DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT
▇▇▇▇▇ & ▇▇▇▇ EQUITY FUND, INC.
the "Fund"
▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇
▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇
________________, 1998
▇▇▇▇▇ & Tang Distributors, Inc.
▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇
▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We hereby confirm our agreement with you as follows:
1. In consideration of the agreements on your part herein contained and of
the payment by us to you of a fee of $1 per year and on the terms and conditions
set forth herein, on behalf of our Fund, we have agreed that you shall be, for
the period of this agreement, a distributor, as our agent, for the unsold
portion of such number of shares of our common stock, $.001 par value per share,
as may be effectively registered from time to time under the Securities Act of
1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). This agreement is being entered into pursuant
to the Distribution and Service Plan (the "Plan") adopted by us in accordance
with Rule 12b-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940
Act").
2. We hereby agree that you will act as our agent, and hereby appoint you
our agent, to offer, and to solicit offers to subscribe to, the unsold balance
of shares of our common stock as shall then be effectively registered under the
Act. All subscriptions for shares of our common stock obtained by you shall be
directed to us for acceptance and shall not be binding on us until accepted by
us. You shall have no authority to make binding subscriptions on our behalf. We
reserve the right to sell shares of our common stock through other distributors
or directly to investors through subscriptions received by us at our principal
office in New York, New York. The right given to you under this agreement shall
not apply to shares of our common stock issued in connection with (a) the merger
or consolidation of any other investment company with us, (b) our acquisition by
purchase or otherwise of all or substantially all of the assets or stock of any
other investment company, or (c) the reinvestment in shares of our common stock
by our stockholders of dividends or
other distributions or any other offering by us of securities to our
stockholders.
3. You will use your best efforts to obtain subscriptions to shares of our
common stock upon the terms and conditions contained herein and in our
Prospectus, as in effect from time to time. You will send to us promptly all
subscriptions placed with you. We shall furnish you from time to time, for use
in connection with the offering of shares of our common stock, such other
information with respect to us and shares of our common stock as you may
reasonably request. We shall supply you with such copies of our Registration
Statement and Prospectus, as in effect from time to time, as you may request.
Except as we may authorize in writing, you are not authorized to give any
information or to make any representation that is not contained in the
Registration Statement or Prospectus, as then in effect. You may use employees,
agents and other persons, at your cost and expense, to assist you in carrying
out your obligations hereunder, but no such employee, agent or other person
shall be deemed to be our agent or have any rights under this agreement. You may
sell our shares to or through qualified brokers, dealers and financial
institutions under selling and servicing agreements provided that no dealer,
financial institution or other person shall be appointed or authorized to act as
our agent without our written consent.
You will arrange for organizations whose customers or clients are
shareholders of our corporation ("Participating Organizations") to enter into
agreements with you for the performance of shareholder servicing and related
administrative functions not performed by you or the Transfer Agent. Pursuant to
our Shareholder Servicing Agreement with you, you may make payments to
Participating Organizations for performing shareholder servicing and related
administrative functions. Such payments will be made only pursuant to written
agreements approved in form and substance by our Board of Directors to be
entered into by you and the Participating Organizations. It is recognized that
we shall have no obligation or liability to you or any Participating
Organization for any such payments under the agreements with Participating
Organizations. Our obligation is solely to make payments to you under the
Shareholder Servicing Agreement and to the Manager under the Investment
Management Contract and the Administrative Services Contract. All sales of our
shares effected through you will be made in compliance with all applicable
federal securities laws and regulations and the Constitution, rules and
regulations of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. ("NASD").
4. We reserve the right to suspend the offering of shares of our common
stock at any time, in the absolute discretion of our Board of Directors, and
upon notice of such
suspension you shall cease to offer shares of our common stock hereunder.
5. Both of us will cooperate with each other in taking such action as may
be necessary to qualify shares of our common stock for sale under the securities
laws of such states as we may designate, provided, that you shall not be
required to register as a broker-dealer or file a consent to service of process
in any such state where you are not now so registered. Pursuant to the
Investment Management Contract in effect between us and the Manager, we will pay
all fees and expenses of registering shares of our common stock under the Act
and of qualification of shares of our common stock, and to the extent necessary,
our qualification under applicable state securities laws. You will pay all
expenses relating to your broker-dealer qualification.
6. We represent to you that our Registration Statement and Prospectus have
been carefully prepared to date in conformity with the requirements of the 1933
Act and the 1940 Act and the rules and regulations of the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the "SEC") thereunder. We represent and warrant to you, as
of the date hereof, that our Registration Statement and Prospectus contain all
statements required to be stated therein in accordance with the 1933 Act and the
1940 Act and the SEC's rules and regulations thereunder; that all statements of
fact contained therein are or will be true and correct at the time indicated or
the effective date as the case may be; and that neither our Registration
Statement nor our Prospectus, when they shall become effective or be authorized
for use, will include an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a
material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements
therein not misleading to a purchaser of shares of our common stock. We will
from time to time file such amendment or amendments to our Registration
Statement and Prospectus as, in the light of future development, shall, in the
opinion of our counsel, be necessary in order to have our Registration Statement
and Prospectus at all times contain all material facts required to be stated
therein or necessary to make any statements therein not misleading to a
purchaser of shares of our common stock. If we shall not file such amendment or
amendments within fifteen days after our receipt of a written request from you
to do so, you may, at your option, terminate this agreement immediately. We will
not file any amendment to our Registration Statement or Prospectus without
giving you reasonable notice thereof in advance; provided, however, that nothing
in this agreement shall in any way limit our right to file such amendments to
our Registration Statement or Prospectus, of whatever character, as we may deem
advisable, such right being in all respects absolute and unconditional. We
represent and warrant to you that any amendment to our Registration Statement or
Prospectus hereafter filed by us will be carefully prepared in conformity within
the
requirements of the 1933 Act and the 1940 Act and the SEC's rules and
regulations thereunder and will, when it becomes effective, contain all
statements required to be stated therein in accordance with the 1933 Act and the
1940 Act and the SEC's rules and regulations thereunder; that all statements of
fact contained therein will, when the same shall become effective, be true and
correct; and that no such amendment, when it becomes effective, will include an
untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to
be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading to
a purchaser of our shares.
7. We agree to indemnify, defend and hold you, and any person who controls
you within the meaning of Section 15 of the 1933 Act, free and harmless from and
against any and all claims, liabilities and expenses (including the cost of
investigating or defending such claims, demands or liabilities and any counsel
fees incurred in connection therewith) which you or any such controlling person
may incur, under the 1933 Act or the 1940 Act, or under common law or otherwise,
arising out of or based upon any alleged untrue statement of a material fact
contained in our Registration Statement or Prospectus in effect from time to
time or arising out of or based upon any alleged omission to state a material
fact required to be stated in either of them or necessary to make the statements
in either of them not misleading; provided, however, that in no event shall
anything herein contained be so construed as to protect you against any
liability to us or our security holders to which you would otherwise be subject
by reason of willful misfeasance, bad faith, or gross negligence in the
performance of your duties, or by reason of your reckless disregard of your
obligations and duties under this agreement. Our agreement to indemnify you and
any such controlling person is expressly conditioned upon our being notified of
any action brought against you or any such controlling person, such notification
to be given by letter or by telegram addressed to us at our principal office in
New York, New York, and sent to us by the person against whom such action is
brought within ten days after the summons or other first legal process shall
have been served. The failure so to notify us of any such action shall not
relieve us from any liability which we may have to the person against whom such
action is brought other than on account of our indemnity agreement contained in
this paragraph 7. We will be entitled to assume the defense of any suit brought
to enforce any such claim, and to retain counsel of good standing chosen by us
and approved by you. In the event we do elect to assume the defense of any such
suit and retain counsel of good standing approved by you, the defendant or
defendants in such suit shall bear the fees and expenses of any additional
counsel retained by any of them; but in case we do not elect to assume the
defense of any such suit, or in case you, in good faith, do not approve of
counsel chosen by us, we will reimburse you or the controlling person or persons
named as
defendant or defendants in such suit, for the fees and expenses of any
counsel retained by you or them. Our indemnification agreement contained in this
paragraph 7 and our representations and warranties in this agreement shall
remain in full force and effect regardless of any investigation made by or on
behalf of you or any controlling person and shall survive the sale of any shares
of our common stock made pursuant to subscriptions obtained by you. This
agreement of indemnity will inure exclusively to your benefit, to the benefit of
your successors and assigns, and to the benefit of any of your controlling
persons and their successors and assigns. We agree promptly to notify you of the
commencement of any litigation or proceeding against us in connection with the
issue and sale of any shares of our common stock.
8. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold us, our several officers and
directors, and any person who controls us within the meaning of Section 15 of
the 1933 Act, free and harmless from and against any and all claims, demands,
liabilities, and expenses (including the cost of investigating or defending such
claims, demands or liabilities and any reasonable counsel fees incurred in
connection therewith) which we, our officers or directors, or any such
controlling person may incur under the 1933 Act or under common law or
otherwise, but only to the extent that such liability or expense incurred by us,
our officers or directors or such controlling person shall arise out of or be
based upon any alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in
information furnished in writing by you to us for use in our Registration
Statement or Prospectus as in effect from time to time, or shall arise out of or
be based upon any alleged omission to state a material fact in connection with
such information required to be stated in the Registration Statement or
Prospectus or necessary to make such information not misleading. Your agreement
to indemnify us, our officers and directors, and any such controlling person is
expressly conditioned upon your being notified of any action brought against us,
our officers or directors or any such controlling person, such notification to
be given by letter or telegram addressed to you at your principal office in New
York, New York, and sent to you by the person against whom such action is
brought, within ten days after the summons or other first legal process shall
have been served. You shall have a right to control the defense of such action,
with counsel of your own choosing, satisfactory to us, if such action is based
solely upon such alleged misstatement or omission on your part, and in any other
event you and we, our officers or directors or such controlling person shall
each have the right to participate in the defense or preparation of the defense
of any such action. The failure so to notify you of any such action shall not
relieve you from any liability which you may have to us, to our officers or
directors, or to such controlling person other than on account of your indemnity
agreement contained in this paragraph 8.
9. We agree to advise you immediately:
a. of any request by the SEC for amendments to our Registration Statement
or Prospectus or for additional information,
b. of the issuance by the SEC of any stop order suspending the
effectiveness of our Registration Statement or Prospectus or the initiation of
any proceedings for that purpose,
c. of the happening of any material event which makes untrue any statement
made in our Registration Statement or Prospectus or which requires the making of
a change in either of them in order to make the statements therein not
misleading, and
d. of all action of the SEC with respect to any amendments to our
Registration Statement or Prospectus.
10. This Agreement (which was re-executed on the date hereof) became
effective on __________ and will remain in effect thereafter for successive
twelve-month periods (computed from each ____________), provided that such
continuation is specifically approved at least annually by vote of our Board of
Directors and of a majority of those of our directors who are not interested
persons (as defined in the ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇) and have no direct or indirect financial
interest in the operation of the Plan or in any agreements related to the Plan,
cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on this agreement.
This agreement may be terminated at any time, without the payment of any
penalty, (a) on sixty days' written notice to you (i) by vote of a majority of
our entire Board of Directors, and by a vote of a majority of our Directors who
are not interested persons (as defined in the ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇) and who have no direct
or indirect financial interest in the operation of the Plan or in any agreement
related to the Plan, or (ii) by vote of a majority of our outstanding voting
securities, as defined in the Act, or (b) by you on sixty days' written notice
to us.
11. This Agreement may not be transferred, assigned, sold or in any manner
hypothecated or pledged by you and this Agreement shall terminate automatically
in the event of any such transfer, assignment, sale, hypothecation or pledge by
you. The terms "transfer", "assignment" and "sale" as used in this paragraph
shall have the meanings ascribed thereto by governing law and in applicable
rules or regulations of the SEC thereunder.
12. Except to the extent necessary to perform your obligations hereunder,
nothing herein shall be deemed to limit or restrict your right, the right of any
of your employees, officers or directors, who may also be a director, officer or
employee of ours, or of a person affiliated with us, as defined in the 1940 Act,
to engage in any other business or to devote time and attention to the
management or other aspects of any other business, whether of a similar or
dissimilar nature, or to render services of any kind to another corporation,
firm, individual or association.
If the foregoing is in accordance with your understanding, will you kindly
so indicate by signing and returning to us the enclosed copy hereof.
Very truly yours,
▇▇▇▇▇ & ▇▇▇▇ EQUITY FUND, INC.
By __________________________
Accepted: _______________, 1998
▇▇▇▇▇ & TANG DISTRIBUTORS, INC.
By: ____________________________
