Successors and Assigns; Participations and Assignments (a) This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the Borrower, the Lenders, the Administrative Agent, all future holders of the Loans and their respective successors and assigns, except that (i) the Borrower may not assign or transfer any of its rights or obligations under this Agreement without the prior written consent of each Lender and (ii) any attempted assignment or transfer by the Borrower without such consent shall be null and void.
(b) Any Lender other than any Conduit Lender may, without the consent of the Borrower or the Administrative Agent, in accordance with applicable law, at any time sell to one or more banks, financial institutions or other entities (other than the Borrower or any of its Affiliates or an Ineligible Institution) (each, a “Participant”) participating interests in any Loan owing to such Lender, the Participation of such Lender or any other interest of such Lender hereunder and under the other Loan Documents. In the event of any such sale by a Lender of a participating interest to a Participant, such Lender’s obligations under this Agreement to the other parties to this Agreement shall remain unchanged, such Lender shall remain solely responsible for the performance thereof, such Lender shall remain the holder of any such Loan for all purposes under this Agreement and the other Loan Documents, and the Borrower and the Administrative Agent shall continue to deal solely and directly with such Lender in connection with such Lender’s rights and obligations under this Agreement and the other Loan Documents. In no event shall any Participant under any such participation have any right to approve any amendment or waiver of any provision of any Loan Document, or any consent to any departure by any Loan Party therefrom, except any amendment, waiver or consent described in clause (w) of the proviso to Section 8.1 that affects such Participant, in each case to the extent subject to such participation. The Borrower agrees that if amounts outstanding under this Agreement and the Loans are due or unpaid, or shall have been declared or shall have become due and payable upon the occurrence of an Event of Default, each Participant shall, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, be deemed to have the right of setoff in respect of its participating interest in amounts owing under this Agreement to the same extent as if the amount of its participating interest were owing directly to it as a Lender under this Agreement, provided that, in purchasing such participating interest, such Participant shall be deemed to have agreed to share with the Lenders the proceeds thereof as provided in Section 8.7 as fully as if it were a Lender hereunder. The Borrower also agrees that each Participant shall be entitled to the benefits of Sections 2.12, 2.13 and 2.14 (and subject to the limitations thereof) with respect to its participation in the Participations and the Loans outstanding from time to time as if it was a Lender; provided that, in the case of Section 2.13, such Participant shall have complied with the requirements of Section 2.13 (including the requirements under Sections 2.13(e), 2.13(f) and 2.13(g) (it being understood that the documentation required under Sections 2.13(e), 2.13(f) and 2.13(g) shall be delivered to the participating Lender)) as if it was a Lender, and provided, further, that no Participant shall be entitled to receive any greater amount pursuant to Sections 2.11, 2.12 or 2.13 (as the case may be) than the transferor Lender would have been entitled to receive in respect of the amount of the participation transferred by such transferor Lender to such Participant had no such transfer occurred, except to the extent such entitlement to receive a greater payment results from a Change in Law made subsequent to the date hereof that occurs after the Participant acquired the applicable participation. Each Lender that sells a participation shall, acting as a non-fiduciary agent on behalf of the Borrower, maintain a register on which it enters the name and address of each Participant and the principal amounts (and stated interest) of each Participant’s interest in the Loans or other obligations under this Agreement (the “Participant Register”); provided that no Lender shall have any obligation to disclose all or any portion of the Participant Register to any Person (including the identity of any Participant or any information relating to a Participant’s interest in any Participations or Loans or its other obligations under any Loan Document) except to the extent that such disclosure is necessary to establish that such Participation or Loan or other obligation is in registered form under Section 5f.103-1(c) of the United States Treasury Regulations. The entries in the Participant Register shall be conclusive, in the absence of manifest error, and such Lender, each Loan Party and the Administrative Agent shall treat each person whose name is recorded in the Participant Register pursuant to the terms hereof as the owner of such participation for all purposes of this Agreement, notwithstanding notice to the contrary.
(c) Any Lender other than any Conduit Lender (an “Assignor”) may, in accordance with applicable law, at any time and from time to time assign to any Person (other than the Borrower or any of its Affiliates or an Ineligible Institution) (an “Assignee”) all or any part of its rights and obligations under this Agreement and the other Loan Documents pursuant to an Assignment and Acceptance, executed by such Assignee, such Assignor and any other Person whose consent is required pursuant to this paragraph, and delivered to the Administrative Agent for its acceptance and recording in the Register; provided that (i) the consent of the Borrower and the Administrative Agent (which, in each case, shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed, and in the case of the Borrower shall be deemed to have been given if the Borrower has not responded to a proposed assignment within ten (10) Business Days following its receipt of notice of such proposed assignment) shall be required in the case of any assignment to a Person that is not a Lender or a Lender Affiliate (except that the consent of the Borrower shall not be required for any assignment that occurs when either a Default or an Event of Default shall have occurred and be continuing) and (ii) unless otherwise agreed by the Borrower and the Administrative Agent, no such assignment to an Assignee (other than any Lender or any Lender Affiliate) shall be in an aggregate principal amount of less than $5,000,000, in each case except in the case of an assignment of all of a Lender’s interests under this Agreement. For purposes of the proviso contained in the preceding sentence, the amount described therein shall be aggregated in respect of each Lender and its Lender Affiliates, if any. Upon such execution, delivery, acceptance and recording, from and after the effective date determined pursuant to such Assignment and Acceptance, (x) the Assignee thereunder shall be a party hereto and, to the extent provided in such Assignment and Acceptance, have the rights and obligations of a Lender hereunder with a Participation and/or Loans as set forth therein, and (y) the Assignor thereunder shall, to the extent provided in such Assignment and Acceptance, be released from its obligations under this Agreement (and, in the case of an Assignment and Acceptance covering all of an Assignor’s rights and obligations under this Agreement, such Assignor shall cease to be a party hereto). Notwithstanding the foregoing, any Conduit Lender may assign at any time to its designating Lender hereunder without the consent of the Borrower or the Administrative Agent any or all of the Loans it may have funded hereunder and pursuant to its designation agreement and without regard to the limitations set forth in the first sentence of this Section 8.6(c).
(d) The Administrative Agent shall, on behalf of the Borrower, maintain at its address referred to in Section 8.2 a copy of each Assignment and Acceptance delivered to it and a register (the “Register”) for the recordation of the names and addresses of the Lenders and the Participation of, and the principal amount (and stated interest) of the Loans owing to, each Lender from time to time, which Register shall be made available to the Borrower and any Lender upon reasonable request. The entries in the Register shall be conclusive, in the absence of manifest error, and the Borrower, each other Loan Party, the Administrative Agent and the Lenders shall treat each Person whose name is recorded in the Register as the owner of the Loans and any Notes evidencing the Loans recorded therein for all purposes of this Agreement. Any assignment of any Loan or Participation, whether or not evidenced by a Note, shall be effective only upon appropriate entries with respect thereto being made in the Register (and each Note shall expressly so provide). Any assignment or transfer of all or part of a Loan or Participation evidenced by a Note shall be registered on the Register only upon surrender for registration of assignment or transfer of the Note evidencing such Loan or Participation accompanied by a duly executed Assignment and Acceptance, and thereupon one or more new Notes shall be issued to the designated Assignee.
(e) Upon its receipt of an Assignment and Acceptance executed by an Assignor, an Assignee and any other Person whose consent is required by Section 8.6(c), together with payment to the Administrative Agent of a registration and processing fee of $4,000 (such fee not payable with respect to assignments to an Assignor’s Affiliate and such fee not to be payable by the Borrower, except for an assignment pursuant to Section 2.17), the Administrative Agent shall (i) promptly accept such Assignment and Acceptance and (ii) record the information contained therein in the Register on the effective date determined pursuant thereto.
(f) Any Lender may at any time pledge or assign a security interest in all or any portion of its rights under this Agreement to secure obligations of such Lender, including any pledge or assignment to secure obligations to a Federal Reserve Bank; provided that no such pledge or assignment shall release such Lender from any of its obligations hereunder or substitute any such pledgee or assignee for such Lender as a party hereto.
(g) The Borrower, upon receipt of written notice from the relevant Lender, agrees to issue Notes to any Lender requiring Notes to facilitate transactions of the type described in paragraph (f) above.
(h) Each of the Borrower, each Lender and the Administrative Agent hereby confirms that it will not institute against a Conduit Lender or join any other Person in instituting against a Conduit Lender any bankruptcy, reorganization, arrangement, insolvency or liquidation proceeding under any state bankruptcy or similar law, for one year and one day after the payment in full of the latest maturing commercial paper note issued by such Conduit Lender; provided, however, that each Lender designating any Conduit Lender hereby agrees to indemnify, save and hold harmless each other party hereto for any loss, cost, damage or expense arising out of its inability to institute such a proceeding against such Conduit Lender during such period of forbearance.
