Under our Bye-laws, if, and so long as, the votes conferred by the “Controlled Shares” (as defined below) of any person would otherwise cause such person (or any other person) to be treated as a “9.5% Shareholder” (as defined below) with respect to any matter (including, without limitation, election of directors), the votes conferred by the Controlled Shares owned by shareholders of such person’s “Controlled Group” (as defined below) will be reduced (and will be automatically reduced in the future) by whatever amount is necessary so that after any such reduction the votes conferred by the Controlled Shares of such person will not result in any other person being treated as a 9.5% Shareholder with respect to the vote on such matter. These reductions will be made pursuant to formulas provided in our Bye-laws, as applied by the Board within its discretion.
Under Bermuda law, for so long as we have an insurance subsidiary registered under the Insurance Act 1978 of Bermuda and related regulations, as amended, the Bermuda Monetary Authority (the “BMA”) may at any time, by written notice, object to a person holding 10% or more of our common shares if it appears to the BMA that the person is not or is no longer fit and proper to be such a holder. In such a case, the BMA may require the shareholder to reduce its holding of our common shares and direct, among other things, that such shareholder’s voting rights attaching to the common shares shall not be exercisable. A person who does not comply with such a notice or direction from the BMA will be guilty of an offense. This may discourage potential acquisition proposals and may delay, deter or prevent a change of control of our company, including through transactions, and in particular unsolicited transactions, that some or all of our shareholders might consider to be desirable.
“Controlled Shares” means, in reference to any person, all shares that such person is deemed to own directly, indirectly (within the meaning of Section 958(a) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”)) or, in the case of any U.S. Person, constructively (within the meaning of Section 958(b) of the Code).
“Controlled Group” means, with respect to any person, all shares directly owned by such person and all shares directly owned by each other shareholder any of whose shares are included in the Controlled Shares of such person.
“9.5% Shareholder” means a U.S. Person that (a) owns (within the meaning of Section 958(a) of the Code) any shares and (b) owns, is deemed to own, or constructively owns Controlled Shares which confer votes in excess of 9.5% of the votes conferred by all of the issued and outstanding shares.
In addition, our Bye-laws provide that the Board may determine that certain shares shall not carry voting rights or shall have reduced voting rights to the extent that the Board reasonably determines, by the affirmative vote of a majority of the directors, that it is necessary to do so to avoid any adverse tax consequences or materially adverse legal or regulatory treatment to us, any of our subsidiaries or any shareholder or its affiliates; provided that the Board will use reasonable efforts to ensure equal treatment to similarly situated shareholders to the extent possible under the circumstances.
Our Bye-laws authorize us to request information from any shareholder for the purpose of determining whether a shareholder’s voting rights are to be adjusted as described above. If, after a reasonable cure period, a shareholder fails to respond to a request by us for information or submits incomplete or inaccurate information in response to a request, the Board may eliminate the shareholder’s voting rights. A shareholder will be required to notify us in the event it acquires actual knowledge that it or one of its investors is the actual, deemed or constructive owner of 9.5% or more of the Controlled Shares.
Our Bye-laws also provide that if CM Bermuda Limited, a Bermuda exempted company limited by shares (“CM Bermuda”), its “Affiliates” and its “Related Persons” (each as defined in the Investor Rights Agreement, dated as of February 26, 2021, by and among SiriusPoint and CM Bermuda, included as Exhibit 4.5 to our Current Report on Form 8-K, filed February 26, 2021, and incorporated by reference herein, and, together with CM Bermuda, the “Investor Affiliated Group”) beneficially own Common Shares or any other authorized or other common shares of SiriusPoint which would cause the Investor Affiliated Group to be treated as the beneficial owner of votes in excess of 9.9% of the votes conferred by all of our issued and outstanding shares
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