EX-3.1 2 apd-exhibit31x30jun23.htm EXHIBIT-3.1 Document
Exhibit 3.1
RESTATED CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION
OF
AIR PRODUCTS AND CHEMICALS, INC.
The original Certificate of Incorporation of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. was filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on May 25, 1961, restated by the filing of a Restated Certificate of Incorporation with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on April 7, 1987, amended by the filing of a Certificate of Amendment to the Restated Certificate of Incorporation with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on January 25, 1996, and further amended by the filing of a Certificate of Amendment to the Restated Certificate of Incorporation with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on January 29, 2014. The following Restated Certificate of Incorporation only restates and integrates and does not further amend the provisions of the Certificate of Incorporation as heretofore amended or supplemented, and there is no discrepancy between those provisions and the provisions of this Restated Certificate of Incorporation.
FIRST. The name of the corporation (hereinafter referred to as the “Corporation”) is Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
SECOND. The Corporation’s registered office in the State of Delaware is located at 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware 19801. The name of its registered agent at such address is The Corporation Trust Company.
THIRD. The purpose of the Corporation is to engage in any lawful activity for which corporations may be organized under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the “Delaware General Corporation Law”).
FOURTH. The total number of shares of stock which the Corporation shall have the authority to issue is three hundred twenty-five million (325,000,000) shares, consisting of three hundred million (300,000,000) shares of common stock having a par value of $1 per share and twenty-five million (25,000,000) shares of preferred stock having a par value of $1 per share.
The Board of Directors is authorized, subject to limitations prescribed by law and the provisions of this Article Fourth, to provide for the issuance of the preferred shares in series, and by filing a certificate pursuant to the Delaware General Corporation Law, to establish the number of shares to be included in each such series, and to fix the designation, rights, preferences and limitations of the shares of each such series. The authority of the Board with respect to each series shall include, but not be limited to, determination of the following:
(a)the number of shares constituting that series and the distinctive designation of that series;
(b)the dividend rate on the shares of that series, whether dividends shall be cumulative, and, if so, from which date or dates, and the relative rights of priority, if any, of payment of dividends on shares of that series;
(c)whether that series shall have voting rights, in addition to the voting rights provided by law, and, if so, the terms of such voting rights;
(d)whether that series shall have conversion privileges, and, if so, the terms and conditions of such conversion, including provision for adjustment of the conversion rate in such events as the Board of Directors shall determine;
(e)whether or not the shares of that series shall be redeemable, and, if so, the terms and conditions of such redemption, including the date or dates upon or after which they shall be redeemable, and the amount per share payable in case of redemption, which amount may vary under different conditions and at different redemption dates;
(f)whether that series shall have a sinking fund for the redemption or purchase of shares of that series, and, if so, the terms and amount of such sinking fund;
(g)the rights of the shares of that series in the event of voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the Corporation, and the relative rights of priority, if any, of payment of shares of that series; and
(h)any other relative rights, preferences and limitations of that series.



Dividends on outstanding preferred shares shall be declared and paid, or set apart for payment, before any dividends shall be declared and paid, or set apart for payment, on the common shares with respect to the same dividend period.
FIFTH. Unless and except to the extent that the Bylaws of the Corporation shall so require, the election of directors of the Corporation need not be by written ballot.
In furtherance and not in limitation of the powers conferred by the laws of the State of Delaware, the Board of Directors is expressly authorized and empowered:
(a)to make, alter and repeal the Bylaws of the Corporation; and
(b)to exercise all such powers and to do all such acts and things as may be exercised and done by the Corporation; subject, nevertheless, to the provisions of said laws, of this Certificate of Incorporation as from time to time amended, and of the Bylaws of the Corporation.
SIXTH. No holder of any stock of the Corporation of any class whatsoever, whether now or hereafter authorized, shall have any right, preemptive or otherwise, as such holder (other than such right, if any, as the Board of Directors in its discretion may determine) to purchase, subscribe for or otherwise acquire any shares of stock of the Corporation of any class whatsoever, whether now or hereafter authorized, or any securities convertible into or exchangeable for any such shares, or any warrants or other instruments evidencing rights or options to subscribe for, purchase, or otherwise acquire any such shares, whether such shares, securities, warrants or other instruments be unissued, or issued and thereafter acquired by the Corporation.
SEVENTH. 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 stockholders or any class of them, any court of equitable jurisdiction within the State of Delaware may, on the application in a summary way of the Corporation or of any creditor or stockholder thereof, or on the application of any receiver or receivers appointed for the Corporation under the provisions of Section 291 of Title 8 of the Delaware Code or on the application of trustees in dissolution or of any receiver or receivers appointed for the Corporation under the provisions of Section 279 of Title 8 of the Delaware Code, order a meeting of the creditors or class of creditors, and/or of the stockholders or class of stockholders 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 stockholders or class of stockholders 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 stockholders or class of stockholders, of the Corporation, as the case may be, and also on the Corporation.
EIGHTH. The Corporation reserves the right at any time and from time to time to amend, alter, change or repeal any provision contained in this Certificate of Incorporation, and other provisions authorized by the laws of the State of Delaware at the time in force may be added or inserted, in the manner now or hereafter prescribed by law; and all rights, preferences and privileges of whatsoever nature conferred upon stockholders, directors or any other person whomsoever by or pursuant to this Certificate of Incorporation in its present form or as hereafter amended are granted subject to the right reserved in this Article.
NINTH. Section 1. A director of the Corporation shall not be personally liable to the Corporation or its stockholders 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 stockholders, (ii) for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (iii) under Section 174 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or (iv) for any transaction from which the director derived any improper personal benefit. If the Delaware General Corporation Law is amended after approval by the stockholders of this article to authorize corporate action further eliminating or limiting the personal liability of directors, then the liability of a director of the Corporation shall be eliminated or limited to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, as so amended.
Any repeal or modification of the foregoing paragraph by the stockholders of the Corporation shall not adversely affect any right or protection of a director of the Corporation existing at the time of such repeal or modification.
Section 2. (a)     Right to Indemnification. 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 (hereinafter a “proceeding”), by reason of the fact that he or she is or was a director, officer or employee of the Corporation or is or was serving at the request of the Corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or of a partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, including service with respect to employee benefit plans (hereinafter an “indemnitee”), whether the basis of such proceeding is alleged action in an official capacity as a director, officer, employee or agent or in any other capacity while serving as a director, officer, employee or agent, shall be indemnified and held harmless by the Corporation to the fullest extent authorized by the




Delaware General Corporation Law, as the same exists or may hereafter be amended (but, in the case of any such amendment, only to the extent that such amendment permits the Corporation to provide broader indemnification rights than such law permitted the Corporation to provide prior to such amendment), against all expense, liability and loss (including attorneys’ fees, judgments, fines, ERISA excise taxes or penalties and amounts paid in settlement) reasonably incurred or suffered by such indemnitee in connection therewith and such indemnification shall continue as to an indemnitee who has ceased to be a director, officer, employee or agent and shall inure to the benefit of the indemnitee’s heirs, executors and administrators; provided, however, that, except as provided in paragraph (b) hereof with respect to proceedings to enforce rights to indemnification, the Corporation shall indemnify any such indemnitee in connection with a proceeding (or part thereof) initiated by such indemnitee only if such proceeding (or part thereof) was authorized by the Board of Directors of the Corporation. The right to indemnification conferred in this Section shall be a contract right and shall include the right to be paid by the Corporation the expenses incurred in defending any such proceeding in advance of its final disposition (hereinafter an “advancement of expenses”); provided, however, that, if the Delaware General Corporation Law requires, an advancement of expenses incurred by an indemnitee in his or her capacity as a director or officer (and not in any other capacity in which service was or is rendered by such indemnitee, including, without limitation, service to an employee benefit plan) shall be made only upon delivery to the Corporation of an undertaking, by or on behalf of such indemnitee, to repay all amounts so advanced if it shall ultimately be determined by final judicial decision from which there is no further right to appeal that such indemnitee is not entitled to be indemnified for such expenses under this Section or otherwise (hereinafter an “undertaking”).
(b)    Right of Indemnitee to Bring Suit. If a claim under paragraph (a) of this Section is not paid in full by the Corporation within sixty days after a written claim has been received by the Corporation, except in the case of a claim for an advancement of expenses, in which case the applicable period shall be twenty days, the indemnitee may at any time thereafter bring suit against the Corporation to recover the unpaid amount of the claim. If successful in whole or in part in any such suit or in a suit brought by the Corporation to recover an advancement of expenses pursuant to the terms of an undertaking, the indemnitee shall be entitled to be paid also the expense of prosecuting or defending such suit. In (i) any suit brought by the indemnitee to enforce a right to indemnification hereunder (but not in a suit brought by the indemnitee to enforce a right to an advancement of expenses) it shall be a defense that, and (ii) any suit by the Corporation to recover an advancement of expenses pursuant to the terms of an undertaking the Corporation shall be entitled to recover such expenses upon a final adjudication that, the indemnitee has not met the applicable standard of conduct set forth in the Delaware General Corporation Law. Neither the failure of the Corporation (including its Board of Directors, independent legal counsel, or its stockholders) to have made a determination prior to the commencement of such suit that indemnification of the indemnitee is proper in the circumstances because the indemnitee has met the applicable standard of conduct set forth in the Delaware General Corporation Law, nor an actual determination by the Corporation (including its Board of Directors, independent legal counsel, or its stockholders) that the indemnitee has not met such applicable standard of conduct, shall create a presumption that the indemnitee has not met the applicable standard of conduct or, in the case of such a suit brought by the indemnitee, be a defense to such suit. In any suit brought by the indemnitee to enforce a right hereunder, or by the Corporation to recover an advancement of expenses pursuant to the terms of an undertaking, the burden of proving that the indemnitee is not entitled to be indemnified or to such advancement of expenses under this Section or otherwise shall be on the Corporation.
(c)    Non-Exclusivity of Rights. The rights to indemnification and to the advancement of expenses conferred in this Section shall not be exclusive of any other right which any person may have or hereafter acquire under any statute, this Certificate of Incorporation, Bylaw, agreement, vote of stockholders or disinterested directors or otherwise.
(d)    Insurance. The Corporation may maintain insurance, at its expense, to protect itself and any director, officer, employee or agent of the Corporation or another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise against any expense, liability or loss, whether or not the Corporation would have the power to indemnify such person against such expense, liability or loss under the Delaware General Corporation Law.
(e)    Indemnification of Agents of the Corporation. The Corporation may, to the extent authorized from time to time by the Board of Directors, grant rights to indemnification and to the advancement of expenses, to any agent of the Corporation to the fullest extent of the provisions of this Section with respect to the indemnification and advancement of expenses of directors, officers and employees of the Corporation.
TENTH. Section 1. The number of directors which shall constitute the whole Board of Directors of the Corporation shall be the number from time to time fixed by or in the manner provided in the Bylaws of the Corporation, but not less than five nor more than fifteen.
Section 2. Subject to the rights of the holders of any preferred stock, or series thereof, to elect directors, directors elected at the Corporation’s annual meeting of stockholders shall be elected for a term expiring at the next annual meeting of stockholders and may be removed by the stockholders of the Corporation with or without cause. Each director elected at any annual meeting of stockholders shall hold office until such director’s successor shall have been duly elected and qualified.
Section 3. Any vacancy or newly created directorship on the Board of Directors, whether arising through death, resignation, retirement or removal of a director or through an increase in the number of directors, shall be filled




only by a majority vote of all of the remaining directors, even though less than a quorum, or by a sole remaining director.
ELEVENTH. Any action required or permitted to be taken by the stockholders of the Corporation must be effected at a duly called annual or special meeting of the stockholders of the Corporation and may not be effected by any consent in writing.
This Restated Certificate of Incorporation was duly adopted by the Board of Directors in accordance with the provisions of Section 245 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, said Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has caused its corporate seal to be hereunto affixed and this Restated Certificate of Incorporation to be signed by Seifi Ghasemi, its Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, and attested to by Sean D. Major, its Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, this 21st day of July 2023.
AIR PRODUCTS AND CHEMICALS, INC.
By: /s/ Seifi Ghasemi    
Name: Seifi Ghasemi
Title: Chairman of the Board, President and Chief
Executive Officer


Attest:
By: /s/ Sean D. Major    
Name: Sean D. Major
Title: Executive Vice President, General Counsel and
Secretary