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| 8-K - 8-K - BORGWARNER INC | form8k021616.htm |
Exhibit 3.2
Article II -- Section 12
SECTION 12. Inclusion of Director Nominations By Stockholders in the Corporation’s Proxy Materials.
(A)Whenever the Board of Directors solicits proxies with respect to the election of directors at an annual meeting of stockholders (following the 2016 annual meeting of stockholders), subject to the provisions of this Section 12, the Corporation shall include in its proxy statement for such annual meeting, in addition to any persons nominated for election by or at the direction of the Board of Directors, the name, together with the Required Information (as defined below), of any person nominated for election (a “Stockholder Nominee”) to the Board of Directors by an Eligible Stockholder (as defined in Section 12(D)) who expressly elects at the time of providing the notice required by this Section 12 to have such nominee included in the Corporation’s proxy materials pursuant to this Section 12. For purposes of this Section 12, the “Required Information” that the Corporation will include in its proxy statement is (i) the information provided to the Secretary of the Corporation concerning the Stockholder Nominee and the Eligible Stockholder that is required to be disclosed in the Corporation’s proxy statement pursuant to Section 14 of the Exchange Act, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, and (ii) if the Eligible Stockholder so elects, a Supporting Statement (as defined in Section 12(H)). For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this Section 12 shall limit the Corporation’s ability to solicit against any Stockholder Nominee or include in its proxy materials the Corporation’s own statements or other information relating to any Eligible Stockholder or Stockholder Nominee, including any information provided to the Corporation pursuant to this Section 12. Subject to the provisions of this Section 12, the name of any Stockholder Nominee included in the Corporation’s proxy statement for an annual meeting of stockholders shall also be set forth on the form of proxy distributed by the Corporation in connection with such annual meeting.
(B)To nominate a Stockholder Nominee, the Eligible Stockholder must provide a notice that expressly elects to have its Stockholder Nominee included in the Corporation’s proxy materials pursuant to this Section 12 (the “Notice of Proxy Access Nomination”). To be timely, a Notice of Proxy Access Nomination must be delivered to, or mailed and received by, the Secretary at the principal executive offices of the Corporation not earlier than the one hundred fiftieth (150th) calendar day and no later than the close of business on the one hundred twentieth (120th) calendar day prior to the anniversary of the date the Corporation commenced mailing of its proxy materials in connection with the most recent annual meeting of Stockholders (the last day on which a Notice of Proxy Access Nomination may be delivered, the “Final Proxy Access Nomination Date”). In no event shall the adjournment or postponement of the annual meeting, or the public announcement of such an adjournment or postponement, commence a new time period (or extend any time period) for the giving of a Notice of Proxy Access Nomination pursuant to this Section 12. In addition to other requirements set forth in this Section 12, the Notice of Proxy Access Nomination must include the name and address of the Eligible Stockholder (including each Stockholder and/or
beneficial owner whose stock ownership is counted for the purposes of qualifying as an Eligible Stockholder).
(C)The maximum number of Stockholder Nominees nominated by all Eligible Stockholders that will be included in the Corporation’s proxy materials with respect to an annual meeting of stockholders shall not exceed 20% of the number of directors in office as of the Final Proxy Access Nomination Date or, if such amount is not a whole number, the closest whole number below 20% (such number, as it may be adjusted pursuant to this Section 12(C), the “Permitted Number”). In the event that one or more vacancies for any reason occurs on the Board of Directors after the Final Proxy Access Nomination Date but before the date of the annual meeting and the Board of Directors resolves to reduce the size of the Board of Directors in connection therewith, the Permitted Number shall be calculated based on the number of directors in office as so reduced. In addition, the Permitted Number shall be reduced by (i) the number of individuals who will be included in the Corporation’s proxy materials as nominees recommended by the Board of Directors pursuant to an agreement, arrangement or other understanding with a stockholder or group of stockholders (other than any such agreement, arrangement or understanding entered into in connection with an acquisition of stock from the Corporation by such stockholder or group of stockholders) and (ii) the number of directors in office as of the Final Proxy Access Nomination Date who were included in the Corporation’s proxy materials as Stockholder Nominees for any of the two preceding annual meetings of stockholders (including any persons counted as Stockholder Nominees pursuant to the immediately succeeding sentence) and whom the Board of Directors decides to nominate for re-election to the Board of Directors. For purposes of determining when the Permitted Number has been reached, any individual nominated by an Eligible Stockholder for inclusion in the Corporation’s proxy materials pursuant to this Section 12 whose nomination is subsequently withdrawn or whom the Board of Directors decides to nominate for election to the Board of Directors shall be counted as one of the Stockholder Nominees. Any Eligible Stockholder submitting more than one Stockholder Nominee for inclusion in the Corporation’s proxy materials pursuant to this Section 12 shall rank such Stockholder Nominees based on the order in which the Eligible Stockholder desires such Stockholder Nominees to be selected for inclusion in the Corporation’s proxy materials in the event that the total number of Stockholder Nominees submitted by Eligible Stockholders pursuant to this Section 12 exceeds the Permitted Number. In the event that the number of Stockholder Nominees submitted by Eligible Stockholders pursuant to this Section 12 exceeds the Permitted Number, the highest ranking Stockholder Nominee who meets the requirements of this Section 12 from each Eligible Stockholder will be selected for inclusion in the Corporation’s proxy materials until the Permitted Number is reached, going in order of the amount (largest to smallest) of shares of stock of the Corporation each Eligible Stockholder disclosed as owned in its Notice of Proxy Access Nomination. If the Permitted Number is not reached after the highest ranking Stockholder Nominee who meets the requirements of this Section 12 from each Eligible Stockholder has been selected, then the next highest ranking Stockholder Nominee who meets the requirements of this Section 12 from each Eligible Stockholder will be selected for inclusion in the Corporation’s proxy materials, and this process will continue as many times as necessary, following the same order each time, until the Permitted Number is reached. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Section 12, the Corporation shall not be required to include any Stockholder Nominees in its proxy materials pursuant to this Section 12 for or any
meeting of stockholders for which the Secretary of the Corporation receives notice that a stockholder intends to nominate one or more persons for election to the Board of Directors pursuant to the advance notice requirements for stockholder nominees set forth in Section 7 of these By-Laws.
(D)An “Eligible Stockholder” is a stockholder or group of no more than ten (10) stockholders (counting as one stockholder, for this purpose, any two or more funds that are part of the same Qualifying Fund Group (as defined below)) that (i) has owned (as defined in Section 12(E)) continuously for at least three years (the “Minimum Holding Period”) a number of shares of stock of the Corporation that represents at least five (5) percent of the voting power of all shares of stock of the Corporation issued and outstanding and entitled to vote in the election of directors as of the date the Notice of Proxy Access Nomination is received by the Secretary at the principal executive offices of the Corporation in accordance with this Section 12 (the “Required Shares”), (ii) continues to own the Required Shares through the date of the annual meeting and (iii) satisfies all other requirements of, and complies with all applicable procedures set forth in, this Section 12. A “Qualifying Fund Group” means two or more funds that are (A) under common management and investment control, (B) under common management and funded primarily by the same employer or (C) a “group of investment companies” as such term is defined in Section 12(d)(1)(G)(ii) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. Whenever the Eligible Stockholder consists of a group of stockholders (including a group of funds that are part of the same Qualifying Fund Group), (x) each provision in this Section 12 that requires the Eligible Stockholder to provide any written statements, representations, undertakings, agreements or other instruments or to meet any other conditions shall be deemed to require each stockholder (including each individual fund) that is a member of such group to provide such statements, representations, undertakings, agreements or other instruments and to meet such other conditions (except that the members of such group may aggregate the shares that each member has owned continuously for the Minimum Holding Period in order to meet the five percent ownership requirement of the “Required Shares” definition) and (y) a breach of any obligation, agreement or representation under this Section 12 by any member of such group shall be deemed a breach by the Eligible Stockholder. No person may be a member of more than one group of stockholders constituting an Eligible Stockholder with respect to any annual meeting.
(E)For purposes of calculating the Required Shares, “ownership” shall be deemed to consist of and include only the outstanding shares as to which a person possesses both (i) the full voting and investment rights pertaining to the Shares and (ii) the full economic interest in (including the opportunity for profit and risk of loss on) such Shares; provided that the number of shares calculated in accordance with clauses (i) and (ii) shall not include any shares (x) sold by such stockholder or any of its affiliates in any transaction that has not been settled or closed, (y) borrowed by such stockholder or any of its affiliates for any purposes or purchased by such stockholder or any of its affiliates pursuant to an agreement to resell or (z) subject to any option, warrant, forward contract, swap, contract of sale, other derivative or similar instrument or agreement entered into by such stockholder or any of its affiliates, whether any such instrument or agreement is to be settled with shares or with cash based on the notional amount or value of shares of outstanding stock of the Corporation, in any such case which instrument or agreement has, or is intended to have, the purpose or effect of (1) reducing in any
manner, to any extent or at any time in the future, such stockholder’s or its affiliates’ full right to vote or direct the voting of any such shares and/or (2) hedging, offsetting or altering to any degree any gain or loss realized or realizable from maintaining the full economic ownership of such shares by such stockholder or affiliate. A stockholder shall “own” shares held in the name of a nominee or other intermediary so long as the stockholder retains the right to instruct how the shares are voted with respect to the election of directors and possesses the full economic interest in the shares. A stockholder’s ownership of shares shall be deemed to continue during any period in which (i) the stockholder has loaned such shares, provided that the stockholder has the power to recall such loaned shares on five business days’ notice and includes in the Notice of Proxy Access Nomination an agreement that it (A) will promptly recall such loaned shares upon being notified that any of its Stockholder Nominees will be included in the Corporation’s proxy materials and (B) will continue to hold such recalled shares through the date of the annual meeting or (ii) the stockholder has delegated any voting power by means of a proxy, power of attorney or other instrument or arrangement which is revocable at any time by the stockholder. The terms “owned,” “owning” and other variations of the word “own” shall have correlative meanings. Whether outstanding shares of stock of the Corporation are “owned” for these purposes shall be determined by the Board of Directors. For purposes of this Section 12, the term “affiliate” or “affiliates” shall have the meaning ascribed thereto under the General Rules and Regulations under the Exchange Act.
(F)To be in proper written form, the Notice of Proxy Access Nomination must include or be accompanied by the following:
i.a written statement by the Eligible Stockholder certifying as to the number of shares it owns and has owned continuously for the Minimum Holding Period, and the Eligible Stockholder’s agreement to provide (A) within five business days following the later of the record date for the annual meeting or the date notice of the record date is first publicly disclosed, a written statement by the Eligible Stockholder certifying as to the number of shares it owns and has owned continuously through the record date and (B) immediate notice if the Eligible Stockholder ceases to own any of the Required Shares prior to the date of the annual meeting;
ii.one or more written statements from the record holder of the Required Shares (and from each intermediary through which the Required Shares are or have been held during the Minimum Holding Period) verifying that, as of a date within seven calendar days prior to the date the Notice of Proxy Access Nomination is delivered to or mailed and received by the Secretary of the Corporation, the Eligible Stockholder owns, and has owned continuously for the Minimum Holding Period, the Required Shares, and the Eligible Stockholder’s agreement to provide, within five business days following the later of the record date for the annual meeting or the date notice of the record date is first publicly disclosed, one or more written statements from the record holder and such intermediaries verifying the Eligible Stockholder’s continuous ownership of the Required Shares through the record date;
iii.a copy of the Schedule 14N that has been or is concurrently being filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission as required by Rule 14a-18 under the Exchange Act;
iv.the information, statements, representations, agreements and other documents that would be required to be set forth in or included with a stockholder’s notice of a nomination pursuant to Section 7 of these By-Laws, together with the written consent of each Stockholder Nominee to being named as a nominee and to serve as a director if elected;
v.a representation that the Eligible Stockholder (A) will continue to hold the Required Shares through the date of the annual meeting, (B) acquired the Required Shares in the ordinary course of business and not with the intent to change or influence control of the Corporation, and does not presently have such intent, (C) has not nominated and will not nominate for election to the Board of Directors at the annual meeting any person other than the Stockholder Nominee(s) it is nominating pursuant to this Section 12, (D) has not engaged and will not engage in, and has not and will not be a “participant” in another person’s, “solicitation” within the meaning of Rule 14a-1(l) under the Exchange Act in support of the election of any individual as a director at the annual meeting other than its Stockholder Nominee(s) or a nominee of the Board of Directors, (E) has not distributed and will not distribute to any stockholder of the Corporation any form of proxy for the annual meeting other than the form distributed by the Corporation, (F) has complied and will comply with all laws and regulations applicable to solicitations and the use, if any, of soliciting material in connection with the annual meeting and (G) has provided and will provide facts, statements and other information in all communications with the Corporation and its stockholders that are or will be true and correct in all material respects and do not and will not omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading;
vi.a statement indicating whether the Eligible Stockholder intends to continue to own the Required Shares for at least one year following the annual meeting;
vii.an undertaking that the Eligible Stockholder agrees to (A) assume all liability stemming from any legal or regulatory violation arising out of the Eligible Stockholder’s communications with the stockholders of the Corporation or out of the information that the Eligible Stockholder provided to the Corporation, (B) indemnify and hold harmless the Corporation and each of its directors, officers and employees individually against any liability, loss or damages in connection with any threatened or pending action, suit or proceeding, whether legal, administrative or investigative, against the Corporation or any of its directors, officers or employees arising out of any nomination submitted by the Eligible Stockholder pursuant to this Section 12 or any solicitation or other activity in connection therewith and (C) file with the Securities and Exchange Commission any solicitation or other communication with the stockholders of the Corporation relating to the meeting at which its Stockholder Nominee(s) will be nominated, regardless of whether any such filing is required under Regulation 14A of the
Exchange Act or whether any exemption from filing is available for such solicitation or other communication under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act;
viii.in the case of a nomination by a group of stockholders together constituting an Eligible Stockholder, the designation by all group members of one member of the group that is authorized to receive communications, notices and inquiries from the Corporation and to act on behalf of all members of the group with respect to all matters relating to the nomination under this Section 12 (including withdrawal of the nomination); and
ix.in the case of a nomination by a group of stockholders together constituting an Eligible Stockholder in which two or more funds that are part of the same Qualifying Fund Group are counted as one stockholder for purposes of qualifying as an Eligible Stockholder, documentation reasonably satisfactory to the Corporation that demonstrates that the funds are part of the same Qualifying Fund Group.
(G)At the request of the Corporation, each Stockholder Nominee must: (i) provide an executed agreement, in a form deemed satisfactory by the Board of Directors or its designee, that (A) the Stockholder Nominee has read and agrees, if elected, to serve as a member of the Board of Directors, to adhere to the Corporation’s Guidelines on Corporate Governance Issues and Code of Conduct and any other Corporation policies and guidelines applicable to directors, and (B) that the Stockholder Nominee is not and will not become a party to any compensatory, payment or other financial agreement, arrangement or understanding with any person or entity in connection with his or her nomination, service or action as a director of the Corporation, or any agreement, arrangement or understanding with any person or entity as to how the Stockholder Nominee would vote or act on any issue or question as a director, in each case that has not been disclosed to the Corporation; (ii) submit all completed and signed questionnaires required of the Corporation’s Board of Directors and the representation and agreement required by Article II, Section 8 of these By-Laws within five (5) business days of receipt of each such questionnaire from the Corporation; and (iii) provide within five (5) business days of the Corporation’s request such additional information as the Corporation determines may be necessary to permit the Board of Directors to determine (A) if such Stockholder Nominee is independent under the listing standards of each principal U.S. exchange upon which the common stock of the Corporation is listed, any applicable rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and any publicly disclosed standards used by the Board of Directors in determining and disclosing the independence of the Corporation’s directors, (B) if such Stockholder Nominee has any direct or indirect relationship with the Corporation, and (C) if such Stockholder Nominee is not and has not been subject to any event specified in Item 401(f) of Regulation S-K (or successor rule) of the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the event that any information or communications provided by the Eligible Stockholder or the Stockholder Nominee to the Corporation or its Stockholders ceases to be true and correct in any respect or omits a fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, each Eligible Stockholder or Stockholder Nominee, as the case may be, shall promptly notify the Secretary of any such inaccuracy or omission in such previously provided information and of the information that is required to make such information or communication true and correct.
(H)The Eligible Stockholder may provide to the Secretary, at the time the information required by this Section 12 is provided, a written statement for inclusion in the Corporation’s proxy materials for the applicable annual meeting of Stockholders, not to exceed 500 words, in support of the Eligible Stockholder’s Stockholder Nominee (the “Statement”). Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Section 12, the Corporation may omit from its proxy materials any information or Statement (or portion thereof) that it, in good faith, believes would violate any applicable law or regulation.
(I)Notwithstanding anything to the contrary set forth in this Section 12, the Corporation shall not be required to include, pursuant to this Section 12, a Stockholder Nominee in its proxy materials for any meeting of Stockholders, or, if the proxy statement already has been filed, to allow the nomination of a Stockholder Nominee, notwithstanding that proxies in respect of such vote may have been received by the Corporation: (i) if the Stockholder Nominee or the Eligible Stockholder (or any member of any group of Stockholders that together is such Eligible Stockholder) who has nominated such Stockholder Nominee has engaged in or is currently engaged in, or has been or is a “participant” in another person’s, “solicitation” within the meaning of Rule 14a-1(l) under the Exchange Act in support of the election of any individual as a director at the applicable annual meeting of Stockholders other than its Stockholder Nominee(s) or a nominee of the Board of Directors; (ii) if another person is engaging in a “solicitation” within the meaning of Rule 14a-1(l) under the Exchange Act in support of the election of any individual as a director at the applicable annual meeting of Stockholders other than a nominee of the Board of Directors; (iii) who is not independent under the listing standards of each principal U.S. exchange upon which the common stock of the Corporation is listed, any applicable rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and any publicly disclosed standards used by the Board of Directors in determining and disclosing independence of the Corporation’s directors, in each case as determined by the Board of Directors; (iv) who does not meet the audit committee independence requirements under the rules of any stock exchange on which the Corporation’s securities are traded, is not a “non-employee director” for the purposes of Rule 16b-3 under the Exchange Act (or any successor rule), or is not an “outside director” for the purposes of Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code (or any successor provision), (v) whose election as a member of the Board of Directors would cause the Corporation to be in violation of these Bylaws, the Restated Certificate of Incorporation (as amended), the rules and listing standards of the principal U.S. securities exchanges upon which the common stock of the Corporation is listed, or any applicable state or federal law, rule or regulation; (vi) who is or has been, within the past three (3) years, an officer or director of a competitor, as defined in Section 8 of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914; (vii) whose then-current or within the preceding ten (10) years’ business or personal interests place such Stockholder Nominee in a conflict of interest with the Corporation or any of its subsidiaries that would cause such Stockholder Nominee to violate any fiduciary duties of directors established pursuant to DGCL, including but not limited to, the duty of loyalty and duty of care, as determined by the Board of Directors; (ix) who is a named subject of a pending criminal proceeding (excluding traffic violations and other minor offenses) or has been convicted in such a criminal proceeding within the past ten (10) years; (x) if such Stockholder Nominee or the applicable Eligible Stockholder (or any member of any group of Stockholders that together is such Eligible Stockholder) shall have provided information to the Corporation
in connection with such nomination that was untrue in any material respect or omitted to state a material fact necessary in order to make any statement made, in light of the circumstances under which it was made, not misleading, as determined by the Board of Directors or any committee thereof; (xi) the Eligible Stockholder (or any member of any group of Stockholders that together is such Eligible Stockholder) does not appear at the applicable annual meeting of Stockholders to present the Stockholder Nominee for election; (xii) the Eligible Stockholder (or any member of any group of Stockholders that together is such Eligible Stockholder) or applicable Stockholder Nominee otherwise breaches or fails to comply with its representations or obligations pursuant to these Bylaws, including, without limitation, this Section 12; or (xiii) the Eligible Stockholder ceases to be an Eligible Stockholder for any reason, including but not limited to not owning the Required Shares through the date of the applicable annual meeting. For the purpose of this paragraph, clauses (iii) through (xiii) will result in the exclusion from the proxy materials pursuant to this Section 12 of the specific Stockholder Nominee to whom the ineligibility applies, or, if the proxy statement already has been filed, the ineligibility of the Stockholder Nominee; however, clauses (i) and (ii) will result in the exclusion from the proxy materials pursuant to this Section 12 of all Stockholder Nominees from the applicable annual meeting of Stockholders, or, if the proxy statement already has been filed, the ineligibility of all Stockholder Nominees.
(J)This Section 12 provides the exclusive method for a stockholder to include nominees for election to the Board of Directors in the Corporation’s proxy materials.