Company: AWK
Filing Date: 2025-12-29
Form Type: S-4/A
Source: 0001193125-25-332292
Chunk: 201

Company: American Water Works Company, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-12-29
Form: S-4/A
Chunk 201
---
 |

| • |     | during the four-business day period after delivery of such notice, American Water or Essential and their                                                                                                                                               
 respective representatives, as applicable, must have negotiated in good faith with the other party regarding any revisions to the merger agreement that either American Water or Essential, as applicable, proposes to make to the terms of the merger 
 agreement;                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |

| • |     | at the end of such four-business day period and taking into account any changes to the terms of the merger                                                                                                                                           
 agreement committed to in writing by the other party, the American Water board or the Essential board, as applicable, determines in good faith (after consultation with outside legal counsel and a financial advisor) that the failure to make such 
 adverse recommendation change would be inconsistent with such board’s fiduciary duties under applicable law and that such competing proposal still constitutes a superior proposal; and                                                              |

| • |     | any material revision or amendment to the terms of such superior proposal shall commence a new notice period,          
 except that in such case references to the applicable four-business day period will be deemed to be two business days. |

135

Employee Benefit Matters

From the date the merger is completed through the end of the calendar year immediately following the calendar year in which the merger is completed, American
Water will provide to each Essential employee whose employment with Essential (or American Water or any of its subsidiaries) continues after the merger, who is referred to as a continuing employee (other than such employees covered by collective
bargaining agreements), while employed, (i) base salary or wage rate, target annual cash incentive opportunity and target long-term performance opportunity that are no less favorable, in the aggregate, than those provided to the continuing
employee as of immediately prior to the completion of the merger; provided that (A) American Water will provide each continuing employee with at least the same base salary or wage rate as provided to such continuing employee as of immediately
prior to the completion of the merger and (B) any long-term performance opportunities provided may be cash-based or equity-based, as determined by American Water in its sole discretion, and (ii) employee benefits (excluding defined benefit
pension benefits, retiree health or welfare benefits, equity-based compensation or change in control, transaction or retention bonuses, which are collectively referred to as the excluded benefits) that are substantially comparable in the aggregate
to those (other than the excluded benefits) provided to the continuing employee as of immediately prior to the completion of the merger. In the case of