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cue-ex44_461.htm

 

EXHIBIT 4.4

 

 

DESCRIPTION OF COMMON STOCK OF CUE BIOPHARMA, INC.

REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

The following information is a summary of information concerning the common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”), of Cue Biopharma, Inc. (“we,” “our,” or “us”) and does not purport to be complete. It is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Certificate of Incorporation”) and Amended and Restated Bylaws (the “Bylaws”), each of which are incorporated by reference as an exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this Exhibit 4.4 is a part.

 

Authorized Common Stock

 

The Certificate of Incorporation authorizes the issuance of 50,000,000 shares of Common Stock. Our authorized but unissued shares of Common 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 or automated quotation system on which our securities may be listed or traded.

 

Voting 

 

Each holder of Common Stock is entitled to one vote for each such share outstanding in the holder’s name. No holder of Common Stock is entitled to cumulate votes in voting for directors.

 

Dividends

 

Holders of Common Stock are entitled to such dividends as may be declared by our board of directors out of funds legally available for such purpose. 

 

Rights and Preferences

 

Shares of Common Stock are neither redeemable nor convertible. Holders of Common Stock have no preemptive or subscription rights to purchase any of our securities.

 

Liquidation

 

In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, holders of Common Stock are entitled to receive, pro rata, our assets which are legally available for distribution, after payments of all debts and other liabilities.

 

Preferred Stock

 

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Our board of directors has the authority, without further action by our stockholders, to issue up to 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock in one or more series and to fix the designations, powers, rights, preferences, qualifications, limitations and restrictions thereof. These designations, powers, rights and preferences could include voting rights, dividend rights, dissolution rights, conversion rights, exchange rights, redemption rights, liquidation preferences, and the number of shares constituting any series or the designation of such series, any or all of which may be greater than the rights of Common Stock. The issuance of preferred stock could adversely affect the voting power of holders of Common Stock and the likelihood that such holders will receive dividend payments and payments upon liquidation. In addition, the issuance of preferred stock could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in our control or other corporate action. 

 

Anti-Takeover Provisions

 

The provisions of Delaware law, the Certificate of Incorporation and the Bylaws could have the effect of delaying, deferring or discouraging another person from acquiring control of us. These provisions, which are summarized below, may have the effect of discouraging takeover bids. They are also designed, in part, to encourage persons seeking to acquire control of us to negotiate first with our board of directors. We believe that the benefits of increased protection of our potential ability to negotiate with an unfriendly or unsolicited acquirer outweigh the disadvantages of discouraging a proposal to acquire us because negotiation of these proposals could result in an improvement of their terms.

 

Delaware Law

 

We are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”), an anti-takeover law. In general, Section 203 prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any business combination (as defined below) with any interested stockholder (as defined below) for a period of three years following the date that the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless:

 

	
 
	
•
	
prior to that date, the board of directors of the corporation approved either the business combination or the transaction that 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 the voting stock of the corporation outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding for purposes of determining the number of shares of voting stock outstanding (but not the voting stock owned by the interested stockholder) those shares owned by persons who are directors and officers and by excluding 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

	
 
	
•
	
on or subsequent to that date, 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 66 2/3% of the outstanding voting stock that is not owned by the interested stockholder.

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In general, Section 203 defines “business combination” to include the following:

 

	
 
	
•
	
any merger or consolidation involving the corporation and the interested stockholder;

	
 
	
•
	
any sale, lease, exchange, mortgage, transfer, pledge or other disposition of 10% or more of the assets of the corporation involving the interested stockholder;

	
 
	
•
	
subject to certain exceptions, any transaction that results in the issuance or transfer by the corporation of any stock of the corporation to the interested stockholder;

	
 
	
•
	
subject to limited exceptions, any transaction involving the corporation that has the effect of increasing the proportionate share of the stock of any class or series of the corporation beneficially owned by the interested stockholder; or

	
 
	
•
	
the receipt by the interested stockholder of the benefit of any loans, advances, guarantees, pledges or other financial benefits provided by or through the corporation.

 

Section 203 generally defines an interested stockholder as any entity or person beneficially owning 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation, or who beneficially owns 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation at any time within a three-year period immediately prior to the date of determining whether such person is an interested stockholder, and any entity or person affiliated with or controlling or controlled by any of these entities or persons.

 

Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaw Provisions

 

The Certificate of Incorporation and the Bylaws include a number of provisions that could deter hostile takeovers or delay or prevent changes in control of us. Certain of these provisions are summarized in the following paragraphs.

 

Effects of authorized but unissued Common Stock.    One of the effects of the existence of authorized but unissued Common Stock may be to enable our board of directors to make more difficult or to discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a merger, tender offer, proxy contest or otherwise, and thereby to protect the continuity of management. If, in the due exercise of its fiduciary obligations, the board of directors were to determine that a takeover proposal was not in our best interest, such shares could be issued by the board of directors without stockholder approval in one or more transactions that might prevent or render more difficult or costly the completion of the takeover transaction by diluting the voting or other rights of the proposed acquirer or insurgent stockholder group, by putting a substantial voting block in institutional or other hands that might undertake to support the position of the incumbent board of directors, by effecting an acquisition that might complicate or preclude the takeover, or otherwise.

 

Cumulative Voting.    The Certificate of Incorporation does not provide for cumulative voting in the election of directors, which would allow holders of less than a majority of the stock to elect some directors.

 

Director Vacancies.    The Certificate of Incorporation provides that all vacancies may be filled only by the affirmative vote of a majority of directors then in office, even if less than a quorum.

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Stockholder Action; Special Meeting of Stockholders.    The Bylaws provide that stockholders may act by written consent. However, stockholders pursuing an action by written consent will be required to comply with certain notice and record date requirements that are set forth in the DGCL. A special meeting of stockholders may be called by the Chairman of the board of directors, the President, the Chief Executive Officer, or a majority of the board of directors at any time and for any purpose or purposes as shall be stated in the notice of the meeting, or by request of the holders of record of at least 20% of outstanding shares of Common Stock. This provision could prevent stockholders from calling a special meeting because, unless certain significant stockholders were to join with them, they might not obtain the percentage necessary to request the meeting. Therefore, stockholders holding less than 20% of issued and outstanding Common Stock, without the assistance of management, may be unable to propose a vote on any transaction which may delay, defer or prevent a change of control, even if the transaction were in the best interests of our stockholders.

 

Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations.    The Bylaws establish advance notice procedures with respect to stockholder proposals and the nomination of candidates for election as director. In order for any matter to be “properly brought” before a meeting, a stockholder will have to comply with such advance notice procedures and provide us with certain information. The Bylaws allow the presiding officer at a meeting of stockholders to adopt rules and regulations for the conduct of meetings which may have the effect of precluding the conduct of certain business at a meeting if such rules and regulations are not followed. These provisions may also defer, delay or discourage a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to influence or obtain control of us.

 

Supermajority Voting for Amendments to Our Governing Documents.    Any amendment to the Certificate of Incorporation requires the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3% of the voting power of all shares of our capital stock then outstanding. The Certificate of Incorporation provides that the board of directors is expressly authorized to adopt, amend or repeal the Bylaws and that our stockholders may amend the Bylaws only with the approval of at least 66 2/3% of the voting power of all shares of our capital stock then outstanding.

 

Choice of Forum.    The Certificate of Incorporation provides that, subject to certain exceptions, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for any claim, including any derivative claim, (i) that is based upon a violation of a duty by a current or former director or officer or stockholder in such capacity or (ii) as to which the DGCL, or any other provision of Title 8 of the Delaware Code, confers jurisdiction upon the Court of Chancery.

 

Listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market

Shares of Common Stock are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “CUE.”

Transfer Agent

The name, address and telephone number of the transfer agent of Common Stock is Corporate Stock Transfer, Inc. at 3200 Cherry Creek Drive South, Suite 430, Denver, Colorado 80209.

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EXHIBIT 10.16

 

Amendment No. 1 to the

Cue Biopharma, Inc. 2016 Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan

This Amendment No. 1 (“Amendment”), dated May 17, 2019, of the 2016 Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan, as amended (the “Existing Plan”; as amended hereby, the “Plan”), of Cue Biopharma, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), is made and adopted by the Company, subject to approval of the stockholders of the Company.

Statement of Purpose

The Existing Plan was originally approved by the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) on March 23, 2016 and approved by our stockholders on May 8, 2016, initially becoming effective on such date. The 2016 Plan was amended and restated by the Board on August 12, 2017 and approved by the Company’s stockholders on December 7, 2017. The Board may amend the Existing Plan at any time, pursuant to and subject to Section 5.2 of the Existing Plan, contingent on approval by the stockholders of the Company, if stockholder approval is required by applicable law or applicable securities exchange listing requirements. The Board has determined that it is advisable and in the best interest of the Company to amend the Existing Plan to increase the number of shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001, authorized for issuance under the Existing Plan as “incentive stock options” within the meaning of Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) Section 422 (“ISOs”) by 2,498,043 shares, and to make the other changes to the Existing Plan described in this Amendment.

NOW, THEREFORE, the Existing Plan is hereby amended as follows, subject to approval by the stockholders of the Company:

1.       Capitalized Terms. All capitalized terms used and not defined herein shall have the meanings given thereto in the Existing Plan.

2.       Amendment of Section 4.3.1 of Existing Plan. Section 4.3.1 of the Existing Plan is hereby deleted in its entirety and replaced with the following:

“4.3.1       Incentive Stock Options 

Subject to adjustment under Section 14, 5,300,000 Shares available for issuance under the Plan shall be available for issuance as Incentive Stock Options (the “ISO Limit”), effective as of May 17, 2019, subject to stockholder approval; provided, however, that on the first day of each fiscal year of the Company during the period beginning in fiscal year 2020 and ending on the second day of fiscal year 2027, the ISO Limit shall be increased by a number of Shares equal to any increase of the total number of Shares authorized to be issued under the Plan pursuant to Section 4.1 hereof; provided, further, that in no event shall the ISO Limit be greater than 20,000,000 Shares.” 

3.       Reference to and Effect on the Plan. The Plan, as amended hereby, and all other documents, instruments and agreements executed and/or delivered in connection therewith, shall remain in full force and effect, and are hereby ratified and confirmed.

4.       Governing Law. This Amendment shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware.

Effective this 17th day of May 2019.

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