As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 11, 2003
Registration No. 333-
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM S-8
REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE
SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
The Thaxton Group, Inc.
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its Charter)
South Carolina | 57-0669498 | |
(State or other Jurisdiction of | (I.R.S. Employer | |
1524 Pageland Highway | 29720 | |
(Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) |
The Thaxton Group, Inc. Employee Savings Plan
(Full title of the Plan)
Allan F. Ross
Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary
The Thaxton Group, Inc.
1524 Pageland Highway
Lancaster, South Carolina 29720
(Name and Address of Agent for Service)
(803) 285-4337
(Telephone Number, Including Area Code, of Agent for Service)
Copy to:
Barney Stewart III, Esq.
Thomas H. O’Donnell, Jr., Esq.
Moore & Van Allen, PLLC
100 North Tryon Street, Suite 47
Charlotte, North Carolina 28202-4003
(704) 331-1000
CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
Title of | Amount to be | Proposed Maximum Offering Price Per Contribution | Proposed Maximum Aggregate Offering Price | Amount of | ||||
Employee Contribution Obligations | $5,000,000 | 100.0%(1) | $5,000,000(1) | $460 | ||||
Interests in the Employee Savings Plan(2) | — | — | — | — | ||||
| (1) | Estimated in accordance with Rules 457(h)(1) under the Securities Act of 1933, solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee. |
| (2) | In addition, pursuant to Rule 416(c) under the Securities Act of 1933, this registration statement also covers an indeterminate amount of interests to be offered or sold pursuant to the employee benefit plan described herein. |
PART I
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE SECTION 10(a) PROSPECTUS
Item 1. Plan Information.
The documents containing the information specified in Item 1 will be sent or given to employees, directors or others as specified by Rule 428(b). In accordance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) and the instructions to Registration Statement on Form S-8, these documents are not being filed with the Commission either as part of this Registration Statement or as a prospectus pursuant to Rule 424.
Item 2. Registrant Information and Employee Plan Annual Information.
The documents containing the information specified in Item 2 will be sent or given to employees, directors or others as specified by Rule 428(b). In accordance with the rules and regulations of the Commission and the instructions to Registration Statement on Form S-8, such documents are not being filed with the Commission either as part of this Registration Statement or as a prospectus pursuant to Rule 424.
PART II
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT
Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference
Except as indicated below, the following documents filed by us with the Commission are incorporated herein by reference:
| (a) | Our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2001 (File No. 000-27086); |
| (b) | Our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2002 (File No. 000-27086); |
| (c) | Our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2002 (File No. 000-27086); and |
| (d) | Our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2002 (File No. 000-27086). |
In addition, all documents subsequently filed by us pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act (other than those which furnish information pursuant to Regulation F-D), prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment which indicates that all securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference into this prospectus and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such documents.
Any statement contained herein or in a document, all or a portion of which is incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein, shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this registration statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed document which also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or amended, to constitute a part of this registration statement.
Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
Our Bylaws provide for indemnification of its officers and directors against liabilities and reasonable expenses incurred in connection with any action, suit or proceeding to which such person may be a party because he is or was a director or officer of The Thaxton Group, Inc. or serving in a similar capacity at our request for another entity, to the fullest extent permitted by the laws of South Carolina. Under the laws of South Carolina, unless limited by its articles of incorporation, a corporation shall indemnify a director or officer who was wholly successful, on the merits or otherwise, in the defense of any proceeding to which he was a party because he is or was a director or officer of such corporation, against reasonable expenses incurred by him in connection with the proceeding. South Carolina law also provides that a corporation may indemnify a director or officer if he acted in good faith and in a manner he reasonably believed to be, with respect to conduct in his official capacity, in the best interests of the corporation, and, in all other cases, in a manner not opposed to the best interest of the corporation, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, he had no reason to believe his conduct was unlawful. With respect to suits by or in the right of The Thaxton Group, Inc., such a person may be indemnified if he acted in good faith and, in the case of conduct within his official capacity, he reasonably believed his conduct to be in our best interest, and in all other cases, he shall not have been adjudged to be liable to us.
The South Carolina Business Corporation Act of 1988 also permits certain corporations, including us, by a provision in its articles of incorporation, to limit or eliminate the personal liability of its directors for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except with respect to any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty to the corporation or its shareholders, or acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve gross negligence, intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, or which occurred prior to the time such provision became effective, or with respect to transactions in which the director received an improper personal benefit, or for approving an unlawful distribution. Our Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation include such a provision. As a result of the inclusion of such provision, our shareholders may be unable to recover monetary damages against directors for action taken by them which constitute negligence or which are in violation of their fiduciary duty of due care, although they are not precluded from obtaining injunctive or other equitable relief with respect to such actions. Such provision is not effective to eliminate or limit statutory liabilities arising under federal law, including liabilities under federal securities laws.
Item 8. Exhibits.
Exhibit No. | Description of Document | |
5 | Opinion of Moore & Van Allen PLLC | |
23.1 | Consent of Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, LLP | |
23.2 | Consent of Moore & Van Allen PLLC (included in the opinion filed as Exhibit No. 5) | |
24 | Power of Attorney (included on the signature page.) |
Item 9. Undertakings.
(a) The Registrant hereby undertakes:
(1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement to include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in this Registration Statement or any material change to such information in this 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.
(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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(b) The Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the Registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that is incorporated by reference in this 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.
(c) 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, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the 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, the Registrant 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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SIGNATURES
The Registrant. Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act, the Registrant 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 Lancaster, State of South Carolina, on February 11, 2003.
THE THAXTON GROUP, INC. | ||
By: | /S/ ALLAN F. ROSS | |
Allan F. Ross | ||
Vice President, Chief Financial | ||
Officer, Secretary and | ||
Director (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) | ||
POWER OF ATTORNEY
Each of the undersigned directors and officers of the above named Registrant, by his execution hereof, hereby constitutes and appoints Allan F. Ross with full power of substitution, as his true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent, to do any and all acts and things for him or her, and in his or her name, place and stead, to execute and sign any and all pre-effective and post-effective amendments to such Registration Statement and any additional registration statement pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933, and file the same, together with all exhibits and schedules thereto and all other documents in connection therewith, with the Commission and with such state securities authorities as may be appropriate, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully and to all intents and purposes as the undersigned might or could do in person, and hereby ratifying and confirming all the acts of said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or any of them, which they may lawfully do in the premises or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
Signature | Title | Date | ||
/S/ JAMES D. THAXTON James D. Thaxton | Chairman of the Board of Directors, | February 11, 2003 | ||
/S/ ROBERT L. WILSON Robert L. Wilson | Executive Vice President, Chief | February 11, 2003 | ||
/S/ ALLAN F. ROSS Allan F. Ross | Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, | February 11, 2003 | ||
/S/ C.L. THAXTON, SR. C. L. Thaxton, Sr. | Director | February 11, 2003 |
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The Plan. Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the administrators have caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Lancaster, State of South Carolina, on February 11, 2003.
The Thaxton Group, Inc. Employee Savings Plan | ||
By: | /S/ ALLAN F. ROSS | |
Allan F. Ross | ||
Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of The Thaxton Group, Inc. | ||
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