Item 1.01 Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.
Director Compensation Review
On July 23, 2009, the Human Resources Committee of A.M. Castle & Co.'s (the
"Company") board of directors conducted a review of compensation for the board's
non-employee directors. After internal deliberation and consideration of the
information prepared by its outside compensation consultant, the committee
recommended and the board determined to (i) eliminate all board and committee
meeting fees and increase the annual cash retainer for each director to $50,000
(except that the Board chair total annual retainer shall remain $80,000) and
(ii) increase the annual retainer for the audit committee chairman to $10,000,
effective as of July 1, 2009.
However, in order to reduce corporate operating expenses and better align
director compensation with recent compensation reductions taken by executive
management, the committee also recommended and the board determined to
temporarily reduce the annual cash retainer for all directors by $10,000,
effective as of July 1, 2009, subject to semi-annual review.
No other changes to the annual compensation program for non-employee directors
were made. The program as so revised is shown below.
Annual cash retainer for each non-employee director $ 40,000
Additional annual cash retainer for chairs of Human Resources and
Governance committees $ 5,000
Additional annual cash retainer for chair of Audit committee $ 10,000
Additional annual cash retainer for Board chairman $ 30,000
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In each of the last two years, the board has approved restricted stock grants to
non-employee directors in an amount of $60,000, based on the closing stock price
on the date of grant, which is the date of the annual meeting of stockholders.
Non-employee directors continue to be eligible to participate in the Directors
Deferred Fee Plan and to receive the other director benefits described in our
proxy statement for the 2009 annual meeting of shareholders that was held on
April 23, 2009.
Indemnification Agreement
On July 23, 2009, the board of directors of the Company approved a form of
indemnification agreement to be entered into by the Company with each of its
directors and senior officers. These agreements, among other things, require the
Company to indemnify each director and senior officer to the fullest extent
permitted by Maryland law, including indemnification of expenses such as
attorneys' fees, judgments, penalties, fines and settlement amounts incurred by
the director or senior officer in any action or proceeding, including any action
or proceeding by or in right of the Company, arising out of the person's
services as a director or officer.
A copy of the form of indemnification agreement is attached as Exhibit 10.16 to
this Current Report on Form 8-K and is incorporated by reference herein.
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Item 5.03 Amendments to Articles of incorporation or Bylaws; Change in Fiscal
Year.
Articles Supplementary
On July 23, 2009, the board of directors of the Company approved the
Company's election to become subject to Section 3-804(a) and Section 3-805 of
the Maryland General Corporation Law ("MGCL"). This election became effective on
July 29, 2009, upon the filing with the State Department of Assessments and
Taxation of Maryland of the Articles Supplementary filed as Exhibit 3.3 hereto.
As a result of this election, (i) the stockholders of the Company may remove any
director by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of all votes entitled to
be cast by the stockholders generally in the election of directors, and (ii) a
special meeting of stockholders may be called only upon the written request of
the stockholders entitled to cast at least a majority of all votes entitled to
be cast at the meeting.
Changes to Conform to Subtitle 8 Election
On April 26, 2009, the Board also approved certain amendments to the
Company's By-laws (the "By-laws") to (i) provide that a director may be removed
from office only upon the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of all votes
entitled to be cast by the stockholders generally in the election of directors
and (ii) increase the proportion of votes required to request a special meeting
of stockholders from not less than one-fifth of all votes entitled to be cast at
the meeting to at least a majority of all votes entitled to be cast at the
meeting. These changes conform the By-laws to the Company's election to be
subject to Section 3-804(a) and Section 805 of the MGCL, as described above.
This summary of the amendments to the By-laws does not purport to be complete
and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the Amendments
to By-laws, which are attached as Exhibit 3.4 hereto and are incorporated by
reference herein.
Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits
(d) Exhibits
3.3 Articles Supplementary of A.M Castle & Co., filed July 29, 2009.
3.4 Amendments to By-laws of A.M. Castle & Co., adopted July 23, 2009.
10.16 Form of A.M. Castle & Co. Indemnification Agreement.
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