EXHIBIT 3.21
CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION
OF
VENTURE PACKAGING MIDWEST, INC.
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ARTICLE I
NAME
The name of the corporation (herein called the "Corporation") is
Venture Packaging MIDWEST, inc.
ARTICLE II
REGISTERED OFFICE AND AGENT
The address of the registered office of the Corporation in the State
of Delaware is 9 East Loockerman Street, City of Dover, County of Kent, Delaware
19901. The name of the registered agent of the Corporation at such address is
National Registered Agents, Inc.
ARTICLE III
PURPOSE
The purpose of the Corporation is to engage in any lawful act or
activity for which corporations may be organized under the General Corporation
Law of the State of Delaware (the "Delaware Statute").
ARTICLE IV
CAPITAL STOCK
The total number of shares of all classes of stock which the
Corporation shall have authority to issue is 850 shares, all of which are shares
of Common Stock, par value $.01 per share.
ARTICLE V
INCORPORATOR
The name and mailing address of the incorporator is as follows:
NAME MAILING ADDRESS
Michele S. Riley c/o O'Sullivan Graev & Karabell, LLP
30 Rockefeller Plaza
41st Floor
New York, New York 10112
ARTICLE VI
DIRECTORS
The number of directors of the Corporation shall be such as from
time to time shall be fixed in the manner provided in the By-laws of the
Corporation. The election of directors of the Corporation need not be by ballot
unless the By-laws so require.
ARTICLE VII
DIRECTORS' LIABILITY
A director of the Corporation shall not be personally liable to the
Corporation or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary
duty as a director, except for liability (i) for any breach of the director's
duty of loyalty to the Corporation or its stockholders, (ii) for acts or
omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing
violation of law, (iii) under Section 174 of the Delaware Statute, or (iv) for
any transaction from which the director derived any improper personal benefit.
If the Delaware Statute is amended after the date of incorporation of the
Corporation to authorize corporate action further eliminating or limiting the
personal liability of directors, then the liability of a director of the
Corporation shall be eliminated or limited to the fullest extent permitted by
the Delaware Statute, as so amended.
Any repeal or modification of the foregoing paragraph by the
stockholders of the Corporation shall not adversely affect any right or
protection of a director of the Corporation existing at the time of such repeal
or modification.
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ARTICLE VIII
MANAGEMENT OF THE CORPORATION
For the management of the business and for the conduct of the
affairs of the Corporation, and in further definition, limitation and regulation
of the powers of the Corporation and of its directors and stockholders, it is
further provided:
(a) In furtherance and not in limitation of the powers conferred by
the laws of the State of Delaware, the Board of Directors is expressly
authorized and empowered:
(i) to make, alter, amend or repeal the By-laws in any
manner not inconsistent with the laws of the State of Delaware or
this Certificate of Incorporation;
(ii) without the assent or vote of the stockholders, to
authorize and issue securities and obligations of the Corporation,
secured or unsecured, and to include therein such provisions as to
redemption, conversion or other terms thereof as the Board of
Directors in its sole discretion may determine, and to authorize the
mortgaging or pledging, as security therefor, of any property of the
Corporation, real or personal, including after-acquired property;
(iii) to determine whether any, and if any, what part, of
the net profits of the Corporation or of its surplus shall be
declared in dividends and paid to the stockholders, and to direct
and determine the use and disposition of any such net profits or
such surplus; and
(iv) to fix from time to time the amount of net profits of
the Corporation or of its surplus to be reserved as working capital
or for any other lawful purpose.
In addition to the powers and authorities herein or by statute
expressly conferred upon it, the Board of Directors may exercise all such
powers and do all such acts and things as may be exercised or done by the
Corporation, subject, nevertheless, to the provisions of the laws of the
State of Delaware, of this Certificate of Incorporation and of the By-laws
of the Corporation.
(b) Any director or any officer elected or appointed by the
stockholders or by the Board of Directors may be removed at any time in
such manner as shall be provided in the By-laws of the Corporation.
(c) From time to time any of the provisions of this Certificate of
Incorporation may be altered, amended or repealed, and other provisions
authorized by the laws of the State of Delaware at the time in force may
be added or inserted, in the manner and at the time prescribed by said
laws, and all rights at any time conferred upon the stockholders of the
Corporation by this Certificate of Incorporation are granted subject to
the provisions of this paragraph (c).
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ARTICLE IX
CREDITORS MEETINGS
Whenever a compromise or arrangement is proposed between the
Corporation and its creditors or any class of them and/or between the
Corporation and its stockholders or any class of them, any court of equitable
jurisdiction within the State of Delaware may, on the application in a summary
way of the Corporation or of any creditor or stockholder thereof or on the
application of any receiver or receivers appointed for the Corporation under the
provisions of Section 291 of the Delaware Statute or on the application of
trustees in dissolution or of any receiver or receivers appointed for the
Corporation under the provisions of Section 279 of the Delaware Statute, order a
meeting of the creditors or class of creditors, and/or of the stockholders or
class of stockholders of the Corporation, as the case may be, to be summoned in
such manner as the said court directs. If a majority in number representing
three-fourths in value of the creditors or class of creditors, and/or of the
stockholders or class of stockholders of the Corporation, as the case may be,
agree on any compromise or arrangement and to any reorganization of the
Corporation as a consequence of such compromise or arrangement, the said
compromise or arrangement and the said reorganization shall, if sanctioned by
the court to which the said application has been made, be binding on all the
creditors or class of creditors, and/or on all the stockholders or class of
stockholders, of the Corporation, as the case may be, and also on the
Corporation.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I, the undersigned, being the sole incorporator
hereinabove named, for the purpose of forming a corporation pursuant to the
General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, DO HEREBY CERTIFY, under
penalties of perjury, that this is my act and deed and that the facts
hereinabove stated are truly set forth and, accordingly, I have hereunto set my
hand as of the 22nd day of June, 1999.
______________________________
Michele S. Riley
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