Exhibit 10.29 

 

**2002 STOCK OPTION AND RESTRICTED STOCK**

**AND UNIT AWARD PLAN, AS AMENDED**

 

**RESTRICTEDSTOCK AWARD AGREEMENT**

**PERFORMANCE-VESTING RESTRICTED STOCK**

 

This Restricted Stock Award Agreement (the “Agreement”), is entered into as of **«Date»** (the“Grant Date”), by and between AnnTaylor Stores Corporation, a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), and **«Name»**, an employee of the Company or a Subsidiary Corporation (the “Grantee”). 

 

Pursuant to the AnnTaylor Stores Corporation 2002 Stock Option and RestrictedStock and Unit Award Plan, as amended (the “Plan”), the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company (the “Committee”) or its designee has determined that the Grantee shall be granted performance-vestingRestricted Shares (“Performance Restricted Shares”) upon the terms and subject to the conditions hereinafter contained. Capitalized terms used but not defined herein shall have the meanings assigned to them in the Plan. 

 

1. Number of Shares. The Grantee is hereby granted**«Shares»** Performance Restricted Shares, subject to the restrictions set forth herein. 

 

2. Terms of Performance Restricted Shares. The grant of Performance Restricted Shares provided in Section 1 hereof shall be subject to thefollowing terms, conditions and restrictions: 

 

(a) Subject tothe restrictions set forth in the Plan and this Agreement, the Grantee shall possess all incidents of ownership of the Performance Restricted Shares granted hereunder, including the right to receive dividends with respect to such shares and theright to vote such shares. 

 

(b) Performance Restricted Shares,and any interest therein, may not be sold, assigned, transferred, pledged, hypothecated or otherwise disposed of, except by will or the laws of descent and distribution, prior to the lapse of restrictions set forth in the Plan and this Agreementapplicable thereto, as set forth in Section 4 hereof. 

 

(c)Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, in no event shall any outstanding restrictions lapse prior to the satisfaction by the Grantee of the liabilities described in Section 7 hereof. 

 

(d) The Committee may, in its discretion, cancel all or any part of anyoutstanding restrictions prior to the expiration of the periods provided in Section 4 hereof. 

 

3. Certificate: Restrictive Legend. The Grantee agrees that any certificate issued for Performance Restricted Shares prior to the lapse of any outstanding restrictions relating thereto shall be inscribed withthe following legend: 

 

This certificate and the shares ofstock represented hereby are subject to the terms and conditions, including forfeiture provisions and restrictions against transfer (the “Restrictions”), contained in the AnnTaylor Stores Corporation 2002 Stock Option and Restricted Stockand Unit Award Plan and an agreement entered into between the registered owner and the Company. Any attempt to dispose of these shares in contravention of the Restrictions, including by way of sale, assignment, transfer, pledge, hypothecation orotherwise, shall be null and void and without effect. 

4. Lapse of Restrictions. Except as may otherwise be provided herein, the restrictions on transferset forth in Section 2(b) shall lapse: 

 
 (a)with respect to                          of thePerformance Restricted Shares, on the day following the Compensation Committee meeting in which the Compensation Committee certifies that the target(s) for the            vesting period setforth in Exhibit A (attached hereto) have been achieved; 
 
 (b)[insert specifications regarding schedule for lapse of restrictions]. 
 

With respect to each of the subsections of Section 4 above, if the restrictions on transfer for the respective vesting period do not lapse because theapplicable target(s) have not been achieved, then the Performance Restricted Shares attributable to such subsection shall be immediately forfeited by the Grantee. 

 

Upon each lapse of restrictions relating to Performance Restricted Shares, if applicable, and provided that the Granteeshall have complied with the Grantee’s obligations under Section 7 hereof, the Company shall issue to the Grantee or the Grantee’s personal representative a stock certificate representing one share of Common Stock, free of the restrictivelegend described in Section 3 hereof, in exchange for each whole Performance Restricted Share with respect to which such restrictions have lapsed. If certificates representing such Performance Restricted Shares shall have theretofore been deliveredto the Grantee, the Grantee shall return such certificates to the Company, complete with any necessary signatures or instruments of transfer, prior to the issuance by the Company of such unlegended shares of Common Stock. 

 

5. Effect of Certain Changes. Upon the occurrence of an AccelerationEvent, all restrictions then outstanding with respect to the Performance Restricted Shares shall automatically lapse and be of no further force and effect. 

 

6. Termination of Employment. In the event that the Grantee ceases to be employed by the Company or any of its divisions or SubsidiaryCorporations, for any reason, prior to the end of the Restricted Period, all Performance Restricted Shares with respect to which the restrictions set forth in Section 4 hereof shall not yet have lapsed (taking into account Sections 2 and 5) shallthereupon be automatically forfeited by the Grantee. Performance Restricted Shares forfeited pursuant to the preceding sentence shall be transferred to, and reacquired by, the Company without payment of any consideration by the Company, and neitherthe Grantee nor any of the Grantee’s successors, heirs, assigns or personal representatives shall thereafter have any further rights or interests in such shares or certificates. If certificates containing restrictive legends shall havetheretofore been delivered to the Grantee or the Grantee’s personal representative, the Grantee or Grantee’s personal representative shall return such certificates to the Company, complete with any necessary signatures or instruments oftransfer. 

 

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7. Taxes. The Grantee shall pay to the Company promptly upon request, and in any event at the timethe Grantee recognizes taxable income in respect of the Performance Restricted Shares (or the Grantee makes an election under Section 83(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), in connection with such grant), anamount equal to the taxes the Company determines it is required to withhold under applicable tax laws with respect to the Performance Restricted Shares. Such payment shall be made in the form of cash, shares of Common Stock already owned (for atleast six months) or otherwise issuable upon the lapse of restrictions, or in a combination of such methods, subject to the terms of the Plan. The Grantee shall promptly notify the Company of any election made pursuant to Section 83(b) of the Code.

 

8. No Guarantee of Employment. Nothing set forth hereinor in the Plan shall confer upon the Grantee any right of continued employment for any period by the Company or any of its divisions or Subsidiary Corporations, or shall interfere in any way with the right of the Company or any such division orSubsidiary Corporation to terminate such employment. 

 

9.Notices. Any notice required or permitted under this Agreement shall be deemed given when delivered personally, or when deposited in a United States Post Office, postage prepaid, addressed, as appropriate, to the Grantee at the last addressspecified in Grantee’s employment records, or such other address as the Grantee may designate in writing to the Company, or to the Company, Attention: Corporate Secretary, 142 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019, or such other address as theCompany may designate in writing to the Grantee. 

 

10.Failure To Enforce Not a Waiver. The failure of the Company to enforce at any time any provision of this Agreement shall in no way be construed to be a waiver of such provision or of any other provision hereof. 

 

11. Governing Law. This Agreement shall be governed by and construedaccording to the laws of the State of New York, without regard to the conflicts of laws provisions thereof. 

 

12. Incorporation of Plan and Order of Precedence. A copy of the Plan is attached hereto. The Plan is hereby incorporated herein by reference andmade a part of this Agreement, and this Agreement shall be subject to the terms of the Plan, as it may be amended from time to time, provided that such amendment of the Plan is made in accordance with Section 10 of the Plan. In the event of aconflict or ambiguity between any of the provisions set forth in this Agreement and any provisions set forth in the Grantee’s then-current employment agreement (if any), the terms set forth in such employment agreement shall prevail.

 

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13. Amendments. This Agreement may be amended or modified at any time by an instrument in writingsigned by both parties hereto. 

 

14. Counterparts. ThisAgreement may be executed in two or more counterparts, each of which shall be an original but all of which together shall represent one and the same agreement. 

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this Agreement as of the date and year first set forth above. 

 

 
**ANNTAYLOR STORES CORPORATION**  **GRANTEE:**
By:                                                                                                      
                                                                                                             **«Name»**
 

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