Business Opportunities Each of the Company and each Member acknowledges and agrees that: (a) Carlyle Strategic Partners II, L.P., CSP II Coinvestment, L.P., Sola Ltd, Ultra Master Ltd, their respective affiliates and their respective shareholders, directors, officers, controlling persons, partners, members, and employees (collectively, the “Investor Group”)
(i) have investments or other business relationships with entities engaged in other businesses (including those which may compete with the business of the Company and any of its subsidiaries or areas in which the Company or any of its subsidiaries may in the future engage in business) and in related businesses other than through the Company or any of its subsidiaries, (ii) may develop a strategic relationship with businesses that are or may be competitive with the Company or any of its subsidiaries and (iii) will not be prohibited by virtue of such Investor Group member’s investment in the Company or its subsidiaries, or such Investor Group member’s service on the Board or any subsidiary’s board of directors or board of managers, as applicable, from pursuing and engaging in any such activities; (b) neither the Company nor any other Member shall have any right in or to such other ventures or activities or to the income or proceeds derived therefrom; (c) no member of the Investor Group shall be obligated to present any particular investment or business opportunity to the Company even if such opportunity is of a character which, if presented to the Company, could be undertaken by the Company, and in fact, each member of the Investor Group shall have the right to undertake any such opportunity for itself for its own account or on behalf of another or to recommend any such opportunity to other persons; and (d) each member of the Investor Group may enter into contracts and other arrangements with the Company and its affiliates from time to time on terms approved by the Board and its affiliates. Each of the Company and the Member(s) hereby waives, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any claims and rights that such person may otherwise have in connection with the matters described in this Section 4.7. Without limiting the foregoing, each Member hereby acknowledges that he, she or it is familiar with the existence of, and hereby approves of, any agreement between Carlyle Strategic Partners II, L.P., CSP II Coinvestment, L.P., Sola Ltd, Ultra Master Ltd or their respective affiliates and the Company or any of its subsidiaries which provides management and transaction fees to Carlyle Strategic Partners II, L.P., CSP II Coinvestment, L.P., Sola Ltd, Ultra Master Ltd or any of their respective affiliates.
Other Business Opportunities The Member and any person or entity affiliated with the Member may engage in or possess an interest in other business opportunities or ventures (unconnected with the Company) of every kind and description, independently or with others, including, without limitation, businesses that may compete with the Company. Neither the Member or any person or entity affiliated with the Member shall be required to present any such business opportunity or venture to the Company, even if the opportunity is of the character that, if presented to the Company, could be taken by it. Neither the Company nor any person or entity affiliated with the Company shall have any rights in or to such business opportunities or ventures or the income or profits derived therefrom by virtue of this Agreement, notwithstanding any duty otherwise existing at law or in equity. The provisions of this Section shall apply to the Member solely in its capacity as member of the Company and shall not be deemed to modify any contract or arrangement, including, without limitation, any noncompete provisions, otherwise agreed to by the Company and the Member.
Operation of the Company’s Business (a) During the Pre-Closing Period:
(i) the Company shall ensure that each of the Company Entities conducts its business and operations: (A) in the ordinary course and in accordance with past practices; and (B) in material compliance with all applicable Laws and with the requirements of all Contracts of Company Entities that constitute Material Contracts;
(ii) the Company shall use commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that each of the Company Entities preserves intact its current business organization, keeps available the services of its current officers and other key employees and maintains its relations and goodwill with all suppliers, customers, landlords, creditors, licensors, licensees, distributors, resellers, employees and other Persons having material business relationships with the respective Company Entities;
(iii) the Company shall promptly notify Parent in writing of (A) any notice from any Person alleging that the Consent of such Person is or may be required in connection with any of the Transactions and (B) any Legal Proceeding commenced, or, to the Knowledge of the Company, threatened against, relating to, involving or otherwise affecting any of the Company Entities that relates to the Merger or any of the other Transactions;
(iv) use commercially reasonable efforts to keep in full force all insurance policies referred to in Section 3.26 (other than any such policies that are immediately replaced with substantially similar policies), provided that if it is unable to do so, it shall notify Parent at least 20 days before such policies terminate or otherwise lapse; and
(v) the Company shall (to the extent requested by Parent and permitted under applicable Law) cause the officers and other key employees of the Company Entities to freely communicate (without limitation) with Parent regarding the Company Entities’ results of operations and material developments.
(b) Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, during the Pre-Closing Period, except as set forth in Schedule 5.2(b) or with Parent’s prior written consent and except as permitted by Section 6.2(d), the Company (A) shall not, and (B) shall not permit any of the other Company Entities to:
(i) amend its certificate of incorporation or bylaws or comparable organizational documents or create any new Subsidiaries;
(ii) issue, sell, deliver or agree or commit to issue, sell or deliver (whether through the issuance or granting of options, warrants, commitments, subscriptions, rights to purchase or otherwise) any security of any Company Entity, except for the issuance and sale of shares of Company Common Stock pursuant to Company Equity Awards outstanding as of the date of this Agreement upon the exercise or vesting thereof, as applicable;
(iii) directly or indirectly acquire, repurchase or redeem any security of any Company Entity, except in connection with Tax withholdings and exercise price settlements upon the exercise, vesting or issuance of shares under Company Equity Awards;
(iv) (A) split, combine, subdivide or reclassify any shares of capital stock, or (B) declare, set aside or pay any dividend or other distribution (whether in cash, shares or property or any combination thereof) in respect of any shares of capital stock, or make any other actual, constructive or deemed distribution in respect of the shares of capital stock, except for cash dividends made by any direct or indirect wholly-owned Subsidiary of the Company to the Company or one of its wholly-owned Subsidiaries;
(v) propose or adopt a plan of complete or partial liquidation, dissolution, merger, consolidation, restructuring, recapitalization or other reorganization of any Company Entity, except for this Agreement and the Transactions;
(vi) (A) redeem, repurchase, prepay, defease, cancel, incur, create, assume or otherwise acquire or modify in any material respect any long-term or short-term debt for borrowed monies or issue or sell any debt securities or calls, options, warrants or other rights to acquire any debt securities of any Company Entity or enter into any agreement having the economic effect of any of the foregoing, except for (1) debt incurred in the ordinary course of business under letters of credit, lines of credit or other credit facilities or arrangements in effect on the date hereof, (2) loans or advances between the Company and any direct or indirect Subsidiaries, or between any direct or indirect Subsidiaries of the Company in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practices, and (3) the issuance of credit to new customers for the purchase of products or services of the Company Entities in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practices, (B) assume, guarantee, endorse or otherwise become liable or responsible (whether directly, contingently or otherwise) for the obligations of any other Person, except with respect to obligations of direct or indirect wholly-owned Subsidiaries of the Company in place on the date of this Agreement, (C) make any loans, advances (other than any retainer for legal services) or capital contributions to or investments in any other Person (other than the Company or any direct or indirect wholly-owned Subsidiaries), except for travel advances or business expenses in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice to employees of the Company Entities, or (D) mortgage or pledge any asset owned or used by any Company Entity, or create or suffer to exist any Encumbrance thereupon (other than Permitted Encumbrances), except pursuant to the terms of any letters of credit, lines of credit or other credit facilities or arrangements, in effect on the date hereof;
(vii) except as may be required by applicable Law or the terms of this Agreement or of any Company Employee Plan as in effect on the date of this Agreement, (A) enter into, adopt, amend (including acceleration of vesting), modify or terminate any bonus, profit sharing, incentive, compensation, severance, retention, termination, option, appreciation right, performance unit, stock equivalent, share purchase agreement, pension, retirement, deferred compensation, employment, change in control, pension, retirement, collective bargaining or other employee benefit agreement, trust, plan, fund or other arrangement for the compensation, benefit or welfare of any Company Associate, (B) increase the compensation payable or to become payable to any Company Associate, pay or agree to pay any special bonus or special remuneration to any Company Associate, or pay or agree to pay any benefit not required by any Company Employee Plan as in effect as of the date hereof, except in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice with respect to any Company Associate who is not a member of the board of directors or officer, (C) hire any employee with an annual base salary in excess of $100,000 or at the level of Vice President, (D) grant or pay any severance or termination pay to (or amend any such existing arrangement with) any current or former member of the board of directors, officer, employee or independent contractor of any Company Entity, except in the ordinary course of business with respect to any employee or independent contractor who is not a member of the board of directors or officer, (E) increase benefits payable under any existing severance or termination pay policies or similar employment agreements, or (F) accelerate the vesting or payment of, or fund or in any other way secure the payment, compensation or benefits under, any Company Employee Plan to the extent not required by the terms of this Agreement or such Company Employee Plan as in effect on the date of this Agreement;
(viii) commence any Legal Proceeding or settle any pending or threatened Legal Proceeding, except for the settlement of any Legal Proceeding solely for money damages not in excess of $250,000 in the aggregate and as would not be reasonably likely to have any adverse impact on any other Legal Proceeding;
(ix) except as may be required as a result of a change in applicable Law or in GAAP, make any material change in any of the accounting methods, principles or practices used by it or change an annual accounting period;
(x) (A) make or change any material Tax election, (B) settle or compromise any material federal, state, local or foreign income Tax liability, (C) consent to any extension or waiver of any limitation period with respect to any claim or assessment for material Taxes, (D) change any annual Tax accounting period or method of Tax accounting, (E) file any materially amended Tax Return, (F) enter into any closing agreement with respect to any Tax or (G) surrender any right to claim a material Tax refund;
(xi) (A) acquire (by merger, consolidation or acquisition of stock or assets or otherwise) any other Entity or any material equity interest therein, (B) sell or otherwise dispose of, lease or license any properties or assets of any Company Entity (other than in the ordinary course of business), which are material to the Company Entities, taken as a whole, (C) acquire, lease or license any material right or other asset from any Person (other than in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice);
(xii) make any capital expenditures in excess of $50,000 individually or $200,000 in the aggregate;
(xiii) make any material changes or modifications to any investment or risk management policy or other similar policies (including with respect to hedging), or any cash management policy;
(xiv) other than in the ordinary course of business, enter into, or amend in any material respect, terminate or fail to renew, any Material Contract;
(xv) change any of its product return policies, product maintenance polices, service policies, product modification or upgrade policies in any material respect;
(xvi) enter into any material transaction with any of its Affiliates (other than a Company Entity) other than pursuant to written arrangements in effect on the date of this Agreement and excluding any employment, compensation or similar arrangements otherwise expressly permitted pursuant to this Section 5.2(b);
(xvii) abandon or permit to lapse any right to any material patent or patent application;
(xviii) take any action that is intended or is reasonably likely to result in the conditions set forth in Sections 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 (except after compliance with Section 6.2(d)), 7.5, 7.7, 7.11, 7.12, 7.13, 7.15 and 7.16 not being satisfied; or
(xix) agree or commit to take any of the actions described in clauses above in this Section 5.2(b).
(c) During the Pre-Closing Period, the Company shall promptly notify Parent in writing of any event, condition, fact or circumstance that would make the timely satisfaction of any of the conditions set forth in ARTICLE 7 impossible or unlikely or that has had or could reasonably be expected to have or result in a Material Adverse Effect. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Company shall promptly advise Parent in writing of any Legal Proceeding or material claim commenced or, to the Company’s Knowledge, threatened against or with respect to any of the Company Entities. No notification given to Parent pursuant to this Section 5.2(c) or any information or knowledge obtained pursuant to Section 5.1 shall limit or otherwise affect any of the representations, warranties, covenants or obligations of the Company contained in this Agreement or any of the remedies available to Parent under this Agreement.
(d) During the Pre-Closing Period, the Company shall promptly notify Parent in writing if the Company has the right to exercise any right or option to repurchase shares of its capital stock from any Company Associate or other Person upon termination of such Person’s service to any of the Company Entities. The Company shall not exercise any such repurchase right except to the extent directed by Parent in writing.
Opportunities During his employment with the Company, and for one year thereafter, Executive shall not take any action which might divert from the Company any opportunity learned about by him during his employment with the Company (including without limitation during the Employment Term) which would be within the scope of any of the businesses then engaged in or planned to be engaged in by the Company.
Opportunities for Additional Information Each Purchaser acknowledges that such Purchaser has had the opportunity to ask questions of and receive answers from, or obtain additional information from, the executive officers of the Company concerning the financial and other affairs of the Company, and to the extent deemed necessary in light of such Purchaser’s personal knowledge of the Company’s affairs, such Purchaser has asked such questions and received answers to the full satisfaction of such Purchaser, and such Purchaser desires to invest in the Company.
Freedom to Pursue Opportunities The Parties expressly acknowledge and agree that: (i) Sponsor and each Sponsor Director (and each Affiliate thereof) has the right to, and shall not have any duty (contractual or otherwise) to (and none of the following shall be deemed to be wrongful or improper), (x) directly or indirectly engage in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as the Parent Parties or any of their respective Subsidiaries, including those deemed to be competing with the Parent Parties or any of their respective Subsidiaries, or (y) directly or indirectly do business with any client or customer of the Parent Parties or any of their respective Subsidiaries; and (ii) in the event that Sponsor or a Sponsor Director (or any Affiliate thereof) acquires knowledge of a potential transaction or matter that may be an opportunity for the Parent Parties or any of their respective Subsidiaries and Sponsor or any other Person, Sponsor and such Sponsor Director (and any such Affiliate) shall not have any duty (contractual or otherwise) to communicate or present such opportunity to the Parent Parties or any of their respective Subsidiaries, as the case may be, and, notwithstanding any provision of this Agreement to the contrary, shall not be liable to the Parent Parties, their respective Subsidiaries or their respective Affiliates or equity holders for breach of any duty (contractual or otherwise) by reason of the fact that Sponsor or such Sponsor Director (or such Affiliate thereof), directly or indirectly, pursues or acquires such opportunity for itself, directs such opportunity to another Person, or does not present such opportunity to the Parent Parties or any of their respective Subsidiaries; provided, that any such business, activity or transaction described in this Section 4.14 is not the direct result of Sponsor, its Affiliates or a Sponsor Director using Confidential Information in violation of Section 3.3 hereof. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Section 4.14, any Sponsor Director may be excluded, by the members of the Board who are not Sponsor Directors, from any discussion or vote on matters in accordance with a conflicts of interest policy of the Board that is adopted by the Board in good faith and is applicable to all of the members of the Board.
Business Landlord acknowledges that it is not the intent of this Section 30 to prohibit Tenant from using the Premises for the Permitted Use. Tenant may operate its business according to prudent industry practices so long as the use or presence of Hazardous Materials is strictly and properly monitored according to all then applicable Environmental Requirements. As a material inducement to Landlord to allow Tenant to use Hazardous Materials in connection with its business, Tenant agrees to deliver to Landlord prior to the Commencement Date a list identifying each type of Hazardous Materials to be brought upon, kept, used, stored, handled, treated, generated on, or released or disposed of from, the Premises and setting forth any and all governmental approvals or permits required in connection with the presence, use, storage, handling, treatment, generation, release or disposal of such Hazardous Materials on or from the Premises (“Hazardous Materials List”). Tenant shall deliver to Landlord an updated Hazardous Materials List at least once a year and shall also deliver an updated list before any new Hazardous Material is brought onto, kept, used, stored, handled, treated, generated on, or released or disposed of from, the Premises. Tenant shall deliver to Landlord true and correct copies of the following documents (the “Haz Mat Documents”) relating to the use, storage, handling, treatment, generation, release or disposal of Hazardous Materials prior to the Commencement Date, or if unavailable at that time, concurrent with the receipt from or submission to a Governmental Authority: permits; approvals; reports and correspondence; storage and management plans, notice of violations of any Legal Requirements; plans relating to the installation of any storage tanks to be installed in or under the Project (provided, said installation of tanks shall only be permitted after Landlord has given Tenant its written consent to do so, which consent may be withheld in Landlord’s sole and absolute discretion); all closure plans or any other documents required by any and all federal, state and local Governmental Authorities for any storage tanks installed in, on or under the Project for the closure of any such tanks; and a Surrender Plan (to the extent surrender in accordance with Section 28 cannot be accomplished in 3 months). Tenant is not required, however, to provide Landlord with any portion(s) of the Haz Mat Documents containing information of a proprietary nature which, in and of themselves, do not contain a reference to any Hazardous Materials or hazardous activities. It is not the intent of this Section to provide Landlord with information which could be detrimental to Tenant’s business should such information become possessed by Tenant’s competitors.
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.
Business Operations Company will provide all necessary equipment, personnel and other appurtenances necessary to conduct its operations. Company will conduct its business operations hereunder in a lawful, orderly and proper manner, considering the nature of such operation, so as not to unreasonably annoy, disturb, endanger or be offensive to others at or near the Premises or elsewhere on the Airport.
Information Concerning the Fund and SubAdviser From time to time as the Adviser or the Fund may request, the SubAdviser will furnish the requesting party information and reports on portfolio transactions and reports on Fund assets held in the portfolio, all in such detail, form and frequency as the Adviser or the Fund may reasonably request. The SubAdviser will also provide the Adviser with notice and analysis of events that may affect or relate to the valuation of the Fund’s portfolio.
