EX-4.1 2 ex-4d1.htm EX-4.1

Exhibit 4.1

DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPANY’S SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO
SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

The following is a brief description of the common stock, $0.01 par value per share (the “Common Stock”), of LTC Properties, Inc. (“Company”), which is the only security of the Company registered pursuant to Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”).

Description of Common Stock

The following description sets forth certain general terms and provisions of our Common Stock. The statements below describing our Common Stock are in all respects subject to and qualified in their entirety by reference to the applicable provisions of our charter and bylaws.

General

Holders of our Common Stock will be entitled to receive dividends when, as and if authorized by our Board of Directors and declared by us, out of assets legally available therefore. Payment and declaration of dividends on our Common Stock and purchases of shares thereof by us will be subject to certain restrictions if we fail to pay dividends on our preferred stock. Upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of Common Stock will be entitled to share equally and ratably in any assets available for distribution to them, after payment or provision for payment of our debts and other liabilities and the preferential amounts owing with respect to any of our outstanding preferred stock.

Our Common Stock will possess voting rights for the election of directors and in respect of other corporate matters, with each share entitling the holder thereof to one vote. Holders of Common Stock will not have cumulative voting rights in the election of directors, which means that holders of more than 50% of all of the shares of our Common Stock voting for the election of directors will be able to elect all of the directors if they choose to do so and, accordingly, the holders of the remaining shares will be unable to elect any directors. Holders of shares of Common Stock will not have preemptive rights, which mean they have no right to acquire any additional shares of Common Stock that may be issued by us at a subsequent date. Our Common Stock will, when issued, be fully paid and nonassessable and will not be subject to preemptive or similar rights.

Under Maryland law and our charter, a distribution (whether by dividend, redemption or other acquisition of shares) to holders of shares of our Common Stock may be made only if, after giving effect to the distribution, we are able to pay our indebtedness as it becomes due in the usual course of business and our total assets are greater than our total liabilities plus the amount necessary to satisfy the preferential rights upon dissolution of stockholders whose preferential rights on dissolution are superior to the holders of our Common Stock and we can pay our debts as they become due. We have complied with these requirements in all of our prior distributions to holders of our Common Stock.

The rights, preferences and privileges of holders of our Common Stock are subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of shares of any series of our preferred stock which are outstanding or which we may designate and issue in the future.

Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer

In addition to other qualifications, for us to qualify as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”), (a) not more than 50% in value of our outstanding capital stock may be owned, actually or constructively, by five or fewer individuals during the last half of our taxable year, and (b) such capital stock must be beneficially owned by 100 or more persons during at least 335 days of a taxable year of 12 months or during a proportionate part of a shorter taxable year.

To ensure that we continue to meet the requirements for qualification as a REIT, our charter, subject to some exceptions, provides that no holder may own, or be deemed to own by virtue of the attribution provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”), shares of any class or series of our capital stock in excess of 9.8% (ownership limit) of the number of then outstanding shares of any class or series of our capital stock. Under our charter, our Board of Directors may waive the ownership limit with respect to a stockholder if evidence satisfactory to the Board of Directors and our tax counsel is presented that the changes in ownership will not then or in the future jeopardize our status as a REIT. Our

charter provides any transfer of capital stock or any security convertible into capital stock that would result in actual or constructive ownership of capital stock by a stockholder in excess of the ownership limit or that would result in our failure to meet the requirements for qualification as a REIT, including any transfer that results in the capital stock being owned by fewer than 100 persons or results in our Company being “closely held” within the meaning of section 856(h) of the Code, notwithstanding any provisions of our charter to the contrary, will be null and void, and the intended transferee will acquire no rights to the capital stock. The foregoing restrictions on transferability and ownership will not apply if the Board of Directors determines that it is no longer in our best interest to attempt to qualify, or to continue to qualify, as a REIT.

Any shares of our capital stock held by a stockholder in excess of the applicable ownership limit become “Excess Shares”. Under our charter, upon shares of any class or series of capital stock becoming Excess Shares, such shares will be deemed automatically to have been converted into a class separate and distinct from their original class and from any other class of Excess Shares. Upon any outstanding Excess Shares ceasing to be Excess Shares, such shares will be automatically reconverted back into shares of their original class or series of capital stock.

Our charter provides the holder of Excess Shares will not be entitled to vote the Excess Shares nor will such Excess Shares be considered issued and outstanding for purposes of any stockholder vote or the determination of a quorum for such vote. The Board of Directors, in its sole discretion, may choose to accumulate all distributions and dividends payable upon the Excess Shares of any particular holder in a non-interest bearing escrow account payable to the holder of the Excess Shares upon such Excess Shares ceasing to be Excess Shares.

In addition, we will have the right to redeem all or any portion of the Excess Shares from the holder at the redemption price, which will be the average market price (as determined in the manner set forth in our charter) of the capital stock for the prior 30 days from the date we give notice of our intent to redeem such Excess Shares, or as determined by the Board of Directors in good faith. The redemption price will only be payable upon the liquidation of our Company and will not exceed the sum of the per share distributions designated as liquidating distributions declared subsequent to the redemption date with respect to unredeemed shares of record of the class from which such Excess Shares were converted. We will rescind the redemption of the Excess Shares in the event that within 30 days of the redemption date, due to a sale of shares by the holder, such holder would not be the holder of Excess Shares, unless such rescission would jeopardize our tax status as a REIT or would be unlawful in any regard.

Our charter requires that each stockholder will upon demand disclose to us in writing any information with respect to the actual and constructive ownership of shares of our capital stock as our Board of Directors deems necessary to comply with the provisions of the Code applicable to REITs, to comply with the requirements of any taxing authority or governmental agency or to determine any such compliance.

The ownership limit provided for in our charter may have the effect of precluding the acquisition of control of our Company unless the Board of Directors determines that maintenance of REIT status is no longer in our best interests.