EX-99.1 2 d458069dex991.htm NOMINATION AND STANDSTILL AGREEMENT EXECUTION COPY NOMINATION AND STANDSTILL AGREEMENT
Exhibit 99.1
EXECUTION COPY
NOMINATION AND STANDSTILL AGREEMENT
This Nomination and Standstill Agreement (this “Agreement”) dated December 21, 2012, is by and among the persons and entities listed on Schedule A (collectively, the “ValueAct Group”, and individually a “member” of the ValueAct Group), CBRE Group, Inc. (the “Company”) and Xxxxxxx X. Xxxx, in his individual capacity and as a member of the ValueAct Group (the “ValueAct Designee”).
(a) The Company agrees to add the ValueAct Designee to the Board contemporaneously with the execution of this Agreement by increasing the size of the Board and a vacancy thereby created with the ValueAct Designee.
(b) The Company agrees to include the ValueAct Designee in its slate of nominees for election as directors of the Company at the Company’s next annual meeting of stockholders.
(c) As a condition to the ValueAct Designee’s appointment to the Board and any subsequent nomination for election as a director of the Company, the ValueAct Group, including the ValueAct Designee, agrees to provide to the Company information required to be or customarily disclosed for directors, candidates for directors, and their affiliates and representatives in a proxy statement or other filings under applicable law or stock exchange rules or listing standards, information in connection with assessing eligibility, independence and other criteria applicable to directors or satisfying compliance and legal obligations, and such other information as reasonably requested by the Company from time to time with respect to the ValueAct Group and the ValueAct Designee.
(d) The ValueAct Designee agrees that, at all times while serving as a member of the Board, he will (i) meet all director independence and other standards of the Company, the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and applicable provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, including Rule 10A-3; and (ii) be qualified to serve as a director under the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”); (clauses (i), and (ii), the “Conditions”). The ValueAct Designee will promptly advise the Governance Committee if he ceases to satisfy any of the Conditions.
(e) At all times while serving as a member of the Board, the ValueAct Designee shall comply with all policies, procedures, processes, codes, rules, standards and guidelines applicable to Board members, including the Company’s Standards of Business Conduct, Anti-Corruption Policy, Communications and Fair
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Disclosure Policy, Policy Regarding Transactions with Interested Parties, Equity Award Policy, Securities Trading Policy and Corporate Governance Guidelines, and preserve the confidentiality of Company business and information, including discussions or matters considered in meetings of the Board or Board committees to the extent not disclosed publicly by the Company.
(f) So long as the ValueAct Group collectively beneficially owns, in the aggregate, at least 7.5% of the outstanding Common Stock, if, during the Covered Period, (i) a vacancy on the Board is created as a result of the ValueAct Designee’s death, resignation, disqualification or removal, including as a result of the ValueAct Designee’s resignation pursuant to Section 1(g) hereto, or (ii) the nomination of the ValueAct Designee at the Company’s 2013 annual meeting of stockholders is withdrawn for any reason, then the ValueAct Group and the Company (acting through the Board) shall work together in good faith to fill such vacancy or replace such nominee with an individual who (A) meets the conditions set forth in clauses (c)-(d) above, (B) meets the historical standards and criteria applied by the Company in nominating and appointing directors, and (C) is otherwise mutually acceptable (in each of their sole discretion) to the ValueAct Group and the Company, and thereafter such individual shall serve and/or be nominated as the “ValueAct Designee” under this Agreement.
(g) The Company’s obligations hereunder (other than the requirement to work together in good faith pursuant to Section 1(f) above with respect to resignation of the ValueAct Designee as a result of clauses (ii), (iii) and (iv) below,) shall terminate immediately, and the ValueAct Designee shall promptly offer to resign from the Board (and, if requested by the Company, promptly deliver his written resignation to the Board (which shall provide for his immediate resignation) it being understood that it shall be in the Board’s sole discretion whether to accept or reject such resignation) if: (i) members of the ValueAct Group, collectively, cease to beneficially own at least 7.5% of the Company’s outstanding Common Stock; (ii) the ValueAct Designee ceases to satisfy the conditions set forth in clauses (c)-(e) above; (iii) a member of the ValueAct Group, including the ValueAct Designee, otherwise ceases to comply or breaches any of the terms of this Agreement; or (iv) the employment of the ValueAct Designee with the ValueAct Group is terminated for any reason. The ValueAct Group agrees to cause the ValueAct Designee to resign from the Board if the ValueAct Designee fails to resign if and when requested pursuant to this clause (g).
(h) The percentage thresholds set forth in clauses (f) and (g) above shall not be deemed unsatisfied to the extent a failure to maintain the specified ownership thresholds is the result of share issuances or similar Company actions that increase the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock.
(a) Each member of the ValueAct Group agrees that, during the Covered Period, (unless specifically requested in writing by the Company, acting through a resolution of a majority of the Company’s directors not including the ValueAct Designee), it shall not, and shall cause each of its Affiliates or Associates (as such terms are defined in Rule 12b-2 promulgated by the SEC under the Exchange Act) (collectively and individually, the “ValueAct Affiliates,” provided that no portfolio company of the ValueAct Group shall be deemed a “ValueAct Affiliate” so long as such portfolio company (A) has not discussed the Company or its business with the ValueAct Group or the ValueAct Designee, (B) has not received from the ValueAct Group or the ValueAct Designee information concerning the Company or its business, and (C) is not acting at the request of, in coordination with or on behalf of the ValueAct Group or the ValueAct Designee), not to, directly or indirectly, in any manner, alone or in concert with others:
(i) make, engage in, or in any way participate in, directly or indirectly, any “solicitation” of proxies (as such terms are used in the proxy rules of the SEC but without regard to the exclusion set forth in Rule 14a-1(l)(2)(iv) of the Exchange Act) or consents to vote, or seek to advise, encourage or influence any person with respect to the voting of any securities of the Company or any securities convertible or exchangeable into or exercisable for any such securities (collectively, “securities of the Company”) for the election of individuals to the Board or to approve stockholder proposals, or become a “participant” in any contested “solicitation” for the election of directors with respect to the Company (as such terms are defined or used under the Exchange Act) (other than a “solicitation” or acting as a “participant” in support of all of the nominees of the Board at any stockholder meeting) or make or be the proponent of any stockholder proposal (pursuant to Rule 14a-8 under the Exchange Act or otherwise);
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(ii) form, join, encourage, influence, advise or in any way participate in any Group (as such term is defined in Section 13(d)(3) of the Exchange Act) with any persons who are not ValueAct Affiliates with respect to any securities of the Company or otherwise in any manner agree, attempt, seek or propose to deposit any securities of the Company in any voting trust or similar arrangement, or subject any securities of the Company to any arrangement or agreement with respect to the voting thereof, except as expressly set forth in this Agreement;
(iii) acquire, offer or propose to acquire, or agree to acquire, directly or indirectly, whether by purchase, tender or exchange offer, through the acquisition of control of another person, by joining a partnership, limited partnership, syndicate or other group (including any group of persons that would be treated as a single “person” under Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act), through swap or hedging transactions or otherwise, any securities of the Company or any rights decoupled from the underlying securities of the Company that would result in the ValueAct Group (together with the ValueAct Affiliates) owning, controlling or otherwise having any beneficial or other ownership interest in more than 13.75% in the aggregate of the shares of Common Stock outstanding at such time; provided, that, nothing herein will require Common Stock to be sold to the extent the ValueAct Group and the ValueAct Affiliates, collectively, exceed the ownership limit under this paragraph as the result of a share repurchase or similar Company actions that reduces the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock;
(iv) sell, offer or agree to sell, directly or indirectly, through swap or hedging transactions or otherwise, the securities of the Company or any rights decoupled from the underlying securities of the Company held by the ValueAct Group or any ValueAct Affiliate to any person or entity not a (A) party to this Agreement, (B) member of the Board, (C) officer of the Company or (D) ValueAct Affiliate (any person or entity not set forth in clauses (A)-(D) shall be referred to as a “Third Party”), that would knowingly result in such Third Party, together with its affiliates and associates, owning, controlling or otherwise having any beneficial or other ownership interest in more than 9.9% in the aggregate of the shares of Common Stock outstanding at such time, except in a transaction approved by the Board;
(v) effect or seek to effect, offer or propose to effect, cause or participate in, or in any way assist or facilitate any other person to effect or seek, offer or propose to effect or participate in, any tender or exchange offer, merger, consolidation, acquisition, scheme, arrangement, business combination, recapitalization, reorganization, sale or acquisition of material assets, liquidation, dissolution or other extraordinary transaction involving the Company or any of its subsidiaries or joint ventures or any of their respective securities (each, an “Extraordinary Transaction”), or make any public statement with respect to an Extraordinary Transaction; provided, however, that this clause shall not preclude the tender by the ValueAct Group or a ValueAct Affiliate of any securities of the Company into any tender or exchange offer or vote by the ValueAct Group or a ValueAct Affiliate of any securities of the Company with respect to any Extraordinary Transaction;
(vi) engage in any short sale or any purchase, sale or grant of any option, warrant, convertible security, stock appreciation right or other similar right (including, without limitation, any put or call option or “swap” transaction) with respect to any security (other than a broad-based market basket or index) that includes, relates to or derives any significant part of its value from a decline in the market price or value of the securities of the Company;
(vii) (A) call or seek to call any meeting of stockholders, including by written consent, (B) seek representation, on or nominate any candidate to, the Board, except as set forth herein, (C) seek the removal of any member of the Board, (D) solicit consents from stockholders or otherwise act or seek to act by written consent, (E) conduct a referendum of stockholders, or (F) make a request for any stockholder list or other Company books and records, whether pursuant to Section 220 of the DGCL or otherwise;
(viii) take any action in support of or make any proposal or request that constitutes: (A) advising, controlling, changing or influencing the Board or management of the Company, including any plans or proposals to change the number or term of directors or to fill any vacancies on the Board; (B) any material change in the capitalization or dividend policy of the Company; (C) any other material change in the Company’s management, business or corporate structure; (D) seeking to have the Company waive or make amendments or modifications to the Company’s Restated Certificate of Incorporation or Second Amended and Restated By-Laws or other actions
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that may impede or facilitate the acquisition of control of the Company by any person; (E) causing a class of securities of the Company to be delisted from, or to cease to be authorized to be quoted on, any securities exchange; or (F) causing a class of securities of the Company to become eligible for termination of registration pursuant to Section 12(g)(4) of the Exchange Act;
(ix) disparage or cause to be disparaged the Company or affiliates thereof or any of its current or former officers or directors;
(x) make any public disclosure, announcement or statement regarding any intent, purpose, plan or proposal with respect to the Board, the Company, its management, policies or affairs or any of its securities or assets or this Agreement that is inconsistent with the provisions of this Agreement;
(xi) enter into any discussions negotiations, agreements, or understandings with any Third Party with respect to any of the foregoing, or advise, assist, knowingly encourage or seek to persuade any Third Party to take any action or make any statement with respect to any of the foregoing, or otherwise take or cause any action or make any statement inconsistent with any of the foregoing; or
(xii) request, directly or indirectly, any amendment or waiver of the foregoing.
The foregoing provisions of this Section 2(a) shall not be deemed to prohibit the ValueAct Group or its directors, officers, partners, employees, members or agents (acting in such capacity) (“Representatives”) from communicating privately with the Company’s directors, officers or advisors so long as such communications are not intended to, and would not reasonably be expected to, require any public disclosure of such communications.
(b) Each member of the ValueAct Group shall cause all shares of Common Stock beneficially owned, directly or indirectly, by it, or by any ValueAct Affiliate, to be present for quorum purposes and to be voted, at the Company’s 2013 annual and special stockholder meeting and at any adjournments or postponements thereof, and further agrees that at the 2013 annual stockholder meeting they shall vote in favor of (i) all directors nominated by the Board for election at such meetings (including the ValueAct Designee as applicable) and (ii) in accordance with the Board’s recommendation with respect to any proposals that may be the subject of stockholder action at such meetings; provided, however, that with respect to a proposal related to an Extraordinary Transaction, the ValueAct Group and the ValueAct Affiliates may vote their shares of Common Stock beneficially owned, directly or indirectly, in the discretion of the ValueAct Group or the ValueAct Affiliate, as applicable.
(c) Nothing in this Section 2 shall limit any actions that may be taken by the ValueAct Designee acting solely as a director of the Company consistent with his fiduciary duties as a director of the Company (it being understood and agreed that the ValueAct Group and the ValueAct Affiliates shall not seek to do indirectly through the ValueAct Designee anything that would be prohibited if done by the ValueAct Group or the ValueAct Affiliates).
For purposes of this Agreement the terms “person” or “persons” shall mean any individual, corporation (including not-for-profit), general or limited partnership, limited liability or unlimited liability company, joint venture, estate, trust, association, organization or other entity of any kind or nature.
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aggregate of 32,000,000 shares of Common Stock and such shares of Common Stock constitute all of the Common Stock beneficially owned by the ValueAct Group and the ValueAct Affiliates or in which the ValueAct Group or the ValueAct Affiliates have any interest or right to acquire, whether through derivative securities, voting agreements or otherwise; and (d) as of the date of this Agreement, the ValueAct Designee satisfies all of the Conditions and the obligations of the ValueAct Designee set forth in Section 1(d).
(a) This Agreement is effective as of the date hereof and shall remain in full force and effect for the period (the “Covered Period”) commencing on the date hereof and ending on the date that is the earliest of: (i) the date that is 10 days following the date that the Company materially breaches its obligations under the first section of this Agreement, provided, that, such breach has not been cured prior to the expiration of such 10-day period; (ii) the date that is three months from the date the ValueAct Designee ceases to be a member of the Board and is not replaced; (iii) the date of the 2014 annual meeting; and (iv) if the Company does not include the ValueAct Designee in its slate of nominees for election as directors of the Company at the Company’s 2014 annual meeting of stockholders, the date the ValueAct Designee ceases to be a member of the Board.
(b) The provisions of Section 1(d), Section 1(e), this Section 5 and Section 7 through Section 16 shall survive the termination of this Agreement. No termination pursuant to Section 5(a) shall relieve any party hereto from liability for any breach of this Agreement prior to such termination.
6. Public Announcement and SEC Filing.
(a) The Company shall file promptly a Form 8-K reporting entry into this Agreement (the “Form 8-K”) and appending or incorporating by reference this Agreement as an exhibit thereto.
(b) The ValueAct Group shall promptly, but in no case prior to the date of filing of the Form 8-K by the Company pursuant to Section 6(a) hereof, file an amendment to its Schedule 13D with respect to the Company, reporting the entry into this Agreement and amending applicable items to conform to its obligations hereunder. None of the ValueAct Group, the ValueAct Affiliates or the ValueAct Designee shall (i) issue a press release in connection with this Agreement or the actions contemplated hereby or (ii) otherwise make any public statement, disclosure or announcement with respect to this Agreement or the actions contemplated hereby, other than as mutually agreed to by the Company and the ValueAct Group.
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this Agreement exclusively in the Court of Chancery or other federal or state courts of the State of Delaware and to require the resignation of the ValueAct Designee from the Board commencing on the date that is 10 days following the date that the ValueAct Designee and/or the ValueAct Group materially breaches its obligations under this Agreement, provided, that, such breach has not been cured prior to the expiration of such 10-day period, in addition to any other remedies at law or in equity, and each party agrees it will not take any action, directly or indirectly, in opposition to another party seeking relief. Each of the parties hereto agrees to waive any bonding requirement under any applicable law, in the case any other party seeks to enforce the terms by way of equitable relief. Furthermore, each of the parties hereto (a) consents to submit itself to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery or other federal or state courts of the State of Delaware in the event any dispute arises out of this Agreement or the transactions contemplated by this Agreement, (b) agrees that it shall not attempt to deny or defeat such personal jurisdiction by motion or other request for leave from any such court, (c) agrees that it shall not bring any action relating to this Agreement or the transactions contemplated by this Agreement in any court other than the Court of Chancery or other federal or state courts of the State of Delaware, and each of the parties irrevocably waives the right to trial by jury, and (d) each of the parties irrevocably consents to service of process by a reputable overnight mail delivery service, signature requested, to the address set forth in Section 12 of this Agreement or as otherwise provided by applicable law. THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE GOVERNED IN ALL RESPECTS, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION VALIDITY, INTERPRETATION AND EFFECT, BY THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE APPLICABLE TO CONTRACTS EXECUTED AND TO BE PERFORMED WHOLLY WITHIN SUCH STATE WITHOUT GIVING EFFECT TO THE CHOICE OF LAW PRINCIPLES OF SUCH STATE.
If to the Company: | CBRE | |
00000 Xxxxx Xxxxxx Xxxx., Xxxxx 0000 | ||
Xxx Xxxxxxx, XX 00000 | ||
Attention: General Counsel
| ||
If to the ValueAct Group: | ValueAct Capital Management, L.P. | |
000 Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx, 0xx Xxxxx | ||
Xxx Xxxxxxxxx, XX 00000 | ||
Attention: General Counsel |
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[Signature Pages Follow]
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, each of the parties hereto has executed this NOMINATION AND STANDSTILL AGREEMENT or caused the same to be executed by its duly authorized representative as of the date first above written.
CBRE Group, Inc. | ||
By: | /s/ Xxxxxxxx X. Xxxxxx | |
Name: | Xxxxxxxx X. Xxxxxx | |
Title: | EVP & General Counsel |
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, each of the parties hereto has executed this NOMINATION AND STANDSTILL AGREEMENT or caused the same to be executed by its duly authorized representative as of the date first above written.
VA Partners I, LLC | ||
By: | /s/ X. Xxxxx Xxxxxx | |
Name: | X. Xxxxx Morfit | |
Title: | Vice President | |
ValueAct Capital Master Fund, L.P. | ||
By: | /s/ X. Xxxxx Xxxxxx | |
Name: | X. Xxxxx Morfit | |
Title: | Vice President | |
ValueAct Capital Management, L.P. | ||
By: | /s/ X. Xxxxx Xxxxxx | |
Name: | X. Xxxxx Morfit | |
Title: | Vice President | |
ValueAct Capital Management, LLC | ||
By: | /s/ X. Xxxxx Xxxxxx | |
Name: | X. Xxxxx Morfit | |
Title: | Vice President | |
ValueAct Holdings, L.P. | ||
By: | /s/ X. Xxxxx Xxxxxx | |
Name: | X. Xxxxx Morfit | |
Title: | Vice President | |
ValueAct Holdings GP, LLC | ||
By: | /s/ X. Xxxxx Xxxxxx | |
Name: | X. Xxxxx Morfit | |
Title: | Vice President | |
/s/ Xxxxxxx X. Xxxx | ||
Xxxxxxx X. Xxxx |
Schedule A
Members of ValueAct Group
VA Partners I, LLC
ValueAct Capital Master Fund, L.P.
ValueAct Capital Management, L.P.
ValueAct Capital Management, LLC
ValueAct Holdings, L.P.
ValueAct Holdings GP, LLC
Xxxxxxx X. Xxxx