Document:

sldb-ex42_197.htm

Exhibit 4.2

 

DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES REGISTERED UNDER SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS AMENDED

The following description of the securities of Solid Biosciences Inc. (“us,” “our,” “we” or the “Company”) registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), is intended as a summary only and therefore is not a complete description. This description is based upon, and is qualified by reference to, our certificate of incorporation (“charter”), our bylaws and applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”). You should read our charter and bylaws, which are incorporated by reference as Exhibit 3.1 and Exhibit 3.2, respectively, to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this Exhibit 4.2 is a part, for the provisions that are important to you.

Authorized Capital Stock

Our authorized capital stock consists of 300,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share, all of which preferred stock is undesignated. Our common stock is registered under Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act.

Common Stock

Voting Rights. Each holder of our common stock is entitled to one vote for each share on all matters submitted to a vote of the stockholders, including the election of directors. Our stockholders do not have cumulative voting rights in the election of directors. Accordingly, holders of a majority of the voting shares are able to elect all of the directors.

Dividends. Subject to preferences that may be applicable to any then-outstanding preferred stock, holders of our common stock are entitled to receive dividends, if any, as may be declared from time to time by our board of directors out of legally available funds.

Liquidation. In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of our 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 and the satisfaction of any liquidation preference granted to the holders of any then-outstanding shares of preferred stock. 

Other Rights. Holders of our common stock have no preemptive, conversion, subscription or other similar rights, and there are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to our common stock. The rights, preferences and privileges of the holders of our common stock are subject to and may be adversely affected by the rights of the holders of shares of any series of our preferred stock that we may designate in the future. 

Preferred Stock

We are authorized to issue up to 10,000,000 shares of “blank check” preferred stock, which may be issued in one or more series upon authorization of our board of directors. Our board of directors is authorized to fix the designations, powers, preferences and the relative, participating, optional or other special rights and any qualifications, limitations and restrictions of the shares of each series of preferred stock. The authorized shares of our preferred stock are available for issuance without further action by our stockholders, unless such action is required by applicable law or the rules of any stock exchange on which our securities may be listed. If the approval of our stockholders is not required for the issuance of shares of our preferred stock, our board may determine not to seek stockholder approval.  A series of our preferred stock could, depending on the terms of such series, impede the completion of a merger, tender offer or other takeover attempt.

Provisions of Our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws and the DGCL That May Have Anti-Takeover Effects

Board of Directors Vacancies: Our charter and bylaws authorize only our board of directors to fill vacant directorships, including newly created seats. In addition, the number of directors constituting our board of directors may only be set by a resolution adopted by a majority vote of our entire board of directors. These provisions would prevent a stockholder from increasing the size of our board of directors and then gaining control of our board of directors by filling the resulting vacancies with its own nominees. This makes it more difficult to change the composition of our board of directors but promotes continuity of management. 

Classified Board: Our charter and bylaws provide that our board of directors will be classified into three classes of directors, each with staggered three-year terms. A third party may be discouraged from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us as it is more difficult and time consuming for stockholders to replace a majority of the directors on a classified board of directors. 

 

 

Stockholder Action; Special Meetings of Stockholders: Our charter provides that our stockholders may not take action by written consent, but may only take action at annual or special meetings of our stockholders. As a result, a holder controlling a majority of our capital stock would not be able to amend our bylaws or remove directors without holding a meeting of our stockholders called in accordance with our bylaws. Further, our bylaws and charter will provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by a majority of our board of directors, the Chairman of our board of directors or our Chief Executive Officer, thus prohibiting a stockholder from calling a special meeting. These provisions might delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or for stockholders controlling a majority of our capital stock to take any action, including the removal of directors. 

Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations: Our bylaws provide advance notice procedures for stockholders seeking to bring matters before our annual meeting of stockholders or to nominate candidates for election as directors at our annual meeting of stockholders. Our bylaws also specify certain requirements regarding the form and content of a stockholder’s notice. These provisions might preclude our stockholders from bringing matters before our annual meeting of stockholders or from making nominations for directors at our annual meeting of stockholders if the proper procedures are not followed. We expect that these provisions might 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 our company.

Supermajority Voting: The DGCL provides, generally, that the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares entitled to vote on any matter is required to amend a corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws, unless a corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws, as the case may be, requires a greater percentage. Our bylaws may be amended or repealed by a majority vote of our board of directors or the affirmative vote of the holders of at least two-thirds of the votes that all our stockholders would be entitled to cast in an annual election of directors. In addition, the affirmative vote of the holders of at least two-thirds of the votes that all our stockholders would be entitled to cast in an election of directors is required to amend or repeal or to adopt certain provisions of our charter.

No Cumulative Voting: The DGCL provides that stockholders are not entitled to the right to cumulate votes in the election of directors unless a corporation’s certificate of incorporation provides otherwise. Our charter does not provide for cumulative voting.

Removal of Directors Only for Cause: Our charter provides that stockholders may remove directors only for cause and only by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least two-thirds of our outstanding common stock.

Delaware Business Combination Statute. We are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL, regulating corporate takeovers. In general, DGCL Section 203 prohibits a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder for a period of three years following the date on which the person became an interested stockholder unless (i) prior to the date of the transaction, the board of directors of the corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder; (ii) 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 voting stock outstanding, but not the outstanding voting stock owned by the interested stockholder, (a) shares owned by persons who are directors and also officers and (b) shares owned by 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 (iii) at or subsequent to the date of the transaction, the business combination is approved by the board of directors of the corporation and authorized at an annual or special meeting of stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds 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 or series of transactions together resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. An interested stockholder is a person who, together with affiliates and associates, owns or, within three years prior to the determination of interested stockholder status, did own 15% or more of a corporation’s outstanding voting stock. We expect the existence of this provision to have an anti-takeover effect with respect to transactions our board of directors does not approve in advance. We also anticipate that DGCL Section 203 may also discourage attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares of common stock held by stockholders.

Exclusive Forum Selection. Our charter provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for: 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 pursuant to the DGCL, our charter or our bylaws; any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our charter or our bylaws; or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. We do not intend to have this choice of forum provision apply to, and this choice of forum provision will not apply to, actions arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act.

 

2sldb-ex1024_200.htm

Exhibit 10.24

CONSULTING AGREEMENT

In consideration and as a condition of Andrey Zarur, an individual having an address at [*] (the “Consultant”), providing consulting services to Solid Biosciences Inc., a Delaware corporation (together with its affiliates, the “Company”), having an address at 141 Portland Street, Fifth Floor,  Cambridge, MA 02139, the Consultant hereby agrees with the Company as follows:

1.Relationship.  During the Term (as defined below), Consultant shall devote reasonable time and efforts to the Company’s business, consistent with Consultant’s other business responsibilities.  Consultant’s efforts on behalf of the Company shall, accordingly, be on a part‐time basis. Consultant’s duties are described in Exhibit A hereto (the “Services”).  Consultant represents that his service as a consultant to the Company and Consultant’s performance of the Services and all of the terms of this Agreement do not and will not violate any other legal obligation or any agreement to which Consultant is or shall become a party.

2.Compensation.  

(a)The Company shall pay Consultant a consulting fee at the annual rate of $100,000, payable in equal monthly instalments in arrears.  Company shall reimburse Consultant for all reasonable travel and out-of-pocket expenses incurred by Consultant in performing Services pursuant to this Agreement, upon submission of appropriate supporting documentation.  

(b)In addition, Company shall grant to Consultant, subject to the approval of the Company’s Board of Directors, a nonqualified stock option under Company’s 2018 Omnibus Incentive Plan for the purchase of 10,000 shares of Company’s common stock at an exercise price per share equal to the fair market value of a share of such common stock on the date of grant, as calculated under such Plan.

3.Work-Made-for Hire. 

(a)All right, title and interest in any and all writings, ideas, inventions, know-how, designs, improvements or other property created during Consultant’s consulting relationship relating directly to the business of the Company, constituting copyrights, patents, trademarks, service marks and related rights or other forms of proprietary rights or information (regardless of whether any such copyrights, patents, trademarks and service marks or other rights have or may be registered) that are created, adapted or improved by Consultant (whether alone or in conjunction with any other person or employee), and all material created during Consultant’s consulting relationship that includes any of the foregoing (collectively, “Covered Material”), shall be owned by the Company and to the extent that it includes copyrightable subject matter, shall be deemed a work made for hire for the Company within the meaning of the United States Copyright Act of 1976 and for all other purposes.  If any Covered Material is deemed not to be work made for hire, such Covered Material is hereby assigned by Consultant to the Company and Consultant shall not have or claim to have, under this Agreement or otherwise, any right, title or interest of any kind or nature whatsoever in such Covered Material.  

 

 

 

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(b)The Company shall have the right to apply for and obtain registrations in the United States Copyright Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, in its own or its designee’s name, of its rights in any or all of the Covered Material.  If for any reason the rights in any Covered Material are registered, or applied to be registered, in Consultant’s name, Consultant shall assign in writing such application or registration to the Company and hereby authorizes and appoints the Company its agent for the purpose of recording such assignment.

(c)Whenever the Company shall so request, whether during or after Consultant’s consulting relationship, Consultant shall execute, acknowledge and deliver all applications, assignments or other instruments; make or cause to be made all rightful oaths; testify in all legal proceedings; communicate all known facts which relate to such works, copyrights, inventions, ideas, discoveries, designs and improvements; perform all lawful acts and otherwise render all such assistance as the Company may deem necessary to protect the Company’s interest therein including any assistance which the Company shall deem necessary in connection with any proceeding or litigation involving the same.  The Company shall reimburse Consultant for all reasonable out-of-pocket costs, incurred by Consultant in rendering any such assistance requested by the Company pursuant to this Section.

 

4.Nondisclosure.  Consultant shall not at any time, whether during or after the termination of Consultant’s consulting relationship, regardless of the reason for such termination, reveal to any person or entity any Confidential Information except to employees of the Company who need to know such Confidential Information for the purposes of their employment, or as otherwise authorized by the Company in writing.  For purposes of this Agreement, the term “Confidential Information” means any and all information and derivative information, in whatever form or medium, including oral information, concerning or relating to the Company or information of any third party that the Company is under an obligation to keep confidential or that is maintained by the Company as confidential, including, without limitation, intellectual property of the Company, such as, but not limited to, patent applications, copyrights, copyright applications, and trade secrets; information regarding or resulting from research and development activities performed by or on behalf of the Company and other projects (such as, but not limited to, preclinical and clinical data, design details and specifications, engineering information, and works in process); and business and financial information (such as, but not limited to, current, future, and proposed products and services, financial information and models, information relating to procurement requirements, purchasing, manufacturing, investors, customer lists, customers, suppliers, facilities, product plans, product ideas, business strategies, marketing or business plans, financial or personnel matters, investors, employees, business and contractual relationships, business forecasts, sales, strategies, operations, policies, procedures, commercialization capabilities, and information regarding third parties). Notwithstanding the foregoing, Confidential Information does not include information that Consultant can demonstrate: (a) is publicly known and generally available in the public domain other than in consequence of improper action by any person; or (b) was acquired by Consultant free and clear of any duty of confidentiality or restricted use and without improper action by the transferor of such information or any other person.  Consultant shall keep confidential all matters entrusted to Consultant by or on behalf of the Company and shall not use or attempt to use any Confidential Information except as may be required in the ordinary course of performing Consultant’s duties as a consultant to the Company, and Consultant shall not use any Confidential Information in any manner that may injure or cause loss or may be calculated to injure or cause loss to the Company, whether directly or indirectly. 

 

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Nothing in this Agreement prohibits Consultant from reporting possible violations of federal or state law or regulations to any governmental agency or entity or self-regulatory institution, including but not limited to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Congress, and any Inspector General, or making other disclosures that are protected under the whistleblower provisions of federal or state law or regulation. Prior authorization of the Company shall not be required to make any such reports or disclosures and Consultant is not required to notify the Company that Consultant has made such reports or disclosures.

5.Term of Consulting Relationship.  The term of this Agreement shall be from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 (the “Term”).  Notwithstanding the foregoing, either party may terminate Consultant’s consulting relationship and this Agreement at any time, for any or no reason, on at least thirty (30) days’ prior notice, and the Company may terminate Consultant’s consulting relationship and this Agreement for “Cause” immediately upon notice.  For purposes of this Agreement, a termination shall be for Cause if any one or more of the following has occurred:

	
 
	
(i)
	
Consultant has committed an act of fraud, embezzlement, misappropriation or breach of fiduciary duty against the Company; 

	
 
	
(ii)
	
Consultant has been convicted of, or pleaded guilty or nolo contendere to, any crime triable upon indictment or involving moral turpitude; or

	
 
	
(iii)
	
Consultant has engaged in the unlawful use (including being under the influence) or possession of illegal drugs on the Company’s premises.

6.Independent Contractor.  Consultant is an independent contractor and not an employee of the Company.  Consultant shall be responsible for all taxes arising from compensation and other amounts paid under this Agreement.  Neither federal, state or local income tax, nor payroll tax of any kind, shall be withheld or paid by the Company on Consultant’s behalf.  Consultant will not be eligible for, and shall not participate in, any employee pension, health, welfare, or other fringe benefit plan of the Company.

7.Waiver; Amendments.  Any waiver by the Company of a breach of any provision of this Agreement shall not operate or be construed as a waiver of any subsequent breach of such provision or any other provision hereof.  In addition, any amendment to or modification of this Agreement or any waiver of any provision hereof must be agreed to in writing by both parties.

8.Severability.  Consultant agrees that each provision and the subparts of each provision herein shall be treated as separate and independent clauses, and the unenforceability of any one clause shall in no way impair the enforceability of any of the other clauses of the Agreement.   Moreover, if one or more of the provisions contained in this Agreement shall for any reason be held to be excessively broad as to scope, activity, subject or otherwise so as to be unenforceable at law, such provision or provisions shall be construed by the appropriate judicial body by limiting or reducing it or them, so as to be enforceable to the maximum extent compatible with the applicable law as it shall then appear.  Consultant hereby further agrees that the language of all parts of this Agreement shall in all cases be construed as a whole according to its fair meaning and not strictly for or against either of the parties.

 

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9.Survival. Consultant’s obligations under Sections 3 and 4 of this Agreement shall survive the termination of Consultant’s consulting relationship regardless of the reason for or manner of such termination and shall be binding upon Consultant’s successors, heirs, executors, administrators and legal representatives.

10.Assignment.  The Company shall have the right to assign this Agreement to its successors and assigns, and all covenants and agreements hereunder shall inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by said successors or assigns.  Consultant may not assign this Agreement.

11.Governing Law.  This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and shall in all respects be interpreted, enforced and governed under the internal and domestic laws of Massachusetts, without giving effect to the principles of conflicts of laws of such state.  The laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shall govern any claims or legal actions by one party against the other arising out of the relationship between the parties contemplated herein (whether or not arising under this Agreement).

12.Entire Agreement.  This Agreement sets forth the complete, sole and entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter herein and supersedes any and all other agreements, negotiations, discussions, proposals, or understandings, whether oral or written, previously entered into, discussed or considered by the parties.

 

	
	
/s/ Andrey Zarur

	
Andrey Zarur

 

		
	
Solid Biosciences Inc.

	
 
	
 

	
By:
	
/s/ Ilan Ganot

	
 
	
Ilan Ganot, CEO

 

 

 

 

 

EXHIBIT A

Description of Services

 

The role will entail the following responsibilities:  Work closely with the CEO in a number of key areas, which may include advice on strategic, financial, intellectual property, clinical and manufacturing issues.

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