Document

Exhibit 4.4



DESCRIPTION OF WINGSTOP INC. COMMON STOCK


The following description of the capital stock of Wingstop Inc. (the “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) is a summary of the rights of our common stock and certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws as currently in effect. This summary does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws, copies of which are filed as exhibits to this Annual Report on Form 10-K and are incorporated by reference herein. We encourage you to read our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our amended and restated bylaws, and the applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law, as amended (the “DGCL”), for additional information.


Common Stock


General. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of 100,000,000 shares of our common stock, par value $0.01 per share. All of our outstanding shares of our common stock are fully paid and nonassessable.


Voting rights. Except as required by law or matters relating solely to the terms of preferred stock, the holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each share held of record on all matters submitted to a vote of the stockholders, including the election of directors, and do not have cumulative voting rights. Unless otherwise required by law, matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders require the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority in voting power of the shares of our common stock that are present in person or by proxy and who are entitled to vote on such matter, except that directors are elected by a plurality of votes cast. Accordingly, the holders of a majority of the shares of common stock entitled to vote in any election of directors are able to elect all of the directors standing for election, if they so choose.


Dividend rights. Holders of common stock are entitled to receive ratably dividends if, as and when dividends are declared from time to time by our board of directors out of funds legally available for that purpose, subject to any preferential dividend rights of any then outstanding preferred stock. Our ability to pay dividends is subject to compliance with certain covenants in our outstanding debt instruments.


Other matters. Upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, the holders of 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, subject to any other distribution rights granted to holders of any outstanding preferred stock. Holders of common stock have no preemptive or conversion rights or other subscription rights, and no redemption or sinking fund provisions are applicable to our common stock.


Preferred Stock


Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation permits our board of directors, without further action of stockholders, to issue up to 15,000,000 shares of preferred stock from time to time in one or more classes or series. Our board of directors also may fix the relative rights and preferences of those shares, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, 








redemption rights, terms of sinking funds, liquidation preferences and the number of shares constituting any class or series or the designation of the class or series. Terms selected by our board of directors in the future could decrease the amount of earnings and assets available for distribution to holders of common stock or adversely affect the rights and powers, including voting rights, of the holders of common stock without any further vote or action by the stockholders. As a result, the rights of holders of our common stock will be subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of any preferred stock that may be issued by us in the future, which could have the effect of decreasing the market price of our common stock. Currently, there are no shares of preferred stock outstanding.


Anti-takeover Effects of Provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws and Delaware Law


The provisions of the DGCL and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could have the effect of discouraging others from attempting an unsolicited offer to acquire the Company. Such provisions may also have the effect of preventing changes in our management. It is possible that these provisions could make it more difficult to accomplish transactions that stockholders may otherwise deem to be in their best interests.


Election and removal of directors. Our board of directors is divided into three classes, Class I, Class II and Class III, with members of each class serving staggered three-year terms. Our directors may be removed only by the affirmative vote of at least 66 2⁄3% of our then outstanding common stock and only for cause. This system of electing and removing directors generally makes it more difficult for stockholders to replace a majority of our directors.


Authorized but unissued shares. The authorized but unissued shares of our common stock and our preferred stock are available for future issuance without any further vote or action by our stockholders. These additional shares may be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future public offerings to raise additional capital, corporate acquisitions, and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued shares of our common stock and our preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control over us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.


Stockholder action; advance notification of stockholder nominations and proposals. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws require that any action required or permitted to be taken by our stockholders be affected only at a duly called annual or special meeting of stockholders and not by written consent. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation also requires that special meetings of stockholders be called only by a majority of our board of directors or by the chairman of the board of directors. In addition, our amended and restated bylaws provide that, subject to limited circumstances, candidates for director may be nominated and other business brought before an annual meeting only by the board of directors or by a stockholder who gives written notice to us no later than 90 days prior to nor earlier than 120 days prior to the first anniversary of the last annual meeting of stockholders. These provisions may have the effect of deterring unsolicited offers to acquire the Company or delaying changes in control of our management, which could depress the market price of our common stock. These provisions could also have the effect of delaying until the next 








stockholder meeting any stockholder actions, even if they are favored by the holders of a majority of our outstanding voting securities.


Amendment to certificate of incorporation and bylaws. The DGCL provides generally that the affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding stock entitled to vote on amendments to a corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws is required to approve such amendment, unless a corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws, as the case may be, requires a greater percentage. Our amended and restated bylaws may be amended or repealed by a majority vote of our board of directors or, in addition to any other vote otherwise required by law, the approval by holders of at least 66 2⁄3% of the voting power of all of the then outstanding shares of the capital stock at a meeting of stockholders called for such purpose, voting together as a single class. Additionally, the approval by holders of at least 66 2⁄3% of the voting power of all of the then outstanding shares of the capital stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class, is required to amend or repeal or to adopt any provision inconsistent with the “Board of Directors,” “Limitation of Director Liability, “Action by Written Consent,” “Annual Meetings of Stockholders,” “Special Meetings of Stockholders,” “Business Combinations,” “Exclusive Jurisdiction for Certain Actions,” and “Amendments” provisions described in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. These provisions may have the effect of deferring, delaying, or discouraging the removal of any anti-takeover defenses provided for in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws.


No cumulative voting. The DGCL provides that stockholders are not entitled to the right to cumulate votes in the election of directors unless our certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation expressly prohibits cumulative voting.


Exclusive jurisdiction of certain actions. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in the name of the Company, actions against directors, officers and employees for breach of fiduciary duty and other similar actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware. Although we believe this provision benefits the Company by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.


The enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that, in connection with any applicable action brought against us, a court could find the choice of forum provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in such action. Specifically, the choice of forum provision requiring that the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware be the exclusive forum for certain suits would (i) not be enforceable with respect to any suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and (ii) have uncertain enforceability with respect to claims under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The choice of forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not have the effect of causing our stockholders to have waived our obligation to comply with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.










Business combinations. We have opted out of Section 203 of the DGCL. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains similar provisions providing that we may not engage in certain “business combinations” with any “interested stockholder” for a three-year period following the time that the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless:


•prior to such time, our board of directors approved either the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder;


•upon consummation of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of our voting stock outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding certain shares; or


•at or subsequent to that time, the business combination is approved by our board of directors and by the affirmative vote of holders of at least 66 2⁄3% of the outstanding voting stock that is not owned by the interested stockholder.


Generally, a “business combination” includes a merger, asset or stock sale or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. Subject to certain exceptions, an “interested stockholder” is a person who, together with that person’s affiliates and associates, owns, or within the previous three years owned, 15% or more of our voting stock.


Under certain circumstances, this provision will make it more difficult for a person who would be an “interested stockholder” to effect various business combinations with a corporation for a three-year period. This provision may encourage companies interested in acquiring the Company to negotiate in advance with our board of directors because the stockholder approval requirement would be avoided if our board of directors approves either the business combination or the transaction which results in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder. These provisions also may have the effect of preventing changes in our board of directors and may make it more difficult to accomplish transactions which stockholders may otherwise deem to be in their best interests.


Limitation of Liability and Indemnification


Our amended and restated bylaws limit the liability of our directors to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law and provide that we will indemnify them to the fullest extent permitted by such law. We have entered into indemnification agreements with our current directors and executive officers and expect to enter into a similar agreement with any new directors or executive officers. We also maintain directors’ and officers’ liability insurance coverage.


Listing


Our common stock is listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “WING.”


Transfer Agent and Registrar


The transfer agent and registrar for our common stock is Computershare Trust Company, N.A.