S-8 1 f86654sv8.htm FORM S-8 Abaxis, Inc. Form S-8
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As Filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 24, 2002

Registration No. 333-________

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Abaxis, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
     
California   77-0213001
 
(State or other jurisdiction
of incorporation or organization)		   (I.R.S. employer identification no.)

3240 Whipple Road
Union City, California 94587

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

Abaxis, Inc.
1998 Stock Option Plan

(Full title of the plan)

Clinton H. Severson
President, Chief Executive Officer,
and Chairman of the Board
Abaxis, Inc.
3240 Whipple Road
Union City, California 94587

(Name and address of agent for service)

Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service: (510) 675-6500.

This registration statement shall hereafter become effective in accordance with Rule 462 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

                                 
            Proposed maximum   Proposed maximum        
Title of Securities   Amount to be   offering price   aggregate offering   Amount of
to be registered1   registered2   per share3   price3   registration fee
 
 
 
 
1998 Stock Option Plan
                        
Common Stock
     500,000     $ 3.98     $ 1,990,000     $ 183.08  
TOTAL
     500,000             $ 1,990,000     $ 183.08  

    1 The securities to be registered include options to acquire Common Stock.
 
    2 Pursuant to Rule 416(a), this registration statement also covers any additional securities that may be offered or issued in connection with any stock split, stock dividend or similar transaction.
 
    3 Estimated pursuant to Rule 457 solely for purposes of calculating the registration fee. As to shares under the 1998 Stock Option Plan, the price is based upon the average of the high and low prices of the Common Stock on December 18, 2002 as reported on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System.

 

PART II
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT
Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference
Item 4. Description of Securities
Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel
Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers
Item 7. Exemption From Registration Claimed
Item 8. Exhibits
Item 9. Undertakings
SIGNATURE
EXHIBIT INDEX
EXHIBIT 5.1
EXHIBIT 23.2

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PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference.

          Abaxis, Inc. (“us” or “we”) hereby incorporates by reference in this registration statement the following documents:

          (a) Our amended annual report on Form 10-K/A filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), containing audited financial statements for our fiscal year ended March 31, 2002 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 24, 2002.

          (b) All other reports filed under the Exchange Act since the end of the fiscal year covered by the registrant document referred to in (a) above.

          (c) The description of our Common Stock contained in the Company’s Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed on December 11, 1991 under the Exchange Act, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such description.

          All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment to this registration statement which indicates that all securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this registration statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such documents.

Item 4. Description of Securities.

          The class of securities to be offered is registered under Section 12 of the Exchange Act.

Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel.

          Inapplicable.

Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.

          Our Articles of Incorporation provide that the liability of the directors for monetary damages shall be eliminated to the fullest extent permissible under California law. Pursuant to California law, our directors shall not be liable for monetary damages for breach of the directors’ fiduciary duty of care to us and our shareholders. However, this provision does not eliminate the duty of care, and in appropriate circumstances, equitable remedies such as injunctive or other forms of nonmonetary relief will remain available under California law.

 

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          In addition, each director will continue to be subject to liability for (i) acts or omissions that involve intentional misconduct or a knowing and culpable violation of law, (ii) acts or omissions that a director believes to be contrary to the best interests of us or our shareholders or that involve the absence of good faith on the part of the director, (iii) any transaction from which a director derived an improper personal benefit, (iv) acts or omissions that show a reckless disregard for the director’s duty to us or our shareholders in circumstances in which the director was aware, or should have been aware, in the ordinary course of performing a director’s duties, of a risk of serious injury to us or our shareholders, (v) acts or omissions that constitute an unexcused pattern of inattention that amounts to an abdication of the director’s duty to us or our shareholders, (vi) any transaction that constitutes an illegal distribution or dividend under California law, and (vii) any transaction involving an unlawful conflict of interest between the director and us under California law. The provision also does not affect a director’s responsibilities under any other law, such as the federal securities laws or state or federal environmental laws.

          In addition, our Articles of Incorporation provide that we are authorized to provide indemnification of agents (as defined under California law) for breach of duty to us and our shareholders through bylaw provisions or through agreements with the agents, or through shareholder resolutions, or otherwise, in excess of the indemnification otherwise permitted by California law, subject to the limits on such excess indemnification set forth in California law.

          Our Bylaws provide that we will indemnify our directors and executive officers and may indemnify other officers, employees and other agents to the fullest extent permitted by California law. Such indemnification is intended to provide the full flexibility available under California law and may, under certain circumstances, include indemnification for negligence, gross negligence and certain types of recklessness. Under California law and our Bylaws, we will be permitted to indemnify its directors, executive officers, officers, employees and other agents, within the limits established by law and public policy, pursuant to an express contract, bylaw provision, shareholder vote or otherwise, any or all of which could provide indemnification rights broader than those expressly available under California law.

          We are also empowered under our Bylaws to enter into indemnification agreements with our directors and officers and to purchase insurance on behalf of any person whom it is required or permitted to indemnify. We have entered into agreements with our directors and certain of our executive officers that require us to indemnify such persons against expenses, judgments, fines, settlements and other amounts actually and reasonably incurred (including expenses of a derivative action) in connection with any proceeding, whether actual or threatened, to which any such person may be made a party by reason of the fact that such person is or was a director or an executive officer of us or any of our affiliated enterprises, provided such person acted in good faith and in a manner such person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of us and, with respect to any criminal proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe his conduct was unlawful. The indemnification agreements also set forth certain procedures that will apply in the event of a claim for indemnification thereunder.

 

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          Section 317 of the California Corporations Code makes provisions for the indemnification of officers, directors and other corporate agents in terms sufficiently broad to indemnify such persons, under certain circumstances, for liabilities (including reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). Section 317 also provides that the indemnification provided by this section is not exclusive to the extent additional rights are authorized in a corporation’s articles of incorporation.

Item 7. Exemption From Registration Claimed.

          Inapplicable.

Item 8. Exhibits.

          See Exhibit Index.

Item 9. Undertakings.

          We, as the undersigned registrant, hereby undertake:

          (1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

               (i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;

               (ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement; and

               (iii) To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to such information in the registration statement;

                       provided, however, that paragraphs (1)(i) and (l)(ii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in periodic reports filed by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement;

          (2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof; and

          (3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

 

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          We, as the undersigned registrant, hereby undertake that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of our annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

          Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, we have been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, we will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

 

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SIGNATURE

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Abaxis, Inc. certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Union City, State of California, on December 24, 2002

         
    ABAXIS, INC.
         
         
    By:   /S/ CLINTON H. SEVERSON
       
        Clinton H. Severson
        President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors

 

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SIGNATURES AND POWER OF ATTORNEY

          The officers and directors of Abaxis, Inc. whose signatures appear below, hereby constitute and appoint Clinton H. Severson and Alberto R. Santa Ines, and each of them, their true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution, each with power to act alone, to sign and execute on behalf of the undersigned any amendment or amendments to this registration statement on Form S-8, and each of the undersigned does hereby ratify and confirm all that each of said attorney-in-fact and agent, or their or his substitutes, shall do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

          Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities indicated on December 24, 2002.

     
Signature   Title
 
     
/S/ CLINTON H. SEVERSON   President, Chief Executive Officer and
  Chairman of the Board (Principal Executive Officer)
Clinton H. Severson    
     
/S/ ALBERTO R. SANTA INES   Chief Financial Officer and Vice President, Finance
  (Principal Financial Officer)
Alberto R. Santa Ines    
     
/S/ RICHARD J. BASTINANI    
  Director
Richard J. Bastiani, Ph.D.    
     
/S/ BRENTON G.A. HANLON    
  Director
Brenton G.A. Hanlon    
     
/S/ HENK J. EVENHUIS    
  Director
Henk J. Evenhuis    
     
/S/ PRITHIPAL SINGH    
  Director
Prithipal Singh, Ph.D.    
     
/S/ ERNEST S. TUCKER III, M.D.    
  Director
Ernest S. Tucker III, M.D.    

 

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EXHIBIT INDEX

     
4.1   Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation of Abaxis, Inc. dated January 30, 1992 is incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 19, 1994 (File No. 33-83852)
     
4.2   Certificate of Amendment of Incorporation incorporated by reference to Abaxis, Inc.’s Registration Statement on Form S-3 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 29, 1997 (File No.333-36705)
     
4.3   Bylaws of Abaxis, Inc. are incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 11, 1991 (File No. 33-44326)
     
4.4   Certificate of Determination of Abaxis, Inc. incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.3 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 14, 1997 (File No.000-19720)
     
4.5   Certificate of Determination of Abaxis, Inc. incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.3 to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 14, 1997 (File No.000-19720)
     
4.6   Certificate of Determination of Abaxis, Inc. incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 25, 1998 (File No.000-19720)
     
4.7   Certificate of Determination of Abaxis, Inc. incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 of the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 19, 2000 (File No.000-19720)
     
5.1   Opinion re: legality
     
23.1   Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5.1)
     
23.2   Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP
     
24   Power of Attorney (included in signature pages to this registration statement)