Item 3.01 Notice of Delisting or Failure to Satisfy a Continued Listing Rule or Standard; Transfer of Listing.
OnDecember 17, 2020 ,Ziopharm Oncology, Inc. ("Ziopharm" or the "Company") notifiedThe Nasdaq Stock Market LLC ("Nasdaq") that (1) as a result of the removal of two members of the Company's Audit Committee (the "Audit Committee") from the Board of Directors of the Company (the "Board") effective as ofDecember 3, 2020 andDecember 15, 2020 , respectively, the Audit Committee consisted of only one member and no longer consisted of at least three members as required by Nasdaq Rule 5605(c)(2)(A) and (2) as a result of the removal of a member of the Company's Compensation Committee (the "Compensation Committee") from the Board effective as ofDecember 15, 2020 , the Compensation Committee no longer consisted of at least two independent members as required by Nasdaq Rule 5605(d)(2)(A). Under Nasdaq Rule 5810(c)(2), as a result of having two vacancies on the Audit Committee, the Company believes it will be granted 45 days from the date of notice of non-compliance by Nasdaq to submit a plan of compliance to Nasdaq. After reviewing the Company's plan, Nasdaq may grant the Company an extension of up to 180 calendar days from the date of notification to regain compliance. The Company plans to rely on the cure period set forth in Nasdaq Rule 5605(d)(4) with respect to the composition of the Compensation Committee. The Company expects to take all necessary steps to regain compliance with the Nasdaq Listing Rules by filling the Audit Committee vacancies and the Compensation Committee vacancy on a timely basis with independent directors who satisfy the applicable requirements of the Nasdaq Listing Rules.
The disclosure in Items 5.02 and Item 5.07 of this Current Report on Form 8-K is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
OnDecember 15, 2020 , following the consent solicitation (the "WaterMill Consent Solicitation") byWaterMill Asset Management Corp. ,Robert W. Postma and certain other individuals (collectively, "WaterMill"),WaterMill delivered consents for stockholder action by written consent in lieu of a meeting of the Company's stockholders under Section 228 of the General Corporation Law of the State
ofDelaware (the "DGCL"). Removal of Director Effective as ofDecember 15, 2020 , stockholders of the Company holding a majority of the Company's common stock, par value$0.001 per share (the "Common Stock") outstanding and entitled to vote as of the record date ofOctober 29, 2020 (the "Record Date"), acted by written consent pursuant to Section 228 of the DGCL to removeScott Tarriff from the Board. As a result,Mr. Tarriff was removed from the Board with immediate effect. Election of New Directors Effective as ofDecember 15, 2020 , stockholders of the Company holding a majority of the Company's Common Stock outstanding and entitled to vote thereon acted by written consent pursuant to Section 228 of the DGCL to electJaime Vieser andHolger Weis (together, the "Newly Elected Directors") to the Board as directors to fill the two vacancies created by the removal of directorMr. Tarriff and the previously reported resignation ofElan Z. Ezickson effectiveDecember 3, 2020 . The Newly Elected Directors were elected to serve as directors of the Company until the Company's 2021 annual meeting of stockholders and until their respective successors are duly elected and qualified. The Board has not yet determined Board committee assignments for the Newly Elected Directors. To the extent that any information called for by Item 5.02(c)(3) is not determined or is unavailable, the Company will provide such information, if required, in an amendment to this Current Report on Form 8-K within four business days after the information is determined or becomes available.
The disclosure in Item 5.07 of this Current Report on Form 8-K is incorporated herein by reference.
1
Item 5.03 Amendments to Articles of Incorporation or Bylaws; Change in Fiscal Year.
Effective as ofDecember 15, 2020 , stockholders of the Company holding a majority of the Company's Common Stock outstanding and entitled to vote thereon acted by written consent in lieu of a stockholder meeting pursuant to Section 228 of the DGCL to repeal any provision of the By-Laws of the Company (the "By-Laws") that was not included in the By-Laws that were in effect and filed with theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") onSeptember 22, 2020 . No provision of the By-Laws was adopted afterSeptember 22, 2020 , so
this action had no effect.
The disclosure in Item 5.07 of this Current Report on Form 8-K is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders.
OnDecember 15, 2020 ,WaterMill delivered consents for stockholder action by written consent in lieu of a stockholder meeting under Section 228 of the DGCL. Pursuant to Section 228 of the DGCL,WaterMill's proposals became effective when legally valid, unrevoked consents signed by the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of the Company's Common Stock entitled to vote, as of the close of business on the Record Date were delivered to the Company within 60 days of the earliest dated written consent delivered to the Company.WaterMill's proposals provided for (i) the repeal of any provision of the By-Laws in effect at the time Proposal 1 becomes effective, including any amendments thereto, which were not included in the By-Laws that were in effect and filed with theSEC onSeptember 22, 2020 ("Proposal 1"), (ii) the removal, without cause, of four members of the Board:Scott Braunstein ,J. Kevin Buchi ,Elan Z. Ezickson andScott Tarriff , and in addition, any other person (other than those elected by the WaterMill Consent Solicitation) elected or appointed to the Board to fill any vacancy on the Board or any newly-created directorships on or afterOctober 15, 2020 and prior to the time that any of the actions proposed to be taken by the WaterMill Consent Solicitation become effective ("Proposal 2"), (iii) the amendment of Article 3, Section 3.3 of the By-Laws to provide that any vacancies on the Board resulting from any newly created directorship(s) or for any cause shall be filled exclusively by the stockholders of the Company ("Proposal 3"), (iv) the amendment of Article 3, Section 3.2 of the By-Laws to provide that the stockholders of the Company have the exclusive ability to fix the size of the Board and to fix the size of the Board at seven directors ("Proposal 4"), and (v) the election ofRobert Postma ,Jaime Vieser andHolger Weis to serve as directors of the Company until the Company's 2021 annual meeting of stockholders and until their successors are duly elected and qualified (or, if any such nominee is unable or unwilling to serve as a director of the Company, any other person designated as a nominee by the remainingWaterMill nominee or nominees) ("Proposal 5" and Proposals 1 through 5, collectively, the "WaterMill Proposals"). Based on the tabulation of the Company's proxy solicitor,Morrow Sodali LLC ("Morrow"), the final tally of unrevoked consents by the Company's stockholders delivered to the Company with respect to the WaterMill Proposals is set forth below.
Proposal 1 - Repeal Bylaws Adopted After
Against Consent Consent Abstain 137,639,010 743,037 97,109 2
Proposal 2 - Removal of Directors. This proposal was approved with respect to the removal of Messrs. Braunstein, Ezickson and Tarriff based on the following results. As a result,Mr. Tarriff was removed from the Board. Against Director Consent Consent Abstain Scott Braunstein* 106,978,626 3,986,075 27,514,453 J. Kevin Buchi 99,287,332 37,184,011 2,007,811 Elan Z. Ezickson** 134,333,683 3,987,529 157,944 Scott Tarriff 130,105,991 8,240,900 132,265 Any other person elected or appointed to the Board on or after October 15, 2020 99,315,429 37,114,161 2,049,564
*
**
Proposal 3 - By-Law Amendment Regarding Vacancies. This proposal was not approved based on the following results.
Against Consent Consent Abstain 104,390,366 34,007,240 81,548
Proposal 4 - By-Law Amendment Regarding Board Size. This proposal was not approved based on the following results.
Against Consent Consent Abstain 104,031,891 32,482,738 1,964,525 Proposal 5 - Election ofWaterMill's Nominees. This proposal was approved with respect to the election of Messrs. Postma, Vieser and Weis based on the following results. Against Nominee Consent Consent Abstain Robert Postma 113,813,926 24,565,998 99,230 Jaime Vieser 133,272,520 5,144,206 62,430 Holger Weis 116,602,216 21,830,510 46,430 As of the effective date of the WaterMill Proposals, the Company had only two vacancies on the Board. Pursuant toWaterMill's definitive consent solicitation statement filed with theSEC onOctober 30, 2020 , if there are less than three vacancies on the Board, theWaterMill nominees receiving the highest number of consents will fill the available vacancies. As a result, Messrs. Vieser and Weis have been elected to the Board as directors. Item 8.01 Other Events.
On
OnDecember 18, 2020 , the Company transmitted a copy of a notice to stockholders pursuant to Section 228(e) of the DGCL. A copy of the notice is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.2.
The information set forth above in Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders is hereby incorporated by reference.
3
Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(d) Exhibits Exhibit No. Description 99.1 Press release ofZiopharm Oncology, Inc. , datedDecember 16, 2020 . 99.2 Notice to Stockholders ofZiopharm Oncology, Inc. , datedDecember 18, 2020 . 104 Cover Page Interactive Data File (embedded within the Inline XBRL document). 4
© Edgar Online, source