EX-2.1 2 exhibit_2-1.htm EXHIBIT 2.1
 
EXHIBIT 2.1
 
Description of Ordinary Shares of Evogene Ltd.
 
The authorized share capital of Evogene Ltd. (hereinafter, “we”, “us”, “our” or similar expressions) consists of NIS 3,000,000 divided into 150,000,000 ordinary shares, par value NIS 0.02 per share, or ordinary shares. As of April 22, 2020, 25,754,297 ordinary shares were issued and outstanding.
 
Registration Number and Purposes of the Company

Our registration number with the Israeli Registrar of Companies is 51-283872-3. Our purpose as set forth in our articles of association, or articles, is to engage in any lawful business.

Voting Rights

Holders of our ordinary shares have one vote for each ordinary share held on all matters submitted to a vote of shareholders at a shareholder meeting. Shareholders may vote at shareholder meetings either in person, by proxy or by written ballot. Israeli law does not allow public companies to adopt shareholder resolutions by means of written consent in lieu of a shareholder meeting. Shareholder voting rights may be affected by the grant of any special voting rights to the holders of a class of shares with preferential rights that may be authorized in the future. Except as otherwise disclosed herein, an amendment to our articles of association to change the rights of our shareholders requires the prior approval of a simple majority of our shares represented and voting at a general meeting and, to the extent applicable, of the holders of a class of shares whose rights are being affected.

Share Ownership Restrictions

The ownership or voting of ordinary shares by non-residents of Israel is not restricted in any way by our articles of association or the laws of the State of Israel, except that citizens of countries that are in a state of war with Israel may not be recognized as owners of ordinary shares.

Transfer of Shares

Fully paid ordinary shares are issued in registered form and may be freely transferred under our articles of association unless the transfer is restricted or prohibited by another instrument, Israeli law or the rules of a stock exchange on which the shares are traded.

Election of Directors

Our ordinary shares do not have cumulative voting rights for the election of directors. Rather, under our articles of association, our directors, other than external directors (to the extent required to be elected), are elected at each annual general meeting of the shareholders, upon expiration of the term of office, by the holders of a simple majority of our ordinary shares present in person or by proxy at such meeting (excluding abstentions). As a result, the holders of our ordinary shares that represent more than 50% of the voting power represented at a shareholder meeting and voting thereon (excluding abstentions) have the power to elect any or all of our directors. Vacancies on our board of directors, resulting from a resignation or other termination of service by a then serving director, or an additional authorized seat on our board of directors, may be filled by a vote of a simple majority of the directors then in office.

Dividend and Liquidation Rights

Under Israeli law, we may declare and pay a dividend only if, upon the reasonable determination of our board of directors, the distribution will not prevent us from being able to meet the terms of our existing and contingent obligations as they become due. Under the Israeli Companies Law, 5759-1999, or the Companies Law, the distribution amount is further limited to the greater of retained earnings or earnings generated over the two most recent years according to our then last reviewed or audited financial statements, provided that the date of the financial statements is not more than six months prior to the date of distribution. In the event that we do not have retained earnings and earnings legally available for distribution, as defined in the Companies Law, we may seek the approval of the court in order to distribute a dividend. The court may approve our request if it is convinced that there is no reasonable concern that the payment of a dividend will prevent us from satisfying our existing and foreseeable obligations as they become due.

In the event of our liquidation, after satisfaction of liabilities to creditors, our assets will be distributed to the holders of ordinary shares on a pro-rata basis. Dividend and liquidation rights may be affected by the grant of preferential dividend or distribution rights to the holders of a class of shares with preferential rights that may be authorized in the future.

Shareholder Meetings

Under the Companies Law, we are required to convene an annual general meeting of our shareholders once every calendar year, not more than 15 months following the preceding annual general meeting. Our board of directors may convene a special general meeting of our shareholders and is required to do so at the request of two directors or one quarter of the members of our board of directors, or at the request of one or more holders of 5% or more of our share capital and 1% of our voting power, or the holder or holders of 5% or more of our voting power. All shareholder meetings require prior notice of at least 21 days and, in certain cases, 35 days. The chairperson of our board of directors or another one of our directors authorized by our board of directors presides over our general meetings. If either of such persons is not present within 15 minutes from the appointed time for the commencement of the meeting, the directors present at such meeting shall appoint one of our directors as the chairperson for such meeting, and if they fail to do so, then the shareholders present shall appoint one of our directors to act as chairperson, and if no director is present, then one of the shareholders present at such meeting shall act as chairperson. Subject to the provisions of the Companies Law and the regulations promulgated thereunder, only shareholders of record on a date decided upon by the board of directors, which may be between four and 40 days prior to the date of the meeting (depending on the type of meeting and whether written proxies are being used) are entitled to participate and vote at a general meeting of shareholders.

Quorum

Under our articles, the quorum required for a meeting of shareholders consists of at least two shareholders present in person, by proxy or by written ballot, who hold or represent between them at least 25% of our voting power. A meeting adjourned for lack of a quorum generally is adjourned to the same day in the following week at the same time and place (without requirement of additional notification to the shareholders), or to a later time, if indicated in the notice to the meeting or to such other time and place as determined by the board of directors in a notice to our shareholders. At the reconvened meeting, if a quorum is not present within half an hour from the appointed time for the commencement of the meeting, the meeting will take place so long as at least one shareholder is present (regardless of the voting power held or represented by any such shareholder(s)), unless the meeting was called pursuant to a request by our shareholders, in which case the quorum required is the number of shareholders required to call the meeting as described under “—Shareholder Meetings” above.

Resolutions

Under the Companies Law, unless otherwise provided in the articles of association or applicable law, all resolutions of the shareholders require a simple majority of the voting rights represented at the meeting, in person, by proxy or by written ballot, and voting on the resolution (excluding abstentions).

Access to Corporate Records

Under the Companies Law, all shareholders generally have the right to review minutes of our general meetings, our shareholder register, including with respect to material shareholders, our articles of association, our financial statements and any document we are required by law to file publicly with the Israeli Companies Registrar or the Israeli Securities Authority. Any shareholder who specifies the purpose of its request may request to review any document in our possession that relates to any action or transaction with a related party which requires shareholder approval under the Companies Law. We may deny a request to review a document if we determine that the request was not made in good faith, that the document contains a trade secret or patent or that the document’s disclosure may otherwise impair our interests.

Modification of Class Rights

The rights attached to any class of share (to the extent that we may have separate classes of shares in the future), such as voting, liquidation and dividend rights, may be amended by adoption of a resolution by the holders of a majority of our shares represented at the meeting and the holders of a majority of the shares of that class present at a separate class meeting, or otherwise in accordance with the rights attached to such class of shares, as set forth in our articles.

Acquisitions under Israeli Law

Full Tender Offer

A person wishing to acquire shares of a public Israeli company and who could as a result hold over 90% of the target company’s voting rights or the target company’s issued and outstanding share capital (or of a class thereof), is required by the Companies Law to make a tender offer to all of the company’s shareholders for the purchase of all of the issued and outstanding shares of the company (or of the applicable class). If (a) the shareholders who did not accept the offer hold less than 5% of the issued and outstanding share capital of the company (or the applicable class) and the shareholders who accept the offer constitute a majority of the offerees that do not have a personal interest in the acceptance of the tender offer or (b) the shareholders who did not accept the tender offer hold less than 2% of the issued and outstanding share capital of the company (or of the applicable class), all of the shares that the acquirer offered to purchase will be transferred to the acquirer by operation of law. A shareholder who had its shares so transferred may petition the court within six months from the date of acceptance of the full tender offer, regardless of whether such shareholder agreed to the offer, to determine whether the tender offer was for less than fair value and whether the fair value should be paid as determined by the court. However, an offeror may provide in the offer documents that a shareholder who accepted the offer will not be entitled to appraisal rights as described in the preceding sentence, as long as the offeror and the company disclosed the information required by law in connection with the tender offer. If (a) the shareholders who did not accept the tender offer hold 5% or more of the issued and outstanding share capital of the company (or of the applicable class) or the shareholders who accept the offer constitute less than a majority of the offerees that do not have a personal interest in the acceptance of the tender offer, or (b) the shareholders who did not accept the tender offer hold 2% or more of the issued and outstanding share capital of the company (or of the applicable class), the acquirer may not acquire shares of the company that will increase its holdings to more than 90% of the company’s issued and outstanding share capital (or of the applicable class) from shareholders who accepted the tender offer.

Special Tender Offer

The Companies Law provides that an acquisition of shares of an Israeli public company must be made by means of a special tender offer if as a result of the acquisition the purchaser would become a holder of 25% or more of the voting rights in the company. This rule does not apply if there is already another holder of 25% or more of the voting rights in the company. Similarly, the Companies Law provides that an acquisition of shares in a public company must be made by means of a tender offer if as a result of the acquisition the purchaser would become a holder of more than 45% of the voting rights in the company, if there is no other shareholder of the company who holds more than 45% of the voting rights in the company. These requirements do not apply if the acquisition (i) occurs in the context of a private placement by the company that received shareholder approval, (ii) was from a shareholder holding 25% or more of the voting rights in the company and resulted in the acquirer becoming a holder of 25% or more of the voting rights in the company, or (iii) was from a holder of more than 45% of the voting rights in the company and resulted in the acquirer becoming a holder of more than 45% of the voting rights in the company. A special tender offer may be consummated only if (i) at least 5% of the voting power attached to the company’s outstanding shares will be acquired by the offeror and (ii) the number of shares tendered in the offer exceeds the number of shares whose holders objected to the offer (excluding controlling shareholders, holders of 25% or more of the voting rights in the company and any person having a personal interest in the acceptance of the tender offer).

In the event that a special tender offer is made, a company’s board of directors is required to either express its opinion on the advisability of the offer, or abstain from expressing any opinion if it is unable to do so, provided that it gives the reasons for its abstention. An office holder in a target company who, in his or her capacity as an office holder, performs an action the purpose of which is to cause the failure of an existing or foreseeable special tender offer or is to impair the chances of its acceptance, is liable to the potential purchaser and shareholders for damages, unless such office holder acted in good faith and had reasonable grounds to believe he or she was acting for the benefit of the company. However, office holders of the target company may negotiate with the potential purchaser in order to improve the terms of the special tender offer, and may further negotiate with third parties in order to obtain a competing offer.

If a special tender offer is accepted, then shareholders who did not respond to or that had objected to the offer may accept the offer within four days of the last day set for the acceptance of the offer. In the event that a special tender offer is accepted, then the purchaser or any person or entity controlling it or under common control with the purchaser or such controlling person or entity may not make a subsequent tender offer for the purchase of shares of the target company and may not enter into a merger with the target company for a period of one year from the date of the offer, unless the purchaser or such person or entity undertook to effect such an offer or merger in the initial special tender offer.

Merger

The Companies Law permits merger transactions if approved by each party’s board of directors and, unless certain conditions described under the Companies Law are met, a majority of each party’s shareholders. The board of directors of a merging company is required pursuant to the Companies Law to discuss and determine whether in its opinion there exists a reasonable concern that as a result of a proposed merger, the surviving company will not be able to satisfy its obligations towards its creditors, such determination taking into account the financial status of the merging companies. If the board of directors determines that such a concern exists, it may not approve a proposed merger. Following the approval of the board of directors of each of the merging companies, the boards of directors must jointly prepare a merger proposal for submission to the Israeli Registrar of Companies.

For purposes of the shareholder vote, unless a court rules otherwise, if one of the merging companies (or any person who holds 25% or more of the outstanding shares or the right to appoint 25% or more of the directors of one of the merging companies) holds shares in the other merging company, the merger will not be deemed approved if a majority of the shares voted at the shareholders meeting by shareholders other than the other party to the merger, or by any person who holds 25% or more of the outstanding shares or the right to appoint 25% or more of the directors of the other party, vote against the merger. In addition, if the non-surviving entity of the merger has more than one class of shares, the merger must be approved by each class of shareholders. If the transaction would have been approved but for the separate approval of each class or the exclusion of the votes of certain shareholders as provided above, a court may still approve the merger upon the request of holders of at least 25% of the voting rights of a company, if the court holds that the merger is fair and reasonable, taking into account the value of the parties to the merger and the consideration offered to the shareholders. If a merger is with a company’s controlling shareholder or if the controlling shareholder has a personal interest in the merger, then the merger is instead subject to the same special majority approval that governs all extraordinary transactions with controlling shareholders, i.e.:


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at least a majority of the voting rights in the company held by shareholders who have no conflict of interest (referred to under the Companies Law as a “personal interest”) in the transaction or arrangement and who are present and voting (in person or by proxy) at the general meeting, must be voted in favor of approving the transaction or arrangement (for this purpose, abstentions are disregarded); or


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the voting rights held by non-conflicted shareholders (as described in the previous bullet point) who are present and voting (in person or by proxy) at the general meeting, and who vote against the transaction, do not exceed two percent of the voting rights in the company.

Under the Companies Law, each merging company must inform its secured creditors of the proposed merger plans. Upon the request of a creditor of either party to the proposed merger, the court may delay or prevent the merger if it concludes that there exists a reasonable concern that, as a result of the merger, the surviving company will be unable to satisfy the obligations of any of the parties to the merger, and may further give instructions to secure the rights of creditors.

In addition, a merger may not be completed unless at least 50 days have passed from the date that a proposal for approval of the merger is filed with the Israeli Registrar of Companies and 30 days have passed from the date that shareholder approval of both merging companies is obtained.

Antitakeover Measures under Israeli Law

Besides the requirements described above with respect to tender offers and mergers, Israeli law and our articles of association enable the implementation of additional measures that may delay or prevent a takeover attempt and thereby preclude our shareholders from realizing a potential premium over the market value of our ordinary shares that they hold. Our articles of association allow our company to increase its registered share capital and provide that the increased capital will be divided into shares having ordinary, preferred or deferred rights or any other special rights, or may be subject to terms and restrictions in respect of dividend, repayment of capital, voting or other terms, in each case provided that the general meeting of our shareholders approves via a simple majority of shares present (in person or by proxy) and voting. Israeli law also permits the issuance of preferred stock. However, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, or TASE, rules and regulations prohibit a listed company from having more than one class of shares listed, and the TASE’s current position is that a listed company may not issue or list preferred shares. Therefore, assuming that the TASE’s current position does not change, as long as our ordinary shares are listed on the TASE, we will be prohibited from issuing preferred stock.

To date, the legality of a poison pill as an additional antitakeover measure has not been examined in Israel.