Exhibit 4.2
DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK DESCRIPTION OF THE REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES
REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES
EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Treace Medical Concepts, Inc. (the “Company” or “we” or “our” or “us” or “Treace Medical Concepts”) has one class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended: our common stock, par value $0.001 per share.
Description of Common Stock
The following summary describes our capital stock and the material provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws, and of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”). Because the following is only a summary, it does not contain all of the information that may be important to you. This summary is subject to, and is qualified in its entirety by express reference to, the applicable provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws. For a complete description, you should refer to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, each of which may be amended from time to time and are included as exhibits to the Annual Report on Form 10-K to which this description is an Exhibit.
General
As of December 31, 2022, our authorized capital stock consists of 300 million shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, and 5 million shares of preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share.
Common Stock
Voting Rights
Each holder of our common stock is entitled to one vote for each share on all matters submitted to a vote of the stockholders, including the election of directors. Our stockholders do not have cumulative voting rights in the election of directors. Accordingly, holders of a majority of the voting shares are able to elect all of the directors.
Dividends
Subject to preferences that may be applicable to any then outstanding preferred stock, holders of our common stock are entitled to receive dividends, if any, as may be declared from time to time by our board of directors out of legally available funds.
Liquidation
In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of our common stock are entitled to share ratably in the net assets legally available for distribution to stockholders after the payment of all of our debts and other liabilities and the satisfaction of any liquidation preference granted to the holders of any then outstanding shares of convertible preferred stock.
Rights, Preferences and Privileges
Holders of our common stock have no preemptive, conversion, subscription or other rights, and there are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to our common stock. The rights, preferences and privileges of the holders of our common stock are subject to and may be adversely affected by the rights of the holders of shares of any series of our preferred stock that we may designate and issue in the future.
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Fully Paid and Nonassessable
All of our outstanding shares of common stock are fully paid and nonassessable.
Preferred Stock
Our board of directors has the authority, without further action by our stockholders, to issue up to 5 million shares of preferred stock in one or more series and to fix the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions thereof. These rights, preferences and privileges could include dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, rights and terms of redemption, liquidation preferences, sinking fund provisions and the number of shares constituting, or the designation of, such series, any or all of which may be greater than the rights of common stock. The issuance of preferred stock could adversely affect the voting power of holders of common stock and the likelihood that such holders will receive dividend payments and payments upon our liquidation. The purpose of authorizing our board of directors to issue preferred stock and determine its rights and preferences is to eliminate delays associated with a stockholder vote on specific issuances. The issuance of preferred stock, while providing flexibility in connection with possible acquisitions, future financings and other corporate purposes, could have the effect of making it more difficult for a third party to acquire, or could discourage a third party from seeking to acquire, a majority of our outstanding voting stock. As of December 31, 2021, no shares of preferred stock are outstanding, and we have no present plan to issue any shares of preferred stock.
Annual Stockholder Meetings
Our amended and restated bylaws provide that annual stockholder meetings will be held at a date, time and place, if any, as exclusively selected by our board of directors, our Chief Executive Officer or the chairman of the board of directors. To the extent permitted under applicable law, we may conduct meetings by remote communications, including by webcast.
Anti-Takeover Effects or Provisions of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, our Amended and Restated Bylaws and Delaware Law
Some provisions of Delaware law and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that could make the following transactions more difficult: acquisition of us by means of a tender offer; acquisition of us by means of a proxy contest or otherwise; or removal of our incumbent officers and directors. It is possible that these provisions could make it more difficult to accomplish or could deter transactions that stock holders may otherwise consider to be in their best interest or in our best interests, including transactions that might result in a premium over the market price for our shares.
These provisions, summarized below, are expected to discourage coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids. These provisions are also designed to encourage persons seeking to acquire control of us to first negotiate with our board of directors. We believe that the benefits of increased protection of our potential ability to negotiate with the proponent of a non-friendly or unsolicited proposal to acquire or restructure us outweigh the disadvantages of discouraging these proposals because negotiation of these proposals could result in an improvement of their terms.
Delaware Anti-Takeover Statute
We are subject to Section 203 of the DGCL, which prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any business combination with any interested stockholder for a period of three years after the date that such stockholder became an interested stockholder, with the following exceptions:
• Before such date, the board of directors of the corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested holder;
• Prior to the completion of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of the voting stock of the corporation outstanding at the time the transaction began, excluding for purposes of determining the voting stock outstanding (but not the outstanding voting stock owned by the interested stockholder) those shares
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owned (i) by persons who are directors and also officers and (ii) employee stock plans in which employee participants do not have the right to determine confidentially whether shares held subject to the plan will be tendered in a tender or exchange offer; or
• On or after such date, the business combination is approved by the board of directors and authorized at an annual or special meeting of the stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding voting stock that is not owned by the interested stockholder.
In general, Section 203 defines business combination to include the following:
• Any merger or consolidation involving the corporation and the interested stockholder;
• Any sale, transfer, pledge or other disposition of 10% or more of the assets of the corporation involving the interested stockholder;
• Subject to certain exceptions, any transaction that results in the issuance or transfer by the corporation of any stock of the corporation to the interested stockholder;
• Any transaction involving the corporation that has the effect of increasing the proportionate share of the stock or any class or series of the corporation beneficially owned by the interested stockholder; or
• The receipt by the interested stockholder of the benefit of any loss, advances, guarantees, pledges or other financial benefits by or through the corporation.
In general, Section 203 defines interested stockholder as an entity or person beneficially owning 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation or any entity or person affiliated with or controlling or controlled by such entity or person.
Undesignated Preferred Stock
The ability to authorize undesignated preferred stock makes it possible for our board of directors to issue preferred stock with voting or other rights or preferences that could impede the success of any attempt to acquire us. These and other provisions may have the effect of deterring hostile takeovers or delaying changes in control or management of our company.
Special Stockholder Meetings
Our amended and restated bylaws provides that a special meeting of stockholders may be called only by our board of directors, the chairperson of our board of directors, or our Chief Executive Officer or President. This provision might delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or for stockholders controlling a majority of our capital stock to take any action, including the removal of directors.
Requirements for Advance Notification of Stockholder Nominations and Proposals
Our amended and restated bylaws establish advance notice procedures with respect to stockholder proposals and the nomination of candidates for election as directors, other than nominations made by or at the direction of the board of directors or a committee of the board of directors. Our amended and restated bylaws also specify certain requirements regarding the form and content of a stockholder’s notice.
Elimination of Stockholder Action by Written Consent
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws eliminate the right of stockholders to act by written consent without a meeting.
Classified Board; Election and Removal of Directors
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws authorize only our board of directors to fill vacant directorships, including newly created seats. In addition, the number of directors
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constituting our board of directors are permitted to be set only by a resolution adopted by our board of directors. These provisions prevent a stockholder from increasing the size of our board of directors and then gaining control of our board of directors by filling the resulting vacancies with its own nominees. This makes it more difficult to change the composition of our board of directors but promotes continuity of management.
Our board of directors is divided into three classes. The directors in each class serve for a three-year term, one class being elected each year by our stockholders, with staggered three-year terms. Only one class of directors is elected at each annual meeting of our stockholders, with the other classes continuing for the remainder of their respective three-year terms. Because our stockholders do not have cumulative voting rights, our stockholders holding a majority of the shares of common stock outstanding will be able to elect all of our directors up for election. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that directors may only be removed for cause. This system of electing and removing directors may tend to discourage a third party from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us, because it generally makes it more difficult for stockholders to replace a majority of the directors.
Exclusive Forum
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty; any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws; or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. As a result, any action brought by any of our stockholders with regard to any of these matters will need to be filed in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and cannot be filed in any other jurisdiction. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws also provide that the federal district courts of the United States is the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action against any defendant arising under the Securities Act. Such provision is intended to benefit and may be enforced by us, our officers and directors, employees and agents. Although our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain the choice of forum provision described above, it is possible that a court could find that such a provision is inapplicable for a particular claim or action or that such provision is unenforceable. The choice of forum provision requiring that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware be the exclusive forum for certain actions would not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction; and provided that, if and only if the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware dismisses any such action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, such action may be brought in another state or federal court sitting in the State of Delaware.
If any action the subject matter of which is within the scope described above is filed in a court other than a court located within the State of Delaware (a Foreign Action), in the name of any stockholder, such stockholder shall be deemed to have consented to the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located within the State of Delaware in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the applicable provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws and having service of process made upon such stockholder in any such action by service upon such stockholder’s counsel in the Foreign Action as agent for such stockholder.
This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims or make such lawsuits more costly for stockholders, although our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
Amendment of Charter Provisions
The amendment of any of the above provisions, except for the provision making it possible for our board of directors to issue preferred stock, would require approval by holders of at least 66 2/3% of the voting power of our then outstanding voting stock.
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The provisions of the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws may have the effect of discouraging others from attempting hostile takeovers and, as a consequence, they may also inhibit temporary fluctuations in the market price of our common stock that often result from actual or rumored hostile takeover attempts. These provisions may also have the effect of preventing changes in our management. It is possible that these provisions could make it more difficult to accomplish transactions that stockholders may otherwise deem to be in their best interests.
Exchange Listing
Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “TMCI.”
Transfer Agent
The transfer agent for our common stock is American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC. The transfer agent’s address is 6201 15th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11219. Our shares of common stock are issued in uncertificated form only, subject to limited exceptions.
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