Registration Procedures If and whenever the Company is ----------------------- required by the provisions of this Agreement to use all commercially reasonable efforts to effect or cause the registration of any Registrable Securities under the Securities Act as provided in this Agreement, the Company shall, as expeditiously as possible:
(a) prepare and file with the SEC a registration statement on an appropriate registration form of the SEC for the disposition of such Registrable Securities in accordance with the intended method of disposition thereof, which form (i) shall be selected by the Company and (ii) shall, in the case of a shelf registration, be available for the sale of the Registrable Securities by the selling Stockholders thereof and such registration statement shall comply as to form in all material respects with the requirements of the applicable form and include all financial statements required by the SEC to be filed therewith, and the Company shall use all commercially reasonable efforts to cause such registration statement to become and remain effective; provided, however, that before filing a registration statement or prospectus or any amendments or supplements thereto, or comparable statements under securities or "blue sky" laws of any jurisdiction, the Company will furnish, if requested, to one counsel for the Stockholders participating in the planned offering (selected by the Major Stockholder) and the underwriters, if any, copies of all such documents proposed to be filed (including all exhibits thereto), which documents will be subject to the reasonable review and reasonable comment of such counsel, and the Company shall not file any registration statement or amendment thereto or any prospectus or supplement thereto to which the Stockholders of a majority of the Registrable Securities covered by such registration statement or the underwriters, if any, shall reasonably object in writing;
(b) prepare and file with the SEC such amendments and supplements to such registration statement and the prospectus used in connection therewith as may be necessary to keep such registration statement effective for such period (which shall not be required to exceed 150 days in the case of a registration pursuant to Section 2.1 or 120 days in the case of a registration pursuant to Section 2.2) as any seller of Registrable Securities pursuant to such registration statement shall request and to comply with the provisions of the Securities Act with respect to the sale or other disposition of all Registrable Securities covered by such registration statement in accordance with the intended methods of disposition by the seller or sellers thereof set forth in such registration statement;
(c) furnish, without charge, to each seller of such Registrable Securities and each underwriter, if any, of the securities covered by such registration statement such number of copies of such registration statement, each amendment and supplement thereto (in each case including all exhibits), and the prospectus included in such registration statement (including each preliminary prospectus) in conformity with the requirements of the Securities Act, and other documents, as such seller and underwriter may reasonably request in order to facilitate the public sale or other disposition of the Registrable Securities owned by such seller (the Company hereby consenting to the use in accordance with all applicable law of each such registration statement (or amendment or post-effective amendment thereto) and each such prospectus (or preliminary prospectus or supplement thereto) by each such seller of Registrable Securities and the underwriters, if any, in connection with the offering and sale of the Registrable Securities covered by such registration statement or prospectus);
(d) use all commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the Registrable Securities covered by such registration statement under such other securities or "blue sky" laws of such jurisdictions as any sellers of Registrable Securities or any managing underwriter, if any, shall reasonably request, and do any and all other acts and things which may be reasonably necessary or advisable to enable such sellers or underwriter, if any, to consummate the disposition of the Registrable Securities in such jurisdictions, except that in no event shall the Company be required to qualify to do business as a foreign corporation in any jurisdiction where it would not, but for the requirements of this paragraph (d), be required to be so qualified, to subject itself to taxation in any such jurisdiction or to consent to general service of process in any such jurisdiction;
(e) promptly notify each Stockholder selling Registrable Securities covered by such registration statement and each managing underwriter, if any, (i) when the registration statement, any pre-effective amendment, the prospectus or any prospectus supplement related thereto or post-effective amendment to the registration statement has been filed and, with respect to the registration statement or any post-effective amendment, when the same has become effective; (ii) of any request by the SEC or state securities authority for amendments or supplements to the registration statement or the prospectus related thereto or for additional information; (iii) of the issuance by the SEC of any stop order suspending the effectiveness of the registration statement or the initiation of any proceedings for that purpose; (iv) of the receipt by the Company of any notification with respect to the suspension of the qualification of any Registrable Securities for sale under the securities or "blue sky" laws of any jurisdiction or the initiation of any proceeding for such purpose; (v) of the existence of any fact of which the Company becomes aware which results in the registration statement, the prospectus related thereto or any document incorporated therein by reference containing an untrue statement of a material fact or omitting to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make any statement therein not misleading; and (vi) if at any time the representations and warranties contemplated by any underwriting agreement, securities sale agreement, or other similar agreement, relating to the offering shall cease to be true and correct in all material respects, and if the notification relates to an event described in clause (v), the Company shall promptly prepare and furnish to each such seller and each underwriter, if any, a reasonable number of copies of a prospectus supplemented or amended so that, as thereafter delivered to the purchasers of such Registrable Securities, such prospectus shall not include an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein in the light of the circumstances under which they were made not misleading;
(f) comply with all applicable rules and regulations of the SEC, and make generally available to its security holders, as soon as reasonably practicable after the effective date of the registration statement (and in any event within 16 months thereafter), an earnings statement (which need not be audited) covering the period of at least twelve consecutive months beginning with the first day of the Company's first calendar quarter after the effective date of the registration statement, which earnings statement shall satisfy the provisions of Section 11(a) of the Securities Act and Rule 158 thereunder;
(h) provide and cause to be maintained a transfer agent and registrar for all such Registrable Securities covered by such registration statement not later than the effective date of such registration statement;
(i) enter into such customary agreements (including, if applicable, an underwriting agreement) and take such other actions as the Stockholders of a majority of the Registrable Securities or the Major Stockholder participating in such offering shall reasonably request in order to expedite or facilitate the disposition of such Registrable Securities, provided that the underwriting agreement, if any, shall be reasonably satisfactory in form and substance to the Company. The Stockholders of the Registrable Securities which are to be distributed by such underwriters shall be parties to such underwriting agreement and may, at their option, require that the Company make to and for the benefit of such Stockholders the representations, warranties and covenants of the Company which are being made to and for the benefit of such underwriters and which are of the type customarily provided to institutional investors in secondary offerings; provided, however, that the Company shall not be required to make any representations or warranties with respect to written information specifically provided by a Selling Stockholder for inclusion in the registration documents;
(j) use all commercially reasonable efforts to obtain an opinion from the Company's counsel and a "cold comfort" letter from the Company's independent public accountants in customary form and covering such matters as are customarily covered by such opinions and "cold comfort" letters delivered to underwriters in underwritten public offerings, which opinion and letter shall be reasonably satisfactory to the underwriter, if any, any Initiating Stockholder in the case of a Demand Registration, or to the Major Stockholder participating in any other offering, and furnish to each Stockholder participating in the offering and to each underwriter, if any, a copy of such opinion and letter addressed to such Stockholder or underwriter;
(k) deliver promptly to counsel for the selling Stockholders participating in the offering and each underwriter, if any, copies of all correspondence between the SEC and the Company, its counsel or auditors and all memoranda relating to discussions with the SEC or its staff with respect to the registration statement, other than those portions of any such correspondence or memoranda which contain information subject to attorney-client privilege with respect to the Company, and, upon receipt of such confidentiality agreements as the Company may reasonably request, make reasonably available for inspection by any seller of such Registrable Securities covered by such registration statement, by any underwriter, if any, participating in any disposition to be effected pursuant to such registration statement and by any attorney, accountant or other agent retained by any such seller or any such underwriter, all pertinent financial and other records, pertinent corporate documents and properties of the Company, and cause all of the Company's officers, directors and employees to supply all information reasonably requested by any such seller, underwriter, attorney, accountant or agent in connection with such registration statement;
(l) use all commercially reasonable efforts to obtain the withdrawal of any order suspending the effectiveness of the registration statement;
(m) provide a CUSIP number for all Registrable Securities, not later than the effective date of the registration statement;
(n) make reasonably available its employees and personnel and otherwise provide reasonable assistance to the underwriters (taking into account the needs of the Company's businesses and the requirements of the marketing process) in the marketing of Registrable Securities in any underwritten offering;
(o) promptly prior to the filing of any document which is to be incorporated by reference into the registration statement or the prospectus (after the initial filing of such registration statement) provide copies of such document to counsel for the selling Stockholders of Registrable Securities and to each managing underwriter, if any, and make the Company's representatives reasonably available for discussion of such document and make such changes in such document concerning the selling Stockholders prior to the filing thereof as counsel for such selling Stockholders or underwriters may reasonably request;
(p) furnish to counsel for the selling Stockholders participating in the offering and the managing underwriter, without charge, at least one signed copy of the registration statement and any post-effective amendments thereto, including financial statements and schedules, all documents incorporated therein by reference and all exhibits (including those incorporated by reference);
(q) cooperate with the selling Stockholders of Registrable Securities and the managing underwriter, if any, to facilitate the timely preparation and delivery of certificates not bearing any restrictive legends representing the Registrable Securities to be sold, and cause such Registrable Securities to be issued in such denominations and registered in such names in accordance with the underwriting agreement prior to any sale of Registrable Securities to the underwriters or, if not an underwritten offering, in accordance with the instructions of the selling Stockholders of Registrable Securities at least three business days prior to any sale of Registrable Securities and instruct any transfer agent and registrar of Registrable Securities to release any stop transfer orders in respect thereof; and
(r) take all such other commercially reasonable actions as are necessary or advisable in order to expedite or facilitate the disposition of such Registrable Securities. The Company may require as a condition precedent to the Company's obligations under this Section 2.4 that each seller of Registrable Securities as to which any registration is being effected furnish the Company such information regarding such seller and the distribution of such securities as the Company may from time to time reasonably request, provided that such information shall be used only in connection with such registration. Each Stockholder of Registrable Securities agrees that upon receipt of any notice from the Company of the happening of any event of the kind described in clause (v) of paragraph (e) of this Section 2.4, such Stockholder will discontinue such Stockholder's disposition of Registrable Securities pursuant to the registration statement covering such Registrable Securities until such Stockholder's receipt of the copies of the supplemented or amended prospectus contemplated by paragraph (e) of this Section 2.4 and, if so directed by the Company, will deliver to the Company (at the Company's expense) all copies, other than permanent file copies, then in such Stockholder's possession of the prospectus covering such Registrable Securities that was in effect at the time of receipt of such notice. In the event the Company shall give any such notice, the applicable period mentioned in paragraph (b) of this Section 2.4 shall be extended by the number of days during such period from and including the date of the giving of such notice to and including the date when each seller of any Registrable Securities covered by such registration statement shall have received the copies of the supplemented or amended prospectus contemplated by paragraph (e) of this Section 2.4. If any such registration statement or comparable statement under "blue sky" laws refers to any Stockholder by name or otherwise as the Stockholder of any securities of the Company, then such Stockholder shall have the right to require (i) the insertion therein of language, in form and substance satisfactory to such Stockholder and the Company, to the effect that the holding by such Stockholder of such securities is not to be construed as a recommendation by such Stockholder of the investment quality of the Company's securities covered thereby and that such holding does not imply that such Stockholder will assist in meeting any future financial requirements of the Company, or (ii) in the event that such reference to such Stockholder by name or otherwise is not in the judgment of the Company, as advised by counsel, required by the Securities Act or any similar federal statute or any state "blue sky" or securities law then in force, the deletion of the reference to such Stockholder.
