1
EXHIBIT 10.18
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT
DATED AUGUST 19, 1996
BETWEEN
▇▇▇▇▇ ▇. ▇▇▇▇ AND NABI
64
2
NABI
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇.▇.
▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇
EFFECTIVE AS OF AUGUST 19, 1996
▇▇. ▇▇▇▇▇ ▇. ▇▇▇▇
▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇
▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇
Dear ▇▇▇▇▇:
You have agreed to serve as a Senior Vice President Business Development for
Nabi. The following are the terms of such employment:
1. TERM: You will serve as a Senior Vice President Business Development, of
Nabi, a period beginning as of the date hereof and ending on July 31, 1999,
unless your employment is sooner terminated as provided below (the "Employment
Period").
2. SALARY: Your salary will be $180,000.00 per year, payable bi-weekly during
the Employment Period. Your salary will be subject to discretionary annual
increases as determined by Nabi's Board of Directors.
3. BONUS: You will be entitled to participate in Nabi's VIP Management Incentive
Program.
Unless the Employment Period is terminated for "cause" pursuant to Section 7(B)
(b) below, bonus compensation shall be pro rated in respect of any calendar year
during which the Employment Period terminates based on the amount of bonus
compensation which would have been payable with respect to such year based on
your original VIP Management Incentive Program participation, divided by 12,
times the number of full calendar months during the relevant year you were
employed prior to the termination of the Employment Period. If the Employment
Period is terminated pursuant to Section 7 (B)(b) below, no bonus compensation
is payable with respect to the calendar year during which it is terminated.
Bonus payments shall be payable within 120 days after the end of the relevant
calendar year.
4. AUTO ALLOWANCE: You, while an employee under the terms of this Agreement,
shall receive an auto allowance of not less than $900.00 per month.
5. BENEFITS: You will be eligible to participate in Nabi's 401(k),
medical/dental insurance, life insurance, executive long term disability
program, Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan,(SERP), and other benefit
programs upon the effective date of this Agreement. You will accrue Paid Leave
Bank (PLB) time at the rate of 15.33 hours per month, beginning September 15,
1996.
6. DUTIES AND EXTENT OF SERVICES:
(A) During the Employment Period, you agree to devote substantially all of your
working time, and such energy, knowledge, and efforts as is necessary to the
discharge and performance of your duties provided for in this Agreement and such
other reasonable duties and responsibilities consistent with your position as
are assigned to you from time to time by the person to whom you report. You
shall be located primarily in Nabi's Boca Raton, Florida, facilities, but shall
travel to other locations from time to time as shall be reasonably required in
the course of performance of your duties.
(B) During the Employment Period, you shall serve as a Nabi Senior Vice
President Business Development. You shall have such duties as are delegated to
you by the person to whom you report
65
3
provided that such duties shall be reasonably consistent with those duties
assigned to executive officers having similar titles in organizations comparable
to Nabi.
7. TERMINATION:
(A) The Employment Period shall terminate upon your death. You may also
terminate the Employment Period upon thirty (30) days' prior written notice to
Nabi. Any termination pursuant to this Section 7(A) shall not affect any bonus
compensation applicable to the year of such termination, provided that any bonus
compensation payable pursuant to Section 3 of this Agreement shall be pro rated
as provided for in Section 3.
(B) Nabi may terminate the Employment Period in the event of (a) your disability
that prevents you from performing your obligations pursuant to this Agreement
for any three (3) consecutive months or (b) for "cause", which is defined as (i)
commission of fraud or embezzlement or other felonious acts by you, (ii) your
refusal to comply with reasonable directions in connection with the performance
of your duties as provided for in Section 6 of this Agreement after notice of
such failure is delivered to you, (iii) failure to comply with the provisions of
Section 8 or 9 of this Agreement or (iv) your gross negligence in connection
with the performance of your duties as provided for in this Agreement, which
gross negligence causes material damage to Nabi, provided that, in the event of
termination under this clause (B), you shall receive ten (10) days' notice of
such failure prior to termination and a determination must be made by Nabi's
Board of Directors or a duly appointed committee of the Board, after you are
afforded an opportunity to be heard, that it is, at the date of such
termination, reasonable to conclude that grounds for such termination under this
clause (B) still exists.
(C) Nabi may otherwise terminate the Employment Period upon thirty (30) days'
prior notice to you. In the event of such termination based on the effective
date of such termination, Nabi will pay you severance pay of six (6) months of
your annual base salary as in effect at the time of such termination ("Severance
Pay") and maintain in effect for a six (6) month period all then existing
benefits, (subject to the limitations of the applicable plans), including but
not limited to, the auto allowance, life insurance, short and long term
disability programs, health care coverages, and SERP benefits. Severance Pay
provided for in this paragraph shall be made in six (6) equal monthly
installments. If you terminate your employment with Nabi within thirty (30) days
of the expiration of the Employment Period, you shall be entitled to receive
Severance Pay under Section 7C unless during the thirty (30) day period prior to
the expiration of the Employment Period, Nabi offered to renew this Agreement on
terms no less favorable to you than the terms then in effect.
(D) If your employment terminates pursuant to Section 7B(a) or Section 7C, all
non-vested stock options, restricted stock or similar incentive equity
instruments pursuant to the Company's 1990 Equity Incentive Plan and/or
successor plans, (the "Options"), shall immediately vest. All such "Options"
shall be exercisable for one (1) year past termination date, except that no
"Options" shall be exercisable beyond the original "Option" expiration date. To
the extent the terms of any "Options" are inconsistent with this Agreement, the
terms of this Agreement shall control.
(E) Your confidentiality and non-competition agreements set forth in Sections 8
and 9 below shall survive the termination of your employment regardless of the
reasons therefor.
8. CONFIDENTIALITY: You acknowledge that your duties as described in Section 6
of this Agreement will give you access to trade secrets and other confidential
information of Nabi and/or its affiliates, including but not limited to
information concerning production and marketing of their respective products,
customer lists, and other information relating to their present or future
operations (all of the foregoing, whether or not it qualifies as a "trade
secret" under applicable law, is collectively called "Confidential
Information"). You recognize that Confidential Information is proprietary to
each such entity and gives each of them significant competitive advantage.
Accordingly, you shall not use or disclose any of the Confidential Information
during or after the Employment Period, except for the sole and exclusive benefit
of the relevant company. Upon any termination of the Employment Period, you will
return to the relevant company's office all documents, computer tapes, and other
tangible embodiments of any Confidential Information. You agree that Nabi would
be irreparably injured by any breach of your confidentiality agreement, that
such injury would not be
66
4
adequately compensable by monetary damages, and that, accordingly, the offended
company may specifically enforce the provisions of this Section by injunction or
similar remedy by any court of competent jurisdiction without affecting any
claim for damages.
9. NON-COMPETITION:
(A) You acknowledge that your services to be rendered are of a special and
unusual character and have a unique value to Nabi the loss of which cannot
adequately be compensated by damages in an action at law. In view of the unique
value of the services, and because of the Confidential Information to be
obtained by or disclosed to you, and as a material inducement to Nabi to enter
into this Agreement and to pay to you the compensation referred to above and
other consideration provided, you covenant and agree that you will not, during
the term of your employment by Nabi and for a period of one (1) year after
termination of such employment for any reason whatsoever, you will not, directly
or indirectly, (a) engage or become interested, as owner, employee, consultant,
partner, through stock ownership (except ownership of less than five percent of
any class of securities which are publicly traded), investment of capital,
lending of money or property, rendering of services, or otherwise, either alone
or in association with others, in the operations, management or supervision of
any type of business or enterprise engaged in any business which is competitive
with any business of Nabi (a "Competitive Business"), (b) solicit or accept
orders from any current or past customer of Nabi for products or services
offered or sold by, or competitive with products or services offered or sold by,
Nabi, (c) induce or attempt to induce any such customer to reduce such
customer's purchase of products or services from Nabi, (d) disclose or use for
the benefit of any Competitive Business the name and/or requirements of any such
customer or (e) solicit any of Nabi's employees to leave the employ of Nabi or
hire or negotiate for the employment of any employee of Nabi.
(B) You have carefully read and considered the provisions of this Section and
Section 8 and having done so, agree that the restrictions set forth (including
but not limited to the time period of restriction and the world wide areas of
restriction) are fair and reasonable (even if termination is at our request and
without cause) and are reasonably required for the protection of the interest of
Nabi, its officers, directors, and other employees. You acknowledge that upon
termination of this Agreement for any reason, it may be necessary for you to
relocate to another area, and you agree that this restriction is fair and
reasonable and is reasonably required for the protection of the interests of
Nabi, their officers, directors, and other employees.
(C) In the event that, notwithstanding the foregoing, any of the provisions of
this Section or Section 8 shall be held to be invalid or unenforceable, the
remaining provisions thereof shall nevertheless continue to be valid and
enforceable as though invalid or unenforceable parts had not been included
therein. In the event that any provision of this Section relating to time period
and/or areas of restriction shall be declared by a court of competent
jurisdiction to exceed the maximum time period or areas such court deems
reasonable and enforceable, said time period and/or areas of restriction shall
be deemed to become, and thereafter be, the maximum time period and/or area
which such court deems reasonable and enforceable.
(D) With respect to the provisions of this Section, you agree that damages, by
themselves, are an inadequate remedy at law, that a material breach of the
provisions of this Section would cause irreparable injury to the aggrieved
party, and that provisions of this Section 9 may be specifically enforced by
injunction or similar remedy in any court of competent jurisdiction without
affecting any claim for damages.
10. MISCELLANEOUS: This Agreement and the rights and obligations of the parties
pursuant to it and any other instruments or documents issued pursuant to it
shall be construed, interpreted and enforced in accordance with the laws of the
State of Florida, exclusive of its choice-of-law principles. This Agreement
shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties hereto, and their
respective successors and assigns. The provisions of this Agreement shall be
severable and the illegality, unenforceability or invalidity of any provision of
this Agreement shall not affect or impair the remaining provisions hereof, and
each provision of this Agreement shall be construed to be valid and enforceable
to the full extent permitted by law. In any suit, action or proceeding arising
out of or in connection with this Agreement, the prevailing party shall be
entitled to receive an award of the reasonable related amount of attorneys' fees
and disbursements incurred by such party, including fees and disbursements on
appeal. This Agreement is a complete expression of all agreements of the parties
relating to the subject matter
67
5
hereof, and all prior or contemporaneous oral or written understandings or
agreements shall be null and void except to the extent set forth in this
Agreement.
This Agreement cannot be amended orally, or by any course of conduct or dealing,
but only by a written agreement signed by the party to be charged therewith. All
notices required and allowed hereunder shall be in writing, and shall be deemed
given upon deposit in the Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested, first-class
postage and registration fees prepaid, and correctly addressed to the party for
whom intended at its address set forth under its name below, or to such other
address as has been most recently specified by a party by one or more
counterparts, each of which shall constitute one and the same agreement. All
references to genders or number in this Agreement shall be deemed
interchangeably to have a masculine, feminine, neuter, singular or plural
meaning, as the sense of the context required.
If the foregoing confirms your understanding of our agreements, please so
indicate by signing in the space provided below and returning a signed copy to
us.
NABI
▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇.▇.
▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇
By: /s/ ▇▇▇▇▇ ▇. ▇▇▇▇
------------------------------
▇▇▇▇▇ ▇. ▇▇▇▇
Chief Executive Officer
Accepted and agreed:
By: /s/ ▇▇▇▇▇ ▇. ▇▇▇▇
--------------------------------
▇▇▇▇▇ ▇. ▇▇▇▇
▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇
▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇
68