Consolidations, Mergers and Sales of Assets No Loan Party will, nor will it permit any Subsidiary of a Loan Party to, consolidate or merge with or into, or sell, lease or otherwise transfer all or any substantial part of its assets to, any other Person, or discontinue or eliminate any business line or segment, provided that (a) a Loan Party may merge with another Person if (i) such Person was organized under the laws of the United States of America or one of its states, (ii) the Loan Party is the corporation surviving such merger, (iii) immediately after giving effect to such merger, no Default shall have occurred and be continuing, and (iv) if the Borrower merges with another Loan Party, the Borrower is the corporation surviving such merger, (b) Subsidiaries of a Loan Party (excluding Loan Parties) may merge with one another, (c) a Loan Party (other than the Borrower or an Eligible Guarantor) may transfer all or any part of its assets to another Loan Party, (d) a Loan Party may sell Inventory in the ordinary course of business and for fair value, and (e) the foregoing limitation on the sale, lease or other transfer of assets and on the discontinuation or elimination of a business line or segment shall not prohibit, during any Fiscal Quarter, a transfer of assets or the discontinuance or elimination of a business line or segment (in a single transaction or in a series of related transactions) unless the aggregate assets to be so transferred or utilized in a business line or segment to be so discontinued, when combined with all other assets transferred (excluding assets transferred under Sections 5.17(d)), and all other assets utilized in all other business lines or segments discontinued, during such Fiscal Quarter and the immediately preceding three Fiscal Quarters have a fair market value or book value whichever is greater (determined with respect to each such asset transferred or discontinued) of more than $20,000,000.
Approval by Limited Partners of Merger or Consolidation (a) Except as provided in Section 14.3(d), the General Partner, upon its approval of the Merger Agreement, shall direct that the Merger Agreement be submitted to a vote of Limited Partners, whether at a special meeting or by written consent, in either case in accordance with the requirements of Article XIII. A copy or a summary of the Merger Agreement shall be included in or enclosed with the notice of a special meeting or the written consent.
(b) Except as provided in Section 14.3(d), the Merger Agreement shall be approved upon receiving the affirmative vote or consent of the holders of a Unit Majority unless the Merger Agreement contains any provision that, if contained in an amendment to this Agreement, the provisions of this Agreement or the Delaware Act would require for its approval the vote or consent of a greater percentage of the Outstanding Units or of any class of Limited Partners, in which case such greater percentage vote or consent shall be required for approval of the Merger Agreement.
(c) Except as provided in Section 14.3(d), after such approval by vote or consent of the Limited Partners, and at any time prior to the filing of the certificate of merger pursuant to Section 14.4, the merger or consolidation may be abandoned pursuant to provisions therefor, if any, set forth in the Merger Agreement.
(d) Notwithstanding anything else contained in this Article XIV or in this Agreement, the General Partner is permitted, in its discretion, without Limited Partner approval, to merge the Partnership or any Group Member into, or convey all of the Partnership’s assets to, another limited liability entity which shall be newly formed and shall have no assets, liabilities or operations at the time of such Merger other than those it receives from the Partnership or other Group Member if (i) the General Partner has received an Opinion of Counsel that the merger or conveyance, as the case may be, would not result in the loss of the limited liability of any Limited Partner or any Group Member or cause the Partnership or any Group Member to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation or otherwise to be taxed as an entity for federal income tax purposes (to the extent not previously treated as such), (ii) the sole purpose of such merger or conveyance is to effect a mere change in the legal form of the Partnership into another limited liability entity and (iii) the governing instruments of the new entity provide the Limited Partners and the General Partner with the same rights and obligations as are herein contained.
Mergers, Consolidations and Sales of Assets (a) The Borrower will not consolidate with or merge into any other Person or convey or transfer its properties and assets substantially as an entirety to any Person, unless:
(i) the Borrower or a Consolidated Subsidiary that is incorporated under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia is the surviving corporation of any such consolidation or merger or is the Person that acquires by conveyance or transfer the properties and assets of the Borrower substantially as an entirety;
(ii) if a Consolidated Subsidiary is the surviving corporation or is the Person that acquires the property and assets of the Borrower substantially as an entirety, it shall expressly assume the performance of every covenant of this Agreement and of the Notes on the part of the Borrower to be performed or observed;
(iii) immediately after giving effect to such transaction, no Default shall have occurred and be continuing; and
(iv) if the Borrower is not the surviving entity, the Borrower has delivered to the Administrative Agent an Officer’s Certificate and a legal opinion of its General Counsel, Associate General Counsel or Assistant General Counsel, upon the express instruction of the Borrower for the benefit of the Administrative Agent and the Lenders, each stating that such transaction complies with this Section and that all conditions precedent herein provided for relating to such transaction have been complied with.
(b) Upon any consolidation by the Borrower with, or merger by the Borrower into, a Consolidated Subsidiary, the result of which is that such Consolidated Subsidiary is the surviving entity, or any conveyance or transfer of the properties and assets of the Borrower substantially as an entirety to a Consolidated Subsidiary, the Consolidated Subsidiary into which the Borrower is merged or consolidated or to which such conveyance or transfer is made shall succeed to, and be substituted for, and may exercise every right and power of, the Borrower, as the case may be, under this Agreement with the same effect as if such Consolidated Subsidiary had been named as the Borrower, as the case may be, herein, and thereafter, in the case of a transfer or conveyance permitted by Section 5.07(a), the Borrower shall be relieved of all obligations and covenants under this Agreement and the Notes.
CONSOLIDATION, MERGER, SALE OR CONVEYANCE (i) The Issuer may consolidate with or merge into any other person, or sell, convey or transfer all or substantially all of its assets to any other person, without the consent of the Holders of the Notes, provided that: (w) the entity (if other than the Issuer) formed by or resulting from any such consolidation or merger shall be organized and existing under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia, and shall expressly assume, by an amendment to the Fiscal Agency Agreement and the Notes pursuant to the Fiscal Agency Agreement, the due and punctual payment of the principal of, and premium, if any, and interest on, the Notes and the due and punctual performance and observance of all the covenants and conditions to be performed or observed by the Issuer pursuant to the Fiscal Agency Agreement and the Notes; (x) such amendment shall be in form reasonably satisfactory to the Fiscal and Principal Paying Agent, shall be duly executed by the entity succeeding the Issuer and, when so executed, shall constitute a valid and legally binding agreement of such entity succeeding the Issuer, enforceable against such entity in accordance with its terms, subject to applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium, fraudulent transfer and other similar laws affecting creditors' rights generally and to general principles of equity, regardless of whether in a proceeding in equity or at law, and shall be delivered to the Fiscal and Principal Paying Agent; (y) immediately after giving effect to such transaction, no Event of Default and no event which, after notice or lapse of time or both, would become an Event of Default, shall have occurred or be continuing; and (z) the Issuer has delivered to the Fiscal and Principal Paying Agent an officers' certificate and an opinion of counsel, each stating that the conditions precedent to such consolidation, merger, sale, conveyance or transfer have been satisfied. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Issuer may sell, convey or transfer all or substantially all of its assets to any person which is directly or indirectly wholly-owned by one or more of the Issuer, the Guarantor and their wholly-owned Subsidiaries.
(ii) The Guarantor may consolidate with or merge into any other person, or sell, convey or transfer all or substantially all of its assets to any other person, without the consent of the Holders of the Notes, provided that: (v) the purchasing or transferee corporation or the successor, continuing or resulting corporation in the case of a merger or consolidation (if the Guarantor is not the surviving corporation), as the case may be (the "Successor Guarantor"), expressly assumes, by an amendment to the Fiscal Agency Agreement and the Guarantee pursuant to the Fiscal Agency Agreement, the obligations of the Guarantor under the Fiscal Agency Agreement and the Guarantee and the due and punctual performance and observance of all the covenants and conditions to be performed or observed by the Guarantor pursuant to the Fiscal Agency Agreement and the Guarantee; (w) such amendment shall be in form reasonably satisfactory to the Fiscal and Principal Paying Agent, shall be duly executed by the Successor Guarantor and, when so executed, shall constitute a valid and legally binding agreement of such Successor Guarantor, enforceable against such Successor Guarantor in accordance with its terms, subject to applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium, fraudulent transfer and other similar laws affecting creditors' rights generally and to general principles of equity, regardless of whether in a proceeding in equity or at law, and shall be delivered to the Fiscal and Principal Paying Agent; (x) if such Successor Guarantor is organized under the laws of a jurisdiction other than the Federal Republic of Germany (a "Successor Guarantor Jurisdiction"), such Successor Guarantor agrees to assume the Guarantor's obligations under the Guarantee to pay any U.S. Additional Amounts pursuant to Section 3(b)(i) herein or any amounts akin to German Additional Amounts pursuant to Section 3(b)(ii) herein imposed by the laws of the jurisdiction in which the Successor Guarantor is organized; (y) immediately after giving effect to such transaction, no Event of Default and no event which, after notice or lapse of time or both, would become an Event of Default, shall have occurred or be continuing; and (z) the Guarantor shall have delivered to the Fiscal and Principal Paying Agent an officers' certificate and an opinion of counsel, each stating that the conditions precedent to such consolidation, merger, sale, conveyance or transfer have been satisfied. In addition to the foregoing conditions, in the event of any such assumption of the obligations of the Issuer or the Guarantor, the Issuer or the Guarantor, as the case may be, will be required to deliver an opinion of its counsel of recognized standing to the effect that such assumption of the Issuer's or the Guarantor's obligations under the Notes or the Guarantee, as the case may be, shall not be deemed for U.S. federal income tax purposes to be a taxable exchange of the Notes for new Notes by the Holders thereof, resulting in the recognition of gain or loss for such purposes or resulting in any other material adverse tax consequences to Holders of the Notes.
CONSOLIDATION, MERGER, CONVEYANCE, TRANSFER OR LEASE SECTION 8.1. Company May Consolidate, Etc.,
Consolidations and Mergers The Borrower shall not, and shall not permit any Subsidiary (other than any Allied Unrestricted Subsidiary, any Securitization Subsidiary or any Republic Insurance Entity) to, merge, consolidate with, or convey, transfer, lease or otherwise dispose of (whether in one transaction or in a series of transactions) all or substantially all of its assets (whether now owned or hereafter acquired) to or in favor of any other Person, except:
(a) any Subsidiary may merge with the Borrower or with any one or more Subsidiaries; provided that (i) if any transaction shall be between the Borrower and a Subsidiary, the Borrower shall be the continuing or surviving Person, (ii) if any transaction shall be between a Subsidiary and a Wholly-Owned Subsidiary, a Wholly-Owned Subsidiary shall be the continuing or surviving Person; and (iii) if any transaction shall be between an Excluded Subsidiary and a Subsidiary that is not an Excluded Subsidiary, a Subsidiary that is not an Excluded Subsidiary shall be the continuing or surviving Person;
(b) any Subsidiary (other than an Excluded Subsidiary) may sell or transfer all or substantially all of its assets (upon voluntary liquidation or otherwise) to the Borrower or a Wholly-Owned Subsidiary, and any Excluded Subsidiary may transfer all or substantially all of its assets to the Borrower or a Subsidiary that is not an Excluded Subsidiary for nominal consideration or as a result of the voluntary dissolution or liquidation of such Excluded Subsidiary; and
(c) any merger, consolidation or disposition in connection with a transaction permitted by Section 7.03 or an Acquisition permitted by Section 7.05.
Mergers, Consolidations and Sales Except with the prior written consent of the Required Lenders (which shall not be unreasonably withheld, conditioned or delayed), the Borrower shall not, nor shall it permit Whitestone REIT or any Subsidiary to, effect any merger or consolidation, or sell, transfer, lease or otherwise dispose of all or any part of its Property, including any disposition of Property as part of a sale and leaseback transaction, or in any event sell or discount (with or without recourse) any of its notes or accounts receivable; provided, however, so long as no Default or Event of Default then exist, this Section shall not apply to nor operate to prevent:
(a) the sale, transfer, lease or other disposition of Property of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries to one another in the ordinary course of its business;
(b) sales of shares of capital stock or other equity interests by Borrower or Whitesone REIT, so long as no Change of Control results therefrom;
(c) the merger of any Subsidiary with and into the Borrower or any other Subsidiary, provided that, in the case of any merger involving the Borrower, the Borrower is the entity surviving the merger;
(d) the sale, transfer or other disposition of any tangible personal property that, in the reasonable business judgment of the Borrower or its Subsidiary, has become obsolete or worn out, and which is disposed of in the ordinary course of business;
(e) the sale, transfer, lease or other disposition of Property of the Borrower or any Subsidiary (including any disposition of Property as part of a sale and leaseback transaction) aggregating not more than 20% of the Total Asset Value of the Borrower for all such transactions after the date of this Agreement;
(f) any merger if it results in the simultaneous payoff in immediately available funds of the Obligations; and
(g) the merger or consolidation of the Borrower with another Person not otherwise permitted under clauses (c) and (f) above, so long as (i) the Borrower is the surviving entity, (ii) the Borrower has delivered evidence reasonably satisfactory to the Administrative Agent that it will be in pro forma compliance with all provisions of this Agreement upon and after such merger or consolidation and (iii) the Borrower will not engage in any material line of business substantially different from that engaged in on the Closing Date.
Consolidation Merger Sale Conveyance and Lease SECTION 10.01. Company May Consolidate, etc.,
Consolidation, Merger and Sale of Assets (a) The Issuer will not consolidate with or merge with or into, or sell, convey, transfer, lease or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of its property and assets (as an entirety or substantially an entirety in one transaction or a series of related transactions) to, any Person or permit any Person to merge with or into the Issuer unless:
(1) the Issuer shall be the continuing Person, or the Person (if other than the Issuer) formed by such consolidation or into which the Issuer is merged or that acquired or leased such property and assets of the Issuer shall be a corporation, general or limited partnership, limited liability company or other entity (other than an individual) organized and validly existing under the laws of the United States of America or any state or jurisdiction thereof and shall expressly assume, by a supplemental indenture, executed and delivered to the Trustee, all of the obligations of the Issuer on the Notes and under this Indenture;
(2) immediately after giving effect to such transaction, no Default or Event of Default shall have occurred and be continuing;
(3) immediately after giving effect to such transaction on a pro forma basis the Issuer, or any Person becoming the successor obligor of the Notes, as the case may be, could Incur at least $1.00 of Indebtedness under paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Section 4.07; provided, however, that this clause (3) shall not apply to a consolidation or merger with or into a Wholly Owned Subsidiary with a positive net worth; provided further, however, that, in connection with any such merger or consolidation, no consideration (other than Capital Stock (other than Disqualified Stock) in the surviving Person or the Issuer) shall be issued or distributed to the holders of Capital Stock of the Issuer; and
(4) the Issuer delivers to the Trustee an Officers’ Certificate (attaching the arithmetic computations to demonstrate compliance with clause (3) above) and an Opinion of Counsel, in each case stating that such consolidation, merger or transfer and such supplemental indenture complies with this Section 5.01 and that all conditions precedent provided for herein relating to such transaction have been complied with; provided, however, that clause (3) above does not apply if, in the good faith determination of the Board of Directors of the Issuer, whose determination shall be evidenced by a Board Resolution, the principal purpose of such transaction is to change the state of domicile of the Issuer; provided further, however, that any such transaction shall not have as one of its purposes the evasion of the foregoing limitations.
(b) Except as provided in Section 10.04, no Subsidiary Guarantor may consolidate with or merge with or into (whether or not such Subsidiary Guarantor is the surviving Person) another Person, unless:
(1) either such Subsidiary Guarantor shall be the continuing Person or the Person (if other than such Subsidiary Guarantor) formed by such consolidation or into which such Subsidiary Guarantor is merged shall be a corporation or other legal entity organized and validly existing under the laws of the United States of America or any state or jurisdiction thereof and shall expressly assume, by a supplemental indenture, executed and delivered to the Trustee, all of the obligations of such Subsidiary Guarantor under the Subsidiary Guarantee of such Subsidiary Guarantor and under this Indenture; and
(2) immediately after giving effect to such transaction, no Default or Event of Default shall have occurred and be continuing.
(c) For purposes of the foregoing, the transfer (by lease, assignment, sale or otherwise, in a single transaction or series of transactions) of all or substantially all of the properties or assets of one or more Subsidiary Guarantors, the Capital Stock of which constitutes all or substantially all of the properties and assets of the Issuer, will be deemed to be the transfer of all or substantially all of the properties and assets of the Issuer.
(d) Upon any such consolidation, combination or merger of the Issuer or a Subsidiary Guarantor, or any such sale, conveyance, transfer, lease or other disposition of all or substantially all of the assets of the Issuer in accordance with this Section 5.01, in which the Issuer or such Subsidiary Guarantor is not the continuing obligor under the Notes or its Subsidiary Guarantee, the surviving entity formed by such consolidation or into which the Issuer or such Subsidiary Guarantor is merged or the entity to which the sale, conveyance, transfer, lease or other disposition is made will succeed to, and be substituted for, and may exercise every right and power of, the Issuer or such Subsidiary Guarantor under this Indenture, the Notes and the Subsidiary Guarantees with the same effect as if such surviving entity had been named therein as the Issuer or such Subsidiary Guarantor and, except in the case of a lease, the Issuer or such Subsidiary Guarantor, as the case may be, will be released from the obligation to pay the principal of and interest on the Notes or in respect of its Subsidiary Guarantee, as the case may be, and all of the Issuer’s or such Subsidiary Guarantor’s other obligations and covenants under the Notes, this Indenture and its Subsidiary Guarantee, if applicable.
(e) Notwithstanding the foregoing, any Subsidiary Guarantor may (i) consolidate with or merge with or into the Issuer or another Subsidiary Guarantor or (ii) convert into a corporation, general or limited partnership, limited liability company or trust organized under the laws of such Subsidiary Guarantor’s jurisdiction of organization or the laws of the United States of America or any state or jurisdiction thereof.
Effect of Merger, Consolidation or Conversion (a) At the effective time of the merger:
(i) all of the rights, privileges and powers of each of the business entities that has merged or consolidated, and all property, real, personal and mixed, and all debts due to any of those business entities and all other things and causes of action belonging to each of those business entities, shall be vested in the Surviving Business Entity and after the merger or consolidation shall be the property of the Surviving Business Entity to the extent they were of each constituent business entity;
(ii) the title to any real property vested by deed or otherwise in any of those constituent business entities shall not revert and is not in any way impaired because of the merger or consolidation;
(iii) all rights of creditors and all liens on or security interests in property of any of those constituent business entities shall be preserved unimpaired; and
(iv) all debts, liabilities and duties of those constituent business entities shall attach to the Surviving Business Entity and may be enforced against it to the same extent as if the debts, liabilities and duties had been incurred or contracted by it.
(b) At the effective time of the conversion:
(i) the Partnership shall continue to exist, without interruption, but in the organizational form of the converted entity rather than in its prior organizational form;
(ii) all rights, title, and interests to all real estate and other property owned by the Partnership shall continue to be owned by the converted entity in its new organizational form without reversion or impairment, without further act or deed, and without any transfer or assignment having occurred, but subject to any existing liens or other encumbrances thereon;
(iii) all liabilities and obligations of the Partnership shall continue to be liabilities and obligations of the converted entity in its new organizational form without impairment or diminution by reason of the conversion;
(iv) all rights of creditors or other parties with respect to or against the prior interest holders or other owners of the Partnership in their capacities as such in existence as of the effective time of the conversion will continue in existence as to those liabilities and obligations and may be pursued by such creditors and obligees as if the conversion did not occur;
(v) a proceeding pending by or against the Partnership or by or against any of Partners in their capacities as such may be continued by or against the converted entity in its new organizational form and by or against the prior Partners without any need for substitution of parties; and
(vi) the Partnership Interests that are to be converted into partnership interests, shares, evidences of ownership, or other securities in the converted entity as provided in the plan of conversion shall be so converted, and Partners shall be entitled only to the rights provided in the Plan of Conversion.
