series, subject to limitations prescribed by law, with such designations, powers, preferences and rights, and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof, of any wholly unissued series of preferred stock as our board of directors may determine, including without limitation, the dividend rights, dividend rate, conversion rights, voting rights, rights and terms of redemption (including sinking fund provisions), redemption price or prices, and liquidation preferences of any such series, and the number of shares constituting any such series and the designation thereof, or any of the foregoing.
Our board of directors is further authorized to increase (but not above the total number of authorized shares of the class) or decrease (but not below the number of shares of any such series then outstanding) the number of shares of any series, the number of which was fixed by it, subsequent to the issuance of shares of such series then outstanding, subject to the powers, preferences and rights, and the qualifications, limitations and restrictions thereof stated in our certificate of incorporation or the resolution of our board of directors originally fixing the number of shares of such series. If the number of shares of any series is so decreased, then the shares constituting such decrease shall resume the status which they had prior to the adoption of the resolution originally fixing the number of shares of such series.
Our common stock is subject to the express terms of any preferred stock. Our board of directors may issue preferred stock with voting, dividend, liquidation and other rights that could adversely affect the relative rights of the holders of our common stock.

Anti-Takeover Effects of Provisions of the Certificate of Incorporation, Bylaws and Other Agreements
Some provisions of Delaware law and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws may have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, defer or prevent a tender offer, proxy contest or other takeover attempt that a stockholder might consider in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares held by stockholders. In particular, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by stockholders of SJW to replace or remove directors or take other corporate action
A description of these provisions is set forth below.
Blank Check Preferred
As described above, our board of directors is authorized to create and issue from time to time, without stockholder approval, up to an aggregate of 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock in one or more series and to establish the number of shares of any series of preferred stock and to fix the designations, powers, preferences and rights of the shares of each series and any qualifications, limitations or restrictions of the shares of each series. The authority to designate preferred stock may be used to issue series of preferred stock, or rights to acquire preferred stock, that could dilute the interest of, or impair the voting power of, holders of our common stock or could also be used as a method of determining, delaying or preventing a change of control.
Meetings and Elections of Directors
Special Meetings of Stockholders. Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws limit the ability of stockholders to call a special meeting of stockholders to only stockholders holding not less than 20% of outstanding voting power. In particular, our certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide that special meetings of the stockholders may be called at any time by the chair of the board, by the president, by our board of directors, or by stockholders holding 20% or more of our voting power.
Stockholder Action by Written Consent. Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide that any action which may be taken at any annual or special meeting of stockholders may be taken without a meeting and without prior notice, if a consent in writing, setting forth the action so taken, shall be signed by the holders of outstanding shares having not less than the minimum number of votes that would be necessary to authorize or take such action at a meeting at which all shares entitled to vote thereon were present and voted. However, directors may not be elected by written consent except by unanimous written consent of all shares entitled to vote for the election of directors.
Vacancies. Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide that vacancies occurring on our board of directors for any reason and newly created directorships resulting from an increase in the authorized number of directors may be filled only by vote of a majority of the remaining members of our board of directors, although less than a quorum, or by a sole remaining director, at any meeting of our board of directors. A person so elected by our board of directors to fill a vacancy or newly created directorship shall hold office until the next succeeding annual meeting of stockholders and until his or her successor shall be duly elected and qualified or until his or her earlier resignation or removal.
No Cumulative Voting
Our certificate of incorporation prohibits cumulative voting in the election of directors.
Interested Stockholder Transaction and Business Combination
The provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL govern SJW. Section 203 of DGCL prohibits, subject to certain exceptions, a Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder (i.e., a stockholder acquiring 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock) for three years following the date that such stockholder becomes an interested stockholder without approval of our board of directors. Section 203 makes certain types of unfriendly or hostile corporate takeovers, or other non-board approved transactions involving a corporation and one or more of its significant stockholders, more difficult by prohibiting large stockholders, in particular those owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock, from merging or combining with us for a certain period of time without the consent of our board of directors. Delaware companies may opt out of Section 203 if the original certificate of incorporation expressly elects not to be governed by Section 203. Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws do not “opt out” of Section 203.

Exclusive Delaware Forum
Our certificate of incorporation provides, unless SJW consents in writing to the selection of an alternate forum, (a) a state or federal court located within the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of SJW, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of SJW to SJW or SJW’s stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL, or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine; and (b) the U.S. federal district courts is the sole and exclusive forum for any claim arising under the Securities Act of 1933 (unless such provision is deemed illegal, invalid or unenforceable, in which case, the sole exclusive state court forum for any claim arising under the Securities Act of 1933 will be the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware)..
Advance Notice Bylaws
Our bylaws contain an advance notice procedure for stockholder proposals to be brought before an annual meeting of stockholders, including proposed nominations of persons for election to our board of directors. Stockholders at an annual meeting will only be able to consider proposals or nominations specified in the notice of meeting or brought before the meeting by or at the direction of our board of directors or by a stockholder who was a stockholder of record on the record date for the meeting, who is entitled to vote at the meeting and who has given SJW’s corporate secretary timely written notice, in proper form, of the stockholder’s intention to bring that business before the annual meeting. Our bylaws may have the effect of precluding the conduct of certain business at a meeting if the proper procedures are not followed or may discourage or deter a potential acquiror from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect its own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of SJW.
Listing
Our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the symbol “SJW.”
Transfer Agent and Registrar
The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Equiniti Trust Company, LLC.