Item 403 of Regulation S-K — Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management

Last Update: March 13, 2007

These interpretations replace the Item 403 of Regulation S-K interpretations in the July 1997 Manual of Publicly Available Telephone Interpretations and the March 1999 Supplement to the Manual of Publicly Available Telephone Interpretations. Some of the interpretations included herein were originally included in the Manual of Publicly Available Telephone Interpretations (as supplemented), and have been revised in some cases. The bracketed date following each interpretation is the latest date of publication or revision.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS OF GENERAL APPLICABILITY

Section 1. Item 403(a) — Security ownership of certain beneficial owners

None

Section 2. Item 403(b) — Security ownership of management

Question 2.01

Question: If a director’s term will not continue beyond the annual meeting, must that director’s equity security holdings be disclosed pursuant to Item 403(b)?

Answer: Item 403(b), by its terms, requires the disclosure of shareholdings of all directors named in the registrant’s proxy statement, including directors’ qualifying shares, even if the terms of some directors will not continue beyond the annual meeting. [March 13, 2007]

Question 2.02

Question: Are phantom stock units held in a nonqualified deferred compensation plan reportable in the table required by Item 403(b)?

Answer: If the units could be settled in stock at the holder’s election, so that if the holder were terminated currently he or she would get the underlying stock without the need to satisfy any additional vesting requirements, the registrant should report the total number of shares and percent of class beneficially owned, including the shares and percent of class beneficially owned due to the potential exercise of rights acquired under the phantom stock units. This is because the holder would have the right to acquire the underlying stock within 60 days (see Exchange Act Rule 13d-3). In addition to including the shares underlying the units in the total number of shares and percent of class beneficially owned, the phantom stock units also should be presented in a manner that distinguishes them from stock owned outright — e.g., pursuant to a clear and succinct footnote explanation. In contrast, if the phantom stock units can be settled in stock only at the company’s discretion, they should not be reported in the total number of shares and percent of class beneficially owned, because the holder does not have a right to acquire the underlying stock within 60 days. Similarly, if the phantom stock units can be settled solely in cash, they should not be reported because the holder has no right to acquire the underlying stock. [March 13, 2007]

Question 2.03

Question: If a named executive officer died since the beginning of the registrant’s last fiscal year, must the deceased named executive officer be included in the Item 403(b) ownership table?

Answer: No. Although Item 403(b) requires disclosure for each of the named executive officers, as defined in Item 402(a)(3), a named executive officer who died since the beginning of the registrant’s last fiscal year would not need to be included in the Item 403(b) ownership table. [March 13, 2007]

Question 2.04

Question: Does the Item 403(b) requirement to indicate, by footnote or otherwise, the amount of shares that are pledged as security apply to a “negative pledge” of the company’s stock by a director, nominee or named executive officer? (A “negative pledge” is a covenant granted by a borrower to a lender in which a promise is made not to convey the shares to a third party or to otherwise encumber them. Assuming a default by the borrower, the “negative pledge” would not transfer title by operation of law, but would instead require a foreclosure.)

Answer: Yes, because shares subject to a “negative pledge” may be subject to material risk or contingencies that do not apply to other shares beneficially owned by these persons, and such shares are pledged as security by operation of the negative pledge covenant. [March 13, 2007]

Section 3. Item 403(c) — Changes in control

Question 3.01

Question: Does the requirement in Item 403(c) to disclose “any arrangement . . . including any pledge . . . which may at a subsequent date result in a change in control of the registrant” apply to a “negative pledge” of the company’s stock by a principal shareholder, as described in Question 2.04 above?

Answer: In the ordinary course, such an arrangement would not be disclosable under Item 403(c). However, the registrant should consider whether any circumstances, such as insolvency of the borrower or takeover activity with respect to the registrant, would render a change in control arising from such an arrangement foreseeable and, hence, disclosable under Item 403(c). [March 13, 2007]

INTERPRETIVE RESPONSES REGARDING PARTICULAR SITUATIONS

Section 1. Item 403(a) — Security ownership of certain beneficial owners

1.01   A limited partnership holds restricted voting securities in a company that plans to make a public offering of its securities. The limited partnership agreement requires the limited partnership to distribute the restricted securities to its general and limited partners within 60 days following such public offering. In light of the beneficial ownership provisions of Section 13(d), the beneficial ownership of shares to be held by the general and limited partners whose holdings will be in excess of 5 percent (or if such persons are directors or named executive officers) following such distribution should be included in the beneficial ownership table contained in the company’s prospectus. [March 13, 2007]

1.02   When asked whether an issuer would be required to consider Form 13-F reports of “investment discretion” in determining the identity of 5 percent beneficial owners under Item 403(a), the Division staff advised that the concept of “investment discretion” was not the same as “beneficial ownership,” noting that investment managers subject to Form 13-F reporting would also have to file Schedule 13D or Schedule 13G if their interest in the securities constituted beneficial ownership. The Division staff emphasized the statement in Item 403 that the issuer could rely on Schedules 13D and 13G, but that such reliance could not be exclusive if it had knowledge (or has reason to believe that such information is not complete or accurate or that a statement or amendment that should have been filed was not) of any 5 percent beneficial owners who had not filed such reports. [March 13, 2007]

Section 2. Item 403(b) — Security ownership of management

2.01   The tax consequences under Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code that apply if a “key employee” receives a stock distribution within six months after leaving the company do not affect the analysis as to whether the person has a right to acquire the stock within 60 days under Rule 13d-3(d)(1). This is because Section 409A results in a negative economic consequence rather than a prohibition upon receipt of the shares. [March 13, 2007]

Section 3. Item 403(c) — Changes in control

None

http://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/guidance/execcomp403interp.htm