Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
Save as described below, under English law, any provision that purports to exempt a director of a company (to any extent) from any liability that would otherwise attach to him or her in connection with any negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust in relation to the company is void.
Subject to certain exceptions, English law does not permit the Registrant to indemnify a director against any liability attaching to him or her in connection with any negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust in relation to the Registrant.
The exceptions allow the Registrant to: (1) purchase and maintain director and officer insurance insuring its directors or the directors of an “associated company” (i.e., a company that is a subsidiary of the Registrant) against any liability attaching in connection with any negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust owed to the company of which he or she is a director; (2) provide a qualifying third-party indemnity provision which permits the Registrant to indemnify its directors and directors of an associated company in respect of proceedings brought by third parties (covering both legal costs and the amount of any adverse judgment), except for (a) the legal costs of an unsuccessful defense of criminal proceedings or civil proceedings brought by the company or an associated company, or the legal costs incurred in connection with certain specified applications by the director for relief where the court refuses to grant the relief, (b) fines imposed in criminal proceedings, and (c) penalties imposed by regulatory bodies; (3) loan funds to a director to meet expenditure incurred defending civil and criminal proceedings against him or her (even if the action is brought by the company itself), or expenditure incurred applying for certain specified relief, subject to the requirement that the loan must be on terms that it is repaid if the defense or application for relief is unsuccessful; and (4) provide a qualifying pension scheme indemnity provision, which allows the
company to indemnify a director of a company that is a trustee of an occupational pension scheme against liability incurred in connection with such director’s activities as a trustee of the scheme (subject to certain exceptions).
Under the Registrant’s articles of association, subject to applicable legislation, including the provisions of the UK Companies Act 2006 (as set out above), the Registrant may do any or all of the following:
i.indemnify every director or former director of the Registrant or of any associated company against any liability; and
ii.purchase and maintain insurance against any liability for any director or former director of the Registrant or any associated company.
Under the Registrant’s articles of association, a director or former director of the Registrant or of any associated company will not be accountable to the Registrant or its shareholders for any benefit provided pursuant to the provision of any permitted indemnity or insurance, and any recipient of such a benefit will not be disqualified from being or becoming a director of the Registrant.
The Registrant has entered into a Deed of Indemnity with its directors. Pursuant to the Deed of Indemnity, the Registrant has agreed to indemnify each director in respect of all losses arising out of or in connection with any proceedings brought or threatened against the director in any jurisdiction for negligence, default, breach of duty, breach of trust or otherwise, or relating to any application for relief by the director (under sections 661(3) or 661(4) or section 1157 of the UK Companies Act 2006), in connection with the director’s acts or omissions while in the course of acting or purporting to act as a director of the Registrant or any of its subsidiaries or any other company in which the Registrant is legally or beneficially interested and in respect of which the director’s appointment as a director is related to the director’s appointment as a director of the Registrant or which otherwise arises by virtue of the director holding or having held such a position.
The Registrant maintains directors and officers insurance coverage, which, subject to policy terms and limitations, is expected to include coverage to reimburse the Registrant for amounts that it may be required or permitted by law to pay directors or officers of the Registrant.
Item 9. Undertakings.
(a)The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:
(1)To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to the Registration Statement:
(i)To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;
(ii)To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the Registration Statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the Registration Statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than a 20% change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective Registration Statement; and
(iii)To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the Registration Statement or any material change to such information in the Registration Statement;
provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the
Commission by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement.
(2)That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
(3)To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.
(b)The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the Registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered herein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
(c)Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.