SECURITIES PURCHASE AGREEMENT
Exhibit
10.14 Securities Purchase Agreement
This
Securities Purchase Agreement (this “Agreement”)
is
dated as of June 29, 2006 among Chembio Diagnostics,
Inc., a Nevada corporation
(the “Company”),
and
each purchaser identified on the signature pages hereto
(each, including its
successors and assigns, a “Purchaser”
and
collectively the “Purchasers”).
WHEREAS,
subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this
Agreement and pursuant to
Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended
(the “Securities
Act”)
and
Rule 506 promulgated thereunder, the Company desires
to issue and sell to each
Purchaser, and each Purchaser, severally and not jointly,
desires to purchase
from the Company, securities of the Company as more fully
described in this
Agreement.
NOW,
THEREFORE, IN CONSIDERATION of the mutual covenants contained
in this Agreement,
and for other good and valuable consideration the receipt
and adequacy of which
are hereby acknowledged, the Company and each Purchaser
agree as
follows:
ARTICLE
I.
DEFINITIONS
1.1 Definitions.
In
addition to the terms defined elsewhere in this Agreement:
(a) capitalized terms
that are not otherwise defined herein have the meanings
given to such terms in
the Debentures (as defined herein), and (b) the following
terms have the
meanings indicated in this Section 1.1:
“Action”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(j).
“Affiliate”
means
any Person that, directly or indirectly through one or
more intermediaries,
controls or is controlled by or is under common control
with a Person, as such
terms are used in and construed under Rule 144 under
the Securities
Act.
With
respect to a Purchaser, any investment fund or managed
account that is managed
on a discretionary basis by the same investment manager
as such Purchaser will
be deemed to be an Affiliate of such Purchaser.
“Business
Day”
means
any day except Saturday, Sunday, any day which shall
be a federal legal holiday
in the United States or any day on which banking institutions
in the State of
New York are authorized or required by law or other governmental
action to
close.
“Closing”
means
the closing of the purchase and sale of the Securities
pursuant to Section
2.1.
“Closing
Date”
means
the Trading Day when all of the Transaction Documents
have been executed and
delivered by the applicable parties thereto, and all
conditions
1
precedent
to (i) the Purchasers’ obligations to pay the Subscription Amount and (ii) the
Company’s obligations to deliver the Securities have been satisfied
or
waived.
“Commission”
means
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Common
Stock”
means
the common stock of the Company, par value $.01 per share,
and any other class
of securities into which such securities may hereafter
be reclassified or
changed into.
“Common
Stock Equivalents”
means
any securities of the Company or the Subsidiaries which
would entitle the holder
thereof to acquire at any time Common Stock, including,
without limitation, any
debt, preferred stock, rights, options, warrants or other
instrument that is at
any time convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable
for, or otherwise
entitles the holder thereof to receive, Common Stock.
“Company
Counsel”
means
Xxxxxx Xxxxx LLP.
“Debentures”
means
the Secured Debenture due, subject to the terms therein,
90 days from their date
of issuance, issued by the Company to the Purchasers
hereunder, in the form of
Exhibit
A
hereto.
“Disclosure
Schedules”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1.
“Effective
Date”
means
the date that the initial Registration Statement filed
by the Company pursuant
to the Registration Rights Agreement is first declared
effective by the
Commission.
“Evaluation
Date”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(r).
“Exchange
Act”
means
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and
the rules and regulations
promulgated thereunder.
“Exempt
Issuance”
means
the issuance of (a) shares of Common Stock or options
to employees, officers,
directors, investor relations consultants or sales brokers
(provided that such
issuances to sales brokers shall not exceed 450,000 shares
(subject to
adjustment for reverse and forward stock splits and the
like) in any 12 month
period) of the Company pursuant to any stock or option
plan duly adopted by a
majority of the non-employee members of the Board of
Directors of the Company or
a majority of the members of a committee of non-employee
directors established
for such purpose, (b) securities upon the exercise or
exchange of or conversion
of any Securities issued hereunder and/or other securities
exercisable or
exchangeable for or convertible into shares of Common
Stock issued and
outstanding on the date of this Agreement, provided that
such securities have
not been amended since the date of this Agreement to
increase the number of such
securities or to decrease the exercise, exchange or conversion
price of any such
securities, (c) Common Stock or Series A Preferred Stock
as payment of regularly
scheduled dividends on the Series A Preferred Stock,
provided that the terms of
2
the
Series A Preferred Stock have not been amended since
the date hereof, (d) Common
Stock or Series B Preferred Stock as payment of regularly
scheduled dividends on
the Series B Preferred Stock, provided that the terms
of the Series B Preferred
Stock have not been amended since the date hereof and
(e) securities issued
pursuant to acquisitions or strategic transactions approved
by a majority of the
disinterested directors, provided any such issuance shall
only be to a Person
which is, itself or through its subsidiaries, an operating
company in a business
synergistic with the business of the Company and in which
the Company receives
benefits in addition to the investment of funds, but
shall not include a
transaction in which the Company is issuing securities
primarily for the purpose
of raising capital or to an entity whose primary business
is investing in
securities.
“FWS”
means
Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx & Xxxxx LLP with offices located at 000 Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxx,
Xxxxx 0000, Xxx Xxxx, Xxx Xxxx 00000-0000.
“GAAP”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(h).
“Intellectual
Property Rights”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(o).
“Legend
Removal Date”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.1(c).
“Liens”
means
a
lien, charge, security interest, encumbrance, right of
first refusal, preemptive
right or other restriction.
“Material
Adverse Effect”
shall
have the meaning assigned to such term in Section 3.1(b).
“Material
Permits”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(m).
“Maximum
Rate”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 5.17.
“Participation
Maximum”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.13.
“Person”
means
an individual or corporation, partnership, trust, incorporated
or unincorporated
association, joint venture, limited liability company,
joint stock company,
government (or an agency or subdivision thereof) or other
entity of any
kind.
“Pre-Notice”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.13.
“Proceeding”
means
an action, claim, suit, investigation or proceeding (including,
without
limitation, an investigation or partial proceeding, such
as a deposition),
whether commenced or threatened.
“Purchaser
Party”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.11.
3
“Registration
Rights Agreement”
means
the Registration Rights Agreement, dated the date hereof,
among the Company and
the Purchasers, in the form of Exhibit
B
attached
hereto.
“Registration
Statement”
means
a
registration statement meeting the requirements set forth
in the Registration
Rights Agreement and covering the resale of the Warrant
Shares by each Purchaser
as provided for in the Registration Rights Agreement.
“Required
Approvals”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(e).
“Required
Minimum”
means,
as of any date, the maximum aggregate number of shares
of Common Stock then
issued or potentially issuable in the future pursuant
to the Transaction
Documents, including any Warrant Shares issuable upon
exercise in full of all
Warrants, ignoring any exercise limits set forth therein.
“Rule
144”
means
Rule 144 promulgated by the Commission pursuant to the
Securities Act, as such
Rule may be amended from time to time, or any similar
rule or regulation
hereafter adopted by the Commission having substantially
the same effect as such
Rule.
“SEC
Reports”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(h).
“Security
Agreement”
means
the Security Agreement, dated the date hereof, among
the Company, Chembio
Diagnostic Systems, Inc. and the Purchasers, in the form
of Exhibit
E attached
hereto.
“Security
Documents”
shall
mean the Security Agreement, the Subsidiary Guarantee
and any other documents
and filing required thereunder in order to grant the
Purchasers a security
interest in all assets of the Company as provided in
the Security Agreement,
including all UCC-1 filing receipts.
“Securities”
means
the Debentures, the Warrants and the Warrant Shares.
“Securities
Act”
means
the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the rules
and regulations
promulgated hereunder.
“Series
A Preferred Stock”
means
the Series A Convertible Preferred Stock of the Company,
which has the rights
set forth on the amended and restated certificate of
designation filed on June
13, 2006 with the Secretary of State of the State of
Nevada.
“Series
B Preferred Stock”
means
the Series B 9% Convertible Preferred Stock of the Company,
which has the rights
set forth on the amended and restated certificate of
designation filed on June
13, 2006 with the Secretary of State of the State of
Nevada.
“Short
Sales”
shall
include all “short sales” as defined in Rule 200 of Regulation SHO under the
Exchange Act (but shall not be deemed to include the
location and/or
4
reservation
of borrowable shares of Common Stock).
“Subscription
Amount”
means,
as
to each Purchaser, the aggregate amount
to be
paid for Debentures and Warrants purchased hereunder
as specified below such
Purchaser’s name on the signature page of this Agreement and next
to the heading
“Subscription Amount”, in United States Dollars and in immediately available
funds.
“Subsidiary
Guarantee”
means
the Subsidiary Guarantee, dated the date hereof, executed
by Chembio Diagnostic
Systems, Inc. in favor of the Purchasers, in the form
of Exhibit
F
attached
hereto.
“Subsequent
Financing”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.13.
“Subsequent
Financing Notice”
shall
have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.13.
“Subsidiary”
means
any subsidiary of the Company as set forth on Schedule
3.1(a).
“Trading
Day”
means
a
day on which the Common Stock is traded on a Trading
Market.
“Trading
Market”
means
the following markets or exchanges on which the Common
Stock is listed or quoted
for trading on the date in question: the Nasdaq Capital
Market, the American
Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq
National Market or the
OTC Bulletin Board.
“Transaction
Documents”
means
this Agreement, the Debentures, the Warrants, the Registration
Rights Agreement,
the Security Agreement, the Subsidiary Guarantee and
any other documents or
agreements executed in connection with the transactions
contemplated
hereunder.
“VWAP”
means,
for any date, the price determined by the first of the
following clauses that
applies: (a) if the Common Stock is then listed or quoted
on a Trading Market,
the daily volume weighted average price of the Common
Stock for such date (or
the nearest preceding date) on the Trading Market on
which the Common Stock is
then listed or quoted as reported by Bloomberg L.P. (based
on a Trading Day from
9:30 a.m. New York City time to 4:02 p.m. New York City
time); (b) if the
OTC Bulletin Board is not a Trading Market, the volume
weighted average price of
the Common Stock for such date (or the nearest preceding
date) on the OTC
Bulletin Board; (c) if the Common Stock is not then listed
or quoted on the OTC
Bulletin Board and if prices for the Common Stock are
then reported in the “Pink
Sheets” published by Pink Sheets, LLC (or a similar organization
or agency
succeeding to its functions of reporting prices), the
most recent bid price per
share of the Common Stock so reported; or (d) in all other cases, the fair
market value of a share of Common Stock as determined
by an independent
appraiser selected in good faith by the Holder and reasonably
acceptable to the
Company.
5
“Warrants”
means
collectively the Common Stock purchase warrants, in the
form of Exhibit C
delivered to the Purchasers at the Closing in accordance
with Section 2.2(a)
hereof, which Warrants shall be exercisable immediately
and have a term of
exercise equal to 5 years.
“Warrant
Shares”
means
the shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of
the Warrants.
ARTICLE
II.
PURCHASE
AND SALE
2.1 Closing.
On the
Closing Date, upon the terms and subject to the conditions
set forth herein,
substantially concurrent with the execution and delivery
of this Agreement by
the parties hereto, the Company agrees to sell, and each
Purchaser agrees to
purchase in the aggregate, severally and not jointly,
up to $1,800,000 principal
amount of the Debentures. Each Purchaser shall deliver
to the Company via wire
transfer or a certified check immediately available funds
equal to their
Subscription Amount and the Company shall deliver to
each Purchaser their
respective Debenture and Warrants as determined pursuant
to Section 2.2(a) and
the other items set forth in Section 2.2 issuable at
the Closing. Upon
satisfaction of the conditions set forth in Sections
2.2 and 2.3, the Closing
shall occur at the offices of FWS, or such other location
as the parties shall
mutually agree.
2.2 Deliveries
.
(a) On
the
Closing Date, the Company shall deliver or cause to be
delivered to each
Purchaser the following:
(i)
|
this
Agreement duly executed by the
Company;
|
(ii) a
legal
opinion of Company Counsel, in the form of Exhibit
D
attached
hereto;
(iii) a
Debenture with a principal amount equal to such Purchaser’s Subscription Amount,
registered in the name of such Purchaser;
(iv) a
Warrant
to purchase up to 400 shares of Common Stock for each
$1,000 in such Purchaser’s
Subscription Amount, with an exercise price equal to
$0.75,
subject
to adjustment therein, and a term of exercise of 5 years,
registered in the name
of such Purchaser;
(v) the
Security Agreement, duly executed by the Company and
Chembio Diagnostic Systems,
Inc., along with all of the Security Documents, including
the Subsidiary
Guarantee, duly executed by the parties thereto; and
(vi) the
Registration Rights Agreement duly executed by the Company.
6
(b) On
the
Closing Date, each Purchaser shall deliver or cause to
be delivered to the
Company the following:
(i)
|
this
Agreement duly executed by such
Purchaser;
|
(ii) the
Security Agreement duly executed by such Purchaser;
(iii) such
Purchaser’s Subscription Amount by wire transfer to the account
as specified in
writing by the Company; and
(iv) the
Registration Rights Agreement duly executed by such Purchaser.
2.3 Closing
Conditions.
(a) The
obligations of the Company hereunder in connection with
the Closing are subject
to the following conditions being met:
(i) the
accuracy in all material respects when made and on the
Closing Date of the
representations and warranties of the Purchasers contained
herein;
(ii) all
obligations, covenants and agreements of the Purchasers
required to be performed
at or prior to the Closing Date shall have been performed;
and
(iii) the
delivery by the Purchasers of the items set forth in
Section 2.2(b) of this
Agreement.
(b) The
respective obligations of the Purchasers hereunder in
connection with the
Closing are subject to the following conditions being
met:
(i) the
accuracy in all material respects on the Closing Date
of the representations and
warranties of the Company contained herein;
(ii) all
obligations, covenants and agreements of the Company
required to be performed at
or prior to the Closing Date shall have been performed;
(iii) the
delivery by the Company of the items set forth in Section
2.2(a) of this
Agreement;
(iv) there
shall have been no Material Adverse Effect with respect
to the Company since the
date hereof; and
(v) from
the
date hereof to the Closing Date, trading in the Common
Stock shall not have been
suspended by the Commission or the Company’s principal Trading Market (except
for any suspension of trading of limited duration agreed
to by the Company,
which suspension shall be terminated prior to the
7
Closing),
and, at any time prior to the Closing Date, trading in
securities generally as
reported by Bloomberg L.P. shall not have been suspended
or limited, or minimum
prices shall not have been established on securities
whose trades are reported
by such service, or on any Trading Market, nor shall
a banking moratorium have
been declared either by the United States or New York
State authorities nor
shall there have occurred any material outbreak or escalation
of hostilities or
other national or international calamity of such magnitude
in its effect on, or
any material adverse change in, any financial market
which, in each case, in the
reasonable judgment of each Purchaser, makes it impracticable
or inadvisable to
purchase the Debentures at the Closing.
ARTICLE
III.
REPRESENTATIONS
AND WARRANTIES
3.1 Representations
and Warranties of the Company.
Except
as set forth under the corresponding section of the disclosure
schedules
delivered to the Purchasers concurrently herewith (the
“Disclosure
Schedules”)
which
Disclosure Schedules shall be deemed a part hereof and
to qualify any
representation or warranty otherwise made herein to the
extent of such
disclosure, the Company hereby makes the representations
and warranties set
forth below to each Purchaser.
(a) Subsidiaries.
All of
the direct and indirect subsidiaries of the Company are
set forth on
Schedule
3.1(a).
The
Company owns, directly or indirectly, all of the capital
stock or other equity
interests of each Subsidiary free and clear of any Liens,
and all the issued and
outstanding shares of capital stock of each Subsidiary
are validly issued and
are fully paid, non-assessable and free of preemptive
and similar rights to
subscribe for or purchase securities. If the Company
has no subsidiaries, then
all other references in the Transaction Documents to
the Subsidiaries or any of
them will be disregarded.
(b) Organization
and Qualification.
The
Company and each of the Subsidiaries is an entity duly
incorporated or otherwise
organized, validly existing and in good standing under
the laws of the
jurisdiction of its incorporation or organization (as
applicable), with the
requisite power and authority to own and use its properties
and assets and to
carry on its business as currently conducted. Neither
the Company nor any
Subsidiary is in violation or default of any of the provisions
of its respective
certificate or articles of incorporation, bylaws or other
organizational or
charter documents. Each of the Company and the Subsidiaries
is duly qualified to
conduct business and is in good standing as a foreign
corporation or other
entity in each jurisdiction in which the nature of the
business conducted or
property owned by it makes such qualification necessary,
except where the
failure to be so qualified or in good standing, as the
case may be, could not
have or reasonably be expected to result in (i) a material
adverse effect on the
legality, validity or enforceability of any Transaction
Document, (ii) a
material adverse effect on the results of operations,
assets, business,
prospects or condition (financial or otherwise) of the
Company and the
Subsidiaries, taken as a whole, or (iii) a material adverse
effect on the
Company’s ability to perform in any material respect on a timely
basis its
obligations under any Transaction Document (any of (i),
(ii) or (iii), a
“Material
8
Adverse
Effect”)
and no
Proceeding has been instituted in any such jurisdiction
revoking, limiting or
curtailing or seeking to revoke, limit or curtail such
power and authority or
qualification.
(c) Authorization;
Enforcement.
The
Company has the requisite corporate power and authority
to enter into and to
consummate the transactions contemplated by each of the
Transaction Documents
and otherwise to carry out its obligations hereunder
and thereunder. The
execution and delivery of each of the Transaction Documents
by the Company and
the consummation by it of the transactions contemplated
hereby thereby have been
duly authorized by all necessary action on the part of
the Company and no
further action is required by the Company, its board
of directors or its
stockholders in connection therewith other than in connection
with the Required
Approvals. Each Transaction Document has been (or upon
delivery will have been)
duly executed by the Company and, when delivered in accordance
with the terms
hereof and thereof, will constitute the valid and binding
obligation of the
Company enforceable against the Company in accordance
with its terms except (i)
as limited by general equitable principles and applicable
bankruptcy,
insolvency, reorganization, moratorium and other laws
of general application
affecting enforcement of creditors’ rights generally, (ii) as limited by laws
relating to the availability of specific performance,
injunctive relief or other
equitable remedies and (iii) insofar as indemnification
and contribution
provisions may be limited by applicable law.
(d) No
Conflicts.
The
execution, delivery and performance of the Transaction
Documents by the Company
and the consummation by the Company of the other transactions
contemplated
hereby and thereby do not and will not: (i) conflict
with or violate any
provision of the Company’s or any Subsidiary’s certificate or articles of
incorporation, bylaws or other organizational or charter
documents, or (ii)
conflict with, or constitute a default (or an event that
with notice or lapse of
time or both would become a default) under, result in
the creation of any Lien
upon any of the properties or assets of the Company or
any Subsidiary, or give
to others any rights of termination, amendment, acceleration
or cancellation
(with or without notice, lapse of time or both) of, any
agreement, credit
facility, debt or other instrument (evidencing a Company
or Subsidiary debt or
otherwise) or other understanding to which the Company
or any Subsidiary is a
party or by which any property or asset of the Company
or any Subsidiary is
bound or affected, or (iii) subject to the Required Approvals,
conflict with or
result in a violation of any law, rule, regulation, order,
judgment, injunction,
decree or other restriction of any court or governmental
authority to which the
Company or a Subsidiary is subject (including federal
and state securities laws
and regulations), or by which any property or asset of
the Company or a
Subsidiary is bound or affected; except in the case of
each of clauses (ii) and
(iii), such as could not have or reasonably be expected
to result in a Material
Adverse Effect.
(e) Filings,
Consents and Approvals.
Except
as set forth on Schedule
3.1(e)
attached
hereto, the Company is not required to obtain any consent,
waiver, authorization
or order of, give any notice to, or make any filing or
registration with, any
court or other federal, state, local or other governmental
authority or other
Person in connection with
9
the
execution, delivery and performance by the Company of
the Transaction Documents,
other than (i) filings required pursuant to Section 4.6,
(ii) the filing with
the Commission of the Registration Statement, (iii) the
notice and/or
application(s) to each applicable Trading Market for
the issuance and sale of
the Securities and the listing of the Warrant Shares
for trading thereon in the
time and manner required thereby and (iv) the filing
of Form D with the
Commission and such filings as are required to be made
under applicable state
securities laws (collectively, the “Required
Approvals”).
(f) Issuance
of the Securities.
The
Securities are duly authorized and, when issued and paid
for in accordance with
the applicable Transaction Documents, will be duly and
validly issued, fully
paid and nonassessable, free and clear of all Liens imposed
by the Company other
than restrictions on transfer provided for in the Transaction
Documents. The
Warrant Shares, when issued in accordance with the terms
of the Transaction
Documents, will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable,
free and clear
of all Liens imposed by the Company. The Company has
reserved from its duly
authorized capital stock a number of shares of Common
Stock for issuance of the
Warrant Shares at least equal to the Required Minimum
on the date hereof.
(g) Capitalization.
The
capitalization of the Company is as set forth on Schedule
3.1(g).
Except
as set forth on Schedule
3.1(g),
the
Company has not issued any capital stock since its most
recently filed periodic report under the Exchange Act,
other
than pursuant to the exercise of employee stock options
under the Company’s
stock option plans, the issuance of shares of Common
Stock to employees pursuant
to the Company’s employee stock purchase plan and pursuant to the conversion
or
exercise of Common Stock Equivalents outstanding as of
the date of the most
recently filed periodic report under the Exchange Act.
No Person has any right
of first refusal, preemptive right, right of participation,
or any similar right
to participate in the transactions contemplated by the
Transaction Documents.
Except as a result of the purchase and sale of the Securities,
there are no
outstanding options, warrants, script rights to subscribe
to, calls or
commitments of any character whatsoever relating to,
or securities, rights or
obligations convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable
for, or giving any
Person any right to subscribe for or acquire, any shares
of Common Stock, or
contracts, commitments, understandings or arrangements
by which the Company or
any Subsidiary is or may become bound to issue additional
shares of Common Stock
or Common Stock Equivalents. The issuance and sale of
the Securities will not
obligate the Company to issue shares of Common Stock
or other securities to any
Person (other than the Purchasers) and will not result
in a right of any holder
of Company securities to adjust the exercise, conversion,
exchange or reset
price under any of such securities. All of the outstanding
shares of capital
stock of the Company are validly issued, fully paid and
nonassessable, have been
issued in compliance with all federal and state securities
laws, and none of
such outstanding shares was issued in violation of any
preemptive rights or
similar rights to subscribe for or purchase securities.
No further approval or
authorization of any stockholder, the Board of Directors
of the Company or
others is required for the issuance and sale of the Securities.
There are no
stockholders agreements, voting agreements or other similar
agreements with
respect to the Company’s capital stock to
10
which
the
Company is a party or, to the knowledge of the Company,
between or among any of
the Company’s stockholders.
(h) SEC
Reports; Financial Statements.
The
Company has filed all reports, schedules, forms, statements
and other documents
required to be filed by it under the Securities Act and
the Exchange Act,
including pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) thereof,
for the two years
preceding the date hereof (or such shorter period as
the Company was required by
law or regulation to file such material) (the foregoing
materials, including the
exhibits thereto and documents incorporated by reference
therein, being
collectively referred to herein as the “SEC
Reports”)
on a
timely basis or has received a valid extension of such
time of filing and has
filed any such SEC Reports prior to the expiration of
any such extension. As of
their respective dates, the SEC Reports complied in all
material respects with
the requirements of the Securities Act and the Exchange
Act, as applicable, and
none of the SEC Reports, when filed, contained any untrue
statement of a
material fact or omitted to state a material fact required
to be stated therein
or necessary in order to make the statements therein,
in the light of the
circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.
The financial
statements of the Company included in the SEC Reports
comply in all material
respects with applicable accounting requirements and
the rules and regulations
of the Commission with respect thereto as in effect at
the time of filing. Such
financial statements have been prepared in accordance
with United States
generally accepted accounting principles applied on a
consistent basis during
the periods involved (“GAAP”),
except as may be otherwise specified in such financial
statements or the notes
thereto and except that unaudited financial statements
may not contain all
footnotes required by GAAP, and fairly present in all
material respects the
financial position of the Company and its consolidated
subsidiaries as of and
for the dates thereof and the results of operations and
cash flows for the
periods then ended, subject, in the case of unaudited
statements, to normal,
immaterial, year-end audit adjustments.
(i) Material
Changes.
Since
the date of the latest audited financial statements included
within the SEC
Reports, except as specifically disclosed in a subsequent
SEC Report, (i) there
has been no event, occurrence or development that has
had or that could
reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse
Effect, (ii) the Company
has not incurred any liabilities (contingent or otherwise)
other than (A) trade
payables and accrued expenses incurred in the ordinary
course of business
consistent with past practice and (B) liabilities not
required to be reflected
in the Company’s financial statements pursuant to GAAP or disclosed
in filings
made with the Commission, (iii) the Company has not altered
its method of
accounting, (iv) except as set forth on Schedule
3.1(i)
attached
hereto, the Company has not declared or made any dividend
or distribution of
cash or other property to its stockholders or purchased,
redeemed or made any
agreements to purchase or redeem any shares of its capital
stock and (v) the
Company has not issued any equity securities to any officer,
director or
Affiliate, except pursuant to existing Company stock
option plans. The Company
does not have pending before the Commission any request
for confidential
treatment of information. Except for the issuance of
the Securities contemplated
by this Agreement or as set forth on Schedule
3.1(i),
no
event, liability or development has occurred or exists
with respect to the
11
Company
or its Subsidiaries or their respective business, properties,
operations or
financial condition, that would be required to be disclosed
by the Company under
applicable securities laws at the time this representation
is made that has not
been publicly disclosed at least one Trading Day prior
to the date that this
representation is made.
(j) Litigation.
Except
as set forth on Schedule
3.1(j),
here is
no action, suit, inquiry, notice of violation, proceeding
or investigation
pending or, to the knowledge of the Company, threatened
against or affecting the
Company, any Subsidiary or any of their respective properties
before or by any
court, arbitrator, governmental or administrative agency
or regulatory authority
(federal, state, county, local or foreign) (collectively,
an “Action”)
which
(i) adversely affects or challenges the legality, validity
or enforceability of
any of the Transaction Documents or the Securities or
(ii) could, if there were
an unfavorable decision, have or reasonably be expected
to result in a Material
Adverse Effect. Neither the Company nor any Subsidiary,
nor any director or
officer thereof, is or has been the subject of any Action
involving a claim of
violation of or liability under federal or state securities
laws or a claim of
breach of fiduciary duty. There has not been, and to
the knowledge of the
Company, there is not pending or contemplated, any investigation
by the
Commission involving the Company or any current or former
director or officer of
the Company. The Commission has not issued any stop order
or other order
suspending the effectiveness of any registration statement
filed by the Company
or any Subsidiary under the Exchange Act or the Securities
Act.
(k) Labor
Relations.
No
material labor dispute exists or, to the knowledge of
the Company, is imminent
with respect to any of the employees of the Company which
could reasonably be
expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect. None
of the Company’s or its
Subsidiaries’ employees is a member of a union that relates to such
employee’s
relationship with the Company, and neither the Company
or any of its
Subsidiaries is a party to a collective bargaining agreement,
and the Company
and its Subsidiaries believe that their relationships
with their employees are
good. No executive officer, to the knowledge of the Company,
is, or is now
expected to be, in violation of any material term of
any employment contract,
confidentiality, disclosure or proprietary information
agreement or
non-competition agreement, or any other contract or agreement
or any restrictive
covenant, and the continued employment of each such executive
officer does not
subject the Company or any of its Subsidiaries to any
liability with respect to
any of the foregoing matters. The Company and its Subsidiaries
are in compliance
with all U.S. federal, state, local and foreign laws
and regulations relating to
employment and employment practices, terms and conditions
of employment and
wages and hours, except where the failure to be in compliance
could not,
individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected
to have a Material
Adverse Effect.
(l) Compliance.
Neither
the Company nor any Subsidiary (i) is in default under
or in violation of (and
no event has occurred that has not been waived that,
with notice or lapse of
time or both, would result in a default by the Company
or any Subsidiary under),
nor has the Company or any Subsidiary received notice
of a claim that it is in
default under or that it is in violation of, any indenture,
loan or credit
agreement or
12
any
other
agreement or instrument to which it is a party or by
which it or any of its
properties is bound (whether or not such default or violation
has been waived),
(ii) is in violation of any order of any court, arbitrator
or governmental body,
or (iii) is or has been in violation of any statute,
rule or regulation of any
governmental authority, including without limitation
all foreign, federal, state
and local laws applicable to its business and all such
laws that affect the
environment, except in each case as could not have or
reasonably be expected to
result in a Material Adverse Effect.
(m) Regulatory
Permits.
The
Company and the Subsidiaries possess all certificates,
authorizations and
permits issued by the appropriate federal, state, local
or foreign regulatory
authorities necessary to conduct their respective businesses
as described in the
SEC Reports, except where the failure to possess such
permits could not have or
reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse
Effect (“Material
Permits”),
and
neither the Company nor any Subsidiary has received any
notice of proceedings
relating to the revocation or modification of any Material
Permit.
(n) Title
to Assets.
The
Company and the Subsidiaries have good and marketable
title in fee simple to all
real property owned by them that is material to the business
of the Company and
the Subsidiaries and good and marketable title in all
personal property owned by
them that is material to the business of the Company
and the Subsidiaries, in
each case free and clear of all Liens, except for Liens
as do not materially
affect the value of such property and do not materially
interfere with the use
made and proposed to be made of such property by the
Company and the
Subsidiaries and Liens for the payment of federal, state
or other taxes, the
payment of which is neither delinquent nor subject to
penalties. Any real
property and facilities held under lease by the Company
and the Subsidiaries are
held by them under valid, subsisting and enforceable
leases with which the
Company and the Subsidiaries are in compliance.
(o) Patents
and Trademarks.
The
Company and the Subsidiaries have, or have rights to
use, all patents, patent
applications, trademarks, trademark applications, service
marks, trade names,
trade secrets, inventions, copyrights, licenses and other
intellectual property
rights and similar rights necessary or material for use
in connection with their
respective businesses as described in the SEC Reports
and which the failure to
so have could have a Material Adverse Effect (collectively,
the “Intellectual
Property Rights”).
Neither the Company nor any Subsidiary has received a
notice (written or
otherwise) that the Intellectual Property Rights used
by the Company or any
Subsidiary violates or infringes upon the rights of any
Person. To the knowledge
of the Company, all such Intellectual Property Rights
are enforceable and there
is no existing infringement by another Person of any
of the Intellectual
Property Rights. The Company and its Subsidiaries have
taken reasonable security
measures to protect the secrecy, confidentiality and
value of all of their
intellectual properties, except where failure to do so
could not, individually
or in the aggregate, reasonably be expect to have a Material
Adverse
Effect.
(p) Insurance.
The
Company and the Subsidiaries are insured by insurers
of recognized financial
responsibility against such losses and risks and in such
amounts as
13
are
prudent and customary in the businesses in which the
Company and the
Subsidiaries are engaged, including, but not limited
to, directors and officers
insurance coverage at least equal to the aggregate Subscription
Amount. Neither
the Company nor any Subsidiary has any reason to believe
that it will not be
able to renew its existing insurance coverage as and
when such coverage expires
or to obtain similar coverage from similar insurers as
may be necessary to
continue its business without a significant increase
in cost.
(q) Transactions
With Affiliates and Employees.
Except
as set forth in the SEC Reports, none of the officers
or directors of the
Company and, to the knowledge of the Company, none of
the employees of the
Company is presently a party to any transaction with
the Company or any
Subsidiary (other than for services as employees, officers
and directors),
including any contract, agreement or other arrangement
providing for the
furnishing of services to or by, providing for rental
of real or personal
property to or from, or otherwise requiring payments
to or from any officer,
director or such employee or, to the knowledge of the
Company, any entity in
which any officer, director, or any such employee has
a substantial interest or
is an officer, director, trustee or partner, in each
case in excess of $60,000
other than (i) for payment of salary or consulting fees
for services rendered,
(ii) reimbursement for expenses incurred on behalf of
the Company and (iii) for
other employee benefits, including stock option agreements
under any stock
option plan of the Company.
(r) Xxxxxxxx-Xxxxx;
Internal Accounting Controls.
The
Company is in material compliance with all provisions
of the Xxxxxxxx-Xxxxx Act
of 2002 which are applicable to it as of the Closing
Date. The
Company and the Subsidiaries maintain a system of internal
accounting controls
sufficient to provide reasonable assurance that (i) transactions
are executed in
accordance with management’s general or specific authorizations, (ii)
transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation
of financial
statements in conformity with GAAP and to maintain asset
accountability, (iii)
access to assets is permitted only in accordance with
management’s general or
specific authorization, and (iv) the recorded accountability
for assets is
compared with the existing assets at reasonable intervals
and appropriate action
is taken with respect to any differences. The Company
has established disclosure
controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
13a-15(e) and
15d-15(e)) for the Company and designed such disclosure
controls and procedures
to ensure that information required to be disclosed by
the Company in the
reports it files or submits under the Exchange Act is
recorded, processed,
summarized and reported, within the time periods specified
in the Commission’s
rules and forms. The Company’s certifying officers have evaluated the
effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures as of the end
of the period covered by the Company’s most recently filed periodic report under
the Exchange Act (such date, the “Evaluation
Date”).
The
Company presented in its most recently filed periodic
report under the Exchange
Act the conclusions of the certifying officers about
the effectiveness of the
disclosure controls and procedures based on their evaluations
as of the
Evaluation Date. Since the Evaluation Date, there have
been no changes in the
Company’s internal control over financial reporting (as such
term is defined in
the
14
Exchange
Act) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely
to materially affect,
the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.
(s) Certain
Fees.
Except
as set forth on Schedule
3.1(s),
no
brokerage or finder’s fees or commissions are or will be payable by the Company
to any broker, financial advisor or consultant, finder,
placement agent,
investment banker, bank or other Person with respect
to the transactions
contemplated by the Transaction Documents. The Purchasers
shall have no
obligation with respect to any fees or with respect to
any claims made by or on
behalf of other Persons for fees of a type contemplated
in this Section that may
be due in connection with the transactions contemplated
by the Transaction
Documents.
(t) Private
Placement.
Assuming the accuracy of the Purchasers representations
and warranties set forth
in Section 3.2, no registration under the Securities
Act is required for the
offer and sale of the Securities by the Company to the
Purchasers as
contemplated hereby. The issuance and sale of the Securities
hereunder does not
contravene the rules and regulations of the Trading Market.
(u) Investment
Company.
The
Company is not, and is not an Affiliate of, and immediately
after receipt of
payment for the Securities, will not be or be an Affiliate
of, an “investment
company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940,
as amended.
The Company shall conduct its business in a manner so
that it will not become
subject to the Investment Company Act.
(v) Registration
Rights.
Other
than each of the Purchasers, no Person has any right
to cause the Company to
effect the registration under the Securities Act of any
securities of the
Company.
(w) Listing
and Maintenance Requirements.
The
Company’s Common Stock is registered pursuant to Section 12(b)
or 12(g) of the
Exchange Act, and the Company has taken no action designed
to, or which to its
knowledge is likely to have the effect of, terminating
the registration of the
Common Stock under the Exchange Act nor has the Company
received any
notification that the Commission is contemplating terminating
such registration.
The Company has not, in the 12 months preceding the date
hereof, received notice
from any Trading Market on which the Common Stock is
or has been listed or
quoted to the effect that the Company is not in compliance
with the listing or
maintenance requirements of such Trading Market. The
Company is, and has no
reason to believe that it will not in the foreseeable
future continue to be, in
compliance with all such listing and maintenance requirements.
(x) Application
of Takeover Protections.
The
Company and its Board of Directors have taken all necessary
action, if any, in
order to render inapplicable any control share acquisition,
business
combination, poison pill (including any distribution
under a rights agreement)
or other similar anti-takeover provision under the Company’s Certificate of
Incorporation (or similar charter documents) or the laws
of its state of
incorporation that is or could become applicable to the
Purchasers as a result
of the
15
Purchasers
and the Company fulfilling their obligations or exercising
their rights under
the Transaction Documents, including without limitation
as a result of the
Company’s issuance of the Securities and the Purchasers’ ownership of the
Securities.
(y) Disclosure.
Except
with respect to the material terms and conditions of
the transactions
contemplated by the Transaction Documents, the Company
confirms that neither it
nor any other Person acting on its behalf has provided
any of the Purchasers or
their agents or counsel with any information that it
believes constitutes or
might constitute material, nonpublic information. The
Company understands and
confirms that the Purchasers will rely on the foregoing
representation in
effecting transactions in securities of the Company.
All disclosure furnished by
or on behalf of the Company to the Purchasers regarding
the Company, its
business and the transactions contemplated hereby, including
the Disclosure
Schedules to this Agreement, with respect to the representations
and warranties
made herein are true and correct with respect to such
representations and
warranties and do not contain any untrue statement of
a material fact or omit to
state any material fact necessary in order to make the
statements made therein,
in light of the circumstances under which they were made,
not misleading. The
press releases disseminated by the Company during the
12 months preceding the
date of this Agreement taken as a whole do not contain
any untrue statement of a
material fact or omit to state a material fact required
to be stated therein or
necessary in order to make the statements therein, in
light of the circumstances
under which they were made and when made, not misleading.
The Company
acknowledges and agrees that no Purchaser makes or has
made any representations
or warranties with respect to the transactions contemplated
hereby other than
those specifically set forth in Section 3.2 hereof.
(z) No
Integrated Offering.
Assuming
the accuracy of the Purchasers’ representations and warranties set forth in
Section 3.2, neither the Company, nor any of its affiliates,
nor any Person
acting on its or their behalf has, directly or indirectly,
made any offers or
sales of any security or solicited any offers to buy
any security, under
circumstances that would cause this offering of the Securities
to be integrated
with prior offerings by the Company for purposes of the
Securities Act or any
applicable shareholder approval provision of any Trading
Market on which any of
the securities of the Company are listed or designated.
(aa) Solvency.
Based
on the financial condition of the Company as of the Closing
Date after giving
effect to the receipt by the Company of the proceeds
from the sale of the
Securities hereunder, (i) the fair saleable value of
the Company’s assets
exceeds the amount that will be required to be paid on
or in respect of the
Company’s existing debts and other liabilities (including known
contingent
liabilities) as they mature; (ii) the Company’s assets do not constitute
unreasonably small capital to carry on its business as
now conducted and as
proposed to be conducted including its capital needs
taking into account the
particular capital requirements of the business conducted
by the Company, and
projected capital requirements and capital availability
thereof; and (iii) the
current cash flow of the Company, together with the proceeds
the Company would
receive, were it to liquidate all of its assets, after
taking into account all
anticipated uses of the cash, would be sufficient to
pay all amounts on or in
respect of its liabilities when
16
such
amounts are required to be paid. The Company does not
intend to incur debts
beyond its ability to pay such debts as they mature (taking
into account the
timing and amounts of cash to be payable on or in respect
of its debt). The
Company has no knowledge of any facts or circumstances
which lead it to believe
that it will file for reorganization or liquidation under
the bankruptcy or
reorganization laws of any jurisdiction within one year
from the Closing Date.
Schedule
3.1(aa)
sets
forth as of the dates thereof all outstanding secured
and unsecured Indebtedness
of the Company or any Subsidiary, or for which the Company
or any Subsidiary has
commitments. For the purposes of this Agreement, “Indebtedness”
shall
mean (a) any liabilities for borrowed money or amounts
owed in excess of $50,000
(other than trade accounts payable incurred in the ordinary
course of business),
(b) all guaranties, endorsements and other contingent
obligations in respect of
Indebtedness of others, whether or not the same are or
should be reflected in
the Company’s balance sheet (or the notes thereto), except guaranties
by
endorsement of negotiable instruments for deposit or
collection or similar
transactions in the ordinary course of business; and
(c) the present value of
any lease payments
in excess of $50,000 due under leases required to be
capitalized in accordance
with GAAP. Neither
the Company nor any Subsidiary is in default with respect
to any
Indebtedness.
(bb) Tax
Status.
Except
for matters that would not, individually or in the aggregate,
have or reasonably
be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect, the
Company and each
Subsidiary has filed all necessary federal, state and
foreign income and
franchise tax returns and has paid or accrued all taxes
shown as due thereon,
and the Company has no knowledge of a tax deficiency
which has been asserted or
threatened against the Company or any Subsidiary.
(cc) No
General Solicitation.
Neither
the Company nor any person acting on behalf of the Company
has offered or sold
any of the Securities by any form of general solicitation
or general
advertising. The Company has offered the Securities for
sale only to the
Purchasers and certain other “accredited investors” within the meaning of Rule
501 under the Securities Act.
(dd) Foreign
Corrupt Practices.
Neither
the Company, nor to the knowledge of the Company, any
agent or other person
acting on behalf of the Company, has (i) directly or
indirectly, used any funds
for unlawful contributions, gifts, entertainment or other
unlawful expenses
related to foreign or domestic political activity, (ii)
made any unlawful
payment to foreign or domestic government officials or
employees or to any
foreign or domestic political parties or campaigns from
corporate funds, (iii)
failed to disclose fully any contribution made by the
Company (or made by any
person acting on its behalf of which the Company is aware)
which is in violation
of law, or (iv) violated in any material respect any
provision of the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended.
(ee) Accountants.
The
Company’s accountants are set forth on Schedule
3.1(ee)
of the
Disclosure Schedule. To the knowledge of the Company,
such accountants, who the
Company expects will express their opinion with respect
to the financial
statements to be included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-KSB
17
for
the
year ending December 31, 2006 are a registered public
accounting firm as
required by the Securities Act.
(ff) Seniority.
As of
the Closing Date, no Indebtedness or other claim against
the Company is senior
to the Debentures in right of payment, whether with respect
to interest or upon
liquidation or dissolution, or otherwise, other than
indebtedness secured by
purchase money security interests (which is senior only
as to underlying assets
covered thereby) and capital lease obligations (which
is senior only as to the
property covered thereby).
(gg) No
Disagreements with Accountants and Lawyers.
There
are no disagreements of any kind presently existing,
or reasonably anticipated
by the Company to arise, between the Company and the
accountants and lawyers
formerly or presently employed by the Company and the
Company is current with
respect to any fees owed to its accountants and lawyers.
(hh) Acknowledgment
Regarding Purchasers’ Purchase of Securities.
The
Company acknowledges and agrees that each of the Purchasers
is acting solely in
the capacity of an arm’s length purchaser with respect to the Transaction
Documents and the transactions contemplated thereby.
The Company further
acknowledges that no Purchaser is acting as a financial
advisor or fiduciary of
the Company (or in any similar capacity) with respect
to the Transaction
Documents and the transactions contemplated thereby and
any advice given by any
Purchaser or any of their respective representatives
or agents in connection
with the Transaction Documents and the transactions contemplated
thereby is
merely incidental to the Purchasers’ purchase of the Securities. The Company
further represents to each Purchaser that the Company’s decision to enter into
this Agreement and the other Transaction Documents has
been based solely on the
independent evaluation of the transactions contemplated
hereby by the Company
and its representatives.
(ii) Acknowledgement
Regarding Purchasers’ Trading Activity.
Anything in this Agreement or elsewhere herein to the
contrary notwithstanding
(except for Sections 3.2(f) and 4.16 hereof), it is understood
and acknowledged
by the Company (i) that none of the Purchasers have been
asked to agree, nor has
any Purchaser agreed, to desist from purchasing or selling,
long and/or short,
securities of the Company, or “derivative” securities based on securities issued
by the Company or to hold the Securities for any specified
term; (ii) that past
or future open market or other transactions by any Purchaser,
including Short
Sales, and specifically including, without limitation,
Short Sales or
“derivative” transactions, before or after the closing of this or
future private
placement transactions, may negatively impact the market
price of the Company’s
publicly-traded securities; (iii) that any Purchaser,
and counter-parties in
“derivative” transactions to which any such Purchaser is a party,
directly or
indirectly, presently may have a “short” position in the Common Stock, and (iv)
that each Purchaser shall not be deemed to have any affiliation
with or control
over any arm’s length counter-party in any “derivative” transaction.
The
Company further understands and acknowledges that (a)
one or more Purchasers may
engage in hedging activities at various times during
the period that the
18
Securities
are outstanding, including, without limitation, during
the periods that the
value of the Warrant Shares deliverable with respect
to Securities are being
determined and (b) such hedging activities (if any) could
reduce the value of
the existing stockholders' equity interests in the Company
at and after the time
that the hedging activities are being conducted. The Company acknowledges
that such aforementioned hedging activities do not constitute
a breach of any of
the Transaction Documents.
(jj) Manipulation
of Price.
The Company has not, and to its knowledge no one acting
on its behalf has, (i)
taken, directly or indirectly, any action designed to
cause or to result in the
stabilization or manipulation of the price of any security
of the Company to
facilitate the sale or resale of any of the Securities,
(ii) sold, bid for,
purchased, or paid any compensation for soliciting purchases
of, any of the
securities of the Company or (iii) paid or agreed to
pay to any person any
compensation for soliciting another to purchase any other
securities of the
Company, other than, in the case of clauses (ii) and
(iii), compensation paid to
the Company’s placement agent in connection with the placement of
the
Securities.
3.2 Representations
and Warranties of the Purchasers.
Each
Purchaser hereby, for itself and for no other Purchaser,
represents and warrants
as of the date hereof and as of the Closing Date to the
Company as
follows:
(a) Organization;
Authority.
Such
Purchaser is an entity duly organized, validly existing
and in good standing
under the laws of the jurisdiction of its organization
with full right,
corporate or partnership power and authority to enter
into and to consummate the
transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents
and otherwise to carry
out its obligations hereunder and thereunder. The execution,
delivery and
performance by such Purchaser of the transactions contemplated
by this Agreement
have been duly authorized by all necessary corporate
or similar action on the
part of such Purchaser. Each Transaction Document to
which it is a party has
been duly executed by such Purchaser, and when delivered
by such Purchaser in
accordance with the terms hereof, will constitute the
valid and legally binding
obligation of such Purchaser, enforceable against it
in accordance with its
terms, except (i) as limited by general equitable principles
and applicable
bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium and
other laws of general
application affecting enforcement of creditors’ rights generally, (ii) as
limited by laws relating to the availability of specific
performance, injunctive
relief or other equitable remedies and (iii) insofar
as indemnification and
contribution provisions may be limited by applicable
law.
(b) Own
Account.
Such
Purchaser understands that the Securities are “restricted securities” and have
not been registered under the Securities Act or any applicable
state securities
law and is acquiring the Securities as principal for
its own account and not
with a view to or for distributing or reselling such
Securities or any part
thereof in violation of the Securities Act or any applicable
state securities
law, has no present intention of distributing any of
such Securities in
violation of the Securities Act or any applicable state
securities law and has
no direct or indirect arrangement or
19
understandings
with any other persons to distribute or regarding the
distribution of such
Securities (this representation and warranty not limiting
such Purchaser’s right
to sell the Securities pursuant to the Registration Statement
or otherwise in
compliance with applicable federal and state securities
laws) in violation of
the Securities Act or any applicable state securities
law. Such Purchaser is
acquiring the Securities hereunder in the ordinary course
of its
business.
(c) Purchaser
Status.
At the
time such Purchaser was offered the Securities, it was,
and at the date hereof
it is, and on each date on which it exercises any Warrants
it will be either:
(i) an “accredited investor” as defined in Rule 501(a)(1), (a)(2), (a)(3),
(a)(7) or (a)(8) under the Securities Act or (ii) a “qualified institutional
buyer” as defined in Rule 144A(a) under the Securities Act.
Such Purchaser is
not required to be registered as a broker-dealer under
Section 15 of the
Exchange Act.
(d) Experience
of Such Purchaser.
Such
Purchaser, either alone or together with its representatives,
has such
knowledge, sophistication and experience in business
and financial matters so as
to be capable of evaluating the merits and risks of the
prospective investment
in the Securities, and has so evaluated the merits and
risks of such investment.
Such Purchaser is able to bear the economic risk of an
investment in the
Securities and, at the present time, is able to afford
a complete loss of such
investment.
(e) General
Solicitation.
Such
Purchaser is not purchasing the Securities as a result
of any advertisement,
article, notice or other communication regarding the
Securities published in any
newspaper, magazine or similar media or broadcast over
television or radio or
presented at any seminar or any other general solicitation
or general
advertisement.
(f) Short
Sales and Confidentiality Prior To The Date Hereof.
Other
than the transaction contemplated hereunder, such Purchaser
has not directly or
indirectly, nor has any Person acting on behalf of or
pursuant to any
understanding with such Purchaser, executed any disposition,
including Short
Sales, in the securities of the Company during the period commencing
from
the time
that such Purchaser first received a term sheet (written
or oral) from the
Company or any other Person setting forth the material
terms of the transactions
contemplated hereunder until the date hereof (“Discussion
Time”).
Notwithstanding
the foregoing, in the case of a Purchaser that is a multi-managed
investment
vehicle whereby separate portfolio managers manage separate
portions of such
Purchaser's assets and the portfolio managers have no
direct knowledge of the
investment decisions made by the portfolio managers managing
other portions of
such Purchaser's assets, the representation set forth
above shall only apply
with respect to the portion of assets managed by the
portfolio manager that made
the investment decision to purchase the Securities covered
by this Agreement.
Other than to other Persons party to this Agreement,
such Purchaser has
maintained the confidentiality of all disclosures made
to it in connection with
this transaction (including the existence and terms of
this
transaction).
(g) Disclosure
of Information.
Such
Purchaser has had an opportunity to receive all information
related to the
Company requested by it and to ask questions of,
20
and
receive answers from, the Company regarding the Company,
its business and the
terms and conditions of this offering of Securities.
Such Purchaser acknowledges
receipt of copies of the SEC Reports. Neither such inquiries
nor any other due
diligence investigation conducted by such Purchaser shall
modify, amend or
affect such Purchaser’s right to rely on the Company’s representations and
warranties contained in this Agreement or the other Transaction
Documents.
ARTICLE
IV.
OTHER
AGREEMENTS OF THE PARTIES
4.1 Transfer
Restrictions.
(a) The
Securities may only be disposed of in compliance with
state and federal
securities laws. In connection with any transfer of Securities
other than
pursuant to an effective registration statement or Rule
144, to the Company or
to an affiliate of a Purchaser or in connection with
a pledge as contemplated in
Section 4.1(b), the Company may require the transferor
thereof to provide to the
Company an opinion of counsel selected by the transferor
and reasonably
acceptable to the Company, the form and substance of
which opinion shall be
reasonably satisfactory to the Company, to the effect
that such transfer does
not require registration of such transferred Securities
under the Securities
Act. As a condition of transfer, any such transferee
shall agree in writing to
be bound by the terms of this Agreement and shall have
the rights of a Purchaser
under this Agreement and the Registration Rights Agreement.
(b) The
Purchasers agree to the imprinting, so long as is required
by this Section 4.1,
of a legend on any of the Securities in the following
form:
[NEITHER]
THIS SECURITY [NOR THE SECURITIES INTO WHICH THIS SECURITY
IS EXERCISABLE] HAVE
BEEN REGISTERED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
OR THE SECURITIES
COMMISSION OF ANY STATE IN RELIANCE UPON AN EXEMPTION
FROM REGISTRATION UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE “SECURITIES ACT”), AND, ACCORDINGLY,
MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD EXCEPT PURSUANT TO AN EFFECTIVE
REGISTRATION
STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OR PURSUANT TO AN
AVAILABLE EXEMPTION FROM,
OR IN A TRANSACTION NOT SUBJECT TO, THE REGISTRATION
REQUIREMENTS OF THE
SECURITIES ACT AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE STATE
SECURITIES LAWS AS
EVIDENCED BY A LEGAL OPINION OF COUNSEL TO THE TRANSFEROR
TO SUCH EFFECT, THE
SUBSTANCE OF WHICH SHALL BE REASONABLY ACCEPTABLE TO
THE COMPANY. THIS SECURITY
AND THE SECURITIES ISSUABLE UPON EXERCISE OF THIS SECURITY
MAY BE PLEDGED IN
CONNECTION WITH A BONA FIDE MARGIN ACCOUNT OR OTHER LOAN
SECURED BY SUCH
SECURITIES.
21
The
Company acknowledges and agrees that a Purchaser may
from time to time pledge
pursuant to a bona fide margin agreement with a registered
broker-dealer or
grant a security interest in some or all of the Securities
to a financial
institution that is an “accredited investor” as defined in Rule 501(a) under the
Securities Act and who agrees to be bound by the provisions
of this Agreement
and the Registration Rights Agreement and, if required
under the terms of such
arrangement, such Purchaser may transfer pledged or secured
Securities to the
pledgees or secured parties. Such a pledge or transfer
would not be subject to
approval of the Company and no legal opinion of legal
counsel of the pledgee,
secured party or pledgor shall be required in connection
therewith. Further, no
notice shall be required of such pledge. At the appropriate
Purchaser’s expense,
the Company will execute and deliver such reasonable
documentation as a pledgee
or secured party of Securities may reasonably request
in connection with a
pledge or transfer of the Securities, including, if the
Securities are subject
to registration pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement,
the preparation
and filing of any required prospectus supplement under
Rule 424(b)(3) under the
Securities Act or other applicable provision of the Securities
Act to
appropriately amend the list of Selling Stockholders
thereunder.
(c) Certificates
evidencing the Warrant Shares shall not contain any legend
(including the legend
set forth in Section 4.1(b) hereof): (i) while a registration
statement
(including the Registration Statement) covering the resale
of such security is
effective under the Securities Act, or (ii) following
any sale of such Warrant
Shares pursuant to Rule 144, or (iii) if such Warrant
Shares are eligible for
sale under Rule 144(k), or (iv) if such legend is not
required under applicable
requirements of the Securities Act (including judicial
interpretations and
pronouncements issued by the staff of the Commission).
The Company shall cause
its counsel to issue a legal opinion to the Company’s transfer agent promptly
after the Effective Date if required by the Company’s transfer agent to effect
the removal of the legend hereunder. If all or any portion
of a Warrant is
exercised at a time when there is an effective registration
statement to cover
the resale of the Warrant Shares, or if such Warrant
Shares may be sold under
Rule 144(k) or if such legend is not otherwise required
under applicable
requirements of the Securities Act (including judicial
interpretations and
pronouncements issued by the staff of the Commission)
then such Warrant Shares
shall be issued free of all legends. The Company agrees
that following the
Effective Date or at such time as such legend is no longer
required under this
Section 4.1(c), it will, no later than three Trading
Days following the delivery
by a Purchaser to the Company or the Company’s transfer agent of a certificate
representing Warrant Shares, as applicable, issued with
a restrictive legend
(such third Trading Day, the “Legend
Removal Date”),
deliver or cause to be delivered to such Purchaser a
certificate representing
such shares that is free from all restrictive and other
legends. The Company may
not make any notation on its records or give instructions
to any transfer agent
of the Company that enlarge the restrictions on transfer
set forth in this
Section. Certificates for Warrant Shares subject to legend
removal hereunder
shall be transmitted by the transfer agent of the Company
to the Purchasers by
crediting the account of the Purchaser’s prime broker with the Depository Trust
Company System.
22
(d) In
addition to such Purchaser’s other available remedies, the Company shall pay to
a Purchaser, in cash, as partial liquidated damages and
not as a penalty, for
each $1,000 of Warrant Shares (based on the VWAP of the
Common Stock on the date
such Securities are submitted to the Company’s transfer agent) delivered for
removal of the restrictive legend and subject to Section
4.1(c), $10 per Trading
Day (increasing to $20 per Trading Day 5 Trading Days after such damages have
begun to accrue) for each Trading Day after the second
Trading Day following the
Legend Removal Date until such certificate is delivered
without a legend.
Nothing herein shall limit such Purchaser’s right to pursue actual damages for
the Company’s failure to deliver certificates representing any Securities
as
required by the Transaction Documents, and such Purchaser
shall have the right
to pursue all remedies available to it at law or in equity
including, without
limitation, a decree of specific performance and/or injunctive
relief.
(e) Each
Purchaser, severally and not jointly with the other Purchasers,
agrees that the
removal of the restrictive legend from certificates representing
Securities as
set forth in this Section 4.1 is predicated upon the
Company’s reliance that the
Purchaser will sell any Securities pursuant to either
the registration
requirements of the Securities Act, including any applicable
prospectus delivery
requirements, or an exemption therefrom, and that if
Securities are sold
pursuant to a Registration Statement, they will be sold
in compliance with the
plan of distribution set forth therein.
4.2 Acknowledgment
of Dilution.
The
Company acknowledges that the issuance of the Securities
may result in dilution
of the outstanding shares of Common Stock, which dilution
may be substantial
under certain market conditions. The Company further
acknowledges that its
obligations under the Transaction Documents, including
without limitation its
obligation to issue the Warrant Shares pursuant to the
Transaction Documents,
are unconditional and absolute and not subject to any
right of set off,
counterclaim, delay or reduction, regardless of the effect
of any such dilution
or any claim the Company may have against any Purchaser
and regardless of the
dilutive effect that such issuance may have on the ownership
of the other
stockholders of the Company.
4.3 Furnishing
of Information.
As long
as any Purchaser owns Securities, the Company covenants
to timely file (or
obtain extensions in respect thereof and file within
the applicable grace
period) all reports required to be filed by the Company
after the date hereof
pursuant to the Exchange Act. As long as any Purchaser
owns Securities, if the
Company is not required to file reports pursuant to the
Exchange Act, it will
prepare and furnish to the Purchasers and make publicly
available in accordance
with Rule 144(c) such information as is required for
the Purchasers to sell the
Securities under Rule 144. The Company further covenants
that it will take such
further action as any holder of Securities may reasonably
request, to the extent
required from time to time to enable such Person to sell
such Securities without
registration under the Securities Act within the requirements
of the exemption
provided by Rule 144.
4.4 Integration.
The
Company shall not sell, offer for sale or solicit offers
to buy or otherwise
negotiate in respect of any security (as defined in Section
2 of the Securities
Act) that would be integrated with the offer or sale
of the Securities in a
manner that would require the
23
registration
under the Securities Act of the sale of the Securities
to the Purchasers or that
would be integrated with the offer or sale of the Securities
for purposes of the
rules and regulations of any Trading Market.
4.5 Exercise
Procedures.
The
form of Notice of Exercise included in the Warrants set
forth the totality of
the procedures required of the Purchasers in order to
exercise the Warrants. No
additional legal opinion or other information or instructions
shall be required
of the Purchasers to exercise their Warrants. The Company
shall honor exercises
of the Warrants and shall deliver Warrant Shares in accordance
with the terms,
conditions and time periods set forth in the Transaction
Documents.
4.6 Securities
Laws Disclosure; Publicity.
The
Company shall, by 8:30 a.m. New York City time on the
Trading Day following the
date hereof, issue a Current Report on Form 8-K disclosing
the material terms of
the transactions contemplated hereby and attaching the
Transaction Documents
thereto. The Company and each Purchaser shall consult
with each other in issuing
any other press releases with respect to the transactions
contemplated hereby,
and neither the Company nor any Purchaser shall issue
any such press release or
otherwise make any such public statement with respect
to the transactions
contemplated hereby without the prior consent of the
Company, with respect to
any press release of any Purchaser, or without the prior
consent of each
Purchaser, with respect to any press release of the Company,
which consent shall
not unreasonably be withheld or delayed, except if such
disclosure is required
by law, in which case the disclosing party shall promptly
provide the other
party with prior notice of such public statement or communication.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company shall not
publicly disclose the name
of any Purchaser, or include the name of any Purchaser
in any filing with the
Commission or any regulatory agency or Trading Market,
without the prior written
consent of such Purchaser, except (i) as required by
federal securities law in
connection with (A) any registration statement contemplated
by the Registration
Rights Agreement and (B) the filing of final Transaction
Documents (including
signature pages thereto) with the Commission and (ii)
to the extent such
disclosure is required by law or Trading Market regulations,
in which case the
Company shall provide the Purchasers with prior notice
of such disclosure
permitted under this subclause (ii).
4.7 Shareholder
Rights Plan.
No
claim will be made or enforced by the Company or, with
the consent of the
Company, any other Person, that any Purchaser is an “Acquiring Person” under any
control share acquisition, business combination, poison
pill (including any
distribution under a rights agreement) or similar anti-takeover
plan or
arrangement in effect or hereafter adopted by the Company,
or that any Purchaser
could be deemed to trigger the provisions of any such
plan or arrangement, by
virtue of receiving Securities under the Transaction
Documents or under any
other agreement between the Company and the Purchasers.
4.8 Non-Public
Information.
Except
with respect to the material terms and conditions of
the transactions
contemplated by the Transaction Documents, the Company
covenants and agrees that
neither it nor any other Person acting on its behalf
will provide any Purchaser
or its agents or counsel with any information that the
Company believes
constitutes material non-public information, unless prior
thereto such Purchaser
shall have executed a written agreement regarding the
confidentiality and use of
such information. The Company understands and
24
confirms
that each Purchaser shall be relying on the foregoing
representations in
effecting transactions in securities of the Company.
4.9 Use
of
Proceeds.
Except
as set forth on Schedule
4.9
attached
hereto, the Company shall use the net proceeds from the
sale of the Securities
hereunder for working capital purposes and not for the
satisfaction of any
portion of the Company’s debt (other than payment of trade payables in the
ordinary course of the Company’s business and prior practices), to redeem any
Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents or to settle
any outstanding
litigation.
4.10 Reimbursement.
If any
Purchaser becomes involved in any capacity in any Proceeding
by or against any
Person who is a stockholder of the Company (except as
a result of sales,
pledges, margin sales and similar transactions by such
Purchaser to or with any
other stockholder), solely as a result of such Purchaser’s acquisition of the
Securities under this Agreement (unless such action is
based upon (i) a breach
of such Purchaser’s representations, warranties or covenants contained
in the
Transaction Documents, (ii) a breach of any agreement
that such Purchaser may
have with any such stockholder or (iii) any conduct by
such Purchaser which
constitutes fraud, gross negligence, willful misconduct
or malfeasance), the
Company will reimburse such Purchaser for its reasonable
legal and other
expenses (including the cost of any investigation preparation
and travel in
connection therewith) incurred in connection therewith,
as such expenses are
incurred. The reimbursement obligations of the Company
under this paragraph
shall be in addition to any liability which the Company
may otherwise have,
shall extend upon the same terms and conditions to any
Affiliates of the
Purchasers who are actually named in such action, proceeding
or investigation,
and partners, directors, agents, employees and controlling
persons (if any), as
the case may be, of the Purchasers and any such Affiliate,
and shall be binding
upon and inure to the benefit of any successors, assigns,
heirs and personal
representatives of the Company, the Purchasers and any
such Affiliate and any
such Person. The Company also agrees that neither the
Purchasers nor any such
Affiliates, partners, directors, agents, employees or
controlling persons shall
have any liability to the Company or any Person asserting
claims on behalf of or
in right of the Company solely as a result of acquiring
the Securities under
this Agreement.
4.11 Indemnification
of Purchasers.
Subject
to the provisions of this Section 4.11, the Company will
indemnify and hold each
Purchaser and its directors, officers, shareholders,
members, partners,
employees and agents (and any other Persons with a functionally
equivalent role
of a Person holding such titles notwithstanding a lack
of such title or any
other title), each Person who controls such Purchaser
(within the meaning of
Section 15 of the Securities Act and Section 20 of the
Exchange Act), and the
directors, officers, shareholders, agents, members, partners
or employees (and
any other Persons with a functionally equivalent role
of a Person holding such
titles notwithstanding a lack of such title or any other
title) of such
controlling person (each, a “Purchaser
Party”)
harmless from any and all losses, liabilities, obligations,
claims,
contingencies, damages, costs and expenses, including
all judgments, amounts
paid in settlements, court costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs of
investigation that any such Purchaser Party may suffer
or incur as a result of
or relating to (a) any breach of any of the representations,
warranties,
covenants or agreements made by the Company in this Agreement
or in the other
Transaction Documents or (b) any action instituted against
a Purchaser, or any
of them or their respective Affiliates, by any stockholder
of the Company who is
not an Affiliate of
25
such
Purchaser, with respect to any of the transactions contemplated
by the
Transaction Documents (unless such action is based upon
a breach of such
Purchaser’s representations, warranties or covenants under the
Transaction
Documents or any agreements or understandings such Purchaser
may have with any
such stockholder or any violations by the Purchaser of
state or federal
securities laws or any conduct by such Purchaser which
constitutes fraud, gross
negligence, willful misconduct or malfeasance). If any
action shall be brought
against any Purchaser Party in respect of which indemnity
may be sought pursuant
to this Agreement, such Purchaser Party shall promptly
notify the Company in
writing, and the Company shall have the right to assume
the defense thereof with
counsel of its own choosing reasonably acceptable to
the Purchaser Party. Any
Purchaser Party shall have the right to employ separate
counsel in any such
action and participate in the defense thereof, but the
fees and expenses of such
counsel shall be at the expense of such Purchaser Party
except to the extent
that (i) the employment thereof has been specifically
authorized by the Company
in writing, (ii) the Company has failed after a reasonable
period of time to
assume such defense and to employ counsel or (iii) in
such action there is, in
the reasonable opinion of such separate counsel, a material
conflict on any
material issue between the position of the Company and
the position of such
Purchaser Party, in which case the Company shall be responsible
for the
reasonable fees and expenses of no more than one such
separate counsel. The
Company will not be liable to any Purchaser Party under
this Agreement (i) for
any settlement by a Purchaser Party effected without
the Company’s prior written
consent, which shall not be unreasonably withheld or
delayed; or (ii) to the
extent, but only to the extent that a loss, claim, damage
or liability is
attributable to any Purchaser Party’s breach of any of the representations,
warranties, covenants or agreements made by such Purchaser
Party in this
Agreement or in the other Transaction Documents.
4.12 Reservation
and Listing of Securities.
(a) The
Company shall maintain a reserve from its duly authorized
shares of Common Stock
for issuance pursuant to the Transaction Documents in
such amount as may be
required to fulfill its obligations in full under the
Transaction
Documents.
(b) If,
on
any date, the number of authorized but unissued (and
otherwise unreserved)
shares of Common Stock is less than the Required Minimum
on such date, then the
Board of Directors of the Company shall use commercially
reasonable efforts to
amend the Company’s certificate or articles of incorporation to increase
the
number of authorized but unissued shares of Common Stock
to at least the
Required Minimum at such time, as soon as possible and
in any event not later
than the 95th day after such date.
(c) The
Company shall, if applicable: (i) in the time and manner
required by the
principal Trading Market, prepare and file with such
Trading Market an
additional shares listing application covering a number
of shares of Common
Stock at least equal to the Required Minimum on the date
of such application,
(ii) take all steps necessary to cause such shares of
Common Stock to be
approved for listing on such Trading Market as soon as
possible thereafter,
(iii) provide to the Purchasers evidence of such listing,
and (iv) maintain the
listing of such Common Stock on any date at least equal
to the Required Minimum
on such date on such Trading Market or another Trading
Market
26
4.13 Participation
in Future Financing.
(a) From
the
date hereof until the date that is the 12 month anniversary
of the Effective
Date, upon any issuance by the Company or any of its
Subsidiaries of Common
Stock or Common Stock Equivalents (a “Subsequent
Financing”),
each
Purchaser shall have the right to participate in up to
an amount of the
Subsequent Financing equal to the lesser of (i) $2,000,000
or (ii) 40% of the
Subsequent Financing (the “Participation
Maximum”)
on the
same terms, conditions and price provided for in the
Subsequent Financing.
(b) At
least
5 Trading Days prior to the closing of the Subsequent
Financing, the Company
shall deliver to each Purchaser a written notice of its
intention to effect a
Subsequent Financing (“Pre-Notice”),
which
Pre-Notice shall ask such Purchaser if it wants to review
the details of such
financing (such additional notice, a “Subsequent
Financing Notice”).
Upon
the request of a Purchaser, and only upon a request by
such Purchaser, for a
Subsequent Financing Notice, the Company shall promptly,
but no later than 1
Trading Day after such request, deliver a Subsequent
Financing Notice to such
Purchaser. The Subsequent Financing Notice shall describe
in reasonable detail
the proposed terms of such Subsequent Financing, the
amount of proceeds intended
to be raised thereunder, the Person or Persons through
or with whom such
Subsequent Financing is proposed to be effected, and
attached to which shall be
a term sheet or similar document relating thereto.
(c) Any
Purchaser desiring to participate in such Subsequent
Financing must provide
written notice to the Company by not later than 5:30
p.m. (New York City time)
on the 5th
Trading
Day after all of the Purchasers have received the Pre-Notice
that the Purchaser
is willing to participate in the Subsequent Financing,
the amount of the
Purchaser’s participation, and that the Purchaser has such funds
ready, willing,
and available for investment on the terms set forth in
the Subsequent Financing
Notice. If the Company receives no notice from a Purchaser
as of such
5th
Trading
Day, such Purchaser shall be deemed to have notified
the Company that it does
not elect to participate.
(d) If
by
5:30 p.m. (New York City time) on the 5th
Trading
Day after all of the Purchasers have received the Pre-Notice,
notifications by
the Purchasers of their willingness to participate in
the Subsequent Financing
(or to cause their designees to participate) is, in the
aggregate, less than the
Participation Maximum, then the Company may effect the
remaining portion of the
Participation Maximum on the terms and with the Persons
set forth in the
Subsequent Financing Notice.
(e) If
by
5:30 p.m. (New York City time) on the 5th
Trading
Day after all of the Purchasers have received the Pre-Notice,
the Company
receives responses to a Subsequent Financing Notice from
Purchasers seeking to
purchase more than the aggregate amount of the Participation
Maximum, each such
Purchaser shall have the right to purchase the greater
of (a) their Pro Rata
Portion (as defined below) of the Participation Maximum
and (b) the difference
between the Participation Maximum and the aggregate amount
of participation by
all other Purchasers. “Pro
Rata Portion”
is
the
27
ratio
of
(x) the Subscription Amount of Securities purchased on
the Closing Date by a
Purchaser participating under this Section 4.13 and (y)
the sum of the aggregate
Subscription Amounts of Securities purchased on the Closing
Date by all
Purchasers participating under this Section 4.13.
(f) The
Company must provide the Purchasers with a second Subsequent
Financing Notice,
and the Purchasers will again have the right of participation
set forth above in
this Section 4.13, if the Subsequent Financing subject
to the initial Subsequent
Financing Notice is not consummated for any reason on
the terms set forth in
such Subsequent Financing Notice within 60 Trading Days
after the date of the
initial Subsequent Financing Notice.
(g) Notwithstanding
the foregoing, this Section 4.13 shall not apply in respect
of an Exempt
Issuance.
4.14 Subsequent
Equity Sales.
(a) From
the
date hereof until 90 days after the Effective Date, neither
the Company nor any
Subsidiary shall issue shares of Common Stock or Common
Stock Equivalents;
provided,
however,
the 90
day period set forth in this Section 4.14 shall be extended
for the number of
Trading Days during such period in which (i) trading
in the Common Stock is
suspended by any Trading Market, or (ii) following the
Effective Date, the
Registration Statement is not effective or the prospectus
included in the
Registration Statement may not be used by the Purchasers
for the resale of the
Warrant Shares.
(b) From
the
date hereof until such time as no Purchaser holds any
of the Securities, the
Company shall be prohibited from effecting or entering
into an agreement to
effect any Subsequent Financing involving a “Variable Rate Transaction”. The
term “Variable
Rate Transaction”
shall
mean a transaction in which the Company issues or sells
(i) any debt or equity
securities that are convertible into, exchangeable or
exercisable for, or
include the right to receive additional shares of Common
Stock either (A) at a
conversion, exercise or exchange rate or other price
that is based upon and/or
varies with the trading prices of or quotations for the
shares of Common Stock
at any time after the initial issuance of such debt or
equity securities, or (B)
with a conversion, exercise or exchange price that is
subject to being reset at
some future date after the initial issuance of such debt
or equity security or
upon the occurrence of specified or contingent events
directly or indirectly
related to the business of the Company or the market
for the Common Stock or
(ii) enters into any agreement, including, but not limited
to, an equity line of
credit, whereby the Company may sell securities at a
future determined price.
(c) Notwithstanding
the foregoing, this Section 4.14 shall not apply in respect
of (i) an Exempt
Issuance, except that no Variable Rate Transaction shall
be an Exempt Issuance
or (ii) a private placement of at least $2,000,000 of
the Company’s securities
(but not including a Variable Rate Transaction) within
90 calendar days of the
date hereof, provided that any proceeds raised in connection
therewith shall be
first used, at
28
the
option of each Purchaser in its sole discretion, for
the repayment in full of
the Debentures.
4.15 Equal
Treatment of Purchasers.
No
consideration shall be offered or paid to any Person
to amend or consent to a
waiver or modification of any provision of any of the
Transaction Documents
unless the same consideration is also offered to all
of the parties to the
Transaction Documents. Further, the Company shall not
make any payment of
principal or interest on the Debentures in amounts which
are disproportionate to
the respective principal amounts outstanding on the Debentures
at any applicable
time. For clarification purposes, this provision constitutes
a separate right
granted to each Purchaser by the Company and negotiated
separately by each
Purchaser, and is intended for the Company to treat the
Purchasers as a class
and shall not in any way be construed as the Purchasers
acting in concert or as
a group with respect to the purchase, disposition or
voting of Securities or
otherwise.
4.16 Short
Sales and Confidentiality After The Date Hereof.
Each
Purchaser, severally and not jointly with the other Purchasers,
covenants that
neither it nor any Affiliate acting on its behalf or
pursuant to any
understanding with it will execute any Short Sales during
the period commencing
at the Discussion Time and ending at the time that the
transactions contemplated
by this Agreement are first publicly announced as described
in Section 4.6. Each
Purchaser, severally and not jointly with the other Purchasers,
covenants that
until such time as the transactions contemplated by this
Agreement are publicly
disclosed by the Company as described in Section 4.6,
such Purchaser will
maintain the confidentiality of all disclosures made
to it in connection with
this transaction (including the existence and terms of
this transaction). Each
Purchaser understands and acknowledges, severally and
not jointly with any other
Purchaser, that the Commission currently takes the position
that coverage of
short sales of shares of the Common Stock “against the box” prior to the
Effective Date of the Registration Statement with the
Securities is a violation
of Section 5 of the Securities Act, as set forth in Item
65, Section A, of the
Manual of Publicly Available Telephone Interpretations,
dated July 1997,
compiled by the Office of Chief Counsel, Division of
Corporation Finance.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, no Purchaser makes any
representation, warranty
or covenant hereby that it will not engage in Short Sales in
the
securities of the Company after the time that the transactions
contemplated by
this Agreement are first publicly announced as described
in Section 4.6.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the case of a Purchaser
that is a
multi-managed investment vehicle whereby separate portfolio
managers manage
separate portions of such Purchaser's assets and the
portfolio managers have no
direct knowledge of the investment decisions made by
the portfolio managers
managing other portions of such Purchaser's assets, the
covenant set forth above
shall only apply with respect to the portion of assets
managed by the portfolio
manager that made the investment decision to purchase
the Securities covered by
this Agreement.
4.17 Form
D; Blue Sky Filings.
The
Company agrees to timely file a Form D with respect to
the Securities as
required under Regulation D and to provide a copy thereof,
promptly upon request
of any Purchaser. The Company shall take such action
as the Company shall
reasonably determine is necessary in order to obtain
an exemption for, or to
qualify the Securities for, sale to the Purchasers at
the Closing under
applicable securities or “Blue Sky” laws of the states of the United States, and
shall provide evidence of such actions promptly upon
request of any
Purchaser.
29
4.18 Capital
Changes.
Until
the one year anniversary of the Effective Date, the Company
shall not undertake
a reverse or forward stock split or reclassification
of the Common Stock without
the prior written consent of the Purchasers holding a
majority in principal
amount outstanding of the Debentures.
4.19 Subsidiaries.
From
the date hereof until the Maturity Date of the Debentures,
the Company agrees
that each of Chembio Diagnostics Nigeria Limited and
Chembio Diagnostics
(Africa) Limited shall (i) own assets having
a
fair market value
of less
than $50,000 and (ii) shall incur no indebtedness; provided,
however,
that
either Chembio Diagnostics Nigeria Limited or Chembio
Diagnostics (Africa)
Limited may fail conditions (i) or (ii) above without
violating this convenant
if such entity has previously become a signatory to the
Security Agreement and
the Subsidiary Guarantee.
ARTICLE
V.
MISCELLANEOUS
5.1 Termination.
This Agreement may be terminated by any Purchaser, as
to such Purchaser’s
obligations hereunder only and without any effect whatsoever
on the obligations
between the Company and the other Purchasers, by written
notice to the other
parties, if the Closing has not been consummated on or
before June 30, 2006;
provided,
however,
that no
such termination will affect the right of any party to
xxx for any breach by the
other party (or parties).
5.2 Fees
and Expenses.
At the
Closing, the Company has agreed to reimburse Alpha Capital
AG (“Alpha”)
the
non-accountable sum of $15,000 for its legal fees and
expenses, $10,000 which
has been paid prior to the Closing. Accordingly, in lieu
of the foregoing
payments, the aggregate amount that Alpha is to pay for
the Securities at the
Closing shall be reduced by $5,000 in lieu thereof. The
Company shall deliver,
prior to the Closing, a completed and executed copy of
the Closing Statement,
attached hereto as Annex
A.
Except
as expressly set forth in the Transaction Documents to
the contrary, each party
shall pay the fees and expenses of its advisers, counsel,
accountants and other
experts, if any, and all other expenses incurred by such
party incident to the
negotiation, preparation, execution, delivery and performance
of this Agreement.
The Company shall pay all transfer agent fees, stamp
taxes and other taxes and
duties levied in connection with the delivery of any
Securities to the
Purchasers.
5.3 Entire
Agreement.
The
Transaction Documents, together with the exhibits and
schedules thereto, contain
the entire understanding of the parties with respect
to the subject matter
hereof and supersede all prior agreements and understandings,
oral or written,
with respect to such matters, which the parties acknowledge
have been merged
into such documents, exhibits and schedules.
5.4 Notices.
Any and
all notices or other communications or deliveries required
or permitted to be
provided hereunder shall be in writing and shall be deemed
given and effective
on the earliest of (a) the date of transmission, if such
notice or communication
is delivered via facsimile at the facsimile number set
forth on the signature
pages attached hereto prior to 5:30 p.m. (New York City
time) on a Trading Day,
(b) the next Trading Day after the date of transmission,
if such notice or
communication is delivered via facsimile at the facsimile
number
30
set
forth
on the signature pages attached hereto on a day that
is not a Trading Day or
later than 5:30 p.m. (New York City time) on any Trading
Day, (c) the
2nd
Trading
Day following the date of mailing, if sent by U.S. nationally
recognized
overnight courier service, or (d) upon actual receipt
by the party to whom such
notice is required to be given. The address for such
notices and communications
shall be as set forth on the signature pages attached
hereto.
5.5 Amendments;
Waivers.
No
provision of this Agreement may be waived, modified,
supplemented or amended
except in a written instrument signed, in the case of
an amendment, by the
Company and each Purchaser or, in the case of a waiver,
by the party against
whom enforcement of any such waived provision is sought.
No waiver of any
default with respect to any provision, condition or requirement
of this
Agreement shall be deemed to be a continuing waiver in
the future or a waiver of
any subsequent default or a waiver of any other provision,
condition or
requirement hereof, nor shall any delay or omission of
any party to exercise any
right hereunder in any manner impair the exercise of
any such
right.
5.6 Headings.
The
headings herein are for convenience only, do not constitute
a part of this
Agreement and shall not be deemed to limit or affect
any of the provisions
hereof.
5.7 Successors
and Assigns.
This
Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit
of the parties and
their successors and permitted assigns. The Company may
not assign this
Agreement or any rights or obligations hereunder without
the prior written
consent of each Purchaser (other than by merger). Any
Purchaser may assign any
or all of its rights under this Agreement to any Person
to whom such Purchaser
assigns or transfers any Securities, provided such transferee
agrees in writing
to be bound, with respect to the transferred Securities,
by the provisions of
the Transaction Documents that apply to the “Purchasers”.
5.8 No
Third-Party Beneficiaries.
This
Agreement is intended for the benefit of the parties
hereto and their respective
successors and permitted assigns and is not for the benefit
of, nor may any
provision hereof be enforced by, any other Person, except
as otherwise set forth
in Section 4.11.
5.9 Governing
Law.
All
questions concerning the construction, validity, enforcement
and interpretation
of the Transaction Documents shall be governed by and
construed and enforced in
accordance with the internal laws of the State of New
York, without regard to
the principles of conflicts of law thereof. Each party
agrees that all legal
proceedings concerning the interpretations, enforcement
and defense of the
transactions contemplated by this Agreement and any other
Transaction Documents
(whether brought against a party hereto or its respective
affiliates, directors,
officers, shareholders, employees or agents) shall be
commenced exclusively in
the state and federal courts sitting in the City of New
York. Each party hereby
irrevocably submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of
the state and federal
courts sitting in the City of New York, borough of Manhattan
for the
adjudication of any dispute hereunder or in connection
herewith or with any
transaction contemplated hereby or discussed herein (including
with respect to
the enforcement of any of the Transaction Documents),
and hereby irrevocably
waives, and agrees not to assert in any suit, action
or proceeding, any claim
that it is not personally subject to the jurisdiction
of any such court, that
such suit, action or proceeding is improper or is an
inconvenient venue for such
proceeding. Each party hereby irrevocably waives personal
service
31
of
process and consents to process being served in any such
suit, action or
proceeding by mailing a copy thereof via registered or
certified mail or
overnight delivery (with evidence of delivery) to such
party at the address in
effect for notices to it under this Agreement and agrees
that such service shall
constitute good and sufficient service of process and
notice thereof. Nothing
contained herein shall be deemed to limit in any way
any right to serve process
in any other manner permitted by law. The parties hereby
waive all rights to a
trial by jury. If either party shall commence an action
or proceeding to enforce
any provisions of the Transaction Documents, then the
prevailing party in such
action or proceeding shall be reimbursed by the other
party for its reasonable
attorneys’ fees and other costs and expenses incurred with the investigation,
preparation and prosecution of such action or proceeding.
5.10 Survival.
The
representations and warranties contained herein shall
survive the Closing and
the delivery of the Securities for the applicable statue
of
limitations.
5.11 Execution.
This
Agreement may be executed in two or more counterparts,
all of which when taken
together shall be considered one and the same agreement
and shall become
effective when counterparts have been signed by each
party and delivered to the
other party, it being understood that both parties need
not sign the same
counterpart. In the event that any signature is delivered
by facsimile
transmission or by e-mail delivery of a “.pdf” format data file, such signature
shall create a valid and binding obligation of the party
executing (or on whose
behalf such signature is executed) with the same force
and effect as if such
facsimile or “.pdf” signature page were an original thereof.
5.12 Severability.
If any
term, provision, covenant or restriction of this Agreement
is held by a court of
competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, void or
unenforceable, the
remainder of the terms, provisions, covenants and restrictions
set forth herein
shall remain in full force and effect and shall in no
way be affected, impaired
or invalidated, and the parties hereto shall use their
commercially reasonable
efforts to find and employ an alternative means to achieve
the same or
substantially the same result as that contemplated by
such term, provision,
covenant or restriction. It is hereby stipulated and
declared to be the
intention of the parties that they would have executed
the remaining terms,
provisions, covenants and restrictions without including
any of such that may be
hereafter declared invalid, illegal, void or unenforceable.
5.13 Rescission
and Withdrawal Right.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in
(and without limiting any
similar provisions of) any of the other Transaction Documents,
whenever any
Purchaser exercises a right, election, demand or option
under a Transaction
Document and the Company does not timely perform its
related obligations within
the periods therein provided, then such Purchaser may
rescind or withdraw, in
its sole discretion from time to time upon written notice
to the Company, any
relevant notice, demand or election in whole or in part
without prejudice to its
future actions and rights; provided,
however,
in the
case of a rescission of an exercise of a Warrant, the
Purchaser shall be
required to return any shares of Common Stock subject
to any such rescinded
exercise notice.
5.14 Replacement
of Securities.
If any
certificate or instrument evidencing any Securities is
mutilated, lost, stolen
or destroyed, the Company shall issue or cause to be
issued in exchange and
substitution for and upon cancellation thereof (in the
case of mutilation), or
in lieu
32
of
and
substitution therefor, a new certificate or instrument,
but only upon receipt of
evidence reasonably satisfactory to the Company of such
loss, theft or
destruction. The applicant for a new certificate or instrument
under such
circumstances shall also pay any reasonable third-party
costs (including
customary indemnity) associated with the issuance of
such replacement
Securities.
5.15 Remedies.
In
addition to being entitled to exercise all rights provided
herein or granted by
law, including recovery of damages, each of the Purchasers
and the Company will
be entitled to specific performance under the Transaction
Documents. The parties
agree that monetary damages may not be adequate compensation
for any loss
incurred by reason of any breach of obligations contained
in the Transaction
Documents and hereby agrees to waive and not to assert
in any action for
specific performance of any such obligation the defense
that a remedy at law
would be adequate.
5.16 Payment
Set Aside.
To the
extent that the Company makes a payment or payments to
any Purchaser pursuant to
any Transaction Document or a Purchaser enforces or exercises
its rights
thereunder, and such payment or payments or the proceeds
of such enforcement or
exercise or any part thereof are subsequently invalidated,
declared to be
fraudulent or preferential, set aside, recovered from,
disgorged by or are
required to be refunded, repaid or otherwise restored
to the Company, a trustee,
receiver or any other person under any law (including,
without limitation, any
bankruptcy law, state or federal law, common law or equitable
cause of action),
then to the extent of any such restoration the obligation
or part thereof
originally intended to be satisfied shall be revived
and continued in full force
and effect as if such payment had not been made or such
enforcement or setoff
had not occurred.
5.17 Usury.
To the
extent it may lawfully do so, the Company hereby agrees
not to insist upon or
plead or in any manner whatsoever claim, and will resist
any and all efforts to
be compelled to take the benefit or advantage of, usury
laws wherever enacted,
now or at any time hereafter in force, in connection
with any claim, action or
proceeding that may be brought by any Purchaser in order
to enforce any right or
remedy under any Transaction Document. Notwithstanding
any provision to the
contrary contained in any Transaction Document, it is
expressly agreed and
provided that the total liability of the Company under
the Transaction Documents
for payments in the nature of interest shall not exceed
the maximum lawful rate
authorized under applicable law (the “Maximum
Rate”),
and,
without limiting the foregoing, in no event shall any
rate of interest or
default interest, or both of them, when aggregated with
any other sums in the
nature of interest that the Company may be obligated
to pay under the
Transaction Documents exceed such Maximum Rate. It is
agreed that if the maximum
contract rate of interest allowed by law and applicable
to the Transaction
Documents is increased or decreased by statute or any
official governmental
action subsequent to the date hereof, the new maximum
contract rate of interest
allowed by law will be the Maximum Rate applicable to
the Transaction Documents
from the effective date forward, unless such application
is precluded by
applicable law. If under any circumstances whatsoever,
interest in excess of the
Maximum Rate is paid by the Company to any Purchaser
with respect to
indebtedness evidenced by the Transaction Documents,
such excess shall be
applied by such Purchaser to the unpaid principal balance
of any such
indebtedness or be refunded to the Company, the manner
of handling such excess
to be at such Purchaser’s election.
33
5.18 Independent
Nature of Purchasers’ Obligations and Rights.
The
obligations of each Purchaser under any Transaction Document
are several and not
joint with the obligations of any other Purchaser, and
no Purchaser shall be
responsible in any way for the performance or non-performance
of the obligations
of any other Purchaser under any Transaction Document.
Nothing contained herein
or in any other Transaction Document, and no action taken
by any Purchaser
pursuant thereto, shall be deemed to constitute the Purchasers
as a partnership,
an association, a joint venture or any other kind of
entity, or create a
presumption that the Purchasers are in any way acting
in concert or as a group
with respect to such obligations or the transactions
contemplated by the
Transaction Documents. Each Purchaser shall be entitled
to independently protect
and enforce its rights, including without limitation
the rights arising out of
this Agreement or out of the other Transaction Documents,
and it shall not be
necessary for any other Purchaser to be joined as an
additional party in any
proceeding for such purpose. Each Purchaser has been
represented by its own
separate legal counsel in their review and negotiation
of the Transaction
Documents. For reasons of administrative convenience
only, Purchasers and their
respective counsel have chosen to communicate with the
Company through FWS. FWS
does not represent all of the Purchasers but only Alpha.
The Company has elected
to provide all Purchasers with the same terms and Transaction
Documents for the
convenience of the Company and not because it was required
or requested to do so
by the Purchasers.
5.19 Liquidated
Damages.
The
Company’s obligations to pay any partial liquidated damages or
other amounts
owing under the Transaction Documents is a continuing
obligation of the Company
and shall not terminate until all unpaid partial liquidated
damages and other
amounts have been paid notwithstanding the fact that
the instrument or security
pursuant to which such partial liquidated damages or
other amounts are due and
payable shall have been canceled.
5.20 Construction.
The
parties agree that each of them and/or their respective
counsel has reviewed and
had an opportunity to revise the Transaction Documents
and, therefore, the
normal rule of construction to the effect that any ambiguities
are to be
resolved against the drafting party shall not be employed
in the interpretation
of the Transaction Documents or any amendments hereto.
(Signature
Pages Follow)
34
IN
WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this
Securities Purchase
Agreement to be duly executed by their respective authorized
signatories as of
the date first indicated above.
|
Address
for Notice:
|
By:__________________________________________
Name:
Title:
|
0000
Xxxxxxxxxx Xxxx
Xxxxxxx,
Xxx Xxxx 00000
|
With
a copy to (which shall not constitute notice):
Xxxxxx
X. Xxxxxxx
Xxxxxx
Xxxxx LLP
0000
Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx, Xxx. 0000
Xxxxxx,
XX 00000
tel:
(000) 000-0000
fax:
(000) 000-0000
E-Mail:
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
|
[REMAINDER
OF PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
SIGNATURE
PAGE FOR PURCHASER FOLLOWS]
35
[PURCHASER
SIGNATURE PAGES TO CEMI SECURITIES PURCHASE AGREEMENT]
IN
WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned have caused this Securities
Purchase Agreement
to be duly executed by their respective authorized signatories
as of the date
first indicated above.
Name
of
Purchaser: ________________________________________________________
Signature
of Authorized Signatory of Purchaser:
__________________________________
Name
of
Authorized Signatory:
____________________________________________________
Title
of
Authorized Signatory:
_____________________________________________________
Email
Address of Purchaser:
________________________________________________
Facsimile
Number of Purchaser:
________________________________________________
Address
for Notice of Purchaser:
Address
for Delivery of Securities for Purchaser (if not same
as above):
Subscription
Amount:
Warrant
Shares:
EIN
Number: [PROVIDE
THIS UNDER SEPARATE COVER]
[SIGNATURE
PAGES CONTINUE]