Share Purchase Agreement Dated as of August 29, 2006 By and Among Anthony Frere, Geoffrey Rose, David Zelkha And Others Nu Horizons Electronics Corp. and Nu Horizons Electronics Europe Limited
Dated
as of August 29, 2006
By
and Among
Xxxxxxx
Xxxxx, Xxxxxxxx Xxxx, Xxxxx Xxxxxx And Others
and
Nu
Horizons Electronics Europe Limited
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Page
ARTICLE
1 DEFINITIONS
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1
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|
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SECTION1.1.
Certain Definitions
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1
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SECTION1.2.
Index of Other Defined Terms
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8
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ARTICLE
2 PURCHASE AND SALE OF SHARES
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10
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SECTION2.1.
Purchase and Sale of the Shares
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10
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SECTION2.2.
Purchase Price
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10
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SECTION2.3.
Closing
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10
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SECTION2.4.
Deliveries by Seller at Closing
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11
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SECTION2.5.
Deliveries by the Buyer Parties at Closing
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11
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SECTION2.6.
Deferred Purchase Price
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11
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ARTICLE
3 WARRANTIES
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12
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|
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SECTION3.1.
Organization and Qualification
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12
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SECTION3.2.
Capitalization of the Company
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12
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SECTION3.3.
Subsidiaries, Joint Ventures and Branches
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13
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SECTION3.4.
Authority Relative to this Agreement
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13
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SECTION3.5.
Consents and Approvals; No Violations
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13
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SECTION3.6.
Financial Statements
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14
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SECTION3.7.
Litigation
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15
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SECTION3.7.
Litigation
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15
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SECTION3.8.
Compliance with Applicable Law
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15
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SECTION3.9.
Labour Matters
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16
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SECTION3.10.
Taxes
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20
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SECTION3.11.
Brokers
|
26
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SECTION3.12.
Material Contracts
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26
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SECTION3.13.
Intellectual Property
|
28
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SECTION3.14.
Property
|
31
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SECTION3.15.
Environmental Compliance
|
34
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SECTION3.16.
Absence of Certain Changes
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35
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SECTION3.17.
Insurance
|
37
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SECTION3.18.
Inventory and Debts
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37
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SECTION3.19.
Assets of the Company
|
38
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SECTION3.20.
Absence of Undisclosed Liabilities
|
38
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SECTION3.21
Product Warranties, Defects and Liabilities
|
38
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SECTION3.22
Affiliate Transactions
|
39
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SECTION3.23.
Customers and Suppliers
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39
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SECTION3.24.
Illegal Payments
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40
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SECTION3.25.
Information Technology
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40
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SECTION3.26.
Employee Plans
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41
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SECTION3.27.
Books and Records; Possession
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43
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SECTION3.28.
Insolvency.
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43
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SECTION3.29.
Competition
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45
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SECTION3.30.
Disclosure
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45
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ARTICLE
4 WARRANTIES OF BUYER PARTIES
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45
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SECTION4.1.
Organization
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45
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SECTION4.2.
Authority Relative to this Agreement.
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46
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SECTION4.3.
Consents and Approvals; No Violations
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46
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SECTION4.4.
Litigation
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46
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|
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ARTICLE
5
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47
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UNDERTAKINGS
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47
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SECTION5.1.
Further Assurance
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47
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SECTION5.2.
Public Announcements
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47
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SECTION5.3.
Use of Confidential Information; Non-competition;
Non-solicitation
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47
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SECTION5.4.
Expenses
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50
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ARTICLE
6
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50
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TAX
MATTERS
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50
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SECTION6.2.
Cooperation
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50
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SECTION6.3.
Allocation of Taxes
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51
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SECTION6.3.
Over Provisions and Reliefs
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55
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SECTION6.5.
Third Party Claims
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56
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ARTICLE
7
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60
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SELLERS’
LIMITATIONS ON LIABILITY
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60
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SECTION7.1.
Survival of Representations
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60
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SECTION7.2.
Indemnification
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60
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SECTION7.3.
Limitation on Indemnity
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63
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SECTION7.4.
Exclusivity of Remedy, No Special Indirect, Punitive or Consequential
Damages
|
64
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SECTION7.5.
Notice of Claims
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65
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SECTION7.5.
Notice of Claims
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65
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SECTION8.1.
Entire Agreement; Assignment, Amendments and Waivers
|
65
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SECTION8.2.
Validity
|
66
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SECTION8.3.
Notices
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66
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SECTION8.4.
Governing Law; Forum Selection; Jurisdiction
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67
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SECTION8.5.
Waiver of Jury Trial
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68
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SECTION8.6.
Interpretation
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69
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SECTION8.7.
Third Party Rights
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70
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SECTION8.9.
Personal Liability
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70
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SECTION8.10.
Specific Performance
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70
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SECTION8.11.
Disclosure Generally
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70
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SECTION8.12.
Authority of Buyer
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70
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SECTION8.13.
Counterparts
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71
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SCHEDULES
TO AGREEMENT
Schedule
A
|
Sellers
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Schedule
2.4
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Sellers
Closing Deliveries
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Schedule
2.5
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Buyer
Closing Deliveries
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THIS
SHARE PURCHASE AGREEMENT (this "Agreement"),
dated
as of August 29, 2006, by and among those persons whose names and addresses
are
set out in Schedule A (collectively, "Sellers"),
Nu
Horizons Electronics Corp., a Delaware corporation ("Buyer"),
and
Nu Horizons Electronics Europe Limited, a company registered in England and
Wales with registered number 3507689 and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Buyer
("Acquisition
Sub";
together with Buyer, the "Buyer
Parties").
RECITALS
WHEREAS,
DT Electronics Limited, a company registered in England and Wales with
registered number 2181478 (the "Company"),
is
currently engaged in the distribution of high technology active and passive
electronic components (the "Business");
WHEREAS,
Sellers are the sole legal and beneficial owners of shares, of £1 each as set
out in Schedule A (the "Shares"),
of
the Company's share capital, which Shares constitute all of the issued share
capital of the Company;
WHEREAS,
on the terms and subject to the conditions hereof, Sellers desire to sell to
Acquisition Sub and Acquisition Sub desires to purchase from Sellers all of
the
Shares.
AGREEMENT
NOW
THEREFORE in consideration of the premises and the warranties and agreements
herein contained and intending to be legally bound hereby, Sellers, Acquisition
Sub and Buyer hereby agree as follows:
ARTICLE 1
DEFINITIONS
SECTION 1.1.
Certain
Definitions. The
following terms, as used herein, have the following meanings:
“1st
Deferred
Purchase Price Period” means the twelve-month period ending March 31,
2007.
“2nd
Deferred
Purchase Price Period” means the twelve-month period ending March 31,
2008.
“3rd
Deferred
Purchase Price Period” means the twelve-month period ending March 31,
2009.
"Accounts
Date" means 31 March 2006.
1
"Accounts
Relief" means:
(a)
any
Relief which was taken into account in computing and so reducing or eliminating
any provision for Tax (including any provision for deferred Tax) which appears
in the Last Accounts (or which, but for such Relief, would have appeared in
the
Last Accounts); and
(b)
any
Relief to the extent that it was treated as an asset in the Last
Accounts.
"Affiliate"
means, in respect of any Person, a Person that, directly or indirectly, through
one or more intermediaries controls, is controlled by or is under common control
with the first-mentioned Person; provided that in relation to Buyer the Company
shall not be an Affiliate prior to the Closing.
"Applicable
Law" means, with respect to any Person, any statute, law, ordinance, policy,
guidance, rule, administrative interpretation, regulation, order, writ,
injunction, directive, judgment, decree, code of practice or other requirement
of any Governmental Authority of the United Kingdom or European Union (or,
in
relation to the Buyer, of the United States of America) applicable from time
to
time to such Person or any of its Affiliates or any of their respective
properties, assets, officers, directors, employees, consultants or agents (in
connection with such officer's, director's, employee's, consultant's or agent's
activities on behalf of such Person or any of its Affiliates).
"APAC
orders" means orders, sourced through the Company, for supply to customers
in
the Asia Pacific region of products other than Atmel or Elec and Eltek
products.
"Business
Day" means a day (other than a Saturday) on which clearing banks in the City
of
London, England are open for the transaction of normal sterling
business.
"Business
Intellectual Property" means any patent, patent application (or renewal) and
docketed invention, trademark, trade name, trademark or trade name registration
or application (or renewal), copyright (including rights in computer software)
or copyright registration or application (or renewal) for copyright
registration, service xxxx, brand xxxx or brand name or any pending application
(or renewal) related thereto, or any trade secret, proprietary know-how,
programs or processes, logos, get-up, internet domain names, rights in designs,
database rights, semi-conductor topography rights, utility models, or any
similar rights relating to the Business, in each case whether registered or
unregistered and including applications for registration, and all other rights
or forms of protection having equivalent or similar effect anywhere in the
world
and each license or licensing agreement for any of the foregoing.
"Buyer's
Relief" means any Relief which arises in respect of, by reference to or in
consequence of or any period ending after the Accounts Date any Event occurring
after the Accounts Date.
"Buyer's
Solicitors" means Pinsent Masons of 0 Xxxx Xxx, Xxxxx, XX0 0XX.
"CA
1985"
means the Companies Xxx 0000 (as amended) in force in England and
Wales.
2
“Claim
for Tax” means:
(a)
any
claim, assessment, demand, notice, determination or other document issued or
action taken by or on behalf of any Governmental Authority or any other person
by virtue of which the Company is or may have a Liability for Tax;
and/or
(b)
any
self assessment made by the Company in respect of any Liability for Tax which
it
considers that it is or may become liable to pay.
"Company
Material Adverse Effect" means any circumstance, change or effect that,
individually or when taken together with all other such circumstances, changes
or effects, is materially adverse to the Business; provided,
however,
that
the foregoing definition excludes the effects of changes that are generally
applicable to (i) the industries and markets in which the Business
operates, (ii) the United Kingdom economy or securities
markets.
"Contracts"
means all contracts, agreements, options, leases, licenses, sales and accepted
purchase orders, commitments and other instruments of any kind, whether written
or oral, that relate to the Business and to which the Company is a party or
is
otherwise bound by on the Closing Date, including the Material
Contracts.
"Damages"
means all demands, claims, actions or causes of action, assessments, losses,
damages, costs, expenses, liabilities, obligations, judgments, awards, fines,
sanctions, penalties, charges and amounts paid in settlement, including
reasonable costs, fees and expenses of solicitors, accountants, consultants
and
other agents, advisers or independent contractors incurred in connection with,
or in investigating, preparing for and defending any thereof.
“EBIT”
shall be an amount equal to the Company’s earnings before interest and taxes,
including earnings generated due to the Buyer’s acquisition of the Company and
excluding goodwill amortization, the effect of any dividends paid to Buyer
and
any allocated management charges from Buyer, to the extent consistent with
Local
GAAP and Past Practice. Earnings will include all earnings of the Company;
provided that, to the extent the Company has provided design services or
supported the supply of stock or fulfilment, whether through the provision
of
stock intra-group or on a normal after sales basis, earnings will include (i)
100% of the revenue from sales by the Buyer or Buyer Affiliates of stock
supplied by Atmel and Elec & Eltek and (ii) in respect of fulfilment by the
Buyer or any Buyer Affiliate of APAC orders, a percentage of revenue determined
in accordance with the Buyer’s standard revenue sharing arrangement which
percentage shall be not lower than 20% in the two years following Closing and
50% in the third year and beyond.
"EBIT
2006" means the EBIT of the Company for the twelve month period ending 31 March
2006.
"EBIT
2007/2008/2009" means the EBIT of the Company for the 1st, 2nd or 3rd Deferred
Purchase Price Period as applicable.
"Employee
Plan" means any bonus, share option, share purchase, incentive, deferred
compensation, supplemental retirement, pension, severance and other similar
fringe or employee benefit plan, program or arrangement and any current or
former employment or executive compensation or severance agreement written
or
otherwise maintained or contributed to for the benefit of or relating to any
employee of the Company, excluding former agreements under which the Company
has
no remaining obligations and any of the foregoing that are required to be
maintained by the Company under the laws of any foreign
jurisdiction.
3
"Employment
Agreements" means the employment agreements in the agreed form entered into
between the Company and each of the Sellers as at the date of this
Agreement.
"Environment"
means any ambient, workplace or indoor air, surface water, drinking water,
groundwater, land surface, subsurface strata, river or other aquatic sediment,
plant, human or animal life, natural resources, workplace and real property
and
the physical buildings, structures, improvements and fixtures thereon.
"Environmental
Laws" means all laws, rules, regulations and directives having the force of
law;
all judicial, administrative, and regulatory orders, judgments, decrees and
common law relating to (a) the protection, investigation, remediation or
restoration of the Environment, (b) the handling, use, storage, treatment,
disposal, release or threatened release of any Hazardous Material, (c) noise,
odour, pollution, contamination, species protection, land use or any injury
or
threat of injury to Persons or property or (d) the health and safety of Persons,
but excluding any amendment or modification of Environmental Laws and any new
Environmental Laws, in each case, introduced after the Closing Date.
"Environmental
Liabilities" means all Damages incurred (a) to comply with, or by reason of
the
violation of, any Environmental Law; (b) to investigate, respond to, remediate
or otherwise which result from the release or threatened release of a Hazardous
Material; or (c) by reason of any harm to the Environment or any injury to
person, property or the natural resources caused by or resulting from any
environmental conditions present at, created by, or arising out of the current
or former operations of the Company.
"Environmental
Permits" means all or any permits, licenses, authorizations, consents,
approvals, certificates, qualifications, including any conditions thereof
required at any time under any Environmental Laws for the activities of the
Company at any time or the occupation or use by the Company of any premises
or
the property in relation to the activities of the Company at any
time.
"Equipment"
means all plant, machinery, equipment, furniture, office equipment, computer
equipment (including all hardware, software and software codes and other
Information Technology) communications equipment, vehicles, spare and
replacement parts and other tangible property and assets (and interests in
any
of the foregoing) of the Company used in connection with the Business and
reflected on the balance sheet contained in the Financial Statements, together
with all warranties and licenses issued to the Company in connection with the
Equipment, and any claims, credits and rights of recovery with respect to the
Equipment.
"Event"
includes any event (including the death, winding up or dissolution of any
person), act, failure, omission, transaction, arrangement or change in
circumstances, whether or not the Company was a party thereto. For the avoidance
of doubt, any reference to an Event which has occurred includes an Event deemed
to have or treated as having or regarded as having occurred, as the case may
be.
4
"Exchange
Rate" means the rate of exchange between United States dollars and pounds
sterling, being the rate at which pounds sterling may be bought and United
States dollars sold, which is equal to the average of (i) 1.7659 and (ii) the
exchange rate as quoted in the London edition of the Financial Times on the
day
immediately prior to the date of this Agreement.
"Governmental
Authority" means any foreign, domestic, federal, territorial, state or local
governmental authority, quasi-governmental authority, instrumentality, court,
government or self-regulatory organization, commission, tribunal or organization
or any regulatory, administrative or other agency, or any political or other
subdivision, department or branch of any of the foregoing and, for the avoidance
of doubt, including any such body having functions in relation to
Tax.
"Hazardous
Material" means any substance or material (whether in solid or liquid form
or in
the form of a gas or vapour): (a) the presence of which requires investigation
or remediation under any Environmental Law; (b) that is defined as a "hazardous
waste" or "hazardous substance" under any Environmental Law; (c) that is toxic,
explosive, corrosive, flammable, infectious, radioactive, carcinogenic or
mutagenic or otherwise capable of causing harm to the Environment and is
regulated by any governmental authority having or asserting jurisdiction over
each of the Company; or (d) that otherwise may subject the Company to liability
under any Environmental Laws.
"ICTA"
means the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 as in force in England and
Wales
and as amended from time to time.
"Income
Tax" means any federal, state, local, or foreign income, franchise, or similar
tax imposed or measured based on income or profits, whether actual or deemed,
and in each instance any interest, penalties or additions to tax attributable
thereto including for the avoidance of doubt, United Kingdom corporation tax
and
any tax of a similar nature in any other jurisdiction.
"Indebtedness"
of any Person means all obligations of such Person (a) for borrowed money,
(b) evidenced by notes, bonds, debentures or similar instruments,
(c) under capital leases and (d) in the nature of guarantees of the
obligations described in (a) through (c) above of any other
Person.
"Information
Technology" means all computer hardware, software, microprocessors, networks,
firmware, peripherals, communication links, storage media, networking equipment
and other information technology and communications equipment used in the
operation of the IT systems of the Business.
"Interest
Paid 2006/2007/2008/2009" means the interest paid or payable by the Company
in
respect of the relevant year to 31 March 2006, 2007, 2008 or 2009, as
applicable.
"Inventory"
means all items of inventory owned or maintained by the Company for or in
connection with the Business, including all stock in trade, supplies,
containers, packaging materials, raw materials, work-in-progress, finished
goods
and samples, and any claims, credits and rights of recovery in respect of such.
5
"Knowledge
of Warrantors" means the actual knowledge of the individuals set forth on
Section 1(a)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, and shall be deemed to include a representation
that such individuals have made all reasonable inquiries of any other
individuals reasonably expected to have knowledge of the subject matter,
including enquiries of Xxxxxx Xxxxxx, Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx and Xxxxxxx
Xxxxx.
"Last
Accounts" means the audited balance sheet of the Company as at, and the audited
profit and loss account of the Company for the accounting period ended, on
the
Accounts Date.
"Liability"
means, with respect to any Person, any liability or obligation of such Person
of
any kind, character or description, whether known or unknown, absolute or
contingent, accrued or unaccrued, liquidated or unliquidated, secured or
unsecured, joint or several, due or to become due, vested or unvested,
executory, determined, determinable or otherwise.
"Liability
for Tax" means:
(a) any
liability (including a liability which is a primary liability of some other
person and whether or not there is a right of recovery against another person)
to make an actual payment or increased payment of or in respect of Tax whether
or not such liability has been discharged prior to Closing;
(b) any
liability (including a liability which is a primary liability of some other
person and whether or not there is a right of recovery against another person)
to make a payment or increased payment of Tax which would have arisen but for
being satisfied, avoided or reduced by any Accounts Relief or Buyer's Relief;
and
(c) the
disallowance, loss, clawback, reduction, restriction or modification of any
Accounts Relief.
"Lien"
means, with respect to any asset, any mortgage, title defect or objection,
lien,
pledge, charge, security interest, hypothecation, restriction, encumbrance,
right to acquire, right of pre-emption, option, conversion right, third party
right or interest right of set off or counterclaim, equities, trust arrangement
or any other type of preferential agreement (such as a retention of title
arrangement) having similar effect or any rights exercisable by or claims by
third parties.
"Local
GAAP" means all applicable laws and accounting conventions, standards,
principles and practices generally accepted in the United Kingdom and all
financial reporting standards, statements of standard accounting practice,
interim statements, urgent issues task force abstracts, exposure drafts,
technical releases and statements of recommended practice required to be used
in
the preparation of accounts which accounts are intended to show, when audited,
a
true and fair view as required by CA 1985.
"Past
Practices" means accounting practices of the Company during the period from
April 1, 2003 to Closing to the extent consistent with Local GAAP.
6
"Permitted
Liens" means (i) Liens for Taxes or governmental assessments, charges or
claims the payment of which is not yet due, or for Taxes the validity of which
are being contested in good faith by appropriate proceedings and for which
adequate reserves are maintained on the Financial Statements in accordance
with
Local GAAP; (ii) statutory Liens of landlords and other Liens imposed by
Applicable Law incurred in the ordinary course of business for sums not yet
due
or being contested in good faith and for which adequate reserves are maintained
on the Financial Statements in accordance with Local GAAP; (iii) Liens
relating to deposits made in the ordinary course of business to secure the
performance of leases, trade contracts or other similar agreements; and
(iv) Liens securing executory obligations under any Lease that constitutes
an "operating lease" under Local GAAP.
"Person"
means an individual, corporation, partnership, limited liability company,
association, trust, unincorporated organization or other legal entity and
includes a reference to that person's legal personal representatives and
successors.
"Related
Agreements" means the Employment Agreements and all other agreements,
instruments or documents executed in connection herewith and
therewith.
"Relevant
Benefits" means any pension (including an annuity), lump sum, gratuity or other
like benefit given or to be given on retirement or on death, or by virtue of
a
pension sharing order or provision, or in anticipation of retirement, or, in
connection with past service, after retirement or death, or to be given on
or in
anticipation of or in connection with any change in the nature of the service
of
the employee in question. For the purpose of this definition "employee" includes
(a) any officer of the company, any director of the company and any other person
taking part in the management of the affairs of the company, and (b) a person
who is to be or has been an employee; and the terms "service" and "retirement"
are to be construed accordingly.
"Relief"
includes any relief, allowance, deduction, exemption or set-off relevant to
the
computation of any Liability for Tax, any credit against Tax or any right to
a
repayment of Tax.
"Sellers'
Solicitors" means Fladgate Xxxxxxx of 00 Xxxxx Xxx, Xxxxxx X0X 0XX.
"Subsidiary"
has the meaning ascribed to it in section 736 CA 1985.
"Tax"
or
"Taxes" includes (without limitation):-
(a) capital
gains tax, corporation tax, customs and excise duties, income tax (including
PAYE), inheritance tax, insurance premium tax, national insurance contributions,
stamp duty, stamp duty land tax, stamp duty reserve tax and VAT;
(b) all
former and foreign taxes;
(c) all
other
levies, imposts, duties, charges or withholdings in the nature of taxes imposed
by any person and any amount of tax which is the subject of or results in a
charge, security or right to sell imposed by, or provided by statute to, a
Governmental Authority over any of the assets of the Company;
7
(d) any
payment which the Company may be or become bound to make to any person in
respect of any tax or as a result of any enactment relating to any tax;
and
(e) all
interest, penalties, surcharges, fines and other charges relating to any of
the
above or to a failure to make any return, comply with any reporting requirements
or supply any information in connection with any of the above and the cost
of
removing any charge or other encumbrance imposed by a Governmental
Authority;
"Tax
Return" means all notices, elections, accounts, computations, documentation,
returns, reports, forms or other information required to be filed with respect
to any Tax.
"Tax
Warranties" means the warranties set out in Section 3.10 of this
Agreement.
"Value
Added Tax" or "VAT" means value added tax charged under VATA and any charge
or
tax similar to or replacing it.
"VATA"
means the Value Added Tax Xxx 0000 as in force in England and Wales and as
amended from time to time.
“Warranties”
means the warranties given by the Warrantors set out in Article 3.
"Warrantors"
means Xxxxxxx Xxxxx, Xxxxxxxx Xxxx and Xxxxx Xxxxxx.
"Warrantors
Disclosure Schedule" means the disclosure schedule in the agreed form (together
with all documents annexed to it) with respect to this Agreement delivered
by
Sellers to the Buyer Parties immediately prior to Closing.
SECTION 1.2.
Index
of Other Defined Terms.
In
addition to those terms defined above, the following terms shall have the
respective meanings given thereto in the sections indicated below:
Defined
Term
|
Section
|
"1st
Deferred Purchase Price Payment Date"
|
2.6(a)
|
"2nd
Deferred Purchase Price Payment Date"
|
2.6(b)
|
"Acquisition
Sub"
|
Preamble
|
"Agreement"
|
Preamble
|
"Association"
|
8.4(b)
|
"Balance
Sheet"
|
3.6(a)
|
"Business"
|
Recitals
|
"Buyer"
|
Preamble
|
"Buyer
Material Adverse Effect"
|
4.1
|
"Buyer
Parties"
|
Preamble
|
"Cap"
|
2.2(b)
|
"Claim"
|
7.2(a)
|
"Closing"
|
2.3
|
"Closing
Date"
|
2.3
|
"Company"
|
Recitals
|
8
Defined
Term
|
Section
|
"Company
Permits"
|
3.8
|
"Confidential
Information"
|
5.3(a)
|
"Financial
Statements"
|
3.6(a)
|
"ICDR"
|
8.4(b)
|
"Initial
Purchase Price"
|
2.2(a)
|
"Luso"
|
5.3(h)(ii)
|
"Management
Accounts"
|
3.6(b)
|
"Material
Contracts"
|
3.12(a)
|
"PAYE"
|
3.10(E)(i)
|
"Properties"
|
3.14(a)(i)
|
"Relevant
Amount"
|
6.3(d)
|
"Sellers"
|
Preamble
|
"Shares"
|
Recitals
|
"Superior
Lease"
|
3.14(c)
|
"Total
Deferred Purchase Price"
|
2.2(b)
|
"Total
Purchase Price"
|
2.2(b)
|
9
ARTICLE 2
PURCHASE
AND SALE OF SHARES
SECTION 2.1.
Purchase
and Sale of the Shares.
(a) Upon
the
terms and subject to the conditions of this Agreement and in reliance upon
the
warranties and agreements herein set forth, Acquisition Sub agrees to purchase
from Sellers and Sellers agree to sell to Acquisition Sub all of the legal
and
beneficial interest in the Shares with all rights attached or accruing to them
at closing.
(b) Sellers
covenant to the Acquisition Sub that they have the right to transfer the whole
of the legal and beneficial interest in and title to the Shares and the Sellers
warrant to the Acquisition Sub that the Shares shall be sold free from all
Liens.
(c) The
Sellers covenant to the Acquisition Sub that the Acquisition Sub will on Closing
be entitled to exercise all rights attached or accruing to the Shares including,
without limitation, the right to receive all dividends or other distributions
or
any return of capital declared, made or paid by the Company on or after the
Closing Date.
(d) Part
I of
the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Xxx 0000 shall not apply for
the
purpose of this Agreement.
SECTION 2.2.
Purchase
Price.
(a) In
consideration for the transfer of the Shares to Acquisition Sub, on the Closing
Date, Buyer, on behalf of Acquisition Sub, shall pay the pounds sterling
equivalent of US$5,500,000 calculated using the Exchange Rate (the "Initial
Purchase Price"),
which
shall be paid by wire transfer as designated by Sellers in Section 2.2(a)(i)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule in immediately available funds; and
(b) Subject
to the terms and conditions set forth in Section 2.6, as additional
consideration for the Shares sold hereunder, Buyer, on behalf of Acquisition
Sub, shall pay to Sellers a maximum of £2,548,276 (the “Cap”)
paid
in cash (the “Total Deferred
Purchase Price”
and,
together with the Initial Purchase Price, the “Total
Purchase Price”).
(c) The
Total
Purchase Price shall be divisible amongst the Sellers as set out in Schedule
A
and the Buyer will not be required to ensure that the sum transferred is applied
in paying the Sellers in accordance with their respective
entitlements.
SECTION 2.3.
Closing.
The
closing (the "Closing")
of the
transactions contemplated by this Agreement shall take place at the offices
of
the Buyer's Solicitors (or at such other place as may be mutually agreed by
the
parties hereto) on the date of this Agreement after signature and exchange
of
this Agreement (the "Closing
Date").
SECTION 2.4.
Deliveries
by Sellers at Closing.
At the
Closing, Sellers shall deliver to Buyer on behalf of Acquisition Sub the items
listed in Schedule 2.4 attached hereto. The Buyer is not obliged to complete
unless each of the Sellers has fulfilled all of his or her obligations under
this clause.
10
SECTION 2.5.
Deliveries
by the Buyer Parties at Closing.
At the
Closing, the Buyer Parties shall deliver to Sellers the items listed in Schedule
2.5 attached hereto.
SECTION 2.6.
Deferred
Purchase Price.
The
Buyer will pay to the Sellers the Total Deferred Purchase Price (subject always
to the Cap) in three instalments consisting of the 1st
Deferred
Purchase Price, the 2nd
Deferred
Purchase Price and the 3rd
Deferred
Purchase Price, as follows:
a)
|
1st
Deferred Purchase Price
-
The amount of the 1st
Deferred Purchase Price will be the higher of £283,142 and an amount equal
to: (i)(x) the EBIT 2007 minus (y) the EBIT 2006 (ii) minus the excess
of
(x) Interest Paid 2007 minus (y) Interest Paid 2006 (iii) multiplied
by
4.
|
The
resultant 1st
Deferred
Purchase Price amount will be paid in cash within 120 days following the end
of
the 1st
Deferred
Purchase Price Period (the “1st
Deferred Purchase Price Payment Date”);
provided, that the amount of the 1st
Deferred
Purchase Price in excess of £849,425 shall be paid on the one-year anniversary
of the 1st
Deferred
Purchase Price Payment Date. If the 1st
Deferred
Purchase Price does not amount to £849,425, then the shortfall shall be the
“First Deficit.”
b)
|
2nd
Deferred Purchase Price
-
The amount of any 2nd
Deferred Purchase Price will be the higher of £283,142 and an amount equal
to: (i)(x) the EBIT 2008 minus (y) the EBIT 2007, (ii) minus the
excess of
(x) Interest Paid 2008 and (y) Interest Paid 2007 and (iii) multiplied
by
3. In the event that the EBIT 2007 is less than the EBIT 2006, the
amount
of the 2nd
Deferred Purchase Price will be calculated by subtracting from EBIT
2008
the amount of EBIT 2006.
|
The
resultant 2nd
Deferred
Purchase Price amount will be paid in cash within 120 days following the end
of
the 2nd
Deferred
Purchase Price Period (the “2nd
Deferred Purchase Price Payment Date”);
provided that to the extent that the amount of the 2nd
Deferred
Purchase Price exceeds the sum of (a) £849,425; plus (b) the First Deficit, then
the amount of such excess shall be paid on the one-year anniversary of the
2nd
Deferred
Purchase Price Payment Date. If the 2nd
Deferred
Purchase Price does not amount to £849,425 then the shortfall shall be the
“Second Deficit.”
c)
|
3rd
Deferred Purchase Price
-
The amount of any 3rd
Deferred Purchase Price will be the higher of £283,142 and an amount equal
to: (i)(x) the EBIT 2009 minus (y) the EBIT 2008, (ii) minus the
excess of
(x) Interest Paid 2009 and (y) Interest Paid 2008 and (iii) multiplied
by
3. In the event that the EBIT 2008 is less than the EBIT 2007, the
amount
of the 3rd
Deferred Purchase Price will be calculated by subtracting from EBIT
2009
the amount of EBIT 2007.
|
11
The
resultant 3rd
Deferred
Purchase Price amount will be paid in cash within 120 days following the end
of
the 3rd
Deferred
Purchase Price Period. If the 3rd
Deferred
Purchase Price is sufficient to permit payment of the First Deficit (to the
extent not already paid) and the Second Deficit without the Total Deferred
Purchase Price exceeding the Cap then such sums shall also be paid at that
time.
In no event shall the Total Deferred Purchase Price exceed
£2,548,276.
ARTICLE 3
WARRANTIES
Warrantors
hereby jointly and severally warrant to the Buyer Parties:
SECTION 3.1.
Organization
and Qualification.
The
Company is a private company duly organized and validly existing under the
laws
of England and Wales and has all corporate power and authority to own, lease
and
operate its assets and to carry on its businesses as now being conducted. The
particulars of the Company contained in Section
3.1
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule are true, accurate and not misleading. The
Company is in good standing and qualified or licensed in each jurisdiction
where
the nature of the activities conducted by it or the character of the property
or
assets owned, leased or operated by it makes such qualification or licensing
necessary. The Company has the necessary power and authority to operate its
business as conducted at the date of this Agreement. Warrantors have heretofore
delivered to Buyer (a) complete and correct copies of the Memorandum and
Articles of Association, as currently in effect, of the Company; and (b)
complete and correct copies of all resolutions passed or entered into which
would be required to be forwarded to the UK registrar of companies pursuant
to
Section 380 of the CA 1985.
SECTION 3.2.
Capitalization
of the Company.
(a) The
authorized share capital of the Company consists of 7,000 Ordinary shares and
1,000 class B Ordinary shares of £1 each, of which 7,000 Ordinary shares and 210
class B Ordinary shares are issued. The Shares constitute all of the issued
share capital of the Company. All of the Shares have been duly authorized and
validly allotted and issued in compliance with Applicable Law, are fully paid
or
credited as fully paid.
(b) There
are
no outstanding options, warrants, rights or other securities convertible into
or
exchangeable or exercisable for share or loan capital of the Company or any
other commitments or agreements providing for the issuance, sale or transfer
of
share or loan capital of the Company or for the repurchase or redemption of
share or loan capital of the Company. There are no agreements of any kind that
obligate the Company to issue, purchase, redeem or otherwise acquire any of
its
share or loan capital.
(c) All
of
the Shares are owned legally and beneficially by the Sellers. There
is
no Lien on, over or affecting any of the Shares or any unissued shares,
debentures or other securities of the Company. Upon consummation of the
transactions contemplated hereby, the Shares will be transferred to Acquisition
Sub free and clear of all Liens.
12
SECTION 3.3.
Subsidiaries,
Joint Ventures and Branches.
(a) The
Company does not have and never has had any Subsidiaries. The Company does
not
hold any legal or beneficial interest in and is not a member of any Corporation,
partnership, joint venture or other unincorporated association or other entity,
whether in the United Kingdom or otherwise and is not party to any agreement
to
become a member of the same. If and to the extent the foregoing warranty is
not
accurate, the warranties in this Section 3 will be deemed repeated mutatis
mutandis in respect of such interest.
(b) The
Company has no liability as a former member, officer or shadow director of
any
person nor are there any circumstances in which such liability could
arise.
(c) No
person
is or has been a shadow director of the Company within the meaning of section
741(2) of the CA 1985.
(d) The
Company has no branches or representative offices save as referred to in
Section
3.1
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule and carries on all its business under its
corporate name.
SECTION 3.4.
Authority
Relative to this Agreement.
The
Sellers have the legal capacity to execute, deliver and perform their
obligations under this Agreement and each document to be executed by the Sellers
individually or together at or before Closing in accordance with this Agreement
and such execution, delivery, performance and the consummation by Sellers of
the
transactions contemplated hereby have been duly authorized by all requisite
action on the part of Sellers. This Agreement when executed, will constitute
a
legal, valid and binding agreement of each of the Sellers enforceable against
them in accordance with its terms.
SECTION 3.5.
Consents
and Approvals; No Violations.
(a) Except
as
set forth in Section 3.5(a)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, no filing with or notice to and no permit,
authorization, consent or approval of any Governmental Authority is necessary
for the execution and delivery by Sellers of this Agreement or the consummation
by Sellers of the transactions contemplated hereby, except where the failure
to
obtain such permits, authorizations, consents or approvals or to make such
filings or give such notice would not, individually or in the aggregate, have
a
Company Material Adverse Effect.
(b) Neither
the execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement or any Related
Agreement by Sellers nor the consummation by Sellers of the transactions
contemplated hereby will (i) conflict with or result in any breach of any
provision of the constitutional documents of the Company, (ii) except as
set forth in Section 3.5(b)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, result in a violation or breach of conflict
with
or constitute (with or without due notice or lapse of time or both) a default
(or give rise to any right of termination, amendment, cancellation or
acceleration or Lien) under any of the terms, conditions or provisions of any
Contract to which the Company is a party or by which the Company may be bound,
(iii) violate any Applicable Law binding on or applicable to the Company or
(iv) result in the loss of the benefits of any Company Permit.
13
SECTION 3.6.
Financial
Statements.
(a) Copies
of
the (i) balance sheet dated March 31, 2006 (the "Balance
Sheet")
and
profit and loss account for the Company for the years ended March 31, 2006
and
2005, audited by an independent, registered public accounting firm together
with
the notes and directors' report and auditors' report and all other documents
or
statements annexed thereto or incorporated therein, have been provided to Buyer
and are set forth in Schedule
3.6(a)
(collectively, the “Financial
Statements”)
(the
"date
of the Financial Statements"
being
taken to mean March 31, 2006).
(b) A
copy of
the profit and loss account for the Company for the period ended June 30, 2006
has been provided by Buyer and is set forth in Schedule 3.6(b) (the
“Management
Accounts”)
(the
"date
of the Management Accounts"
being
taken to mean June 30, 2006).
(c) The
Financial Statements (i) are complete, (ii) were prepared in conformity with
Local GAAP applied on a consistent basis, (iii) subject to clause (ii), in
accordance with Past Practice, (iv) give a true and fair view of the financial
position and results of operations of the Company, as of the dates thereof
and
for the periods then ended as referred to therein, and (v) have been audited
in
accordance with the CA 1985.
(d) Other
than to the extent disclosed or reserved for in the Balance Sheet, or otherwise
disclosed in the Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, the Company has no Liabilities,
commitments or obligations of any nature whatsoever (whether accrued, absolute,
contingent, known, unknown, asserted, unasserted or otherwise, and whether
due
or to become due) except Liabilities, commitments and obligations incurred
in
the ordinary course of business since the date of the Financial
Statements.
(e) The
books
of account and other financial records of the Company are up to date, complete
and accurate, are in the Company's possession or under its control and contain
all matters required to be entered in them by the CA 1985, Local GAAP and other
relevant legislation.
(f) The
Company's accounting reference date is set out in the Warrantors Disclosure
Schedule and has not at any time been any other date.
(g) The
Company's profits or loss as shown by the accounts and by the Company's audited
profit and loss account for the previous three financial periods delivered
to
the Buyer and the trend of profits thereby indicated have not (save as disclosed
in such accounts) been affected by changes or inconsistencies in Local GAAP,
by
the inclusion of non-recurring items of expenditure or income, by transactions
of an unusual nature or entered into otherwise than on normal commercial terms
or by any other factors rendering the Company's profits or loss for all or
any
part of such periods unusually high or low.
14
SECTION 3.6.1
Management
Accounts.
The
Management Accounts:
(a) have
been
prepared on a basis consistent with the Financial Statements as regards bases
and policies of accounting;
(b) except
as
disclosed on Schedule
3.6.1(b),
have
been prepared in accordance with GAAP;
(c) give
a
fair view of the profits of the Company for the period from April 1, 2006 to
June 30, 2006; and
(d) are
not
affected by an extraordinary, exceptional or non-recurring item.
SECTION 3.7.
Litigation.
(a) Except
as
disclosed in Section
3.7(a)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, there is, and has been during the 2 years
preceding the date of this Agreement, no suit, claim, action, proceeding or
investigation pending or, to the Knowledge of Warrantors, threatened (a) by
or
against the Company or any director of the Company or any person for whose
acts
or defaults the Company may be vicariously liable or any of its assets or (b)
by
or against any of the Sellers and affecting the Business before any Governmental
Authority in which the amount of damages asserted exceeds £25,000 and to the
Knowledge of Warrantors there is no matter or fact in existence which might
give
rise to the same.
(b) The
Company has not given any undertaking to any court or to any third party arising
out of any legal proceedings and there is no order, judgment, injunction, decree
or arbitral award of any Governmental Authority outstanding against the Company
or any of its property or assets.
(c) There
are
no claims or applications pending or threatened in respect of rectification
of
the shareholders' register of the Company pursuant to Section 359 CA
1985.
SECTION 3.8.
Compliance
with Applicable Law.
Except
as
set forth in Section 3.8
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, the Company holds all permits, licenses,
variances, exemptions, orders, approvals, certificates, consents, filing of
notifications, reports and assessments, registration or authorization necessary
for the lawful conduct of the Business, its ownership, use, possession or
occupation of any asset or the performance of this Agreement (the "Company
Permits")
required for the proper carrying on of its business in the United Kingdom and
each Company Permit is valid, in force unconditional or subject only to a
condition that has been fulfilled and under which no further action is required.
Except as set forth in Section 3.8
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, (a) there has been no violation of or default
with respect to any Applicable Law or the memorandum and articles of association
relating to the Company, or the operation of the Business, nor, to the Knowledge
of Warrantors, is there any threatened claim of such violation or default which
has or could have an adverse effect on the assets of the Company or the
Business, (including any investigation) or any basis therefore and (b) the
Business has been conducted in compliance with all Applicable Laws.
15
SECTION 3.9.
Labour
Matters.
Employees
(a) The
employees listed in Section
3.9(a)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule were all employed or had been offered employment
by the Company as at Closing and, other than such employees, no person is an
employee of the Company, and, except as disclosed in Section
3.9(a)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule:
(i) the
Company has no subsisting Contracts with any apprentices, trainees, consultants,
sub-contractors, non-executive directors, secondees, night workers (for the
purpose of the Working Time Regulations 1998) volunteers or persons who
personally perform work for the Company (except for any such Contract that
provides for a payment by the Company of less than ₤3,500 per annum);
and
(ii) no
person
is currently engaged by the Company under a contract for services or as a worker
or contract worker provided by an agency (except for any such Contract that
provides for a payment by the Company of less than ₤3,500 per
annum).
(b) Except
as
disclosed in Section 3.9(b) of the Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, each employee
is employed by the Company exclusively in the business of the
Company.
(c) Other
than Xxxxx Xxxxxx, and except as disclosed in Section 3.9(c) of the Warrantors
Disclosure Schedule, each employee works on a full time basis.
(d) The
Company has maintained current and adequate records in relation to its employees
and workers including, without limitation, records relating to statutory sick
pay, statutory maternity pay, disciplinary matters, grievances, health and
safety, working time and parental leave.
(e) Except
as
disclosed in Section
3.9(e)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, there are no directors, officers or employees
of
the Company who are or who have notified the Company that they will be absent
for one month or more on secondment or other leaves of absence including sick
leave (other than normal holidays, maternity, paternity or adoption
leave).
(f) The
Company has not within the period of 12 months preceding the date of this
Agreement:-
(i) been
a
party to any relevant transfer as defined in the Transfer of Undertakings
(Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 for the purpose of any transfers
of
undertakings taking place before 6 April 2006, and in the Transfer of
Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 for the purpose of
any
transfers or service provision changes taking place on or after 6 April
2006;
16
(ii) failed
to
comply with any duty to inform and consult any appropriate representative
arising under either of the said Regulations.
Terms
and Conditions
(g) Copies
of
the contracts of employment (or standard terms) staff handbooks, policies and
procedures (including, without limitation, any disciplinary or grievance policy
and procedure and any equal opportunities policies and procedures) which apply
to the employees listed in Section
3.9(a)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule are attached to the Warrantors Disclosure
Schedule, all of which are true, complete and accurate. The Warrantors warrant
that other than such documents and Employee Plans there are no other terms
and
conditions of employment or engagement applicable to such listed persons with
respect to their current employment by the Company.
(h) Except
as
disclosed in Section
3.9(h)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, the Company has or within the last 3 years
has
had no profit-sharing, share option or share incentive schemes or other Employee
Plans in relation to any director, employee or worker or former director,
employee or worker or any person associated with it. No obligations or
liabilities under or in relation to any such share option or share incentive
schemes (but excluding obligations or liabilities under or in relation to any
other Employee Plan) shall remain with the Company after the Closing
Date.
Termination
(i) The
contract of employment of each of the employees can be terminated without the
payment of damages or compensation (other than that payable under statute)
by
giving three months' notice or less.
(j) No
employee will be entitled as a result of or in connection with any change of
control of the Company or as a result of this Agreement:
(k) to
terminate his employment with the Company; or
(l) to
treat
himself as being dismissed on the ground of redundancy or otherwise released
from any obligation to the Company.
(m) no
employee of the Company has given/received written notice of his or her
intention to resign/dismissal prior to the Closing Date or within twelve (12)
months thereafter or, to the Knowledge of Warrantors, is intending to do
so.
Changes
in Remuneration
(n) The
aggregate level of remuneration payable to Employees has not increased by more
than 5% per cent within the last 12 months.
(o) The
Company is not obliged to increase the remuneration payable to any employee
on
an annual basis.
17
(p) The
Company has not within the last 12 months (i) increased or offered to increase
the remuneration or benefits of any employee, or (ii) offered or sought to
alter
any of the terms and conditions of employment of any employee.
(q) the
Company is not a party to any written or oral agreement, or arrangement imposing
a legal obligation on it to, following Closing, to make any bonus or incentive
payments or any benefits of any kind or any other payments to or on behalf
of,
any of its former or present officers or employees other than in accordance
with
annual pay reviews.
Accrued
and Potential Liabilities
(r) There
is
no liability, outstanding or contingent or anticipated, to any present or former
employee or worker other than remuneration accrued for the current wage or
salary period or for reimbursement of normal business expenses.
(s) No
present or former employee or worker or any applicant for any role in the
Company has issued or threatened to issue proceedings against the Company
arising out of an act or omission by the Company on or before the date of this
Agreement and to the Knowledge of the Warrantors there are no facts or
circumstances that might give rise to the same.
(t) So
far as
the Company is aware, none of the employees is in breach of his contract of
employment or any other obligation or duty he owes to the Company.
(u) No
employee has any current disciplinary sanction in force against him or is the
subject of any current disciplinary investigation or procedure (whether under
the Company's disciplinary policy, the Employment Xxx 0000 (Dispute Resolution)
Regulations or otherwise), and no employee has brought a grievance or otherwise
raised a complaint against the Company or any of its employees, officers or
workers within the last 2 years (whether under the Company's grievance policy,
the Employment Xxx 0000 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004 or
otherwise).
(v) There
are
no past, current, pending or, to the Knowledge of Warrantors, threatened facts
which might give rise to any charges, applications, claims, complaints,
petitions or written grievances before any Governmental Authority or otherwise
relating to or predicated upon a violation of Applicable Law regarding
employment, employment practices, consultation and terms and conditions of
employment, including charges of unfair labour practices, unlawful discharge,
unfair dismissal, discrimination, harassment or hostile work environment, or
failure to consult which applications, claims, charges, applications, claims,
complaints, petitions or grievances have had or could have, individually or
in
the aggregate, a Company Material Adverse Effect, nor to the Knowledge of
Warrantors, is there any basis for any such charges, applications, claims,
complaints, petitions or grievances..
(w) No
present or former employee or worker has at the Closing Date any:
(i)
|
accrued
rights to holiday pay or to pay in lieu of
holidays;
|
18
(ii)
|
advance
or has received any financial assistance from the
Company;
|
(iii)
|
outstanding
claim under any PHI or medical expenses insurance scheme provided
by the
Company;
|
(iv)
|
right
now:-
|
A. to
return
to work (whether for reasons connected with maternity, paternity, adoption
or
parental leave or absence by reason of illness or incapacity, secondment or
otherwise;
B. to
be
reinstated or re-engaged by the Company; or
C. to
any
other compensation.
(v)
|
To
the Knowledge of Warrantors, none of the employees is suffering from
or
has suffered from within the last 12 months any medical or other
condition
which impairs or might impair his or her ability to continue to perform
their employment duties and/or which require or might require any
arrangement or adjustment within the
workplace.
|
(x) No
arrangements or adjustments have been made, nor to the Knowledge of Warrantors,
need or will need to be made by virtue of the provisions of the Disability
Discrimination Xxx 0000 to any of the Employees.
(y) No
employee has at any time in the last six months exercised a right to request
a
contract variation under section 80F of the Employment Rights Xxx
0000.
Restrictive
Covenants
(z) So
far as
the Warrantors are aware, no employee is currently bound by a restrictive
covenant entered into with a former employee or any other business or
undertaking.
(aa) No
person
who was a senior employee of the Company and who has left its employment in
the
last 12 months is currently bound by a restrictive covenant containing
non-compete, non-disclosure and/or non-solicitation provisions which on the
face
of it is enforceable by the Company.
Trade
Unions, representation, collective issues and disputes
(bb) Except
as
disclosed in Section 3.9(bb)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, the Company is not a party to any collective
bargaining agreement or other trade union works council or employee
representative body contract applicable to persons employed by the Company.
To
the Knowledge of Warrantors, no activities or proceedings of any trade union
to
organize any employees of the Company have occurred and no valid requests for
union or works council or other employee representative body recognition have
been received nor has the Company done any act that might be construed as
recognition. The Company is not involved in any industrial or trade dispute
or
any dispute or negotiation with any trade union or association of trade unions
or organization or works council or body of employees, and there are no
circumstances likely to give rise to any such dispute.
19
(cc) The
Company has not within the period of 12 months preceding the date of this
Agreement:
(i) given
notice of any redundancies to the Secretary of State or
(ii) started
consultations with any appropriate representative
under
the
provisions of Part IV of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation)
Xxx 0000, nor has the Company failed to comply with such obligation under that
Part.
Training
(dd) The
Company does not have and never has had any training scheme, arrangement or
proposal in respect of which a levy is currently (or may as a result of Closing
become) payable by the Company under the Industrial Training Xxx
0000.
Asylum
and Immigration
(ee) All
Employees have leave to enter and remain in the United Kingdom and are entitled
to work in the United Kingdom under the Asylum and Immigration Xxx
0000.
SECTION 3.10.
Taxes.
Except
as set forth in Section 3.10
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule:
(a) General
and Compliance Matters
(i) The
Company has within the relevant time limits correctly filed all Tax Returns
that
it was required to file under Applicable Law. All such Tax Returns were when
provided, correct, accurate and complete in all material respects and are not
the subject of any material dispute nor, to the Knowledge of Warrantors, are
likely to become the subject of any material dispute with any Governmental
Authority. All Taxes which have fallen due for payment by the Company within
the
last six years (whether or not shown on any Tax Return and including Tax payable
in instalments) have been paid in full on the due date therefore. The Company
is
not currently the beneficiary of any extension of time within which to file
any
such Tax Return. There are no Liens on the assets of the Company that arose
in
connection with any failure (or alleged failure) to pay any Tax. The Company
has
created and preserved all records required to be preserved under Applicable
Law
and to the Knowledge of the Warrantors all such records remain true, complete
and accurate. In particular, without limitation, the Company has sufficient
records to enable it to calculate any present, or so far as is reasonably
possible, future liability to Tax of the Company or its entitlement to any
deduction, relief or repayment of Tax. All Tax Returns made by the Company
have
been agreed with the appropriate Governmental Authority. The Company has not
within the past six (6) years paid or become liable to pay, nor to the Knowledge
of the Warrantors are there any circumstances by reason of which the Company
is
likely to become liable to pay, any penalty, fine, surcharge or interest in
relation to a pre-Closing Liability for Tax. All material or unusual
arrangements, permissions, dispensations, concessions, agreements or
undertakings relating to Taxes between the Company and any Governmental
Authority have been disclosed in the Warrantors Disclosure Schedule and no
such
arrangement disclosed in the Warrantors Disclosure Schedule is to the Knowledge
of Warrantors liable to be withdrawn for any reason. The Company has not taken
any action which has had or might have the result of altering, prejudicing
or in
any way disturbing any arrangement or agreement which it has previously
negotiated with any taxation authority and the Warrantors Disclosure Schedule
contains details of such arrangements or agreements.
20
(ii) All
clearances and rulings obtained by the Company have been properly obtained
and
all information supplied to any relevant Governmental Authority in connection
with such clearances was complete and accurate in all respects and any
transaction for which such clearance was obtained has been carried out only
in
accordance with the terms of the clearance given therefore and the application
on which the clearance was based.
(iii) The
Company has properly withheld and within the relevant time limits paid or
accounted for all Taxes required to have been withheld and paid or accounted
for.
(iv) There
is
no dispute, audit, investigation, proceeding or claim concerning any Tax
Liability of the Company either (i) claimed or raised by any Governmental
Authority in writing or (ii) to the Knowledge of the Warrantors, threatened
based upon contact with any such Governmental Authority. The Company has not
waived any Statute of Limitations in respect of Taxes or agreed to any extension
of time with respect to a Tax assessment or deficiency.
(v) The
Company is not a party to or bound by any tax indemnity, tax sharing or tax
allocation agreement and, to the Knowledge of Warrantors, is not nor will it
become liable to pay or make reimbursement or indemnity in respect of any Tax
arising in respect of income or events prior to Closing for which it is not
primarily liable in consequence of the failure by any other person (other than
Buyer, a company connected with the Buyer, or the Company) to discharge that
Tax.
(vi) The
Company has not within the past six years suffered any investigation audit
or
visit by any other taxation or excise authority and the Company has not received
notice that any such investigation will be instituted.
(vii) The
Company has made and submitted each claim, disclaimer, election, notice and
consent assumed to have been made for the purposes of the Financial
Statements.
21
(viii) The
Company has not and will not become liable to pay or make reimbursement or
indemnity in respect of any taxation for which it is not primarily liable in
consequence of the failure by (1) any person connected with the Sellers or
(2)
to the Knowledge of Warrantors, any other person (other than, in either case,
a
member of the Buyer's Group or the Company after Closing) to discharge that
taxation within any specified period or otherwise, where such taxation relates
to a profit, income or gain, transaction, event, omission or circumstances
arising, occurring or deemed to arise or occur (whether wholly or partly) prior
to Closing.
(ix) The
Company is a close company as defined in section 414 ICTA but it:
(A) is
not
and has never been a close investment holding company for the purposes of
Section 13A of ICTA; and
(B) has
not
made any loan to a participator or any associate for the purposes of Section
419
of ICTA or provided any payment or benefit to a participant which has or could
be treated as a distribution for the purposes of Section 418 of
ICTA.
(b) Deductibility
(i) The
Company has no securities (within the meaning of Part VI ICTA) in issue where
any interest or other distribution out of assets in respect of such securities
is either not deductible or is deductible other than on the same basis as such
payments are recognized in the accounts of the Company and the Company has
not
agreed to issue any such securities.
(ii) All
rents, annual payments and other sums of a material amount and of an income
nature paid since March 31, 2006 and payable by the Company prior to Closing
(other than entertainment expenditure or other categories of expenditure
incurred in the ordinary course of trade that are not generally deductible
for
tax purposes) are wholly allowable as deductions or charges in computing income
for the purposes of Income Tax.
(c) US
Tax
Warranties
The
Company is not, and has not at any time been, required to file Tax Returns
in
the United States.
(d) Value
Added Tax
(i) Registration.
The
Company is duly registered for the purposes of Value Added Tax with quarterly
prescribed accounting periods and such registration is not subject to any
conditions imposed by or agreed with any Governmental Authority and the Company
is not (nor, to the Knowledge of Warrantors, are there any circumstances by
virtue of which any of them may become) under a duty to make payments other
than
on a quarterly basis.
22
(ii) VAT
group.
The
Company is not, nor has it been treated for Value Added Tax purposes as, a
member of any group of companies.
(iii) Security.
The
Company has not at any time been required to give security in respect of Value
Added Tax.
(iv) The
Company is not nor was it partially exempt in its current or preceding value
added tax year and to the Knowledge of Warrantors there are no circumstances
by
reason of which the Company might not be entitled to credit for all Value Added
Tax chargeable on supplies received and imports and acquisitions made (or agreed
or deemed to be received or made) by it in its current or preceding value added
tax year.
(v) No
direction has been or could have been made to the Company under paragraph 1
of
Schedule 6 or paragraph 1 of Schedule 7 to VATA.
(vi) The
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule sets out full and accurate particulars of all
assets held by the Company which are capital items for the purposes of Part
XV
of the Value Added Taxes Regulations 1995 (SI 1995/2518) and of all adjustments
that have arisen under that Part XV.
(vii) The
Company has not been given any penalty liability notice within Section 64 VATA,
any surcharge liability notice within Section 59 or 59A VATA or any written
warning within Section 76(2) VATA.
(e) PAYE
(i) The
Company has operated properly the United Kingdom Pay As You Earn and complied
with all of its obligations in respect of National Insurance and all similar
systems in any jurisdiction which applied to the Company ("PAYE")
making
all deductions and accounting within the correct time limits for all sums in
respect of all payments (including notional payments) to, or treated as made
to,
employees and directors (including ex-employees and former directors of them)
and has accounted within the correct time limits to the relevant Governmental
Authority for all Tax so deducted or required to be accounted for and all Tax
chargeable on benefits provided to employees or directors (including former
employees or directors) of the Company or others and all returns required and
regulations made thereunder have been made within the correct time limits and
were at the time of submission (and to the Knowledge of Warrantors remain)
accurate and complete in all material respects and the Company has not been
subject to a PAYE audit in the last two (2) years.
(ii) The
Company is not under an obligation to pay nor has it since March 31, 2006 paid
or agreed to pay any compensation for loss of office or any gratuitous payment
not deductible in computing its income for the purposes of Income
Tax.
(iii) The
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule sets out details of all current dispensations
or
notices granted by any Governmental Authority to the Company.
23
(iv) No
employee or director or former employee or director of the Company or any person
associated with any of them holds or has within the last 3 years held any shares
or securities or options over or interests in any shares or securities of the
Company and the Company could not be liable after Closing to pay national
insurance contributions or account for income tax or national insurance under
PAYE in respect of, or the consequence of, any event occurring in relation
to,
any such shares, securities, options or interests.
(f) Groups
of Companies
(i) The
Company is not and has never been a member of a group of companies for any
Tax
purpose.
(g) Overseas
Interests
Residence.
The
Company is, and, to the Knowledge of Warrantors, has throughout the past seven
years been, resident for Income Tax purposes in the jurisdiction in which it
is
incorporated and has not been treated as resident or subject to Income Tax
in
any other jurisdiction. The Company has no branch, agency or permanent
establishment outside the jurisdiction in which it is incorporated.
(h) Anti-Avoidance
(i) No
transactions or arrangements involving the Company or any connected company
have
taken place or are in existence which are such that any transfer pricing
legislation have been or could be applied to them.
(ii) The
Company has not been a party to any transaction the main purpose of which,
or
one of the main purposes of which was the avoidance of any tax or duty or the
obtaining of a tax advantage, whether as part of a scheme, arrangement, series
of transactions or otherwise.
(i) Stamp
Duty and Stamp Duty Reserve Tax
(i) All
documents in the enforcement of which the Company may be interested have been
submitted for adjudication (where desirable) and duly stamped in the United
Kingdom or elsewhere where any such document attracts duty and no such document
has not been stamped by reason of it being executed and retained
abroad.
(ii) There
has
been no conditional agreement within section 87(1) Finance Xxx 0000 of the
United Kingdom which could lead to the Company incurring a liability to stamp
duty reserve tax or becoming so accountable.
(iii) No
relief
from stamp duty or stamp duty land tax previously granted will or may be
withdrawn on or in connection with the sale of the Company pursuant to this
Agreement.
24
(iv) The
Company has not since 1 December 2003:
(A) entered
into a contract to purchase any land or an agreement to take a lease of any
land
which in either case has not been completed by a conveyance or the grant of
a
lease; or
(B) entered
into a land transaction where there will or may be an obligation in the future
to make a further land transaction return; or
(C) applied
to defer payment of stamp duty land tax under section 90 Finance Xxx
0000.
(j) Loan
relationships and derivative contracts
(i) All
debits and credits in respect of the Company's loan relationships, within the
meaning of Chapter II of Part IV of the Finance Xxx 0000 of the United Kingdom
or derivative contracts, within the meaning of Paragraph 2 Schedule 26 of the
Finance Xxx 0000 of the United Kingdom, are capable of being brought into
account by the Company as debits or credits for the purposes of Chapter II
Part
IV Finance Xxx 0000 or Schedule 26 Finance Act 2002 (as the case may be) as
and
to the extent that they are from time to time recognized in the Company's
statutory accounts (assuming that the accounting policies and methods adopted
for the purpose of the accounts continue to be so adopted).
(ii) In
respect of every loan relationship (as defined by Section 81 of the Finance
Xxx
0000 of the United Kingdom) to which the Company is or has been a party, the
Company has used in its statutory accounts an accruals basis of accounting
which
is an authorized accounting method for the purposes of Chapter II of Part IV
of
CA 1985 and has used that method consistently and without variation for all
relevant accounting periods.
(iii) Profits
and losses on all qualifying contracts (as defined for the purposes of Chapter
II of Part IV of the Finance Act 1994) and derivative contracts (as defined
in
Finance Xxx 0000 of the United Kingdom, Schedule 26, paragraph 2) which are
or
have at any time been held by the Company are and have at all times been
computed on an accruals basis of accounting which satisfies the requirements
of
section 156 of the Finance Xxx 0000 and that Schedule 26.
(k) Inheritance
Tax
Neither
the assets nor the shares of the Company are or may be subject to any charge
by
virtue of section 237 Inheritance Tax Xxx 0000, no person has or may have the
power under section 212 Inheritance Tax Act 1984 to raise inheritance tax by
sale or mortgage of, or a terminable charge on, any of the Company's assets
or
shares and the Company has not made any transfer of value to which Part IV
Inheritance Tax Xxx 0000 might apply.
25
(l) Intangible
Assets
All
debits and credits in respect of the Company's intangible fixed assets (as
defined in paragraph 3 Schedule 29 Finance Xxx 0000 and to which that Schedule
applies) are brought into account by the Company as debits or credits (as the
case may be) for the purpose of Schedule 29 Finance Act 2002 at the time and
to
the extent that such debits and credits are recognized in the statutory accounts
of the Company.
SECTION 3.11.
Brokers.
No
broker, finder or investment banker is entitled to any brokerage, finder's
or
other fee or commission in connection with the transactions contemplated by
this
Agreement or any Related Agreements.
SECTION 3.12.
Material
Contracts.
(a) Section 3.12
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule lists all Contracts described in
clauses (i) through (xvii) below to which the Company is a party
or is otherwise bound and which have not, as of the date hereof, been terminated
or fully performed ("Material
Contracts").
A
true, correct and complete copy of each such Material Contract has been made
available to Buyer:
(i) any
Contracts providing for a commitment of employment or consultation services
requiring payments in any one year in excess of £50,000;
(ii) any
Contracts with any Person containing any provision or covenant prohibiting
or
materially limiting the ability of the Company to engage in any business
activity or compete with any Person other than by reason of
confidentiality;
(iii) any
Contracts relating to any Indebtedness of the Company or under which any Lien
(other than Permitted Liens) has been imposed on any asset of the
Company;
(iv) any
Contracts providing for (i) the future disposition or acquisition of any
assets or properties of the Business, other than dispositions or acquisitions
of
Inventory in the ordinary course of business, and (ii) any merger or other
business combination;
(v) any
Employee Plans for the benefit of any of the directors, officers or employees
of
the Company including, but not limited to, any profit sharing, stock option,
stock purchase, stock appreciation, deferred compensation, pension, retirement,
executed compensation, severance or other plan or arrangement;
(vi) any
Contract under which the Company has loaned or advanced or is committed to
advance or loan money to its Affiliates, directors, officers, employees or
any
connected person of any of them;
(vii) any
Contract between or among the Company and any of its Affiliates which is not
of
an entirely arm's length nature;
(viii) any
Contract for the lease of personal property to or from any Person;
26
(ix) any
Contract (other than this Agreement) that limits or contains restrictions on
the
ability of the Company to incur or suffer to exist any Lien (other than in
respect of the Company's rights under such Contract), to purchase or sell any
assets, to change the lines of business in which it participates or engages
or
to engage in any merger or other business combination;
(x) any
other
Contracts (excluding warranty obligations of the Company) that (A) involve
the payment, pursuant to the terms of any such Contract, (1) by the Company
of
more than £25,000 annually or (2) to the Company of more than £100,000
annually and (B) cannot be terminated within sixty (60) days after giving
notice of termination without resulting in any cost or penalty to the
Company;
(xi) any
Contract concerning the issuance of a permit, franchise or license which is
material to the Business requiring an annual payment of £25,000 Sterling or more
in fees, royalties or otherwise by the Company;
(xii) any
Contract the particulars of which are required to be furnished to any
competition or regulatory authority and any undertaking that has been given
or
order made pursuant to any competition legislation or in response to any request
for information or statement of objection from any Governmental
Authority;
(xiii) any
bid,
tender, proposal or offer which, if accepted, will result in the Company
becoming a party to any agreement or arrangement which would fall within this
Section 3.12(a);
(xiv) any
Contracts pursuant to which the Company has guaranteed, indemnified or given
surety for the performance or payment of any obligation of any Person (other
than Contracts relating to Indebtedness) or pursuant to which another person
has
guaranteed, indemnified or given surety for the performance or payment of any
obligation of the Company (other than Contracts relating to
Indebtedness);
(xv) any
Contracts not otherwise described in any of clauses (i) through (xiv) above
that
were not made in the ordinary course of business and at arm's length or
different from the Company's standard terms of business;
(xvi) any
Contract not otherwise described in any of clauses (i) through (xv) above under
which the consequences of a default or termination could have a Company Material
Adverse Effect; and
(xvii) any
amendment to any of the Contracts described in this
Section 3.12.
(b) Except
as
disclosed in Section 3.12(b) of the Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, (i) each
Material Contract is legal, valid, binding and enforceable by and against the
Company in accordance with its terms, except to the extent such enforceability
may be limited by applicable bankruptcy or other laws affecting creditors'
rights, or by general equity principles, and is in full force and effect on
the
date hereof; (ii) such Material Contracts are fully performable by the Company
in accordance with their terms. The Company has performed all material
obligations required to be performed by it to date under each such Material
Contract, and is not in material default under any such Material Contract;
(iii)
no event has occurred which, with due notice or lapse of time or both, would
constitute a material default of any such Material Contract; and (iv) to the
Knowledge of Warrantors, no other party to any such Material Contract is in
default of any Material Contract, and no event has occurred which, with due
notice of lapse of time or both, would constitute such a default; and (vi)
otherwise there are no grounds for the termination, rescission, avoidance,
repudiation or worsening of terms or cancellation of such Material
Contract.
27
(c) The
Company is not nor has been within the past three years a party to, or subject
to, any contract, arrangement, obligation or liability which:-
(i)
|
is
onerous (i.e. cannot readily be performed by the Company on time
or
without undue or unusual expenditure of money, effort or
personnel;
|
(ii)
|
is
loss making;
|
(iii)
|
is
likely to involve aggregate sales values which will represent in
excess of
ten per cent of turnover for the preceding financial year of the
Company;
|
(iv)
|
involves
obligations or liabilities which by reason of their magnitude or
nature
ought reasonably to be disclosed or made known to the Buyer;
or
|
(v)
|
has
been registered under the RTPA, notified to the Commission of the
European
Communities under Article 81 of the Treaty of Rome or the EFTA
Surveillance Authority under Article 53 of the Agreement on the European
Economic Area (or for which application for negative clearance under
such
articles has been made).
|
SECTION 3.13.
Intellectual
Property.
(a) The
Company owns or possesses adequate licenses or other valid rights to use all
existing material Business Intellectual Property;
(b) Except
as
disclosed by the documents in Section
3.13(b)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule;
(i) the
validity of the owned Business Intellectual Property and the title thereto
of
the Company is not being questioned or threatened in any litigation, arbitration
or proceeding to which the Company is a party;
(ii) to
the
Knowledge of Warrantors, the conduct of the Business has not infringed upon
and
does not infringe upon, misappropriate, conflict or interfere with any valid
patents, trademarks, trade names, service marks, copyrights or intellectual
property rights of any other Person;
(iii) the
Company has not received any claim, charge, complaint or notice alleging any
such interference, infringement, misappropriation, conflict or violation with
respect to such Business Intellectual Property, including any claim that the
Company must license or refrain from using such rights of a third party to
the
Knowledge of Warrantors there are no circumstances likely to give rise to the
same;
28
(iv) the
consummation of the transactions completed by this Agreement will not result
in
the loss or impairment of any Business Intellectual Property;
(v) to
the
Knowledge of Warrantors, no third party is interfering with, infringing upon,
or
misappropriating the Business Intellectual Property;
(vi) the
Company has not taken or threatened any action against a third party in respect
of the Business Intellectual Property including in respect of any application
for any intellectual property registrations and there are no matters which
might
give rise to such action.
(c) Section
3.13(c)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule identifies each patent or registration which
has
been issued to the Company with respect to the Business Intellectual Property,
identifies each pending patent application or application for trade xxxx or
other Business Intellectual Property registration which has been made by the
Company with respect to the Business Intellectual Property, and identifies
each
license, agreement, or other permission which the Company has granted to any
third party with respect to any of the Business Intellectual Property (together
with any exceptions). Warrantors have caused to be delivered to Buyer true,
correct and complete copies of all such patents, registrations, applications,
licenses, agreements, and permissions (as amended to date) and have made
available to Buyer correct and complete copies of all other written
documentation evidencing ownership and prosecution (if applicable) of each
such
item. Section
3.13(c)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule also identifies each trade name or unregistered
trademark used by the Company in the conduct of the Business. With respect
to
Business Intellectual Property required to be identified in Section
3.13(c)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule and except as disclosed in Section
3.13(c)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule:
(i) the
Company possesses all right, title and interest in and to the right free and
clear of any Lien;
(ii) the
right
is not subject to any outstanding injunction, judgment, order, decree, ruling,
charge, undertaking, agreement or arrangement which restricts disclosure, use
or
assignment;
(iii) no
action
is pending nor, to the Knowledge of Warrantors, is threatened or expected which
challenges the legality, validity, enforceability, use or ownership of the
right, nor, to the Knowledge of Warrantors, is there any basis for such
action;
(iv) the
Company has not agreed to indemnify any Person for or against any interference,
infringement, misappropriation, or other conflict with respect to such
right.
(d) Section
3.13(d)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule identifies each Business Intellectual Property
that any third party owns which the Company uses in connection with the Business
pursuant to an existing Contract. Warrantors have caused to be delivered to
Buyer true, correct and complete copies of all such Contracts (as amended
through the date hereof) where written or an accurate summary of the main terms
and conditions if unwritten. With respect to each such Business Intellectual
Property required to be so identified in Section
3.13(d)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule:
29
(i) the
Contract covering the right is legal, valid, binding and enforceable in
accordance with its terms, except as may be limited by applicable bankruptcy,
insolvency or similar laws affecting creditors' rights generally, and is in
full
force and effect;
(ii) subject
to obtaining any required third party consents, the Contracts covering the
rights will be enforceable and in full force and effect on identical terms
following the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby;
(iii) neither
the Company nor, to the Knowledge of Warrantors, any other party to the Contract
is in breach or default and, to the Knowledge of Warrantors, no event has
occurred which with notice or lapse of time or both would constitute a breach
or
default or permit termination, modification, or acceleration
hereunder;
(iv) to
the
Knowledge of Warrantors, no party to the Contract has repudiated any provision
thereof.
(e) No
employee of the Company or other person has claimed or, to the Knowledge of
Warrantors, is entitled to claim or is entitled to claim any ownership or
payment in respect of any Business Intellectual Property.
(f) Except
as
disclosed in Section
3.13(f)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, the Company has not (i) allowed any Person
to
use any of its Business Intellectual Property without entering into proper
licenses (written and executed) or (ii) permitted or knowingly acquiesced in
any
unauthorized use or infringement of any such Business Intellectual Property,
in
each case, otherwise than in the ordinary course of the Business.
(g) All
applicable filings and all registration, renewal and other fees payable by
the
Company in respect of Business Intellectual Property have been paid and, to
the
Knowledge of Warrantors, (i) nothing has been done or omitted to be done by
which any of such Business Intellectual Property may be rendered invalid,
cancelled or rectified and (ii) there are no circumstances which may prevent
relevant applications proceeding to registration.
(h) To
the
Knowledge of Warrantors, the Company has complied with all requirements of
applicable data protection legislation and no such company has received any
enforcement, deregistration, transfer prohibition or other notice or written
communication thereunder.
(i) So
far as
recognized and permitted by any Applicable Law, no moral rights of the author
relating to any copyright in any Business Intellectual Property owned or
developed by the Company have been waived save in favour of the
Company.
30
SECTION 3.14.
Property.
(a) Title
(i) The
particulars of the properties set out in the Warrantors Disclosure Schedule
(the
"Properties")
are
true, complete and accurate.
(ii) The
Properties comprise all the leasehold land and premises owned, used or occupied
by the Company in connection with the business or businesses of the Company
and
the Warrantors are not aware of any further documents (including any collateral
agreements) relating to the Property other than those set out in the Warrantors
Disclosure Schedule and all consents required (including the consent of any
superior landlord or mortgagee) have been obtained.
(iii) The
Company has a good and marketable title (legal and beneficial) to each of the
Properties vested in the Company without exception or reservation and the
Company is absolutely entitled to their proceeds of sale. If the Properties
are
not registered at the Land Registry no event has occurred which could have
resulted in compulsory registration.
(iv) The
Company (or its mortgagees) has in its possession all deeds and documents of
title necessary to prove good title to the Properties.
(v) The
Properties and title deeds are not subject to any Lien or any agreement to
create the same.
(vi) To
the
Knowledge of Warrantors there are no matters affecting the Properties capable
of
registration but not registered at the Land Charges Department, the Land
Registry or any Local Land Charges Registry; no entries in any such registers
affecting the Properties and no applications for such entries have been made
in
the last 30 days and there are no circumstances which might give rise to any
such entries.
(b) Adverse
Interests
(i) To
the
Knowledge of Warrantors there are no public or private rights, agreements,
interests, covenants, restrictions, conditions, reservations, licences or
easements or any disputes or outstanding notices or any other matters or things
whether or not apparent from an inspection of the Properties which may
materially or adversely affect the value of the Properties or the proper use
and
enjoyment of the Properties for the purpose of the business now being carried
on
or intended to be carried on at the Properties by the Company.
(ii) There
are
no insurance policies relating to any issue of title affecting the
Properties.
(iii) The
Properties are not subject to any agreement for sale, estate contract, option
or
right of pre-emption.
31
(iv) There
are
no circumstances which would entitle or require a lessor or any other person
to
exercise any power of entry upon or to break the term of any lease of, or of
taking possession of, the Properties or which would otherwise restrict or
terminate the Company's continued possession or occupation or which could
prevent any development for which planning permission has been or is expected
to
be obtained.
(c) Performance
(i) The
Company has duly performed and observed all material covenants, restrictions,
reservations, conditions, agreements, statutory requirements, byelaws, orders,
building regulations and other stipulations and regulations affecting the
Properties and the use of the Properties and to the Knowledge of Warrantors
there are no outstanding complaints alleging breach or non-observance has been
received in respect of them.
(ii) Without
prejudice to the generality of Section 3.13(c)(i) the Company has duly performed
and observed all material covenants and other terms of the lease, tenancy
agreement or license under which the Properties are held and all outgoings
have
been paid to date including rent, service charge and insurance and to the
Knowledge of Warrantors no notice of any alleged breach or non-observance of
any
of the terms of any such lease, tenancy agreement or licence has been served
on
the Company and there are no rent reviews in the course of being determined
or
exercisable by the landlord from a date prior to the date of this Agreement.
To
the Knowledge of Warrantors the documents referred to in the fourth schedule
to
the superior lease dated 30 November 1999 made between (a) the Council of the
City of Nottingham and (2) Xxxxxx Xxxxx Limited (the "Superior
Lease")
and
the Lease whereby premises at 000 Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxx, Xxxxxx Xxxx, Xxxxxx XX0X
0XX
were demised to Luso Electronic Products limited do not contain any unusual
or
onerous covenants and any covenants, restrictions or obligations which
contradict the terms of any documents disclosed relating to the
Properties.
(d) Occupation
(i) Save
as
set out in the Warrantors Disclosure Schedule the Company is entitled to, and
has exclusive vacant possession and occupation of the Properties and none of
the
Properties are subject to any lease, tenancy, license to occupy or agreement
to
grant any of them or in the case of any unregistered property the Warrantors
are
not aware of any unregistered interest which will override first registration
at
the Land Registry (or would do if the property were an estate able to be
registered) or in the case of any registered property the Warrantors are not
aware of an unregistered interest which will override a registered disposition
at the Land Registry nor any person who has or claims to have any interest,
right or easement of any kind in respect of the Properties adverse to the
interest or title of the Company.
(e) Disputes
(i) To
the
Knowledge of the Warrantors there are no disputes concerning boundaries,
easements, covenants or other matters relating to the Properties or their use
and occupation and there are no pending or anticipated disputes, actions, claims
or demands in respect of the Properties.
32
(ii) The
Company has not (nor has anyone on its behalf) expressly or impliedly waived
any
breach by any person of any covenant, agreement, restriction, stipulation or
obligation relating to the Properties or of which the Properties have the
benefit.
(f) Use
and Planning
(i) All
of
the Properties are actively used by the Company in connection with the business
of the Company.
(ii) The
existing use of the Properties is the lawful permitted use whether under any
applicable town and country planning legislation or in the case of leasehold
property under the terms of its lease, tenancy or license agreement or otherwise
and is not a temporary use or personal to the Company and all necessary consents
to such existing use have been obtained and are valid, subsisting and
unimpeachable and either unconditional or subject only to any condition which
has been satisfied so that nothing further remains to be done under the
condition.
(iii) All
necessary building regulation consents have been obtained both in relation
to
the existing use of the Properties and any alterations and improvements to
them.
(iv) The
relevant development plan does not contain any proposals in relation to the
Properties that may prejudice the existing use or any other use reasonably
ancillary to the existing use.
(v) No
planning application relating to the Properties has been submitted which awaits
determination or which has been refused.
(vi) To
the
Knowledge of Warrantors no claim or liability (contingent or otherwise) under
the town and country planning legislation in respect of the Properties, or
any
statutory agreement affecting the Properties, are outstanding, nor are the
Properties the subject of a notice to treat or a notice of entry, and no notice,
order resolution or proposal has been published for the compulsory acquisition,
closing, demolition or clearance of the Properties, and the Company is not
aware
of any matter or circumstances which would lead to any such notice, order,
resolution or proposal.
(vii) No
compensation in respect of the Properties has been received consequent upon
the
refusal or revocation of any planning consent or the imposition of any
restrictions in any planning consent and no planning consent is
suspended.
(g)
Liabilities
(i) The
Company has not been the tenant, licensee, assignee or guarantor of any lease,
license or tenancy agreement other than in relation to the
Properties.
33
(ii) The
Company has not at any time acquired, assigned or otherwise disposed of any
freehold or leasehold property in such a way that it retains any residual
liability in respect of it.
(iii) Since
March 31, 2006 the Company has not acquired or disposed of, or agreed to acquire
or dispose of, or granted any option in respect of, any interest in any land
or
premises nor will it do so before Closing without the prior written consent
of
the Buyer.
(iv) The
Properties are not subject to the payment of any outgoings other than
non-domestic local business rates and water and sewerage charges (and in the
case of the leasehold Properties, principal rent, insurance premiums and service
charges) and all outgoings have been paid when due and none is
disputed.
(v) The
Company does not have any legal or equitable estate or interest in any land
or
buildings other than the Properties.
(vi) There
is
not outstanding any monetary claim or liability (contingent or otherwise)
affecting the Properties nor is there any material expense likely in respect
of
the repair of the Properties in the next five years.
(h) Replies
to enquiries/Certificates
(i) Replies
to all enquiries before contract in respect of the Properties raised by the
Buyer's Solicitors in writing or in correspondence with the Sellers' Solicitors
were when given and are now complete and accurate and not misleading in any
respect.
SECTION 3.15.
Environmental
Compliance.
Except
as described in Section
3.15
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule:
(a) The Company
is not required to hold any Environmental Permits under applicable Environmental
Laws for any of its current operations or for any property currently owned,
leased or otherwise operated by it;
(b) To
the
Knowledge of the Warrantors, the Company is and has been in compliance with
all
Environmental Law in all material respects (including but not limited to the
restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and
Electronic Equipment Regulations 2006 and the Control of Asbestos at Work
Regulations 2002);
(c) (i) There
have never been any (nor to the Knowledge of Warrantors are there any
circumstances likely to give rise to any) civil or criminal actions, notices
of
violations, administrative proceedings of any Governmental Authority under
any
Environmental Law against the Company relating to the Properties for which
there
has been or could be imposed any Environmental Liability under applicable
Environmental Law;
(ii) To
the
Knowledge of Warrantors, none of the operations of the Business has involved
the
release or discharge into the Environment of any substance causing harm to
the
Environment to give rise to any regulatory action or liability in relation
to or
arising from any Environmental Law.
34
SECTION 3.17
Absence
of Certain Changes.
Except
as set forth in Section 3.16
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule or as otherwise disclosed in this Agreement,
since March 31, 2006, the Business has been conducted in the ordinary course
consistent with Past Practices and:
(a) There
has
not been any commitment made, or any Contract entered into, by the Company,
or
any waiver, amendment, termination or cancellation of any Contract by the
Company, or any relinquishment of any rights hereunder by the Company, or of
any
other right or debt owed to the Company;
(b) There
has
not been any change by the Company in its accounting principles, methods or
practices or in the manner it keeps its books and records or any change by
the
Company of current practices with regard to sales, expenses, assets or
liabilities;
(c) There
have not been (i) any capital expenditures or commitments in an aggregate
amount in excess of ₤100,000 for additions to property, plant, equipment or
intangible capital assets or capital expenditures or (ii) any sale,
assignment, transfer, lease or other disposition of or agreement to sell,
acquire, assign, transfer, lease or otherwise dispose of any asset or property
having an aggregate value in excess of ₤100,000 other than in the ordinary
course of business;
(d) There
has
not been any payment, discharge or satisfaction of any Liabilities of the
Company, other than payments, discharges or satisfactions in the ordinary course
of business;
(e) There
has
not been the creation or imposition of any Lien (other than a Permitted Lien)
upon any of the assets and properties of the Company;
(f) There
has
not been any cancellation, compromise, waiver, or release of any right or claim
(or series of related rights and claims) or any Indebtedness owing to the
Company;
(g) There
has
not been any issuance, sale or other disposition of any shares or loan capital
of the Company, or grant of any options, warrants, or other rights to purchase
or obtain (including upon conversion, exchange, or exercise) any shares or
loan
capital of the Company;
(h) There
has
not been declared and/or paid any dividend or distribution (whether in cash
or
in kind) nor has there been any repurchase, redemption or retirement, repayment
or allotment of any shares or loan capital of the Company;
(i) There
has
not been any threat or notification, orally or in writing, by one or more of
the
customers or suppliers who, individually or in the aggregate, are material
to
the Business of an intention to terminate or materially alter their respective
business relationships or Contracts with the Business, nor has any such
termination or material alteration of such relationships or Contracts occurred
and nor is it likely to;
35
(j) There
has
not been any material damage, destruction, or loss (whether or not covered
by
insurance) to the property or assets of the Company nor any reduction in the
value thereof, using the same valuations used in the Financial
Statements;
(k) There
has
not been any loan to any of the current or former directors, officers, and
employees of the Company;
(l) There
has
not been any payment of any amount to any Person outside the ordinary cause
of
business with respect to any Liability (excluding any costs and expenses
incurred or which may be incurred in connection with this Agreement and the
transactions contemplated hereby);
(m) There
have not been any changes in the memorandum or articles of association or other
constitutional documents of the Company and no resolution of shareholders of
the
Company has been adopted;
(n) The
Company has not entered into any employment, compensation or other similar
agreement (or any amendment to any such existing agreement) with, or increased
compensation, bonus or other benefits payable or potentially payable to any
director, officer or employee or increased benefits payable or potentially
payable under any severance, continuation or termination pay policies or
employment agreements for the benefit of employees generally;
(o) No
material change has been made in the practices of pricing or discounting for
sales of finished goods, ordering supplies and raw materials, shipping finished
goods, accepting returns or honouring warranties, invoicing customers and
collecting debts;
(p) There
has
been no decrease in the monthly turnover (whether by value or by volume) or
in
the gross or net profit margins of the Business (or any material part of the
Business) as compared with the corresponding months in the financial year ended
on March 31, 2006;
(q) There
has
been no material adverse change in the financial, cashflow, trading position
or
prospects of the Company;
(r
) The
Business has not been adversely affected by any factor not affecting similar
businesses to a like extent;
(t) No
provision or reserve included in the accounts dated March 31, 2006 has proved
to
be inadequate in the light of subsequent circumstances and there are no
circumstances which indicate that any such provision or reserve may prove to
be
inadequate; and
(p) No
legally binding Contract, conditional or otherwise, to do any of the foregoing
has been made.
36
SECTION 3.17.
Insurance.
As of
immediately prior to the Closing, the assets, Properties and operations of
the
Company are and have at all material times been insured under various policies
of insurance and indemnity against all such risks normally insured against
by a
prudent person carrying on a similar business to the Company. The assets and
Properties have and have at all material times been insured to their full
re-instatement or replacement value. Warrantors have heretofore delivered to
Buyer complete and correct copies of such insurance and indemnity policies
and a
schedule that details for each policy the risks insured against, coverage limits
currently applicable and deductible amounts. All such policies are valid and
in
full force and effect, no notice of cancellation has been received, and there
is
no existing default, or event which with the giving of notice or lapse of time
or both, would constitute a default, by any insured hereunder. To the Knowledge
of Warrantors, there currently are no claims and there is no basis for an
insurance claim under any of such policies.
SECTION
3.18. Inventory
and Debts.
(a) Except
as
disclosed in Section
3.18
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, the Inventory of the Company included in the
Balance Sheet is in good condition, of a quantity and quality usable in the
ordinary course of the business of the Company and is adequate and appropriate
for the Business as conducted on the Closing Date and the anticipated level
of
business. Obsolete, discontinued, returned and overage goods have been written
off and defective goods are written down appropriately reflected in the Balance
Sheet at realizable market value. Since March 31, 2006, no items of Inventory
have been disposed of at less than their value as included in the audited
accounts dated March 31, 2006 and no Inventory has been acquired since March
31,
2006 which now has a net realizable value of less than its cost.
(b) The
debts
owed to the Company reflected in the Balance Sheet have been generated in the
ordinary course of business and reflect bona fide obligations for the payment
of
products sold by the Company and, to the Knowledge of Warrantors, will be
collectible, net of any provision. The provision with respect to the debts
shown
in the Balance Sheet is adequate and has been established consistent with Past
Practice.
SECTION 3.19.
Assets
of the Company.
(a) Section
3.19
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule is a true, complete and accurate record of all
Equipment of the Company as of the date of the Financial Statements. All of
the
Equipment owned or used by the Company:-
(i) is
in
good and safe operating condition, ordinary wear and tear excepted, has been
and
is being used in the Business in compliance in Applicable Law, is capable of
being used for the purposes for which such Equipment is now used by the Company
and has been properly maintained on a regular basis by competent
personnel.
(ii) is
not
expected to require renewal, replacements or additions within six months from
Closing and is not to any extent surplus to requirements; and
(iii) is
all
capable and will remain capable throughout the respective periods of time during
which it is written down to a nil value in the accounts of the Company (in
accordance with existing Local GAAP consistently applied) of doing the work
for
which it was designed or purchased.
37
(b) The
Company owns or has valid rights to use, free and clear of all Liens except
Permitted Liens, all of the assets used in the conduct of the Business. Such
assets are in the possession of or under the exclusive control of the Company
and will be sufficient for the Buyer Parties to continue to operate the Business
in the ordinary course in the same manner as it is conducted currently.
(c) Maintenance
contracts are in full force and effect in respect of all assets of the Company
which it is normal or prudent to have maintained by independent or specialist
contractors and in respect of all assets which the Company is obliged to
maintain or repair under any hire purchase, leasing, rental, insurance or other
agreement.
SECTION
3.20. Absence
of Undisclosed Liabilities.
The
Company has no Liability except for (i) Liabilities set forth on the Balance
Sheet (or in any notes thereto), (ii) Liabilities described in Section
3.20
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, and (iii) Liabilities which have arisen
after the date of the Financial Statements in the ordinary course of the
Business that would not, individually or in the aggregate, have a Company
Material Adverse Effect.
SECTION
3.21 Product
Warranties, Defects and Liabilities.
There
exists no pending or,
to the
Knowledge of Warrantors, threatened
action, suit, inquiry, proceeding or investigation by or before any court or
governmental or regulatory or administrative agency, authority or commission
relating to any product alleged to have been distributed or sold by the Business
to others, and alleged to have been defective or improperly designed or unfit
for its purpose or manufactured or in breach of any express or implied product
warranty. The Company has not supplied any product, and has no product in stock,
which is or was dangerous or injurious to health or likely to cause loss or
damage or which it would be illegal to supply or use or having a defect in
it
within the meaning of section 3 of the Consumer Protection Xxx 0000. There
exists no pending or,
to
the
Knowledge of Warrantors,
threatened
product liability or warranty claims relating to the Business, except to the
extent reserved for on the face of the Balance Sheet, and to the Knowledge
of
Warrantors, there is no reasonable basis for any such suit, inquiry, action,
proceeding, investigation or claim. Warrantors have heretofore delivered to
Buyer copies of the standard terms and conditions of sale or lease of the
products and services of the Business (containing applicable guaranty, warranty,
and indemnity provisions). Except as set forth in Section
3.21
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, there are no express product or service
guarantees or warranties or representation in respect of goods or services
supplied or contracted to be supplied by it save for any warranty or guarantee
implied by law and (save as aforesaid) has not accepted any obligation which
could give rise to any liability after any such goods or services have been
supplied by it.
SECTION
3.22 Affiliate
Transactions.
Except
as set forth in Section
3.22
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule (a) the Company is not a party to, or bound
by,
any Contract with any of its Affiliates, other than on arms-length terms which
are no less favourable to the Company than those which could be obtained with
a
third party which is not an Affiliate and (b) no Affiliate of the Company owns
or otherwise has any rights to or interests in any asset, tangible or
intangible, which is used in the conduct of the Business.
38
SECTION
3.23. Customers
and Suppliers.
(a) Section
3.23(a)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule sets forth a complete and accurate list (with
volumes included) of (i) the ten largest customers (by volume) of the products
of the Business during the twelve (12) month period ended March 31, 2006; and
(ii) the ten largest suppliers (by volume) of materials or services to the
Business during the twelve (12) month period ended March 31,
2006.
(b) Except
as
described in Section
3.23(b)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, there are no Contracts to which the Company
is a
party under the terms of which (i) the Company is obligated to purchase any
product or services from, or sell any product or services to, any other Person
on an exclusive basis with respect to any geographic area or group of potential
customers; or (ii) any other Person may be similarly obligated to the Company.
(c) During
the six months preceding the date of this Agreement there has been no
substantial change in the basis or terms on which any person (including any
supplier) is prepared to enter into contracts or do business with the Company
(apart from normal price changes) and no such change is likely.
(d) The
loss
of any single supplier to or customer of the Company would not have a material
effect on its business, and during the financial year ended on March 31, 2006
or
in the period since then not more than ten per cent of the goods purchased
by
the Company were derived from the same supplier, and not more than ten per
cent
of the goods sold by the Company were purchased by the same customer and for
the
purposes of this paragraph groups of companies shall be deemed a single
person.
(e) To
the
Knowledge of Warrantors the attitudes, actions or prices of customers, suppliers
and employees with regard to the Company will not be prejudicially affected
by
the execution or completion of this Agreement or a Related
Agreement.
SECTION
3.24. Illegal
Payments.
Except
as disclosed in Section
3.24
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, neither the Company nor any of its directors,
officers, employees or agents, has (a) directly or indirectly given or agreed
to
give any illegal gift, contribution, payment or similar benefit to any supplier,
customer, governmental official or employee or other person to assist in
connection with any actual or proposed transaction or made or agreed to make
any
illegal contribution, or reimbursed any illegal political gift or contribution
made by any other person, to any candidate for federal, state, local or foreign
public office (i) which violates any Applicable Law, or might subject the
Buyer Parties to any Damages or penalties in any civil, criminal or governmental
litigation or proceeding or (ii) the non-continuation of which has had or might
have a Company Material Adverse Effect or (b) established or maintained any
unrecorded fund or asset or made any false entries on any books or records
for
any purpose.
SECTION
3.25. Information
Technology.
Except
as disclosed in Section
3.25
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule:
(a) The
Warrantors have heretofore provided the Buyer with an accurate list of all
material Information Technology owned or used by the Company in the conduct
of
the Business and copies of all material and currently in force agreements or
arrangements (including amendments and modifications thereto) relating to the
maintenance and support, security, disaster recovery management and utilization
(including facilities management, escrow agreements relating to the deposit
of
software source codes and computer bureau services agreements) and leases or
licenses of the Information Technology owned or used by the Company.
39
(b) All
Information Technology is leased or licensed to the Company. No notice of a
defect has been sent or received by the Company in respect of any license or
lease under which the Company receives Information Technology and there are
no
grounds on which they might be terminated.
(c) The
Information Technology owned or used by the Company in the conduct of the
Business has the capacity and performance necessary to fulfil the requirements
it currently performs.
(d) The
Company has not received any written notification of any breach of any of the
agreements or arrangements referred to in Section 3.25(a) and the Company is
not
in breach of any of the agreements or arrangements referred to in Section
3.25(a).
(e) None
of
the Information Technology referred to in Section 3.25(a) has been affected
by
any downtimes, equipment breakdowns, data losses, viruses or malfunctions,
failure or any other defect which has resulted in Company Material Adverse
Effect.
(f) No
term
of any of the Contracts referred to in Section 3.25(a) allows a party to such
Contract to terminate such Contract as a consequence of the Sellers entering
into this Agreement.
(g) None
of
the records, systems, controls, and/or data used by the Company to conduct
the
Business is recorded, stored, maintained, operated or otherwise wholly or partly
dependent on or held by any means (including any electronic, mechanical or
photographic process whether computerized or not) which (including all means
of
access to it and from it) are not under the exclusive ownership and direct
control of the Company.
(h) The
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule contains details of all websites and domain
names
used or required to be used by or owned by the Company for the Business as
presently carried on in accordance with the current documented plans for the
business. All fees which have become due and payable have been paid in relation
to the domain names and, there are not and have not been any challenges or
disputes relating to the Company use or ownership of such domain
names.
(i) The
Company has formulated a documented disaster recovery plan under which the
Company has set out procedures that will be implemented if any or all of the
data or records used by the Company to conduct the Business suffers a material
disruption or malfunction. To the Knowledge of Warrantors, the disaster recovery
plan is sufficient to ensure that any such material disruption or malfunction
does not lead to a Company Material Adverse Effect.
40
SECTION
3.26. Employee
Plans.
(a) United
States Employee Plans.
There
are no employees of the Company that work in the United States on a permanent
basis.
(b) United
Kingdom Employee Plans.
(i) Section
3.26(b)(i)
of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule sets forth a true and complete list of all
Employee Plans which are and have been maintained by the Company or to which
the
Company has contributed, contributes or is liable to contribute, all the
material details of which (including contribution rates) are set forth therein.
Other than as contained in that list, there are no schemes, agreements, customs
or practices in operation for the payment of or contribution towards any
pensions, allowances, lump sums, or other like benefits on retirement or death,
or in respect of sickness or disablement; and the Company has not given any
undertaking nor is under any obligation to pay, provide, procure or contribute
towards any such benefits.
(ii) There
have been delivered to the Buyer true and complete copies of all material
documentation in relation to the Employee Plans.
(iii) All
benefits under the Employee Plans are provided on a money purchase basis. No
assurance, promise or guarantee (whether oral or written) has been given by
the
Company to any person as to the level or amount of benefits to be provided
under
the Employee Plans.
(iv) The
Company and the trustees of any Employee Plans are not engaged or involved
in
any proceedings which relate to or are in connection with any of the Employee
Plans or the benefits thereunder and, to the Knowledge of Warrantors, no such
proceedings are threatened nor are there any facts likely to give rise to any
such proceedings. For purposes of this Section, "proceedings" includes any
claim, complaint, dispute, litigation, mediation or arbitration and also
includes any investigation or determination by the Pensions Ombudsman, the
Pensions Advisory Service, the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority or
the
Pensions Regulator.
(v) The
Company has at all times complied with the provisions of all relevant statutes,
regulations and requirements in relation to the Employee Plans. The Employee
Plans have at all times complied with, and been administered in accordance
with
the trusts, powers and provisions of the Employee Plans, the general
requirements of law and the provisions of all relevant statutes, regulations
and
requirements.
(vi) Every
person employed by the Company who has at any time been entitled to membership
in any of the Employee Plans has been invited to join as of the date on which
he
or she became so entitled.
(vii) All
contributions and premiums which are payable by the Company and all
contributions due from current employees of the Company who are members of
any
of the Employee Plans or in respect of whom benefits may be provided under
any
of the Employee Plans have been duly paid when due and have been fully paid
in
respect of the period up to the Closing Date.
41
(viii) The
Company has complied with its obligations (if any) under section 3 of the
Welfare Reform and Pensions Xxx 0000 and all other legislation and regulation
applicable to the Company relating to pension and benefit provision for
employees.
(ix) Each
of
the Employee Plans referred to in warranty (i) above is a registered pension
scheme within the meaning of section 150(2) of the Finance Xxx 0000 and there
is
no reason why such approval or registration may be withdrawn.
(x) Each
of
the Employee Plans referred to in warranty (i) above is and remains a
contracted-out plan within the meaning of Chapter 1 of Part III of the Xxxxxxx
Xxxxxxx Xxx 0000. There is in force one or more contracting-out certificates
and
there are no circumstances which might cause the certificate(s) to be
withdrawn.
(xi) All
death
in service benefits which may be payable under the Employee Plans are fully
insured and all insurance premiums payable in respect of the Employee Plans
by
the Company have been duly paid to the relevant insurance company and there
is
no ground on which the relevant insurance company could avoid liability under
any policy of insurance applicable to such benefits.
(xii) The
Company has no liability or potential liability under section 144 of the Xxxxxxx
Xxxxxxx Xxx 0000 or section 75 of the Pensions Xxx 0000, section 38
(Contribution Notices) of the Pensions Xxx 0000, section 43 of the Pensions
Xxx
0000 (Financial support directions) or section 47 of the Pensions Xxx 0000
(Contribution notices where non-compliance with financial support direction)
as
a debt due to or in respect of any occupational pension scheme (as defined
for
the purposes of the Pension Schemes Act 1993).
(xiii) The
Company is not providing and has not at any time paid an ex gratia payment
in
respect of Relevant Benefits.
(xiv) No
employees of the Company have transferred under the Transfer of Undertakings
(Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 or 2006 from the employment of
Sellers or any subsidiary (as defined in section 838 of the Income and
Corporation Taxes Act 1988) of Sellers.
SECTION
3.27. Books
and Records; Possession.
(a)
The
books
and all corporate (including minute books and stock records books) and financial
records of the Company are complete, up-to-date and correct in all material
respects and have been maintained in accordance with sound business practices
and Applicable Law and other requirements and no notice has been received or
allegation made that a register or book is incorrect or should be rectified.
The
register of shareholders and the other statutory books and records of the
Company and are up to date, true, accurate and complete and are in the
possession or control of the Company respectively.
42
(b) All
title
deeds relating to the assets of the Company and an executed copy of all
agreements to which the Company is a party or by which it is bound and the
original copies of all other documents which are owned by, or which ought to
be
in the possession of, the Company, are in the possession or under the control
of
the Company. Deeds and documents relating to the Properties are either original
or copies marked by a solicitor as examined with the original. All documents
are
whole, undefaced, duly executed and where relevant stamped with the correct
amount of stamp duty.
SECTION
3.28 Insolvency.
(a)
|
In
relation to the Company:-
|
(i) no
resolution has been passed (and no meeting has been convened, and no written
resolution has been circulated with a view to any resolution being passed),
no
petition has been presented and no order has been made, for the purpose of
its
winding up and no application or order has been made for a provisional
liquidator to be appointed;
(ii) no
notice
of intention to appoint an administrator has been filed, no application for
the
appointment of an administrator has been made and no other steps in relation
to
the appointment of an administrator have been taken nor has any administrator
been appointed;
(iii) no
procedure has been commenced, by the Registrar of Companies or any other person,
with a view to striking off under section 652 of the Act;
(iv) no
administrative receiver, receiver, administrator, liquidator or provisional
liquidator or similar officer has been appointed and no Lien has been
enforced;
(v) no
floating charge has crystallized and no holder of a floating charge has taken
any steps to enforce such security;
(vi) no
event
has occurred or will occur by virtue of the execution and performance of this
Agreement and the Related Agreements which would cause, or entitle any person
to
cause, any of the events cited at subsection (iv) and (v) above;
(vii) it
has
not stopped paying its creditors, is not insolvent, and is not unable to pay
its
debts within the meaning of section 123 of the Insolvency Xxx 0000;
(viii) no
distress, attachment, execution or other process has been levied against any
of
its assets;
43
(ix) no
meeting of its creditors, or any class of them, has been held or summoned and
no
proposal has been made for a moratorium, composition or arrangement in relation
to any of its debts, or for a voluntary arrangement under Part 1 of the
Insolvency Xxx 0000; and
(x) no
event
analogous to any of the above has occurred in any jurisdiction.
(b) In
relation to each Seller:-
(i)
|
no
statutory demand has been issued against him or her nor are there
are any
reasonable grounds for believing that he or she is unable to pay
any debts
within the meaning of section 268 of the Insolvency Xxx 0000 as
amended;
|
(ii)
|
no
petition has been presented and no order made for his or her bankruptcy
or
for the appointment of a receiver over any of his or her
assets;
|
(iii)
|
no
Lien has been enforced and no distress, execution or other process
has
been levied, on or over any of the Shares or any assets held by him
or
her;
|
(iv)
|
no
proposal has been made in respect of an individual voluntary arrangement
of him or her, pursuant to the Insolvency Xxx 0000 as amended;
and
|
(v)
|
no
event analogous to any of the above has occurred in any
jurisdiction.
|
SECTION
3.29 Competition.
The
Company is not and has not been a party to, or directly or indirectly concerned
in, any agreement, arrangement or course of conduct which in whole or in
part:-
(a)
|
has
been or should have been notified to the Office of Fair Trading or
to the
European Commission, or referred by the Office of Fair Trading to
the
Competition Commission under Part 3 of the Enterprise Xxx
0000;
|
(b)
|
is
capable of giving rise to an investigation by the Office of Fair
Trading
or the Serious Fraud Office or a reference to the Competition Commission
or an investigation by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
or
the European Commission or any other person or body in any jurisdiction
or
been the subject of a report or decision or order or judgment of
such
person or bodies; or
|
(c)
|
contravenes
or is under investigation in relation to any anti-trust, anti-monopoly
or
anti-cartel legislation or regulations in any
jurisdiction.
|
SECTION
3.30. Disclosure.
The
warranties contained in this Article 3 and any certificate furnished or to
be
furnished by Sellers to Buyer pursuant to this Agreement do not contain and
will
not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any
material fact necessary,
in
light of the circumstances in which they were made and taking into account
the
express limitations set forth in each such warranty, in order to make such
warranties not misleading.
44
ARTICLE 4
WARRANTIES
OF BUYER PARTIES
The
Buyer
Parties hereby warrant to Sellers as follows:
SECTION 4.1.
Organization.
Each of
the Buyer Parties is duly organized, validly existing and in good standing
under
the laws of its jurisdiction of incorporation and has all requisite power and
authority to own, lease and operate its properties and to carry on its
businesses as now being conducted. Each of the Buyer Parties is duly qualified
or licensed and in good standing to do business in each jurisdiction in which
the property owned, leased or operated by it or the nature of the business
conducted by it makes such qualification or licensing necessary, except in
such
jurisdictions where the failure to be so duly qualified or licensed and in
good
standing would not have a Buyer Material Adverse Effect (as defined below).
The
term "Buyer
Material Adverse Effect"
means
any circumstance, change or effect that, individually or when taken together
with all other such circumstances, changes or effects, is materially adverse
to
the business, operations or financial condition of Buyer and its Subsidiaries
taken as a whole or would materially impair the ability of the Buyer Parties
to
consummate the transactions contemplated hereby or by any Related Agreement;
provided,
however,
that
the foregoing definition excludes the effects of changes that are generally
applicable to (i) the United States economy or securities markets or (ii) the
world economy or international securities markets or result from the outbreak
of
war, other hostilities or terrorist activities.
SECTION 4.2.
Authority
Relative to this Agreement.
Each of
the Buyer Parties has all necessary corporate power and authority to execute
and
deliver this Agreement and to consummate the transactions contemplated hereby.
The execution and delivery of this Agreement and the consummation of the
transactions contemplated hereby have been duly and validly authorized by the
Boards of Directors of the Buyer Parties and no other corporate proceedings
on
the part of any Buyer Party are necessary to authorize this Agreement or to
consummate the transactions contemplated hereby. This Agreement has been duly
and validly executed and delivered by each of the Buyer Parties and constitutes
a valid, legal and binding agreement of each of the Buyer Parties enforceable
against each of the Buyer Parties in accordance with its terms.
SECTION 4.3.
Consents
and Approvals; No Violations.
(a) Except
for filings, permits, authorizations, consents and approvals as may be required
under applicable competition legislation or regulations of any foreign
jurisdictions, no filing with or notice to, and no permit, authorization,
consent or approval of, any Governmental Authority is necessary for the
execution and delivery by any Buyer Party of this Agreement or the consummation
by the Buyer Parties of the transactions contemplated hereby, except where
the
failure to obtain such permits, authorizations, consents or approvals or to
make
such filings or give such notice would not have a Buyer Material Adverse
Effect.
45
(b) Neither
the execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement by any Buyer Party,
nor the consummation by the Buyer Parties of the transactions contemplated
hereby will (i) conflict with or result in any breach of any provision of
the Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws of Buyer or the Articles of
Organization of Acquisition Sub, (ii) result in a violation or breach of or
constitute (with or without due notice or lapse of time or both) a default
(or
give rise to any right of termination, amendment, cancellation or acceleration
or Lien) under any of the terms conditions or provisions of any Contract to
which any Buyer Party is a party or by which any of them or any of their
respective properties or assets may be bound or (iii) violate any
Applicable Law binding on or applicable to the Buyer Parties or any of their
respective properties or assets except, in the case of (ii) or (iii), for
violations, breaches or defaults which would not have a Buyer Material Adverse
Effect.
SECTION 4.4.
Litigation.
There
are no judicial or administrative actions, proceedings or investigations pending
or, to Buyer's knowledge, threatened that question the validity of this
Agreement or any Related Agreements or documents or any action to be taken
by
any Buyer Party in connection with this Agreement or any such Related Agreements
or documents or that if adversely determined, would have a Buyer Material
Adverse Effect.
SECTION
4.5 Survival.
All of
the Warranties of Buyer contained in this Article 4 shall survive the Closing
for a period of two years.
ARTICLE 5
UNDERTAKINGS
SECTION 5.1.
Further
Assurance.
(a) Each
of
the Sellers undertakes to provide the Buyer Parties before or after Closing
with
all such information as he or she has in his or her possession relating to
the
business and affairs of the Company and for this purpose each of the Sellers
shall give the Buyer and any persons authorized by the Buyer full access to
all
such information, and the Buyer may copy any such documents.
(b) Each
of
the Sellers at its own cost shall:-
(i) at
any
time after Closing do or procure the doing of all such acts and things and/or
execute or procure the execution of such documents in a form satisfactory to
the
Buyer as the Buyer considers reasonably necessary for the purpose of vesting
the
Shares in the Acquisition Sub or giving the Acquisition Sub and the Buyer (as
applicable) the full benefit of all the provisions of this Agreement;
and
(ii) for
a
period not exceeding two years from the date of this Agreement give to the
Buyer
and the Acquisition Sub such assistance as the Buyer may reasonably require
in
connection with any dispute or threatened dispute directly or indirectly
relating to the Company.
46
(c) If
any or
all of the Warrantors cease to be directors of the Company prior to the
calculation of each of the 1st Deferred Purchase Price, the 2nd Deferred
Purchase Price and the 3rd Deferred Purchase Price, the Buyer Parties undertake
to provide the Warrantors with access to all copy records and copy accounts
of
the Company as are reasonably necessary to enable the Warrantors to calculate
EBIT.
SECTION 5.2.
Public
Announcements.
The
parties shall consult with each other before issuing any press releases or
otherwise making any public statements on the Closing Date with respect to
this
Agreement or the transactions contemplated hereby, and none of the parties
shall
issue any press release or make any public statement prior to obtaining the
other parties' written approval, which approval shall not be unreasonably
withheld, except that no such approval shall be necessary to the extent
disclosure may be required by Applicable Law or applicable stock exchange rule
or any listing agreement of any party hereto or made to the Company's customers,
clients or suppliers advising them of the change of control of the
Company.
SECTION 5.3.
Use
of
Confidential Information; Non-competition; Non-solicitation.
(a) The
Sellers hereby warrant with Buyer that from the Closing Date until the date
that
is three (3) years following the Closing Date, neither Sellers nor any of their
respective Affiliates shall (except as otherwise specifically permitted herein)
(i) use or utilize any Confidential Information in the conduct of their
respective businesses nor (ii) without the prior written consent of Buyer,
disclose any Confidential Information to any third party. As used herein,
"Confidential
Information"
shall
mean any proprietary
information, technical data, trade secrets or know-how, including, but not
limited to, research, product plans, products, methods, strategies, services,
customer lists, prospective customer and supplier lists, customer and supplier
records, telephone lists and all other information with respect to customers
and
suppliers (including, but not limited to, customers of any Seller or the
Company), documents, notes, working papers, records, systems, contracts,
agreements, market data and related information, software, developments,
inventions, processes, formulas, technology, designs, drawings, engineering
information, hardware configuration information, marketing plans, finances,
pricing and credit documents and policies, service development techniques or
plans, business acquisition plans, new personnel acquisition plans or other
business information presently owned or at any time hereafter developed by
any
Seller or the Company, or any of their respective agents or consultants or
used
presently or at any time hereafter; provided,
however,
that
(i) Confidential Information does
not
include the following: (A) any information that was available to Sellers on
a
non-confidential basis prior to Sellers’ receipt of such information from Buyer;
(B) any information that is obtained from any source other than Buyer or any
of
its Affiliates (or their respective directors, officers, employees, agents,
representatives or advisors),
provided
that
such source has not to the Knowledge of Sellers entered into a confidentiality
agreement with any Seller or any of their Affiliates with respect to such
information or obtained the information from an entity or person party to a
confidentiality agreement with Buyer or any of its Affiliates; or (C) any
information that becomes publicly available not as a result of a breach by
any
Seller or any of their Affiliates of this Agreement and (ii) if
Sellers or any party to whom a Seller has provided Confidential Information
becomes legally compelled (by oral question, deposition, interrogatory, request
for documents, subpoena, civil investigative demand or similar process) to
disclose any Confidential Information, Sellers shall promptly notify Buyer
of
such requirement and they further agree that only that portion of the
Confidential Information that is legally required to be disclosed (as advised
by
a written opinion of Sellers' counsel) will be disclosed, and the Sellers will
exercise as commercially reasonable best efforts to obtain assurance that the
Confidential Information will be treated confidentially upon disclosure.
Information
shall be deemed "publicly available" if it becomes a matter of public knowledge
or is contained in materials available to the public.
47
(b) Sellers
hereby undertake with the Buyer Parties that from the Closing Date until the
date that is three (3) years following the Closing Date, neither Sellers nor
any
of their respective Affiliates shall, directly or indirectly, for its own
account, or as a partner, member, advisor or agent of any partnership or joint
venture, or as a trustee, officer, director, shareholder, advisor or agent
of
any corporation, trust, or other business organization or entity, own, manage,
join, participate in, encourage, support, finance, promote, be engaged in,
have
an interest in, give financial assistance or advice to, or be concerned in
any
way in the ownership, management, operation or control of any Person that is
engaged, concerned or interested in any activity which is the same as or
substantially similar to the Business or which competes with the Business in
commercial markets in the United Kingdom or any other country in which the
Company conducts the Business as of the Closing Date.
(c)
For
a
period of three (3) years following the Closing Date, except as expressly
permitted or required pursuant to this Agreement or the Related Agreements,
Sellers shall refrain from, either alone or in conjunction with any other
Person, directly or indirectly, through its present or future Affiliates,
soliciting for hire or endeavouring to entice away, employ or offer employment
to any employee of any of the Buyer Parties or the Company nor do any act or
thing likely to have the effect of causing any such employee to terminate his
employment with any of the Company or Buyer Parties whether or not such employee
would thereby breach his contract of employment.
(d) For
a
period of three (3) years from the Closing Date the Sellers will not either
alone or in conjunction with any other person, directly or indirectly, through
its present or future affiliates for the purpose of any business supplying
products or services similar to or capable of being used in substitution for
any
product or service supplied by the Company within the 12 months preceding
Closing canvass, solicit or endeavour to entice away from the Company any person
who during the period of two years prior to Closing has been a customer of
the
Company or has purchased or agreed or offered to purchase goods from the Company
or has employed its services or who has been canvassed by the Company (otherwise
than by general advertising) with a view to becoming a customer of the
Company.
(e) For
a
period of three (3) years from the Closing Date the Sellers will not either
alone or in conjunction with any other person, directly or indirectly, through
its present or future affiliates do any act or thing likely to have the effect
of causing any supplier of or other person in the habit of dealing with the
Company to be unable or unwilling to deal with the Company either at all or
in
part or on the terms on which it had previously dealt with the Company or likely
to have the effect of causing any person having a contract or arrangement with
the Company to breach, terminate or modify that contract or arrangement or
to
exercise any right under it.
(f) The
Sellers will not either alone or in conjunction with any other person, directly
or indirectly, through its present or future affiliates at any time in
connection with any business carried on by him or her or otherwise howsoever
use
directly or indirectly or authorize any person to use directly or indirectly
any
of the Intellectual Property Rights including any of the names or words "DT
Electronics" or any names or words similar to or likely to be confused with
them
or use any distinctive xxxx, style or logo used by the Company or any xxxx,
style or logo similar to or likely to be confused with them in any manner which
is likely to or may result in confusion between or other association with the
business, goods, services or other activities of the Company including by using
the name "DT Electronics" as part of a corporate name, trade name or
otherwise.
48
(g) The
parties hereto agree that the duration and area for which the undertakings
set
forth in this Section 5.3 is to be effective are reasonable. In the event
that any court (or quasi-judicial body including, without limitation, the ICDR
or the Association) determines that the time period or the area or both of
them,
are unreasonable and that such undertaking is to that extent unenforceable,
the
parties hereto agree that the undertaking shall remain in full force and effect
for the greatest time period and in the greatest area that would not render
it
unenforceable. The parties intend that this undertaking shall be deemed to
be a
series of separate undertakings in each jurisdiction in which this undertaking
is intended to be effective. The parties hereto agree that damages are an
inadequate remedy for any breach of this undertaking and that the parties shall,
whether or not pursuing any potential remedies at law, be entitled to equitable
relief in the form of preliminary or permanent injunctions without bond or
other
security upon any actual or threatened breach of this undertaking.
(h) The
Buyer
agrees that nothing in this Section 5.3 shall prevent the Sellers
from:
(i) being
or
becoming a holder of securities and/or debentures representing not more than
a
5% interest in any one company which is dealt in on a recognised investment
exchange (as defined in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000);
or
(ii) in
the
case of Xxxxx Xxxxxx, being or continuing to be engaged, concerned or interested
in the business of Luso Electronics Limited ("Luso")
provided that Luso does not sell in the United Kingdom products which are
competitive with the products sold by the Company as at Closing.
SECTION 5.4.
Expenses.
Each of
the parties hereto shall bear its own expenses incurred in connection with
this
Agreement and the transactions contemplated hereby and in connection with all
obligations required to be performed by such party under this Agreement and
the
Related Agreements to which it is a party.
ARTICLE
6
TAX
MATTERS
49
SECTION
6.1 Cooperation.
Buyer
Parties and Sellers shall reasonably cooperate, and shall cause their respective
Affiliates, officers, employees, agents, auditors and representatives reasonably
to cooperate, in preparing and filing all returns, reports and forms relating
to
Taxes, including maintaining and making available to each other all records
necessary in connection with Taxes and in resolving all disputes and audits
with
respect to all Taxable periods relating to Taxes. Each of Buyer Parties and
Sellers recognize that Buyer Parties and Sellers may need access, from time
to
time, after the Closing Date, to certain accounting and Tax records and
information held by Sellers or Buyer Parties, respectively, to the extent such
records and information pertain to events occurring prior to the Closing Date;
therefore, Sellers and Buyer Parties each agrees, (a) to properly retain
and maintain such records for a period of six (6) years commencing as of the
date hereof and (b) to allow the other party and its agents and
representatives, at times and dates mutually acceptable to the parties, to
inspect, review and make copies of such records as such party or its
representatives may deem necessary or appropriate from time to time, such
activities to be conducted during normal business hours and at the expense
of
the requesting party. Each party agrees to maintain the confidentiality of
all
information of the other party disclosed pursuant to this Section 6.1, except
to
the extent it is required to disclose the same pursuant to Applicable Law or
the
directive of a Governmental Authority.
SECTION
6.2 Seller’s
Tax Covenant.
(a) The
Sellers jointly and severally covenant with Acquisition Sub to pay to
Acquisition Sub an amount equal to:-
(i) any
Liability for Tax of the Company arising in respect of, by reference to or
in
consequence of:-
(A) any
income, profits or gains earned, accrued or received on or before Closing,
including for the avoidance of doubt, any income, profits or gains deemed to
be
earned, accrued or received on or before Closing; or
(B) any
Event
which occurred on or before Closing;
(ii) any
Liability for Tax of the Company arising in consequence of an Event occurring,
or any income profits or gains earned, accrued or received at any time for
which
the Company is liable only as a result of having at any time before Closing
been
under the control of any person or associated with any person and that person
or
any other person failing to discharge any Liability for Tax;
(iii) any
liability of the Buyer Parties or the Company to account for income tax under
the PAYE system or for employee's national insurance contributions which arises
in consequences of or in connection with the payment of the Deferred Purchase
Price together with any related fine, penalty or interest;
(iv) all
costs, expenses, disbursements and professional fees reasonably incurred by
the
Company in connection with any liability falling within Sections (i) to (iii)
above or in successfully taking or defending any action under this Section
6.2.
50
(b) The
covenant contained in Section 6.2(a) shall not apply and the Buyer Parties
shall
have no claim against the Sellers under it or under the Tax Warranties to the
extent that:-
(i) provision
or reserve (excluding a provision for deferred tax) in respect of the liability
in question was made in the Last Accounts;
(ii) it
arises
as a result of a transaction in the ordinary course of business of the Company
after the Accounts Date but on or before Closing excluding any of the following
liabilities:
(A) |
a
liability for Tax for which the Company is not primarily
liable;
|
(B)
|
a
liability arising as a result of the acquisition, disposal or supply
or
deemed acquisition, disposal or supply of any asset, service or facility
(including a loan of money or the letting, hiring or licensing of
tangible
or intangible property) for consideration deemed for Tax purposes
to be
different from that (if any) actually received, or any other transaction
or series of transactions where the consideration paid or provision
made
or imposed differs from the consideration that would have been paid
or the
provision that would have been made as between independent enterprises,
in
each case to the extent of that
difference;
|
(C)
|
a
liability arising as a result of the making of a distribution, the
creation, cancellation or reorganisation of any share or loan capital
or
the cancellation assignment or writing off of any
debt;
|
(D)
|
a
liability arising as a result of any company becoming or ceasing
to be a
member of a group of companies for any Tax
purpose;
|
(E)
|
a
liability to Tax which the Company is obliged to deduct, charge or
recover, to the extent that the Company has failed to properly deduct,
charge, recover or account to a Tax Authority for the Tax in question
and
any liability to interest or penalties arising as a result of the
failure;
|
(F)
|
a
liability arising as a result of the disposal of a capital
asset;
|
(G)
|
a
liability under Part XVII ICTA (tax avoidance) or a liability arising
as a
result of a transaction or arrangement the sole or main purpose of
which
was the reduction, avoidance or deferral of a Liability for Tax;
and
|
(H)
|
a
liability under sections 126 to 129 or Schedule 23 FA 1995 (UK
representatives of non-residents).
|
51
(ii) in
the
case of a claim under this Section 6.2(a), the Buyer Parties has recovered
damages from the Sellers for breach of any of the Tax Warranties or already
under Section 6.2(a) in respect of the same liability; or
(iii) it
has
been paid on or before Closing at no cost to the Buyer Parties including for
the
avoidance of doubt, in circumstances such that there is no corresponding
decrease in the net assets, including cash, of the Company;
(iv) it
shall
have arisen in consequence of any act, omission or transaction of the Company
and/or the Buyer Parties after Closing outside the ordinary course of business
of the Company as at present carried on and which the Buyer Parties knew or
ought reasonably to have known would give rise to the liability in question
other than any of the following:-
(a) an
act
carried out pursuant to a legally binding obligation entered into before
Closing;
(b) an
act
which the Company was required to do by any legislation (whether relating to
Tax
or otherwise); or
(c) any
disclosure to a Governmental Authority;
(v) it
would
not have arisen or is increased as a result of any failure by the Company or
the
Buyer Parties to comply with its obligations under this Agreement;
(vi) it
would
not have arisen but for the passing of or any change in, after the date of
Closing, any law, rule, regulation, interpretation of the law or administrative
practice of any government, governmental department, agency, or regulatory
body
or an increase in the rate of Tax or any imposition of Tax announced after
Closing and not actually or prospectively in force at the date of this Agreement
or any withdrawal of any extra statutory concession after such
date;
(vii) it
would
not have arisen but for:
(A) any
claim, election, surrender or disclaimer made, or notice or consent given,
or
any other thing done after the date of Closing (other than one the making,
giving or doing of which was taken into account in computing any provision
or
reserve for Tax in the Last Accounts) under or in connection with the provisions
of any taxation statutes by the Buyer Parties or the Company or any member
of
the Buyers Affiliates; or
(B) the
failure or omission by the Company to make any claim, election, surrender or
disclaimer, or give any notice or consent or do any other thing the making,
giving or doing of which was taken into account in computing any provision
or
reserve for Tax in the Last Accounts where the Buyer Parties were aware or
should reasonably have been expected to be aware that such claim, election,
surrender, disclaimer, notice or consent was required to avoid a claim arising
under Section 6.2(a);
52
(viii) it
would
not have arisen but for some act, omission, transaction or arrangement carried
out at the written request or with the written approval of the Buyer Parties
prior to Closing or which was expressly authorised by this
Agreement;
(ix) any
Relief (other than an Accounts Relief or a Buyer's Relief) is available to
the
Company to set against or otherwise mitigate the Liability for Tax in question
or would be available on the making of an appropriate claim;
(x) it
arises
as a result of any change after Closing in any accounting policy (including
the
length of any accounting period for Tax purposes), any Tax or accounting basis
or practice of the Company save where such change is necessary to comply with
generally accepted accounting practice as it applies to the Company at
Closing;
(xi) it
would
not have arisen but for a cessation of or any change in the nature or conduct
of
any trade carried on by the Company being a cessation or change occurring on
or
after Closing;
(xii) it
arises
as a result of the Company ceasing on or after Closing to be eligible for the
small companies rate of Tax;
(xiii) any
amount in respect of such Liability for Tax has been recovered under the Tax
Warranties or otherwise under this Agreement (or in either case would have
been
so recovered but for a threshold or de minimis provision limiting liability)
or
the Sellers have made payment in respect of such Liability for Tax pursuant
to
sections 767A and 767AA of the TA 1988 or any other provision in the United
Kingdom or elsewhere imposing liability on the Sellers for Tax primarily
chargeable against the Company;
(xiv) the
liability of the Covenantor in respect thereof is limited or restricted pursuant
to the provisions of Section 7.2 of this Agreement.
(c) No
claim
shall be made in connection with Section 6.2(a) or under the Tax Warranties
unless the claim has been notified in writing to the Sellers before the sixth
anniversary following the end of the accounting period in which Closing falls
PROVIDED THAT this Section 6.2(c) shall not apply where a Governmental Authority
can assess the Company in respect of the Tax to which the claim relates after
such date because of fraudulent or negligent conduct of the Sellers or the
Company prior to Closing.
(d) Any
amount which the Sellers are obliged to pay to the Buyer Parties under this
Section 6.2 shall be paid in cleared funds on or before the following dates
which shall be its due date for payment:-
(i) to
the
extent that a Liability for Tax involves a liability of the Company to make
an
actual payment or increased payment of Tax, the amount of such payment or
increased payment;
53
(ii) to
the
extent that a Liability for Tax involves a liability of the Company to make
a
payment or increased payment of Tax which would have arisen but for being
satisfied, avoided or reduced by any Accounts Relief or Buyer's Relief, the
amount of Tax which the Accounts Relief or Buyer's Relief in fact
saves;
(iii) to
the
extent that a Liability for Tax involves the disallowance, loss, clawback,
reduction, restriction or modification of any Accounts Relief (other than a
right to a repayment of Tax) the amount of Tax which the use of the Accounts
Relief would have saved had the Accounts Relief been used by the Company in
the
period in which the relevant Governmental Authority first disallows, withdraws,
claws-back, reduces, restricts or modifies the Accounts Relief or threatens
to
do so (irrespective of whether the Company then had sufficient profits or was
otherwise in a position actually to use the Accounts Relief); and
(iv) to
the
extent that a Liability for Tax involves the disallowance or reduction by any
Governmental Authority of a right to a repayment of Tax, the amount of the
repayment so disallowed or lost.
(e) If
any
amount payable by either party under this Article 6 is not paid on or before
the
due date for payment, that sum shall carry interest at 2% above the base rate
of
Barclays Bank plc from the due date until payment.
(f) Any
payment made under this Article 6 between the parties shall be treated as an
adjustment to the consideration paid by the Acquisition Sub under this Agreement
for the shares of the Company.
SECTION
6.3
Over-Provisions
and Reliefs
(a) If
the
auditors for the time being of the Company shall on or before the seventh
anniversary of Closing determine (as experts and not as arbitrators and at
the
request and expense of the Sellers) that any provision for Tax (excluding any
provision for deferred Tax) in the Last Accounts has proved to be an
over-provision, then the amount of such over-provision calculated in accordance
with Section 6.3(b) shall be dealt with in accordance with
Section 6.3(d).
(c) If
the
auditors for the time being of the Company shall determine (at the request
and
expense of the Sellers) that any Liability for Tax which has resulted in a
payment having been made by the Sellers under this Section 6.3 has given rise
to
a Relief for the Company or the Buyer Parties (other than an Accounts Relief
or
a Buyer's Relief) which would not otherwise have arisen, then, as and when
the
liability of the Company or the Buyer Parties to make an actual payment of
or in
respect of Tax is reduced by reason of that Relief (after taking account of
the
effect of all other Reliefs that are or become available to the Company or
the
Buyer Parties including any Relief derived from a subsequent accounting period)
the amount by which that liability is so reduced shall be dealt with in
accordance with Section 6.3(d).
54
(d) Where
it
is provided under Section 6.3(a) or 6.3(c) that any amount (the
"Relevant
Amount")
is to
be dealt with in accordance with this Section 6.3(d):-
(i) the
Relevant Amount shall first be set off against any payment then due from the
Sellers under Section 6.2; and
(ii) to
the
extent there is an excess, a refund shall be made to the Sellers of any previous
payment or payments made by the Sellers under Section 6.2 and not previously
refunded under this Section up to the amount of such excess; and
(iii) to
the
extent that the excess referred to in Section 6.3(d)(ii) is not exhausted
under that Section, the remainder of that excess shall be carried forward and
set off against any future payment or payments which become due from the Sellers
under Section 6.2.
(e) Where
any
such determination as is mentioned in Section 6.3(a) or 6.3(c) has been
made the Buyer Parties or the Company may on or before the seventh anniversary
of Closing request the auditors for the time being of the Company to review
such
determination (at the expense of the party making the request) in the light
of
all relevant circumstances, including any facts which have become known only
since such determination, and to certify whether such determination remains
correct or whether, in the light of those circumstances, the amount that was
the
subject of such determination should be amended.
(f) If
the
auditors determine under Section 6.3(e) that an amount previously
determined should be amended, that amended amount shall be substituted for
the
purposes of Section 6.3(d) in place of the amount originally determined,
and such adjusting payment (if any) as may be required by virtue of the
above-mentioned substitution shall forthwith be made by the Sellers or, as
the
case may be, by the Buyer Parties to the Sellers.
SECTION
6.4 Third
Party Claims
(a) Where
the
Sellers have made a payment in full satisfaction of a liability under Section
6.2 and the Buyer Parties or the Company are entitled to recover from any third
party (including a Governmental Authority but excluding the Buyer Parties or
any
member of the Buyer's Group) any sum in respect of the matter to which the
payment made by the Sellers relates, the Buyer Parties shall or shall procure
that the Company shall (at the request and expense of the Sellers and upon
the
Sellers indemnifying the Buyer Parties and the Company to their reasonable
satisfaction against all reasonable third party costs or expenses which may
thereby be properly incurred) promptly notify the Sellers of such entitlement
and subject to Section 6.4(c), take such action as the Sellers may
reasonably request to enforce such recovery against the person in
question.
(b) The
Buyer
Parties shall account to the Sellers for any sums recovered (within 7 days
of
such recovery) in accordance with Section 6.4(a) (including any interest or
repayment supplement paid by such a person) net of Tax (if any) on such sum
and
after deduction of any third party costs or expenses reasonably and properly
incurred by the Buyer Parties or the Company in recovering such
sum.
55
(c) The
Buyer
Parties as the Company shall not be obliged to take any action pursuant to
Section 6.4(a) which they consider, acting in good faith, is materially
prejudicial to the Tax position or business of the Buyer Parties or the
Company.
SECTION
6.5 Refunds
(a) The
Buyer
Parties shall promptly notify the Sellers of any repayment or right to a
repayment of Tax which the Company is or becomes entitled to or receives in
respect of an Event occurring in a period prior to Closing, where or to the
extent that such right or repayment was not included in the Last Accounts as
an
asset (Refund).
(b) Any
Refund obtained (less any reasonable third party costs of obtaining it) shall
be
paid within 7 days by the Buyer Parties and/or the Company to the
Sellers.
SECTION
6.6 Resistance
of claims
(a)
|
If
the Buyer Parties or the Company become aware of any Claim for Tax
which
may result in the Buyer Parties having a claim against the Sellers
under
this Article 6 (or which would so result in any such case but for
the
provisions of Section 7.2(a)) the Buyer Parties shall give notice
to the
Sellers in the manner provided by this Agreement and in any event
at least
21 days prior to the expiry of any time limit in which an appeal
against
the Claim for Tax has to be made.
|
(b)
|
The
Sellers shall be entitled at their sole discretion (but after consultation
with the Buyer Parties) to resist such Claim for Tax in the name
of the
Buyer or the Company or any of them but at the expense of the Sellers
and
to have the conduct of any appeal or incidental negotiations provided
that:
|
(i)
|
the
Sellers have indemnified and secured the Buyer Parties and the Company
against an loss, liability, costs or damages which may be incurred
by them
as a result of any actions taken by the Sellers pursuant to this
Section
6.6;
|
(ii)
|
the
Buyer Parties shall be kept informed of all relevant material matters
pertaining to the Claim for Tax;
and
|
(iii)
|
no
material written communication pertaining to the Claim for Tax (and
in
particular no proposal for or consent to any settlement or compromise
thereof) shall be transmitted to H M Revenue & Customs or other
Governmental Authority without the same having been submitted to
and
approved by the Buyer Parties such approval not to be unreasonably
withheld or delayed.
|
(c) |
The
Buyer Parties agree to take and procure that the Company shall take
such
action and give such information and assistance as the Sellers may
reasonably request to resist, appeal or compromise any Claim for
Tax
notified to the Sellers in accordance with Section
6.6(a) provided that:-
|
(i) |
the
Sellers have indemnified and secured the Buyer Parties and the Company
to
the
reasonable
satisfaction of the Buyer Parties against any loss, liability, costs
or
damages
which may thereby be incurred including the Tax the subject matter
of the
claim;
|
56
(ii)
|
the
Buyer Parties or the Company shall not be obliged to comply with
any
request of the Sellers that involves contesting any Claim for Tax
before
any tribunal, court or appellate body unless leading Tax counsel
instructed by agreement between the Buyer Parties and the Sellers
(and
with the Buyer Parties approving the Instructions to Counsel and
being
invited to any conference with Counsel) and at the sole expense of
the
Sellers have agreed that the course of action will on the balance
of
probabilities succeed;
|
(iii)
|
the
Buyer Parties or the Company shall not be obliged to take any step
which
it reasonably considers, acting in good faith, would be materially
prejudicial to the Tax affairs of the Buyer Parties or the Company
or
their dealings with any Tax Authority or would otherwise materially
prejudice the commercial position of the Buyer Parties or the Company;
and
|
(iv)
|
the
provisions of this Section shall not apply to any claim under Section
6.2(a) where any Governmental Authority alleges fraudulent or negligent
conduct or conduct involving dishonesty on the part of the Company
or any
person acting on its behalf in relation to the matter giving rise
to the
claim.
|
(d)
|
A
Seller's rights under this Section 6.6 cease if that Seller is declared
bankrupt.
|
(e) |
If
the Sellers do not request the Buyer to take any action under Section
6.6(c) within the earlier
of 21 Business Days of notice to the Sellers or 7 Business Days before
the
expiry of
any relevant time limit or no action is required to be taken by virtue
of
any of the provisions
of Section 6.6(c) the Buyer Parties shall be free to satisfy or settle
the
relevant Claim
for Tax on such terms as it may in its absolute discretion think
fit.
|
(f) |
The
Sellers agree that Xxxxx Xxxxxx will act as their representative
in giving
instructions
and requests for action under this Section 6.6 and the Buyer Parties
shall
be
entitled to rely on the instructions and requests given by Xxxxx
Xxxxxx
alone.
|
(g) |
The
Buyer Parties shall give and shall procure that the Company gives
the
Sellers all reasonable co-operation, access and assistance, technical
or
otherwise, for the purpose of resisting such Claim for
Tax.
|
(h)
|
The
compliance of the Buyer Parties and/or the Company with the provisions
of
this Section 6.6 shall not be a condition precedent to the liability
of
the Sellers under Section 6.2(a) or the Tax
Warranties.
|
SECTION
6.7 Tax
returns
(a)
|
The
Buyer Parties or their duly authorised agents shall (subject to section
6.7(b)) be responsible for and have the conduct of preparing, submitting
and agreeing all Tax Returns for all accounting period beginning
on or
before Closing subject to such Tax Return being submitted in draft
form to
the Sellers or their duly authorised agent for comment a reasonable
time
before the same is due to be sent to the relevant Governmental Authority.
The Sellers or their agent shall comment within 21 days of such submission
and if the Buyer Parties have not received comments within that period,
the Sellers or their agents shall be deemed to have approved such
draft
computations. If the Sellers or their agents have any comments or
suggestions, the Buyer Parties or their agents shall not unreasonably
refuse to adopt such comments or suggestions provided always that
nothing
herein shall oblige the Buyer Parties to submit any computation or
other
document unless the Buyer Parties are satisfied that the same is
accurate
and complete in all material respects. The Sellers and the Buyer
Parties
shall respectively afford (or procure to be afforded) to the other
or
their duly authorised agents such information and assistance as may
reasonably be required to prepare, submit and agree such Tax
Return.
|
57
(b) |
In
relation to any action referred to in section 6.7(a), the Buyer Parties
shall:
|
(i) |
keep
the Sellers informed of all matters relating thereto and deliver
to the
Sellers copies
of all material correspondence with any Governmental Authority relating
thereto;
and
|
(ii) |
submit
to the Sellers for comments all material correspondence and documents
which
it intends to submit to the Governmental Authority and take into
account
all
such reasonable comments as the Sellers may
make.
|
SECTION
6.8 Buyer
Parties’ covenant
(a) |
The
Buyer Parties hereby covenant with the Sellers to pay to the Sellers
by
way of adjustment
to the consideration for the sale of the Shares, an amount equal
to:-
|
(i) |
any
liability for Tax for which the Sellers or any other person failing
within
section 767A(2) or 767AA(4) of ICTA becomes liable by virtue of the
operation of sections 767A, 767AA and 767B of ICTA in circumstances
where
the taxpayer company (as referred to in section 767A(1) of ICTA)
and/or
the transferred company (as referred to in section 767AA(1) of ICTA)
is
the Company;
|
(ii)
|
any
liability or increased liability for Tax of the Sellers which arises
as a
consequence of the Company ceasing after Closing to be resident in
the
United Kingdom for the purposes of any Tax; and
|
(iii)
|
any
other liability for Tax for which the Sellers become liable as a
result of
the failure by the Company or any member of the Buyer Parties’ group
undertaking to discharge the same.
|
(b) |
The
covenant contained in section 6.8(a)
shall:
|
(i) extend
to
all costs reasonably and properly incurred by the Sellers or such other person
in connection with such liability for Tax under section 6.8(a);
58
(ii) not
apply
to any liability for Tax to the extent that the Buyer Parties could claim
payment in respect of it under section 6.2 or could claim but for the provisions
of Section 7.2(a); and
(iii) apply
mutatis mutandis to any liability for Tax for which the Sellers or any other
person is liable as a result of the application in any jurisdiction other than
the United Kingdom of any rule of law or legislation equivalent to that
mentioned in section 6.8(a)(i).
(c) If
the
Buyer Parties make a payment under this Section the Sellers agree:-
(i) to
discharge, or procure the discharge of, the liability for Tax in question
promptly and to indemnify the Buyer for any liability falling on the Buyer
Parties or the Company as a result of a failure to do so;
(ii) not
to
enforce its statutory right of recovery under Section 767(2) of ICTA in respect
of the liability in question.
(d) Section
6.2(d) and 6.6 of this Article 6 (due date for payment and conduct of disputes)
shall apply to the covenants contained in this section 6.8 as they apply to
the
covenants contained in section 6.2, replacing references to the Sellers by
the
Buyer Parties (and vice versa) and making any other necessary
modifications.
SECTION
6.9 Gross
up
(a) All
sums
payable by either party to the other under this Article 6 shall be paid free
and
clear of all deductions or withholdings (including Tax) unless the deduction
or
withholding is required by law, in which event, or in the event that the
recipient shall incur any Liability for Tax chargeable or assessable in respect
of any payment pursuant to this deed, the payer shall pay such additional
amounts as shall be required to ensure that the net amount received and retained
by the recipient (after Tax) will equal the full amount which would have been
received and retained by it had no such deduction or withholding been made
and/or no such Liability for Tax been incurred and, in applying this section
6.9, no account shall be taken of the extent to which any Liability for Tax
may
be mitigated or offset by any Relief available to the recipient so that where
such Relief is available the additional amount payable hereunder shall be the
amount which would have been payable in the absence of such
availability.
(b) If,
following the payment of an additional amount under section 6.9(a) above, the
recipient subsequently obtains a saving, reduction, credit or payment in respect
of the deduction or withholding giving rise to such additional amount, the
recipient shall pay to the payer a sum equal to the amount of such saving,
reduction, credit or payment (in each case to the extent of the additional
amount) such payment to be made within seven days of the receipt of the saving,
reduction, credit or payment as the case may be.
59
ARTICLE 7
SELLERS’
LIMITATIONS ON LIABILITY
SECTION 7.1.
Survival
of Warranties.
(a) This
Agreement and in particular (but without limitation) Article 3 (Warranties)
and
Article 6 (Tax Matters) in so far as any of its provisions remain to be, or
are
capable of being, performed or observed, shall remain in full force and effect
after Completion.
(b) Each
of
the Warranties shall be interpreted as a separate and independent Warranty
so
that the Buyer Parties shall have a separate claim and right of action in
respect of every breach of each Warranty.
SECTION 7.2.
Limitations
on liability.
(a) The
Sellers will not be liable in respect of any claim for breach of the Warranties
(other than the Warranties in Section 3.2) ("Claim")
unless:
(i) the
amount of the individual Claim including any claim under Section 6.2(a) (or
series of related Claims including any claims under Section 6.2(a) with respect
to related facts or circumstances) exceeds $2,500; and
(ii) the
aggregate amount of all such Claims exceeds $70,000 (in which event the Sellers
will be liable for the whole amount of such Claims and not just the excess
above
$70,000).
(b) Other
than as expressly stated in this Article 7, the total aggregate amount of the
liability of the Sellers in respect of all Claims including any claim under
Section 6.2(a) will be limited to the aggregate of the Initial Purchase Price,
the 1st
Deferred
Purchase Price, the 2nd
Deferred
Purchase Price and the 3rd Deferred Purchase Price.
(c) The
Purchaser shall be entitled to set off the amount of a substantiated claim
against the 3rd
Deferred
Purchase Price. For the purpose of this Section 7.2 (c) a substantiated claim
is
one which a barrister of at least 10 years call agreed between the Buyer and
the
Sellers has provided an opinion in writing confirming that the Claim is more
likely to succeed than not. No other right of set off shall apply. In the event
that the Buyer and the Sellers cannot agree on the identity of such a barrister
within a period of 14 days, then the either the Buyer or the Sellers (or all
of
them) shall be entitled to request that such a barrister be nominated by the
President of the Bar Council of England and Wales.
60
(d) Except
in
the case of fraud or wilful non-disclosure on the Sellers’ part, the Sellers
will be under no liability in respect of any Claim unless the Buyer has given
to
the Sellers written particulars of the breach:
(i) on
or
before two years after the Closing Date if the claim relates to any of the
Warranties, other than the Tax Warranties set out in Section 3.10 and Article
6,
inclusive;
(ii) on
or
before six years and six months after the Closing Date if the claim relates
to
any such Tax Warranties; and
(iii) proceedings
have been issued and served against Sellers within twelve months of the Sellers
receiving the written particulars referred to in section 7.2 (d) (i) and section
7.2 (d) (ii).
(e) The
Sellers will have no liability in respect of any Claim (excluding a Tax Warranty
claim) to the extent that:
(i) the
liability arises or is increased as a result of the passing of any legislation
or the making of any subordinate legislation, with retrospective effect;
or
(ii) the
liability is increased by any negligent act of the Buyer after the date of
this
Agreement.
(f) The
liability of the Sellers for any such Claim (excluding a Tax Warranty claim)
will be reduced or extinguished to the extent that the Company successfully
claims under a policy of insurance held by the Company after Closing, where
the
terms of such policy are similar to a policy of insurance held by the Company
before Closing. The Buyer will procure that the Company considers in good faith
whether to claim under any such policy of insurance to seek to recover all
such
claims from the insurers.
(g) The
Sellers will not be liable in respect of any Claim (excluding a Tax Warranty
claim) to the extent that it is attributable to:
(i) any
voluntary act, omission, transaction or arrangement carried out at the written
request of the Buyer before the Closing Date;
(ii) any
voluntary act, omission, transaction or arrangement carried out by the Sellers
and/or the Company in accordance with a written request from the Buyer before
the Closing Date
(h) If
the
liability of the Sellers or the Company in respect of any Claim is contingent
only, the Sellers will not be under any obligation to make any payment in
respect of the claim until the liability ceases to be contingent and the time
limit set out in paragraph (c) above shall not apply until such contingent
liability becomes an actual liability, references in paragraph (c) to the
"Closing Date" being taken for the purposes of this paragraph (g) to be
references to the date on which such contingent liability becomes an actual
liability.
61
(i) The
Warranties (excluding the Tax Warranties) are given subject to and are qualified
by:
(i) any
matters specifically referred to in this agreement and/or fairly and accurately
disclosed in the Warrantors Disclosure Schedule (for the avoidance of doubt,
"fair" disclosure meaning disclosure with sufficient detail to enable the Buyer
to understand the nature, scope and, where applicable, the quantum of any
liability relating to the matter disclosed).
(ii) any
matters for which specific allowance or provision has been made in the Financial
Statements and the Management Accounts save in respect of the Warranties
contained in paragraph 3.6 of Article 3 (Financial Statements).
(iii) any
matter which could be revealed by the Buyer making searches and enquiries of
the
local authorities, drainage and water suppliers and the coal authority in
connection with the Properties (other than the property at 000 Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxx,
Xxxxxx Xxxx, Xxxxxx XX0X 0XX).
(j) Nothing
in this section 7 will derogate from the Buyer’s common law obligation to
mitigate any loss which it suffers in consequence of a breach of any term of
this Agreement.
(k) In
calculating the liability of the Sellers for any breach of the Warranties
(excluding the Tax Warranties) there will be taken into account the amount
by
which any Tax for which the Company is now or will be liable, is reduced or
extinguished as a result of the matter giving rise to such
liability.
(l) The
Sellers will not be liable in respect of any Claim (excluding a Tax Warranty
claim) if the breach would not have arisen but for:
(i) any
change in the basis of, method of calculation of, or increase in the rates
of
Tax coming into effect after the date of this Agreement with retrospective
effect;
(ii) any
assessment of Tax arising as a result of a transaction in the ordinary course
of
business of the Company since the date of the Last Accounts;
(iii) the
failure on the part of the Buyer or the Company to make any claim, election,
surrender or disclaimer or give notice or consent to do any other thing under
the provisions of any Tax laws after the Closing Date; or
(iv) any
winding up or cessation of any trade or business of the Company after the
Closing Date.
62
SECTION 7.3.
Conduct
of litigation.
In
relation to any Claim in the Buyer will and will procure that the Company will:
(a) within
ten Business Days of the Buyer or the Company becoming aware of such a claim
or
circumstances likely to give rise to such a claim, notify each of the Sellers
in
writing specifying in reasonable detail to the extent then available the nature
of the potential liability and, so far as is practicable, the likely amount
of
such claim; provided further that no delay on the part of the Buyer or Company
in timely notifying the Sellers shall relieve the Sellers from any obligation
under this Agreement except to the extent the Sellers are actually prejudiced
thereby;
(b) subject
to the Sellers entering into a confidentiality undertaking in a form acceptable
to the Buyer (acting reasonably) give such information and access to personnel,
premises, documents and records to the Sellers and their duly authorised
representatives and professional advisers as the Sellers may reasonably request
in order to enable the Sellers to take such action as is referred to in
paragraphs (d) and (e) below;
(c) subject
to the Sellers entering into a confidentiality undertaking in a form acceptable
to the Buyer (acting reasonably) permit the Sellers and those representatives
and advisers to make copies (at the Sellers’ cost) of those records and
information;
(d) take
such
action and institute such proceedings and give such information and assistance,
as the Sellers may reasonably request to:-
(i) dispute,
resist, appeal, compromise, defend, remedy or mitigate the claim;
or
(ii) enforce
against any person the rights of the Company in relation to the claim;
and
(e) in
connection with any proceedings related to the claim use professional advisers
nominated by the Buyer and, if the Sellers so request, permit the Sellers to
have exclusive conduct of the negotiations and/or proceedings,
paragraphs
(d) and (e) above in each case being on the basis that the Sellers shall
indemnify the Buyer and the Company in respect of all reasonably incurred costs
and expenses as a result of any request or nomination by the Sellers, save
that
the Buyer is not obligated to permit the Sellers to have (or to continue to
have) conduct of the negotiations and/or proceedings in circumstances where
the
Buyer acting reasonably considers that it is not in the commercial interests
of
the Buyer and/or the Company and the said paragraphs (d) and (e) are subject
always to the Buyer's right to retain or take over the exclusive conduct of
any
such matters as it sees fit.
SECTION 7.4.
Buyer’s
remedies.
(a)
The
Buyer
irrevocably and unconditionally waives any right it may have to xxx the Sellers
or any of them in misrepresentation or to rescind this agreement, in either
case
for any non-fraudulent misrepresentation made by or on behalf of a Seller,
whether or not contained in this agreement or to terminate this agreement for
any other reason. The Buyer's sole remedy in respect of any such
misrepresentation is an action for breach of contract if and to the extent
that
the misrepresentation in question constitutes a breach of the
Warranties.
63
(b) The
Buyer
acknowledges that the Buyer's solicitors have explained to it the effect of
clause 7.4(a) above and the Buyer accepts that clause 7.4(a) above is reasonable
in all the circumstances.
(c) The
Sellers will indemnify the Buyer against all damages, costs, expenses or other
liabilities which the Buyer may be awarded or may incur either before or after
the commencement of any action in connection with:
(i) the
settlement of any claim that any of the Warranties set out in Section 3.2(a),
(b) and (c) are untrue or misleading or have been breached or that any sum
is
payable under clause 7.3.
(ii) the
enforcement of any such settlement or judgment.
(d) Without
limiting the rights of the Buyer Parties or their ability to claim damages
on
any basis, if there is a breach of any of the Warranties or any of the
Warranties is untrue or misleading, and:-
(i) the
Company incurs or becomes subject to a liability or an increase in any liability
which it would not have incurred or been subject to had the breach not occurred;
or
(ii) the
value
of any asset of the Company is less or becomes less than the value would have
been had the breach not occurred,
then
the
Sellers undertake to the Buyer (for itself and as trustee of the benefit of
this
paragraph (d) for the Company) to pay to the Buyer (as the Buyer elects) in
cash
on demand a sum equal to:-
(iii) the
liability or increased liability or, the reduction in the value of the asset
(as
appropriate); or
(iv) the
reduction in the value of the Shares caused by the breach.
SECTION 7.5.
Exclusion
of limitations in case of fraudulent or negligent
non-disclosure
None
of
the limitations contained in Article 7 apply to any Claim where there has been
fraud or negligent non-disclosure on the part of the Sellers.
SECTION 7.6:
Representative
of the Sellers
The
Sellers agree that Xxxxx Xxxxxx will act as their representative in giving
instructions and requests for action under this section and the Buyer Parties
shall be entitled to rely on the instructions and requests given by Xxxxx Xxxxxx
alone.
64
ARTICLE 8
MISCELLANEOUS
SECTION 8.1.
Entire
Agreement; Assignment; Amendments and Waivers.
(a) This
Agreement (including the Warrantors Disclosure Schedule), and the Related
Agreements constitute the entire agreement between the parties hereto with
respect to the subject matter hereof and thereof and supersede all other prior
agreements and understandings both written and oral between the parties with
respect to the subject matter hereof and thereof. No representation, warranty,
promise, inducement or statement of intention has been made by any party that
is
not embodied in this Agreement or such other documents, and none of the parties
shall be bound by, or be liable for, any alleged representation, warranty,
promise, inducement or statement of intention not embodied herein or
therein.
(b) Neither
party may assign, transfer, sub-licence or otherwise dispose of its rights
or
obligations under this Agreement in whole or part without the prior written
consent of the other party which may be granted or withheld in that party’s sold
discretion; provided,
however,
that
Buyer may assign any or all of its rights and obligations under this Agreement
to any subsidiary of Buyer.
(c) This
Agreement may not be amended or modified, and any of the terms, warranties,
or
conditions hereof may not be waived, except by a written instrument executed
by
all of the parties hereto, or in the case of a waiver, by the party waiving
compliance. Any waiver by any party of any condition, or of the breach of any
provision, term, or warranty contained in this Agreement, in any one or more
instances, shall not be deemed to be nor construed as a further or continuing
waiver of any such condition or of the breach of any other provision, term,
or
warranty of this Agreement.
SECTION 8.2.
Validity.
If any
provision of this Agreement or the application thereof to any person or
circumstance is held invalid or unenforceable, then the remainder of this
Agreement and the application of such provision to other persons or
circumstances shall not be affected thereby and to such end the provisions
of
this Agreement are agreed to be severable.
SECTION 8.3.
Notices.
(a) All
notices, requests, claims, demands and other communications hereunder shall
be
in writing and shall be given by delivery in person, by facsimile or by first
class pre-paid recorded delivery post (air mail if overseas) to each other
party
as follows:
if to Buyer or Acquisition Sub: |
00
Xxxxxx Xxxx
Xxxxxxxx,
XX 00000
Fax:
(000) 000-0000
Attention:
Xxxxxx Xxxxxx, Chairman
|
with a copy to: | Xxxxxxx Xxxxx, P.C.
0000
Xxxxxxx Xxxxx
Xxxxxxxxx,
XX 00000-0000
Fax:
(000) 000-0000
Attention:
Xxxxx X. Xxxxxxxxx, Esq.
|
65
and
Pinsent
Masons
0
Xxxx Xxx
Xxxxx
XX0
0XX
Attention:
Xxxxxx Xxxxx, Esq.
|
|
if to Sellers to: |
Xxxxx
Xxxxxx
00
Xxxxxx Xxxxxx
Xxxxxx
X0
0XX
|
Fax:
+ 00 000 000 0000
Attention:
Xxxxx Xxxxxx
|
|
with a copy to: |
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxx
00
Xxxxx Xxx
Xxxxxx
WIK 6DS
Fax:
00 00 0000 0000
Attention:
Xxxx XxXxxxxxx, Esq.
|
or
to
such other address as the person to whom notice is given may have previously
furnished to the others in writing in the manner set forth above.
(b) Subject
to (c), any notice or other communication shall be deemed to have been
served:-
(i) if
delivered personally, when left at the address referred to in Clause
8.3(a);
(ii) if
sent
by pre-paid recorded delivery post (other than air mail), two days after posting
it; or
(iii) if
sent
by air mail, six days after posting it.
(c) If
a
notice is given or deemed given at a time or on a date which is not a Business
Day, it shall be deemed to have been given on the next Business
Day.
SECTION 8.4.
Governing
Law, Forum Selection, Jurisdiction.
(a) this
Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of
England and Wales without regard or giving effect to the principles of conflicts
of law thereof.
66
(b) all
disputes or controversies (whether of law of fact) of any nature whatsoever
arising from or relating to this Agreement and the transactions contemplated
hereby shall be decided by arbitration by the International Centre for Dispute
Resolution (“ICDR”)
of the
American Arbitration Association (the “Association”)
in
accordance with the rules and regulations of the ICDR, except that either party
shall have the right to seek equitable relief independently, including, but
not
limited to, temporary restraining orders, provisional and/or permanent
injunctive relief, specific performance or any other equitable remedy as may
be
appropriate to enforce or prevent the violation of, any of the terms and
conditions of this Agreements.
In
the
event a dispute or controversy arises and the same cannot be resolved prior
to
the elapse of any prescribed negotiation period, either party may then submit
the dispute to the ICDR located at 0000 Xxxxxxxx, Xxx Xxxx, X. Y. for
arbitration in accordance with, and subject to, the rules of the ICDR then
in
effect, and, specifically, those procedures relating to Large, Complex Disputes.
The parties agree that the arbitration shall be conducted before three (3)
arbitrators selected in accordance with the ICDR Rules. Additionally, the
parties agree that prior to the conduct of hearings, they will cooperate in
the
exchange of documents, exhibits and information pursuant to detailed demands
therefor, and such other discovery, including a limited number of depositions,
as they may agree upon in writing or the arbitrators may deem appropriate in
the
circumstances after a Preliminary Hearing before them is held. The decision
of a
majority of the arbitrators shall be binding upon all parties, and a judgment
or
decree upon the decision rendered by the arbitrators may be entered in any
court
of competent jurisdiction. Each party required to participate shall be
responsible for its pro rata share of the fees and costs of arbitration,
including, but not limited to, the cost of a full stenographic record of the
proceedings which the parties hereby agree in advance will be required;
provided, however, that the arbitrators shall be authorized, but not required,
to award legal fees and costs to the prevailing party, based upon their
consideration of the merits of the claims, the merits of the defences, and
the
results obtained from the arbitration.
At
the
request of either the Buyer or the Seller, arbitration proceedings shall be
conducted confidentially, in which case all documents, testimony and records
shall be received, heard and maintained by the arbitrators in confidence under
seal, available for the inspection only by the ICDR, the parties and their
respective attorneys and experts, each of whom shall agree in writing to receive
such information confidentially and to maintain such information in confidence.
Hearings in the arbitration proceeding must be scheduled to commence actually
on
a date within one hundred twenty (120) days after the selection of the
arbitrators. Such Hearings must be concluded within ninety (90) days thereafter
(the “Hearing Period”), absent agreement by the parties in writing to extend the
Hearing Period for an additional period not to exceed sixty (60) days.
The
Arbitrators shall be required to issue a reasoned award within sixty (60) days
after the close of the Hearings and the submission of Post Hearing Memoranda,
if
any.
(c) Except
with respect to the matters to be resolved through arbitration pursuant to
Section 8.4(b), each of the parties irrevocably agrees that the Courts of
England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any
suit, claim, proceeding or action relating to or arising in connection with
equitable matters as provided in Section 8.4(b) above and for such limited
purpose irrevocably submits to the jurisdiction of such Courts with respect
thereto. Each party agrees that a final non-appealable judgment in any such
suit, action or proceeding brought in such a court shall be conclusive and
binding.
67
SECTION
8.5. WAIVER
OF JURY TRIAL.
TO THE
EXTENT NOT PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW WHICH CANNOT BE WAIVED, EACH OF THE
PARTIES HERETO HEREBY WAIVES, AND UNDERTAKES THAT IT WILL NOT ASSERT (WHETHER
AS
PLAINTIFF, DEFENDANT OR OTHERWISE) ANY RIGHT TO TRIAL BY JURY IN RESPECT OF
ANY
ISSUE OR ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR BASED UPON THIS AGREEMENT OR ANY RELATED
AGREEMENT OR THE SUBJECT MATTER HEREOF, OR THEREOF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED
WITH
OR RELATED OR INCIDENTAL TO THE TRANSACTIONS CONTEMPLATED HEREBY, IN EACH CASE
WHETHER NOW EXISTING OR HEREAFTER ARISING. ANY PARTY HERETO MAY FILE AN ORIGINAL
COUNTERPART OR A COPY OF THIS SECTION 8.5 WITH ANY COURT AS WRITTEN EVIDENCE
OF
THE CONSENT OF EACH SUCH PARTY TO THE WAIVER OF ITS RIGHT TO TRIAL BY
JURY.
SECTION 8.6.
Interpretation.
(a) In
this
Agreement, reference to:-
(i) a
Clause
or Schedule is a reference to a clause of or schedule to this
Agreement;
(ii) a
document "in
the agreed form"
is a
reference to a document in the form approved and, for the purposes of
identification only, signed by or on behalf of the Buyer, the Acquisition Sub
and the Sellers;
(iii) a
statutory provision includes a reference to that provision as modified,
replaced, amended and/or re-enacted from time to time (before or after the
date
of this Agreement) and any prior or subsequent subordinate legislation made
under it and, where the context so requires, references to an Article of the
EC
Treaty shall include a reference to the equivalent Article in the EC Treaty
prior to its re-numbering by the Treaty of Amsterdam;
(iv) "costs"
includes a reference to costs, charges and expenses of every
description;
(v) a
"subsidiary",
"holding
company"
and
"body
corporate"
has the
respective meaning set out in sections 736 and 740 of CA 1985;
(vi) a
"company"
has the
meaning set out in section 735 of CA 1985;
(vii) a
"subsidiary
undertaking"
or a
"parent
undertaking"
has the
meaning set out in sections 258 and 259 of CA 1985;
(viii) a
"group
undertaking"
has the
meaning set out in section 259 of CA 1985;
68
(ix) the
singular includes the plural and vice versa and reference to any gender includes
the other gender.
(b) The
descriptive headings herein are inserted for convenience of reference only
and
are not intended to be part of or to affect the meaning or interpretation of
this Agreement.
(c) The
Schedules form part of this Agreement and shall be interpreted and construed
as
though they were set out in this Agreement.
(d) In
construing this Agreement the ejusdem generis principle shall not apply and
general words are not to be given a restrictive meaning because they are
followed by particular examples intended to be embraced by the general
words.
(e) Any
agreement, warranty, indemnity or undertaking on the part of two or more persons
shall, except where the contrary is stated, be deemed to be given or made by
such persons jointly and severally.
SECTION 8.7.
Third
Party Rights.
Except
as expressly provided in this Agreement, a person who is not a party to this
Agreement shall have no rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties)
Xxx
0000 to rely upon or enforce any term of this Agreement provided that this
does
not affect any right or remedy of the third party which exists or is available
apart from that Act. No party may declare itself as a trustee of the rights
under this Agreement for the benefit of any third party save as expressly
provided in this Agreement.
SECTION 8.8.
Personal
Liability.
This
Agreement shall not create or be deemed to create or permit any personal
liability or obligation on the part of any direct or indirect stockholder of
any
Seller or Buyer or any officer, director, employee, agent, representative or
investor of any party hereto, except in the event of actual fraud or wilful
misconduct by such Person.
SECTION 8.9.
Specific
Performance.
The
parties hereby acknowledge and agree that the failure of any party to perform
its agreements hereunder, including its failure to take all actions as are
necessary on its part to the consummation of the transactions contemplated
hereby, will cause irreparable injury to the other parties, for which damages,
even if available, will not be an adequate remedy. Accordingly, each party
hereby consents to the issuance of injunctive relief by any court of competent
jurisdiction to compel performance of such party's obligations and to the
granting by any court of the remedy of specific performance of its obligations
hereunder without the requirement of posting a bond.
SECTION 8.10
Disclosure
Generally.
If and
to the extent any information required to be furnished in any section of the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule is contained in this Agreement or disclosed
in
any section of the Warrantors Disclosure Schedule, such information shall be
deemed to be included in any other section of the Warrantors Disclosure Schedule
to the extent that such disclosure is specifically identified in such other
section.
SECTION 8.11
Authority
of Buyer.
69
Acquisition
Sub hereby authorizes Buyer to take any action on behalf Acquisition Sub under
this Agreement and any action so taken by Buyer on Acquisition Sub's behalf
shall for all purposes herein be deemed to have been taken by Acquisition Sub
and shall be binding upon Acquisition Sub for purposes hereof.
SECTION 8.12
Counterparts.
This
Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each of which shall
be
deemed to be an original but all of which shall constitute one and the same
agreement.
SECTION 8.13
Costs.
The
Buyer Parties and the Sellers shall pay their own costs in relation to the
negotiation, preparation, execution and implementation of this Agreement, the
Warrantors Disclosure Schedule and each of the Related Agreements. For the
avoidance of doubt, the Sellers acknowledge that their own costs in relation
to
such matters are to be met by them as individuals and not by the Company and
hereby confirm to the Buyer Parties that the Company has not paid any such
costs
to date.
[signatures
on following page]
70
IN
WITNESS WHEREOF, each of the parties has caused this Agreement to be duly
executed as a deed on its behalf as of the day and year first above
written.
Executed as a Deed (but not delivered until dated) by: NU HORIZONS ELECTRONICS CORP. | ||
Acting by Xxxx Xxxxxxxxxxx | ||
s/Xxxx Xxxxxxxxxxx | ||
Authorised
Signatory
|
||
Executed as a Deed (but not delivered until dated) by: NU HORIZONS ELECTRONICS EUROPE LIMITED | ||
Acting by two Directors or a Director and the Secretary | ||
Xxxxxx Xxxxxx | Director | |
Xxxx Xxxxxxxxxxx | Director/Secretary | |
Executed as a deed by: | ||
s/Xxxxxxx Xxxxx | ||
Name: Xxxxxxx Xxxxx | ||
As witnessed by s/AD Eden | ||
Name A D Eden | ||
Address 00 Xxxx Xxxxxxx Xxxxx Xxxxxxxx | ||
Occupation Franchise Manager |
Executed as a deed by: | |
s/Xxxxxxxx Xxxx | |
Name: Xxxxxxxx Xxxx | |
As witnessed by s/ Xxx Xxxxxx | |
Name Xxx Xxxxxx | |
Address 00 Xxxxxxxx Xxx, Xxxxxxxxxx SPA | |
Occupation Franchise Manager | |
Executed as a deed by: | |
s/Xxxxx Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx | |
Name: Xxxxx Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx | |
As witnessed by s/ X X Xxxxx | |
Name X X Xxxxx | |
Address Xxxxx House The Poplars Gatnry Leanington SPA | |
Occupation Director | |
Executed as a deed by: | |
s/Xxxxxx Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx | |
Name: Xxxxxx Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx | |
As witnessed by s/ AD Eden | |
Name AD Eden | |
Address 00 Xxxx Xxxxxxx Xxxxx, Xxxxxxxx | |
Occupation Franchising Manager | |
Executed as a deed by: | |
s/Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx | |
Name: Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx | |
As witnessed by Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxx | |
Name Xxxxxxx Rondeua | |
Address [illegible] | |
Occupation public relations | |
Executed as a deed by: | |
s/Xxxxxxx Xxxxx | |
Name: Xxxxxxx Xxxxx | |
As witnessed by Xxxxxxxx Xxxxx | |
Name Xxxxxxxx Xxxxx | |
Address Apts Binimar Calan Forcat | |
Occupation Receptionist |
Schedule
A
SELLERS
(1)
|
(2)
|
(3)
|
Names
and Addresses of Sellers
|
Number
and Class of Shares
|
Total
Consideration
|
Xxxxxxx
Xxxxx
Xxxxx
House The Poplars
Eathorpe
Leamington
Spa
Warwickshire
CV33
9DE
|
3167
Ordinary
|
|
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxx
Roseden
000
Xxxxxxxx Xxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
XX00
0XX
|
666
Ordinary
|
|
Xxxxx
Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx
00
Xxxxxx Xxxxxx
Xxxxxx
X0
0XX
|
3167
Ordinary
|
|
Xxxxxx
Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx
000
Xxxxxx Xxxx
Xxxxxxxxx
Xxxx Xxxx
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
XX00
0XX
|
70
B Ordinary
|
|
Xxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxxx
0
Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
XX00
0XX
|
70
B Ordinary
|
|
Xxxxxxx
Xxxxx
0
Xxxxxx Xxxx
Xxxxxxx
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
XX00
0XX
|
70
B Ordinary
|
Schedule
2.4
Sellers
Closing Deliveries
(a) duly
executed stock transfer forms into the name of Acquisition Sub or its nominee
in
respect of all of the Shares together with the share certificates for all of
the
Shares (or an express indemnity in a form satisfactory to the Buyer Parties
in
the case of any missing certificate);
(b) the
Certificates of Incorporation, Common Seal, Share Register and Share Certificate
Book (with any unissued share certificates) and all minute books and other
statutory books (which shall be written-up to but not including Closing) of
the
Company;
(c) powers
of
attorney from each of the Sellers in respect of voting rights attached to the
Shares in the agreed form duly executed by Sellers;
(d) a
written
resolution in the agreed form signed by each of the Sellers inter alia adopting
new articles of association for the Company together with a notice in the agreed
form signed by each of the Sellers appointing Xxxxxx Xxxxxxx Nadata and Xxxxxxx
Xxxxx Xxxxxx as directors of the Company in terms of Article 24 of such new
articles of association.
(e) letter
of
resignation from the company secretary of the Company in the agreed
form;
(f) the
Employment Agreements duly executed by the relevant Seller;
(g) a
declaration from each of the Sellers in the agreed form duly executed by the
respective Sellers;
(h) board
minutes of the Company in the agreed form approving the registration of the
transfers referred to in paragraph (a) above (subject only to due stamping)
and
the execution of the documents referred to in paragraph (e) above. Revoking
all
existing authorities to bankers regarding the operation of the Company’s bank
accounts and give authority in favour of the persons nominated by the
Acquisition Sub to operate such accounts, change the Company's registered office
address as the Buyer directs and change the Company's accounting reference
date
as the Buyer directs;
(i) a
letter
of resignation from the auditors of the Company accompanied by a statement
under
section 394 of CA 1985 in the agreed form together with evidence that any letter
required by CA 1985 to be deposited by the auditors at the registered office
of
the Company has been so delivered pending which the resignation is not
effective;
(j) bank
statements together with certificates from Barclays Bank certifying the current
and deposit account balances of the Company at the close of business on the
Business Day preceding Closing; and
(k) the
cash
book balances of the Company as at Closing with reconciliation statements
reconciling such cash book balances with the certificates referred to in
(j).
Schedule
2.5
Buyer
Closing Deliveries
(a) the
Initial Purchase Price;
(b) the
Employment Agreements duly executed by the Company;
(c) deliver
to the Sellers a copy, certified to be a true copy by a director or secretary
of
the Acquisition Sub, of a resolution of the Acquisition Sub board of directors
(or an authorized committee of that board) authorizing the execution and
completion of this Agreement and the Related Agreements; and
(d) deliver
to the Sellers a copy, certified to be a true copy by a director or secretary
of
the Buyer, of a resolution of the Buyer board of directors (or an authorized
committee of that board) authorizing the execution and completion of this
Agreement and the Related Agreements.