Capitalization of the Company and its Subsidiaries The Company's authorized capital stock consists solely of (a) 20,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.05 par value per share ("Company Common Stock"), and (b) 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock, $1.00 par value per share ("Company Preferred Stock"). As of October 31, 1997, (i) 3,891,981 shares of Company Common Stock were issued and outstanding, (ii) 201,385 shares of Company Common Stock were issuable upon the exercise of outstanding options, an additional 230,749 shares of Company Common Stock were issuable upon the exercise of options that are not currently outstanding but are reserved for issuance upon the designation of optionees by the Board of Directors of the Company and 154,175 shares of Company Common Stock were issuable upon the exercise or conversion of outstanding warrants or convertible securities granted or issuable (on a contingent basis or otherwise) by the Company, and (iii) no shares of Company Preferred Stock were issued and outstanding. Since October 31, 1997, except as disclosed in Section 4.4 of the Company Disclosure Schedule, the Company has not issued any shares of its capital stock except upon the exercise of such options, warrants or convertible securities. Each outstanding share of capital stock of the Company and each Subsidiary is duly authorized and validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable and free of any preemptive rights. As of the date hereof, other than as set forth above, in the Company SEC Documents (as defined in Section 4.7) or in Section 4.4 to the Company Disclosure Schedule, there are no outstanding shares of capital stock or subscriptions, options, warrants, puts, calls, agreements, understandings, claims or other commitments or rights of any type relating to the issuance, sale or transfer by the Company or either Subsidiary of any securities of the Company or either Subsidiary, nor are there outstanding any securities which are convertible into or exchangeable for any shares of capital stock of the Company or either Subsidiary; and neither the Company nor either Subsidiary has any obligation of any kind to issue any additional securities or to pay for securities of the Company or either Subsidiary or any predecessor. The Company has no outstanding bonds, debentures, notes or other similar obligations the holders of which have the right to vote generally with holders of Company Common Stock.
Incorporation and Good Standing of the Company and its Subsidiaries The Company has been duly incorporated and is validly existing as a corporation in good standing under the laws of the State of Delaware and has corporate power and authority to own, lease and operate its properties and to conduct its business as described in the Prospectus and to enter into and perform its obligations under this Agreement. Each subsidiary of the Company has been duly organized and is validly existing as a corporation in good standing under the laws of the jurisdiction of its organization and has the requisite power and authority to own, lease and operate its properties and to conduct its business as described in the Prospectus. Each of the Company and the subsidiaries is duly qualified as a foreign corporation or foreign partnership to transact business and is in good standing in each jurisdiction in which such qualification is required, whether by reason of the ownership or leasing of property or the conduct of business, except for such jurisdictions where the failure to so qualify or to be in good standing would not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Change. Except as described in the Prospectus, all of the issued and outstanding capital stock or other equity interests of the subsidiaries have been duly authorized and validly issued, are fully paid and nonassessable and are owned by the Company free and clear of any security interest, mortgage, pledge, lien, encumbrance or adverse claim. The Company does not own or control, directly or indirectly, any corporation, association or other entity other than the subsidiaries listed in Exhibit 21.1 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year and other than (i) those subsidiaries not required to be listed on Exhibit 21.1 by Item 601 of Regulation S-K under the Exchange Act and (ii) those subsidiaries formed or acquired since the last day of the most recently ended fiscal year.
Conduct of the Business (a) From the date hereof until the Closing Date, or the earlier termination of this Agreement pursuant to Article IX, except to the extent described in Schedule 5.01 or otherwise required or specifically permitted by this Agreement, the Company shall: (i) conduct the Business in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice in all material respects (including with respect to capital expenditures, the timely making of any budgeted or emergency capital expenditures or capital expenditures that are required to maintain the Business in compliance with any applicable Laws), unless the Parent shall have otherwise consented in writing (which consent will not be unreasonably withheld, conditioned or delayed); (ii) maintain in effect the insurance coverage described on Schedule 7.16 (or reasonably equivalent replacement coverage); (iii) use its commercially reasonable efforts to preserve the present relationships of the Business with suppliers, vendors, licensees and other Persons with which the Business has business relations; (iv) maintain in effect the Business Licenses (if any) in accordance with the terms thereof and renew any Business License that would otherwise expire pursuant to the terms thereof between the date of this Agreement and the Closing; (v) use its commercially reasonable efforts to keep, or to cause Spoonful to keep, available the services of the Business Employees subject to the normal hiring and firing of Business Employees in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice and (vi) use commercially reasonable efforts to preserve intact its business organization, value as a going concern and relationships with third parties (including lessors, licensors, suppliers, distributors and customers) and employees.
(b) From the date hereof until the Closing Date, or the earlier termination of this Agreement pursuant to Article IX, except to the extent described in Schedule 5.01 or otherwise required or specifically permitted by this Agreement or consented to in writing by the Parent (which consent will not be unreasonably withheld, conditioned or delayed), the Company shall refrain from: (i) issuing, selling or delivering any of its Company LLC Interests or other Equity Interests or issuing or selling any securities convertible into, or options with respect to, or warrants to purchase or rights to subscribe for, any of its Company LLC Interests or other Equity Interests (or amending any term of any of the foregoing); (ii) effecting any recapitalization, reclassification, dividend, split or like change in its capitalization other than dividends in the in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice and the terms and conditions of the Company’s Organizational Documents; (iii) amending its Organizational Documents; (iv) making any redemption or purchase of any of its of its Company LLC Interests or other Equity Interests; (v) (A) merging, consolidating or combining with any Person or (B) acquiring any material assets, except for acquisitions of inventory, equipment and supplies in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice; (vi) permitting any of the assets of the Company to become subject to a Lien (other than a Permitted Lien) or selling, leasing, licensing or otherwise disposing of any assets or securities, including by merger, consolidation, asset sale or other business combination, other than in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice; (vii) making any loans or advances to, or any investments in, any other Person (in the case of loans or advances to employees, in excess of $100,000 in the aggregate for all such loans and advances); (viii) pledging or otherwise encumbering of its Company LLC Interests or other Equity Interests; (ix) excepting as required or specifically permitted by this Agreement, entering into or amending any Contract with the Manager or any officer of the Company; (x) increasing any benefits under any Employee Benefit Plan or increasing the compensation payable or paid, whether conditionally or otherwise, to any employee, officer, manager or consultant of Company (other than (A) any increase adopted in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice in respect of the compensation of any employee whose annual base compensation does not exceed $125,000 after giving effect to such increase or (B) any increase in benefits or compensation required by Law or required pursuant to the terms of an existing Employee Benefit Plan); (xi) becoming liable in respect of any guarantee (other than a guarantee by the Company of a Liability of the Company that is made in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice) or incur, assume or otherwise become liable in respect of any Indebtedness; (xii) repaying, prepaying or otherwise discharging or satisfying any Indebtedness or other material Liabilities, other than in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice, or waiving, cancelling or assigning any claims or rights of substantial value other than in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice; (xiii) making any capital expenditures that are in the aggregate in excess of $100,000 (other than capital expenditures contemplated by the capital expenditure budget attached to Schedule 5.01, emergency capital expenditures or capital expenditures that are required to maintain the Business in compliance with any applicable Laws); (xiv) making any change in its methods of accounting or accounting practices (including with respect to reserves) or any Tax election; filing any amended Tax Return; electing or changing any method of accounting for Tax purposes; settling any Action or claim in respect of Taxes; or consenting to any extension or waiver of the limitations period for the assessment of any Tax; (xv) settling, agreeing to settle, waiving or otherwise compromising any pending or threatened Actions or claims (A) involving potential payments by or to the Company of more than $100,000 in aggregate, (B) that admit Liability or consent to non-monetary relief, or (C) that otherwise are or would reasonably be expected to be material to the Company or the Business; (xvi) entering into, adopt, terminate, modify, renew or amend in any material respect (including by accelerating material rights or benefits under) any Contract unless such Contract requires payments by the Company of less than $10,000 per month and that can be terminated by the Company upon 60 days’ or less notice without penalty; (xvii) writing up or writing down any of its material assets of the Company or revalue its inventory or reserves in respect of its accounts receivable; (xviii) taking any action or failing to take any action that would result in any of the representations and warranties set forth in this Agreement becoming false or inaccurate in any material respect; or (xix) authorizing, agreeing or committing or entering into a Contract to do any of the foregoing.
The Business The parties acknowledge that the Company is engaged in the development, marketing and sale of certain proprietary technologies, processes and related products in the areas of chemical detection, technical processes, and technical/business services, and that the Company may also from time to time become or may intend to become engaged in other business endeavors (individually and collectively, the "BUSINESS"). The Company shall be deemed to intend to become engaged in a business endeavor if it has devoted or expended any significant resources, either financial or human resources, towards the proposed endeavor, either in planning or implementing the undertaking of such planned endeavor.
MANAGEMENT OF THE BUSINESS Pursuant to Section 00-00-000 of the Act, and as stated in its Articles, the Company’s day to day affairs are managed by the Member. The Member is responsible for the daily operations of the business.
Business of the Company The purpose of the Company is to carry on any lawful business, purpose or activity for which limited liability companies may be formed in accordance with Section 18-106 of the Act.
Conduct of the Company’s Business During the period from the date of this Agreement and continuing until the earlier of the Effective Time and the date nominees of Parent or Subsidiary constitute a majority of the members of the board of trustees of the Company (such earlier time, the “Control Time”), except either as consented to in writing (including by email or other electronic transmission) by Parent in response to a written or oral request therefore from the Company (which response shall not be unreasonably delayed), the Company shall, and shall cause its subsidiaries to, conduct its and their business in the ordinary course and use commercially reasonable efforts to conduct its and their business relationships with third parties and to keep available the services of their present officers and employees, provided that it does not require additional compensation, and preserve its and their relationships with customers, suppliers and others having business dealings with the Company and its subsidiaries, and to maintain the Company’s qualification as a REIT, in each case subject to the terms of or contemplated by this Agreement. In addition, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, except as expressly permitted in this Agreement, from the date hereof until the Control Time, the Company shall not, and shall cause its subsidiaries not to:
(a) (i) authorize, declare or pay any dividends on or make other distributions in respect of any of its stock (except for dividends by a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company to its parent and except for distributions necessary for the Company to maintain its REIT qualification, avoid the incurrence of any taxes under Section 857 of the Code, avoid the imposition of any excise taxes under Section 4981 of the Code, or avoid the need to make one or more extraordinary or disproportionately larger distributions to meet any of the three preceding objectives), (ii) split, combine or reclassify any of its stock or issue or authorize or propose the issuance of any other securities or (iii) repurchase, redeem or otherwise acquire any shares of stock of the Company or any of its subsidiaries or any other securities thereof or any rights, warrants or options to acquire any such shares or other securities;
(b) except in accordance with the Share Option Agreement, issue, deliver, sell, pledge or encumber, or authorize or propose the issuance, delivery, sale, pledge or encumbrance of, any shares of its beneficial interests, stock or any other security;
(c) amend or propose to amend its declaration of trust, certificate of incorporation or bylaws (or similar organizational documents);
(d) (i) acquire or agree to acquire any material assets (including securities) outside the ordinary course or merge or consolidate with any person or engage in any similar transaction or (ii) make any loans, advances or capital contributions to, or investments in, any other person, other than to the Company or any wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and other than loans to auto dealers in the ordinary course of business which would, when originated, qualify as Eligible Receivables under the Warehouse Line;
(e) sell, lease, license, encumber or otherwise dispose of any of its assets or any interest therein, other than in the ordinary course (including the disposition of any assets acquired as a result of a foreclosure), or adopt a plan of complete or partial liquidation, dissolution, merger, consolidation, restructuring or other reorganization;
(f) incur or suffer to exist any indebtedness for borrowed money or guarantee any such indebtedness, guarantee any debt of others, enter into any “keep-well” or other agreement to maintain any financial statement condition of another person or enter into any arrangement having the economic effect of any of the foregoing, except for borrowings under the Warehouse Line;
(g) make or rescind any Tax election or settle or compromise any Tax liability of the Company or any of its subsidiaries;
(h) make or agree to make any capital expenditures other than in amounts of less than $75,000 in the aggregate;
(i) pay, discharge, settle or satisfy any Claim (whether absolute, accrued, asserted or unasserted, contingent or otherwise), other than the payment, discharge, settlement or satisfaction, in the ordinary course of business or in accordance with their terms, of Claims whether recognized or disclosed in the most recent financial statements (or the notes thereto) of the Company included in the Company Filed SEC Documents or incurred since the date of such financial statements in the ordinary course of business except for cash payments (x) paid by any insurer or person other than the Company and any subsidiary of the Company, plus (y) an amount paid by the Company or any subsidiary of the Company not exceeding $100,000 per Claim, liability or obligation or $500,000 for all Claims in the aggregate.
(j) (i) modify, amend or terminate any material contract, (ii) waive, release or assign any material rights or claims, (iii) waive the benefits of, or agree to modify in any manner, any confidentiality, standstill or similar agreement, or fail to enforce any such agreement to the fullest extent practicable, including by seeking injunctive relief and specific performance or (iv) except, with respect to this clause (iv), in the ordinary course of business, enter into any material contracts or transactions;
(i) increase the compensation or benefits of any director, trustee, officer or employee, except for, in the cases of non-officer employees, increases in the ordinary course that are consistent with past practice, (ii) adopt any material amendment to a Benefit Plan, (iii) enter into, amend or modify any employment, consulting, severance, termination or similar agreement with any director, trustee, officer or employee, (iv) accelerate the payment of compensation or benefits to any director, officer or employee, (v) take any action to fund or in any other way secure the payment of compensation or benefits under any Benefit Plan or compensation agreement or arrangement; or change any actuarial or other assumption used to calculate funding obligations with respect to any pension plan or change the timing or manner in which contributions to any pension plan are made or the basis on which such contributions are determined or (vi) take any action that could give rise to severance benefits payable to any officer, trustee, director, or employee of the Company or any subsidiary as a result of consummation of any of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement; provided that nothing in this paragraph (k) shall preclude the payment by the Company of accrued, but unpaid bonuses to employees for 2004 and retroactive salary adjustments in each case as set forth in Section 6.1(k) of the Company Disclosure Schedule;
(l) take any action to exempt or make not subject to or to otherwise waive or cause to be inapplicable (x) the provisions of any Takeover Statute or (y) Section 7.2 of the Declaration of Trust, in each case to any individual or entity (other than Parent or its subsidiaries), or any action taken thereby, which individual, entity or action would have otherwise been subject to the restrictive provisions thereof and not exempt therefrom;
(m) take any action to delist the Shares from Nasdaq;
(n) make any material change to its methods of accounting in effect on the date hereof, except as required by changes in GAAP as concurred with by the Company’s independent auditors, or change its fiscal year;
(o) enter into any transaction with any of its affiliates other than pursuant to arrangements in effect on the date hereof which have been disclosed to Parent;
(p) accelerate the collection of receivables or defer the payment of payables, or modify the payment terms of any receivables or payables, in each case, other than in the ordinary course of business;
(q) securitize, or create any financing arrangements in the nature of a collateralized debt obligation with respect to, any accounts receivable, loans or other assets;
(r) amend or modify the existing agreement between Company and Company Financial Advisor; or
(s) authorize any of, or commit or agree to take any of, the foregoing actions or any action that would result in a breach of any representation, warranty or agreement of the Company contained in this Agreement as of the date when made or as of any future date or would result in any of the conditions to the Merger not being satisfied or in a material delay in the satisfaction of such conditions.
Conduct of Business of the Company Except as expressly ---------------------------------- contemplated by this Agreement or as set forth on Schedule 6.01 hereto, during the period from the date hereof to the Effective Time, the Company and its subsidiaries will each conduct its operations according to its ordinary course of business consistent with past practice, and the Company and its subsidiaries will each use its reasonable best efforts to (i) preserve intact its business organization, (ii) keep available the services of its officers and employees, other than those officers and employees identified on Schedule 6.01 hereto, and (iii) maintain existing relationships with its lenders, suppliers and others having business relationships with it. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, and except as otherwise contemplated by this Agreement or as set forth on Schedule 6.01 hereto, prior to the Effective Time, neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries will, without the prior written consent of Acquisition:
(a) amend or propose to amend any of their respective certificates or articles of incorporation or by-laws;
(b) authorize for issuance, issue, sell, deliver or agree or commit to issue, sell, pledge, encumber, deliver or otherwise dispose of (whether through the issuance or granting of options, warrants, commitments, subscriptions, rights to purchase or otherwise) any stock of any class or any other equity securities or equity equivalents of the Company or any of its subsidiaries or amend in any material respect any of the terms of any such securities outstanding as of the date hereof;
(c) split, combine or reclassify any shares of its capital stock or the capital stock of any of its subsidiaries, declare, set aside or pay any dividend (other than dividends (whether in cash, stock, or property or any combination thereof), if any, paid by wholly-owned subsidiaries to the Company or another wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company) or other distribution in respect of its capital stock or redeem, repurchase or otherwise acquire any of its securities or any securities of its subsidiaries or any options, warrants or other rights to acquire any shares of its capital stock or adopt a plan of complete or partial liquidation or resolutions providing for or authorizing such liquidation or a dissolution, merger, consolidation, restructuring, recapitalization or other reorganization of the Company or any of its subsidiaries, other than the redemption, repurchase or other acquisition of the equity securities of any subsidiary of the Company which is not wholly-owned by the Company for aggregate consideration not in excess of the book value of such securities;
(i) except as set forth in clause (e), incur any additional indebtedness for borrowed money or issue any debt securities or assume, guarantee or endorse the obligations of any other person except for the obligations of wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice; (ii) make any loans, advances or capital contributions to, or investments in, any other person (other than to wholly- owned subsidiaries of the Company and advances to employees for travel or other business related expenses in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practices); (iii) pledge or otherwise encumber shares of capital stock of the Company or any of its subsidiaries; (iv) mortgage or pledge any of its material assets, tangible or intangible, or create or suffer to exist any material Lien thereupon; or (v) enter into any contract, agreement, commitment or arrangement to do any of the foregoing;
(e) incur any advances pursuant to that certain Revolving Credit Agreement, dated as of June 18, 1991, among the Company, various subsidiaries of the Company and Xxxxxx (as successor in interest to HCR Partners), as amended (the "Credit Agreement"), other than advances which at any time outstanding do not exceed $3,000,000.
(f) enter into, adopt or (except as may be required by law) amend or terminate any bonus, profit sharing, compensation, severance, termination, stock option, stock appreciation right, restricted stock, performance unit, stock equivalent, stock purchase, pension, retirement, deferred compensation, employment, severance or other employee benefit agreement, trust, plan, fund or other arrangement for the benefit or welfare of any director, officer or employee, or (except for normal increases in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice that, in the aggregate, do not result in a material increase in benefits or compensation expense to the Company or an increase in excess of 5% in the case of any individual (other than compensation based upon the payment of commissions pursuant to commission schedules previously made available to Parent or Acquisition by the Company)) increase in any manner the compensation or fringe benefits of any director, officer or employee or pay any benefit not required by any plan or arrangement in effect as of the date hereof (including, without limitation, the granting of stock appreciation rights or performance units) or enter into any contract, agreement, commitment or arrangement to do any of the foregoing;
(g) acquire, sell, lease or dispose of any assets outside the ordinary course of business or any assets which in the aggregate are material to the Company and its subsidiaries, taken as a whole, or commit or agree to do any of the above;
(h) except as required by GAAP, change any of the accounting principles or practices used by it;
(i) make any tax election or settle or compromise any income tax liability material to the Company and its subsidiaries taken as a whole;
(j) pay, discharge or satisfy any claims, liabilities or obligations (absolute, accrued, asserted or unasserted, contingent or otherwise), other than the payment, discharge or satisfaction in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice or in accordance with their terms, of liabilities reflected or reserved against in, or contemplated by, the consolidated financial statements (or the notes thereto) of the Company and its subsidiaries or incurred in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice; provided that, in no event shall the Company and its subsidiaries repay any long-term indebtedness except to the extent required by the terms thereof;
(i) acquire (by merger, consolidation, or acquisition of stock or assets) any corporation, partnership or other business organization or division thereof; (ii) enter into or commit to enter into any contract or agreement other than in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice or which requires the payment of amounts in excess of $100,000 or which gives rise to obligations which extend beyond ninety (90) days from the date hereof other than agreements to provide services to customers of the Company or any of its subsidiaries; (iii) authorize any capital expenditures, other than those as to which the Company or its subsidiaries have committed as set forth on Schedule 6.01 hereto, individually in excess of $100,000, or in the aggregate in excess of $1,000,000, except with the consent of Parent (which shall not be unreasonably withheld); or (iv) enter into or amend any contract, agreement, commitment or arrangement with respect to any of the foregoing;
(i) make or enter into any new lease of real property other than any new lease of real property which will replace an existing lease or (ii) extend or amend any existing lease of real property other than in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice or on terms and conditions no less favorable to the Company or the subsidiary than the existing lease;
(m) enter into or commit to enter into any amendment or modification to any contract, agreement or arrangement with any vendor or supplier identified on Schedule 6.01(m) hereto which individually or in the aggregate with all other such amendments and modifications is or could reasonably be expected to be material to such contract, agreement or arrangement;
(n) intentionally take or omit to take, or enter into an agreement to take or agree to omit to take, any action that would result in any of the conditions to the Offer set forth in Annex A attached hereto or the conditions to the Merger set forth in Article VII hereof not being timely satisfied;
(o) release or relinquish any material contractual rights, other than in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice;
(p) settle any pending or threatened material action, suit, claim or proceeding involving the Company or any subsidiary, other than in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice and other than any settlements which require only the payment of money not in excess of $50,000 individually or $250,000 in the aggregate;
(q) enter into or commit to enter into any contract, agreement or arrangement or any amendment or modification to any existing contract, agreement or arrangement with Xxxxxx Holdings, Inc. or any affiliate thereof; or
(r) commit or agree in writing or otherwise to take any of the actions described in Sections 6.01(a) through 6.01(q) hereof or any action which would make any of the representations or warranties of the Company contained in this Agreement untrue or incorrect in any material respect as of the date when made or as of the Effective Time, or omit to take or commit or agree to omit to take any action necessary to prevent any such representation or warranty from being untrue or incorrect in any material respect in any respect at any time which would result in any of the conditions set forth in this Agreement not being satisfied.
Company Subsidiaries As of the date of this Agreement, the Company has Previously Disclosed a true, complete and correct list of each entity in which the Company, directly or indirectly, owns sufficient capital stock or holds a sufficient equity or similar interest such that it is consolidated with the Company in the financial statements of the Company or has the power to elect a majority of the board of directors or other persons performing similar functions (each, a “Company Subsidiary” and, collectively, the “Company Subsidiaries”). Except for the Company Subsidiaries and as Previously Disclosed, the Company does not own beneficially or control, directly or indirectly, more than 5% of any class of equity securities or similar interests of any corporation, bank, business trust, association or similar organization, and is not, directly or indirectly, a partner in any general partnership or party to any joint venture or similar arrangement. The Company owns, directly or indirectly, all of its interests in each Company Subsidiary free and clear of any and all Liens. No equity security of any Company Subsidiary is or may be required to be issued by reason of any option, warrant, scrip, preemptive right, right to subscribe to, gross-up right, call or commitment of any character whatsoever relating to, or security or right convertible into, shares of any capital stock or other interest of such Company Subsidiary, and there are no contracts, commitments, understandings or arrangements by which any Company Subsidiary is bound to issue additional shares of its capital stock or other interest, or any option, warrant or right to purchase or acquire any additional shares of its capital stock. The deposit accounts of the Bank are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) to the fullest extent permitted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, as amended, and the rules and regulations of the FDIC thereunder, and all premiums and assessments required to be paid in connection therewith have been paid when due (after giving effect to any applicable extensions). The Company beneficially owns all of the outstanding capital securities of, and has sole control of, the Bank.
Outside Businesses Subject to the provisions of Section 6.3, any Covered Person, the Sponsor, the Delaware Trustee and the Property Trustee may engage in or possess an interest in other business ventures of any nature or description, independently or with others, similar or dissimilar to the activities of the Trust, and the Trust and the Holders of Securities shall have no rights by virtue of this Trust Agreement in and to such independent ventures or the income or profits derived therefrom, and the pursuit of any such venture, even if competitive with the activities of the Trust, shall not be deemed wrongful or improper. No Covered Person, the Sponsor, the Delaware Trustee or the Property Trustee shall be obligated to present any particular investment or other opportunity to the Trust even if such opportunity is of a character that, if presented to the Trust, could be taken by the Trust, and any Covered Person, the Sponsor, the Delaware Trustee and the Property Trustee shall have the right to take for its own account (individually or as a partner or fiduciary) or to recommend to others any such particular investment or other opportunity. Any Covered Person, the Delaware Trustee and the Property Trustee may engage or be interested in any financial or other transaction with the Sponsor or any Affiliate of the Sponsor, or may act as depositary for, trustee or agent for, or act on any committee or body of holders of, securities or other obligations of the Sponsor or its Affiliates.
