SEC Info - Beyond Meat, Inc. - ‘10-K’ for 12/31/19

Exhibit 4.3

DESCRIPTION OF THE REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Beyond Meat, Inc. has one class of securities registered pursuant to Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”): its common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (“common stock”). The following description of our capital stock is a summary and does not purport to be complete. The following description is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, each of which is incorporated by reference as an exhibit to our Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this Exhibit is a part.

We encourage you to read our restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and the applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) for more information. References herein to “we,” “our,” “us,” and “the Company” refer solely to Beyond Meat, Inc.

General

Our authorized capital stock consists of 500,500,000 shares of capital stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of which:


•	500,000,000 shares are designated as common stock; and


•	500,000 shares are designated as preferred stock.

Our board of directors is authorized, without stockholder approval except as required by the listing standards of the Nasdaq Global Select Market (“Nasdaq”), to issue additional shares of our capital stock.

Voting Rights

Each holder of common stock is entitled to one vote for each share on all matters submitted to a vote of the stockholders, including the election of directors. Our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws do not provide for cumulative voting rights. Because of this, the holders of a plurality of the shares of common stock entitled to vote in any election of directors can elect all of the directors standing for election, if they should so choose. With respect to matters other than the election of directors, at any meeting of the stockholders at which a quorum is present or represented, the affirmative vote of a majority of the voting power of the shares present in person or represented by proxy at such meeting and entitled to vote on the subject matter shall be the act of the stockholders, except as otherwise required by law. The holders of a majority of the stock issued and outstanding and entitled to

vote, present in person or represented by proxy, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at all meetings of the stockholders.

Dividends

Subject to preferences that may be applicable to any then-outstanding preferred stock, holders of our common stock are entitled to receive dividends, if any, as may be declared from time to time by our board of directors out of legally available funds.

Liquidation

In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of our common stock will be entitled to share ratably in the net assets legally available for distribution to stockholders after the payment of all of our debts and other liabilities and the satisfaction of any liquidation preference granted to the holders of any then-outstanding shares of preferred stock.

Rights and Preferences

Holders of our common stock have no preemptive, conversion, subscription or other rights, and there are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to our common stock. The rights, preferences and privileges of the holders of our common stock are subject to and may be adversely affected by the rights of the holders of shares of any series of our preferred stock that we may designate in the future.

Fully Paid and Nonassessable

All of our outstanding shares of common stock are fully paid and nonassessable.

Anti-Takeover Effects of Certain Provisions of Delaware Law, Our Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Our Amended and Restated Bylaws

Certain provisions of Delaware law and certain provisions in our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws summarized below may be deemed to have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, deter, or prevent a tender offer or takeover attempt that a stockholder might consider to be in its best interests, including attempts that might result in a premium being paid over the market price for the shares held by stockholders.

Preferred Stock

Our restated certificate of incorporation contains provisions that permit our board of directors to issue, without any further vote or action by the stockholders, shares of preferred stock in one or more series and, with respect to each such series, to fix the number of shares constituting the series and the designation of the series, the voting rights (if any) of the shares of

the series, and the powers, preferences or relative, participation, optional and other special rights, if any, and any qualifications, limitations or restrictions, of the shares of such series.

Classified Board of Directors

Our restated certificate of incorporation provides that our board of directors is divided into three classes, designated Class I, Class II, and Class III. Each class has an equal number of directors, as nearly as possible, consisting of one-third of the total number of directors constituting our entire board of directors. The term of initial Class I directors will terminate on the date of the 2020 annual meeting, the term of the initial Class II directors shall terminate on the date of the 2021 annual meeting, and the term of the initial Class III directors shall terminate on the date of the 2022 annual meeting. At each annual meeting of stockholders beginning in 2020, successors to the class of directors whose term expires at that annual meeting will be elected for a three-year term.

Removal of Directors

Our restated certificate of incorporation provides that stockholders may only remove a director for cause by a vote of no less than two-thirds of the shares present in person or by proxy at the meeting and entitled to vote.

Director Vacancies

Our restated certificate of incorporation authorizes only our board of directors to fill vacant directorships.

No Cumulative Voting

Our restated certificate of incorporation provides that stockholders do not have the right to cumulate votes in the election of directors.

Special Meetings of Stockholders

Our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that, except as otherwise required by law, special meetings of the stockholders may be called only by an officer at the request of a majority of our board of directors, by the chairperson of our board of directors, by the lead independent director or by our Chief Executive Officer.

Advance Notice Procedures for Director Nominations

Our bylaws provide that stockholders seeking to nominate candidates for election as directors at an annual or special meeting of stockholders must provide timely notice thereof in writing. To be timely, a stockholder’s notice generally will have to be delivered to and received at our principal executive offices before notice of the meeting is issued by the Secretary of the

company, with such notice being served not less than 90 nor more than 120 days before the meeting. Although the amended and restated bylaws do not give our board of directors the power to approve or disapprove stockholder nominations of candidates to be elected at an annual meeting, the amended and restated bylaws may have the effect of precluding the conduct of certain business at a meeting if the proper procedures are not followed or may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect its own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of the company.

Action by Written Consent

Our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that any action to be taken by the stockholders must be effected at a duly called annual or special meeting of stockholders and may not be effected by written consent.

Amending our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws

Our restated certificate of incorporation may be amended or altered in any manner provided by the DGCL. Our amended and restated bylaws may be adopted, amended, altered, or repealed by stockholders only upon approval of at least a majority of the voting power of all the then outstanding shares of the common stock, except for any amendment of the above provisions, which would require the approval of a two-thirds majority of our then outstanding common stock. Additionally, our restated certificate of incorporation provide that our bylaws may be amended, altered, or repealed by our board of directors.

Authorized but Unissued Shares

Our authorized but unissued shares of common stock and preferred stock will be available for future issuances without stockholder approval, except as required by the listing standards of Nasdaq, and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued and unreserved common stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of the company by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.

Exclusive Forum

Our restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for:


•	any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf;


•	any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by, or other wrongdoing by, any of our directors, officers, employees or agents or our stockholders;


•	any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the DGCL; and


•	any action regarding our restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine;

provided, that with respect to any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder, the exclusive forum will be the federal district courts of the United States of America.

Our restated certificate of incorporation further provides that the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

The exclusive forum provisions described above may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees.

Business Combinations with Interested Stockholders

Subject to certain exceptions, Section 203 of the DGCL prohibits a public Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination (as defined in such section) with an “interested stockholder” (defined generally as any person who beneficially owns 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of such corporation or any person affiliated with such person) for a period of three years following the time that such stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless (i) prior to such time the board of directors of such corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder; (ii) 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 such corporation at the time the transaction commenced (excluding for purposes of determining the voting stock of such corporation outstanding (but not the outstanding voting stock owned by the interested stockholder) those shares owned (A) by persons who are directors and also officers of such corporation and (B) by employee stock plans in which employee participants do not have the right to determine confidentially whether shares held subject to the plan will be tendered in a tender or exchange offer); or (iii) at or subsequent to such time the business combination is approved by the board of directors of such corporation and authorized at a meeting of

stockholders (and not by written consent) by the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding voting stock of such corporation not owned by the interested stockholder.

Listing

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “BYND.”

This ‘10-K’ Filing	Date	Other Filings

Filed on:	3/19/20
For Period end:	12/31/19	5
		List all Filings

Beyond Meat, Inc. – ‘10-K’ for 12/31/19 – ‘EX-4.3’

On: Thursday, 3/19/20, at 5:16pm ET · For: 12/31/19 · Accession #: 1628280-20-3841 · File #: 1-38879

Previous ‘10-K’: None · Next: ‘10-K’ on 3/1/21 for 12/31/20 · Latest: ‘10-K’ on 3/1/24 for 12/31/23 · 8 References:

Annual Report — Form 10-K — Sect. 13 / 15(d) – SEA’34
Filing Table of Contents

‘EX-4.3’ — Exhibit 4.3 Description of Securities

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Dates Referenced Herein and Documents Incorporated by Reference

8 Subsequent Filings that Reference this Filing