Document:

Document

Exhibit 10.35

Rayonier Incentive Stock Plan
Performance Share Award Agreement

This Award Agreement, together with the Program Document, as defined below (the “Award Agreement”), is entered into by and between Rayonier Inc., a corporation organized under the laws of the State of North Carolina with its principal office at Wildlight, 1 Rayonier Way, Wildlight, FL 32097 (the “Company”), and the undersigned qualified individual (“Key Employee”), pursuant to the Rayonier Incentive Stock Plan (the “Plan”) as of this 1st day of April, 2019 (the “Effective Date”).  The 2019 Performance Share Program document (the “Program Document”) is incorporated into and made part of this Award Agreement. 

W I T N E S S E T H :

WHEREAS, the Company desires to grant Performance Shares to Key Employee, with such Performance Shares to vest as provided in this Award Agreement, provided Key Employee remains continuously employed by the Company from the date hereof through the date immediately following the Vesting Date, as defined below, of the Performance Shares, subject to the provisions of this Award Agreement and of the Plan; and

WHEREAS, this Award Agreement is being entered into to convey an Award of the Performance Shares to Key Employee, subject to the terms and conditions of this Award Agreement and the Plan.

NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual promises made herein, the parties agree as follows:

1. Definitions

All capitalized terms not expressly defined in this Award Agreement and used herein shall have the same meaning set forth in the Plan, available on the Merrill Lynch website.

2. Award of Shares; Vesting

(a)   Shares Awarded.   Key Employee is hereby awarded /$AwardsGranted$/ Performance Shares, representing Key Employee’s Target Award, subject to the terms of this Award Agreement, as of the Effective Date.  Each Performance Share represents the right to receive one share of Company Common Stock, if earned. 

(b)  Vesting.  Key Employee shall become vested with respect to, and thereupon have a non-forfeitable right to, the Performance Shares granted pursuant to Section 2(a), or a percentage of such Performance Shares, subject to achievement of the Performance Objectives measured over the specified Performance Period, as set forth in the Program Document. Any Performance Shares earned based on achievement of Performance Objectives will vest upon certification by the Committee of performance results and the number of earned shares, if any (the “Vesting Date”); provided that, Key Employee shall have remained continuously employed by the Company (or any other Participating Company) from the Effective Date through the Vesting Date, except as provided in Section 2(c).

Exhibit 10.35

(c)  Termination of Employment.  Except as otherwise provided (i) in the Program Document with respect to Key Employee’s termination of employment due to death, Total Disability or Retirement or (ii) by the Committee in accordance with Section 6(h) of the Plan, if Key Employee's employment is terminated for any reason before the Vesting Date, then all of the Performance Shares subject to this Award Agreement, and all dividend equivalents and accrued earnings thereon, shall immediately be forfeited by Key Employee, and Key Employee shall have no further rights to such Performance Shares from and after the date of such termination. 

(d)  Withholding Taxes.  On the Vesting Date, or at any other time when withholding is required under the Code, the Company shall have the right to require Key Employee to pay to the Company the amount of taxes that the Company is required to withhold or to withhold, from any other amounts due to Key Employee by the Company, the amount of taxes that the Company is required to withhold. In the Committee’s discretion, in lieu thereof, the Company shall have the right to retain, or sell without notice, a sufficient number of earned and vested Performance Shares held by it for Key Employee to cover the amount required to be withheld. 

3. Performance Shares

(a)  Sale; Exchange, etc.  Key Employee acknowledges and agrees that prior to the Vesting Date the Performance Shares are subject to a restriction against sale, exchange, hypothecation, assignment, transfer (including by gift), pledge or other encumbrance.

(b)  Shareholder Rights.  Key Employee shall not have voting rights with respect to Performance Shares.  Upon the receipt of shares of Common Stock in settlement of any Performance Shares, Key Employee shall have all the rights of a shareholder with respect to those shares, including but not limited to, the right to vote such shares.

(c)  Dividend Equivalent Rights.   Key Employee shall have the right to earn Dividend Equivalents with respect to the Performance Shares granted pursuant to this Award Agreement as set forth in the Program Document.    

(d)  Issuance of Performance Shares.  Performance Shares Awards shall be evidenced in book entry or electronic form, registered in the name of Key Employee, with notations referring to the terms, conditions, and restrictions set forth in this Award Agreement. Such Performance Shares shall be held by the Company until they have vested or been forfeited as provided in this Award Agreement.  Shares of Common Stock issued in settlement of any earned Performance Shares shall be issued to Key Employee, free of the restrictions described above, within fifteen (15) days after the Vesting Date. 

4.  Conformity with Securities Laws

The grant of Performance Shares hereunder (and any transfers thereof) are subject to compliance with all applicable securities laws.  Key Employee hereby represents to the Company that Key Employee is acquiring the Performance Shares for investment and not with a view to the distribution thereof.  The shares of Common Stock, if any, issued by the Company pursuant to this Award Agreement may bear a legend, or if issued in book entry or electronic form may contain notations, describing the restrictions on resale thereof under applicable securities laws, and stop transfer orders with respect to such shares may be entered in the stock transfer records of the Company.

Exhibit 10.35

5.  Agreement Not To Solicit; Other Restrictions; Clawback
(a) Key Employee hereby covenants and agrees that for a period commencing on the Effective Date and ending twelve (12) months after the effective date of Key Employee’s termination of employment with the Company, Key Employee shall not, except for actions taken on behalf of the Company, directly or indirectly engage in or assist others in soliciting, persuading, hiring, recruiting, or attempting to persuade, solicit, hire or recruit, any person employed by or under contract with, the Company (or who was employed by or under contract with the Company in the six-month period prior to the date of any such prohibited contact).

(b) This Award and any receipt of shares of Common Stock pursuant to this Award areexpressly contingent upon your compliance with the terms and conditions in  Section 15 of the Plan, Section 5(a) of this Award Agreement and in any other agreement that governs your noncompetition with the Company or any subsidiary, your non-solicitation of employees, customers, suppliers, vendors or other business partners of the Company or any subsidiary, and/or your conduct with respect to proprietary and confidential information of the Company or any subsidiary.  

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision in the Plan to the contrary, this Award, any shares of Common Stock issued pursuant to this Award and any amount received with respect to the sale of any such shares shall be subject to potential cancellation, recoupment, rescission, payback, or other action in accordance with the terms of the Company’s Clawback Policy as in effect from time to time and Section 14 of the Plan.

6. Miscellaneous

(a) Assignments and Transfers.  The rights and interests of Key Employee under this Award Agreement may not be assigned, encumbered or transferred.

(b)  No Right to Employment.  Neither this Award Agreement nor any action taken hereunder shall be construed as giving Key Employee any right to be retained in the employ of any Participating Company.

(c)  Headings.  The headings contained in this Award Agreement are inserted for convenience of reference only and are not intended to be part of or to affect the meaning or interpretation of this Award Agreement.

(d)  Consistency with the Plan.  This Award Agreement, including the Program Document, is subject to all the provisions of the Plan.  It is expressly agreed and understood that in the case of any inconsistency between the provisions of this Award Agreement and the Plan, the provisions of the Plan shall control, as determined in the sole judgment of the Committee.

(e)  Deferred Compensation Rules.  To the extent applicable hereto, this Award Agreement shall be interpreted and applied in compliance with Section 409A of the Code and such Internal Revenue Service Notices and Treasury Regulations as may be promulgated thereunder (collectively, the “Deferred Compensation Rules”), although no guarantee of such compliance is made to Key Employee, and to the extent applicable hereto any provision of this Award Agreement found not to be in compliance therewith shall be amended as necessary to comply therewith, determined in the sole discretion of the Committee, retroactively to the date hereof.       

Exhibit 10.35

(f)  Applicable Law.  The interpretation of the provisions hereof shall be governed by the laws of the State of Florida.
            IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned have caused this Award Agreement to be executed and delivered on the Effective Date first above written.

			
	KEY EMPLOYEE

	/$ParticipantName$/
	Name:
	/$ParticipantAddress$/
	
	RAYONIER INC. 
	
	Shelby L Pyatt
	Vice President, HR and ITDocument

EXHIBIT 4.7

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

As of the date of the Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this exhibit is a part, Rayonier Inc. (the “Company,” “we,” “our” and “us”) has one class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended: our common shares, no par value. The following description of our common shares is a summary and does not purport to be complete. It is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to our Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation (the “Articles of Incorporation”) and our By-Laws (the “Bylaws”), each of which is incorporated by reference as an exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this exhibit is a part. We encourage you to read our Articles of Incorporation and our Bylaws, as well as the applicable provisions of the North Carolina Business Corporation Act (“NCBCA”), for additional information.

DESCRIPTION OF COMMON SHARES

Authorized Shares
Our Articles of Incorporation authorize us to issue 480,000,000 common shares.

Listing
Our common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol “RYN.”

Dividends
The holders of common shares may receive dividends when and as declared by the board of directors. Dividends may be paid in cash, shares or other form out of legally available funds.

Fully Paid
All outstanding common shares are fully paid and non-assessable. Any additional common shares we issue will also be fully paid and non-assessable.

Voting Rights
The holders of common shares may vote one vote for each share held in the election of directors and on all other matters voted upon by our shareholders. Holders of common shares may not cumulate their votes in the election of directors.

Other Rights
We will notify common shareholders of any shareholders’ meetings according to applicable law. If we liquidate, dissolve or wind-up our business, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, the holders of common shares will share ratably in the assets remaining after we pay our creditors and preferred shareholders, if any. The holders of common shares have no preemptive rights. Common shares are not subject to any redemption provisions and are not convertible into any other securities.

Redeemable Operating Partnership Units
Limited partners of Rayonier, L.P. (“Operating Partnership”) holding Operating Partnership units have redemption rights, which enable them to cause Operating Partnership to redeem their Operating Partnership units in exchange for cash or, at our option, common shares on a one-for-one basis.

Anti-Takeover Provisions
Certain provisions in our Articles of Incorporation, our Bylaws and the NCBCA could have the effect of delaying, deferring or discouraging another party from acquiring control of us. These provisions may encourage persons considering unsolicited tender offers or other unilateral takeover proposals to negotiate with the board of directors rather than pursue non-negotiated takeover attempts.

Limitations on Removal of Directors

EXHIBIT 4.7

Our directors can be removed only for cause. Restricting the removal of directors makes it more difficult for shareholders to change the majority of the directors and instead promotes a continuity of existing management.

Special Meetings of Shareholders
Neither our Articles of Incorporation nor our Bylaws give shareholders the right to call a special meeting of shareholders. Our Bylaws provide that special meetings of shareholders may be called only by our board of directors.

Blank Check Preferred Shares
Our Articles of Incorporation authorizes the issuance of blank check preferred shares. The board of directors can set the voting rights, redemption rights, conversion rights and other rights relating to such preferred shares and could issue such shares in either private or public transactions. In some circumstances, the blank check preferred shares could be issued and have the effect of preventing a merger, tender offer or other takeover attempt that the board of directors opposes.

Amendment of our Bylaws
Our Bylaws may be amended or repealed by our board of directors, including any bylaw adopted, amended or repealed by our shareholders.

North Carolina Shareholder Protection Act
We are subject to provisions of the NCBCA known as The North Carolina Shareholder Protection Act (the “NCSPA”). The NCSPA generally requires the affirmative vote of 95% of a public corporation’s voting shares to approve a “business combination” with any other entity that beneficially owns, directly or indirectly, more than 20% of the voting shares of the corporation (or ever owned more than 20% and is still an affiliate of the corporation) unless the fair price provisions and the procedural provisions of the NCSPA are satisfied.

Under the NCSPA, “business combination” includes (1) any merger, consolidation, or conversion of a corporation with or into any other corporation or other entity, (2) the sale or lease of all or any substantial part of the corporation's assets to any other entity, or (3) any payment, sale or lease to the corporation or any subsidiary thereof in exchange for securities of the corporation of any assets having an aggregate fair market value of $5,000,000 or more.

The NCSPA contains provisions that allowed a corporation to “opt out” of the applicability of the NCSPA’s voting provisions within specified time periods that generally have expired. The NCSPA applies to the Company since we did not opt out within these time periods.

Operating Partnership Agreement

Upon a change in control of the Company, the partnership agreement of the Operating Partnership requires certain acquirers to maintain an umbrella partnership real estate investment trust structure with terms at least as favorable to the limited partners as are currently in place. For instance, in certain transactions, the acquirer would be required to preserve the limited partner’s right to continue to hold tax-deferred partnership interests that are redeemable for capital stock of the acquirer. Some change of control transactions involving the Company could require the approval of two-thirds of the limited partners of the Operating Partnership (other than the Company). These provisions may make a change of control transaction involving the Company more complicated and therefore might decrease the likelihood of such a transaction occurring, even if such a transaction would be in the best interest of the Company’s shareholders.

Source: [{"source": "alea-institute/alea-institute/kl3m-data-edgar-agreements/train-00321-of-00352.parquet"}, [{"source": "alea-institute/alea-institute/kl3m-data-edgar-agreements/train-00321-of-00352.parquet"}]]