EX-4 2 rlyb-ex4_4.htm EX-4.4

Exhibit 4.4

DESCRIPTION OF THE REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES

REGISTERED PURSUANT TO

SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS AMENDED

The following description of the securities of Rallybio Corporation (“us,” “our,” “we” or the “Company”) registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), is intended as a summary only and therefore is not a complete description. This description is based upon, and is qualified by reference to, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws, applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) and form of pre-funded warrant. Copies of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and form of pre-funded warrant are incorporated by reference as Exhibit 3.1, Exhibit 3.2 and Exhibit 4.3 respectively, to the Annual Report on Form 10-K to which this Exhibit 4.4 is an exhibit.

General

Our authorized capital stock consists of 200,000,000 shares of common stock, with a par value of $0.0001 per share, and 50,000,000 shares of preferred stock, with a par value of $0.0001 per share. Our common stock is registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and is listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “RLYB.”

Common Stock

Holders of our 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. An election of directors by our stockholders shall be determined, in an uncontested election, by a majority of the votes cast by the stockholders entitled to vote on the election and, in a contested election, by a plurality of the votes cast by the stockholders entitled to vote on the election. Holders of common stock are entitled to receive proportionately any dividends as may be declared by our board of directors, subject to any preferential dividend rights of any series of preferred stock that we may designate and issue in the future.

In the event of our liquidation or dissolution, the holders of common stock are entitled to receive an amount of our net assets available for distribution to stockholders 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 validly issued, 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.

Preferred Stock

Under the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our board of directors is authorized to direct us to issue shares of preferred stock in one or more series without stockholder approval. Our board of directors has the discretion to determine the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions, including voting rights, dividend rights, conversion rights, redemption privileges and liquidation preferences, of each series of preferred stock.

The purpose of authorizing our board of directors to issue preferred stock and determine its rights and preferences is to eliminate delays associated with a stockholder vote on specific issuances. The issuance of preferred stock, while providing flexibility in connection with possible acquisitions, future financings and other corporate purposes, could have the effect of making it more difficult for a third-party to acquire, or could discourage a third-party from seeking to acquire, a majority of our outstanding voting stock.

Pre-Funded Warrants

As of March 1, 2023, we had pre-funded warrants outstanding to purchase 3,333,388 shares of our common stock.

Each pre-funded warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $0.0001 per share of common stock. The exercise price of the pre-funded warrants and the number of shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of the pre-funded warrants is subject to appropriate adjustment in the event of certain stock dividends and distributions, stock splits, stock combinations, reclassifications or similar events affecting our common stock, as well as upon any distribution of assets, including cash, stock or other property, to our stockholders. The pre-funded warrants have no expiration date and are exercisable, at the option of each holder, in whole or in part, by delivering notice and payment of the exercise price or by means of cashless exercise as further described in the pre-funded warrant.

We may not effect the exercise of any pre-funded warrant, and a holder will not be entitled to exercise any portion of any such warrant if, upon giving effect to such exercise, the aggregate number of shares of common stock beneficially owned by the holder (together with its affiliates, any other persons acting as a group together with the holder or any of the holder’s affiliates, and any other persons whose beneficial ownership of common stock would or could be aggregated with the holder’s for purposes of Section 13(d) or Section 16 of the Exchange Act) would exceed 9.99% of the number of shares of our common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the exercise, as such percentage ownership is determined in accordance with the terms of such pre-funded warrant, which percentage may be increased or decreased at the holder’s election upon 61 days’ notice to us subject to the terms of such pre-funded warrants, provided that such percentage may in no event exceed 19.99%.

Upon the consummation of a fundamental transaction (as described in the pre-funded warrants), the pre-funded warrants will automatically be converted into the right of the holder of such pre-funded warrant to receive the same kind and amount of securities, cash or other property that such holders would have received had they exercised the pre-funded warrants immediately prior to such fundamental transaction, without regard to any limitations on exercise contained in the pre-funded warrants.

Subject to applicable laws, the pre-funded warrants may be offered for sale, sold, transferred or assigned without our consent.

Anti-takeover Effects of Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, Amended and Restated Bylaws and the DGCL

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain certain provisions that are intended to enhance the likelihood of continuity and stability in the composition of our board of directors, but which may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a future takeover or change in control of us unless such takeover or change in control is approved by our board of directors.

These provisions include:

Classified board. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our board of directors is divided into three classes of directors, with the classes as nearly equal in number as possible. As a result, approximately one-third of our board of directors will be elected each year. The classification of directors will have the effect of making it more difficult for stockholders to change the composition of our board of directors. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation also provides that, subject to any rights of holders of preferred stock to elect additional directors under specified circumstances, the number of directors will be fixed exclusively pursuant to a resolution adopted by our board of directors.

Action by written consent; special meetings of stockholders. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that stockholder action can be taken only at an annual or special meeting of stockholders and cannot be taken by written consent in lieu of a meeting. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws also provide that, except as otherwise required by law, special meetings of the stockholders can only be called pursuant to a resolution adopted by a majority of our board of directors. Except as described above, stockholders will not be permitted to call a special meeting or to require our board of directors to call a special meeting.

Removal of directors. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our directors may be removed only for cause by the affirmative vote of at least 75% of the voting power of our outstanding shares of capital stock, voting together as a single class. This requirement of a supermajority vote to remove directors could enable a minority of our stockholders to prevent a change in the composition of our board of directors.

Advance notice procedures. Our amended and restated bylaws establish an advance notice procedure for stockholder proposals to be brought before an annual meeting of our 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 our Secretary timely written notice, in proper form, of the stockholder’s intention to bring that business before the meeting. Although our amended and restated bylaws do not give our board of directors the power to approve or disapprove stockholder nominations of candidates or proposals regarding other business to be conducted at a special or annual meeting, our amended and restated 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 acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect its own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us.

Supermajority approval requirements. The DGCL generally provides 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 either a corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws requires a greater percentage. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws provide that the affirmative vote of holders of at least 75% of the total votes eligible to be cast in the election of directors will be required to amend, alter, change or repeal specified provisions. This requirement of a supermajority vote to approve amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws could enable a minority of our stockholders to exercise veto power over any such amendments.

Authorized but unissued shares. Our authorized but unissued shares of common stock and preferred stock are available for future issuance without stockholder approval. These additional shares may be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future public offerings to raise additional capital, corporate acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued shares of common stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of a majority of our common stock by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.

Exclusive forum. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, subject to limited exceptions, the state or federal courts within the State of Delaware will be exclusive forums for (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (2) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us or our stockholders, (3) any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws, (4) any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws or (5) any other action asserting a claim against us

that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine; provided that, the exclusive forum provision does not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or to any claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation also provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the U.S. federal district courts shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any claims arising under the Securities Act. Although we believe these provisions benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware and certain federal securities law, these provisions may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.

Section 203 of the DGCL

We are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL. In general, Section 203 prohibits a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a “business combination” with an “interested stockholder” for a three-year period following the time that this stockholder becomes an interested stockholder, unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner. A “business combination” includes, among other things, a merger, asset or stock sale or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. An “interested stockholder” is a person who, together with affiliates and associates, owns, or did own within three years prior to the determination of interested stockholder status, 15% or more of the corporation’s voting stock.

Under Section 203, a business combination between a corporation and an interested stockholder is prohibited unless it satisfies one of the following conditions: before the stockholder became interested, the corporation’s board of directors approved either the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder; upon consummation of the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of the voting stock of the corporation outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding for purposes of determining the voting stock outstanding, shares owned by persons who are directors and also officers, and employee stock plans, in some instances; or at or after the time the stockholder became interested, the business combination was approved by the board of directors of the corporation and authorized at an annual or special meeting of the stockholders by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the outstanding voting stock which is not owned by the interested stockholder.

A Delaware corporation may “opt out” of these provisions with an express provision in its original certificate of incorporation or an express provision in its certificate of incorporation or bylaws resulting from a stockholders’ amendment approved by at least a majority of the outstanding voting shares. We have not opted out of these provisions. As a result, mergers or other takeover or change in control attempts of us may be discouraged or prevented.

Transfer Agent and Registrar

The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A.