We or the selling shareholders may have agreements with the underwriters, dealers and agents to indemnify them against certain civil liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, or to contribute with respect to payments which the underwriters, dealers or agents may be required to make, and to reimburse them for certain expenses.
In compliance with the guidelines of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), the aggregate maximum discount, commission, fees or other items constituting underwriting compensation to be received by any FINRA member or independentbroker-dealer will not exceed 8% of the gross proceeds of any offering pursuant to this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement.
If at the time of any offering made under this prospectus a member of FINRA participating in the offering has a “conflict of interest” as defined in FINRA Rule 5121 (“Rule 5121”), that offering will be conducted in accordance with the relevant provisions of Rule 5121.
Underwriters, dealers and agents may engage in transactions with, or perform services for, us or our subsidiaries in the ordinary course of their businesses.
In order to facilitate the offering of the shares of our common stock, any underwriters or agents, as the case may be, involved in the offering of such shares may engage in transactions that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the price of our common stock. Specifically, the underwriters or agents, as the case may be, may overallot in connection with the offering, creating a short position in our common stock for their own account. In addition, to cover overallotments or to stabilize the price of the shares of our common stock, the underwriters or agents, as the case may be, may bid for, and purchase, such shares in the open market. Finally, in any offering of shares of our common stock through a syndicate of underwriters, the underwriting syndicate may reclaim selling concessions allotted to an underwriter or a dealer for distributing such shares in the offering if the syndicate repurchases previously distributed shares in transactions to cover syndicate short positions, in stabilization transactions or otherwise. Any of these activities may stabilize or maintain the market price of the shares of our common stock above independent market levels. The underwriters or agents, as the case may be, are not required to engage in these activities, and may end any of these activities at any time.
The selling shareholders may solicit offers to purchase the shares of our common stock directly from, and they may sell such shares directly to, institutional investors or others. The terms of any of those sales, including the terms of any bidding or auction process, if utilized, will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement.
It is possible that one or more underwriters may make a market in our common stock, but such underwriters will not be obligated to do so and may discontinue any market making at any time without notice. Although our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “WERN,” we cannot give any assurance as to the liquidity of the trading market for our common stock.
The selling shareholders may authorize underwriters, dealers or agents to solicit offers by certain purchasers to purchase our common stock at the public offering price set forth in the prospectus supplement pursuant to delayed delivery contracts providing for payment and delivery on a specified date in the future. The contracts will be subject only to those conditions set forth in the prospectus supplement, and the prospectus supplement will set forth any commissions the selling shareholders pay for solicitation of these contracts.
The selling shareholders may enter into derivative transactions with third parties, or sell shares of common stock not covered by this prospectus to third parties in privately negotiated transactions. If the applicable prospectus supplement indicates, in connection with those derivatives, the parties may sell shares of common stock covered by this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement, including short sale transactions. If so, the third party may use shares of common stock pledged by a selling shareholder or borrowed from a selling shareholder or others to settle those sales or to close out any related open borrowings of shares of common stock, and may use shares of common stock received from any selling shareholder in settlement of those derivatives to
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