EX-3.16 18 j0671201exv3w16.txt EXHIBIT 3.16 EXHIBIT 3.16 ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION OF GENERAL NUTRITION INVESTMENT COMPANY FIRST. The name of the corporation is General Nutrition Investment Company SECOND. The address of the corporation's registered office in the State of Arizona. The name of its registered agent at such address is CT Corporation System, 3225 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85012. THIRD. The nature of business to be conducted or promoted and the purpose of the corporation is to engage in any lawful act or activity for which corporations may be organized under the Arizona Revised Statutes. FOURTH. The total number of shares of stock which the corporation shall have authority to issue is one thousand (1000) shares, all of which shall be Common Stock, $1.00 par value per share. FIFTH. The name and mailing address of the incorporator is as follows: Guy E. Snyder, Esq. Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz 222 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 2400 Chicago, Illinois 60601 SIXTH. The number of directors of the corporation shall be fixed from time to time by the By-Laws of the corporation. Election of directors need not be by written ballot unless the By-Laws so provide. SEVENTH. In furtherance and not in limitation of the powers conferred by statute, the Board of Directors is expressly authorized to make, alter or repeal the By-Laws of the corporation. EIGHTH. The corporation shall indemnify, to the full extent that it shall have power under applicable law to do so and in a manner permitted by such law, any person made or threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative, by reason of the fact that he is or was a director or officer of the corporation against liabilities and expenses reasonably incurred or paid by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding. The corporation may indemnify, to the full extent that it shall have power under applicable law to do so and in a manner permitted by such law, any person made or threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative, by reason of the fact that he is or was an employee or agent of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise against liabilities and expenses reasonably incurred or paid by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding. The words "liabilities" and "expenses" shall include, without limitation: liabilities, losses, damages, judgments, fines, penalties, amounts paid in settlement, expenses, attorneys' fees and costs. The indemnification and advancement of expenses provided by or granted pursuant to this Article EIGHTH shall not be deemed exclusive of any other rights to which any person indemnified or being advanced expenses may be entitled under any statute, By-Law, agreement, vote of shareholders or disinterested directors or otherwise, both as to action in his official capacity and as to action in another capacity while holding such office, and shall continue as to a person who has ceased to be such director, officer, employee or agent and shall inure to the benefits of the heirs, executors and administrators of such person. The corporation may purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person referred to in the preceding paragraph against any liability asserted against him and incurred by him in any such capacity, or arising out of his status as such, whether or not the corporation would have the power to indemnify him against such liability under the provisions of this Article EIGHTH or otherwise. For purposes of this Article EIGHTH, references to "the Corporation" shall include, in addition to the resulting corporation, any constituent corporation (including any constituent of a constituent) absorbed in a consolidation or merger which, if its separate existence had continued, would have had power and authority to indemnify its directors, officers, and employees or agents, so that any person who is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of such constituent corporation, or is or was serving at the request of such constituent corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, shall stand in the same position under the provisions of this Article with respect to the resulting or surviving corporation as he would have with respect to such constituent corporation if its separate existence had continued. The provisions of this Article EIGHTH shall be deemed to be a contract between the Corporation and each director or officer who serves in any such capacity at any time while this Article and the relevant provisions of the Arizona Revised Statute or other applicable law, if any, are in effect, and any repeal or modification of any such law or of this Article shall not affect any rights or obligations then existing with respect to any state of facts then or theretofore existing or any action, suit or proceeding theretofore or thereafter brought or threatened based in whole or in part upon any such state of facts. For purposes of this Article, references to "other enterprises" shall include employee benefit plans; references to "fines" shall include any excise taxes assessed on a person with respect to an employee benefit plan; and references to "serving at the request of the Corporation" shall include any service as a director, officer, employee or agent of the Corporation which imposes duties on, or involves services by, such director, officer, employee, or agent with respect to an employee benefit plan, its participants, or beneficiaries; and a person who acted in good faith and in a manner he reasonably believed to be in the best interest of the participants and beneficiaries of an employee benefit plan shall be deemed to have acted in a manner not opposed to the best interests of the Corporation. NINTH. The Corporation reserves the right to amend, alter, change or repeal any provision contained in this Articles of Incorporation, in the manner now or hereafter prescribed - 2 - by statute, and all rights conferred upon shareholders herein are granted subject to this reservation. TENTH. Whenever a compromise or arrangement is proposed between the Corporation and its creditors or any class of them and/or between the Corporation and its shareholders or any class of them, any court of equitable jurisdiction within the State of Arizona may, on the application in a summary way of the Corporation or of any creditor or shareholder thereof or on the application of any receiver or receivers appointed for the Corporation under the provisions of Chapter 14 of Title 10 of the Arizona Revised Statutes or on the application of trustees in dissolution or of any receiver or receivers appointed for the Corporation under the provisions of Chapter 14 of Title 10 of the Arizona Revised Statutes order a meeting of the creditors or class of creditors, and/or of the shareholders or class of shareholders of the Corporation, as the case may be, to be summoned in such manner as the said court directs. If a majority in number representing three-fourths in value of the creditors or class of creditors, and/or of the shareholders or class of shareholders of the Corporation, as the case may be, agree to any compromise or arrangement and to any reorganization of the Corporation as consequence of such compromise or arrangement, the said compromise or arrangement and the said reorganization shall, if sanctioned by the court to which the said application has been made, be binding on all the creditors or class of creditors, and/or on all the shareholders or class of shareholders, of the Corporation, as the case may be, and also on the Corporation. ELEVENTH. No director of the Corporation shall be liable to the Corporation or its shareholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except for liability (i) for any breach of the director's duty of loyalty to the Corporation or its shareholders, (ii) for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (iii) under Chapter 8 of the Arizona Revised Statutes, or (iv) for any transaction from which the director derived an improper personal benefit. - 3 - The undersigned incorporator, for the purpose of forming a corporation pursuant to the Arizona Revised Statutes, has signed this Articles this 28th day of October, 2003. /s/ Guy E. Snyder ----------------------------- Guy E. Snyder Sole Incorporator - 4 -