Stockholder Meeting; Proxy Material Subject to the provisions of Section 5.04, the Company shall cause the Company Stockholder Meeting to be duly called and held as soon as reasonably practicable for the purpose of voting on the approval and adoption of this Agreement and the Merger unless a vote of stockholders of the Company is not required by New York Law. Subject to the provisions of Section 5.04, the Directors of the Company shall recommend approval and adoption of this Agreement and the Merger by the Company's stockholders at the Company Stockholder Meeting, and will include such recommendation in the Company Proxy Statement; provided, however, that, consistent with its fiduciary duties set forth in Section 5.04, the Board of Directors of the Company shall be permitted to (i) not recommend to the Company's stockholders that they give the Company Stockholder Approval or (ii) withdraw or modify in a manner adverse to Buyer and Merger Subsidiary its recommendation to the Company's stockholders that they give the Company Stockholder Approval, but in each of cases (i) and (ii) only if and to the extent that the Company has complied with Section 5.04 and this Section 5.02 and a Superior Proposal (as defined below) is pending at the time the Company's Board of Directors determines to take any such action or inaction. The Company will (i) in connection with the Company Stockholder Meeting, promptly prepare and file with the SEC, use commercially reasonable efforts to have cleared by the SEC as promptly as practicable and thereafter mail to its stockholders as promptly as practicable the Company Proxy Statement and all other proxy materials for such Company Stockholder Meeting and (ii) unless, to the extent permitted by the second sentence of this Section 5.02, and subject to Section 5.04, the Board of Directors shall not recommend to the Company's stockholders that they give the Company Stockholder Approval or shall have withdrawn or modified in a manner adverse to Buyer its recommendation, use commercially reasonable efforts to solicit proxies in favor of the approval of this Agreement and the Merger, provided that the obligation of the Company to cause the Company Proxy Statement and the proxy to be mailed to the Company's stockholders is subject to the Board of Directors of the Company having received from Jefferies & Co., Inc. confirmation of its opinion referred to in Section 3.02 as of the date scheduled for mailing of the Company Proxy Statement if the Board of Directors requests such a confirmation. For purposes of this Agreement, "Superior Proposal" means any bona fide Acquisition Proposal, on terms that the Board of Directors of the Company determines in its reasonable good faith judgment are more favorable to the Company's stockholders taken as a whole than the transactions contemplated by this Agreement and with respect to which the Company's Board of Directors determines, in its reasonable good faith judgment, after consultation with its financial advisors, the Person making such Acquisition Proposal has the financial means to consummate such Acquisition Proposal. For purposes of this Agreement, "Acquisition Proposal" means any offer or proposal for a merger, consolidation or tender or exchange offer or other business combination involving the Company or any Subsidiary of the Company or the acquisition of any substantial debt or equity interest in, or a substantial portion of the assets of, the Company or of any Company Subsidiary, other than the transactions contemplated by this Agreement.
Proxy Statement (a) Parent shall prepare and file with the SEC, as promptly as practicable after the date of this Agreement (and will use reasonable best efforts to do so no later than thirty (30) days after the date of this Agreement), a preliminary Proxy Statement and each of Parent and Buyer shall, or shall cause their respective Affiliates to, prepare and file with the SEC all other documents required by the Exchange Act in connection with the Sale, and Buyer and Parent shall cooperate with each other in connection with the preparation of the Proxy Statement and any such other filings.
(b) Subject to applicable Law, and notwithstanding anything in this Agreement to the contrary, prior to the filing of the preliminary Proxy Statement (or any amendment or supplement thereto), or any dissemination thereof to Parent shareholders, or responding to any comments from the SEC with respect thereto, Parent shall provide Buyer and its counsel with a reasonable opportunity to review and to comment on such document or response, which Parent shall consider in good faith and include in such filing, document or response any reasonable comments reasonably proposed by Buyer and its Representatives. Buyer shall furnish to Parent the information relating to it required by the Exchange Act to be set forth in the Proxy Statement. Parent shall promptly notify Buyer upon the receipt of any comments from the SEC or its staff or any request from the SEC or its staff for amendments or supplements to the Proxy Statement and shall provide Buyer with copies of (1) all material correspondence between it and its Representatives, on the one hand, and the SEC and its staff, on the other hand, relating to the Proxy Statement and (2) all written comments with respect to the Proxy Statement received from the SEC. Parent shall use its reasonable best efforts to resolve all SEC comments with respect to the Proxy Statement as promptly as practicable after receipt thereof, and Buyer shall cooperate to provide responses to such SEC comments. Parent shall cause the Proxy Statement to be mailed to Parent’s shareholders as promptly as practicable after the earlier of (i) receiving notification that the SEC or its staff is not reviewing the Proxy Statement or (ii) the conclusion of any SEC or staff review of the Proxy Statement. Parent and Seller agree that any material breach of their obligations under Section 5.02(a) or Section 5.02(b) shall be deemed to be a willful and material breach of this Agreement by Parent; provided that Buyer has provided to Parent written notice of such material breach within ten (10) Business Days of first becoming aware of such material breach and Parent and Seller fail to cure such breach by ten (10) Business Days after such notice is provided.
(c) If at any time prior to the Shareholders Meeting, any information relating to Parent or Buyer, or any of their respective Affiliates, is discovered by a Party, which information should be set forth in an amendment or supplement to the Proxy Statement, the Party that discovers such information shall promptly notify the other Party, and Parent shall prepare (with the assistance of Buyer) and mail to its shareholders such an amendment or supplement, in each case, to the extent required by applicable Law. Parent and Buyer each agrees to promptly (1) correct any information provided by it specifically for use in the Proxy Statement if and to the extent that such information shall have become false or misleading in any material respect and (2) supplement the information provided by it specifically for use in the Proxy Statement to include any information that shall become necessary in order to make the statements in the Proxy Statement, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading. Parent further agrees to cause the Proxy Statement as so corrected or supplemented promptly to be filed with the SEC and to be disseminated to its shareholders of record as of the record date established for the Shareholders Meeting, in each case, as and to the extent required by applicable Law.
Preparation of the Proxy Statement; Stockholders Meeting (a) As promptly as practicable following the date of this Agreement, the Company and Parent shall prepare and file with the SEC the Proxy Statement and the Company shall use its reasonable efforts to respond as promptly as practicable to any comments of the SEC with respect thereto and to cause the Proxy Statement to be mailed to the Company's stockholders as promptly as practicable following the date of this Agreement. The Company shall promptly notify Parent upon the receipt of any comments from the SEC or its staff or any request from the SEC or its staff for amendments or supplements to the Proxy Statement and shall provide Parent with copies of all correspondence between the Company and its representatives, on the one hand, and the SEC and its staff, on the other hand. Notwithstanding the foregoing, prior to filing or mailing the Proxy Statement (or any amendment or supplement thereto) or responding to any comments of the SEC with respect thereto, the Company (i) shall provide Parent an opportunity to review and comment on such document or response, (ii) shall include in such document or response all comments reasonably proposed by Parent and (iii) shall not file or mail such document or respond to the SEC prior to receiving Parent's approval, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed.
(b) The Company shall, as promptly as practicable following the date of this Agreement, establish a record date (which will be as promptly as reasonably practicable following the date of this Agreement) for, duly call, give notice of, convene and hold a meeting of its stockholders (the "Stockholders Meeting") for the purpose of obtaining the Stockholder Approval, regardless of whether an Adverse Recommendation Change has occurred at any time after the date of this Agreement. The Company shall use its reasonable best efforts to cause the Stockholders Meeting to be held as promptly as practicable following the date of this Agreement. The Company shall, through its Board of Directors, recommend to its stockholders that they adopt this Agreement, and shall include such recommendation in the Proxy Statement, in each case subject to its rights under Section 4.02(b)(i). Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Company agrees that its obligations pursuant to this Section 5.01(b) shall not be affected by the commencement, public proposal, public disclosure or communication to the Company or any other person of any Takeover Proposal.
Preparation of Proxy Statement; Stockholders Meeting (a) As promptly as reasonably practicable, but in any event within 45 days, following the date of this Agreement, the Company shall, with the assistance of Parent, prepare the Proxy Statement and file the Proxy Statement with the SEC. Parent, HoldCo, Merger Sub and the Company will cooperate with each other in the preparation of the Proxy Statement. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, each of Parent, HoldCo and Merger Sub will furnish to the Company in writing the information relating to it required by the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder to be set forth in the Proxy Statement. The Company shall use its reasonable best efforts to resolve all SEC comments with respect to the Proxy Statement as promptly as practicable after receipt thereof. The Company and each Parent Entity will promptly correct any information provided by it for use in the Proxy Statement, if and to the extent that it shall have become false or misleading in any material respect prior to the Company Stockholders’ Meeting. The Company shall cause the Proxy Statement, as so corrected, to be filed with the SEC and to be disseminated to its stockholders, in each case, as and to the extent required by applicable federal securities laws. Parent and its counsel shall be given a reasonable opportunity to review and comment on the Proxy Statement before it is filed with the SEC, and the Company shall give good faith and reasonable consideration to any comments made by Parent or its counsel. The Company shall promptly notify and provide to Parent and its counsel any comments the Company or its counsel receives from the SEC with respect to the Proxy Statement and any request by the SEC for any amendment to the Proxy Statement or for additional information.
(b) As promptly as reasonably practicable and, in any event, no later than 40 days following the clearance of the Proxy Statement by the SEC, the Company, acting through the Company Board, shall (i) take all action necessary to duly call, give notice of, convene and hold a meeting of its stockholders for the purpose of obtaining the Company Stockholder Approval (the “Company Stockholders’ Meeting”) and (ii) except to the extent that the Company Board shall have effected an Adverse Recommendation Change in accordance with Section 5.4(c), include in the Proxy Statement a statement to the effect that the Company Board (A) has unanimously determined that the Merger and this Agreement are advisable and (B) unanimously recommends that the Company’s stockholders vote to adopt this Agreement at the Company Stockholders’ Meeting; provided, however, that the Company shall be permitted to delay, postpone or cancel the Company Stockholders’ Meeting (but not beyond the Termination Date) if in the good faith judgment of the Company Board or any committee thereof (after consultation with its legal counsel) the failure to do so would reasonably be expected to breach the Company Board’s fiduciary duties under applicable Law.
Shareholders Meeting (a) If required by the Company's Restated Certificate of Incorporation and/or applicable law in order to consummate the Merger, the Company, acting through its Board of Directors, shall, in accordance with applicable law:
(i) duly call, give notice of, convene and hold a special meeting of its Shareholders (the "Special Meeting") as soon as practicable following the acceptance for payment of and payment for Shares by the Purchaser pursuant to the Offer for the purpose of considering and taking action upon this Agreement, whether or not the Board of Directors determines at any time subsequent to the Company Board Meeting that this Agreement is no longer advisable and recommends that Shareholders reject it;
(ii) prepare and file with the SEC a preliminary proxy statement or, if the Purchaser shall have accepted for payment and purchased Shares permitting the Purchaser to cast at least a majority of the votes entitled to be cast by all holders of Shares on a fully diluted basis, information statement relating to the Merger and this Agreement and use its reasonable best efforts (x) to obtain and furnish the information required to be included by the SEC in the Statement (as hereinafter defined) and, after consultation with Parent, to respond promptly to any comments made by the SEC with respect to the preliminary proxy or information statement and cause a definitive proxy or information statement (the "Statement") to be mailed to its Shareholders and (y) to obtain the necessary approvals of the Merger and this Agreement by its Shareholders; and
(iii) subject to the fiduciary obligations of the Board of Directors of the Company under applicable law as advised by outside counsel, include in the Statement the recommendation of the Board of Directors of the Company that Shareholders vote in favor of the approval of the Merger and the adoption of this Agreement; provided, however, that notwithstanding any withdrawal, modification or amendment of the recommendation of the Board of Directors of the Company made at the Company Board Meeting, the Company agrees that if the Purchaser purchases Shares pursuant to the Offer, this Agreement shall be submitted to the Shareholders for approval and adoption at the Special Meeting whether or not the Board of Directors determines at any time subsequent to the Company Board Meeting that this Agreement is no longer advisable and recommends that Shareholders reject it.
(b) Parent agrees that it will vote, or cause to be voted, all of the Shares then owned by it, the Purchaser or any of its other subsidiaries in favor of the approval of the Merger and the adoption of this Agreement.
Stockholders Meeting (a) If required by applicable Laws in order to consummate the Merger, the Company, acting through the Board shall, in accordance with applicable Laws, its Certificate of Incorporation and its Bylaws, as soon as practicable following the consummation of the Offer:
(i) duly call, give notice of, convene and hold a special meeting of its stockholders as soon as practicable following the consummation of the Offer for the purpose of considering and taking action upon this Agreement (the "Stockholders' Meeting");
(ii) subject to its fiduciary duties under applicable Laws after consultation with independent counsel, include in the proxy statement or information statement prepared by the Company for distribution to stockholders of the Company in advance of the Stockholders' Meeting in accordance with Regulation 14A or Regulation 14C promulgated under the Exchange Act (the "Proxy Statement") the recommendation of the Board referred to in Section 1.2 hereof; and
(iii) use its reasonable efforts to (A) obtain and furnish the information required to be included by it in the Proxy Statement and, after consultation with Parent, respond promptly to any comments made by the SEC with respect to the Proxy Statement and any preliminary version thereof and cause the Proxy Statement to be mailed to its stockholders following the consummation of the Offer and (B) obtain the necessary approvals of this Agreement and the Merger by its stockholders. Parent will provide the Company with the information concerning Parent and Sub required to be included in the Proxy Statement and will vote, or cause to be voted, all Shares owned by it or its Subsidiaries in favor of approval and adoption of this Agreement and the transactions contemplated hereby.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 2.5(a), if Parent and Sub and their affiliates shall collectively own, following consummation of the Offer, at least 90 percent of the outstanding Shares, each of Parent, Sub and the Company shall take all necessary and appropriate action to cause the Merger to become effective, as soon as practicable after the consummation of the Offer (but in no event later than ten (10) business days thereafter), without a meeting of stockholders of the Company, in accordance with Section 253 of the DGCL.
Stockholders Meetings Section 1. The Annual Meeting of Stockholders shall be held on the third Thursday in April each year at the principal office at the Company or at such other date, time, or place as may be designated by resolution by the Board of Directors.
Section 2. Special meetings of all stockholders may be called at any time by the Board of Directors, the Chairman of the Board or the President.
Section 3. Notice of all meetings of the stockholders shall be given by mailing to each stockholder at least ten (10) days before said meeting, at his last known address, a written or printed notice fixing the time and place of such meeting.
Section 4. A majority in the amount of the capital stock of the Company issued and outstanding on the record date, as herein determined, shall constitute a quorum at all meetings of stockholders for the transaction of any business, but the holders of a small number of shares may adjourn, from time to time, without further notice, until a quorum is secured. At each annual or special meeting of stockholders, each stockholder shall be entitled to one vote, either in person or by proxy, for each share of stock registered in the stockholder's name on the books of the Company on the record date for any such meeting as determined herein.
PROSPECTUS AND PROXY STATEMENTS; VOTING 3.1. At least annually, the Trust or its designee shall provide the Company, free of charge, with as many copies of the current prospectus (describing only the Portfolios listed in Schedule A hereto) for the Shares as the Company may reasonably request for distribution to existing Policy owners whose Policies are funded by such Shares. The Trust or its designee shall provide the Company, at the Company's expense, with as many copies of the current prospectus for the Shares as the Company may reasonably request for distribution to prospective purchasers of Policies. If requested by the Company in lieu thereof, the Trust or its designee shall provide such documentation (including a "camera ready" copy of the new prospectus as set in type or, at the request of the Company, as a diskette in the form sent to the financial printer) and other assistance as is reasonably necessary in order for the parties hereto once each year (or more frequently if the prospectus for the Shares is supplemented or amended) to have the prospectus for the Policies and the prospectus for the Shares printed together in one document; the expenses of such printing to be apportioned between (a) the Company and (b) the Trust or its designee in proportion to the number of pages of the Policy and Shares' prospectuses, taking account of other relevant factors affecting the expense of printing, such as covers, columns, graphs and charts; the Trust or its designee to bear the cost of printing the Shares' prospectus portion of such document for distribution to owners of existing Policies funded by the Shares and the Company to bear the expenses of printing the portion of such document relating to the Accounts; provided, however, that the Company shall bear all printing expenses of such combined documents where used for distribution to prospective purchasers or to owners of existing Policies not funded by the Shares. In the event that the Company requests that the Trust or its designee provides the Trust's prospectus in a "camera ready" or diskette format, the Trust shall be responsible for providing the prospectus in the format in which it or MFS is accustomed to formatting prospectuses and shall bear the expense of providing the prospectus in such format (e.g., typesetting expenses), and the Company shall bear the expense of adjusting or changing the format to conform with any of its prospectuses.
3.2. The prospectus for the Shares shall state that the statement of additional information for the Shares is available from the Trust or its designee. The Trust or its designee, at its expense, shall print and provide such statement of additional information to the Company (or a master of such statement suitable for duplication by the Company) for distribution to any owner of a Policy funded by the Shares. The Trust or its designee, at the Company's expense, shall print and provide such statement to the Company (or a master of such statement suitable for duplication by the Company) for distribution to a prospective purchaser who requests such statement or to an owner of a Policy not funded by the Shares.
3.3. The Trust or its designee shall provide the Company free of charge copies, if and to the extent applicable to the Shares, of the Trust's proxy materials, reports to Shareholders and other communications to Shareholders in such quantity as the Company shall reasonably require for distribution to Policy owners.
3.4. Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 above, or of Article V below, the Company shall pay the expense of printing or providing documents to the extent such cost is considered a distribution expense. Distribution expenses would include by way of illustration, but are not limited to, the printing of the Shares' prospectus or prospectuses for distribution to prospective purchasers or to owners of existing Policies not funded by such Shares.
3.5. The Trust hereby notifies the Company that it may be appropriate to include in the prospectus pursuant to which a Policy is offered disclosure regarding the potential risks of mixed and shared funding.
3.6. If and to the extent required by law, the Company shall:
(a) solicit voting instructions from Policy owners;
(b) vote the Shares in accordance with instructions received from Policy owners; and
(c) vote the Shares for which no instructions have been received in the same proportion as the Shares of such Portfolio for which instructions have been received from Policy owners; so long as and to the extent that the SEC continues to interpret the 1940 Act to require pass through voting privileges for variable contract owners. The Company will in no way recommend action in connection with or oppose or interfere with the solicitation of proxies for the Shares held for such Policy owners. The Company reserves the right to vote shares held in any segregated asset account in its own right, to the extent permitted by law. Participating Insurance Companies shall be responsible for assuring that each of their separate accounts holding Shares calculates voting privileges in the manner required by the Mixed and Shared Funding Exemptive Order. The Trust and MFS will notify the Company of any changes of interpretations or amendments to the Mixed and Shared Funding Exemptive Order.
Stockholder Meeting In order to consummate the Merger, the Seller shall take all steps necessary to duly call, give notice of, convene and hold its Stockholder Meeting as soon as practicable following the clearance of the Registration Statement and the Proxy Statement by the SEC for the purpose of voting upon the approval of this Agreement and the transactions contemplated hereby. Subject to this Section 6.03, the Board of Directors of Seller shall unanimously recommend that its stockholders vote in favor of and adopt and approve this Agreement and the transactions contemplated hereby at the Stockholder Meeting and the Prospectus/Proxy Statement shall include a statement to this effect. The Seller and the Buyer shall coordinate and cooperate with respect to the foregoing matters. After making such recommendation to its stockholders, the Board of Directors of Seller (or any committee thereof) shall not withdraw, modify or amend such recommendation (or propose to do so) in any respect adverse to the Buyer unless (i) a Superior Proposal (as defined in Section 5.02) is made to Seller and is not withdrawn, and (ii) Seller shall have concluded in good faith, after consultation with its outside counsel, that, in light of such Superior Proposal, the withdrawal, amendment or modification of such recommendation is required in order for the Board of Directors of Seller to discharge its fiduciary duties to the Seller's stockholders under applicable law; provided, however, that prior to any withdrawal, modification or amendment of such recommendation by the Board of Directors of Seller, the Seller shall have given Buyer at least four (4) business days notice thereof and the opportunity to meet with Seller and its counsel. Subject to Section 8.01(i) hereof, Seller's obligation to call, give notice of, convene and hold the Stockholder Meeting in accordance with this Section 6.03 shall not be limited to or otherwise affected by the commencement, disclosure, announcement or submission to Seller of a proposal for a Competing Transaction or by the withdrawal, amendment or modification of its recommendation in connection with a Superior Proposal.
Shareholder Meeting (a) The first sentence of Section 6.2(a) of the Merger Agreement is hereby amended and restated to read as follows: “As promptly as practicable following the effectiveness of the Form S-4 (subject to any extension reasonably necessary to comply with applicable Law, including amending any disclosure document to be delivered to holders of Xxxxx Common Shares or Mercury Common Stock in connection with the Amendment or otherwise acting to address any oral or written comments made by the SEC), Mercury shall, in consultation with Xxxxx, in accordance with applicable Law and the Mercury Organizational Documents, (i) establish a record date for, duly call and give notice of a meeting of the holders of Mercury Voting Common Stock (the “Mercury Shareholder Meeting”) at which meeting Mercury shall seek the Required Mercury Vote, which record date shall be no later than ten (10) days after the date on which the Form S-4 is declared effective under the Securities Act, and (ii) convene and hold the Mercury Shareholder Meeting.”
(b) The first sentence of Section 6.2(b) of the Merger Agreement is hereby amended and restated to read as follows: “As promptly as practicable following the effectiveness of the Form S-4 (subject to any extension reasonably necessary to comply with the DLLCA, the Xxxxx LLC Agreement and applicable Law, including amending any disclosure document to be delivered to holders of Xxxxx Common Shares or Mercury Common Stock in connection with the Amendment or otherwise acting to address any oral or written comments made by the SEC), Xxxxx shall, in consultation with Mercury, in accordance with applicable Law and the Xxxxx LLC Agreement, (i) establish a record date for, duly call and give notice of a meeting of the holders of Xxxxx Common Shares (the “Xxxxx Shareholder Meeting”) at which meeting Xxxxx shall seek the Required Xxxxx Vote, which record date shall be no later than ten (10) days after the date on which the Form S-4 is declared effective under the Securities Act, and (ii) convene and hold the Xxxxx Shareholder Meeting.”
(c) The following is hereby added as a new Section 6.2(d) of the Merger Agreement:
(d) Unless otherwise agreed to by Mercury and Xxxxx, the Mercury Shareholder Meeting shall be convened on August 20, 2014, and, without conducting any business, shall be adjourned until 11:00 a.m. eastern time on October 6, 2014 (subject to any adjournment or postponement thereof in accordance with Section 6.2(a)), which new date, time and place shall be announced at the Mercury Shareholder Meeting before adjournment. Unless otherwise agreed to by Mercury and Xxxxx, the Xxxxx Shareholder Meeting shall be convened on August 20, 2014, and, without conducting any business, shall be adjourned until 9:00 a.m. eastern time on October 6, 2014 (subject to any adjournment or postponement thereof in accordance with Section 6.2(b)), which new date, time and place shall be announced at the Xxxxx Shareholder Meeting before adjournment.” Unless otherwise agreed to by Mercury and Xxxxx, the record date for the Mercury Shareholder Meeting and the Xxxxx Shareholder Meeting shall continue to be July 18, 2014 (subject to any change required by applicable Law, the Mercury Organizational Documents or the Xxxxx LLC Agreement, as applicable or to address any oral or written comments made by the SEC).
