Successors and Assigns; Assignments and Participations (a) This Agreement shall be binding upon, and inure to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective successors and assigns, except that (i) Borrower may not, directly or indirectly, assign or transfer, or attempt to assign or transfer, any of its Rights, duties, or obligations under any Loan Documents without the express written consent of all Lenders, and (ii) except as permitted NBPLP CREDIT AGREEMENT under this Section, no Lender may transfer, pledge, assign, sell any participation in, or otherwise encumber its portion of the Obligation.
(b) Each Lender may assign to one or more Eligible Assignees all or a portion of its Rights and obligations under the Loan Documents (including, without limitation, all or a portion of its Borrowings and its Notes to the extent any Principal Debt owed to such assigning Lender is evidenced by a Note or Notes); provided, however, that:
(i) each such assignment shall be to an Eligible Assignee;
(ii) except in the case of an assignment to another Lender or in the case of an assignment of all of a Lender's Rights and obligations under the Loan Documents, any such partial assignment under the Facility shall not be less than $5,000,000 unless Borrower and Administrative Agent consent thereto (in their sole discretion) in writing which may be evidenced by their acceptance and execution of the related Assignment and Acceptance Agreement; provided that, no partial assignment for the Facility (including any assignment among Lenders) may result in any Lender holding less than $10,000,000, provided further that, a Lender may hold an amount less than $10,000,000 but greater than $5,000,000 only if such Lender shall hold at least $10,000,000 in the aggregate of this Facility and the Multi- Year Revolving Agreement (notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event the Multi-Year Revolving Agreement is terminated, any Lender may continue to hold an amount in this Facility greater than or equal to the amount such Lender held on the date of the termination of the Multi-Year Revolving Agreement);
(iii) the parties to such assignment shall execute and deliver to Administrative Agent for its acceptance an Assignment and Acceptance Agreement in the form of EXHIBIT E hereto, together with any Notes (to the extent any Principal Debt owed to such assigning Lender is evidenced by a Note or Notes) subject to such assignment and a processing fee of $3,500, including, without limitation, any assignment between Lenders; and
(iv) so long as any Lender is an Agent under this Agreement, such Lender (or an Affiliate of such Lender) shall retain an economic interest in the Loan Documents, will not assign all of its Rights, duties, or obligations under the Loan Documents, except to an Affiliate of such Lender, and will not enter into any Assignment and Acceptance Agreement that would have the effect of such Lender assigning all of its Rights, duties, or obligations under the Loan Documents to any Person other than an Affiliate of such Lender unless such Agent has relinquished such title in accordance with SECTION 13.1 (with respect to Administrative Agent) or SECTION 13.10 (with respect to the other Agents). Upon execution, delivery, and acceptance of such Assignment and Acceptance Agreement, the assignee thereunder shall be a party hereto and, to the extent of such assignment, have the obligations, Rights, and benefits of a Lender under the Loan Documents and the assigning Lender shall, to the extent of such assignment, relinquish its Rights and be released from its obligations under the Loan Documents. Upon the consummation of any assignment pursuant to this Section, but only upon the request of the assignor or assignee made through Administrative Agent, Borrower shall issue appropriate Notes to the assignor and the assignee, reflecting such Assignment and Acceptance. If the assignee is not incorporated under the laws of the United States of America or a state thereof, it shall deliver to Borrower and Administrative Agent certification as to exemption from deduction or withholding of Taxes in accordance with SECTION 4.6.
(c) Administrative Agent shall maintain at its address referred to in SECTION 14.3 a copy of each Assignment and Acceptance Agreement delivered to and accepted by it and a register for NBPLP CREDIT AGREEMENT the recordation of the names and addresses of the Lenders and the Commitment Percentage, and principal amount of the Borrowings owing to, each Lender from time to time (the "REGISTER"). The entries in the Register shall be conclusive and binding for all purposes, absent manifest error, and Borrower, Administrative Agent and the Lenders may treat each Person whose name is recorded in the Register as a Lender hereunder for all purposes of the Loan Documents. The Register shall be available for inspection by Borrower or any Lender at any reasonable time and from time to time upon reasonable prior notice. Upon the consummation of any assignment in accordance with this SECTION 14.13, SCHEDULE 2.1 shall automatically be deemed amended (to the extent required) by Administrative Agent to reflect the name, address, and, where appropriate, respective Committed Sums under the Facility (as the case may be) of the assignor and assignee.
(d) Upon its receipt of an Assignment and Acceptance Agreement executed by the parties thereto, together with any Notes (to the extent any Principal Debt owed to such assigning Lender is evidenced by a Note or Notes) subject to such assignment and payment of the processing fee, Administrative Agent shall, if such Assignment and Acceptance has been completed and is in substantially the form of EXHIBIT E hereto, (i) accept such Assignment and Acceptance Agreement, (ii) record the information contained therein in the Register, and (iii) give prompt notice thereof to the parties thereto.
(e) Subject to the provisions of this Section and in accordance with applicable Law, any Lender may, in the ordinary course of its commercial banking business and in accordance with applicable Law, at any time sell to one or more Persons (each a "PARTICIPANT") participating interests in its portion of the Obligation. In the event of any such sale to a Participant, (i) such Lender shall remain a "Lender" under the Loan Documents and the Participant shall not constitute a "Lender" hereunder, (ii) such Lender's obligations under the Loan Documents shall remain unchanged, (iii) such Lender shall remain solely responsible for the performance thereof, (iv) such Lender shall remain the holder of its share of the Principal Debt for all purposes under the Loan Documents, (v) Borrower and Administrative Agent shall continue to deal solely and directly with such Lender in connection with such Lender's Rights and obligations under the Loan Documents, and (vi) such Lender shall be solely responsible for any withholding taxes or any filing or reporting requirements relating to such participation and shall hold Borrower and Administrative Agent and their respective successors, permitted assigns, officers, directors, employees, agents, and representatives harmless against the same. Participants shall have no Rights under the Loan Documents, other than certain voting Rights as provided below. Subject to the following, each Lender shall be entitled to obtain (on behalf of its Participants) the benefits of SECTION 4 with respect to all participations in its part of the Obligation outstanding from time to time, so long as Borrower shall not be obligated to pay any amount in excess of the amount that would be due to such Lender under SECTION 4 calculated as though no participations have been made. No Lender shall sell any participating interest under which the Participant shall have any Rights to approve any amendment, modification, or waiver of any Loan Document, except to the extent such amendment, modification, or waiver extends the due date for payment of any amount in respect of principal (other than mandatory prepayments), interest, or fees due under the Loan Documents, reduces the interest rate or the amount of principal or fees applicable to the Obligation (except such reductions as are contemplated by the Loan Documents), or releases all or any substantial portion of the Guaranties under the Loan Documents; provided that, in those cases where a Participant is entitled to the benefits of SECTION 4 or a Lender grants Rights to its Participants to approve amendments to or waivers of the Loan Documents respecting the matters previously described in this sentence, such Lender must include a voting mechanism in the relevant participation agreement or agreements, as the case may be, whereby a majority of such Lender's portion of the Obligation (whether held by such Lender or Participant) shall control the vote for all of such Lender's portion of the Obligation. Except in the case of the sale of a participating interest to another Lender, the relevant participation agreement shall not permit the Participant to transfer, pledge, assign, sell participations in, or otherwise encumber its portion of the Obligation, unless the consent of the transferring Lender (which consent will not be unreasonably withheld) has been obtained. NBPLP CREDIT AGREEMENT
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision set forth in this Agreement, any Lender may, without notice to, or the consent of Borrower or Administrative Agent, at any time assign and pledge all or any portion of its Borrowings and its Notes (to the extent any Principal Debt owed to such assigning Lender is evidenced by a Note or Notes) to any Federal Reserve Bank as collateral security pursuant to Regulation A and any Operating Circular issued by such Federal Reserve Bank or any Lender which is a fund may pledge all or any portion of its Borrowings and its Notes (to the extent any Principal Debt owed to such assigning Lender is evidenced by a Note or Notes) to its trustee in support of its obligations to its trustee. No such assignment shall release the assigning Lender from its obligations hereunder.
(g) Any Lender may furnish any information concerning the Loan Parties in the possession of such Lender from time to time to Eligible Assignees and Participants (including prospective Eligible Assignees and Participants), subject to the provisions of SECTION 14.14.
Determinations and Actions by the Board, etc For all purposes of this Agreement, any calculation of the number of shares of Common Stock outstanding at any particular time, including for purposes of determining the particular percentage of such outstanding shares of Common Stock of which any Person is the Beneficial Owner, shall be made in accordance with the last sentence of Rule 13d-3(d)(1)(i) of the General Rules and Regulations under the Exchange Act. The Board (with, where specifically provided for herein, the concurrence of two-thirds of the Directors) shall have the exclusive power and authority to administer this Agreement and to exercise all rights and powers specifically granted to the Board (with, where specifically provided for herein, the concurrence of two-thirds of the Directors) or to the Company, or as may be necessary or advisable in the administration of this Agreement, including, without limitation, the right and power to (i) interpret the provisions of this Agreement, and (ii) make all determinations deemed necessary or advisable for the administration of this Agreement (including without limitation a determination to redeem or not redeem the Rights or to amend the Agreement). All such actions, calculations, interpretations and determinations (including, for purposes of clause (y) below, all omissions with respect to the foregoing) which are done or made by the Board (with, where specifically provided for herein, the concurrence of two-thirds of the Directors) in good faith, shall (x) be final, conclusive and binding on the Company, the Rights Agent, the holders of the Rights and all other Persons, and (y) not subject any director to any liability to the holders of the Rights.
