This Amendment No. 3 (this “Amendment”) to Schedule 14D-9 amends and supplements the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 previously filed by Vocera Communications, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Vocera”), with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 25, 2022 (as amended or supplemented from time to time, the “Schedule 14D-9”), relating to the offer by Voice Merger Sub Corp. (“Purchaser”), a Delaware corporation and a direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Stryker Corporation, a Michigan corporation (“Stryker”), to purchase all of the outstanding shares of Vocera’s common stock, par value $0.0003 per share (the “Shares”) at a purchase price of $79.25 per Share, net to the holder in cash, without interest, and subject to any applicable withholding of taxes, upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of January 6, 2022, among Stryker, Purchaser and Vocera (as it may be amended from time to time, the “Merger Agreement”), the Offer to Purchase, dated January 25, 2022 and the related Letter of Transmittal, each of which may be amended or supplemented from time to time.
Except as otherwise set forth in this Amendment, the information set forth in the Schedule 14D-9 remains unchanged and is incorporated herein by reference to the extent relevant to the items in this Amendment. Capitalized terms used but not defined herein have the meanings ascribed to them in the Schedule 14D-9.
Item 3. Past Contacts, Transactions, Negotiations and Agreements
The section of Item 3 of the Schedule 14D-9 entitled “Past Contacts, Transactions, Negotiations and Agreements—Non-Compete Agreements” is hereby amended as follows:
The following disclosure replaces the heading entitled “Non-Compete Agreements” on page 5 and the paragraph that follows:
Restrictive Covenant and Compensation Recovery Agreements
On February 8, 2022, Stryker and each of Brent D. Lang, Vocera’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul T. Johnson, Vocera’s Chief Commercial Officer, Douglas A. Carlen, Vocera’s General Counsel, and Steven J. Anheier, Vocera’s Chief Financial Officer (each, a “Restricted Executive”) entered into a Restrictive Covenant and Compensation Recovery Agreement (each, a “Restrictive Covenant Agreement”). Each Restrictive Covenant Agreement requires that each Restricted Executive, for a period of three (3) years following the date upon which the Merger is consummated (the “Closing Date”): (i) not compete, directly or indirectly, with Vocera’s business as it exists as of the Closing Date, (ii) not solicit certain employees and independent contractors of Vocera and (iii) not solicit the business of certain current, prospective of past customers of Vocera. Certain violations by a Restricted Executive of the applicable Restrictive Covenant Agreement may require such executive to repay to Stryker a designated amount of the consideration received by the Restricted Executive in connection with the Merger. The Restrictive Covenant Agreements are contingent upon and effective as of the consummation of the Merger. Other than the Restrictive Covenant Agreements, none of the Restricted Executives have entered into any other agreements with Stryker or any of its affiliates.
This summary does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the form of Restrictive Covenant Agreement filed as Exhibit (e)(13) hereto and incorporated herein by reference.
Item 4. The Solicitation or Recommendation
The section of Item 4 of the Schedule 14D-9 entitled “Background of the Merger Agreement; Reasons for Recommendation—Background of the Merger Agreement” is hereby amended as follows:
The second to last paragraph on page 17 is amended and restated as follows (new language underlined):
From 2015 to 2020, as the Board was aware, representatives of Vocera and representatives of Stryker met various times to discuss Vocera’s business, as well as business development and other strategic opportunities. As described below, and as the Board was aware, these meetings continued from January through November 2021.
The last paragraph on page 18 (which continues on page 19) is amended and restated as follows (new language underlined):
On November 17, 2021, Mr. Lang sent the Board a status update via email informing the Board that members of Vocera’s management team were continuing to monitor the situation with Party A and provided an update on the outreach by the aforementioned financial advisors. At that time, Mr. Lang formed an informal advisory team with a subset of the Board and members of Vocera’s management team. The advisory team was formed in the interest of administrative ease and to act as a resource to help advise Vocera’s management team through potential strategic discussions, including with respect to the selection