Exhibit 10.2
COGENT COMMUNICATIONS GROUP,
INC.
SEVENTH AMENDED AND
RESTATED
REGISTRATION RIGHTS
AGREEMENT
October 26, 2004
To each of the several holders of
Series F Preferred Stock (the “ Series F Purchasers
”), each sub-series of Series G Preferred Stock
(collectively, the “ Series G Purchasers ”),
Series I Preferred Stock (the “ Series I Purchasers
”), Series J Preferred Stock (the “ Series J
Purchasers ”), Series K Preferred Stock (the “
Series K Purchasers ”), Series L Preferred Stock (the
“ Series L Purchasers ”), Series M Preferred
Stock (the “ Series M Purchasers ”) and any
person who later becomes a party to this Agreement by executing and
delivering to the Company an Instrument of Accession in the form of
Schedule II hereto (collectively, the “
Purchasers ”):
Dear Sirs:
This will confirm that the Company
covenants and agrees with each of you as follows:
1.
Certain Definitions
. As used in this Agreement,
the following terms shall have the following respective
meanings:
“ Commission ”
shall mean the Securities and Exchange Commission, or any other
federal agency at the time administering the Securities
Act.
“ Common Stock ”
shall mean the Common Stock, par value $.001 per share, of the
Company, as constituted as of the date of this
Agreement.
“ Company ” shall
mean Cogent Communications Group, Inc.
“ Conversion Shares
” shall mean shares of Common Stock issued or issuable upon
conversion of the Preferred Stock, and any shares of capital stock
received in respect thereof.
“ Exchange Act ”
shall mean the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or any similar
federal statute, and the rules and regulations of the Commission
thereunder, all as the same shall be in effect at the
time.
“ Preferred Stock
” shall mean the Series F Preferred Stock, the Series G
Preferred Stock, the Series I Preferred Stock, the Series J
Preferred Stock and the Series K Preferred Stock, Series L
Preferred Stock, Series M Preferred Stock and any other series of
preferred stock held by a person or entity that becomes a party to
this Agreement pursuant to an Instrument of Accession, a form of
which is attached hereto as Schedule II.
“ Registration Expenses
” shall mean the expenses so described in
Section 8.
“ Restricted Stock
” shall mean (i) the Conversion Shares, excluding Conversion
Shares which have been (a) registered under the Securities Act
pursuant to an effective registration statement filed thereunder
and disposed of in accordance with the registration statement
covering them or (b) publicly sold pursuant to Rule 144
under the Securities Act, and (ii) any shares of Common Stock
issued or distributed in respect of the securities described in
clause (i).
“ Securities Act
” shall mean the Securities Act of 1933 or any similar
federal statute, and the rules and regulations of the Commission
thereunder, all as the same shall be in effect at the
time.
“ Selling Expenses
” shall mean the expenses so described in
Section 8.
“ Series F Preferred
Stock ” shall mean the Series F Participating Convertible
Preferred Stock, par value $.001 per share, of the Company,
constituted as of July 31, 2003.
“ Series G Preferred
Stock ” shall mean the Series G Participating Convertible
Preferred Stock of the Company, constituted as of July 31,
2003.
“ Series I Preferred
Stock ” shall mean the Series I Participating Convertible
Preferred Stock of the Company, constituted as of January 5,
2004.
“ Series J Preferred
Stock ” shall mean the Series J Participating Convertible
Preferred Stock of the Company, constituted as of March 30,
2004.
“ Series K Preferred
Stock ” shall mean the Series K Participating Convertible
Preferred Stock of the Company constituted as of August 12,
2004.
“ Series L Preferred
Stock ” shall mean the Series L Participating Convertible
Preferred Stock of the Company, issued as of September 15,
2004.
“ Series M Preferred
Stock ” shall mean the Series M Participating Convertible
Preferred Stock of the Company, issued as of the date of this
Agreement.
2.
Restrictive Legend
. Each certificate
representing Preferred Stock, Conversion Shares or Restricted Stock
shall, except as otherwise provided in this Section 2 or in
Section 3, be stamped or otherwise imprinted with a legend
substantially in the following form:
“The securities represented by
this certificate have not been registered under the Securities Act
of 1933 or applicable state securities laws. These securities
have been acquired for investment and not with a view to
distribution or resale, and may not be sold mortgaged, pledged,
hypothecated or otherwise transferred without an effective
registration
statement for such securities under
the Securities Act of 1933 and applicable state securities laws, or
the availability of an exemption from the registration provisions
of the Securities Act of 1933 and applicable state securities
laws.”
A certificate shall not bear such
legend if in the opinion of counsel reasonably satisfactory to the
Company the securities being sold thereby may be publicly sold
without registration under the Securities Act.
3.
Notice of Proposed
Transfer . Prior to
any proposed transfer of any Preferred Stock, Conversion Shares or
Restricted Stock (other than under the circumstances described in
Sections 4, 5 or 6), the holder thereof shall give written
notice to the Company of its intention to effect such
transfer. Each such notice shall describe the manner of the
proposed transfer and, if requested by the Company, shall be
accompanied by an opinion of counsel reasonably satisfactory to the
Company to the effect that the proposed transfer may be effected
without registration under the Securities Act, whereupon the holder
of such stock shall be entitled to transfer such stock in
accordance with the terms of its notice; provided ,
however , that no such opinion of counsel shall be required
for a transfer to one or more partners of the transferor (in the
case of a transferor that is a partnership), to one or more members
of the transferor (in the case of a transferor that is a limited
liability company) or to an affiliated corporation (in the case of
a transferor that is a corporation); provided ,
further , however , that any transferee other than a
partner, member or affiliate of the transferor shall execute and
deliver to the Company a representation letter in form reasonably
satisfactory to the Company’s counsel to the effect that the
transferee is acquiring Restricted Stock for its own account, for
investment purposes and without any view to distribution
thereof. Each certificate for Preferred Stock or Conversion
Shares transferred as above provided shall bear the legend set
forth in Section 2, except that such certificate shall not
bear such legend if (i) such transfer is in accordance with
the provisions of Rule 144 (or any other rule permitting
public sale without registration under the Securities Act) or
(ii) the opinion of counsel referred to above is to the
further effect that the transferee and any subsequent transferee
(other than an affiliate of the Company) would be entitled to
transfer such securities in a public sale without registration
under the Securities Act. The restrictions provided for in
this Section 3 shall not apply to securities which are not
required to bear the legend prescribed by Section 2 in
accordance with the provisions of that Section.
4.
Required Registration
.
(a)
Subject to Section 13(f) of this
Agreement, at any time after the earlier of (i) July 31, 2006 and
(ii) the date that is six (6) months after the first public
offering after the date hereof of securities by the Company,
holders of Restricted Stock constituting more than 50% of the total
number of shares of Restricted Stock then outstanding may request
the Company to register under the Securities Act all or any portion
of the shares of Restricted Stock held by such requesting holder or
holders for sale in the manner specified in such notice. For
purposes of this Section 4 and Sections 5, 6, 13(a) and
13(d), the term “Restricted Stock” shall be deemed to
include the number of shares of Restricted Stock which would be
issuable to a holder of Preferred Stock upon conversion of all
shares of
Preferred Stock held by such holder
at such time; provided , however , that the only
securities which the Company shall be required to register pursuant
hereto shall be shares of Common Stock; provided ,
further , however , that, in any underwritten public
offering contemplated by this Section 4 or Sections 5 and
6, the holders of Preferred Stock shall be entitled to sell such
Preferred Stock to the underwriters for conversion and sale of the
shares of Common Stock issued upon conversion thereof and holders
of a majority of the Preferred Stock being so registered shall have
the right to approve the managing underwriter(s) selected by the
Company in connection with such underwritten public offering.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, the
Company shall not be obligated to effect a registration (i) during
the 180 day period commencing with the effective date of a
registration statement filed by the Company covering the first firm
commitment underwritten public offering after the date hereof or
(ii) if the Company delivers notice to the holders of the
Restricted Stock within thirty (30) days of any registration
request of the Company’s intent to file a registration
statement for an underwritten public offering within ninety (90)
days.
(b)
Following receipt of any notice
under this Section 4, the Company shall immediately notify all
holders of Restricted Stock and Preferred Stock from whom notice
has not been received and such holders shall then be entitled
within 30 days thereafter to request the Company to include in the
requested registration all or any portion of their shares of
Restricted Stock. The Company shall use its best efforts to
register under the Securities Act, for public sale in accordance
with the method of disposition described in paragraph (a) above,
the number of shares of Restricted Stock specified in such notice
(and in all notices received by the Company from other holders
within 30 days after the giving of such notice by the
Company). The Company shall be obligated to register
Restricted Stock pursuant to this Section 4 on three occasions
only; provided , however , that such obligation shall
be deemed satisfied only when a registration statement covering all
shares of Restricted Stock specified in notices received as
aforesaid for sale in accordance with the method of disposition
specified by the requesting holders shall have become effective
and, if such method of disposition is a firm commitment
underwritten public offering, all such shares shall have been sold
pursuant thereto.
(c)
The Company (or at the option of the
Company, the holders of Common Stock) shall be entitled to include
in any registration statement referred to in this Section 4,
for sale in accordance with the method of disposition specified by
the requesting holders, shares of Common Stock to be sold by the
Company or such other holders for its own account, except as and to
the extent that, in the opinion of the managing underwriter (if
such method of disposition shall be an underwritten public
offering), such inclusion would adversely affect the marketing of
the Restricted Stock to be sold. Subject to Section 4(a) and
except for registration statements on Form S-4, S-8 or any
successor thereto, the Company will not file with the Commission
any other registration statement with respect to its Common Stock,
whether for its own account or that of other stockholders, from the
date of receipt of a notice from requesting holders pursuant to
this Section 4 until the completion of the period of distribution
of the registration contemplated thereby.
(d)
If, in the opinion of the managing
underwriter, the inclusion of all of the Restricted Stock requested
to be registered under this Section would adversely affect
the
marketing of such shares, the
Company shall only include the number of shares that, in the
reasonable opinion of such underwriter, can be sold without having
an adverse effect on the marketing of such shares, to be allocated
to each stockholder of the Company on a pro rata basis based
on the total number of shares held by such holder and requested to
be included in the registration; provided , however ,
that the number of shares of Restricted Stock to be included in
such underwriting and registration shall not be reduced unless all
other securities of the Company are first excluded from the
underwriting and registration.
5.
Incidental
Registration .
Subject to Section 13(f) of this Agreement, if the Company at any
time (other than pursuant to Section 4 or Section 6)
proposes to register any of its securities under the Securities Act
for sale to the public, whether for its own account or for the
account of other security holders or both (except with respect to
registration statements on Forms S-4, S-8 or another form not
available for registering the Restricted Stock for sale to the
public), each such time it will give written notice to all holders
of outstanding Restricted Stock of its intention so to do.
Upon the written request of any such holder, received by the
Company within 30 days after the giving of any such notice by
the Company, to register any of its Restricted Stock, the Company
will use its best efforts to cause the Restricted Stock as to which
registration shall have been so requested to be included in the
securities to be covered by the registration statement proposed to
be filed by the Company, all to the extent requisite to permit the
sale or other disposition by the holder (in accordance with its
written request) of such Restricted Stock so registered. In
the event that any registration pursuant to this Section 5
shall be, in whole or in part, an underwritten public offering of
Common Stock, if the managing underwriter determines in good faith
that marketing factors require a limitation of the number of shares
to be underwritten, the number of shares that may be included in
the underwriting shall be allocated, first, to the Company; second,
to the holders of Restricted Stock invoking the rights under this
Section 5 on a pro rata basis based on the total number of
shares of Restricted Stock held by such holders; and third, to any
stockholder of the Company (other than such holders) on a pro
rata basis. No such reduction shall reduce the amount of
securities of the selling holders included in the registration
below thirty percent (30%) of the total amount of securities
included in such registration. In no event will shares of any
other selling stockholder be included in such registration that
would reduce the number of shares which may be included by holders
of Restricted Stock without the written consent of the holders of
not less than sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66 2/3%) of the
Restricted Stock proposed to be sold in the offering. If any
such holder disapproves of the terms of any such underwriting, such
holder may elect to withdraw therefrom by written notice to the
Company and the underwriter, delivered at least ten (10) business
days prior to the effective date of the registration
statement. Any shares of Restricted Stock excluded or
withdrawn from such underwriting shall be excluded and withdrawn
from the registration. For any holder which is a partnership
or corporation, the partners, retired partners and stockholders of
such holder, or the estates and family members of any such partners
and retired partners and any trusts for the benefit of any of the
foregoing person shall be deemed to be a single holder, and any
pro rata reduction with respect to such holder shall be
based upon the aggregate amount of shares carrying registration
rights owned by all entities and individuals included in such
holder, as defined in this sentence. Notwithstanding the
foregoing provisions, the Company may withdraw any registration
statement referred to in this Section 5 without thereby
incurring any liability to the holders of
Restricted Stock.
6.
Registration on
Form S-3 .
Subject to Section 13(f) of this Agreement, if at any time
(i) a holder or holders of Restricted Stock then outstanding
request that the Company file a registration statement on
Form S-3 or any successor thereto for a public offering of all
or any portion of the shares of Restricted Stock held by such
requesting holder or holders, and (ii) the Company is a
registrant entitled to use Form S-3 or any successor thereto
to register such shares, then the Company shall use its best
efforts to register under the Securities Act on Form S-3 or
any successor thereto for public sale in accordance with the method
of disposition specified in such notice, the number of shares of
Restricted Stock specified in such notice. Whenever the
Company is required by this Section 6 to use its best efforts
to effect the registration of Restricted Stock, each of the
procedures and requirements of Section 4 (including but not
limited to the requirement that the Company notify all holders of
Restricted Stock from whom notice has not been received and provide
them with the opportunity to participate in the offering) shall
apply to such registration; provided , however , that
there shall be no limitation on the number of registrations on
Form S-3 which may be requested and obtained under this
Section 6 and registrations effected pursuant to this Section
6 shall not be counted as demands for registration or registrations
effected pursuant to Sections 4 or 5, respectively.
(b)
Notwithstanding anything to the
contrary set forth in this Agreement, the Company’s
obligation under this Agreement to register Restricted Stock under
the Securities Act on registration statements (“
Registration Statements ”) may, upon the reasonable
determination of the Board of Directors made not more than twice in
the aggregate (and not more than once with respect to a
Registration Statement on Form S-1 and not more than once with
respect to a Registration Statement on Form S-3 and including
any delay pursuant to the last sentence of Section 4(a)) during any
12-month period, be suspended in the event and during such period
as unforeseen circumstances (including without limitation
(i) an underwritten primary offering by the Company (which
includes no secondary offering) if the Company is advised in
writing by its underwriters that the registration of the Restricted
Stock would have a material adverse effect on the Company’s
offering, or (ii) pending negotiations relating to, or
consummation of, a transaction or the occurrence of an event which
would require additional disclosure of material information by the
Company in Registration Statements or such other filings, as to
which the Company has a bona fide business purpose for preserving
confidentiality or which renders the Company unable to comply with
the Commission’s requirements) exist (such unforeseen
circumstances being hereinafter referred to as a “
Suspension Event ”) which would make it impractical or
unadvisable for the Company to file the Registration Statements or
such other filings or to cause such to become effective. Such
suspension shall continue only for so long as such event is
continuing but in no event for a period longer than (i) one hundred
and twenty (120) days, in the case of a Registration Statement on
Form S-1 (or any successor thereto) or (ii) ninety (90) days, in
the case of a Registration Statement on Form S-3 (or any successor
thereto). The Company shall notify the Purchasers of the
existence and nature of any Suspension Event.
7.
Registration
Procedures . If and
whenever the Company is required by the
provisions of Sections 4, 5 or
6 to use its best efforts to effect the registration of any shares
of Restricted Stock under the Securities Act, the Company will, as
expeditiously as possible:
(a)
prepare and file with the Commission
a registration statement (which, in the case of an underwritten
public offering pursuant to Section 4, shall be on Form S-1 or
other form of general applicability satisfactory to the managing
underwriter selected as therein provided) with respect to such
securities and use its best efforts to cause such registration
statement to become and remain effective for the period of the
distribution contemplated thereby (determined as hereinafter
provided);
(b)
prepare and file with the Commission
such amendments and supplements to such registration statement and
the prospectus used in connection therewith as may be necessary to
keep such registration statement effective for the period specified
in paragraph (a) above and comply with the provisions of the
Securities Act with respect to the disposition of all Restricted
Stock covered by such registration statement in accordance with the
sellers’ intended method of disposition set forth in such
registration statement for such period;
(c)
furnish to each seller of Restricted
Stock and to each underwriter such number of copies of the
registration statement and each such amendment and supplement
thereto (in each case including all exhibits) and the prospectus
included therein (including each preliminary prospectus) as such
persons reasonably may request in order to facilitate the public
sale or other disposition of the Restricted Stock covered by such
registration statement;
(d)
use its best efforts to register or
qualify the Restricted Stock covered by such registration statement
under the securities or “blue sky” laws of such
jurisdictions as the sellers of Restricted Stock or, in the case of
an underwritten public offering, the managing underwriter
reasonably shall request; provided , however , that
the Company shall not for any such purpose be required to qualify
generally to transact business as a foreign corporation in any
jurisdiction where it is not so qualified or to consent to general
service of process in any such jurisdiction;
(e)
use its best efforts to list the
Restricted Stock covered by such registration statement with any
securities exchange on which the Common Stock of the Company is
then listed;
(f)
immediately notify each seller of
Restricted Stock and each underwriter under such registration
statement, at any time when a prospectus relating thereto is
required to be delivered under the Securities Act, of the happening
of any event of which the Company has knowledge as a result of
which the prospectus contained in such registration statement, as
then in effect, includes an untrue statement of a material fact or
omits to state a material fact required to be stated therein or
necessary to make the statements therein not misleading in light of
the circumstances then existing, and promptly prepare and furnish
to such seller a reasonable number of copies of a prospectus
supplemented or amended so that, as thereafter delivered to the
purchasers of such Restricted Stock, such
prospectus shall not include an
untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material
fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the
statements therein not misleading in light of the
circumstance