Exhibit 10.31
THERMO ELECTRON CORPORATION
THERMO BIOANALYSIS NONQUALIFIED STOCK OPTION PLAN
1. Purpose
This Nonqualified Stock Option Plan (the "Plan") is intended
to encourage ownership of Common Stock, $0.001 par value (the
"Common Stock"), of Thermo BioAnalysis Corporation
("Subsidiary"), a subsidiary of Thermo Electron Corporation (the
"Company"), by persons selected by the Board of Directors (or a
committee thereof) in its sole discretion, including directors,
executive officers, key employees and consultants of the Company
and its subsidiaries, and to provide additional incentive for
them to promote the success of the business of the Company and
Subsidiary. The Plan is intended to be a nonstatutory stock
option plan.
2. Effective Date of the Plan
The Plan shall become effective when adopted by the Board of
Directors of the Company.
3. Stock Subject to Plan
At no time shall the number of shares of the Common Stock
then outstanding which are attributable to the exercise of
options granted under the Plan plus the number of shares then
issuable upon the exercise of outstanding options granted under
the Plan exceed 100,000 shares, subject however to the
provisions of paragraph 11 of the Plan. Shares to be issued upon
the exercise of options granted under the Plan shall be shares of
Subsidiary beneficially owned by the Company. If any option
expires or terminates for any reason without having been
exercised in full, the unpurchased shares subject thereto shall
again be available for options thereafter to be granted.
4. Administration
The Plan shall be administered by a committee (the
"Committee") composed of the members of the Board of Directors of
the Company, no member of which shall act upon any matter
exclusively affecting any option granted or to be granted to
himself or herself under the Plan. Subject to the provisions of
the Plan, the Committee shall have complete authority, in its
discretion, to make the following determinations with respect to
each option to be granted by the Company: (a) the person to
receive the option (the "Optionee"); (b) the time of granting the
option; (c) the number of shares subject thereto; (d) the option
price; (e) the option period; and (f) the terms of the option and
form of option agreement (which need not be identical, but which
shall conform to the applicable terms and conditions of the Plan
and contain such other provisions as the Board of Directors deems
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advisable and not inconsistent with the Plan). In making such
determinations, the Committee may take into account the nature of
the services rendered by the Optionees, their present and
potential contributions to the success of the Company and/or one
or more of its subsidiaries, and such other factors as the
Committee in its discretion shall deem relevant. Subject to the
provisions of the Plan, the Committee shall also have complete
authority to interpret the Plan, to prescribe, amend, and rescind
rules and regulations relating to it, to determine the terms and
provisions of the respective option agreements (which need not be
identical), and to make all other determinations necessary or
advisable for the administration of the Plan. The Committee's
determinations on the matters referred to in this paragraph 4
shall be conclusive.
5. Eligibility
An option may be granted to any person selected by the
Committee in its sole discretion.
6. Time of Granting Options
The granting of an option shall take place at the time
specified by the Committee. Only if expressly so provided by the
Committee shall the granting of an option be regarded as taking
place at the time when a written option agreement shall have been
duly executed and delivered by or on behalf of the Company and
the Optionee to whom such option shall be granted. The agreement
shall provide, among other things, that it does not confer upon
an Optionee any right to continue in the employ of the Company
and/or one or more of its subsidiaries or to continue as a
director or consultant of the Company, and that it does not
interfere in any way with the right of the Company or any such
subsidiary to terminate the employment of the Optionee at any
time if the Optionee is an employee, to remove the Optionee as a
director of the Company if the Optionee is a director, or to
terminate the services of the Optionee if the Optionee is a
consultant.
7. Option Period
An option may become exercisable immediately or in such
installments, cumulative or noncumulative, as the Committee may
determine.
8. Exercise of Option
An option may be exercised in accordance with its terms by
written notice of intent to exercise the option, specifying the
number of shares of stock with respect to which the option is
then being exercised. The notice shall be accompanied by payment
in the form of cash or shares of Subsidiary Common Stock (the
"Tendered Shares") with a then current market value equal to the
option price of the shares to be purchased; provided, however,
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that such Tendered Shares shall have been acquired by the
Optionee more than six months prior to the date of exercise,
unless such requirement is waived in writing by the Company.
Against such payment the Company shall deliver or cause to be
delivered to the Optionee a certificate for the number of shares
then being purchased, registered in the name of the Optionee or
other person exercising the option. If any law or applicable
regulation of the Securities and Exchange Commission or other
body having jurisdiction in the premises shall require the
Company, Subsidiary or the Optionee to take any action in
connection with shares being purchased upon exercise of the
option, exercise of the option and delivery of the certificate or
certificates for such shares shall be postponed until completion
of the necessary action, which shall be taken at the Company's
expense.
9. Transferability
Options shall not be transferable, otherwise than by will or
the laws of descent and distribution, except pursuant to the
terms of a qualified domestic relations order as defined in the
Internal Revenue Code. Options may be exercised during the life
of the Optionee only by the Optionee.
10. Vesting, Restrictions and Termination of Options
The Committee, in its sole discretion, may determine the
manner in which options shall vest, the rights of the Company to
repurchase the shares issued upon the exercise of any option and
the manner in which such rights shall lapse, and the terms upon
which any option granted shall terminate. The Board of Directors
shall have the right to accelerate the date of exercise of any
installment or to accelerate the lapse of the Company's
repurchase rights. All of such terms shall be specified in a
written option agreement executed and delivered by or on behalf
of the Company and the Optionee to whom such option shall be
granted.
11. Adjustment of Number of Shares
Each stock option agreement shall provide that in the event
of any stock dividend payable in the Common Stock or any split-up
or contraction in the number of shares of the Common Stock
occurring after the date of the agreement and prior to the
exercise in full of the option, the number of shares for which
the option may thereafter be exercised shall be proportionately
adjusted and the price to be paid for each share subject to the
option shall be proportionately adjusted. Each such agreement
shall also provide that in case of any reclassification or change
of outstanding shares of the Common Stock or in case of any
consolidation or merger of Subsidiary with or into another
company or in case of any sale or conveyance to another company
or entity of the property of Subsidiary as a whole or
substantially as a whole, the Optionee shall, upon exercise of
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the option, be entitled to receive shares of stock or other
securities in its place equivalent in kind and value to those
shares which he would have received if he had exercised the
option in full immediately prior to such reclassification,
change, consolidation, merger, sale or conveyance and had
continued to hold the shares subject to the option (together with
all other shares, stock and securities thereafter issued in
respect thereof) to the time of the exercise of the option;
provided , that if any recapitalization is to be effected through
an increase in the par value of the Common Stock without an
increase in the number of authorized shares and such new par
value will exceed the option price under such agreement, the
Company shall notify the Optionee of such proposed
recapitalization, and the Optionee shall then have the right,
exercisable at any time prior to such recapitalization becoming
effective, to purchase all of the shares subject to the option
which he has not theretofore purchased (anything in such
agreement to the contrary notwithstanding), but if the Optionee
fails to exercise such right before such recapitalization becomes
effective, the option price under such agreement shall be
appropriately adjusted. Each such agreement shall further
provide that upon dissolution or liquidation of Subsidiary, the
option shall terminate, but the Optionee (if at the time an
employee or director of the Company and/or any one or more of its
subsidiaries) shall have the right, immediately prior to such
dissolution or liquidation, to exercise the option to the full
extent not theretofore exercised; that no adjustment provided for
above shall apply to any share with respect to which the option
has been exercised prior to the effective date of such
adjustment; and that no fraction of a share or fractional shares
shall be purchasable or deliverable under such agreement, but in
the event any adjustment thereunder of the number of shares
covered by the option shall cause such number to include a
fraction of a share, such fraction shall be adjusted to the
nearest smaller whole number of shares. In the event of changes
in the outstanding Common Stock by reason of any stock dividend,
split-up, contraction, reclassification, or change of outstanding
shares of the Common Stock of the nature contemplated by this
paragraph 11, the number of shares of Common Stock available for
the purpose of the Plan as stated in paragraph 3 hereof shall be
correspondingly adjusted by the Committee.
12. Limitation of Rights in Option Stock
The Optionees shall have no rights as stockholders in
respect of shares as to which their options shall not have been
exercised, certificates issued and delivered and payment as
herein provided made in full, and shall have no rights with
respect to such shares not expressly conferred by this Plan.
13. Stock Reserved
The Company shall at all times during the term of the
options reserve and keep available such number of shares of the
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Common Stock as will be sufficient to satisfy the requirements of
this Plan and shall pay all other fees and expenses necessarily
incurred by the Company in connection therewith.
14. Securities Laws Restrictions
Each Optionee exercising an option, at the request of the
Company, will be required to give a representation in form
satisfactory to counsel for the Company that he will not
transfer, sell or otherwise dispose of the shares received upon
exercise of the option at any time purchased by him, upon
exercise of any portion of the option, in a manner which would
violate the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the
regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission thereunder
and the Company may, if required or at its discretion, make a
notation on any certificates issued upon exercise of options to
the effect that such certificate may not be transferred except
after receipt by the Company of an opinion of counsel
satisfactory to it to the effect that such transfer will not
violate such Act and such regulations.
15. Tax Withholding
The Company shall have the right to deduct from payments of
any kind otherwise due to an Optionee any federal, state or local
taxes of any kind required by law to be withheld with respect to
any shares issued upon exercise of options under the Plan (the
"withholding requirements"). The Committee will have the right
to require that the Optionee or other appropriate person remit to
the Company an amount sufficient to satisfy the withholding
requirements, or make other arrangements satisfactory to the
Committee with regard to such requirements, prior to the delivery
of any Common Stock pursuant to exercise of an option. If and to
the extent that such withholding is required, the Committee may
permit the Optionee or such other person to elect at such time
and in such manner as the Committee provides to have the Company
hold back from the shares to be delivered, or to deliver to the
Company, Common Stock having a value calculated to satisfy the
withholding requirements.
16. Termination and Amendment of Plan
The Board of Directors may at any time, and from time to
time, modify or amend the Plan in any respect, except that if at
any time the approval of the Stockholders of the Company is
required as to such modification or amendment under Rule 16b-3,
the Board of Directors may not effect such modification or
amendment without such approval.
The termination or any modification or amendment of the Plan
shall not, without the consent of an Optionee, affect his or her
rights under an option previously granted to him or her. With
the consent of the Optionees affected, the Board of Directors may
amend outstanding option agreements in a manner not inconsistent
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with the Plan. The Board of Directors shall have the right to
amend or modify the terms and provisions of the Plan and of any
outstanding option to the extent necessary to ensure the
qualification of the Plan under Rule 16b-3.
Notwithstanding any other provisions hereof, the Plan shall
terminate on December 31, 2005 and no options shall be granted
hereunder thereafter.