Document

Exhibit 4.21

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


    As of December 31, 2020, LKQ Corporation has one class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”): our Common Stock.
DESCRIPTION OF COMMON STOCK
    We are authorized to issue up to 1,000,000,000 shares of common stock. Each share has a par value of $0.01. The following description summarizes various provisions of our common stock. The summary is not complete and is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by, our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, copies of which have been filed as exhibits to our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, and the provisions of applicable Delaware law.
Common Stock 
    Each share of our common stock entitles the holder to one vote on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders, including the election of directors. The holders of common stock are entitled to receive dividends, if any, declared from time to time by the directors out of legally available funds. The payment of dividends is restricted by the terms of our credit facility. In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, the holders of common stock are entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining after the payment of liabilities. 
    The common stock has no preemptive or conversion rights or other subscription rights. There are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock. All outstanding shares of common stock are fully paid and nonassessable. 
Anti-Takeover Effects of Our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws 
    Some provisions of our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may be deemed to have an anti-takeover effect and may delay or prevent a tender offer or takeover attempt that a stockholder might consider to be in its best interest. These provisions include: 
Special Meetings of Stockholders 
    Our restated certificate of incorporation provides that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by the president or by a majority of the board of directors. As a result, stockholders must rely on the board of directors to call a special meeting or wait until the next annual meeting to hold a vote on extraordinary matters like a significant transaction and would have to comply with the notice provisions described below. The restriction on the ability of stockholders to call a special meeting means that a proposal to replace the board also could be delayed until the next annual meeting. 
Advance Notice Procedure 
    Our amended and restated bylaws establish an advance notice procedure for stockholder proposals to be brought before an annual meeting of our stockholders, including proposed nominations of persons for election to the board of directors. Generally, the advance notice provisions require that written notice of the proposals or nominations must be given to our secretary no less than 60 days nor more than 90 days prior to the annual meeting. However, if notice or prior public disclosure of the annual meeting date is given less than 70 days prior to the meeting, the notice must be received by our secretary no later than the close of business on the tenth day following the day on which notice of the annual meeting date was mailed or public disclosure was made, whichever occurs first. 
    At an annual meeting, stockholders may only consider proposals or nominations specified in the notice of meeting, brought before the meeting by or at the direction of the board of directors, or brought before the meeting by a stockholder who has complied with the notice provisions described above. Our 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. These provisions may also discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us. 
No Stockholder Action by Written Consent 
    Delaware law provides that stockholders may take action by written consent in lieu of a stockholder meeting. However, Delaware law also allows us to eliminate stockholder actions by written consent, which we have done. Elimination of written consents of stockholders may lengthen the amount of time required to take stockholder actions because actions by written consent are not subject to the minimum notice requirement of a stockholders’ meeting. The elimination of stockholders’ written consents may also deter hostile takeover attempts. Without the availability of stockholders’ actions by written consent, a holder controlling a majority of our capital stock would not be able to amend our bylaws or remove directors without holding a 










stockholders meeting. The holder would have to obtain the consent of a majority of the board of directors to call a special stockholders’ meeting or comply with the notice periods applicable to annual meetings. 
Authorized but Unissued Shares 
    The authorized but unissued shares of common stock will be available for future issuance without stockholder approval. These additional shares may be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including public offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued shares of common stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of a majority of our stock by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise. 
Material Provisions of Delaware Law 
    We are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. In general, such provisions prohibit a publicly-held Delaware corporation from engaging in any business combination transactions with any interested stockholder for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested stockholder, unless: 
•the transaction is approved by the board of directors prior to the date the interested stockholder obtained that status;
•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 those shares owned by (a) persons who are directors and also officers and (b) 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
•on or subsequent to the date the person became an interested stockholder, the business combination is approved by the board of directors 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 which is not owned by the interested stockholder.
    A “business combination” is defined to include mergers, asset sales and other transactions resulting in financial benefit to an interested stockholder. In general, an “interested stockholder” is a person who, together with affiliates and associates, owns, or at any time in the previous three years owned, 15% or more of a corporation’s voting stock. The statute could have the effect of prohibiting or delaying mergers or other takeover or change in control attempts. 
Choice of Forum Provisions in Our Bylaws
Our amended and restated bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or if the Court of Chancery does not have jurisdiction, another court of the State of Delaware, or if no court of the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware) shall be the exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings:


•any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf;
•any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty;
•any action asserting a claim against us arising under the Delaware General Corporation Law, our certificate of incorporation, or our bylaws;
•any action asserting a claim governed by the internal-affairs doctrine; and
•any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws.


The choice of forum provision in our bylaws does not apply to claims brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the Securities Act or any claim with respect to which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.
Transfer Agent and Registrar 
    The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Broadridge Corporate Issuer Solutions, Inc. Its address is 1717 Arch Street, Suite 1300, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. 
Listing 
    Our common stock is listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “LKQ.”