Under Cayman Islands law, the register of members of our Company is prima facie evidence of the matters set out therein (i.e. the register of members will raise a presumption of fact on the matters referred to above unless rebutted) and a member registered in the register of members should be deemed as a matter of Cayman Islands law to have legal title to the shares as set against its name in the register of members. Once our register of members has been updated, the shareholders recorded in the register of members should be deemed to have legal title to the shares set against their name.
If the name of any person is incorrectly entered in, or omitted from, our register of members, or if there is any default or unnecessary delay in entering on the register the fact of any person having ceased to be a member of our company, the person or member aggrieved (or any member of our Company or our Company itself) may apply to the Cayman Islands Grand Court for an order that the register be rectified, and the Court may either refuse such application or it may, if satisfied of the justice of the case, make an order for the rectification of the register.
History of Securities Issuances
The following is a summary of our securities issuances for the past three years.
From January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2023, we issued (i) an aggregate of 28,771 ordinary shares upon the exercise of share options granted to our executive officers and employees, with a weighted average exercise price of $14.50 per share; (ii) 3,486 ordinary shares upon the achievement of certain milestones under the terms of a Cash Long-Term Incentive Award, 25% of which is payable in fully vested ordinary shares and the remaining 75% of the awards will be settled in cash or the Company’s Ordinary shares, all or in part, at the grantee’s election, to Dr. Lan Huang, with a total fair market value equal to $37,500; (iii) an aggregate of 76,651 ordinary shares upon the achievement of certain time-based and performance-based conditions with respect to research and development progress to one former employee, with a total fair market value equal to RMB 850,000 (approximately $125,000).
On June 12, 2024, we issued 1,271,187 ordinary shares to an investor in a registered offering. The gross proceeds from the offering were approximately $3.0 million, before deducting expenses.
In connection with our initial public offering, we adopted the 2017 Omnibus Incentive Plan to provide additional incentives to selected directors, officers, employees and consultants, and to enable our Company to obtain and retain the services of these individuals. In March 2021, the shareholders approved the 2017 Omnibus Incentive Plan, as amended and restated effective September 18, 2020 (the “Amended 2017 Plan”), to permit the grant of “incentive stock options.” The Amended 2017 Plan enables us to grant options (including incentive stock options), restricted shares or other awards to our directors, employees and consultants. We authorized 5,277,197 ordinary shares to be available for grant pursuant to awards under the Amended 2017 Plan, and as of December 31, 2023, there were 2,365,534 ordinary shares remaining available for grant. As of December 31, 2023, there were the following outstanding awards under the Amended 2017 Plan: 1,865,226 options, of which 752,240 were vested (with a weighted average exercise price of $8.06 per share) and 1,112,986 were unvested (with a weighted average exercise price of $5.38 per share) (of which 729,106 were subject to time-based vesting and 383,880 were subject to performance-based vesting)
Differences in Corporate Law
The Companies Act is derived, to a large extent, from the older Companies Acts of England but does not follow recent United Kingdom statutory enactments, and accordingly there are significant differences between the Companies Act and the current Companies Act of England. In addition, the Companies Act differs from laws applicable to United States corporations and their shareholders. Set forth below is a summary of the significant differences between the provisions of the Companies Act applicable to us and the laws applicable to companies incorporated in the United States and their shareholders.
Mergers and Similar Arrangements
The Companies Act permits mergers and consolidations between Cayman Islands companies and between Cayman Islands companies and non-Cayman Islands companies. For these purposes, (a) “merger” means the merging of two or more constituent companies and the vesting of their undertaking, property and liabilities in one of such companies as the surviving company and (b) a “consolidation” means the combination of two or more constituent companies into a combined company and the vesting of the undertaking, property and liabilities of such companies to the consolidated company. In order to effect such a merger or consolidation, the directors of each