Note Guarantees Section 10.01 Guarantee 82 Section 10.02 Limitation on Guarantor Liability 83 Section 10.03 Execution and Delivery of Note Guarantee 84 Section 10.04 Guarantors May Consolidate, etc., on Certain Terms 84 Section 10.05 Releases 85 ARTICLE 11
Release of Note Guarantees (a) A Note Guarantee by a Guarantor shall be automatically and unconditionally released and discharged, and no further action by such Guarantor, the Company or the Trustee shall be required for the release of such Guarantor’s Note Guarantee, upon:
Additional Note Guarantees Section 4.17 of the Base Indenture shall be amended and restated in its entirety as follows: “Prior to the occurrence of an Investment Grade Event Election with respect to each series of Notes, if (a) any Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of the Company that is not an Excluded Subsidiary becomes an obligor with respect to any Indebtedness under the Credit Agreement, (b) any Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of the Company that is not an Excluded Subsidiary and that is not an Unrestricted Subsidiary becomes an obligor with respect to any capital markets debt securities in an aggregate principal amount in excess of $500.0 million or (c) Parent or any Subsidiary of Parent acquires or creates a Subsidiary that directly or indirectly owns Capital Stock of the Company, then the Company or Parent, as applicable, will, within 20 Business Days after the date on which it becomes an obligor with respect to any of the foregoing, or reasonably promptly thereafter, (i) cause that newly acquired or created Subsidiary to become a Guarantor of the Notes of this Series and execute a supplemental indenture and (ii), if requested by the Trustee, deliver an Opinion of Counsel reasonably satisfactory to the Trustee. Following the occurrence of an Investment Grade Event Election, with respect to each series of Notes, if the aggregate principal amount of Indebtedness for Borrowed Money of non-guarantor Subsidiaries that are not Excluded Subsidiaries (excluding any Specified Indebtedness under any Permitted Receivables Financing and any Specified Indebtedness of an “Unrestricted Subsidiary” (or the equivalent thereof) under the Credit Agreement or Permitted Receivables Financing Subsidiary) that is incurred or issued and outstanding exceeds $2,000.0 million (the “Guarantee Threshold”), then Parent shall cause such of its non-guarantor Subsidiaries that are not Excluded Subsidiaries to, within 60 days, execute and deliver a supplemental indenture providing for a Note Guarantee by such non-guarantor Subsidiaries (each such Note Guarantee, a “Post-Release Event Note Guarantee”) such that the aggregate principal amount of Specified Indebtedness of all other non-guarantor Subsidiaries that are not Excluded Subsidiaries (excluding any Specified Indebtedness under any Permitted Receivables Financing and any Specified Indebtedness of an “Unrestricted Subsidiary” (or the equivalent thereof) under the Credit Agreement or Permitted Receivables Financing Subsidiary) that is incurred or issued and outstanding does not exceed the Guarantee Threshold (after giving effect to the provision of Post-Release Event Note Guarantees pursuant to this Section 4.17); provided that (i) this Section 4.17 shall not be applicable to any Specified Indebtedness of any Subsidiary that existed at the time such Person became a Subsidiary of Parent (including any Specified Indebtedness incurred in connection with, or in contemplation of, such Person becoming a Subsidiary, so long as Parent and its Subsidiaries (other than such Person and its Subsidiaries) are not obligors under such Specified Indebtedness), (ii) if the Guarantee Threshold would be exceeded immediately after giving effect to the occurrence of an Investment Grade Event Election, then such Investment Grade Event Election shall be deemed not to have occurred with respect to the release of such Note Guarantees as the Company may designate such that the Guarantee Threshold would not be then exceeded and (iii) a Post-Release Event Note Guarantee shall be released to the extent the Guarantee Threshold would not be exceeded after giving effect to such release.”
Note Guarantee By its execution hereof, each Guarantor acknowledges and agrees that it receives substantial benefits from the Issuer and that such Guarantor is providing its Note Guarantee for good and valuable consideration, including, without limitation, such substantial benefits. Accordingly, subject to the provisions of this Article 15, each Guarantor hereby unconditionally guarantees to each Holder of a Note authenticated by the Registrar as authenticating agent and delivered by the Trustee and its successors and assigns that: (i) the principal of (including the Redemption Price upon redemption pursuant to Article 3), premium, if any, and interest on the Notes shall be duly and punctually paid in full when due, whether at the Maturity Date, upon acceleration, upon redemption or otherwise, and interest on overdue principal, premium, if any, and (to the extent permitted by law) interest on any interest, if any, on the Notes and all other obligations of the Issuer to the Holders or the Trustee hereunder or under the Notes (including fees, expenses or other) shall be promptly paid in full or performed, all in accordance with the terms hereof; and (ii) in case of any extension of time of payment or renewal of any Notes or any of such other obligations, the same shall be promptly paid in full when due or performed in accordance with the terms of the extension or renewal, whether at the Maturity Date, by acceleration, call for redemption or otherwise, subject, however, in the case of clauses (i) and (ii) above, to the limitations set forth in Section 15.03 hereof (collectively, the “Guarantee Obligations”). Subject to the provisions of this Article 15, each Guarantor hereby agrees that its Note Guarantee hereunder shall be unconditional, irrespective of the validity, regularity or enforceability of the Notes or this Indenture, the absence of any action to enforce the same, any waiver or consent by any Holder of the Notes with respect to any thereof, the entry of any judgment against the Issuer, any action to enforce the same or any other circumstance which might otherwise constitute a legal or equitable discharge or defense of such Guarantor. Each Guarantor hereby waives and relinquishes: (a) any right to require the Trustee, the Holders or the Issuer (each, a “Benefited Party”) to proceed against the Issuer or any other Person or to proceed against or exhaust any security held by a Benefited Party at any time or to pursue any other remedy in any secured party’s power before proceeding against such Guarantor; (b) any defense that may arise by reason of the incapacity, lack of authority, death or disability of any other Person or Persons or the failure of a Benefited Party to file or enforce a claim against the estate (in administration, bankruptcy or any other proceeding) of any other Person or Persons; (c) demand, protest and notice of any kind (except as expressly required by this Indenture), including but not limited to notice of the existence, creation or incurring of any new or additional indebtedness or obligation or of any action or non-action on the part of such Guarantor, the Issuer, any Benefited Party, any creditor of such Guarantor or the Issuer or on the part of any other Person whomsoever in connection with any obligations the performance of which are hereby guaranteed; (d) any defense based upon an election of remedies by a Benefited Party, including but not limited to an election to proceed against such Guarantor for reimbursement; (e) any defense based upon any statute or rule of law which provides that the obligation of a surety must be neither larger in amount nor in other respects more burdensome than that of the principal; (f) any defense arising because of a Benefited Party’s election, in any proceeding instituted under the Bankruptcy Law, of the application of Section 1111(b)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code; and (g) any defense based on any borrowing or grant of a security interest under Section 364 of the Bankruptcy Code. Each Guarantor hereby covenants that, except as otherwise provided therein, its Note Guarantee shall not be discharged except by payment in full of all Guarantee Obligations, including the principal, premium, if any, and interest on the Notes and all other costs provided for under this Indenture or as provided in Article 7. If any Holder or the Trustee is required by any court or otherwise to return to either the Issuer or the Guarantors, or any trustee or similar official acting in relation to either the Issuer or the Guarantors, any amount paid by the Issuer or the Guarantors to the Trustee or such Holder, the Note Guarantee, to the extent theretofore discharged, shall be reinstated in full force and effect. Each Guarantor agrees that it shall not be entitled to any right of subrogation in relation to the Holders in respect of any Guarantee Obligations hereby until payment in full of all such obligations guaranteed hereby. Each Guarantor agrees that, as between it, on the one hand, and the Holders of Notes and the Trustee, on the other hand, (x) the maturity of the obligations guaranteed hereby may be accelerated as provided in Article 6 hereof for the purposes hereof, notwithstanding any stay, injunction or other prohibition preventing such acceleration in respect of the Guarantee Obligations, and (y) in the event of any acceleration of such obligations as provided in Article 6 hereof, such Guarantee Obligations (whether or not due and payable) shall forthwith become due and payable by such Guarantor for the purpose of the Note Guarantee.