EX-4.3 3 ex4-3.htm

Exhibit 4.3

DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

Our authorized capital stock consists of 100,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, and 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share, 100,000 of which are designated as Series A Participating Preferred Stock which may be issued upon the exercise of the preferred stock purchase rights described below under “Section 382 Tax Benefits Preservation Plan”.

Description of Common Stock

Voting. Holders of common stock are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders and do not have cumulative voting rights. Accordingly, holders of a majority of the shares of common stock entitled to vote in any election of directors may elect all of the directors standing for election.

Dividends. Holders of common stock are entitled to receive proportionately any dividends that may be declared by our Board, subject to any preferential dividend rights of outstanding preferred stock.

Liquidation and Distribution. Upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, the holders of common stock are entitled to receive proportionately our net assets available after the payment of all debts and other liabilities and subject to the prior rights of any outstanding preferred stock. Holders of common stock have no preemptive, subscription, redemption or conversion rights. Our outstanding shares of common stock are, and the shares offered by us in this offering will be, when issued and paid for, fully paid and nonassessable. 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.

Anti-Takeover Effects of Delaware Law, Our Certificate of Incorporation and Our Bylaws

Delaware law, our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws contain provisions that could have the effect of delaying, deferring or discouraging another party from acquiring control of us. These provisions, which are summarized below, are intended to discourage coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids. These provisions are also designed to encourage persons seeking to acquire control of us to first negotiate with our Board.

Removal of Directors

Our certificate of incorporation currently provides that directors may be removed only for cause and only by the affirmative vote of the holders of 75% of our shares of capital stock present in person or by proxy and entitled to vote. However, our Board of Directors approved an amendment to our bylaws that became effective on June 17, 2016, which permits our directors to be removed either for cause or without cause by our stockholders. At our annual meeting of stockholders for the year ended April 30, 2016 that was held on October 21, 2016 (the “2016 Annual Meeting”), we submitted a proposal to stockholders seeking stockholder approval to amend our certificate of incorporation to delete the reference to “for cause” in Section 6 of Article IX of the certificate of incorporation. This proposal to amend the certificate of incorporation did not receive the required affirmative vote of the holders of at least 75% of the outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote at the meeting, so the proposal did not pass. However, we also submitted a proposal to stockholders at the 2016 Annual Meeting seeking approval to amend our certificate of incorporation to add a clause that specified that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, any provision in the Certificate of Incorporation that is contrary to a requirement of the Delaware General Corporate Law (the “DGCL”) shall be read in conformity with the applicable requirement of the DGCL. This second proposal only required the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote at the 2016 Annual Meeting, and it passed.

Our Board of Directors takes the position that under current Delaware law, the “only for cause” provision in the certificate of incorporation regarding removal of the company’s directors is not enforceable and is therefore not in conformity with the applicable requirement of the DGCL. Accordingly, we will comply with the provisions of our bylaws, as amended and as described above, relating to director removal and will not seek to enforce that provision of our certificate of incorporation relating to stockholder removal of directors only for cause, as presently in effect. Under our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, any vacancy on the Board, including a vacancy resulting from an enlargement of the Board, may be filled only by vote of a majority of our directors then in office.

The limitations on the ability of our stockholders to remove directors and fill vacancies could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire, or discourage a third party from seeking to acquire, control of us.

Stockholder Action by Written Consent; Special Meetings

Our certificate of incorporation provides that any action required or permitted to be taken by our stockholders must be effected at a duly called annual or special meeting of such holders and may not be effected by any consent in writing by such holders. Our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws also provide that, except as otherwise required by law, special meetings of our stockholders can only be called by our chairman of the board, our chief executive officer, our president or the Board.

Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals

Our bylaws establish an advance notice procedure for stockholder proposals to be brought before an annual meeting of stockholders, including proposed nominations of persons for election to the Board. Stockholders at an annual meeting may only consider proposals or nominations specified in the notice of meeting or brought before the meeting by or at the direction of the Board of Directors or by a stockholder of record on the record date for the meeting, that is entitled to vote at the meeting and that has delivered to our secretary a timely written notice in proper form of the stockholder’s intention to bring such business before the meeting, as well as having met certain other requirements specified in the bylaws. These provisions could have the effect of delaying until the next stockholder meeting stockholder actions that are favored by the holders of a majority of our outstanding voting securities.

Delaware Business Combination Statute

We are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. Subject to certain exceptions, Section 203 prevents a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a “business combination” with any “interested stockholder” for three years following the date that the person became an interested stockholder, unless the interested stockholder attained such status with the approval of our Board of Directors or unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner. A “business combination” includes, among other things, a merger or consolidation involving us and the “interested stockholder” and the sale of more than 10% of our assets. In general, an “interested stockholder” is any entity or person beneficially owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock and any entity or person affiliated with or controlling or controlled by such entity or person.

Section 382 Tax Benefits Preservation Plan

Our Board of Directors has approved the adoption of a tax benefits preservation plan in the form of a Section 382 Rights Agreement designed to protect and preserve our tax assets primarily associated with net operating loss carryforwards (“NOLs”) that could potentially be utilized in certain circumstances to offset our future taxable income and reduce its federal income tax liability.

Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code imposes limitations on the future use of a company’s NOLs if it undergoes an “ownership change.” Our ability to benefit from its tax assets would be substantially limited by Section 382 if an “ownership change” occurred. A company experiences an “ownership change” for tax purposes if the percentage of stock owned by one or a group of its 5% stockholders (as defined for tax purposes) increases by more than 50 percentage points over a rolling three-year period over the lowest percentage of stock of such corporation owned by such stockholders at any time during that period.

Our tax benefits preservation plan is similar to those adopted by numerous other public companies with significant NOLs. In order to protect our NOLs from being limited or permanently lost under Section 382, the tax benefits preservation plan is intended to reduce the likelihood of an unintended “ownership change” occurring through the buying and selling of our common stock. This is accomplished by deterring any person or group from acquiring beneficial ownership of 4.99% or more of our outstanding common stock without the approval of the Board. Our tax benefits preservation plan does not, however, block anyone from buying or selling OPT’s common stock. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the tax benefits preservation plan will prevent an “ownership change.”

Under the terms of the tax benefits preservation plan, OPT will distribute to its stockholders one preferred stock purchase right for each share of our common stock held as of the close of business on July 11, 2023. Any shares of common stock issued after the July 11, 2023 record date will be issued together with associated preferred stock purchase rights.

Under the tax benefits preservation plan, the rights will initially trade with our common stock. The rights will generally become exercisable only if a person (or any persons acting as a group) acquires beneficial ownership of 4.99% or more of our outstanding common stock, without the approval of the Board, after the first public announcement by us of the adoption of the tax benefits preservation plan. A person or group who acquires, without the approval of the Board, beneficial ownership of 4.99% or more of our outstanding common stock could be subject to significant dilution. If the preferred stock purchase rights become exercisable, all holders of rights, other than the person or group triggering the rights, will be entitled to purchase our common stock at a 50% discount. The Board also has the option to cause the exchange of one share of common stock for each preferred stock purchase right held. Preferred stock purchase rights held by the person or group triggering the rights will become null and void and will not be exercisable or transferable.

Stockholders who beneficially owned 4.99% or more of our outstanding common stock prior to the first public announcement by us of the adoption of the tax benefits preservation plan will not trigger any penalties under the tax benefits preservation plan so long as they do not acquire beneficial ownership of any additional shares of common stock (other than pursuant to a stock split, stock dividend, reclassification, or similar transaction effected by us) at a time when they still beneficially own 4.99% or more of such common stock. The Board also has the discretion to exempt any acquisition of our common stock from the provisions of the tax benefits preservation plan.

The preferred stock purchase rights and the tax benefits preservation plan will expire no later than June 29, 2026. The preferred stock purchase rights and the tax benefits preservation plan may also expire on an earlier date upon the occurrence of other events, including a determination by our Board that (i) the tax benefits preservation plan is no longer necessary for the preservation of our tax attributes, (ii) no tax attributes may be carried forward (with such expiration occurring as of the beginning of the applicable taxable year), or (iii) prior to the time any person or group acquires 4.99% or more of our common stock, that the tax benefits preservation plan and the preferred stock purchase rights are no longer in the best interests of us and our stockholders. The preferred stock purchase rights may also be redeemed, exchanged, or terminated prior to their expiration.

Amendment of Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws

The Delaware General Corporation Law provides generally that the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares entitled to vote on any matter is required to amend a corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws, unless a corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws, as the case may be, requires a greater percentage. Our bylaws may be amended or repealed by a majority vote of our Board of Directors or the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 75% of the voting power of our capital stock issued and outstanding and entitled to vote on the matter.

Limitation of Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors

Our certificate of incorporation limits the personal liability of directors for breach of fiduciary duty to the maximum extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law. Our certificate of incorporation provides that no director will have personal liability to us or to our stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty or other duty as a director. However, these provisions do not eliminate or limit the liability of any of our directors:

| ● | for any breach of their duty of loyalty to us or our stockholders;
| ● | for acts or omissions not in good faith or that involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law;
| ● | for voting or assenting to unlawful payments of dividends or other distributions; or
| ● | for any transaction from which the director derived an improper personal benefit.

Any amendment to or repeal of these provisions will not eliminate or reduce the effect of these provisions in respect of any act or failure to act, or any cause of action, suit or claim that would accrue or arise prior to any amendment or repeal or adoption of an inconsistent provision. If the Delaware General Corporation Law is amended to provide for further limitations on the personal liability of directors of corporations, then the personal liability of our directors will be further limited to the greatest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law.

In addition, our certificate of incorporation provides that we must indemnify our directors and officers and we must advance expenses, including attorneys’ fees, to our directors and officers in connection with legal proceedings, subject to limited exceptions.

Notice of Share Ownership

Our bylaws contain a provision requiring any beneficial owner of three percent or more of our outstanding common stock to notify us of his or her stockholdings, as well as of any change in his or her beneficial ownership of one percent or more of our outstanding common stock. Our bylaws do not provide for any specific remedy in the event a stockholder does not comply with this provision. We do not intend to make any such information public, unless required by law or the rules of the SEC or the NYSE American.

Authorized but Unissued Shares

Our authorized but unissued shares of common stock and preferred stock are available for future issuance without stockholder approval, subject to any limitations imposed by the listing standards of the NYSE American. These additional shares may be used for a variety of corporate finance transactions, acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued and unreserved common stock and preferred stock could make it more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.

Transfer Agent and Registrar

The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A. Its address is 250 Royall Street, Canton, MA 02021-1011, and its telephone number is 1-800-662-7232.

Our common stock is listed on the NYSE American under the symbol “OPTT.”