RS 12:132 Definitions - Louisiana Statutes

§132.  Definitions

The following terms as used in R.S. 12:133 and R.S. 12:134 shall have the following meanings:

(1)  "Affiliate," including the term "affiliated person," means a person that directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries controls or is controlled by or is under common control with a specified person.  

(2)  "Associate," when used to indicate a relationship with any person, means the following:

(a)  Any corporation or organization other than the corporation or a subsidiary of the corporation, of which such person is an officer, director, or partner or is, directly or indirectly, the beneficial owner of ten percent or more of any class of equity securities.  

(b)  Any trust or other estate in which such person has a substantial beneficial interest or as to which such person serves as trustee or in a similar fiduciary capacity.  

(c)  Any relative or spouse of such person, or any relative of such spouse, who has the same home as such person or who is a director or officer of the corporation or any of its affiliates.  

(3)  "Beneficial owner," when used with respect to any voting stock, means any of the following:

(a)  A person who individually or with any of its affiliates or associates beneficially owns voting stock, directly or indirectly.  

(b)  A person who individually or with any of its affiliates or associates has either of the following rights:

(i)  To acquire voting stock, whether such right is exercisable immediately or only after the passage of time, pursuant to any agreement, arrangement, or understanding or upon the exercise of conversion rights, exchange rights, warrants or options, or otherwise.  

(ii)  To vote voting stock pursuant to any agreement, arrangement, or understanding.  

(c)  A person who has any agreement, arrangement, or understanding for the purpose of acquiring, holding, voting, or disposing of voting stock with any other person who beneficially owns or whose affiliates beneficially own, directly or indirectly, such shares of voting stock.  

(4)  "Business combination" means any of the following:

(a)  Unless the merger, consolidation, or share exchange does not alter the contract rights of the stock as expressly set forth in the articles or change or convert in whole or in part the outstanding shares of the corporation, any merger, consolidation, or share exchange of the corporation or any subsidiary with:

(i)  Any interested shareholder, or

(ii)  Any other corporation, whether or not itself an interested shareholder, which is, or after the merger, consolidation, or share exchange would be, an affiliate of an interested stockholder that was an interested shareholder prior to the transaction.  

(b)  Any sale, lease, transfer, or other disposition, other than in the ordinary course of business, in one transaction or a series of transactions in any twelve-month period, to any interested shareholder or any affiliate of any interested shareholder, other than the corporation of any of its subsidiaries, of any assets of the corporation or any subsidiary having, measured at the time the transaction or transactions are approved by the board of directors of the corporation, an aggregate book value as of the end of the corporation's most recently ended fiscal quarter of ten percent or more of the total market value of the outstanding stock of the corporation or of its net worth as of the end of its most recently ended fiscal quarter.  

(c)  The issuance or transfer by the corporation or any subsidiary, in one transaction or a series of transactions, of any equity securities of the corporation or any subsidiary which has an aggregate market value of five percent or more of the total market value of the outstanding stock of the corporation, to any interested shareholder or any affiliate of any interested shareholder, other than the corporation or any of its subsidiaries, except pursuant to the exercise of warrants or rights to purchase securities offered pro rata to all holders of the corporation's voting stock or any other method affording substantially proportionate treatment of the holders of voting stock.  

(d)  The adoption of any plan or proposal for the liquidation or dissolution of the corporation in which anything other than cash will be received by an interested shareholder or any affiliate of any interested shareholder.  

(e)  Any reclassification of securities including any reverse stock split or recapitalization of the corporation or any merger, consolidation, or share exchange of the corporation with any of its subsidiaries which has the effect, directly or indirectly, in one transaction or a series of transactions, of increasing by five percent or more of the total number of outstanding shares the proportionate amount of the outstanding shares of any class of equity securities of the corporation or any subsidiary which is directly or indirectly owned by any interested shareholder or any affiliate of any interested shareholder.  

(5)  "Common stock" means any stock other than preferred or preference stock.  

(6)  "Control," including the terms "controlling," "controlled by," and "under common control with," means the possession, directly or indirectly, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract, or otherwise.  The beneficial ownership of ten percent or more of the votes entitled to be cast by a corporation's voting stock creates a presumption of control.  

(7)  "Corporation" means any corporation which has been granted a certificate of incorporation by the state of Louisiana.  

(8)  "Equity security" means any of the following:

(a)  Any stock or similar security, certificate of interest, or participation in any profit sharing agreement, voting trust certificate, or certificate of deposit for an equity security.  

(b)  Any security convertible, with or without consideration, into an equity security, or any warrant or other security carrying any right to subscribe to or purchase an equity security.  

(c)  Any put, call, straddle, or other option or privilege of buying an equity security from or selling an equity security to another without being bound to do so.  

(9)(a)  "Interested shareholder" means any person other than the corporation or any subsidiary or any of the corporation's employee plans or related trusts that is either of the following:

(i)  The beneficial owner, directly or indirectly, of ten percent or more of the voting power of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation.

(ii)  An affiliate of the corporation who at any time within the two-year period immediately prior to the date in question was the beneficial owner, directly or indirectly, of ten percent or more of the voting power of the then outstanding voting stock of the corporation.  

(b)  For the purpose of determining whether a person is an interested shareholder, the number of shares of voting stock deemed to be outstanding shall include shares deemed owned by the person through application of Subsection (3) of this Section, but may not include any other shares of voting stock which may be issuable pursuant to any agreement, arrangement, or understanding, or upon exercise of conversion rights, warrants or options, or otherwise.  

(10)  "Market value" means the following:

(a)  In the case of stock, the highest closing sale price during the thirty-day period immediately preceding the date in question of a share of such stock on the principal United States securities exchange registered under the Securities Exchange Act* of 1934 on which such stock is listed, or if such stock is not listed on any such exchange, the highest closing bid quotation with respect to a share of such stock during the thirty-day period preceding the date in question on the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., Automated Quotations Systems or any system then in use, or if no such quotations are available, the fair market value on the date in question of a share of such stock as determined by the board of directors of the corporation in good faith.  

(b)  In the case of property other than cash or stock, the fair market value of such property on the date in question as determined by the board of directors of the corporation in good faith.  

(11)  "Subsidiary" means any corporation of which voting stock having a majority of the votes entitled to be cast is owned, directly or indirectly, by the corporation.  

(12)  "Voting stock" means shares of capital stock of a corporation entitled to vote generally in the election of directors.  

Acts 1984, No. 841, §2, eff. July 13, 1984; Acts 1988, No. 455, §1, eff. July 10, 1988.  

*15 U.S.C. §77B ET SEQ.