Assignment and Participation It is understood and agreed that each Bank shall have the right to assign at any time all or any portion of its Commitment and interests in the risk relating to the Loans and outstanding Letters of Credit hereunder in an amount equal to or greater than $2,500,000 (which assignment shall be of an equal percentage of its Commitment, the Loans and outstanding Letters of Credit unless otherwise agreed to by the Administrative Agent) to any Eligible Assignees with the prior written approval of the Administrative Agent and, if no Default or Event of Default exists, the Borrowers, which approvals shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed; provided, however, that the Administrative Agent may assign without the consent of the Borrowers such portion of its Commitment and interests in the risk relating to the Loans and outstanding Letters of Credit necessary to reach its desired hold level. Any Bank may at any time, and from time to time, assign to any Bank Affiliate of such Bank all or any part of its rights and obligations under the Loan Documents by notice to the Administrative Agent and the Borrowers. It is further agreed that each assignee which executes and delivers to the Administrative Agent and the Borrowers hereunder an Assignment and Acceptance substantially in the form of Exhibit F hereto together with an assignment fee in the amount of $3,500 payable by the assigning Bank to the Administrative Agent, shall, on the date specified in such Assignment and Acceptance, become a party to this Credit Agreement and the other Loan Documents for all purposes of this Credit Agreement and the other Loan Documents, and its portion of the Commitment, the Loans and Letters of Credit shall be as set forth in such Assignment and Acceptance. The Bank assignor thereunder shall, to the extent that rights and obligations hereunder have been assigned by it pursuant to such Assignment and Acceptance, relinquish its rights and be released from its obligations under this Credit Agreement. Upon the execution and delivery of such Assignment and Acceptance, the Borrowers shall issue to the assignee a Note in the amount of such assignee’s Commitment, dated the date of the assignment and otherwise completed in substantially the form of Exhibit B and to the extent any assigning Bank has retained a portion of its obligations hereunder, an appropriate replacement Note to the assigning Bank reflecting its assignment; (b) the Administrative Agent shall distribute to the Borrowers, the Banks and such assignee a schedule reflecting such changes; and (c) this Credit Agreement shall be appropriately amended to reflect (i) the status of the assignee as a party hereto and (ii) the status and rights of the Banks hereunder. Each Bank shall also have the right to grant participations to one or more banks or other financial institutions in its Commitment, the Loans and outstanding Letters of Credit. The documents evidencing any such participation shall limit such participating bank or financial institutions voting rights solely to those matters set forth in §14.8 which require the vote of each Bank directly affected thereby. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no assignment or participation shall operate to increase the Commitment hereunder or otherwise alter the substantive terms of this Credit Agreement, and no Bank which retains a Commitment hereunder shall have a Commitment of less than $2,500,000, as such amount may be reduced upon reductions in the Total Commitment pursuant to §2.2 hereof. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this §18, any Bank (a “Granting Bank”) may grant to a special purpose funding vehicle (an “SPV”) of such Granting Bank, identified as such in writing from time to time delivered by the Granting Bank to the Administrative Agent and the Borrowers, the option to provide to the Borrowers all or any part of any Loan that such Granting Bank would otherwise be obligated to make to the Borrowers pursuant to this Credit Agreement, provided that (a) nothing herein shall constitute a commitment to make any Loan by any SPV, (b) the Granting Bank’s obligations under this Credit Agreement shall remain unchanged, (c) the Granting Bank shall retain the sole right to enforce this Credit Agreement and to approve any amendment, modification or waiver of any provision of this Credit Agreement and (d) if an SPV elects not to exercise such option or otherwise fails to provide all or any part of such Loan, the Granting Bank shall be obligated to make such Loan pursuant to the terms hereof. The making of a Loan by an SPV hereunder shall utilize the Commitment of the Granting Bank to the same extent, and as if, such Loan were made by the Granting Bank. Each party hereto hereby agrees that no SPV shall be liable for any expense reimbursement, indemnity or similar payment obligation under this Credit Agreement (all liability for which shall remain with the Granting Bank). In furtherance of the foregoing, each party hereto hereby agrees (which agreement shall survive the termination of this Credit Agreement) that, prior to the date that is one year and one day after the later of (i) the payment in full of all outstanding senior indebtedness of any SPV and (ii) the Maturity Date, it will not institute against, or join any other person in instituting against, such SPV any bankruptcy, reorganization, arrangement, insolvency or liquidation proceedings or similar proceedings under the laws of the United States of America or any State thereof. In addition, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this §18, any SPV may (A) with notice to, but (except as specified below) without the prior written consent of, the Borrowers or the Administrative Agent and without paying any processing fee therefor, assign all or a portion of its interests in any Loans to its Granting Bank or to any financial institutions (consented to by the Administrative Agent and, so long as no Default or Event of Default has occurred and is continuing, the Borrowers, which consents shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed) providing liquidity and/or credit facilities to or for the account of such SPV to fund the Loans made by such SPV or to support the securities (if any) issued by such SPV to fund such Loans and (B) disclose on a confidential basis any non-public information relating to its Loans (other than financial statements referred to in §5.4 or §6.4) to any rating agency, commercial paper dealer or provider of a surety, guarantee or credit or liquidity enhancement to such SPV. In no event shall the Borrowers be obligated to pay to an SPV that has made a Loan any greater amount than the Borrowers would have been obligated to pay under this Agreement if the Granting Bank had made such Loan. An amendment to this paragraph without the written consent of an SPV shall be ineffective insofar as it alters the rights and obligations of such SPV. Anything contained in this §18 to the contrary notwithstanding, any Bank may at any time pledge, without the consent of the Borrower or the Administrative Agent, all or any portion of its interest and rights under this Credit Agreement (including all or any portion of its Notes) to any of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks organized under §4 of the Federal Reserve Act, 12 U.S.C. 341. No such pledge or the enforcement thereof shall release the pledgor Bank from its obligations hereunder or under any of the other Loan Documents.
