CCC Intelligent Solutions (CCCS) 10-K2021 FY Annual report

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 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ☐

CCC’s solutions help insurers digitize processes, from customer intake to claims, while building smart, dynamic experiences for their customers. Many of our solutions leverage the power of the CCC network by facilitating ecosystem interactions required to complete insurer processes. All of our insurance solutions are cloud-based SaaS solutions that power critical carrier workflows. Our insurance solutions represent approximately 52% of our 2021 total revenues, with 94% of that representing software revenue and 6% representing other revenue. Our key insurance solutions include:

CCC’s solutions help automotive collision repairers achieve better shop performance, from lead generation through repair completion and payment. Our platform improves every stage and level of the collision repair cycle, combining key business operations into one solution to drive more business, improve repair quality, simplify operations, and exceed customer expectations for our collision facility customers. Collision repairers use our platform to connect with the industry’s leading network of partners and suppliers across the insurance and repair ecosystem. Our repair solutions represented approximately 42% of our 2021 total revenues, with 99% of that representing software revenue and 1% representing other revenue. Our key repair solutions include:

CCC’s solutions support other segments of the insurance ecosystem, including parts suppliers, automotive manufacturers, and financial institutions. These solutions extend the CCC network and create value for companies connecting to our platform to improve business outcomes. Other ecosystem solutions represent approximately 5% of our 2021 total revenue, with 91% of that representing software revenue and 9% representing other revenue. Some of CCC’s other ecosystem solutions include:

Our revenue is dependent on customers in the P&C insurance and automotive collision industries, and historically a relatively small number of customers have accounted for a significant portion of our revenue. There were no insurance carrier customers which individually accounted for more than 10% of total revenue during the year ended December 31, 2021. We expect that we will continue to depend upon a relatively small number of customers for a significant portion of our revenue for the foreseeable future. As a result, if we fail to successfully renew our contracts with one or more of these customers, or if any of these customers reduce or cancel services or defer purchases, or otherwise terminate their relationship with us, our business, results of operations and financial condition would be adversely impacted. Some of our SaaS arrangements with our customers can be canceled or not renewed by the customer after the expiration of the SaaS term, as applicable, on relatively short notice. Additionally, we may be involved in disputes with our customers in the future and such disputes may impact our relationship with these customers. The loss of business from any of our significant customers, including from cancellations or due to disputes, could materially impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Some of our customers include the largest P&C insurers and auto collision repair organizations in the U.S. These customers have significant bargaining power when negotiating new licenses or subscriptions or renewals of existing agreements and have the ability to buy similar products from other vendors or develop such systems internally. These customers have and may continue to seek advantageous pricing and other commercial and performance terms that may require us to develop additional features in the products we sell to them or add complexity to our customer agreements. In the past, we have been required to, and may in the future be required to, reduce the average selling price of our products or otherwise agree to materially less favorable terms in response to these pressures. If we are unable to avoid reducing our average selling prices or renegotiate our contracts on commercially reasonable terms, our results of operations could be adversely impacted.

We believe that the brand identity we have developed and acquired has significantly contributed to the success of our business. We also believe that developing, maintaining, and enhancing awareness and integrity of our brand and reputation are critical to achieving widespread acceptance of our solutions and expanding adoption of our solutions to new customers in both existing and new markets. Maintaining and enhancing our brand requires us to make substantial investments and these investments may not be successful or cost-efficient. We believe that the importance of our brand and reputation will increase as competition in our market further intensifies. Successful promotion of our brand depends on the effectiveness of our marketing efforts and our ability to provide a reliable, useful and valuable collection of solutions at competitive prices. These factors are essential to our ability to differentiate our offerings from competing products. In addition, our brand and reputation could be impacted if our end users or insured parties have negative experiences in the claim process, which ultimately largely depends on the quality of service from our customers, but also may depend on the insured’s perceived value of its vehicle. See “—Litigation Risk Factors—We are currently, and have been in the past, a party to litigation, which could result in damage to our reputation and harm our future results of operations.” For example, putative class action lawsuits have alleged that the use of the Company’s total loss valuation solution has led to undervaluation of insureds’ loss vehicles.

Our customers have no obligation to renew their contracts for our solutions after the expiration of their contract periods and our customers may choose not to renew contracts for a similar mix of solutions. Our customers’ renewal rates may fluctuate or decline as a result of a number of factors, including customer dissatisfaction, customers’ spending levels, increased competition, changes in tax or data privacy laws or rules, prices of our services, the prices of services offered by our competitors, spending levels due to the macroeconomic environment or other factors, deteriorating general economic conditions, or legislative and regulatory changes. If our customers do not renew their contracts or reduce the solutions purchased under their contracts, our revenue could decline and our business may be adversely impacted.

To address demand trends across the P&C insurance economy, we have focused on and plan to continue focusing on the growth and expansion of our SaaS business. This growth strategy has required and will continue to require a considerable investment of technical, financial and sales resources. These investments may not result in an increase in SaaS software revenue and we may not be able to scale such investments efficiently, or at all, to meet customer demand and expectations. Our focus on our SaaS business may increase our costs in any given period and may be difficult to predict over time.

Our largest customers are carriers who have experienced, and will likely experience in the future, losses from catastrophes, natural disasters or terrorism that may adversely impact their businesses. Catastrophes can be caused by various events, including, without limitation, hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, windstorms, earthquakes, hail, tornadoes, explosions, severe weather, epidemics, pandemics and fires. Global warming trends are contributing to an increase in erratic weather patterns globally and intensifying the impact of certain types of catastrophes. Moreover, acts of terrorism or war could cause disruptions to our business or our customers’ businesses or the economy as a whole.

Revenue for some of our solutions are derived from claims volumes rather than from the subscription fees that represent the majority of our revenue. Claim volume-based solution revenue is driven by individual customer usage and can be impacted by market conditions within the industry. As a result, our transactional revenue can be adversely affected by factors outside of our control, including but not limited to, industry trends, market events, customer-specific usage changes. The transactional portion of the business also presents more challenges to accurately forecasting future revenues.

Aspects of our business, and our customers’ businesses, which our products and services support, can be impacted by events in the P&C insurance and automotive collision industries which are beyond our control. Certain trends in the automotive industry, including the continued adoption of semi-autonomous or autonomous vehicles and the advent of improved automotive safety features, may potentially impact the future market for, and operations of, the P&C insurance and automotive collision industries. While the impacts and timing of these changes are currently unknown, if this has an adverse impact on the P&C insurance or the automotive collision industries, it could have an adverse impact on our future result of operations.

Our financial performance depends, in part, on the state of the economy. Declining levels of economic activity may lead to declines in spending in the industries we serve, which may result in decreased revenue for us. Concern about the strength of the economy may slow the rate at which businesses are willing to enter into new contractual arrangements, potentially including those for our solutions. If our customers and potential customers experience financial hardship as a result of a weakened economy, industry consolidation, or other factors, the overall demand for our solutions could decrease. If economic conditions worsen, our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be adversely impacted.

We expect to continue to derive most of our revenue from solutions and additional services we provide to the P&C insurance industry and supporting economy, including the automotive collision and OEM industries. Given the concentration of our business activities in this industry, we will be particularly exposed to certain economic downturns affecting the insurance industry. U.S. and global market and economic conditions have been, and continue to be, disrupted and volatile. General business and economic conditions that could affect us and our customers include fluctuations in economic growth, inflation, debt and equity capital markets, liquidity of the global financial markets, the availability and cost of credit, investor and consumer confidence, and the strength of the economies in which our customers operate. A poor economic environment could result in significant decreases in demand for our solutions, including the delay or cancellation of current or anticipated projects, or could present difficulties in collecting accounts receivables from our customers due to their deteriorating financial condition. Our existing customers may be acquired by or merged into other entities that use our competitors’ products, or they may decide to terminate their relationships with us for other reasons. As a result, our sales could decline if an existing customer is merged with or acquired by another company that has a poor economic outlook or is closed.

The market for our solutions is competitive. The competitors we face in any sale opportunity may change depending on, among other things, the line of business purchasing the software, the application being sold, the geography in which the customer is operating, and the size of the customer to which we are selling. These competitors may compete on the basis of price, the time and cost required for software implementation, custom development, or unique product features or functions. Outside of the U.S., we are more likely to compete against vendors that may differentiate themselves based on local advantages in language, market knowledge, existing relationships with customers and content applicable to that jurisdiction.

As technology continues to develop at a rapid pace, both within the P&C insurance economy and more broadly across the insurance ecosystem, the possibility of the development of technological advancements made by other firms will increase. If we are unable to internally develop or acquire suitable alternatives to such developments or otherwise deploy competitive offerings our business and growth opportunities may be challenged. Additionally, certain P&C insurance ecosystem customers may seek to develop internal solutions which could potentially compete with related offerings from us. Technologies such as enhanced modeling, artificial intelligence and machine learning technology may offer certain firms, including insurance carriers, the opportunity to make rapid advancements in the development of tools which may impact the industry broadly.

Developing software is time consuming and costly, and investment in product development may involve a long payback cycle. Our research and development expenses were $166.0 million, or 24% of our total revenue, for the year ended December 31, 2021. Including capitalized time related to internal use software of $20.3 million, our total spend was 27% of total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021. Our future plans include significant investments to develop, improve and expand the functionality of our solutions, which we believe is necessary to maintain our competitive position. However, we may not recognize significant revenue from these investments for several months or years, or the investments may not yield any additional revenue.

Historically, transactions occurring outside of the U.S. have represented a small portion of our overall processed transactions. However, we intend to continue to expand our international sales efforts. Operating in international markets, including in China, requires significant resources and management attention and will subject us to regulatory, economic, and political risks that are different from those in the U.S. Because of our limited experience operating internationally, our international expansion efforts may not be successful. We may rely heavily on third parties outside of the U.S., and as a result we may be adversely impacted if we invest time and resources into such business relationships but do not see significant sales from such efforts. Potential risks and challenges associated with sales to customers and operations outside the U.S. include:

We intend to expand our business operations in China as part of our effort to expand our international sales efforts. Accordingly, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations may be affected to a significant degree by political, economic and social conditions in China generally.

Anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws have been enforced aggressively in recent years. Our business activities are subject to the FCPA and similar anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws, regulations, or rules of other countries in which we operate, including the U.K. Bribery Act. These laws are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies, their employees, and third-party intermediaries from authorizing, promising, offering, or providing, either directly or indirectly, improper payments or anything else of value to recipients in the public or private sector. The FCPA also requires public companies to maintain accurate books and records and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls. While only representing a de minimis proportion of our total revenue, we count among our customers a number of government entities. We may have direct or indirect dealings with those deemed by anti-corruption laws to be government officials, which also include interactions in countries known to experience corruption, including China. Activities in such countries create the risk of unauthorized payments or offers of payments by one of our employees, consultants, partners, or third-party intermediaries that could be in violation of various anti-corruption laws. We have policies and controls intended to prevent these practices—e.g., a standalone Global Anti-Bribery Policy, Code of Ethics, mandatory anti-corruption trainings,

We are subject to U.S. trade laws and regulations, including economic sanctions, export controls, and import laws, as well as similar trade laws and regulations in other countries in which we operate. Failure to comply with global trade laws and regulations can result in penalties and/or reputational harm. Our increasing international sales efforts expose us to increased risk under these laws and regulations, and increasing and evolving global trade laws could impact our business.

As we expand our business and operations internationally, our international sales may be denominated in foreign currencies, and this revenue could be materially affected by currency fluctuations. The volatility of exchange rates depends on many factors that we cannot forecast with reliable accuracy. We typically collect revenue and incur costs in the currency of the location in which we provide our solutions and services, but our contracts with our customers are long-term in nature so it is difficult to predict if our operating activities will provide a natural hedge in the future or as we expand internationally. Our results of operations may also be impacted by transaction gains or losses related to revaluing certain current asset and liability balances that are denominated in currencies other than the functional currency of the entities in which they are recorded. Moreover, significant and unforeseen changes in foreign currency exchange rates may cause us to fail to achieve our stated projections for revenue and operating income, which could have an adverse effect on our stock price. As we expand internationally, we will continue to experience fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, which, if material, may harm our revenue or results of operations.

We use data, technology, and intellectual property licensed from unaffiliated third parties in certain of our products, and we may license additional third-party data, technology, and intellectual property in the future. Any errors or defects in this third-party data, technology, and intellectual property could result in errors that could adversely impact our brand and business. In addition, licensed data, technology, and intellectual property may not continue to be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. The loss of the right to license and distribute this third-party data, technology, and intellectual property could limit the functionality of our products and might require us to redesign our products. Our success depends significantly on our ability to provide our customers access to data from many different sources, including, for example, parts-related data for purposes of repair estimation. We obtain much of our data about vehicle parts and components and collision repair labor and costs through license agreements with third parties who may be sole-source suppliers of that data.

Our success depends in part on our ability to enforce and defend our intellectual property rights. We rely upon a combination of trademark, trade secret, copyright, patent and unfair competition laws, as well as license agreements and other contractual provisions, to do so.

Engagement in any type of intellectual property collaboration agreement requires diligent management of intellectual property rights. Other than in specific, limited circumstances, we do not currently engage in joint ventures, collaborations or sponsored development agreements. Should we enter into such agreements in future, the development of joint intellectual property would create additional administrative and financial burdens, and may place us at heightened risk of disputes or litigation regarding ownership, maintenance or enforcement of such joint intellectual property.

Because we offer solutions that operate in complex environments, undetected errors or failures may exist or occur, especially when solutions are first introduced or when new versions are released, implemented or integrated into other systems. Our solutions are often used in large-scale computing environments with different operating systems, system management software and equipment and networking configurations, which may cause errors or failures in our solutions or may expose undetected errors, failures or bugs in our solutions. Despite testing by us, we may not identify all errors, failures or bugs in new solutions or releases until after commencement of commercial sales or installation. In the past, we have discovered errors, failures and bugs in some of our solutions after their introduction. We may not be able to fix errors, failures and bugs without incurring significant costs or an adverse impact to our business. The occurrence of errors in our solutions or the detection of bugs by our customers may damage our reputation in the market and our relationships with our existing customers, and as a result, we may be unable to attract or retain customers. We believe that our reputation and name recognition are critical factors in our ability to compete and generate additional sales. Promotion and enhancement of our name will depend largely on our success in continuing to provide effective solutions and services. The failure to do so may result in the loss of, or delay in, market acceptance of our solutions and services, which could adversely impact our sales, results of operations and financial condition.

We expect to continue to grow, in part, by making targeted acquisitions in addition to our organic growth strategy. Our business strategy includes the potential acquisition of shares or assets of companies with software, technologies or businesses complementary to ours, both domestically and globally. Our strategy also includes alliances with such companies. Acquisitions and alliances may result in unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures and may not result in the benefits anticipated by such corporate activity.

Public ESG and sustainability reporting is becoming more broadly expected by investors, shareholders and other third parties. Certain organizations that provide corporate governance and other corporate risk information to investors and shareholders have developed, and others may in the future develop, scores and ratings to evaluate companies and investment funds based upon ESG or “sustainability” metrics. Many investment funds focus on positive ESG business practices and sustainability scores when making investments and may consider a company’s ESG or sustainability scores as a reputational or other factor in making an investment decision. In addition, investors, particularly institutional investors, use these scores to benchmark companies against their peers and if a company is perceived as lagging, these investors may engage with such company to improve ESG disclosure or performance and may also make voting decisions, or take other actions, to hold these corporations and their boards of directors accountable. Additionally, credit rating agencies may use these scores, or their own scores and ratings, as a consideration in their evaluation of our credit risk. If our credit rating is downgraded on the basis of ESG or “sustainability” metrics, we may face increased costs of capital. We may face reputational damage in the event our corporate responsibility initiatives or objectives, including with respect to diversity and inclusion, do not meet the standards set by our investors, shareholders, lawmakers, listing exchanges, credit rating agencies or other constituencies, or if we are unable to achieve an acceptable ESG or sustainability rating from third-party rating services. A low ESG or sustainability rating by a third-party rating service could also result in the exclusion of our ordinary shares from consideration by certain investors who may elect to invest with our competition instead. Ongoing focus on corporate responsibility matters by investors and other parties as described above may impose additional costs or expose us to new risks.

We may seek to repurchase our securities, refinance our indebtedness or may need to obtain additional financing to execute on our current or future business strategies, including to develop new or enhance existing solutions, acquire businesses and technologies or otherwise respond to competitive pressures. We may not be successful in managing our capital structure through these scenarios, or they may have an adverse impact on our financial position or the price of our common stock. Our ability to raise capital in the future may be limited, and if we fail to raise capital when needed, we could be prevented from growing and executing our business strategy.

Data privacy legislation, enforcement and policy activity are rapidly expanding around the world and creating a complex data privacy compliance environment that poses greater compliance risks and costs, as well as the potential for high profile negative publicity in the event of any data breach. The vast majority of our customers are subject to many privacy and data protection laws and regulations in the U.S. and around the world, and we have also agreed in our contracts with certain of our customers to additional data privacy compliance obligations related to data privacy laws and regulations that may be applicable to them. Some of these privacy and data protection laws and regulations place restrictions on our ability to process personal information across our business.

As we continue to focus on our SaaS solutions, the amount of personal information we or our third-party cloud providers collect, use, disclose, or otherwise process will likely continue to increase significantly. In addition, a limited number of our solutions collect, use, disclose, or otherwise process transaction-level data aggregated across our customers. We anticipate that over time we will expand our use and collection of personal information as greater amounts of such personal information may be transferred from our customers to us. We recognize that personal privacy has become a significant issue in the U.S., and other jurisdictions where we operate. Many federal, regional, state, local and international legislatures and government agencies have imposed or are considering imposing restrictions and requirements regarding the collection, use, disclosure, and processing of personal data, including the CPRA.

We are subject to federal, state and local income taxes in the U.S. and in foreign jurisdictions. Our future effective tax rates and the value of our deferred tax assets could be adversely affected by changes in tax laws, including impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”) enacted in December 2017, and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (also known as the “CARES Act”), the consequences of which have not yet been fully determined. The U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service are expected to continue to interpret or issue guidance on how provisions of the Tax Act, including the “base erosion and anti-abuse tax,” will be applied or otherwise administered. As guidance is issued, we may make adjustments to amounts that we have previously recorded that may materially impact our financial statements in the period in which the adjustments are made, and the amount of taxes that we may be required to pay could significantly increase.

The future success of our business depends upon the continued use of the Internet as a primary medium for commerce, communication and business services. Because of the Internet’s popularity and increasing use, federal, state or foreign government bodies or agencies have adopted, and may in the future adopt, laws or regulations affecting the use of the Internet as a commercial medium. These laws and regulations cover issues such as the collection and use of data from website visitors and related privacy issues; pricing; taxation; telecommunications over the Internet; content; copyrights; distribution; and domain name piracy. The enactment of any additional laws or regulations of the Internet, including international laws and regulations, could impede the growth of subscription revenue and place additional financial burdens on our business.

We prepare our consolidated financial statements to conform to U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”). These accounting principles are subject to interpretation by the SEC, FASB, and various bodies formed to interpret and create accounting rules and regulations. Recent accounting standards, such as Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 842, Leases (“ASC 842”), which we adopted in fiscal year 2021, or the guidance relating to interpretation and adoption of standards could have a significant effect on our financial results and could affect our business. Additionally, the FASB and the SEC are focused on the integrity of financial reporting, and our accounting policies are subject to scrutiny by regulators and the public.

The Credit Agreement restrict us from engaging in certain activities. Such covenants, which are generally customary and generally reflect market terms, restrict our ability to, among other things:

Our ability to make scheduled payments on or to refinance our debt obligations depends on our financial condition and operating performance, which are subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business, legislative, regulatory, and other factors beyond our control. We may not be able to maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and/or interest on our indebtedness. If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we may be forced to reduce or delay investments, acquisitions, capital expenditures, and payments on account of other obligations, seek additional capital, restructure or refinance our indebtedness, or sell assets. These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. Our ability to restructure or refinance our debt will depend on the condition of the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. Any refinancing of our debt could be at higher interest rates and could require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. In addition, we cannot assure you that we will be able to refinance any of our indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.

LIBOR is the basic rate of interest used in lending between banks on the London interbank market and is widely used as a reference for setting the interest rate on U.S. dollar-denominated loans globally. Our Credit Facilities use LIBOR as reference rates such that the interest due to our creditors under the Credit Facilities, if elected, is calculated using LIBOR.

The Cypress Investor Holdings, L.P., GPE VIII CCC Co-Investment (Delaware) Limited Partnership and Advent International GPE VIII-C Limited Partnership (collectively, the “Advent Investor”) owns approximately 60.9% of our common stock based on the number of shares outstanding as of February 25, 2022. Under the Shareholder Rights Agreement, the Advent Investor has the authority to fill six (6) of the nine (9) seats on our board of directors, a majority of our board. The Advent Investor will maintain this majority until its ownership falls below 50% of our issued and outstanding stock, at which point they will still be entitled to fill four (4) of the nine (9) seats on our board of directors, with three (3) directors required to be independent. As a result, the Advent Investor currently controls us and for as long as the Advent Investor continues to beneficially own a substantial percentage of the voting power of our outstanding common stock, it will continue to have significant influence over us. This concentration of ownership may delay, deter or prevent acts that would be favored by our other stockholders. The interests of the Advent Investor may not always coincide with our interests or the interests of our other stockholders. For example, for so long as the Advent Investor continues to own a majority of the voting power of our capital stock, the Advent Investor could, acting alone, approve all matters requiring a stockholder vote, including, without limitation: the election of directors; mergers, consolidations and acquisitions; the sale of all or substantially all of our assets and other decisions affecting our capital structure; the amendment of our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws; and our winding up and dissolution. This concentration of ownership may also have the effect of delaying, preventing or deterring a change in control of the Company, could deprive our stockholders an opportunity to receive a premium for their common stock as part of a sale of the Company and might ultimately affect the market price of our common stock. Other than our Chief Executive Officer, members of our Board of Directors who are affiliated with the Advent Investor, the OH Cypress Aggregator, L.P. (the “OH Investor”), or the TCV IX, L.P., TCV IX (A), L.P., TCV IX (B), L.P. or TCV Member Fund, L.P. (collectively, the “TCV Investor”), by the terms of our certificate of incorporation, will not be required to offer us any corporate opportunity of which they become aware and can take any such corporate opportunity for themselves or offer it to other companies in which they have an investment. We, by the terms of our certificate of incorporation, will expressly renounce any interest or expectancy in any such corporate opportunity to the extent permitted under applicable law, even if the opportunity is one that we or our subsidiaries might reasonably have pursued or had the ability or desire to pursue if granted the opportunity to do so. The Advent Investor is in the business of making investments in companies and may from time to time acquire and hold interests in businesses that compete directly or indirectly with us. In addition, the Advent Investor may seek to cause us to take courses of action that, in its judgment, could enhance its investment in us, but which might involve risks to our other stockholders or adversely affect us or our other stockholders. As a result, the market price of our common stock could decline, or stockholders might not receive a premium over the then-current market price of our common stock upon a change in control. In addition, this concentration of share ownership may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock because investors may perceive disadvantages in owning shares in a company with significant stockholders.

As a public company, and particularly after we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” we will continue to incur significant legal, accounting, and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company, including costs resulting from public company reporting obligations under the Securities Act, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and regulations regarding corporate governance practices. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the rules of the SEC, the listing requirements of the NYSE, and other applicable securities rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies, including establishment and

Our certificate of incorporation and the Shareholder Rights Agreement provide that the doctrine of corporate opportunity does not apply with respect to certain of our stockholders, certain of our directors or officers who are not our or our subsidiaries’ employees, and certain affiliates of the foregoing. The doctrine of corporate opportunity generally provides that a corporate fiduciary may not develop an opportunity using corporate resources or information obtained in their corporate capacity for their personal advantage, acquire an interest adverse to that of the corporation or acquire property that is reasonably incident to the present or prospective business of the corporation or in which the corporation has a present or expectancy interest, unless that opportunity is first presented to the corporation and the corporation chooses not to pursue that opportunity. The doctrine of corporate opportunity is intended to preclude directors, officers and other fiduciaries from personally benefiting from opportunities that belong to the corporation.

Because the Advent Investor controls more than a majority of the total voting power of our common stock, we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of NYSE listing standards. Under NYSE rules, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by another person or group of persons acting together is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with the following NYSE rules regarding corporate governance:

The share price of our common stock may fluctuate due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation:

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock.

Securities research analysts may establish and publish their own periodic projections with respect to us and our operations. These projections may vary widely and may not accurately predict the results we actually achieve. Our share price may decline if our actual results do not match the projections of these securities research analysts. Similarly, if one or more of the analysts who write reports on us downgrades our stock or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our share price could decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, our share price or trading volume could decline.

Our governing documents and the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) contain provisions that could have the effect of rendering more difficult, delaying, or preventing an acquisition deemed undesirable by our board of directors and therefore depress the trading price of our common stock. These provisions could also make it difficult for stockholders to take certain actions, including electing directors who are not nominated by the current members of our board of directors or taking other corporate actions, including effecting changes in our management. Among other things, our governing documents include provisions regarding:

Our certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for state law claims for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of us; (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our current or former directors, officers, employees, agents or stockholders to us or our stockholders, or any claim for aiding or abetting such an alleged breach; (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our certificate of incorporation or bylaws; (iv) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our current or former directors, officers, employees, agents or stockholders, whether arising under the DGCL, our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws, or such actions as to which the DGCL confer jurisdiction on the Delaware Court of Chancery; or (v) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our current or former directors, officers, employees, agents or stockholders governed by the internal