party may not be indemnified for a proceeding brought by that party against the corporation, except (i) for a proceeding brought to enforce indemnification or (ii) if the charter or bylaws, a resolution of the corporation’s board of directors or an agreement approved by the corporation’s board of directors to which the corporation is a party expressly provides otherwise.
Our charter permits us to indemnify and to pay or reimburse reasonable expenses in advance of final disposition of a proceeding to any individual (a) who is a present or former director or officer of ours and who is made or threatened to be made a party to a proceeding by reason of his or her service in that capacity, or (b) who, while a director or officer of ours and at our request, serves or has served as a director, officer, partner, member, manager or trustee of any corporation, partnership, limited liability company, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or other enterprise and who is made or threatened to be made a party to a proceeding by reason of his or her service in such capacity and from and against any claim or liability to which such person may become subject or such person may incur, in each case to the fullest extent permitted by Maryland law.
Our charter provides that any provisions of the charter relating to limiting liability of directors and officers or to indemnifying directors and officers are subject to any applicable limitations in the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”).
Our bylaws obligate us to indemnify and, without requiring a preliminary determination of the ultimate entitlement to indemnification, to pay or reimburse reasonable expenses in advance of final disposition of a proceeding to any individual who (a) is a present or former director or officer of ours and who is made or threatened to be made a party to a proceeding by reason of his or her service in that capacity, or (b) while a director or officer of ours and at our request, serves or has served as a director, officer, partner, member, manager or trustee of any corporation, partnership, limited liability company, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or other enterprise and who is made or threatened to be made a party to a proceeding by reason of his or her service in such capacity and from and against any claim or liability to which such person may become subject or such person may incur, in each case to the fullest extent permitted by Maryland law and the 1940 Act. Our charter and bylaws also permit us to provide such indemnification and advancement for expenses to a person who served a predecessor of ours in any of the capacities described in (a) or (b) above and to any employee or agent of ours or a predecessor of ours. In accordance with the 1940 Act, we will not indemnify any person for any liability to which such person would be subject by reason of such person’s willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of his or her office.
Board of Directors
Our charter provides that the number of directors will be ten, and may be increased or decreased by our board of directors in accordance with our bylaws. Our bylaws provide that the number of directors may not be less than the minimum number required by the MGCL or more than twelve. Our charter also provides that the directors, other than any director elected solely by holders of one or more classes or series of preferred stock, shall be classified, with respect to the terms for which they severally hold office, into three classes, as nearly equal in number as possible as determined by the board of directors. Generally, at each annual meeting of stockholders, the successors to the class of directors whose term expires at such meeting shall be elected for a three-year term and until their successors are duly elected and qualify. Our directors may be elected to an unlimited number of successive terms.
Our bylaws provide that a director shall be elected only if such director receives the affirmative vote of a majority of the total votes cast for and affirmatively withheld as to such director at a meeting of stockholders duly called and at which a quorum is present. However, directors shall be elected by a plurality of votes cast at a meeting of stockholders duly called and at which a quorum is present if the number of nominees is greater than the number of directors to be elected at the meeting.
Except as may be provided by our board of directors in setting the terms of any class or series of preferred stock, pursuant to an election in our charter as permitted by the MGCL, any and all vacancies on our board of directors may be filled only by the affirmative vote of a majority of the remaining directors in office, even if the remaining directors do not constitute a quorum, and any director elected to fill a vacancy will serve for the remainder of the full term of the directorship in which the vacancy occurred and until a successor is elected and qualifies, subject to any applicable requirements of the 1940 Act.
Pursuant to our charter, subject to the rights, if any, of holders of one or more classes or series of preferred stock to elect or remove one or more directors, any director may be removed from office at any time only for cause and only by the affirmative vote of at leasttwo-thirds of the votes entitled to cast generally in the election of directors. Pursuant to our bylaws, any director may resign at any time by delivering his or her resignation to the board of directors, the chairman of the board or the secretary, which resignation shall take effect immediately upon its receipt or at such later time specified in the resignation.
We currently have a total of eleven members of the board of directors, nine of whom are independent directors. A director is considered independent if he or she is not an “interested person” as that term is defined under Section 2(a)(19) of the 1940 Act. Our charter provides that a majority of our board of directors must be independent directors except for a period of up to 60 days after the death, removal or resignation of an independent director pending the election of his or her successor.
Action by Stockholders
The MGCL provides that stockholder action can be taken only at an annual or special meeting of stockholders or by unanimous consent in lieu of a meeting (unless the charter permits the consent in lieu of a meeting to be less than unanimous, which our charter does not). These provisions, combined with the requirements of our bylaws regarding the calling of a stockholder-requested special meeting of stockholders discussed below, may have the effect of delaying consideration of a stockholder proposal until the next annual meeting.
Advance Notice Provisions for Stockholder Nominations and Stockholder Proposals