fs8_060515.htm
As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 5, 2015

Registration No. 333-            
 
 
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
 
 
FORM S-8
REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
 
 
HARVARD BIOSCIENCE, INC.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
 
 
Delaware
 
04-3306140
(State of Incorporation)
 
(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)
 
84 October Hill Road
Holliston, Massachusetts
 
01746
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)
 
(Zip Code)
 
 
HARVARD BIOSCIENCE, INC. THIRD AMENDED AND RESTATED 2000
STOCK OPTION AND INCENTIVE PLAN
(Full Title of the Plan)
 
 
Jeffrey A. Duchemin, Chief Executive Officer
HARVARD BIOSCIENCE, INC.
84 October Hill Road
Holliston, Massachusetts 01746
(508) 893-8999
(Name, address, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
 
 
With copies to:

Chad J. Porter
Burns & Levinson LLP
125 Summer Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02110
(617) 345-3000
 
 
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
 
Large accelerated filer
¨
Accelerated filer
x
       
Non-accelerated filer
¨  (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)
Smaller reporting company
¨
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
Calculation of Registration Fee
 
Title of Securities
to be Registered
 
Amount
to be
Registered(1)(2)
 
Proposed
Maximum
Offering Price
Per Share(3)
 
Proposed
Maximum
Aggregate
Offering Price(3)
 
Amount of
Registration Fee
Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share
 
2,500,000 shares
 
$5.46
 
$13,650,000
 
$1,587

(1)
This Registration Statement relates to 2,500,000 shares of Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share, of Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (“Common Stock”) available for issuance under the Harvard Bioscience, Inc. Third Amended and Restated 2000 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (together with previous versions of such plan, the “Plan”);  plus such indeterminate number of additional shares of Common Stock as may be required pursuant to the Plan in the event of a stock dividend, stock split, split-up, recapitalization or other similar event. This Registration Statement also relates to the Rights to purchase shares of Series A Junior Participating Cumulative Preferred Stock of Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (the “Company”) which are attached to all shares of Common Stock pursuant to the terms of the Company’s Shareholder Rights Agreement dated February 5, 2008. Until the occurrence of certain prescribed events, the Rights are not exercisable, are evidenced by the certificates for the Common Stock and will be transferred only with such stock.

(2)
The Company previously filed a Registration Statement on Form S-8 on January 17, 2001 (SEC File No. 333-53848), registering the issuance of 4,849,096 shares of Common Stock under the Plan and other equity plans of the Company, as amended by Post-Effective Amendment No.1 to Form S-8 filed on June 15, 2001 registering the issuance of an additional 263,202 shares of Common Stock under the Plan. On April 15, 2003, the Company filed a Registration Statement on Form S-8 (SEC File No. 333-104544) registering the issuance of 787,413 additional shares of Common Stock under the Plan. On June 28, 2006, the Company filed a Registration Statement on Form S-8 (SEC File No. 333-135418) registering the issuance of 2,067,060 additional shares of Common Stock under the Plan. On May 19, 2008, the Company filed a Registration Statement on Form S-8 (SEC File No. 333-151003) registering the issuance of 2,500,000 additional shares of Common Stock under the Plan. On May 25, 2011, the Company filed a Registration Statement on Form S-8 (SEC File No. 333-174476) registering the issuance of 3,700,000 additional shares of Common Stock under the Plan.  By filing this Registration Statement in accordance with Instruction E to Form S-8, the Company registers the issuance of the 2,500,000 additional shares of Common Stock approved for issuance under the Plan at the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of the Company held on May 28, 2015.

(3)
This estimate is made pursuant to Rule 457(c) and (h) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), solely for the purpose of determining the amount of the registration fee. The registration fee is based upon the average of the high and low sales prices for a share of Common Stock on May 29, 2015, as reported on the NASDAQ Global Market.
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 


The Company previously filed (i) a Registration Statement on Form S-8 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, on January 17, 2001 as amended on June 15, 2001 (SEC File No. 333-53848), (ii) a Registration Statement on Form S-8 with the SEC on April 15, 2003 (SEC File No. 333-104544), (iii) a Registration Statement on Form S-8 with the SEC on June 28, 2006 (SEC File No. 333-135418) (iv) a Registration Statement on Form S-8 with the SEC on May 19, 2008 (SEC File No. 333-151003), and (v) a Registration Statement on Form S-8 with the SEC on May 25, 2011 (SEC File No. 333-174476) (each filed to register shares to be issued pursuant to the Plan (collectively, the “Original Filings”). This Registration Statement registers additional shares of the Company’s Common Stock to be issued pursuant to the Plan. The contents of the Original Filings are incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement pursuant to General Instruction E of Form S-8.
 
PART II
 
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT
 
Item 8.
Exhibits
 
The exhibits listed below represent a complete list of exhibits filed or incorporated by reference as part of this Registration Statement.
 
Exhibit
Number
 
 
Description
(1)3.1
   
Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Harvard Bioscience, Inc.
(1)3.2
   
Amended and Restated Bylaws of Harvard Bioscience, Inc.
(2)3.3
   
Amendment No. 1 to Amended and Restated Bylaws of Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (as adopted October 30, 2007)
(1)4.1
   
Specimen certificate for shares of Common Stock, $0.01 par value, of Harvard Bioscience, Inc.
(3)4.2
   
Amended and Restated Securityholders’ Agreement dated as of March 2, 1999 by and among Harvard Apparatus, Inc., Pioneer Partnership II, Pioneer Capital Corp., First New England Capital, L.P. and Citizens Capital, Inc. and Chane Graziano and David Green
(4)4.3
   
Shareholder Rights Agreement, dated as of February 5, 2008 between Harvard Bioscience, Inc., and Registrar and Transfer Company, as Rights Agent
(5)4.4
   
Harvard Bioscience, Inc. Third Amended and Restated 2000 Stock Option and Incentive Plan, as amended
   *5.1
   
Legal opinion from Burns & Levinson LLP
 *23.1
   
Consent of KPMG LLP, as independent registered public accounting firm
   23.2
   
Consent of Burns & Levinson LLP (contained in the opinion filed as Exhibit 5.1 to this Registration Statement)
   24.1
   
Power of attorney (included on the signature page to this Registration Statement)
*
Filed herewith.
(1)
Previously filed as an exhibit to the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-1/A (File No. 333-45996) (filed on November 9, 2000) and incorporated by reference thereto.
(2)
Previously filed as an exhibit to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (filed on November 1, 2007) and incorporated by reference thereto.
(3)
Previously filed as an exhibit to the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-1/A (File No. 333-45996) (filed on October 25, 2000) and incorporated by reference thereto.
(4)
Previously filed as an exhibit to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (filed on February 8, 2008) and incorporated by reference thereto.
(5)
Previously filed as Appendix A to the Company’s Definitive Schedule 14A (Proxy Statement) (filed on April 10, 2015) and incorporated by reference thereto.
 
 
 

 



SIGNATURES
 
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the Company 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 Holliston, Massachusetts, on this fifth day of June, 2015.
 
 
HARVARD BIOSCIENCE, INC.
         
   
By:
/s/ JEFFREY A. DUCHEMIN
 
   
Jeffrey A. Duchemin, Chief Executive Officer
 
POWER OF ATTORNEY
 
KNOW ALL BY THESE PRESENTS that each individual whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints each of Jeffrey A. Duchemin and Robert E. Gagnon as such person’s true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for such person in such person’s name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this registration statement (or any registration statement for the same offering that is to be effective upon filing pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933), and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto each said attorney-in-fact and agent 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 such person might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that any said attorney-in-fact and agent, or any substitute or substitutes of any of them, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
 
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the date indicated. Each person listed below has signed this registration statement as an officer or director of Harvard Bioscience, Inc.
 
Signature
  
Title
  
Date
         
/s/ JEFFREY A. DUCHEMIN
  
Director and Chief Executive Officer
  
June 5, 2015
Jeffrey A. Duchemin
  
(Principal Executive Officer)
  
 
         
/s/ ROBERT E. GAGNON
  
Chief Financial Officer
  
June 5, 2015
Robert E. Gagnon
  
(Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer)
  
 
         
/s/ DAVID GREEN
  
Director
  
June 5, 2015
David Green
  
 
  
 
         
/s/ JAMES GREEN
  
Director
  
June 5, 2015
James Green
  
 
  
 
         
/s/ NEAL J. HARTE
  
Director
  
June 5, 2015
Neal J. Harte
  
 
  
 
         
/s/ JOHN F. KENNEDY
  
Director
  
June 5, 2015
John F. Kennedy
  
 
  
 
         
/s/ EARL R. LEWIS
  
Director
  
June 5, 2015
Earl R. Lewis
  
 
  
 
         
/s/ BERTRAND LOY
  
Director
  
June 5, 2015
Bertrand Loy
  
 
  
 
         
/s/ GEORGE UVEGES
  
Director
  
June 5, 2015
George Uveges
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

 
 


EXHIBIT INDEX
 
Exhibit
Number
 
Description
(1)3.1
   
Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Harvard Bioscience, Inc.
(1)3.2
   
Amended and Restated Bylaws of Harvard Bioscience, Inc.
(2)3.3
   
Amendment No. 1 to Amended and Restated Bylaws of Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (as adopted October 30, 2007)
(1)4.1
   
Specimen certificate for shares of Common Stock, $0.01 par value, of Harvard Bioscience, Inc.
(3)4.2
   
Amended and Restated Securityholders’ Agreement dated as of March 2, 1999 by and among Harvard Apparatus, Inc., Pioneer Partnership II, Pioneer Capital Corp., First New England Capital, L.P. and Citizens Capital, Inc. and Chane Graziano and David Green
(4)4.3
   
Shareholder Rights Agreement, dated as of February 5, 2008 between Harvard Bioscience, Inc., and Registrar and Transfer Company, as Rights Agent
(5)4.4
   
Harvard Bioscience, Inc. Third Amended and Restated 2000 Stock Option and Incentive Plan, as amended
*5.1
   
Legal opinion from Burns & Levinson LLP
*23.1
   
Consent of KPMG LLP, as independent registered public accounting firm
23.2
   
Consent of Burns & Levinson LLP (contained in the opinion filed as Exhibit 5.1 to this Registration Statement)
24.1
   
Power of attorney (included on the signature page to this Registration Statement)
*
Filed herewith.
(1)
Previously filed as an exhibit to the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-1/A (File No. 333-45996) (filed on November 9, 2000) and incorporated by reference thereto.
(2)
Previously filed as an exhibit to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (filed on November 1, 2007) and incorporated by reference thereto.
(3)
Previously filed as an exhibit to the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-1/A (File No. 333-45996) (filed on October 25, 2000) and incorporated by reference thereto.
(4)
Previously filed as an exhibit to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (filed on February 8, 2008) and incorporated by reference thereto.
(5)
Previously filed as Appendix A to the Company’s Definitive Schedule 14A (Proxy Statement) (filed on April 10, 2015) and incorporated by reference thereto.
 
exh_51.htm
Exhibit 5.1
 
 
 
June 5, 2015
 
Harvard Bioscience, Inc.
84 October Hill Road
Holliston, MA 01746-1371
 
Re: Securities Being Registered under Registration Statement on Form S-8
 
Ladies and Gentlemen:
 
This opinion letter is furnished to you in connection with your filing of a Registration Statement on Form S-8 (the “Registration Statement”) pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), on or about the date hereof relating to an aggregate of 2,500,000 shares (the “Shares”) of Common Stock, $0.01 par value per share (the “Common Stock”), of Harvard Bioscience, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), that may be issued pursuant to the Company’s Third Amended and Restated 2000 Stock Option and Incentive Plan, as amended (the “Plan”), as well the associated preferred stock purchase rights (the “Rights”) that will attach to such issued Shares pursuant to the Shareholder Rights Agreement, dated as of February 5, 2008, between the Company and Registrar and Transfer Company (the "Rights Agreement").
 
We have reviewed such documents and made such examination of law as we have deemed appropriate to give the opinion expressed below. We have relied, without independent verification, as to matters of fact material to the opinion set forth below, on certificates of officers of the Company.
 
In rendering this opinion, we have also assumed that the Rights Agreement was duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Rights Agent and that the members of the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) acted in a manner consistent with their fiduciary duties as required under applicable law in adopting the Rights Agreement. With respect to the Rights, our opinion does not address the determination a court of competent jurisdiction may make regarding whether the Board would be required to redeem or terminate, or take other action with respect to, the Rights at some future time based on the facts and circumstances existing at that time. This opinion addresses the Rights and the Rights Agreement in their entirety and not any particular provision of the Rights or the Rights Agreement, and it should be understood that it is not settled whether the invalidity of any particular provision of a rights agreement or of purchase rights issued thereunder would result in invalidating such rights in their entirety. The Rights exist by virtue of and are subject to the Rights Agreement and the terms and conditions thereof, and it should be understood that the Rights Agreement and the Rights may be terminated or amended at the Company’s option.
 
The opinion expressed below is limited to the Delaware General Corporation Law (which includes applicable provisions of the Delaware Constitution and reported judicial decisions interpreting the Delaware General Corporation Law and the Delaware Constitution).
 
For purposes of the opinion expressed below, we have assumed that a sufficient number of authorized but unissued shares of the Company’s Common Stock will be available for issuance when the Shares are issued.
 
Based on the foregoing, we are of the opinion that (i) the Shares have been duly authorized and, upon issuance and delivery against payment therefor in accordance with the terms of the Plan, will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable, and (ii) upon issuance the Rights, such Rights will be valid and binding obligations of the Company, enforceable against the Company in accordance with their terms.
 
 
 

 
We hereby consent to the inclusion of this opinion as Exhibit 5.1 to the Registration Statement. In giving our consent, we do not admit that we are in the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.
 
Very truly yours,
 
BURNS & LEVINSON LLP
 
/s/ BURNS & LEVINSON LLP
 
 
exh_231.htm
Exhibit 23.1
 

 
Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
 
The Board of Directors
Harvard Bioscience, Inc.:
 
We consent to the use of our reports dated March 12, 2015, with respect to the consolidated balance sheets of Harvard Bioscience, Inc. and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2014 and 2013, and the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income (loss), stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the years in the three year period ended December 31, 2014, and the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting  as of December 31, 2014 incorporated herein by reference.
 
/s/ KPMG LLP  
 
Boston, MA
June 5, 2015