Exhibit 1.5
Master Agreement Among Underwriters
For Unit Investment Trusts Sponsored by
Xxx Xxxxxx American Capital Distributors, Inc.
Xxx Xxxxxx American Capital Distributors, Inc.
Xxx Xxxxxxxx Xxxxx
Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx, Xxxxxxxx 00000
Gentlemen:
1. The Trust. We understand that you, Xxx Xxxxxx American Capital
Distributors, Inc. (the "Sponsor"), are entering into this agreement (the
"Agreement") in counterparts with us and other firms who may be
underwriters for issues of various series of unit investment trusts for
which you will act as Sponsor. This Agreement shall apply to any
offering after May 1, 1992 of units of fractional undivided interest in
such various series unit investment trusts in which we elect to act as an
underwriter (underwriters with respect to each such trust being
hereinafter called "Underwriters") after receipt of a notice from you
stating the name and size of the trust and that our participation as an
Underwriter in the proposed offering shall be subject to the provisions
of this Agreement. The issuer of the units of fractional undivided
interests in a series of a unit investment trust offered in any offering
of units made pursuant to this Agreement is hereinafter referred to as
the "Trust" and the reference to "Trust" in this Agreement applies only
to such Trust, and such units of such Trust offered are hereinafter
called the "Units". Each Trust is or will be registered as a "unit
investment trust" under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "1940
Act") by appropriate filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission
(the "Commission"). Additionally, each Trust is or will be registered
with the Commission under the Securities Act of 1933 (the "1933 Act") on
Form S-6 or its successor forms, including a proposed form of prospectus
(the "Preliminary Prospectus").
The registration statement as finally amended and revised at the
time it becomes effective is herein referred to as the "Registration
Statement" and the related prospectus is herein referred to as the
"Prospectus", except that if the prospectus filed by the Trust pursuant
to Rule 424(b) under the 1933 Act shall differ from the prospectus on
file at the time the Registration Statement shall become effective, the
term "Prospectus" shall refer to the prospectus filed pursuant to Rule
424(b) from and after the date on which it shall have been filed.
The following provisions of this Agreement shall apply separately to
each individual offering of Units by a Trust.
We understand that as of the date upon which we have agreed to
underwrite Units of the Trust the Commission shall not have issued any
order preventing or restraining the use of any Preliminary Prospectus
and, further, that each Preliminary Prospectus shall conform in all
material respects to the requirements of the 1933 Act and the Rules and
Regulations thereunder and, as of its date, shall not include any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary
to make the statements therein not misleading; and when the Registration
Statement becomes effective, it and the Prospectus, and any amendments or
supplements thereto, will contain all statements that are required to be
stated therein in accordance with the 1933 Act and the Rules and
Regulations thereunder and will in all material respects conform to the
requirements of the 1933 Act and the Rules and Regulations thereunder,
and neither the Registration Statement nor the Prospectus, nor any
amendment or supplement thereto, will contain any 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;
provided, however, that you make no representation or warranty as to
information contained in or omitted from any Preliminary Prospectus, the
Registration Statement, the Prospectus or any such amendment or
supplement, in reliance upon and in conformity with, written information
furnished to you by or on behalf of any Underwriter specifically for use
in the preparation thereof.
2. Designation and Authority of Representative. You are hereby
authorized to act as our representative (the "Representative") in
connection with all matters to which this Agreement relates and to take
the action provided herein to be taken by you as you may otherwise deem
necessary or advisable. We understand that we have no obligations under
this Agreement with respect to any Trust in which we choose not to
participate as an Underwriter.
You will be under no liability to us for any act or omission except
for obligations expressly assumed by you herein and no obligations on
your part will be implied or inferred herefrom. The rights and
liabilities of the respective parties hereto are several and not joint,
and nothing herein or hereunder will constitute then a partnership,
association or separate entity.
3. Profit or Loss in Acquisition of Securities. It is understood
that the acquisition of securities (the "Securities") for deposit in the
portfolio of the Trust shall be at your cost and risk. We acknowledge
that you will share with us any net deposit profits in the amounts and to
the extent, if any, indicated under "Sponsor and Underwriter
Compensation" in the Prospectus. For the purposes of determining the
number of Units underwritten, we understand that we will be credited for
that number of Units set forth opposite our name in the section entitled
"Underwriting" in the prospectus.
We agree that you shall have no liability (as Representative or
otherwise) with respect to the issue form, validity, legality,
enforceability, value of, or title to the Securities, except for the
exercise of due care in determining the genuineness of such Securities
and the conformance thereof with the descriptions and qualifications
appearing in the Prospectus.
4. Purchase of Units. Promptly after you make a determination to
offer Units of a Trust and you inquire as to whether we desire to
participate in such offering, we will advise you promptly as to the
number of Units which we will purchase or of our decision not to
participate in such offering. Such advice may be written or oral. The
delivery to the Sponsor of a completed Schedule A to this Agreement shall
constitute adequate written advice. Oral advice shall be binding but
shall be promptly confirmed in writing by us by means of telegraph,
telegram or other form of wire or facsimile transmission. Such written
confirmation shall contain the information requested by Schedule A to
this Agreement. You may rely on and we hereby commit on the terms and
conditions of this Agreement to purchase and pay for the number of Units
of the Trust set forth in such advice (the "Unit Commitment"). Our Unit
Commitment may be increased only by mutual agreement between us and you
at any time prior to the date as of which the Trust Agreement for the
Trust is executed (the "Date of Deposit"). We agree that you in your
sole discretion reserve the right to decrease our Unit Commitment at any
time prior to the Date of Deposit and if you so elect to make such a
decrease, you will notify us of such an election by telephone and
promptly confirm the same in writing.
The price to be paid for such Units shall be the Public Offering
Price per Unit (as defined in the Prospectus) as first determined on the
Date of Deposit or such later determination on such Date of Deposit as
you shall advise us, less the sum per Unit indicated under "Sponsor and
Underwriter Compensation" in the Prospectus. Further, each Underwriter
who underwrites that number of Units indicated under "Sponsor and
Underwriter Compensation" in the Prospectus will receive from the Sponsor
that additional compensation indicated under such section of the
Prospectus for each Unit it underwrites, providing the Trust size is in
excess of that number of Units, if any, indicated under such section of
the Prospectus. At the Date of Deposit, we will become the owner of the
Units and be entitled to the benefits (except for interest, if any,
accruing from the Date of Deposit to the First Settlement Date) as well
as the risks inherent therein. We acknowledge that those persons, if
any, named in the Prospectus under "Sponsor and Underwriter Compensation"
are Managing or Co-Managing Underwriters of the Trust, as indicated
therein, and we acknowledge that those persons specifically named therein
will receive as additional compensation those respective per Unit amounts
set forth in such section of the Prospectus.
You are authorized to retain custody of our Units until the
Registration Statement relating thereto has become effective under the
1933 Act and you shall have received payment from us for such Units.
You are authorized to file an amendment to said Registration
Statement describing the Securities and furnishing information based
thereon or relating thereto and any further amendments or supplements to
the Registration Statement or Prospectus which you may deem necessary or
advisable. We will furnish to you upon your request such information as
will be required to insure that the Registration Statement and Prospectus
are current insofar as they relate to us and we thereafter continue to
furnish you with such information as may be necessary to keep current and
correct the information previously supplied.
We understand that the Trust will also take action with respect to
the offering and sale of Units in accordance with the Blue Sky or
securities laws of certain states in which it is proposed that the Units
may be offered and sold.
5. Public Offering. You agree that you will advise us promptly
when the Registration Statement has become effective, and we agree that
when we are advised that the Units are released for public offering, we
will make a public offering thereof by means of the Prospectus under the
1933 Act, as amended, which describes the deposit of Securities and
related information. The Public Offering Price and the terms and
conditions of the public offering shall be as set forth in the Prospectus
and shall rely with respect to the offering price of the Securities upon
the determination of the Evaluator named in the Prospectus. Public
advertisement of the offering, if any, shall be made by you on behalf of
the Underwriters on such date as you shall determine. We agree that
before we use any Trust advertising material which we have created, we
will obtain your prior approval to use such advertising materials.
6. Public Offering Price. We agree that each day while this
Agreement is in effect and the evaluation of the Trust is made by the
Evaluator named in the Prospectus, we will contact you for such
evaluation and of the resultant Public Offering Price for the purpose of
the offering and sale of the respective Units to the public. We agree as
required by Section 22(d) of the 1940 Act to offer and sell our Units at
the current Public Offering Price described in the Prospectus.
7. Permitted Transactions. It is agreed that part or all of the
Units purchased by us may be sold to dealers, or other entities with whom
we can legally grant a concession or agency commission, only at the then
effective Public Offering Price, less the concession described in the
Prospectus.
From time to time prior to the termination of this Agreement, at
your Request, we will advise you of the number of our Units which remain
unsold and, at your request, we agree to deliver to you any of such
unsold Units to be sold for our account to retail accounts or, less the
concession or agency commission then effective, to dealers or others.
If prior to the termination of this Agreement, or such earlier date
as you may determine and advise us thereof in writing, you shall purchase
or contract to purchase any of our Units or any Units issued in exchange
therefor, in the open market or otherwise, or if any such Units shall be
tendered to the Trustee for redemption because not effectively placed for
investment by us, we agree to repurchase such Units at a price equal to
the total cost of such purchase, including accrued interest and
commissions, if any, and transfer taxes on redelivery. Regardless of the
amount paid on the repurchase of any such Units, it is agreed that they
may be resold by us only at the then effective Public Offering Price.
Until the termination of this Agreement, we agree that we will make
no purchase of Units other than (i) purchases provided for in this
Agreement, (ii) purchases approved by you and (iii) purchases as broker
in executing unsolicited orders.
8. Compliance With Commission Order. We hereby agree as follows:
(a) we will refund all sales charges to purchasers of Units from us or
any dealer participating in the distribution of Units who purchased such
Units from us if, within ninety days from the time that the Registration
Statement of the respective Units under the 1933 Act shall have become
effective, (i) the net worth of the trust shall be reduced to less than
20% of the principal amount of Securities originally deposited therein or
(ii) the Trust shall have been terminated; (b) you may instruct the
Trustee on the Date of Deposit that, in the event that redemption by any
Underwriters of Units constituting part of any unsold allotment of Units
shall result in the Trust having a net worth of less than 40% of the
principal amount of Securities originally deposited therein, the Trustee
shall terminate the Trust in the manner provided in the Trust Indenture
and Agreement (as defined in the Prospectus) and distribute the
Securities and other assets of the Trust pursuant to the provisions of
the Trust Indenture and Agreement; and (c) in the event that the Trust
shall have been terminated pursuant to (b) above, we will refund any
sales charges to any purchaser of such Units who purchased from us, or
purchased from a dealer participating in the distribution of such Units
who purchased such Units from us. We authorize you to charge our account
for all refunds of sales charges in respect to our Units.
9. Substitution of Underwriters. We authorize you to arrange for
the substitution hereunder of other persons, who may include you and us,
for all or any part of the commitment of any nondefaulting Underwriter
with the consent of such Underwriter, and of any defaulting Underwriter
without the consent thereof, upon such terms and conditions as you may
deem advisable, provided that the number of Units to be purchased by us
shall not be increased without our consent and that such substitution
shall not in any way affect the liability of any defaulting Underwriter
to the other Underwriters for damages from such default, nor relieve any
other Underwriter of any obligation under this Agreement. The expenses
chargeable to the account of any defaulting Underwriter and not paid for
by it or by a person substituted for such Underwriter and any additional
losses or expenses arising from such default shall be considered to be
expenses under this Agreement and shall be charged against the accounts
of the nondefaulting Underwriters in proportion to their respective
commitments.
10. Termination. This Agreement shall terminate with respect to
each Trust which we have agreed to underwrite 30 days after the date on
which the public offering of the Units of such Trust is made in
accordance with Section 5 hereof unless sooner terminated by you,
provided that you may extend this Agreement for not more than eleven
successive periods of 30 days each upon notice to us and each of the
other Underwriters.
Notwithstanding any settlement on the termination of this Agreement,
we agree to pay our share of any amount payable on account of any claim,
demand or liability which may be asserted against the Underwriters, or
any of them, based on the claim that the Underwriters constitute an
association, unincorporated business or other separate entity and our
share of any expenses incurred by you in defending against any such
claim, demand or liability. We also agree to pay any stamp taxes which
may be assessed and paid after such settlement on account of any Units
received or sold hereunder for our account.
Notwithstanding any termination of this Agreement, no sales of the
Units shall be made by us at any time except in conformity with the
provisions of Section 22(d) of the 1940 Act.
11. Default by Other Underwriters. Default by any one or more of
the other Underwriters in respect of their several obligations under this
Agreement shall neither release you nor us from any of our respective
obligations hereunder.
12. Notices. Notices hereunder shall by deemed to have been duly
given if mailed or telegraphed to us at our address set forth below, in
the case of notices to us, or to you at your address set forth at the
head of this Agreement, in the case of notices to you.
13. Net Capital. You represent that you, and we represent that we,
are in compliance with the capital requirements of Rule 15c-3-1
promulgated by the Commission under the Securities and Exchange Act of
1934, and we may, in accordance with and pursuant to such Rule 15c-3-1,
agree to purchase the amount of Units to be purchased by you and us,
respectively, under the Agreement.
14. Miscellaneous. We confirm that we are a member in good
standing of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc.
We confirm that we will take reasonable steps to provide the
Preliminary Prospectus or final Prospectus to any person making written
request therefor to us and to make the Preliminary Prospectus or the
final Prospectus available to each person associated with us expected to
solicit customers' orders for the Units prior to the effective
registration date and the final Prospectus if he is expected to offer the
Units after the effective date. We understand that you will supply us
upon our request with sufficient copies of such prospectuses to comply
with the foregoing.
This Agreement is being executed by us and delivered to you in
duplicate. Upon your confirmation hereof and of agreements in identical
form with each of the other Underwriters, this Agreement shall constitute
a valid and binding contract between us.
Very truly yours,
Confirmed as of the date Indicated below our firm
set forth at the name and address exactly as we wish
head of this Agreement to appear in the Prospectus
XXX XXXXXX AMERICAN CAPITAL DISTRIBUTORS, INC.
By____________________________ ____________________________________
Title__________________________ ____________________________________
____________________________________
