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As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 13, 2001

Registration No. 333-    



SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549


FORM S-8
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
Under
The Securities Act of 1933

LANDEC CORPORATION
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)


California
(State of Incorporation)
94-3025618
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

3603 Haven Avenue
Menlo Park, CA 94025-1010
(Address of principal executive offices)


Non-Plan Stock Option
1996 Stock Option Plan
New Executive Stock Option Plan
(Full Title of the Plans)


Gary T. Steele
President & Chief Executive Officer
Landec Corporation
3603 Haven Avenue
Menlo Park, CA 94025-1010
(650) 306-1650
(Name, address and telephone number, including area code, of Agent for Service)


Copy to:
Geoffrey P. Leonard, Esq.
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
1020 Marsh Road
Menlo Park, California 94025
(650) 614-7400


Page 1 of 10
Exhibit Index on Page 8
(Calculation of Registration Fee on following page)



CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE



Title of Securities to be Registered

  Amount
to be
Registered(1)

  Proposed
Maximum Offering
Price Per Share

  Proposed
Maximum Aggregate
Offering Price

  Amount of
Registration
Fee


Non-Plan Stock Option
    Common Stock Issuable upon
    Exercise of Outstanding Option
  790,000 Shares   $6.25(2)   $4,937,500(2)   $1,235

1996 Stock Option Plan
    Common Stock Reserved for Grant of
    Additional Options
  500,000 Shares   $4.00(3)   $2,000,000(3)   $500

New Executive Stock Option Plan
    Common Stock Reserved for Grant of Option
  210,000 Shares   $4.00(3)    $840,000(3)   $210

(1)
This Registration Statement shall also cover any additional shares of Common Stock which become issuable under any of the Plans being registered pursuant to this Registration Statement by reason of any stock dividend, stock split, recapitalization or any other similar transaction effected without the receipt of consideration which results in an increase in the number of the Registrant's outstanding shares of Common Stock.

(2)
Pursuant to Rule 457(h)(1) under the Securities Act, the proposed maximum offering price per share and the proposed maximum aggregate offering price have been calculated on the basis of $6.25 per share, the exercise price of the stock options.

(3)
Estimated in accordance with Rules 457(c) and 457(h) under the Securities Act solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee. The computation with respect to unissued options is based upon average high and low sale prices of the Common Stock as reported on the Nasdaq National Market on June 7, 2001.



2



PART I

Item 1. Plan Information*

Item 2. Registrant Information and Employee Plan Annual Information.*

    *   Information required by Part I to be contained in the Section 10(a) prospectus is omitted from this Registration Statement in accordance with Rule 428 under the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act") and the Note to Part I of Form S-8.


PART II

Item 3. Incorporation of Certain Documents by Reference

    The following documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") are hereby incorporated by reference:

    All documents subsequently filed by the Registrant pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment which indicates that all securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement and to be part hereof from the date of filing 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 subsequently filed document which also 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 4. Description of Securities

    Not applicable.


Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel

    Certain matters with respect to the legality of the issuance of the Common Stock registered hereby will be passed upon for the Registrant by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Menlo Park, California.


Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers

    The Registrant's Articles of Incorporation reduce the liability of a director to the corporation or its shareholders for monetary damages for breaches of his or her fiduciary duty of care to the fullest extent permissible under California law (the "California Law"). Under the California Law, a director's liability to a company or its shareholders may not be limited with respect to the following items: (i) acts or omissions that involve intentional misconduct or a knowing and culpable violation of law, (ii) acts or

3


omissions that a director believes to be contrary to the best interests of the company or its shareholders or that involve the absence of good faith on the part of the director, (iii) any transaction from which a director derived an improper personal benefit, (iv) acts or omissions that show a reckless disregard for the director's duty to the company or its shareholders in circumstances in which the director was aware, or should have been aware, in the ordinary course of performing a director's duties, of a risk of a serious injury to the company or its shareholders, (vi) contracts or transactions between the company and a director within the scope of Section 310 of the California Law or (vii) improper dividends, loans and guarantees under Section 316 of the California Law. The limitation of liability does not affect the availability of injunctions and other equitable remedies available to the Registrant's shareholders for any violation by a director of the director's fiduciary duty to the Registrant or its shareholders.

    The Bylaws of the Registrant further provide for indemnification of corporate agents to the maximum extent permitted by the California Law. In addition, the Registrant has entered into Indemnification Agreements with its officers and directors.


Item 7. Exemption from Registration Claimed

    Not applicable.


Item 8. Exhibits

    See Exhibit Index on page 8.


Item 9. Undertakings

    The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

    (1) to file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement:

provided, however, that clauses (1)(i) and (1)(ii) shall not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those clauses is contained in periodic reports filed by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the 1934 Act that are incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement.

    (2) that, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new Registration Statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

4


    (3) to remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

    The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the Registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that is incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

    Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in a successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered hereunder, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by itself is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

5



SIGNATURES

    Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, 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 Menlo Park, State of California, on this 13th day of June, 2001.

    LANDEC CORPORATION
(Registrant)

 

 

By:

 

/s/ 
GARY T. STEELE   
        Gary T. Steele
President & Chief Executive Officer

6



POWER OF ATTORNEY

    KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Gary T. Steele and Gregory S. Skinner, jointly and severally, his or her attorneys-in-fact and agents, each with the power of substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place or stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any amendments to this Registration Statement on Form S-8, and to file such amendments, together with exhibits and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting to each 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 as he or she might or could do in person, and ratifying and confirming all that the attorney-in-facts and agents, or his or her substitute or substitutes, may do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

    Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

Signature
  Title
  Date

 

 

 

 

 
/s/ GARY T. STEELE     
Gary T. Steele
  President and Chief Executive Officer and Director (Principal Executive Officer)   October 31, 2000

/s/ 
GREGORY S. SKINNER     
Gregory S. Skinner

 

Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)

 

October 31, 2000

/s/ 
STEPHEN E. HALPRIN     
Stephen E. Halprin

 

Director

 

October 23, 2000

/s/ 
KIRBY L. CRAMER     
Kirby L. Cramer

 

Director

 

October 23, 2000

/s/ 
RICHARD S. SCHNEIDER, PH.D.     
Richard S. Schneider, Ph.D.

 

Director

 

October 31, 2000

/s/ 
RICHARD DULUDE     
Richard Dulude

 

Director

 

October 23, 2000

7



INDEX TO EXHIBITS

Exhibit
Number

   
  Page No.

5.1

 

Opinion of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

 

9

23.1

 

Consent of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (contained in Exhibit 5.1)

 

9

23.2

 

Consent of Ernst & Young LLP, Independent Auditors

 

10

24.1

 

Powers of Attorney (see p. 7)

 

 

8




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CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
PART I
PART II
SIGNATURES
POWER OF ATTORNEY
INDEX TO EXHIBITS
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EXHIBIT 5.1 (OPINION OF COUNSEL)

June 13, 2001

Landec Corporation
3603 Haven Avenue
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Ladies and Gentlemen:

    At your request, we are rendering this opinion in connection with the proposed issuance of up to 1,500,000 shares of common stock ("Common Stock") upon exercise of options granted pursuant to (i) a Non-Plan option agreement of Landec Corporation, a California corporation (the "Company"), (ii) the 1996 Stock Option Plan of the Company and (ii) the New Executive Stock Option Plan of the Company (the Non-Plan option agreement, the 1996 Stock Option Plan and the New Executive Stock Option Plan are referred to herein collectively as the "Plans").

    We have examined instruments, documents, and records which we deemed relevant and necessary for the basis of our opinion hereinafter expressed. In such examination, we have assumed the following: (a) the authenticity of original documents and the genuineness of all signatures; (b) the conformity to the originals of all documents submitted to us as copies; and (c) the truth, accuracy and completeness of the information, representations and warranties contained in the records, documents, instruments and certificates we have reviewed.

    Based on such examination, we are of the opinion that the 1,500,000 shares of Common Stock to be issued by the Company upon exercise of options granted pursuant to the Plans have been validly authorized and, when issued in accordance with the provisions of the Plans, will be legally issued, fully paid and nonassessable.

    We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to this Registration Statement on Form S-8. In giving such consent, we do not consider that we are "experts" within the meaning of such term as used in the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission issued thereunder, with respect to any part of the Registration Statement, including this opinion as an exhibit or otherwise.

    Very truly yours,

 

 

ORRICK, HERRINGTON & SUTCLIFFE LLP
    /s/ ORRICK, HERRINGTON & SUTCLIFFE LLP   

9




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EXHIBIT 5.1 (OPINION OF COUNSEL)
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EXHIBIT 23.2

CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT AUDITORS

    We consent to the incorporation by reference in the Registration Statement (Form S-8) in connection with the registration of 790,000 shares for the Non-Plan Stock Option, 500,000 shares for the 1996 Stock Option Plan, and 210,000 shares for the New Executive Stock Option Plan of Landec Corporation, of our report dated December 22, 2000, with respect to the consolidated financial statements and schedules of Landec Corporation included in its Annual Report (Form 10-K) for the year ended October 29, 2000 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

Ernst & Young LLP
San Francisco, California
June 7, 2001

10




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EXHIBIT 23.2
CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT AUDITORS