EXHIBIT 4.5

 

DESCRIPTION OF THE REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES

REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES

EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

As of December 31, 2019, Energous Corporation (the “Company,” “we” or “our”) had one class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934: our common stock, $0.00001 par value per share.

Description of Capital Stock

The following summary of the terms of our capital stock is based upon our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws. The summary is not complete, and is qualified by reference to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws, which are filed as exhibits to this Annual Report on Form 10-K and are incorporated by reference herein. We encourage you to read our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our amended and restated bylaws and the applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law, for additional information.

General

Our authorized capital stock consists of 50,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.00001 per share, and 10,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, par value $0.00001 per share.

Common Stock

Holders of our common stock are entitled to such dividends as may be declared by our board of directors out of funds legally available for such purpose. The shares of common stock are neither redeemable nor convertible. Holders of common stock have no preemptive or subscription rights to purchase any of our securities.

Each holder of our common stock is entitled to one vote for each such share outstanding in the holder’s name. No holder of common stock is entitled to cumulate votes in voting for directors.

In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, the holders of our common stock are entitled to receive pro rata our assets, which are legally available for distribution, after payments of all debts and other liabilities. All of the outstanding shares of our common stock are fully paid and non-assessable.

Preferred Stock

Our board of directors is authorized, subject to limitations prescribed by Delaware law, to issue from time to time up to 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock in one or more series, to establish from time to time the number of shares to be included in each series and to fix the designation, powers, preferences and rights of the shares of each series and any of their qualifications, limitations or restrictions, in each case without further vote or action by our stockholders. Our board of directors is also able to increase or decrease the number of shares of any series of preferred stock, but not below the number of shares of that

 


 

series then outstanding, without any further vote or action by our stockholders. Our board of directors may be able to authorize the issuance of preferred stock with voting or conversion rights that could adversely affect the voting power or other rights of the holders of our common stock. The issuance of preferred stock, while providing flexibility in connection with possible acquisitions and other corporate purposes, could, among other things, have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of our company and might adversely affect the market price of our common stock and the voting and other rights of the holders of our common stock.

Anti-Takeover Effects of Certain Provisions of Delaware Law and Our Charter Documents

The following is a summary of certain provisions of Delaware law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws. This summary does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the corporate law of Delaware and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws.

Effect of Delaware Anti-Takeover Statute.

We are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, an anti-takeover law. In general, Section 203 prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any business combination (defined below) with any interested stockholder (defined below) for a period of three years following the date that the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless:

 

prior to that date, the board of directors of the corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder;

 

upon consummation of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of the voting stock of the corporation outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding for purposes of determining the number of shares of voting stock outstanding (but not the voting stock owned by the interested stockholder) those shares owned by persons who are directors and officers and by excluding employee stock plans in which employee participants do not have the right to determine whether shares held subject to the plan will be tendered in a tender or exchange offer; or

 

on or subsequent to that date, the business combination is approved by the board of directors of the corporation and authorized at an annual or special meeting of stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding voting stock that is not owned by the interested stockholder.

 

Section 203 defines “business combination” to include:

 

any merger or consolidation involving the corporation and the interested stockholder;

 

any sale, transfer, pledge or other disposition of 10% or more of the assets of the corporation involving the interested stockholder;

 

subject to certain exceptions, any transaction that results in the issuance or transfer by the corporation of any stock of the corporation to the interested stockholder;

 

subject to limited exceptions, any transaction involving the corporation that has the effect of increasing the proportionate share of the stock of any class or series of the corporation beneficially owned by the interested stockholder; or

 

the receipt by the interested stockholder of the benefit of any loans, advances, guarantees, pledges or other financial benefits provided by or through the corporation.

 

In general, Section 203 defines an “interested stockholder” as any entity or person beneficially owning 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation, or who beneficially owns 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation at any time within a three-year period

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immediately prior to the date of determining whether such person is an interested stockholder, and any entity or person affiliated with or controlling or controlled by any of these entities or persons.

Our Charter Documents

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws include provisions that may have the effect of discouraging, delaying or preventing a change in control or an unsolicited acquisition proposal that a stockholder might consider favorable, including a proposal that might result in the payment of a premium over the market price for the shares held by our stockholders. Certain of these provisions are summarized in the following paragraphs:

 

Effects of Authorized but Unissued Common Stock. One of the effects of the existence of authorized but unissued common stock may be to enable our board of directors to make more difficult or to discourage an attempt to obtain control of our Company by means of a merger, tender offer, proxy contest or otherwise, and thereby to protect the continuity of management. If, in the due exercise of its fiduciary obligations, the board of directors were to determine that a takeover proposal was not in our best interest, such shares could be issued by the board of directors without stockholder approval in one or more transactions that might prevent or render more difficult or costly the completion of the takeover transaction by diluting the voting or other rights of the proposed acquirer or insurgent stockholder group, by putting a substantial voting block in institutional or other hands that might undertake to support the position of the incumbent board of directors, by effecting an acquisition that might complicate or preclude the takeover, or otherwise.

 

Action by Written Consent. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our stockholders may not act by written consent.

 

Advanced Notice. Our amended and restated bylaws provide that stockholders who wish to bring nominations or other business before an annual meeting of the stockholders or a special meeting of the stockholders must provide us with notice of such proposed nomination or business within specified time frames and must provide us with information regarding the potential nominee or proposal.

 

Blank Check Preferred Stock. As noted above, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation allows our Board to fix the designation, powers, preferences and rights of the shares of each series of preferred stock and any of their qualifications, limitations or restrictions, in each case without further vote or action by our stockholders.

 

Bylaw Amendment. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides our Board the ability to amend our amended and restated bylaws without further vote or action by our stockholders.

 

Cumulative Voting. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not provide for cumulative voting in the election of directors, which would allow holders of less than a majority of the stock to elect some directors.

 

Exclusive Venue. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed to the Company or the Company’s stockholders by any director, officer or other employee of the Company, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine shall be the Delaware Court of Chancery, or if the Delaware Court of Chancery determines that it does not have subject matter jurisdiction, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware or any court of the State of Delaware having subject matter jurisdiction regarding the matter.

 

Special Meeting of Stockholders. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a special meeting of stockholders may only be called by the President, the Chief Executive

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Officer, or the board of directors at any time and for any purpose or purposes as shall be stated in the notice of the meeting.

 

Vacancies. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that all vacancies may be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of directors then in office, even if less than a quorum.

Exchange Listing

Our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol “WATT.”

Transfer Agent and Registrar

The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is EQ Shareowner Services.

 

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