DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT
TAX EXEMPT PROCEEDS FUND, INC.
(the "Fund")
000 Xxxxx Xxxxxx
Xxx Xxxx, Xxx Xxxx 00000
October 30, 2000
Xxxxx & Xxxx Distributors, Inc.
000 Xxxxx Xxxxxx
Xxx Xxxx, Xxx Xxxx 00000
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, 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
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.
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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. It is recognized that we shall have no
obligation or liability to you or them for any such payments under the
agreements with them. Our obligation is solely to make payments to you under the
Management 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
Management Contract dated September 14, 1993 in effect between us and the
Manager, the Manager will bear all our expenses as described in the Prospectus,
including all fees and expenses of registering shares of our common stock under
the 1933 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
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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 para graph 7. We will be entitled to assume the defense of any suit brought
to enforce any such claim,
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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.
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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 will become effective on the date hereof and shall
continue in effect until September 20, 2001, and thereafter for successive
twelve-month periods (computed from each October 1), 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 0000 Xxx) 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 0000 Xxx) 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.
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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,
TAX EXEMPT PROCEEDS FUND, INC.
By: /s/ Xxxxxxxxxx X. Xxxx
Name: Xxxxxxxxxx X. Xxxx
Title: Secretary
Accepted: October 30, 2000
XXXXX & XXXX DISTRIBUTORS, INC.
By: /s/ Xxxxxxxx X. Xxxxxx
Name: Xxxxxxxx X. Xxxxxx
Title: Executive Vice President
NY/308528.1
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