EX-2.1 2 f20f2022ex2-1_saverone2014.htm DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES REGISTERED UNDER SECTION 12

Exhibit 2.1

 

DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

REGISTERED UNDER SECTION 12 OF THE EXCHANGE ACT

 

General

 

Our authorized share capital consists of 100,000,000 ordinary shares, par value NIS 0.01 per share, of which 27,780,896 ordinary shares were issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2022.

 

All of our outstanding ordinary shares are validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable. Our ordinary shares are not redeemable and do not have any preemptive rights.

 

Registration number and purposes of the company

 

Our registration number with the Israeli Registrar of Companies is 515154607. Our purpose as set forth in our articles of association is to engage in any lawful activity.

 

Voting rights and conversion

 

All ordinary shares will have identical voting and other rights in all respects.

 

Transfer of shares

 

Our 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, applicable law or the rules of a stock exchange on which the shares are listed for trade. The ownership or voting of our 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 for ownership by nationals of some countries that are, or have been, in a state of war with Israel.

 

Election of directors

 

Our ordinary shares do not have cumulative voting rights for the election of directors. As a result, the holders of a majority of the voting power represented at a shareholders meeting have the power to elect all of our directors, subject to the special approval requirements for external directors under the Israeli Companies Law 5759-1999, as amended, or the Companies Law, and all the regulation under the Companies Law described under “Management — External directors.”

 

Under our articles of association, our board of directors must consist of no less than three but no more than 12 directors, including external directors. Pursuant to our articles of association, other than the external directors, for whom special election requirements apply under the Companies Law, the vote required to appoint a director is a simple majority vote of holders of our voting shares participating and voting at the relevant meeting.

 

In addition, our articles of association allow our board of directors to appoint new directors to fill in vacancies which can occur for any reason or as additional directors, provided that the number of board members shall not exceed the maximum number of directors mentioned above. The appointment of a director by the board shall be in effect until the following annual general meeting of the shareholders or until the end of the director’s tenure in accordance with our articles of association.

 

Our external directors have a term of office of three years under Israeli law and may be elected for up to two additional three-year terms under the circumstances described above. External directors may be removed from office only under the limited circumstances set forth in the Companies Law. See “— External directors” for a description of the procedure for the election and dismissal of external directors.

 

Dividend and liquidation rights

 

We may declare a dividend to be paid to the holders of our ordinary shares in proportion to their respective shareholdings. Under the Companies Law, dividend distributions are determined by the board of directors and do not require the approval of the shareholders of a company unless the company’s articles of association provide otherwise. Our articles of association do not require shareholder approval of a dividend distribution and provide that dividend distributions may be determined by our board of directors.

 

 

 

 

Pursuant to the Companies Law, the distribution amount is limited to the greater of retained earnings or earnings generated over the previous two 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 the distribution, or we may distribute dividends that do not meet such criteria only with court approval. In each case, we are only permitted to distribute a dividend if our board of directors and the court, if applicable, determines that there is no reasonable concern that payment of the dividend will prevent us from satisfying our existing and foreseeable obligations as they become due. As of December 31, 2021, we did not have distributable earnings pursuant to the Companies Law.

 

In the event of our liquidation, after satisfaction of liabilities to creditors, our assets will be distributed to the holders of our ordinary shares in proportion to their shareholdings. This right, as well as the right to receive dividends, 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. For more information, see “Dividend Policy.”

 

Exchange controls

 

There are currently no Israeli currency control restrictions on remittances of dividends on our ordinary shares, proceeds from the sale of the shares or interest or other payments to non-residents of Israel.

 

Shareholder meetings

 

Under Israeli law, we are required to hold an annual general meeting of our shareholders once each calendar year that must be held no later than 15 months after the date of the previous annual general meeting. All general meetings other than the annual meeting of shareholders are referred to in our articles of association as special meetings. Our board of directors may call special meetings whenever it sees fit, at such time and place, within or outside of Israel, as it may determine. In addition, the Companies Law provides that our board of directors is required to convene a special meeting upon the written request of (i) any two of our directors or one-quarter of the members of our board of directors or (ii) one or more shareholders holding, in the aggregate, either (a) 5% or more of our outstanding issued shares and 1% or more of our outstanding voting power or (b) 5% or more of our outstanding voting power.

 

Under Israeli law, one or more shareholders holding at least 1% of the voting rights at the general meeting may request that the board of directors include a matter in the agenda of a general meeting to be convened in the future, provided that it is appropriate to discuss such a matter at the general meeting. Also, one or more shareholders holding at least 5% of our voting rights may request that we convene an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders.

 

Subject to the provisions of the Companies Law and the regulations promulgated thereunder, shareholders entitled to participate and vote at general meetings are the shareholders of record on a date to be decided by the board of directors, which may be between no less than 28 days and no more than 40 days prior to the date of the meeting. Furthermore, the Companies Law requires that resolutions regarding the following matters must be passed at a general meeting of our shareholders:

 

amendments to our articles of association;

 

appointment or termination of our auditors;

 

appointment of external directors;

 

approval of certain related party transactions;

 

increases or reductions of our authorized share capital;

 

mergers; and

 

the exercise of our board of director’s powers by a general meeting, if our board of directors is unable to exercise its powers and the exercise of any of its powers is required for our proper management.

  

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Under our articles of association, we are required to publish notice of any annual or special general meeting in two widely-published, Hebrew-language daily newspapers, or on our website and are not required to give notice of any annual general meeting or special general meeting to our registered shareholders, unless otherwise required by law. The Companies Law requires that a notice of any annual general meeting or special general meeting be provided to our shareholders at least 21 days prior to the meeting and if the agenda of the meeting includes the appointment or removal of directors, the approval of transactions with office holders or interested or related parties, or an approval of a merger, or as otherwise required under applicable law, notice must be provided at least 35 days prior to the meeting. Under the Companies Law, shareholders are not permitted to take action by written consent in lieu of a meeting.

 

Voting rights

 

Quorum requirements

 

Pursuant to our articles of association, holders of our ordinary shares have one vote for each ordinary share held on all matters submitted to a vote before the shareholders at a general meeting. The quorum required for our general meetings of shareholders consists of at least two shareholders present in person, by proxy or written ballot who hold or represent between them at least 25% of the total outstanding voting rights. A meeting adjourned for lack of a quorum is generally adjourned to the next week at the same time and place or to a different time or date if so specified in the notice of the meeting. At the reconvened meeting, any number of shareholders present in person or by proxy shall constitute a lawful quorum, instead of 25% otherwise required by the Companies Law.

 

Vote requirements

 

Our articles of association provide that all resolutions of our shareholders require a simple majority vote, unless otherwise required by the Companies Law or by our articles of association. Pursuant to our articles of association, an amendment to our articles of association regarding any change to the board composition will require a simple majority. Under the Companies Law, each of (i) the approval of an extraordinary transaction with a controlling shareholder and (ii) the terms of employment or other engagement of the controlling shareholder of the company or such controlling shareholder’s relative (even if not extraordinary) requires the approval described above under “Management — Fiduciary duties and approval of related-party transactions — Approval of related-party transactions.” Certain transactions with respect to remuneration of our office holders and directors require further approvals described above under “Management — Fiduciary duties and approval of related-party transactions — Director and officer compensation.” Under our articles of association, any change to the rights and privileges of the holders of any class of our shares requires a simple majority of the class so affected (or such other percentage of the relevant class that may be set forth in the governing documents relevant to such class), in addition to the ordinary majority vote of all classes of shares voting together as a single class at a shareholder meeting. Another exception to the simple majority vote requirement is a resolution for the voluntary winding up, or an approval of a scheme of arrangement or reorganization, of the company pursuant to Section 350 of the Companies Law, which requires the approval of holders of 75% of the voting rights represented at the meeting, in person, by proxy or by voting deed and voting on the resolution.

 

Access to corporate records

 

Under the Companies Law, shareholders are entitled to access to minutes of our general meetings, our shareholders register and principal shareholders register, our articles of association, our financial statements and any document that we are required by law to file publicly with the Israel Securities Authority. In addition, shareholders may request any document related to an action or transaction requiring shareholder approval under the related-party transaction provisions of the Companies Law. We may deny this request if we believe it has not been made in good faith or if such denial is necessary to protect our interest or protect a trade secret or patent.

 

Shareholder duties

 

Under the Companies Law, a shareholder has a duty to act in good faith and customary manner toward the company and other shareholders and to refrain from abusing its power in the company. This duty applies, among other things, when voting at a meeting of shareholders on an amendment to the articles of association, an increase of the authorized share capital, a merger or certain related-party transactions.

 

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In addition, certain shareholders have a duty of fairness toward the company. These shareholders include any controlling shareholder, any shareholder that knows that it possesses the power to determine the outcome of a shareholder vote and any shareholder who, under our articles of association, has the power to appoint or to prevent the appointment of a director or officer of the company or to exercise another power with respect to the company. The Companies Law does not define the substance of this duty of fairness. However, a shareholder’s breach of the duty of fairness is subject to laws regarding breaches of contracts and takes into account the status of such shareholder with respect to the company.

 

Acquisitions under Israeli law

 

Full tender offer

 

A person wishing to acquire shares of a publicly-traded company incorporated in Israel, and who would, as a result, hold over 90% of the target company’s issued and outstanding share capital 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. If the shareholders who do not accept the offer hold less than 5% of the issued and outstanding share capital of the company, and more than half of the shareholders who do not have a personal interest in the offer accept the offer, all of the shares that the acquirer offered to purchase will be transferred to the acquirer by operation of law. However, a tender offer will also be accepted if the shareholders who do not accept the offer hold less than 2% of the issued and outstanding share capital of the company or of the applicable class of shares.

 

Upon a successful completion of such a full tender offer, any shareholder that was an offeree in such tender offer, whether or not such shareholder accepted the tender offer, may, within six months from the date of acceptance of the tender offer, petition an Israeli court to determine whether the tender offer was for less than fair value and that the fair value should be paid as determined by the court. However, under certain conditions, the offeror may include in the terms of the tender offer that an offeree who accepted the offer will not be entitled to petition the Israeli court as described above.

 

If a tender offer is not accepted in accordance with the requirements set forth above, the acquirer may not acquire shares from shareholders who accepted the tender offer that will increase its holdings to more than 90% of the company’s issued and outstanding share capital or of the applicable class.

 

Special tender offer

 

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 25% of the voting rights in the company, unless there is already a person holding 25% 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, unless there is already a person holding 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 or (ii) was from a 25% or 45% shareholder, as the case may be. The tender offer must be extended to all shareholders, but the offeror is not required to purchase more than 5% of the company’s outstanding shares, regardless of how many shares are tendered by shareholders. The tender offer generally may be consummated only if (i) at least 5% of the voting rights in the company 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.

 

Merger

 

The Companies Law permits merger transactions if approved by each party’s board of directors and, unless certain requirements described under the Companies Law are met, by a majority vote of each party’s shares.

 

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Special rules govern a merger with an acquiror that is already affiliated with the target. Unless a court rules otherwise, the merger must also be approved by at least 50% of the votes of the shares of the target that are held by the shareholders other than (i) the acquiror and (ii) any person (or group of persons acting in concert) who holds 25% or more of the voting rights of the acquiror, or the right to appoint 25% or more of the directors of the acquiror. If, however, the merger involves a merger with a company’s own 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 (as described under “Management — Fiduciary duties and approval of related-party transactions— Approval of related-party transactions”). If the transaction would have been approved by the shareholders of a merging company but for 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 to the parties to the merger and the consideration offered to the shareholders of the company.

 

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 the merging entities, and may further give instructions to secure the rights of creditors.

 

In addition, a merger may not be consummated unless at least 50 days have passed from the date on which a proposal for approval of the merger was filed by each party with the Israeli Registrar of Companies and at least 30 days have passed from the date on which the merger was approved by the shareholders of each party.

 

Borrowing powers

 

Pursuant to the Companies Law and our articles of association, our board of directors may exercise all powers and take all actions that are not required under law or under our articles of association to be exercised or taken by our shareholders, including the power to borrow money for company purposes.

 

Changes in capital

 

Our articles of association enable us to increase or reduce our share capital. Any such changes are subject to the provisions of the Companies Law and must be approved by a resolution duly passed by our shareholders at a general meeting. In addition, transactions that have the effect of reducing capital, such as the declaration and payment of dividends in the absence of sufficient retained earnings or profits, require the approval of both our board of directors and an Israeli court.

 

American Depositary Shares

 

Name of the Depositary

 

The Bank of New York Mellon, as depositary, will register and deliver our ADSs. Each ADS will represent five ordinary shares (or a right to receive three ordinary shares) deposited with Bank Leumi, as custodian for the depositary in Israel. Each ADS will also represent any other securities, cash or other property which may be held by the depositary. The depositary’s office at which our ADSs will be administered is located at the depositary’s principal executive office, at 240 Greenwich Street, New York, N.Y. 10286.

 

The form of the deposit agreement for our ADSs and the form of American Depositary Receipt that represents an ADS have been incorporated by reference as exhibits in our most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F.

 

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Fees and Expenses    
     
Persons depositing or withdrawing ordinary shares or ADS holders must pay   For
     
$5.00 (or less) per 100 ADSs (or portion of 100 ADSs)   Issuance of ADSs, including issuances resulting from a distribution of ordinary shares or rights or other property Cancellation of ADSs for the purpose of withdrawal, including if the deposit agreement terminates
     
$.05 (or less) per ADS   Any cash distribution to ADS holders

 

Persons depositing or withdrawing ordinary shares or ADS holders must pay   For
     
A fee equivalent to the fee that would be payable if securities distributed to you had been ordinary shares and the ordinary shares had been deposited for issuance of ADSs   Distribution of securities distributed to holders of deposited securities (including rights) that are distributed by the depositary to ADS holders
     
$.05 (or less) per ADS per calendar year   Depositary services
     
Registration or transfer fees   Transfer and registration of ordinary shares on our share register to or from the name of the depositary or its agent when you deposit or withdraw ordinary shares
     
Expenses of the depositary   Cable, telex and facsimile transmissions (when expressly provided in the deposit agreement) converting foreign currency to U.S. dollars
     
Taxes and other governmental charges the depositary or the custodian has to pay on any ADSs or ordinary shares underlying ADSs, such as stock transfer taxes, stamp duty or withholding taxes   As necessary
     
Any charges incurred by the depositary or its agents for servicing the deposited securities   As necessary

 

The depositary collects its fees for delivery and surrender of ADSs directly from investors depositing ordinary shares or surrendering ADSs for the purpose of withdrawal or from intermediaries acting for them. The depositary collects fees for making distributions to investors by deducting those fees from the amounts distributed or by selling a portion of distributable property to pay the fees. The depositary may collect its annual fee for depositary services by deduction from cash distributions or by directly billing investors or by charging the book-entry system accounts of participants acting for them. The depositary may collect any of its fees by deduction from any cash distribution payable (or by selling a portion of securities or other property distributable) to ADS holders that are obligated to pay those fees. The depositary may generally refuse to provide fee-attracting services until its fees for those services are paid.

 

From time to time, the depositary may make payments to us to reimburse us for costs and expenses generally arising out of establishment and maintenance of the ADS program, waive fees and expenses for services provided to us by the depositary or share revenue from the fees collected from ADS holders. In performing its duties under the deposit agreement, the depositary may use brokers, dealers, foreign currency or other service providers that are owned by or affiliated with the depositary and that may earn or share fees, spreads or commissions.

 

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Warrants

 

On June 7, 2022, we closed our initial public offering in the United States of 2,941,918 units, each consisting of one ADS and one warrant to purchase one ADS, and 208,282 pre-funded units, each consisting of one pre-funded warrant to purchase one ADS and one warrant to purchase one ADS, at a price to the public of $4.13 per unit ($4.129 per pre-funded unit), for gross proceeds of approximately $13 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and offering expenses. As of December 31, 2022 3,276,682, warrants were outstanding.

 

The following summary of certain terms and provisions of the warrants offered in our initial public offering in the United States is not complete and is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by, the provisions of the warrant agent agreement between us and , as warrant agent, and the form of warrant, both of which are filed as exhibits 10.3 and 10.4, respectively, to our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.

 

Exercisability. The warrants are exercisable at any time after June 7, 2022 until the close of business on June 7, 2027. The warrants will be exercisable, at the option of each holder, in whole or in part by delivering to us a duly executed exercise notice and, at any time a registration statement registering the issuance of the ordinary shares underlying the warrants under the Securities Act is effective and available for the issuance of such shares, by payment in full in immediately available funds for the number of ordinary shares purchased upon such exercise. If a registration statement registering the issuance of the ordinary shares underlying the warrants under the Securities Act is not effective or available the holder may, in its sole discretion, elect to exercise the warrant through a cashless exercise, in which case the holder would receive upon such exercise the net number of ordinary shares determined according to the formula set forth in the warrant. No fractional shares will be issued in connection with the exercise of a warrant. In lieu of fractional shares, we will pay the holder an amount in cash equal to the fractional amount multiplied by the exercise price.

 

Exercise Limitation. A holder will not have the right to exercise any portion of the warrant if the holder (together with its affiliates) would beneficially own in excess of 4.99% of the number of ordinary shares outstanding immediately after giving effect to the exercise, as such percentage ownership is determined in accordance with the terms of the warrants. However, any holder may increase or decrease such percentage to any other percentage not in excess of 9.99%, provided that any increase in such percentage shall not be effective until 61 days following notice from the holder to us.

 

Exercise Price. The exercise price per whole ADS purchasable upon exercise of the warrants is $5.00 per ADS. The exercise price is subject to appropriate adjustment in the event of certain stock dividends and distributions, stock splits, stock combinations, reclassifications or similar events affecting our ordinary shares and also upon any distributions of assets, including cash, stock or other property to our stockholders.

 

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

 

Exchange Listing. Our warrants are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, under the symbol “SVREW”.

 

Warrant Agent. The warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agent agreement between Computershare Limited, as warrant agent, and us. The warrants shall initially be represented only by one or more global warrants deposited with the warrant agent, as custodian on behalf of The Depository Trust Company, or DTC, and registered in the name of Cede & Co., a nominee of DTC, or as otherwise directed by DTC. 

 

Fundamental Transactions. In the event of a fundamental transaction, as described in the warrants and generally including any reorganization, recapitalization or reclassification of our ordinary shares, the sale, transfer or other disposition of all or substantially all of our properties or assets, our consolidation or merger with or into another person, the acquisition of more than 50% of our outstanding ordinary shares, or any person or group becoming the beneficial owner of 50% of the voting power represented by our outstanding ordinary shares, the holders of the warrants will be entitled to receive upon exercise of the warrants the kind and amount of securities, cash or other property that the holders would have received had they exercised the warrants immediately prior to such fundamental transaction without regard to any limitations on exercised contained in the warrants.

 

Rights as a Stockholder. Except as otherwise provided in the warrants or by virtue of such holder’s ownership of our ordinary shares, the holder of a warrant does not have the rights or privileges of a holder of our ordinary shares, including any voting rights, until the holder exercises the warrant.

 

Governing Law. The warrants are governed by New York law.

 

 

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