Section 23-69-144 - Agreement or adoption of plan for merger, consolidation, or plan of exchange of shares(a) The directors, or a majority of them, of the corporations as desire to merge or consolidate or adopt a plan of exchange of shares pursuant to § 23-69-142 or § 23-69-143 shall enter into an agreement or adopt a plan signed by them and under the corporate seals of the respective corporations prescribing the terms and conditions of the merger or consolidation or plan of exchange of shares, the mode of carrying the same into effect, provisions with respect to abandonment, the effective date of the proposal or method of determination thereof and stating such other facts as are deemed applicable among those necessary to be set out in articles of incorporation, as provided in § 23-69-105, as well as the manner and basis of any issuance, conversion, or exchange of shares of stock involved in the proposal, and with such other details and provisions as are deemed necessary or desirable.(b)(1) The agreement of merger or consolidation shall be submitted to the stockholders, in the case of a stock insurer, or members, in the case of a mutual insurer, of each corporation at meetings thereof and called for the purpose of taking it into consideration. A plan of exchange of shares shall be submitted to the stockholders of the insurer to be acquired at a meeting thereof called for that purpose.(2) Notice shall be given of the time, place, and object of the meeting to each stockholder or member of record, whether entitled to vote or not.(3) At the meeting, the agreement or plan shall be considered and a vote by ballot, in person or by proxy, shall be taken for the adoption or rejection of the agreement or plan.(4) If the votes of stockholders, in the case of a stock insurer, holding stock of the corporation entitling them to exercise at least a majority of the voting power, or such other proportion of the stockholders as may be prescribed in the corporation's articles of incorporation for votes on such a proposal, or, in the case of a mutual insurer, the votes of the number or proportion of members of the insurer as required under § 23-69-143(b), shall be for the adoption of the agreement or plan, then that fact shall be certified in the agreement or plan by the secretary or assistant secretary of each corporation, under the seal thereof.(5) The agreement or plan so adopted and certified shall be signed by each constituent corporation under its seal and the hands of its president or a vice president and its secretary or an assistant secretary and acknowledged before an officer authorized by the laws of Arkansas to take acknowledgment of deeds.(c)(1) The agreement or plan, adopted and certified as provided in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, shall be filed in duplicate originals with the Insurance Commissioner, and thence shall be taken and deemed to be the agreement and act of merger or consolidation or plan of exchange of shares of the constituent corporations, and, in the case of a consolidation, as the certificate of incorporation of the consolidated corporations.(2) A copy of the agreement or plan certified by the commissioner shall be evidence of the performance of all antecedent acts and conditions necessary to the merger and consolidation or plan of exchange of shares and of the existence of the consolidated corporation.(d) Any agreement of merger or consolidation or plan of exchange may be abandoned in conformity with the terms thereof as approved by the commissioner. However, in such event, due notice of the abandonment shall be immediately transmitted to the stockholders or members of all domestic insurance corporations which are parties thereto within ten (10) days of the abandonment in a manner and form as prescribed or approved by the commissioner. With regard to proposed affiliations between a depository institution, or any affiliate thereof, and an insurer, the hearing may be cancelled and the matter concluded and the notice of abandonment issued within the period required by federal law.Amended by Act 2021, No. 367,§ 16, eff. 7/28/2021.Acts 1971, No. 301, § 3; A.S.A. 1947, § 66-4247; Acts 2001, No. 1604, § 64.