EX-4.2 2 prim-20211231xex4d2.htm EX-4.2

Exhibit 4.2

 

Description of the Registrant’s Securities

Registered Pursuant to Section 12 of the

Securities Exchange Act of 1934

 

Primoris Services Corporation (“the Company”, “we”, “our”, or “us”) currently has one class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended,  (“the Exchange Act”) our common stock, par value $0.0001 per share.

 

The following description is a summary and does not purport to be complete. It is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by reference to, the Company’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (“the Certificate”) and the Company’s Amended and Restated Bylaws (the “Bylaws”), each of which is incorporated by reference as an exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this Exhibit is a part, and each of which may be amended from time to time. For additional information, please read the Certificate and Bylaws and the applicable provisions of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (“DGCL”).

 

Description of Capital Stock

 

General

 

Our authorized capital stock consists of 90,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.0001 par value per share.  Pursuant to our Certificate, our board of directors has the authority, without further action by the stockholders (unless such stockholder action is required by applicable law or the rules of any stock exchange or market on which our securities are then traded), to designate and issue shares of preferred stock in one or more series, to establish from time to time the number of shares to be included in each such series, to fix the designations, voting powers, preferences and rights of the shares of each wholly unissued series, and any qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof, of such series to the full extent permitted by our Certificate and the laws of the State of Delaware.

 

Voting Rights

 

Each holder of common stock is entitled to one vote for each share on all matters submitted to a vote of the stockholders, including the election of directors.  Our Certificate and Bylaws do not provide for cumulative voting rights. Except as otherwise provided by law, the Certificate or the Bylaws, in all matters other than the election of directors, the affirmative vote of the majority of the shares present in person or represented by proxy at a meeting at which a quorum is present and entitled to vote on the subject matter shall be the act of the stockholders. Directors shall be elected by a plurality of the shares present in person or represented by proxy at a meeting at which a quorum is present and entitled to vote on the election of directors.

 

Dividends

 

Subject to preferences that may be applicable to any then outstanding preferred stock, holders of common stock are entitled to receive dividends, if any, as may be declared from time to time by our board of directors.  The payment of dividends is contingent upon our  revenue and earnings, capital requirements, and general financial conditions, as well as contractual restrictions and other considerations deemed to be relevant by our board of directors.

 

Liquidation

 

In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of common stock will be entitled to share ratably in the net assets legally available for distribution to stockholders after the payment of all of our debts and other liabilities and the satisfaction of any liquidation preference granted to the holders of any then outstanding shares of preferred stock.

 

Rights and Preferences


 

Holders of common stock have no preemptive, conversion or subscription rights, and there are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock.  The rights, preferences and privileges of the 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 which we may designate in the future.

 

Fully Paid and Nonassessable

 

All of our outstanding shares of common stock are fully paid and nonassessable.

 

Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions

 

Certain provisions of our Certificate and Bylaws may have the effect of making it more difficult for a third party to acquire, or of discouraging a third party from attempting to acquire, control of us.  Such provisions could limit the price that certain investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock and may limit the ability of stockholders to remove current management or directors or approve transactions that stockholders may deem to be in their best interest and, therefore, could adversely affect the price of our common stock.

 

No Cumulative Voting.  The DGCL provides that stockholders are not entitled to the right to cumulate votes in the election of directors unless our Certificate provides otherwise.  Our Certificate does not provide for cumulative voting.

 

Board Vacancies Filled Only by Majority of Directors Then in Office.  Vacancies and newly created seats on our board may be filled only by our board of directors.  Further, only our board of directors may determine the number of directors on our board.  The inability of stockholders to determine the number of directors or to fill vacancies or newly created seats on the board makes it more difficult to change the composition of our board of directors.

 

Requirements for Advance Notification of Stockholder Nominations and Proposals.  Our Bylaws establish advance notice procedures with respect to stockholder proposals and the nomination of candidates for election as directors, other than nominations made by or at the direction of the board of directors or a committee of the board of directors.  Our Bylaws provide that in order for a proposal to be properly brought before an annual meeting of stockholders, it must be either (1) specified in the notice of the meeting given by us, (2) otherwise brought before the meeting by or at the direction of our board, or (3) properly brought before the meeting by a stockholder entitled to vote at the meeting and who complies with the following notice procedures: (i) the stockholder must give timely notice thereof in writing of the business to be brought before such meeting to our Secretary, and (ii) such business must be a proper matter for  stockholder action under the DGCL.  Our Bylaws provide that to be timely, a stockholder’s notice must be delivered to our Secretary at our principal executive offices not less than 45 days prior to the first anniversary of the date on which we first mailed our proxy materials for the preceding year’s annual meeting.  If the date of the subsequent year’s annual meeting of stockholders is changed by more than 30 days from the date of the prior year’s meeting, notice by the stockholder for the subsequent year’s annual meeting must be delivered to our Secretary within a “reasonable time” prior to our mailing of the proxy materials for the subsequent year’s annual meeting of stockholders.  If a stockholder proposes to nominate for election or reelection a director, the stockholder’s notice must include all information relating to such director nominee that is required to be disclosed in solicitation of proxies for election of directors in an election contest, or otherwise required, in each case, pursuant to Section 14 under the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder (including such person’s written consent to being named in the proxy statement as a nominee and to serving as a director if elected).

 

Our Bylaws may have the effect of precluding the conduct of certain business at a meeting if the proper procedures are not followed.  Any proposed business other than the nomination of persons for election to our board of directors must constitute a proper matter for stockholder action pursuant to the notice of meeting delivered to us. These provisions may also discourage or deter a potential acquiror from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquiror’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of our company.

 


Undesignated Preferred Stock.  As discussed above, our board of directors has the ability to issue preferred stock with voting or other rights or preferences that could impede the success of any attempt to change control of our company.  These and other provisions may have the effect of deferring hostile takeovers or delaying changes in control or management of us.

 

These provisions of Delaware law, our Certificate and our Bylaws may have the effect of deterring hostile takeovers or delaying changes in our control or in our management.  These provisions are intended to enhance the likelihood of continued stability in the composition of our board of directors and in the policies they implement, and to discourage certain types of transactions that may involve an actual or threatened change of our control.  These provisions are designed to reduce our vulnerability to an unsolicited acquisition proposal.  The provisions also are intended to discourage certain tactics that may be used in proxy fights.  However, such provisions could have the effect of discouraging others from making tender offers for our shares and, as a consequence, they also may inhibit fluctuations in the market price of our shares that could result from actual or rumored takeover attempts.

 

Section 203 of the DGCL

 

We are subject to Section 203 of the DGCL (“Section 203”), which prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in business combinations with an interested stockholder. An interested stockholder is generally defined as an entity or person beneficially owning 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation or any entity or person affiliated with or controlling or controlled by such entity or person (“interested stockholder”).  Section 203 provides that an interested stockholder may not engage in business combinations with the corporation for a period of three years after the date that such stockholder became an interested stockholder, with the following exceptions:

before such date, the board of directors of the corporation approves either the business combination or the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder;

upon completion of the transaction that 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 began, excluding for purposes of determining the voting stock outstanding (but not the outstanding voting stock owned by the interested stockholder) those shares owned (i) by persons who are directors and also officers and (ii) employee stock plans in which employee participants do not have the right to determine confidentially whether shares held subject to the plan will be tendered in a tender or exchange offer; or

on or after such date, the business combination is approved by the board of directors and authorized at an annual or special meeting of the stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding voting stock that is not owned by the interested stockholder.

In general, Section 203 defines business combinations to include the following:

any merger or consolidation involving the corporation and the interested stockholder;

any sale, lease, transfer, pledge or other disposition of 10% or more of the assets of the corporation to or with the interested stockholder;
subject to certain exceptions, any transaction that results in the issuance or transfer by the corporation of any stock of the corporation to the interested stockholder;

any transaction involving the corporation that has the effect of increasing the proportionate share of the stock or any class or series of the corporation beneficially owned by the interested stockholder; or

the receipt by the interested stockholder of the benefit of any loss, advances, guarantees, pledges or other financial benefits by or through the corporation. 

 

Limitations of Liability and Indemnification


 

Our Certificate contains provisions that limit the personal liability of each of our directors for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL.  The inclusion of this provision in our Certificate may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against directors and may discourage or deter stockholders or management from bringing a lawsuit against directors for breach of their duty of care, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise have benefited us and our stockholders.

 

Our Certificate further provides that we may indemnify and hold harmless each person who was or is made a party or is threatened to be made a party to or is otherwise involved in any action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative, by reason of the fact that he or she is or was a director or officer of our company to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL.  Our Bylaws provide that we must indemnify any director or officer of the corporation, and may indemnify any other person, who (a) was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by or in the right of the corporation) by reason of the fact that he or she is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, against expenses (including attorneys’ fees), judgments, fines, and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by that person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding if he or she acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe his or her conduct was unlawful, and (b) was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action or suit by or in the right of the corporation to procure a judgment in its favor by reason of the fact that he or she is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise against expenses (including attorneys’ fees) actually and reasonably incurred by that person in connection with the defense or settlement of such action or suit if he or she acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation and except that no indemnification shall be made in respect of any claim, issue or matter as to which such person shall have been adjudged to be liable to the corporation unless and only to the extent that the Delaware Court of Chancery or the court in which such action or suit was brought shall determine upon application that, despite the adjudication of liability but in view of all the circumstances of the case, such person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for such expenses which the Delaware Court of Chancery or such other court shall deem proper.

 

Our Bylaws provide a right of indemnification that includes the right to have paid by us the expenses, including attorneys’ fees, incurred by any of our officers or directors in defending any such proceeding in advance of its final disposition.  If Delaware law so requires, however, the advancement of such expenses incurred by a director or officer in such person’s capacity as a director or officer (and not in any other capacity in which service was or is rendered by such person) will only be made upon the delivery to us of an  undertaking by or on behalf of such person to repay all amounts so advanced if it shall ultimately be determined by final judicial decision that such person is not entitled to be indemnified for such expenses by us.

 

We have entered into indemnity agreements with our directors and certain of our executive officers for the indemnification and advancement of expenses to these persons.  We believe that these provisions and agreements are necessary to attract and retain qualified directors and executive officers.  We also intend to enter into these agreements with our future directors and certain of our executive officers.  Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling our company pursuant to the foregoing provisions, we have been informed that, in the opinion of the SEC, such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.