Organization and Ownership of Shares of Subsidiaries; Affiliates (a) Schedule 5.4 contains (except as noted therein) complete and correct lists of (1) the Parent Guarantor’s Subsidiaries, showing, as to each Subsidiary, the name thereof, the jurisdiction of its organization, the percentage of shares of each class of its Capital Stock outstanding owned by the Parent Guarantor and each other Subsidiary and whether such Subsidiary is a Qualified Asset Guarantor or another Subsidiary Guarantor, (2) the Unconsolidated Affiliates, and (3) each Constituent Company’s directors and senior officers.
(b) All of the outstanding shares of Capital Stock of each Subsidiary shown in Schedule 5.4 as being owned by the Parent Guarantor and its Subsidiaries have been validly issued, are fully paid and non-assessable and are owned by the Parent Guarantor or another Subsidiary free and clear of any Lien that is prohibited by this Agreement.
(c) Each Subsidiary (other than a Subsidiary Guarantor) is a corporation or other legal entity duly organized, validly existing and, where applicable, in good standing under the laws of its jurisdiction of organization, and is duly qualified as a foreign corporation or other legal entity and, where applicable, is in good standing in each jurisdiction in which such qualification is required by law, other than those jurisdictions as to which the failure to be so qualified or in good standing could not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect. Each such Subsidiary has the corporate or other power and authority to own or hold under lease the properties it purports to own or hold under lease and to transact the business it transacts and proposes to transact, except where the failure to do so could not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.
(d) No Subsidiary is subject to any legal, regulatory, contractual or other restriction (other than the agreements listed on Schedule 5.4 and customary limitations imposed by corporate law or similar statutes) restricting the ability of such Subsidiary to pay dividends out of profits or make any other similar distributions of profits to the Parent Guarantor or any of its Subsidiaries that owns outstanding shares of Capital Stock of such Subsidiary.
Conduct of Business by the Company Pending the Closing The Company covenants and agrees that, between the date of this Agreement and the Effective Time, except as set forth in Section 6.1 of the Company Disclosure Schedule or as permitted by any other provision of this Agreement, unless Parent will otherwise agree in writing (which agreement will not be unreasonably withheld, delayed or conditioned), the Company will, and will cause each Company Subsidiary to, conduct its operations in the ordinary course of business and use commercially reasonable efforts to preserve substantially intact its business organization and maintain existing relations and goodwill with customers, suppliers and employees in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice. Without limiting the foregoing, and as an extension thereof, except as set forth in Section 6.1 of the Company Disclosure Schedule or as permitted by any other provision of this Agreement, the Company will not (unless required by applicable Law), and will not permit any Company Subsidiary to, between the date of this Agreement and the Effective Time, directly or indirectly, do, or agree to do, any of the following without the prior written consent of Parent (which consent will not be unreasonably withheld, delayed or conditioned):
(a) amend or otherwise change its certificate of incorporation or bylaws or equivalent organizational documents;
(b) issue, sell, pledge, dispose of, grant, transfer or encumber, or authorize the issuance, sale, pledge, disposition, grant, transfer, or encumbrance of, any shares of capital stock of, or other Equity Interests in, the Company or any Company Subsidiary of any class, or securities convertible into, or exchangeable or exercisable for, any shares of such capital stock or other Equity Interests, or any options, warrants or other rights of any kind to acquire any shares of such capital stock or other Equity Interests or such convertible or exchangeable securities, or any other ownership interest (including, without limitation, any such interest represented by Contract right), of the Company or any Company Subsidiary, other than the issuance of Shares (i) upon the vesting of Company RSUs or Company Restricted Shares, (ii) the exercise of Company Options outstanding as of the date hereof in accordance with their terms or (iii) in connection with the Top-Up Option;
(c) sell, pledge, dispose of, let lapse, abandon, assign, transfer, lease, license, guarantee or encumber any material property or assets of the Company or any Company Subsidiary (including any Registered Intellectual Property and unregistered Owned Intellectual Property), except (i) to the extent required pursuant to Contracts in effect prior to the date hereof, (ii) pursuant to the sale, purchase or licensing of inventory, raw materials, equipment, goods, or other supplies in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice or (iii) for non-exclusive licenses in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice with a fair market value not in excess of $2,500,000 in the aggregate;
(d) declare, set aside, make or pay any dividend or other distribution (whether payable in cash, stock, property or a combination thereof) with respect to any of its capital stock (other than dividends paid by a wholly-owned Company Subsidiary to the Company or another wholly-owned Company Subsidiary) or enter into any agreement with respect to the voting or registration of its capital stock;
(e) reclassify, combine, split, subdivide or amend the terms of, or redeem, purchase or otherwise acquire, directly or indirectly, any of its capital stock, other Equity Interests or any other securities, or authorize or propose the issuance of any other securities in respect of, in lieu of or in substitution for shares of its capital stock or other securities, in each case other than in connection with the Top-Up Option;
(f) merge or consolidate the Company or any Company Subsidiary with any Person or adopt a plan of complete or partial liquidation or resolutions providing for a complete or partial liquidation, dissolution, restructuring, recapitalization or other reorganization of the Company or any Company Subsidiary, or otherwise enter into any agreements imposing material restrictions on the assets, operations or businesses of the Company or any Company Subsidiary;
(g) enter into a new line of business (other than currently-projected extensions of existing product lines);
(h) acquire (including, without limitation, by merger, consolidation, or acquisition of stock or assets) any interest in any Person or any division thereof or any assets, other than acquisitions of assets (including, without limitation, the purchase of inventory, raw materials, equipment, goods, or other supplies) in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice and any other acquisitions for consideration that is individually not in excess of $2,500,000, or in the aggregate not in excess of $5,000,000;
(i) incur any indebtedness for borrowed money or issue any debt securities or assume, guarantee or endorse, or otherwise become responsible for the obligations of any Person (other than a wholly-owned Company Subsidiary) for borrowed money;
(j) make any loans, advances, guarantees or capital contributions to, or investments in, any other Person (other than any wholly-owned Company Subsidiary) in excess of $2,500,000 in the aggregate;
(k) terminate, cancel or amend any Company Material Contract, or cancel, modify or waive any rights thereunder, or enter into or amend any Contract that, if existing on the date hereof, would be a Company Material Contract;
(l) make or authorize any capital expenditure in excess of the Company’s capital expenditure budget as disclosed to Parent prior to the date hereof, other than capital expenditures that are not, in the aggregate, in excess of $2,500,000;
(m) except to the extent required by (i) applicable Law, (ii) the existing terms of any Company Benefit Plan, (iii) contractual commitments or corporate policies with respect to severance or termination pay as in existence on the date hereof and listed on Section 6.1(m) of the Company Disclosure Schedule or (iv) as otherwise provided on Section 6.1(m) of the Company Disclosure Schedule: (A) increase in any manner the compensation, bonus or benefits payable or to become payable to its Service Providers (except for increases in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice in base salaries or base wages of employees of the Company or any Company Subsidiary); (B) grant any additional rights to severance or termination pay to, or enter into any severance agreement with, any Service Provider, or establish, adopt, enter into or amend any Company Benefit Plan; (C) grant any new awards under any Company Benefit Plan, (D) amend or modify any outstanding award under any Company Benefit Plan, (E) take any action to amend, waive or accelerate the vesting criteria or vesting requirements of payment of any compensation or benefit under any Company Benefit Plan or remove any existing restrictions in any Company Benefit Plans or awards made thereunder, (F) take any action to accelerate the payment, or to fund or in any other way secure the payment, of compensation or benefits under any Company Benefit Plan, to the extent not already provided in any such Company Benefit Plan or (G) change any actuarial or other assumptions used to calculate funding obligations with respect to any Company Benefit Plan or to change the manner in which contributions to such plans are made or the basis on which such contributions are determined, except as may be required by GAAP or applicable laws;
(n) forgive any loans to Service Providers or any of their respective affiliates;
(o) make any material change in accounting policies, practices, principles, methods or procedures, other than as required by GAAP or by a Governmental Entity;
(p) encourage customers to make payments earlier than would otherwise reasonably be expected (based on past practice) to be made to the Company or the Company Subsidiaries, or agree to payment terms or conditions with suppliers that are not consistent in all material respects with past practice;
(q) compromise, settle or agree to settle any Proceeding (including any Proceeding relating to this Agreement or the transactions contemplated hereby) other than compromises, settlements or agreements in the ordinary course of business that involve only the payment of monetary damages not in excess of $2,500,000 individually or $5,000,000 in the aggregate, in any case without the imposition of equitable relief on, or the admission of wrongdoing by, the Company or any Company Subsidiary;
(r) (i) make, change, or rescind any material Tax election, (ii) file any material amended Tax Return of the Company or any of the Company Subsidiaries, (iii) or adopt or change any material method or period of Tax accounting, (iv) settle or compromise any material claim relating to Taxes; (v) surrender any material claim for a refund of Taxes; (vi) enter into any “closing agreement” as described in Section 7121 of the Code with respect to material Taxes; or (vii) consent to any extension or waiver of the limitation period applicable to any material Tax claim or assessment (other than pursuant to extensions of time to file Tax Returns obtained in the ordinary course of business);
(s) write up, write down or write off the book value of any assets, except for depreciation and amortization and normal valuation adjustments to accounts receivable and inventory in accordance with GAAP consistently applied;
(t) pre-pay any long-term debt; or
(u) authorize or enter into any Contract or otherwise make any commitment, in each case to do any of the foregoing in clauses (a) through (t).
Organization and Ownership of Shares of Subsidiaries (a) Schedule 5.4 contains (except as noted therein) complete and correct lists of the Company’s Restricted and Unrestricted Subsidiaries as of the Execution Date, showing, as to each Subsidiary, the correct name thereof, the jurisdiction of its organization and, with respect to each Material Subsidiary, the percentage of shares of each class of its Capital Stock outstanding owned by the Company and each other Subsidiary.
(b) All of the outstanding shares of Capital Stock of each Subsidiary owned by the Company and its Subsidiaries have been validly issued, are fully paid and nonassessable and are owned by the Company or another Subsidiary free and clear of any Lien (except as otherwise disclosed in Schedule 5.4).
(c) Each Subsidiary is a corporation or other legal entity duly organized, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of its jurisdiction of organization, and is duly qualified as a foreign corporation or other legal entity and is in good standing in each jurisdiction in which such qualification is required by law, other than those jurisdictions as to which the failure to be so qualified or in good standing could not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect. Each such Subsidiary has the corporate or other power and authority to own or hold under lease the properties it purports to own or hold under lease and to transact the business it transacts and proposes to transact.
(d) No Subsidiary is a party to, or otherwise subject to, any legal, regulatory, contractual or other restriction (other than this Agreement, the agreements listed on Schedule 5.4 and customary limitations imposed by corporate law or similar statutes) restricting its ability to make Restricted Payments to the Company or any of its Subsidiaries that owns outstanding shares of Capital Stock of such Subsidiary, except for such restrictions that do not impair the Company’s ability to perform its obligations under this Agreement, including, without limitation, its obligation to make payments hereunder and under the Notes.
Ownership of the Company At all times while this Parent Guarantee Agreement is in effect and while any of the obligations of the Parent Guarantor hereunder remain outstanding, one hundred percent (100%) of the outstanding capital stock of the Company shall be owned by the Parent Guarantor.
Conduct of Business Pending the Closing During the period from the date of this Agreement and continuing until the earlier of the termination of this Agreement in accordance with its terms or the Closing, the Company shall, and shall cause each of its Subsidiaries to, carry on the Business in the ordinary course of business and, to the extent consistent therewith, use all commercially reasonable efforts to preserve the Business intact and preserve the goodwill of and relationships with Governmental Entities, customers, suppliers, partners, lessors, licensors, licensees, contractors, distributors, agents, officers and employees and others having business dealings with the Business, provided that the foregoing shall not prevent Sellers from rejecting Contracts that are not Assumed Contracts. During the period from the date of this Agreement through the Closing Date, the Company shall endeavor to maintain the Net Receivables Amount, the Inventory Value and each component of Inventory at or in excess of the amounts set forth on Schedule 7.1. Without limiting the generality of the first sentence of this Section 7.1, during the period from the date of this Agreement through the Closing Date, the Company shall not, and shall not permit any of its Subsidiaries to, without the prior written consent of Buyer:
(a) abandon any rights under any of the Assumed Contracts; terminate, amend, modify or supplement the terms of any Assumed Contract; or fail to honor or perform, the Assumed Contracts;
(b) other than sales of Inventory in the ordinary course of business or the disposition of obsolete equipment, lease, license, surrender, relinquish, sell, transfer, convey, assign or otherwise dispose of any Acquired Assets;
(c) mortgage, pledge or subject to Liens (other than Permitted Liens), any property, business or any of the Acquired Assets, other than as would not result in any Liability that would be or would increase an Assumed Liability as of or subsequent to the Closing;
(d) incur or permit to be incurred any Liability (other than Accounts Payable or in connection with the performance of Assumed Contracts) that would be or would increase an Assumed Liability as of or subsequent to the Closing;
(e) fail to replenish the Inventory and Supplies of the Business in the ordinary course of business;
(f) increase the salary of any Identified Employee at or after the time such person becomes an Identified Employee, other than in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice;
(g) make or rescind any material Tax election or take any material Tax position (unless required by law) or file any Tax Return or change its fiscal year or financial or Tax accounting methods, policies or practices, or settle any Tax Liability, except in each case as would not reasonably be expected to affect the Buyer;
(h) institute, settle or agree to settle any litigation, action or Proceeding before any court or Governmental Entity relating to the Acquired Assets, or modify in any manner that is adverse to the Business or the Acquired Assets, rescind or terminate a material Permit, allowance, or credit (or application therefor) relating to the Business or the Acquired Assets;
(i) transfer or grant any rights under, modify any existing rights under, or enter into any settlement regarding the breach or infringement of, any material Intellectual Property; or
(j) enter into any Contract to do any of the foregoing.
Ownership of Company Shares The Shareholder is the record and/or “beneficial owner” (as defined in Rule 13d-3 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which meaning will apply for all purposes of this Agreement) of the number of outstanding Company Shares set forth in the recitals to this Agreement. Also set forth in the recitals to this Agreement is the number of Company Shares issuable upon the exercise of the Options. The Shareholder holds the requisite power to vote the number of Company Shares set forth in the recitals to this Agreement.
Ownership of Company Stock None of the Investor nor any of its controlled Affiliates owns any capital stock or other equity or equity-linked securities of the Company.
Change in Ownership of the Company A change in the ownership of the Company which occurs on the date that any one person, or more than one person acting as a group (“Person”), acquires ownership of the stock of the Company that, together with the stock held by such Person, constitutes more than 50% of the total voting power of the stock of the Company, except that any change in the ownership of the stock of the Company as a result of a private financing of the Company that is approved by the Board will not be considered a Change of Control; or
Ownership of Seller Credit Acceptance is the sole owner of the membership interests of the Seller, all of which are fully paid and nonassessable and owned of record, free and clear of all mortgages, assignments, pledges, security interests, warrants, options and rights to purchase.
CONDUCT OF BUSINESSES PENDING THE MERGER Section 5.01 Conduct of Business by the Company Pending the Merger. Prior to the Effective Time, unless Parent or Acquisition Corp. shall otherwise agree in writing or as otherwise contemplated by this Agreement:
(a) the business of the Company shall be conducted only in the ordinary course;
(b) the Company shall not (i) directly or indirectly redeem, purchase or otherwise acquire or agree to redeem, purchase or otherwise acquire any shares of its capital stock; (ii) amend its Certificate of Incorporation or By-laws except to effectuate the transactions contemplated in the Disclosures or (iii) split, combine or reclassify the outstanding Company Common Stock or declare, set aside or pay any dividend payable in cash, stock or property or make any distribution with respect to any such stock;
(c) the Company shall not (i) issue or agree to issue any additional shares of, or options, warrants or rights of any kind to acquire any shares of, Company Common Stock, except to issue shares of Company Common Stock in connection with any matter relating to the Disclosures; (ii) acquire or dispose of any fixed assets or acquire or dispose of any other substantial assets other than in the ordinary course of business; (iii) incur additional Indebtedness or any other liabilities or enter into any other transaction other than in the ordinary course of business; (iv) enter into any contract, agreement, commitment or arrangement with respect to any of the foregoing or (v) except as contemplated by this Agreement, enter into any contract, agreement, commitment or arrangement to dissolve, merge, consolidate or enter into any other material business combination;
(d) the Company shall use its best efforts to preserve intact the business organization of the Company, to keep available the service of its present officers and key employees, and to preserve the good will of those having business relationships with it;
(e) the Company will not, nor will it authorize any director or authorize or permit any officer or employee or any attorney, accountant or other representative retained by it to make, solicit, encourage any inquiries with respect to, or engage in any negotiations concerning, any Acquisition Proposal (as defined below for purposes of this paragraph). The Company will promptly advise Parent orally and in writing of any such inquiries or proposals (or requests for information) and the substance thereof. As used in this paragraph, “Acquisition Proposal” shall mean any proposal for a merger or other business combination involving the Company or for the acquisition of a substantial equity interest in it or any material assets of it other than as contemplated by this Agreement. The Company will immediately cease and cause to be terminated any existing activities, discussions or negotiations with any Person conducted heretofore with respect to any of the foregoing; and
