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equity-based compensation to eligible officers, employees, non-employee directors and, when appropriate, consultants and/or advisors, is an effective means to promote the future growth and development of the Company. Equity awards, among other things, further align the interests of award recipients with Company shareholders and enable the Company to attract and retain qualified personnel.
If the plan is appoved by our shareholders, the Plan will become effective on April 17, 2019 (the Effective Date), and no further awards will be made under the 2014 Plan. If our shareholders do not approve the Plan, the 2014 Plan will remain in effect in its current form, subject to its expiration date. However, there will be insufficient shares available under the 2014 Plan to make annual awards and to provide grants to new hires in the coming years. In this event, the Committee would be required to revise its compensation philosophy and formulate other cash-based programs to attract, retain, and compensate eligible officers, employees, non-employee directors and consultants/advisors.
Proposed Share Reserve
A total of 12,000,000 shares of common stock are reserved for awards granted under the Plan. The Plans reserve will be reduced by one (1) share for every one (1) share that is subject to an option or stock appreciation right granted under the 2014 Plan after December 31, 2018, and 3.5 shares for every one (1) share that is subject to an award other than an option or stock appreciation right (such award, a full-value award) granted under the 2014 Plan after December 31, 2018.
If (i) any shares subject to an award are forfeited, an award expires or otherwise does not result in the issuance of all or a portion of the shares subject to such Award, or an award is settled for cash (in whole or in part), or (ii) after December 31, 2018 any shares subject to an award under any Prior Plan are forfeited, an award under any Prior Plan expires or otherwise does not result in the issuance of all or a portion of the shares subject to such Award, or is settled for cash (in whole or in part), then in each such case the shares subject to such award shall, to the extent of such forfeiture, expiration, non-issuance or cash settlement, be added to the Plans reserve. In the event that withholding tax liabilities arising from a full-value award or, after December 31, 2018, arising from a
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full-value award under any Prior Plan are satisfied by the tendering of shares (either actually or by attestation) or by the withholding of shares by the Company, the shares so tendered or withheld shall be added to the Plans reserve.
The Plans reserve will be reduced by one (1) share for every one (1) share that is subject to an option or stock appreciation right and 3.5 shares for every one (1) share that is subject to a full-value award and, similarly, will be increased on the same basis for permitted addbacks.
Impact on Dilution and
Fully-diluted Overhang
Our Board recognizes the impact of dilution on our shareholders and has evaluated this share request carefully in the context of the need to motivate, retain and ensure that our leadership team and key employees are focused on our strategic priorities.
The total fully-diluted overhang as of December 31, 2018, assuming that the entire share reserve is granted in stock options or stock appreciation rights, would be 12.81% and the total fully-diluted overhang, assuming the share reserve is granted in full-value awards only, would be 5.81%. The Companys historical practice, which is not currently expected to change, has been to grant a combination of stock appreciation rights and full-value awards, resulting in overhang between these two levels. In this context, fully-diluted overhang is calculated as the sum of grants outstanding and shares available for future awards (numerator) divided by the sum of the numerator and basic common shares outstanding, with all data effective as of December 31, 2018.
Our Board believes that the increase in shares of common stock available for issuance represents a reasonable amount of potential equity dilution to accommodate our long-term strategic and growth priorities.
Expected Duration
of the Share Reserve
We expect that the share reserve under the Plan, if this proposal is approved by our shareholders, will be sufficient for awards for approximately five years. Expectations regarding future share usage could be impacted by a number of factors such as award type mix; hiring and promotion activity at the executive level; the rate at which shares are returned to the Plans reserve
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