Article 15 The Company shall be managed by a Board of Directors and an Executive Board, with powers granted by applicable legal and regulatory rules and pursuant to these Bylaws.
Paragraph 1 The resolutions of the Board of Directors and the Executive Board will be recorded in the minutes drawn up and signed in the Company’s books.
Paragraph 2 The members of the Board of Directors and Executive Board will take office within thirty (30) days following their election by signing the instrument of investiture drawn up in the Company’s records for this purpose, with waiver of management pledge, but will be subject to the requirements, impediments, duties, obligations and responsibilities provided for in Articles 145 to 158 of the Brazilian Corporation Law.
Paragraph 3 After the Company signs the Level 2 Agreement, the investiture of the members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Board in the respective positions will be subject to their previous signature of the Management Statement of Consent, pursuant to Level 2 Rules and the compliance with applicable legal requirements.
Section I Board of Directors
Article 16 The Board of Directors is composed of, at least, seven (7) and up to ten (10) members and any alternate member(s), if appointed by Shareholders, all of them elected and removed from office by the Shareholders’ Meeting, residents of Brazil or not, for a combined two-(2) year term of office, and reelection is authorized.
Paragraph 1 Without prejudice to the caput of this Article, the Board members shall remain in office until their successors are elected and take office.
Paragraph 2 The Board of Directors shall be composed of, at least, twenty per cent (20%) independent members, pursuant to Level 2 Rules, who shall be expressly declared as such in the minutes of the Shareholders’ Meeting to elect them. Those elected in accordance with this caput and Paragraphs 4 and 5 of Article 141 of the Brazilian Corporation Law shall also be considered Independent Board Members and will not have alternate members.
Paragraph 3 If the percentage established in Paragraph 2 above results in a fraction, the number should be rounded off, pursuant to Level 2 rules.
Paragraph 4 The positions of Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Company’s Chief Executive Officer cannot be cumulated by same person, except for provisions of Level 2 Rules.
Paragraph 5 The Shareholders’ Meeting will appoint the Chairman and Vice- Chairman of the Board of Directors among those elected. The Chairman of the Board of Directors or, in case of his absence or temporary impediment, the Vice-Chairman, will be responsible for convening and presiding over the Board of Directors’ Meetings.
Paragraph 6 In case of impediment or temporary absence of the Chairman of the Board of Directors, he will be replaced by the Vice-Chairman and if he is also impeded or temporarily absent, he will be replaced any other Board member and elected by a simple majority of attending Board members. Said member will perform all the acts empowered to the Chairman, during the period of impediment or absence of the latter.
Paragraph 7 If the position becomes vacant due to decease, resignation or a lengthy or permanent impediment of the Board member, the Board of Directors will elect, by simple majority, his deputy, whose term of office will expire at the first subsequent Shareholders’ Meeting. If the majority of the positions on the Board become vacant, the Shareholders’ Meeting will be called to elect the new Board members. If all the positions on the Board become vacant, the Executive Board should urgently call the Shareholders’ Meeting.
Paragraph 8 Any Board member may be replaced by his alternate, if available, even if temporarily, except for the Independent Board members.
Article 17 The Board of Directors will meet whenever called by its Chairman or, during his absence or temporary impediment, by its Vice-Chairman, at least, five (5) days in advance, on first call, and two (2) days on second call. The call notice should be accompanied by the meeting agenda.
Paragraph 1 Regardless of the formalities in this Article 17, the Board of Directors’ Meetings in which all the members attend the meeting or all acting members are represented.
Paragraph 2 The Board of Directors’ meetings shall only be held on first call with the attendance of the majority of its members and on second call, with any number of members. At the Board meetings, the Board member absent may participate by audio or video conference call and may vote by letter, fax or email, if these are received before the meeting.
Paragraph 3 The Board of Directors‘ Meetings will be instated and presided over by the Chairman of the Board of Directors or, during his absence, the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors or, during his absence, by any Board member elected by a simple majority of the attending Board members.
Paragraph 4 The minutes shall be drawn up at the end of the meeting and signed by all the Board members physically or remotely attending the meeting, and subsequently transcribed in the Minutes Book of the Company’s Board of Directors. The votes cast by Board members in accordance with Article 17, Paragraph 2 in fine of these Bylaws should be recorded in the Minutes Book of the Board of Directors, and a copy of the letter, fax or email, where applicable, containing the Board member’s vote, shall be attached to the Minutes Book immediately after the transcription of the Minutes.
Paragraph 5 The minutes of the meetings containing the resolutions that affect third parties will be filed at the Board of Trade within thirty (30) days as of the date of the Board of Directors‘ meeting and published in accordance with Article 289 of the Brazilian Corporation Law.
Article 18 The Board of Directors, in addition to its exclusive powers lay down by law, is also empowered to:
a) set the overall guideline of the company’s business and the investment budget for each year;
b) elect, accept the resignation, deliberate on request for temporary leave, nominate replacements and remove the Executive Officers, as well as entrust them with specific duties within the scope of these Bylaws;
c) monitor the Executive Officers’ management, examine, at any time, the corporate books and documents, as well as request information on any Management acts;
d) call the Shareholders’ Meetings in accordance with these Bylaws under the circumstances envisaged by laws and when deemed convenient;
e) express opinion on the Management report, financial statements and the Executive Board accounts to be submitted to the Shareholders’ Meeting, as well as the proposal for the allocation of the profit for the year;
f) authorize operations that individually involve assets, liabilities, provision of guarantees and sureties, constitution of lien on assets, loans, financing agreements and other legal matters involving substantial amounts, that is, which exceed five percent (5%) of the Company’s total assets, as well as the disposal of its properties, and investments in amounts higher than those budgeted for each year;
g) deliberate on the acquisition of shares and debentures issued by the Company for cancellation or to be held in treasury, as well as for resale or placement in the market, subject to the rules of the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission and other applicable legal and regulatory rules;
h) determine the drawing up of trial statements of financial position for periods shorter than one year and deliberate on the payment of interim dividends to shareholders in accordance with these Bylaws;
i) deliberate on the issue of simple, unsecured non-convertible debentures and the public issue of debt instruments such as bonds, notes, commercial papers and others commonly used in the market to raise funds, as well as deliberate on the respective terms referred to in clauses VI to VIII of Article 59 of the Brazilian Corporation Law;
j) deliberate on the signing or termination of agreements and obligations of any nature between the Company and the administrators and/or the Controlling Shareholder, directly or through third parties, as well as other companies in which the administrators and/or the Controlling Shareholder hold interest, which involve substantial amounts, that is, exceeding three hundred thousand reais (R$300,000.00) per agreement. Any member of the Board of Directors may request an independent evaluation to review the terms and conditions of the proposal submitted and its suitability with the market conditions. This rule shall not apply to the agreements executed between the Company and other companies in which it holds direct or indirect interest, as well as agreements directly signed between these companies;
k) deliberate on the capital increase within the limits of authorized capital, pursuant to Paragraphs 1 to 4, Article 8 of these Bylaws, through the issue of new common and/or preferred shares, warrants, debentures convertible into shares or subscription rights and, in the case of issue of new shares, including shares to be represented by Units (as defined in Article 39 of these Bylaws), deliberate on the issue price, mode of subscription and payment, the period and method of exercising the preemptive rights and other issue-related conditions;
l) select and remove the Company’s independent auditors;
m) deliberate on the acquisition and sale of interest in other companies, participation in public bids and on the incorporation of subsidiaries, always considering the company’s purpose;
n) deliberate on the submission, by the Company, of the petition for bankruptcy or in court or out-of-court reorganization, as well as, if urgent, to resolve on the effective filing by the Company of a petition for bankruptcy or in court or out-of-court reorganization, pursuant to the Sole Paragraph of Article 122 of the Brazilian Corporation Law;
o) deliberate on the exercise of the voting right by the Company in its subsidiary, as well as appoint the administrators, executive officers, and members of the Board of Directors and Fiscal Council of the Company’s subsidiaries and/or companies in which the Company holds interest;
p) distribute the Management’s overall compensation fixed annually by the Shareholders’ Meeting among the members of the Company’s Board of Directors and Executive Board;
q) define and submit to the Shareholders’ Meeting, a list of three companies specialized in the economic valuation to prepare the valuation report of the Company’s shares for the public tender offer of the Company shares in the event of the company’s deregistering as a publicly-held company from the CVM, in accordance with Chapter VII of the Company’s Bylaws, or the Company’s delisting from Level 2, pursuant to Chapter VIII of these Bylaws;
r) within the authorized capital and according to the plan previously approved by the Shareholders’ Meeting, grant stock options or share subscription to the Company’s administrators or employees or to individuals rendering services to the Company or its subsidiaries, without preemptive right for shareholders;
s) deliberate on other matters under its authority as envisaged by laws or these Bylaws; and
t) render a favorable opinion or contrary to any public tender offer, the purpose of which is the shares issued by the Company, through a substantiated opinion, released within fifteen (15) days as of the publication of the notice for the public tender offer, which shall include, at least, (i) the convenience and the opportunity of the public tender offer as to the joint interest of shareholders and in relation to the liquidity of its securities; (ii) the effects of the public tender offer on the Company‘s interests; (iii) the strategic plans disclosed by the offeror in relation to the Company; (iv) other issues the Board of Director deems relevant, as well as the information required by CVM’s applicable rules.
Paragraph 1 The resolutions of the Board of Directors will be taken by majority vote. In case of a tie, the casting vote rests with the Chairman or, where applicable, the Board member acting as his replacement.
Paragraph 2 The Board of Directors may set up committees with technical and/or advisory duties, such as the Compensation, Processes and Ethics, Contracting of Related Parties, Succession and Audit Committees and define their duties, specific aspects with regard to deliberations and also elect the members of said committees.
Paragraph 3 The resolution on the matter referred to in item “j” of the caput of Article 18 of these Bylaws will be subject to the approval by the majority vote of the Board of Directors, with the favorable vote of two (2) independent board members.
Paragraph 4 The amount described in letter “j”, caput of Article 18 hereof will be annually adjusted by IGP-M (General Market Price Index), as of this date.
Section II Executive Board
Article 19 The Executive Board will consist of, at least, two (2) and at most six (6) members, shareholders or not, residing in Brazil, elected by the Board of Directors for a two- (2) year combined term of office and may be removed from office any time. The Executive Board members are eligible for reelection and may hold more than one position. Regardless of the date of their election, the terms of office of the executive officers will end on the date of the first Board of Directors’ meeting subsequent to the Shareholders’ Meeting that will analyze the accounts relating to the last fiscal year under their tenure. The following positions are mandatory: (i) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), (ii) Vice Chief Executive Officer (Vice CEO); (iii) Chief Commercial Officer; (iv) Chief Administrative and Financial Officer; (v) Chief Technical Officer; and (vi) Investor Relations Officer.
Paragraph 1 Up to one third (1/3) of the Board of Directors may be elected as executive officers.
Paragraph 2 Without prejudice to the caput of this Article 19, members of the Executive Board will remain in office until their successors are elected and take office.
Paragraph 3 In case of impediment or temporary absence of an Executive Officer, said officer will be replaced by another Officer, who will perform the duties temporarily, elected by a simple majority of the attending executive officers.
Paragraph 4 If the position becomes vacant due to the decease, resignation or lengthy or permanent impediment of the Officer, the Chairman of the Board of Directors will designate another Officer, who will temporarily cumulate the duties of the Officer replaced until the next meeting of the Board of Directors or the expiration of the temporary impediment of the Officer replaced. The Board of Directors shall ratify the officer designated by the Chairman of the Board of Directors or appoint a new officer who, in case of lengthy impediment of the Officer replaced, will perform said officer’s duties ad interim until the expiration date of the impediment.
Paragraph 5 Any act practiced by any administrator, attorney-in-fact or employee of the Company that involves obligations relating to transactions and operations beyond the scope of the corporate purpose is expressly prohibited and shall be legally null and void without prejudice to the determination of civil or criminal liability, where applicable.
Article 20 The Executive Board will meet (i) annually to draw up the financial statements and the respective report to be submitted to the Board of Directors for approval, pursuant to item “e” of Article 18 above; and (ii) periodically, whenever the company’s interests so require, upon call by any of its members, at least, two (2) days in advance, with the call notice mentioning the agenda. Irrespective of call notice, the Executive Board meetings relying on the attendance of all acting members will be considered valid.
Paragraph 1 The Executive Board meetings only will be instated on first call with the attendance of the majority of its members and on second call, by any quorum. Executive Officers may participate at the meetings by audio or video conference call and, when absent, may vote via letter, fax or e-mail, if received before the meeting.
Paragraph 2 The Executive Board meetings will be called to order and presided over by the Chief Executive Officer or, during his absence, by the Vice Chief Executive Officer and, during his absence, by an officer elected by others.
Paragraph 3 The Executive Board resolutions shall be taken by majority vote. In case of a tie, the casting vote will rest with the Chief Executive Officer or his replacement in the meeting.
Paragraph 4 After the end of the meeting, the Minutes shall be drawn up, which shall be signed by the Officers physically or remotely attending the meeting, and subsequently transcribed in the Book of Minutes of the Executive Board’s Meetings. The votes cast by executive officers in accordance with Article 20, Paragraph 1 in fine of these Bylaws shall likewise be recorded in said Book of Minutes and a copy of the letter, fax or e-mail containing the officer’s vote shall be attached to the Book after the Minutes are transcribed.
Article 21 In addition to the powers necessary to conduct the Company’s business and normal operations, the Executive Board is granted powers to compromise, waive, withdraw, sign commitments, contract obligations, acknowledge debt and sign agreements, acquire, sell and encumber assets and properties, observing the limits and conditions set forth in these Bylaws. The Executive Board is especially empowered:
a) to submit to the Shareholders’ Meeting, after submitting to the Board of Directors and Fiscal Council for their opinion, the Management report and financial statements provided for by laws, as well as the proposal for allocation of profit for the year;
b) to define, based on the guidelines of the Board of Directors, the Company’s business and financial policy;
c) to represent the Company as defendant or plaintiff, in court and out of court, observing the conditions laid down in Article 22 of these Bylaws.
Paragraph 1 The Chief Executive Officer, in addition to coordinating the action of the executive officers and managing the execution of the activities related to the Company‘s general planning, has the following powers and duties: (i) call and preside over Executive Board’s meetings; (ii) generally oversee the powers and duties of the Executive Board; (iii) keep the Board of Directors informed of the Company’s activities and the progress of its operations; and (iv) perform other duties assigned to him by the Board of Directors.
Paragraph 2 The Vice Chief Executive Officer, among other duties that may be assigned to him, will assist the Chief Executive Officer in his duties and replace him during his absence and impediment.
Paragraph 3 The Chief Administrative and Financial Officer, among other powers and duties that may be established, is empowered to: (i) plan, coordinate, organize, supervise and conduct the activities related to the Company’s financial operations, (ii) manage the Company’s consolidated finances; (iii) propose the performance targets and results of the Company’s several departments, the Company’s budget, monitor the Company’s results, draw up the financial statements and the annual Management report; (iv) coordinate the evaluation and implementation of the investment and operations opportunities, including financing opportunities, in the Company’s interest.
Paragraph 4 The Chief Commercial Officer, among other powers and duties that may be established, is empowered to evaluate and monitor the policies, strategies and implementation of the projects in the marketing of products or activities related to the Company’s purpose.
Paragraph 5 The Chief Technical Officer, among other powers and duties that may be established, is empowered to: (i) manage the planning, engineering, operation and maintenance of the power generation system; and (ii) other technical activities, including those related to power generation by the Company.
Paragraph 6 The Investor Relations Officer, among other duties that may be established will (i) represent the Company at the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as before shareholders, investors, stock exchanges, the Central Bank of Brazil and other capital market regulatory agencies; (ii) plan, coordinate and guide the relationship and communication between the Company and its investors, the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission and the entities where the Company securities are accepted for trading; (iii) propose the guidelines and rules for relations with the Company’s investors; (iv) comply with capital market laws and disclose to the market relevant information about the Company and its businesses as required by laws; (v) maintain the company‘s books and ensure that the records are made regularly; (vi) oversee the services provided by the depositary financial institution relating to the ownership structure, such as, but not limited to the payment of dividends and bonus shares, purchase, sale and transfer of shares; (vii) ensure the compliance with and execution of the corporate governance rules and Bylaws provisions and legal provisions related to the securities markets; and (viii) either severally or jointly, practice the Company’s usual Management acts.
Article 22 Subject to Paragraph 4 of this Article 22, the Company will be considered bound when represented:
a) jointly by two Officers, subject to Paragraph 2 below;
b) jointly by one Officer and one attorney-in-fact, or jointly by two attorneys-in-fact, according to the extension of powers conferred to them by power of attorney;
c) severally by one Officer or one attorney-in-fact to practice the acts referred to in Paragraph 2, below.
Paragraph 1 When empowering an attorney-in-fact, the Company shall be represented, pursuant to item “a” of this Article 22, by one of the Officers being the Chief Executive Officer or the Vice Chief Executive Officer, except in case of powers of attorney for representation in legal or administrative proceedings.
Paragraph 2 The Company’s representation pursuant to item “c” of this Article 22 is restricted to: (i) representing the Company as a shareholder or quotaholder at Shareholders’ Meetings or quotaholders’ meetings of companies controlled thereby or in which it holds interest; (ii) representing the Company at any international, federal, state and municipal public agencies, including for legal purposes; (iii) endorsing checks for deposit in the Company’s bank accounts; (iv) representing the Company at the Labor Courts and Unions; (v) admission, suspension or dismissal of the Company’s employees and/or representatives in labor agreements; and (vi) representing the Company in public bids.
Paragraph 3 Except for legal purposes and ad judicia and ad negotia powers of attorney granted within the scope of loan agreements, the validity of which will occur until the final settlement of Loan Agreements, all powers of attorney granted by the Company will be valid for a specified period, not exceeding one (1) year.
Paragraph 4 The Company’s representation in operations that individually involve assets, liabilities, tendering of guarantees or sureties, creation of lien on assets, loans, financing agreements and other legal issues in excess of five hundred thousand reais (R$500,000.00) shall occur with the signature of any Executive Officer or attorney-in-fact jointly with the Chief Executive Officer or Vice Chief Executive Officer, except in cases of the Company’s representation in bidding processes, pursuant to sub-item (vi), Paragraph 2 of Article 22 of these Bylaws.
Article 23 In operations alien to the company’s business and purpose, the Officers are prohibited from tendering guarantees and sureties or contract obligations of any type on the Company’s behalf, except with the prior and express authorization from the Board of Directors.
Sole Paragraph The prohibition mentioned in the caput of this Article 23 shall not apply to the granting of guarantees or sureties, or the assumption of obligations of any type, on behalf of the direct or indirect subsidiaries, as well as on behalf of its associate companies, as long as item “f” of Article 18 of the Company’s Bylaws is complied with.