Successors and Assigns; Participations and Assignments (a) This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the Borrowers, the Lenders, the Administrative Agent, all future holders of the Loans and their respective successors and assigns, except that no Borrower may assign or transfer any of its rights or obligations under this Agreement without the prior written consent of each Lender.
(b) 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 banks or other entities ("Participants") participating interests in any Loan owing to such Lender, any Commitment of such Lender or any other interest of such Lender hereunder and under the other Loan Documents. In the event of any such sale by a Lender of a participating interest to a Participant, such Lender's obligations under this Agreement to the other parties to this Agreement shall remain unchanged, such Lender shall remain solely responsible for the performance thereof, such Lender shall remain the holder of any such Loan for all purposes under this Agreement and the other Loan Documents, and the Borrowers and the Administrative Agent shall continue to deal solely and directly with such Lender in connection with such Lender's rights and obligations under this Agreement and the other Loan Documents. Any agreement pursuant to which any Lender shall sell any such participating interest shall provide that such Lender shall retain the sole right and responsibility to exercise such Lender's rights and enforce the Borrowers' obligations hereunder, including the right to consent to any amendment, supplement, modification or waiver of any provision of this Agreement or any of the other Loan Documents, provided that such participation agreement may provide that such Lender will not agree to any amendment, supplement, modification or waiver described in clause (A) or (B) of the proviso to the second sentence of subsection 15.1 without the consent of the Participant. Each Borrower agrees that if amounts outstanding under this Agreement are due or unpaid, or shall have been declared or shall have become due and payable upon the occurrence of an Event of Default, each Participant shall be deemed to have the right of setoff in respect of its participating interest in amounts owing under this Agreement to the same extent as if the amount of its participating interest were owing directly to it as a Lender under this Agreement; provided that, in purchasing such participating interest, such Participant shall be deemed to have agreed to share with the Lenders the proceeds thereof as provided in subsection 15.7(a) as fully as if it were a Lender hereunder. Each Borrower agrees that each Participant shall be entitled to the benefits of subsections 7.10, 7.11, 7.12, 7.13 and 15.6 with respect to its participation in the Commitments and the Loans outstanding from time to time hereunder as if it was a Lender.
(c) Any Lender may, in the ordinary course of its commercial banking business and in accordance with applicable law, at any time and from time to time assign to any Lender or any Affiliate thereof or, with the prior written consent of the U.S. Borrower (such consent not to be unreasonably withheld) and the Administrative Agent (such consent not to be unreasonably withheld), to an additional bank or financial institution (an "Assignee") all or any part of its rights and obligations under this Agreement and the other Loan Documents including, without limitation, its Commitments and Loans, pursuant to an Assignment and Acceptance, substantially in the form of Exhibit G, executed by such Assignee, such assigning Lender (and, in the case of an Assignee that is not then a Lender or an Affiliate thereof, by the U.S. Borrower and the Administrative Agent) and delivered to the Administrative Agent for their acceptance and recording in the Register; provided that (i) if any Lender assigns a part of its rights and obligations in respect of Revolving Credit Loans and/or Revolving Credit Commitment under this Agreement to an Assignee, such Lender shall assign proportionate interests in their respective Revolving Credit Loans and Revolving Credit Commitment and other related rights and obligations hereunder to such Assignee, (ii) if any Lender assigns a part of its rights and obligations under this Agreement in respect of its Revolving Credit Loans and/or Revolving Credit Commitments to an Assignee, such Lender shall assign proportionate interests in (A) its participations in the Swing Line Loans and other rights and obligations hereunder in respect of the Swing Line Loans to such Assignee and (B) Multicurrency Loans and Multicurrency Commitments, (iii) in the case of any such assignment to an additional bank or financial institution, the aggregate amount of any Revolving Credit Commitment (or, if the Revolving Credit Commitments have terminated or expired, the aggregate principal amount of any Revolving Credit Loans) being assigned shall not be less than $10,000,000 (or (x) if less, the then outstanding amount of such Commitments and/or Loans or (y) such lesser amount as may be agreed by the Borrowers and the Administrative Agent). Upon such execution, delivery, acceptance and recording, from and after the effective date determined pursuant to such Assignment and Acceptance, (I) the Assignee thereunder shall be a party hereto and, to the extent provided in such Assignment and Acceptance, have the rights and obligations of a Lender hereunder with Commitments, rights in respect of Loans as set forth therein, and (II) the assigning Lender thereunder shall be released from its obligations under this Agreement to the extent that such obligations shall have been expressly assumed by the Assignee pursuant to such Assignment and Acceptance (and, in the case of an Assignment and Acceptance covering all or the remaining portion of an assigning Lender's rights and obligations under this Agreement, such assigning Lender shall cease to be a party hereto).
(d) The Administrative Agent, on behalf of the Borrowers, shall maintain at their respective addresses referred to in subsection 15.2 a copy of each Assignment and Acceptance delivered to it and a register (the "Register") for the recordation of (i) the names and addresses of the Lenders and the Commitments of, and principal amounts of the Loans owing to, each Lender from time to time and (ii) the other information required from time to time pursuant to subsection 3.1 in respect of Swing Line Loans. The entries in the Register shall constitute prima facie evidence of the information recorded therein, and the Borrowers, the Administrative Agent and the Lenders may (and, in the case of any Loan or other obligation hereunder not evidenced by a Revolving Credit Note, shall) treat each Person whose name is recorded in the Register as the owner of a Loan or other obligation hereunder as the owner thereof for all purposes of this Agreement and the other Loan Documents, notwithstanding any notice to the contrary. Any assignment of any Loan or other obligation hereunder not evidenced by a Revolving Credit Note shall be effective only upon appropriate entries with respect thereto being made in the Register. The Register shall be available for inspection by the Borrowers or any Lender at any reasonable time and from time to time upon reasonable prior notice.
(e) Upon its receipt of an Assignment and Acceptance executed by an assigning Lender and an Assignee (and, in the case of an Assignee that is not then a Lender or an Affiliate thereof, executed by the Borrowers and the Administrative Agent), together with payment to the Administrative Agent of a registration and processing fee of $2,500, the Administrative Agent shall (i) promptly accept such Assignment and Acceptance and (ii) on the effective date determined pursuant thereto record the information contained therein in the Register and give prompt notice of such acceptance and recordation to the Lenders and the Borrowers.
(f) Each Borrower authorizes each Lender to disclose to any Participant or Assignee (each, a "Transferee") and any prospective Transferee any and all financial information in such Lender's possession concerning such Borrower and its Affiliates which has been delivered to such Lender by or on behalf of such Borrower pursuant to this Agreement or which has been delivered to such Lender by or on behalf of such Borrower in connection with such Lender's credit evaluation of such Borrower and its Affiliates prior to becoming a party to this Agreement.
(g) For avoidance of doubt, the parties to this Agreement acknowledge that the provisions of this subsection concerning assignments of Loans and Revolving Credit Notes relate only to absolute assignments and that such provisions do not prohibit assignments creating security interests, including, without limitation, any pledge or assignment by a Lender of any Loan or Revolving Credit Note to any Federal Reserve Bank in accordance with applicable law.
(h) If, pursuant to this subsection, any interest in this Agreement or any Loan is transferred to any Transferee (which is a Lender) which is organized under the laws of any jurisdiction other than the United States or any state thereof, the transferor Lender shall cause such Transferee, concurrently with the effectiveness of such transfer, to agree (for the benefit of the transferor Lender, the Administrative Agent and the U.S. Borrower) to provide the transferor Lender (and, in the case of any Transferee registered in the Register, the Administrative Agent and the U.S. Borrower) the tax forms and other documents required to be delivered pursuant to subsection 7.11(b) and to comply from time to time with all applicable U.S. laws and regulations with regard to such withholding tax exemption.
(i) If, pursuant to this subsection, any interest in this Agreement or any Loan is transferred to any Transferee, the transferor Lender shall cause such Transferee, concurrently with the effectiveness of such transfer, to agree (for the benefit of the transferor Lender, the General Administrative Agent and the Foreign Subsidiary Borrowers) to provide the transferor Lender, the General Administrative Agent and the Foreign Subsidiary Borrowers the tax forms and other documents required to be delivered pursuant to subsection 9.11(c) and to comply from time to time with all applicable laws and regulations with regard to such withholding tax exemption.
