exv10waiii






Exhibit 10(aiii)




FY11 U.S. AWARDS




Stock Option Award and Agreement




[DATE]




Dear                     :



H. J. Heinz Company is pleased to advise you that, effective                     , you have been granted
options (“Options”) to
purchase                     shares of H. J. Heinz Company Common Stock, at an
exercise price of $                      per share, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the stock
option plan under which the Options were granted (the “Plan”), a copy of which is posted along with
a copy of the Prospectus. The Options are also granted under and governed by the terms and
conditions of this letter agreement (“Agreement”), which shall control in the event of a conflict
with the terms and conditions of the Plan. For purposes of this Agreement, the “Company” shall
refer to H. J. Heinz Company and its Affiliated Companies (as defined in Section 4 below) in the
United States and throughout the world. Unless otherwise specifically defined herein, all other
capitalized terms used in this Agreement shall have the same defined meanings as the capitalized
terms in the Third Amended and Restated H.J. Heinz Company Fiscal Year 2003 Stock Incentive Plan
(the “2003 Stock Incentive Plan”), which are hereby incorporated by reference into this Agreement
and a copy of which is posted along with this Agreement.





	1.	 	The Options are Non-Statutory Options, as defined in the
Plan. The Options will vest                     
beginning on                     , and will expire on                     , subject to earlier expiration in
accordance with the terms of this Agreement or the Plan.
	 
	2.	 	Subject to paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Agreement, the exercise period for the Options,
including the effect of the termination of your employment with the Company or a “Change in
Control”, shall be governed by and determined in accordance with Section 8(B) of the 2003
Stock Incentive Plan, which is incorporated herein by reference and which shall control over
and supersede any additional, different or inconsistent terms or provisions contained in the
Plan; provided, however, that in the event of termination of your employment by you for “Good
Reason,” the “Expiration Date” shall be five years after the “Date of Termination” or the date
of expiration specified in Section 1 above, whichever is sooner; and provided further,
however, that in the event termination of your employment occurs by reason of involuntary
termination without Cause, the “Expiration Date” shall be as provided in Section 8(B) of the
Plan (the 90th day after the “Date of Termination”) or the date of expiration
specified in Section 1 above, whichever is sooner, unless you execute a release of claims of
the Company in the form requested by the Company, in which case your




 









 











FY11 U.S. AWARDS





	 	 	“Expiration Date” shall be five years after the “Date of Termination” or the date of
expiration specified in Section 1 above, whichever is sooner.
	 
	 	 	You may exercise the Options in any manner provided for in the Plan; provided however, you
must first obtain the approval of the Chief Executive Officer, or his designee, prior to
choosing a “net exercise” arrangement if you are a non-U.S.-based reporting officer
pursuant to Section 16 of the Securities Act of 1934 on the date of exercise, you must
obtain the approval of the Management Development and Compensation Committee of the Board
of Directors of the Company.
	 
	3.	 	You agree that you shall not, during the term of your employment by the Company and for 12
months after termination of your employment, regardless of the reason for the termination,
either directly or indirectly, solicit, take away or attempt to solicit or take away any other
employee of the Company, either for your own purpose or for any other person or entity. You
further agree that you shall not, during the term of your employment by the Company or at any
time thereafter, use or disclose Confidential Information (as defined in Section 4 below)
except as directed by, and in furtherance of the business purposes of, the Company. You
acknowledge that the breach or threatened breach of this paragraph 3 will result in
irreparable injury to the Company for which there is no adequate remedy at law because, among
other things, it is not readily susceptible of proof as to the monetary damages that would
result to the Company. You consent to the issuance of any restraining order or preliminary
restraining order or injunction with respect to any conduct by you that is directly or
indirectly a violation or a threatened violation of this paragraph. Any breach by you of the
provisions of this paragraph 3 will, at the option of the Company and in addition to all other
rights and remedies available to the Company at law, in equity or under this Agreement, result
in the forfeiture of all unexercised options granted to you under this Agreement as of the
date of such breach.
	 
	4.	 	As used in this paragraph 4, the following terms shall have the respective indicated
meanings:
	 
	 	 	“Affiliated Company or Companies” means any person, corporation, limited liability company,
partnership or other entity controlling, controlled by or under common control with the
Company.
	 
	 	 	“Confidential Information” means technical or business information not readily available to
the public or generally known in the trade, including but not limited to inventions; ideas;
improvements; discoveries; developments; formulations; ingredients; recipes;
specifications; designs; standards; financial data; sales, marketing and distribution
plans, techniques and




 









 











FY11 U.S. AWARDS





	 	 	strategies; customer and supplier information; equipment; mechanisms; manufacturing plans;
processing and packaging techniques; trade secrets and other confidential information,
knowledge, data and know-how of the Company, whether or not they originated with you, or
information which the Company received from third parties under an obligation of
confidentiality.
	 
	 	 	“Conflicting Product” means any product or process of any person or organization, other
than the Company, in existence or under development, (1) that competes with a product or
process of the Company upon or with which you shall have worked during the two years prior
to the termination of your employment with the Company or (2) whose use or marketability
could be enhanced by application to it of Confidential Information acquired by you in
connection with your employment by the Company during such two year period. For purposes
of this definition, it shall be conclusively presumed that you have knowledge of
information to which you have been directly exposed through actual receipt or review of
memorandum or documents containing such information or through actual attendance at
meetings at which such information was discussed or disclosed.
	 
	 	 	“Conflicting Organization” means any person or organization that is engaged in or about to
become engaged in research on or the development, production, marketing or selling of or
the use in production, marketing or sale of a Conflicting Product.
	 
	 	 	In partial consideration for the Options granted to you hereunder, you agree that, for a
period of eighteen (18) months following the date of the termination of your employment
with the Company, you shall not render services, directly or indirectly, as a director,
officer, employee, agent, consultant or otherwise to any Conflicting Organization in any
geographic area or territory in which such Conflicting Organization is engaged in or about
to become engaged in the research on or the development, production, marketing or sale of
or the use in production, marketing or sale of a Conflicting Product. The foregoing
limitation does not apply to a Conflicting Organization whose business is diversified and
that, as to that part of its business to which you render services, is not engaged in the
development, production, marketing, use or sale of a Conflicting Product, provided that the
Company shall receive separate written assurances satisfactory to the Company from you and
the Conflicting Organization that you shall not render services during such period with
respect to a Conflicting Product or directly or indirectly provide or reveal Confidential
Information to such organization. If you shall render services to any Conflicting
Organization other than as expressly permitted herein or shall provide or reveal
Confidential Information to such Conflicting Organization, you shall (i) immediately return
to the Company the pre-tax income resulting from any exercise of the Options or any portion
thereof by you,




 









 











FY11 U.S. AWARDS





	 	 	unless such exercise occurred more than twelve (12) months prior to the date of the
termination of your employment; and (ii) forfeit any unexercised portion of the Options.
You acknowledge and agree that the restrictions set forth in this paragraph 4 are
reasonable and necessary to protect the goodwill and legitimate business interests of the
Company and to prevent the disclosure of the Company’s Confidential Information and trade
secrets. If any of the provisions herein shall for any reason be determined by a court of
competent jurisdiction to be overly broad as to scope of activity, duration or territory,
such provision shall be limited or reduced so as to be enforceable to the extent compatible
with existing law.
	 
	5.	 	You acknowledge and agree that nothing in this Agreement, the Plan or the 2003 Stock
Incentive Plan shall confer upon you any right with respect to future awards or continuation
of your employment, nor shall it constitute an employment agreement or interfere in any way
with your right or the right of the Company to terminate your employment, with or without
cause, and with or without notice, subject to the terms of any written employment contract
that you may have with the Company that is signed by both you and an authorized representative
of the Company.
	 
	6.	 	You consent to the collection, use, and processing of personal data (including name, home
address and telephone number, identification number and number of options held) by the Company
or a third party engaged by the Company for the purpose of implementing, administering and
managing the Plan and other stock option plans of the Company (the “Plans”). You further
consent to the release of personal data (a) to such a third party administrator, which, at the
option of the Company, may be designated as the exclusive broker in connection with the Plans,
or (b) to any Affiliated Company, wherever located. You hereby waive any data privacy rights
with respect to such data to the extent that receipt, possession, use, retention, or transfer
of the data is authorized hereunder.
	 
	7.	 	The Plan is discretionary in nature and the Company may modify, cancel or terminate it at any
time without prior notice. While stock options may be granted under any of the Company’s
Plans on one or more occasions or even on a regular schedule, each grant is a one time event,
is not an entitlement to an award of grants of stock options in the future, and does not
create any contractual or other right to receive an award of stock options, compensation or
benefits in lieu of stock options or any other compensation or benefits in the future.
	 
	8.	 	This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, without regard to its choice of law provisions.




 









 











FY11 U.S. AWARDS



This grant of Options is subject to your on-line acceptance of the terms and conditions of this
Agreement through the Fidelity website.




	 	 	 	 	 
	 	H.J. HEINZ COMPANY

 	 
	 	By:  	 	 
	 	 	William R. Johnson 	 
	 	 	Chairman of the Board, President and

Chief Executive Officer 	 
	 



Accepted: Signed electronically




Date:         Acceptance Date