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HEARTLAND OIL AND GAS
CORP.
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2008 STOCK OPTION/STOCK ISSUANCE
PLAN
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ARTICLE ONE
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GENERAL PROVISIONS
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I. PURPOSE OF THE PLAN
This 2008
Stock Option/Stock Issuance Plan (the “Plan”) is
intended to promote the interests of Heartland Oil and
Gas
Corp., a Nevada corporation, by providing eligible
persons in the Corporation’s employ or service with the
opportunity to acquire
a proprietary interest, or otherwise increase their
proprietary interest, in the Corporation as an incentive for them
to continue in
such employ or service.
Capitalized terms
herein shall have the meanings assigned to such terms in the
attached Appendix.
II. STRUCTURE OF THE PLAN
A. The
Plan shall be divided into two (2) separate equity
programs:
(i) the
Option Grant Program under which eligible persons may, at the
discretion of the Plan Administrator,
be granted options to purchase shares of Common
Stock, and
(ii) the
Stock Issuance Program under which eligible persons may, at the
discretion of the Plan Administrator,
be issued shares of Common Stock directly, either
through the immediate purchase of such shares or as compensation or
a bonus
for services rendered the Corporation (or any Parent
or Subsidiary).
B. The
provisions of Articles One and Four shall apply to both equity
programs under the Plan and shall accordingly
govern the interests of all persons under the
Plan.
III. ADMINISTRATION OF THE PLAN
A. The
Plan shall be administered by the Board. However, any or all
administrative functions otherwise exercisable by
the Board may be delegated to the
Committee.
B. The
Plan Administrator shall have full power and authority (subject to
the provisions of the Plan) to establish such
rules and regulations as it may deem appropriate for
proper administration of the Plan and to make such determinations
under,
and issue such interpretations of, the Plan and any
outstanding options or stock issuances thereunder as it may deem
necessary or
advisable. Decisions of the Plan Administrator shall
be final and binding on all parties who have an interest in the
Plan or any
option grant or stock issuance
thereunder.
IV. ELIGIBILITY
A. The
persons eligible to participate in the Plan are as
follows:
(i)
Employees,
(ii)
non-employee members of the Board or the non-employee members of
the board of directors of any
Parent or Subsidiary, and
(iii)
consultants and other independent advisors who provide services to
the Corporation (or any Parent or
Subsidiary).
B. The
Plan Administrator shall have full authority to determine, (i) with
respect to the grants made under the Option
Grant Program, which eligible persons are to receive
such grants, the time or times when those grants are to be made,
the number
of shares to be covered by each such grant, the
status of the granted option as either an Incentive Option or a
Non-Statutory
Option, the time or times when each option is to
become exercisable, the vesting schedule (if any) applicable to the
option shares
and the maximum term for which the option is to
remain outstanding, and (ii) with respect to stock issuances made
under the
Stock Issuance Program, which eligible persons are
to receive such issuances, the time or times when those issuances
are to be
made, the number of shares to be issued to each
Participant, the vesting schedule (if any) applicable to the issued
shares and the
consideration to be paid by the Participant for such
shares.
C. The
Plan Administrator shall have the absolute discretion either to
grant options in accordance with the Option
Grant Program or to effect stock issuances in
accordance with the Stock Issuance Program.
V. STOCK SUBJECT TO THE PLAN
A. The
stock issuable under the Plan shall be shares of authorized but
unissued or reacquired Common Stock. The
maximum number of shares of Common Stock that may be
issued over the term of the Plan shall not exceed 20,000,000
shares.
B. Shares
of Common Stock subject to outstanding options shall be available
for subsequent issuance under the Plan
to the extent (i) the options expire or terminate
for any reason prior to exercise in full or (ii) the options are
cancelled in
accordance with the cancellation-regrant provisions
of Article Two. Unvested shares issued under the Plan and
subsequently
surrendered to the Corporation pursuant to the
Corporation’s rights under the Plan shall be added back to
the number of shares of
Common Stock reserved for issuance under the Plan
and shall accordingly be available for reissuance through one or
more
subsequent option grants or direct stock issuances
under the Plan.
C. Should
any change be made to the Common Stock by reason of any stock
split, stock dividend, recapitalization,
combination of shares, exchange of shares or other
change affecting the outstanding Common Stock as a class without
the
Corporation’s receipt of consideration,
appropriate adjustments shall be made to (i) the maximum number
and/or class of
securities issuable under the Plan and (ii) the
number and/or class of securities and the exercise price per share
in effect under
each outstanding option in order to prevent the
dilution or enlargement of benefits thereunder. The adjustments
determined by the
Plan Administrator shall be final, binding and
conclusive.
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ARTICLE TWO
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OPTION GRANT PROGRAM
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I. OPTION TERMS
Each
option shall be evidenced by one or more documents in the form
approved by the Plan Administrator;
PROVIDED, however, that each such document shall
comply with the terms specified below. Each document evidencing
an
Incentive Option shall, in addition, be subject to
the provisions of the Plan applicable to such options.
A.
EXERCISE PRICE.
1. The
exercise price per share shall be fixed by the Plan Administrator
at the time of the option grant and may be equal
to, less than or greater than the Fair Market Value
per share of Common Stock on the option grant date.
2. The
exercise price shall become immediately due upon exercise of the
option and shall, subject to the provisions of
Section I of Article Four and the documents
evidencing the option, be payable in cash or check made payable to
the Corporation
or as follows:
(i) in
shares of Common Stock held for the requisite period necessary to
avoid a charge to the Corporation’s
earnings for financial reporting purposes and valued
at Fair Market Value on the Exercise Date,
(ii) to
the extent the option is exercised for vested free trading shares,
through a special sale and remittance
procedure pursuant to which the Optionee shall
concurrently provide irrevocable instructions (A) to a
Corporation-designated
brokerage firm to effect the immediate sale of the
purchased shares and remit to the Corporation, out of the sale
proceeds
available on the settlement date, sufficient funds
to cover the aggregate exercise price payable for the purchased
shares plus all
applicable Federal, state and local income and
employment taxes required to be withheld by the Corporation by
reason of such
exercise and (B) to the Corporation to deliver the
certificates for the purchased shares directly to such brokerage
firm in order to
complete the sale, or
(iii)
through the use of other “Cashless Exercise” provisions
as determined by the Plan Administrator in its
sole discretion.
Except to
the extent such sale and remittance procedure is utilized, payment
of the exercise price for the purchased
shares must be made on the Exercise Date.
B.
EXERCISE AND TERM OF OPTIONS. Each option shall be exercisable at
such time or times, during such
period and for such number of shares as shall be
determined by the Plan Administrator and set forth in the documents
evidencing
the option grant. However, no option shall have a
term in excess of ten (10) years measured from the option grant
date.
C. EFFECT
OF TERMINATION OF SERVICE.
1. The
following provisions shall govern the exercise of any options held
by the Optionee at the time of cessation of
Service or death:
(i)
Should the Optionee cease to remain in Service for any reason other
than death, Disability or Misconduct,
then the Optionee shall have a period of three (3)
months following the date of such cessation of Service during which
to exercise
each outstanding option held by such
Optionee.
(ii) Should Optionee’s Service terminate by reason of
Disability, then the Optionee shall have a period of
twelve (12) months following the date of such
cessation of Service during which to exercise each outstanding
option held by such
Optionee.
(iii) If the Optionee dies while holding an outstanding option,
then the personal representative of his or her
estate or the person or persons to whom the option
is transferred pursuant to the Optionee’s will or the laws of
inheritance or the
Optionee’s designated beneficiary or
beneficiaries of that option shall have a twelve (12)-month period
following the date of the
Optionee’s death to exercise such
option.
(iv)
Under no circumstances, however, shall any such option be
exercisable after the specified expiration of
the option term.
(v) During the applicable post-Service exercise period, the option
may not be exercised in the aggregate for
more than the number of vested shares for which the
option is exercisable on the date of the Optionee’s cessation
of Service.
Upon the expiration of the applicable exercise
period or (if earlier) upon the expiration of the option term, the
option shall
terminate and cease to be outstanding for any vested
shares for which the option has not been exercised. However, the
option
shall, immediately upon the Optionee’s
cessation of Service, terminate and cease to be outstanding with
respect to any and all
option shares for which the option is not otherwise
at the time exercisable or in which the Optionee is not otherwise
at that time
vested.
(vi)
Should Optionee’s Service be terminated for Misconduct or
should Optionee otherwise engage in
Misconduct while holding one or more outstanding
options under the Plan, then all those options shall terminate
immediately and
cease to remain outstanding.
2. The
Plan Administrator shall have the discretion, exercisable either at
the time an option is granted or at any time
while the option remains outstanding, to:
(i)
extend the period of time for which the option is to remain
exercisable following Optionee’s cessation of
Service or death from the limited period otherwise
in effect for that option to such greater period of time as the
Plan
Administrator shall deem appropriate, but in no
event beyond the expiration of the option term, and/or
(ii)
permit the option to be exercised, during the applicable
post-Service exercise period, not only with
respect to the number of vested shares of Common
Stock for which such option is exercisable at the time of the
Optionee’s
cessation of Service but also with respect to one or
more additional installments in which the Optionee would have
vested under
the option had the Optionee continued in
Service.
D.
STOCKHOLDER RIGHTS. The holder of an option shall have no
stockholder rights with respect to the shares
subject to the option until such person shall have
exercised the option, paid the exercise price and become the
recordholder of the
purchased shares.
E. LIMITED
TRANSFERABILITY OF OPTIONS. An Incentive Stock Option shall be
exercisable only by the
Optionee during his or her lifetime and shall not be
assignable or transferable other than by will or by the laws of
inheritance
following the Optionee’s death. A
Non-Statutory Option may be assigned in whole or in part during the
Optionee’s lifetime to
one or more members of the Optionee’s family
or to a trust established exclusively for one or more such family
members or to
Optionee’s former spouse, to the extent such
assignment is in connection with the Optionee’s estate plan
or pursuant to a
domestic relations order. The assigned portion may
only be exercised by the person or persons who acquire a
proprietary interest
in the Non-Statutory Option pursuant to the
assignment. The terms applicable to the assigned portion shall be
the same as those in
effect for the option immediately prior to such
assignment and shall be set forth in such documents issued to the
assignee as the
Plan Administrator may deem appropriate.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Optionee may also designate one
or more persons
as the beneficiary or beneficiaries of his or her
outstanding options under the Plan, and those options shall, in
accordance with
such designation, automatically be transferred to
such beneficiary or beneficiaries upon the Optionee’s death
while holding those
options. Such beneficiary or beneficiaries shall
take the transferred options subject to all the terms and
conditions of the
applicable agreement evidencing each such
transferred option, including (without limitation) the limited time
period during
which the option may be exercised following the
Optionee’s death.
II. INCENTIVE OPTIONS
The terms
specified below shall be applicable to all Incentive Options.
Except as modified by the provisions of this
Section II, all the provisions of Articles One, Two
and Four shall be applicable to Incentive Options. Options which
are
specifically designated as Non-Statutory Options
shall not be subject to the terms of this Section II.
A.
ELIGIBILITY. Incentive Options may only be granted to
Employees.
B.
EXERCISE PRICE. The exercise price per share shall not be less than
one hundred percent (100%) of the Fair
Market Value per share of Common Stock on the option
grant date. If the person to whom the Incentive Option is granted
is a
10% Stockholder, then the exercise price per share
shall not be less than one hundred ten percent (110%) of the Fair
Market
Value per share of Common Stock on the option grant
date.
C. DOLLAR
LIMITATION. The aggregate Fair Market Value of the shares of Common
Stock (determined as of the
respective date or dates of grant) for which one or
more options granted to any Employee under the Plan (or any other
option plan
of the Corporation or any Parent or Subsidiary) may
for the first time become exercisable as Incentive Options during
any one (1)
calendar year shall not exceed the sum of One
Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000). To the extent the Employee
holds two (2)
or more such options which become exercisable for
the first time in the same calendar year, the foregoing limitation
on the
exercisability of such options as Incentive Options
shall be applied on the basis of the order in which such options
are granted.
D. 10%
STOCKHOLDER. If any Employee to whom an Incentive Option is granted
is a 10% Stockholder, then the
option term shall not exceed five (5) years measured
from the option grant date.
III. CHANGE IN CONTROL
A. The
shares subject to each option outstanding under the Plan at the
time of a Change in Control shall automatically
vest in full so that each such option shall,
immediately prior to the effective date of the Change in Control,
become exercisable
for all of the shares of Common Stock at the time
subject to that option and may be exercised for any or all of those
shares as
fully-vested shares of Common Stock. However, the
shares subject to an outstanding option shall NOT vest on such
an
accelerated basis if and to
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