EX-4.14 2 tm206473d1_ex4-14.htm EXHIBIT 4.14

Exhibit 4.14

 

DESCRIPTION OF REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES

 

The following summary of the securities of Plastec Technologies, Ltd., a Cayman Islands exempted company (the “Company”), is based on and qualified by the Company’s second amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (the “Charter”), the Companies Law (2020 Revision) of the Cayman Islands (as the same may be supplemented or amended from time to time, the “Companies Law”) and Cayman Islands law generally. References to the “Company” and to “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Plastec Technologies, Ltd.

 

 

 

General

 

As of December 31, 2019, the Company is authorized to issue 100,000,000 ordinary shares, par value $0.001 per share, and 1,000,000 preferred shares, par value $0.001 per share.

 

Ordinary Shares

 

As of December 31, 2019, there were 12,938,128 ordinary shares outstanding. Our shareholders have no conversion, preemptive, or other subscription rights and there are no sinking fund or redemption provisions applicable to the ordinary shares.

 

The Company has four directors with each director serving until the Company’s next annual general meeting, if one is called for, and until his successor is elected and qualified. There is no cumulative voting with respect to the election of directors, with the result that the holders of more than 50% of the shares eligible to vote for the election of directors can elect all of the directors.

 

Subject to any rights or restrictions attached to any specific shares we may issue (our Charter does not contain any special voting right or restrictions on our ordinary shares), every member who (being an individual) is present in person or by proxy or, if a corporation or other non-natural person is present by its duly authorized representative or proxy has one vote for every share of which he is the holder.

 

Preferred Shares

 

As of December 31, 2019, there were no preferred shares outstanding. Our Charter authorizes 1,000,000 preferred shares and provide that preferred shares may be issued from time to time in one or more series. Our board of directors will be authorized to fix the voting rights, if any, designations, powers, preferences, the relative, participating, optional or other special rights and any qualifications, limitations and restrictions thereof, applicable to the shares of each series. Our board of directors will be able to, without shareholder approval, issue preferred shares with voting and other rights that could adversely affect the voting power and other rights of the holders of the ordinary shares and could have anti-takeover effects. The ability of our board of directors to issue preferred shares without shareholder approval could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control of us or the removal of existing management. Although we do not currently intend to issue any preferred shares, we cannot assure you that we will not do so in the future.

 

Dividends

 

Subject to the Companies Law and our Charter, our board of directors may declare dividends and distributions on our ordinary shares in issue and authorize payment on the dividends or distributions out of lawfully available funds. No dividend or distribution may be paid except out of our realized or unrealized profits, or out of the share premium account or as otherwise permitted by Cayman Islands law. Cayman Islands law provides that a Cayman Islands company may declare and pay a dividend on its shares out of either profit or share premium account. Subscription monies received by the Company by way of pure share capital (i.e. the par value of the shares) may not be used for the payment of dividends. A dividend may not be paid if this would result in the Company being unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business.

 

 

 

 

Changes in Capital

 

We may increase our authorized share capital by ordinary resolution of our shareholders under Cayman Islands law (which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company or a unanimous written resolution of shareholders). The new shares will be subject to all of the provisions to which the original shares are subject as set out in our Charter. We may also by ordinary resolution: (i) consolidate and divide all or any of our share capital into shares of a larger amount; (ii) sub-divide existing shares into shares of a smaller amount; and (iii) cancel any shares which, at the date of the resolution, are not held or agreed to be held by any person. We may reduce our share capital and any capital redemption reserve by special resolution of our shareholders under Cayman Islands law (which requires the affirmative vote of at least a majority of two-thirds of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company or a unanimous written resolution of shareholders).

 

Listing of Securities

 

Our ordinary shares are quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol PLTYF.

 

Cayman Islands Company Considerations

 

Differences in Corporate Law

 

Cayman Islands companies are governed by the Companies Law. The Companies Law is modeled on English Law but does not follow recent English Law statutory enactments, and differs from laws applicable to United States corporations and their shareholders. Set forth below is a summary of some significant differences between the provisions of the Companies Law applicable to us and the laws applicable to companies incorporated in the State of Delaware of the United States and their shareholders.

 

Mergers and Similar Arrangements

 

In certain circumstances, the Companies Law allows for mergers or consolidations between two Cayman Islands companies, or between a Cayman Islands exempted company and a company incorporated in another jurisdiction (provided that is facilitated by the laws of that other jurisdiction).

 

Where the merger or consolidation is between two Cayman Islands companies, the directors of each company must approve a written plan of merger or consolidation containing certain prescribed information. That plan or merger or consolidation must then be authorized by either (a) a special resolution (usually a majority of 66 ⅔% in value of the voting shares voted at a general meeting) of the shareholders of each company; or (b) such other authorization, if any, as may be specified in such constituent company’s articles of association. No shareholder resolution is required for a merger between a parent company (i.e., a company that owns at least 90% of the issued shares of each class in a subsidiary company) and its subsidiary company. The consent of each holder of a fixed or floating security interest of a constituent company must be obtained, unless the court waives such requirement. If the Cayman Islands Registrar of Companies is satisfied that the requirements of the Companies Law (which includes certain other formalities) have been complied with, the Registrar of Companies will register the plan of merger or consolidation.

 

 

 

 

Where the merger or consolidation involves a foreign company, the procedure is similar, save that with respect to the foreign company, the directors of the Cayman Islands exempted company are required to make a declaration to the effect that, having made due enquiry, they are of the opinion that the requirements set out below have been met: (i) that the merger or consolidation is permitted or not prohibited by the constitutional documents of the foreign company and by the laws of the jurisdiction in which the foreign company is incorporated, and that those laws and any requirements of those constitutional documents have been or will be complied with; (ii) that no petition or other similar proceeding has been filed and remains outstanding or order made or resolution adopted to wind up or liquidate the foreign company in any jurisdictions; (iii) that no receiver, trustee, administrator or other similar person has been appointed in any jurisdiction and is acting in respect of the foreign company, its affairs or its property or any part thereof; and (iv) that no scheme, order, compromise or other similar arrangement has been entered into or made in any jurisdiction whereby the rights of creditors of the foreign company are and continue to be suspended or restricted.

 

Where the surviving company is the Cayman Islands exempted company, the directors of the Cayman Islands exempted company are further required to make a declaration to the effect that, having made due enquiry, they are of the opinion that the requirements set out below have been met: (i) that the foreign company is able to pay its debts as they fall due and that the merger or consolidated is bona fide and not intended to defraud unsecured creditors of the foreign company; (ii) that in respect of the transfer of any security interest granted by the foreign company to the surviving or consolidated company (a) consent or approval to the transfer has been obtained, released or waived; (b) the transfer is permitted by and has been approved in accordance with the constitutional documents of the foreign company; and (c) the laws of the jurisdiction of the foreign company with respect to the transfer have been or will be complied with; (iii) that the foreign company will, upon the merger or consolidation becoming effective, cease to be incorporated, registered or exist under the laws of the relevant foreign jurisdiction; and (iv) that there is no other reason why it would be against the public interest to permit the merger or consolidation.

 

Where the above procedures are adopted, the Companies Law provides for a right of dissenting shareholders to be paid a payment of the fair value of his shares upon their dissenting to the merger or consolidation if they follow a prescribed procedure. In essence, that procedure is as follows: (a) the shareholder must give his written objection to the merger or consolidation to the constituent company before the vote on the merger or consolidation, including a statement that the shareholder proposes to demand payment for his shares if the merger or consolidation is authorized by the vote; (b) within 20 days following the date on which the merger or consolidation is approved by the shareholders, the constituent company must give written notice to each shareholder who made a written objection; (c) a shareholder must within 20 days following receipt of such notice from the constituent company, give the constituent company a written notice of his intention to dissent including, among other details, a demand for payment of the fair value of his shares; (d) within seven days following the date of the expiration of the period set out in clause (b) above or seven days following the date on which the plan of merger or consolidation is filed, whichever is later, the constituent company, the surviving company or the consolidated company must make a written offer to each dissenting shareholder to purchase his shares at a price that the company determines is the fair value and if the company and the shareholder agree the price within 30 days following the date on which the offer was made, the company must pay the shareholder such amount; and (e) if the company and the shareholder fail to agree a price within such 30 day period, within 20 days following the date on which such 30 day period expires, the company (and any dissenting shareholder) must file a petition with the Cayman Islands Grand Court to determine the fair value and such petition must be accompanied by a list of the names and addresses of the dissenting shareholders with whom agreements as to the fair value of their shares have not been reached by the company. At the hearing of that petition, the court has the power to determine the fair value of the shares together with a fair rate of interest, if any, to be paid by the company upon the amount determined to be the fair value. Any dissenting shareholder whose name appears on the list filed by the company may participate fully in all proceedings until the determination of fair value is reached. These rights of a dissenting shareholder are not available in certain circumstances, for example, to dissenters holding shares of any class in respect of which an open market exists on a recognized stock exchange or recognized interdealer quotation system at the relevant date or where the consideration for such shares to be contributed are shares of any company listed on a national securities exchange or shares of the surviving or consolidated company.

 

 

 

 

Moreover, Cayman Islands law has separate statutory provisions that facilitate the reconstruction or amalgamation of companies in certain circumstances. Schemes of arrangement will generally be more suited for complex mergers or other transactions involving widely held companies, commonly referred to in the Cayman Islands as a “scheme of arrangement” which may be tantamount to a merger. In the event that a merger was sought pursuant to a scheme of arrangement (the procedures for which are more rigorous and take longer to complete than the procedures typically required to consummate a merger in the United States), the arrangement in question must be approved by a majority in number of each class of shareholders and creditors with whom the arrangement is to be made and who must in addition represent three-fourths in value of each such class of shareholders or creditors, as the case may be, that are present and voting either in person or by proxy at a meeting, or meeting summoned for that purpose. The convening of the meetings and subsequently the terms of the arrangement must be sanctioned by the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. While a dissenting shareholder would have the right to express to the court the view that the transaction should not be approved, the court can be expected to approve the arrangement if it satisfies itself that:

 

·the parties are not proposing to act illegally or beyond the scope of their corporate authority and the statutory provisions as to majority vote have been complied with;

 

·the shareholders have been fairly represented at the meeting in question;

 

·the arrangement is such as a businessman would reasonably approve; and

 

·the arrangement is not one that would more properly be sanctioned under some other provision of the Companies Law or that would amount to a “fraud on the minority.”

 

If a scheme of arrangement or takeover offer (as described below) is approved, dissenting shareholders would not have rights comparable to appraisal rights (providing rights to receive payment in cash for the judicially determined value of the shares), which would otherwise ordinarily be available to dissenting shareholders of United States corporations.

 

Takeover Offers

 

When a takeover offer is made and accepted by holders of 90% of the shares to whom the offer relates is made within four months, the offeror may, within a two-month period, require the holders of the remaining shares to transfer such shares on the terms of the offer. An objection can be made to the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands but this is unlikely to succeed unless there is evidence of fraud, bad faith, collusion or inequitable treatment of the shareholders.

 

Further, transactions similar to a merger, reconstruction and/or an amalgamation may in some circumstances be achieved through means other than these statutory provisions, such as a share capital exchange, asset acquisition or control, or through contractual arrangements, of an operating business.

 

Anti-Takeover Provisions

 

Some provisions of our Charter may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or management that shareholders may consider favorable, including provisions that authorize our board of directors to issue preference shares in one or more series and to designate the price, rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions of such preference shares without any further vote or action by our shareholders.

 

However, under Cayman Islands law, our directors may only exercise the rights and powers granted to them under our Charter for what they believe in good faith to be in the best interests of our company and for a proper purpose.

 

 

 

 

Shareholder Proposals

 

Neither Cayman Islands law nor our Charter allow our shareholders to requisition shareholders' annual general meetings. As an exempted Cayman Islands company, we are not obliged by law to call shareholders’ annual general meetings. Additionally, the directors shall convene an extraordinary general meeting upon a members’ requisition (a requisition of members holding at the date of deposit of the requisition not less than 10% in par value of our capital which as at that date carries the right of voting at general meetings).

 

Directors’ Fiduciary Duties

 

Under Delaware corporate law, a director of a Delaware corporation has a fiduciary duty to the corporation and its shareholders. This duty has two components: the duty of care and the duty of loyalty. The duty of care requires that a director act in good faith, with the care that an ordinarily prudent person would exercise under similar circumstances. Under this duty, a director must inform himself of, and disclose to shareholders, all material information reasonably available regarding a significant transaction. The duty of loyalty requires that a director act in a manner he or she reasonably believes to be in the best interests of the corporation. He or she must not use his or her corporate position for personal gain or advantage. This duty prohibits self-dealing by a director and mandates that the best interest of the corporation and its shareholders take precedence over any interest possessed by a director, officer or controlling shareholder and not shared by the shareholders generally. In general, actions of a director are presumed to have been made on an informed basis, in good faith and in the honest belief that the action taken was in the best interests of the corporation. However, this presumption may be rebutted by evidence of a breach of one of the fiduciary duties. Should such evidence be presented concerning a transaction by a director, a director must prove the procedural fairness of the transaction, and that the transaction was of fair value to the corporation.

 

Under Cayman Islands law, directors and officers owe the following fiduciary duties:

 

(i)duty to act in good faith in what the director or officer believes to be in the best interests of the company as a whole;

 

(ii)duty to exercise powers for the purposes for which those powers were conferred and not for a collateral purpose;

 

(iii)directors should not improperly fetter the exercise of future discretion;

 

(iv)duty to exercise powers fairly as between different sections of shareholders;

 

(v)duty not to put themselves in a position in which there is a conflict between their duty to the company and their personal interests; and

 

(vi)duty to exercise independent judgment.

 

In addition to the above, directors also owe a duty of care which is not fiduciary in nature. This duty has been defined as a requirement to act as a reasonably diligent person having both the general knowledge, skill and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person carrying out the same functions as are carried out by that director in relation to the company and the general knowledge skill and experience of that director.

 

As set out above, directors have a duty not to put themselves in a position of conflict and this includes a duty not to engage in self-dealing, or to otherwise benefit as a result of their position. However, in some instances what would otherwise be a breach of this duty can be forgiven and/or authorized in advance by the shareholders provided that there is full disclosure by the directors. This can be done by way of permission granted in our Charter or alternatively by shareholder approval at general meetings.

 

Accordingly, as a result of multiple business affiliations, our officers and directors may have similar legal obligations relating to presenting business opportunities meeting the above-listed criteria to multiple entities. In addition, conflicts of interest may arise when our board evaluates a particular business opportunity with respect to the above-listed criteria. We cannot assure you that any of the above mentioned conflicts will be resolved in our favor. Furthermore, each of our officers and directors has pre-existing fiduciary obligations to other businesses of which they are officers or directors.

 

 

 

 

Removal of Directors

 

Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a director of a corporation with a classified board may be removed only for cause with the approval of a majority of the outstanding shares entitled to vote, unless the certificate of incorporation provides otherwise.

 

Under our Charter, directors may be removed by an ordinary resolution or by resolution of all of the other directors of the company (being not less than two in number) then in office.

 

Transactions with Interested Shareholders

 

The Delaware General Corporation Law contains a business combination statute applicable to Delaware corporations whereby, unless the corporation has specifically elected not to be governed by such statute by amendment to its certificate of incorporation, it is prohibited from engaging in certain business combinations with an “interested shareholder” for three years following the date that such person becomes an interested shareholder. An interested shareholder generally is a person or a group who or which owns or owned 15% or more of the target’s outstanding voting stock within the past three years. This has the effect of limiting the ability of a potential acquirer to make a two-tiered bid for the target in which all shareholders would not be treated equally. The statute does not apply if, among other things, prior to the date on which such shareholder becomes an interested shareholder, the board of directors approves either the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the person becoming an interested shareholder. This encourages any potential acquirer of a Delaware corporation to negotiate the terms of any acquisition transaction with the target’s board of directors.

 

Cayman Islands law has no comparable statute. As a result, we cannot avail ourselves of the types of protections afforded by the Delaware business combination statute. However, although Cayman Islands law does not regulate transactions between a company and its significant shareholders, it does provide that such transactions must be entered into bona fide in the best interests of the company and for a proper corporate purpose and not with the effect of constituting a fraud on the minority shareholders.

 

Dissolution; Winding Up

 

Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, unless the board of directors approves the proposal to dissolve, dissolution must be approved by shareholders holding 100% of the total voting power of the corporation. Only if the dissolution is initiated by the board of directors may it be approved by a simple majority of the corporation’s outstanding shares. Delaware law allows a Delaware corporation to include in its certificate of incorporation a supermajority voting requirement in connection with dissolutions initiated by the board.

 

Under Cayman Islands law, a company may be wound up by either an order of the courts of the Cayman Islands or by a special resolution (which requires approval by not less than two-thirds of the votes cast by the shareholders at a meeting) of its members or, if the company is unable to pay its debts as they fall due, by an ordinary resolution of its members. The court has authority to order winding up in a number of specified circumstances including where it is, in the opinion of the court, just and equitable to do so.

 

Under our Charter, our company may be dissolved, liquidated or wound up by order of the courts of the Cayman Islands upon petition by our board or by the vote of holders of two-thirds of our shares voting at a meeting or the unanimous written resolution of all shareholders.

 

 

 

 

Variation of Rights of Shares

 

Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a corporation may vary the rights of a class of shares with the approval of a majority of the outstanding shares of such class, unless the certificate of incorporation provides otherwise.

 

All or any of the special rights attached to any class of shares may, subject to the provisions of the Companies Law, be varied either with the written consent of the holders of two-thirds of the issued shares of that class or with the sanction of a special resolution passed at a general meeting of the holders of the shares of that class. The rights conferred upon the holders of the shares of any class issued with preferred or other rights shall not, subject to any rights or restrictions for the time being attached to the shares of that class, be deemed to be materially adversely varied by, inter alia, the creation, allotment or issue of further shares ranking pari passu with or subsequent to them, the creation, allotment or issuance of further shares (whether ranking in priority to, pari passu or subsequent to them) pursuant to the board of director’s ability to issue preference shares in the manner described in “Anti-Takeover Provisions” or the redemption or purchase of any shares of any class by the Company. The rights of the holders of shares shall not be deemed to be materially adversely varied by the creation or issue of shares with preferred or other rights including, without limitation, the creation of shares with enhanced or weighted voting rights.

 

Amendment of Governing Documents

 

Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a corporation’s governing documents may be amended with the approval of a majority of the outstanding shares entitled to vote, unless the certificate of incorporation provides otherwise.

 

As permitted by Cayman Islands law, our Charter may only be amended by special resolution (which requires approval by not less than two-thirds of the votes cast by the shareholders at a meeting) or the unanimous written resolution of all shareholders.

 

Rights of Non-Resident or Foreign Shareholders

 

There are no limitations imposed by our Charter on the rights of non-resident or foreign shareholders to hold or exercise voting rights on our shares. In addition, there are no provisions in our Charter governing the ownership threshold above which shareholder ownership must be disclosed.