As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 7, 2023.
Registration No. 333-
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM S-8
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
PJT Partners Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| Delaware | 36-4797143 | |
| (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
280 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Telephone: (212) 364-7800
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)
Second Amended and Restated PJT Partners Inc. 2015 Omnibus Incentive Plan
(Full title of the plan)
David Travin
General Counsel
PJT Partners Inc.
280 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Telephone: (212) 364-7800
(Name and address and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
Copies to:
Charlie Mathes
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
425 Lexington Avenue
New York, New York 10017-3954
Telephone: (212) 455-2000
Facsimile: (212) 455-2502
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| Large accelerated filer | ☒ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | |||
| Non-accelerated filer | ☐ | Smaller reporting company | ☐ | |||
| Emerging growth company | ☐ | |||||
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐
EXPLANATORY NOTE
This Registration Statement on Form S-8 (“Registration Statement”) is being filed for the purpose of registering an additional 16,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.01 per share (“Common Stock”), of PJT Partners Inc. (the “Registrant”) reserved for issuance under the Second Amended and Restated PJT Partners Inc. 2015 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “Plan”), which was approved by stockholders on May 24, 2023 at the Registrant’s 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “2023 Annual Meeting”). These additional shares of Common Stock are additional securities of the same class as other securities for which an original registration statement (File No. 333-207207) on Form S-8 was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) on September 30, 2015 and an additional registration statement (File No. 333-231075) was filed on April 26, 2019.
Pursuant to General Instruction E to Form S-8, the contents of such earlier registration statements are incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement, except that the provisions contained in Part II of such earlier registration statements are modified as set forth below.
PART II
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT
Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference.
The following documents filed with the Commission by the Registrant pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), are hereby incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement:
| (a) | The Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, filed on February 24, 2023; |
| (b) | The Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, filed on May 3, 2023; |
| (c) | The Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on May 25, 2023; and |
| (d) | The description of the Registrant’s Class A common stock contained Exhibit 4.1 to the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, filed on February 27, 2020, and any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such description. |
All documents that the Registrant subsequently files pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act after the date of this Registration Statement (except for any portions of the Registrant’s Current Reports on Form 8-K furnished pursuant to Item 2.02 or Item 7.01 thereof and any corresponding exhibits thereto not filed with the Commission or other information “furnished” to the Commission) and prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement indicating that all securities offered have been sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such documents.
Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed document which also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.
Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) allows a corporation to provide in its certificate of incorporation that a director or officer of the corporation will not be personally liable to the corporation or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director or officer, except that such provision shall not eliminate or limit the liability of (1) a director or officer for any breach of the director’s or officer’s duty of loyalty to the corporation or its stockholders, (2) a director or officer for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (3) a director under section 174 of the DGCL for unlawful payment of dividends or stock purchases or redemptions, (4) a director or officer for any transaction from which the director or officer derived an improper personal benefit or (5) an officer in any action by or in the right of the corporation. The Registrant’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as amended by stockholders at the 2023 Annual Meeting, provides for this limitation of liability for directors and officers.
Section 145 of the DGCL (“Section 145”), provides that a Delaware corporation may indemnify any person who was, is or is threatened to be made, party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by or in the right of such corporation), by reason of the fact that such person is or was an officer, director, employee or agent of such corporation or is or was serving at the request of such corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise. The indemnity may include expenses (including attorneys’ fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding, provided such person acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the corporation’s best interests and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe that his or her conduct was illegal. A Delaware corporation may indemnify any persons who were or are a party to any threatened, pending or completed action or suit by or in the right of the corporation by reasons of the fact that such person is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise. The indemnity may include expenses (including attorneys’ fees) actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with the defense or settlement of such action or suit, provided such person acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the corporation’s best interests, provided that no indemnification is permitted without judicial approval if the officer, director, employee or agent is adjudged to be liable to the corporation. Where an officer or director is successful on the merits or otherwise in the defense of any action referred to above, the corporation must indemnify him or her against the expenses which such officer or director has actually and reasonably incurred.
Section 145 further authorizes a corporation to purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise, against any liability asserted against such person and incurred by such person in any such capacity, or arising out of his or her status as such, whether or not the corporation would otherwise have the power to indemnify him or her under Section 145.
The Registrant’s amended and restated bylaws provide that the Registrant must indemnify its directors and officers to the fullest extent authorized by the DGCL and must also pay expenses incurred in defending any such proceeding in advance of its final disposition upon delivery of an undertaking, by or on behalf of an indemnified person, to repay all amounts so advanced if it should be determined ultimately that such person is not entitled to be indemnified under the Registrant’s amended and restated bylaws or otherwise.
The indemnification rights set forth above shall not be exclusive of any other right which an indemnified person may have or hereafter acquire under any statute, provision of the Registrant’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation, the Registrant’s amended and restated bylaws, agreement, vote of stockholders or disinterested directors or otherwise.
The Registrant currently maintains liability insurance for its directors and officers. Such insurance is available to the Registrant’s directors and officers in accordance with its terms.
Item 8. Exhibits.
The following exhibits are filed as part of this Registration Statement:
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of New York, State of New York, on the 7th day of June 2023.
| PJT PARTNERS INC. | ||||
| By: | /s/ David K.F. Gillis | |||
| Name: | David K.F. Gillis | |||
| Title: | Managing Director, Corporate Secretary | |||
POWER OF ATTORNEY
KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that the undersigned directors and officers of the Registrant, which is filing a Registration Statement on Form S-8 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, D.C. 20549 under the provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 hereby constitute and appoint Paul J. Taubman, Helen T. Meates, Ji-Yeun Lee and David Travin, and each of them, any of whom may act without joinder of the other, the individual’s true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for the person and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign this Registration Statement and any or all amendments or supplements to this Registration Statement, including post-effective amendments, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and does hereby grant unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or any of them, or their substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this Registration Statement and powers of attorney have been signed by the following persons in the capacities indicated on the 7th day of June 2023.
| Signature |
Title | |
| /s/ Paul J. Taubman Paul J. Taubman |
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (principal executive officer) | |
| /s/ Helen T. Meates Helen T. Meates |
Chief Financial Officer (principal financial and accounting officer) | |
| /s/ K. Don Cornwell K. Don Cornwell |
Director | |
| /s/ James Costos James Costos |
Director | |
| /s/ Emily K. Rafferty Emily K. Rafferty |
Director | |
| /s/ Thomas M. Ryan Thomas M. Ryan |
Director | |
| /s/ Grace Reksten Skaugen Grace Reksten Skaugen |
Director | |
| /s/ Kenneth C. Whitney Kenneth C. Whitney |
Director | |