common fixture in modern bylaws. Indeed, Pennsylvania’s Business Corporation Law explicitly permits corporations to require shareholders to comply with advance notice requirements for the nomination of director candidates.1
The Notice does not constitute valid notice of nominations for the Annual Meeting because the Notice fails to satisfy the requirements set forth in the Advance Notice Provisions in a number of material ways, as set forth herein and in Appendix A hereto, including the failure to provide the information that would have been required to be included in a proxy statement filed pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
Among other material deficiencies, the Notice completely fails to disclose the existence of, or contain any disclosure about, transactions between the Company and immediate family members of the Purported Nominees that would be required to be disclosed under Item 7(b) of Schedule 14A. Pursuant to Article 1, Section 1.3(b)(vii) of the Bylaws, a shareholder notice of nominations is required to set forth “such other information regarding each [Purported Nominee] proposed by the Nominating Shareholder as would have been required to be included in a proxy statement filed pursuant to the proxy rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission [(the “SEC”)] had the [Purported Nominee] been nominated, or intended to be nominated, by the [Board],” which includes Item 7(b) of Schedule 14A. Item 7(b) of Schedule 14A requires the disclosure of the information required by Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K. Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K requires the disclosure of “any transaction, since the beginning of the registrant’s last fiscal year, or any currently proposed transaction, in which the registrant was or is to be a participant and the amount involved exceeds $120,000, and in which any related person had or will have a direct or indirect material interest” (emphasis added). When applied to a nominee for director, the related persons include such nominee for director and his or her immediate family members, which includes “any child, stepchild, parent, stepparent, spouse, sibling, mother-in-law, father-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law of such … nominee for director, and any person (other than a tenant or employee) sharing the household of such … nominee for director…” (emphasis added).
The Notice indicated that “no Participant or any of his, her or its associates was a party to any transaction, or series of similar transactions, since the beginning of the Company’s last fiscal year, or is a party to any currently proposed transaction, or series of similar transactions, to which the Company or any of its subsidiaries was or is to be a party, in which the amount involved exceeds $120,000.” However, the Notice failed to identify the existence at the time of the delivery date of the Notice of material transactions by immediate family members of the Purported Nominees, which are specifically required to be disclosed by Item 404 of Regulation S-K, or
1 15 Pa. C.S.A § 1758(e) (providing that only candidates who have been duly nominated in accordance with an advance notice requirement in the corporation’s bylaws shall be eligible for election).