Exhibit 10.20
AMENDED AND RESTATED DECLARATION
OF TRUST
COMMUNITY (CA) CAPITAL TRUST I
Dated as of March 23, 2000
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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ARTICLE I | ||
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SECTION 1.1 | Definitions | 1 |
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ARTICLE II | ||
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SECTION 2.1 | Name | 9 |
SECTION 2.2 | Office | 9 |
SECTION 2.3 | Purpose | 9 |
SECTION 2.4 | Authority | 9 |
SECTION 2.5 | Title to Property of the Trust | 9 |
SECTION 2.6 | Powers and Duties of the Trustees and the Administrators | 10 |
SECTION 2.7 | Prohibition of Actions by the Trust and the Trustees | 13 |
SECTION 2.8 | Powers and Duties of the Institutional Trustee | 14 |
SECTION 2.9 | Certain Duties and Responsibilities of the Trustees and Administrators | 16 |
SECTION 2.10 | Certain Rights of Institutional Trustee | 17 |
SECTION 2.11 | Delaware Trustee | 20 |
SECTION 2.12 | Execution of Documents | 20 |
SECTION 2.13 | Not Responsible for Recitals or Issuance of Securities | 20 |
SECTION 2.14 | Duration of Trust | 20 |
SECTION 2.15 | Mergers | 20 |
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ARTICLE III | ||
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SECTION 3.1 | Sponsor’s Purchase of Common Securities | 22 |
SECTION 3.2 | Responsibilities of the Sponsor | 22 |
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ARTICLE IV | ||
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SECTION 4.1 | Number of Trustees | 23 |
SECTION 4.2 | Delaware Trustee | 23 |
SECTION 4.3 | Institutional Trustee; Eligibility | 23 |
SECTION 4.4 | Certain Qualifications of the Delaware Trustee Generally | 24 |
SECTION 4.5 | Administrators | 24 |
SECTION 4.6 | Delaware Trustee | 24 |
SECTION 4.7 | Appointment, Removal and Resignation of Trustees and Administrators | 24 |
SECTION 4.8 | Vacancies Among Trustees | 26 |
SECTION 4.9 | Effect of Vacancies | 26 |
SECTION 4.10 | Meetings of the Trustees and the Administrators | 26 |
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SECTION 4.11 | Delegation of Power | 27 |
SECTION 4.12 | Conversion, Consolidation or Succession to Business | 27 |
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ARTICLE V | ||
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SECTION 5.1 | Distributions | 27 |
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ARTICLE VI | ||
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SECTION 6.1 | General Provisions Regarding Securities | 28 |
SECTION 6.2 | Paying Agent, Transfer Agent and Registrar | 29 |
SECTION 6.3 | Form and Dating | 29 |
SECTION 6.4 | Mutilated, Destroyed, Lost or Stolen Certificates | 30 |
SECTION 6.5 | Temporary Securities | 30 |
SECTION 6.6 | Cancellation | 30 |
SECTION 6.7 | Rights of Holders; Waivers of Past Defaults | 30 |
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ARTICLE VII | ||
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SECTION 7.1 | Dissolution and Termination of Trust | 32 |
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ARTICLE VIII
TRANSFER OF INTERESTS
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SECTION 8.1 | General | 33 |
SECTION 8.2 | Transfer Procedures and Restrictions | 34 |
SECTION 8.3 | Deemed Security Holders | 36 |
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ARTICLE IX | ||
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SECTION 9.1 | Liability | 36 |
SECTION 9.2 | Exculpation | 37 |
SECTION 9.3 | Fiduciary Duty | 37 |
SECTION 9.4 | Indemnification | 38 |
SECTION 9.5 | Outside Businesses | 40 |
SECTION 9.6 | Compensation; Fee | 41 |
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ARTICLE X | ||
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SECTION 10.1 | Fiscal Year | 41 |
SECTION 10.2 | Certain Accounting Matters | 41 |
SECTION 10.3 | Banking | 42 |
SECTION 10.4 | Withholding | 42 |
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ARTICLE XI | ||
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SECTION 11.1 | Amendments | 43 |
SECTION 11.2 | Meetings of the Holders of Securities; Action by Written Consent | 45 |
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ARTICLE XII | ||
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SECTION 12.1 | Representations and Warranties of Institutional Trustee | 46 |
SECTION 12.2 | Representations and Warranties of Delaware Trustee | 47 |
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ARTICLE XIII | ||
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SECTION 13.1 | Notices | 48 |
SECTION 13.2 | Governing Law | 49 |
SECTION 13.3 | Intention of the Parties | 49 |
SECTION 13.4 | Headings | 50 |
SECTION 13.5 | Successors and Assigns | 50 |
SECTION 13.6 | Partial Enforceability | 50 |
SECTION 13.7 | Counterparts | 50 |
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AMENDED AND RESTATED DECLARATION OF TRUST
OF
COMMUNITY (CA) CAPITAL TRUST I
March 23, 2000
AMENDED AND RESTATED DECLARATION OF TRUST (this “Declaration”) dated and effective as of March 23, 2000, by the Trustees (as defined herein), the Administrators (as defined herein), the Sponsor (as defined herein) and the holders, from time to time, of undivided beneficial interests in the Trust (as defined herein) to be issued pursuant to this Declaration;
WHEREAS, certain of the Trustees, the Administrators and the Sponsor established Community (CA) Capital Trust I (the “Trust”), a statutory business trust under the Delaware Business Trust Act pursuant to a Declaration of Trust dated as of March 7, 2000 (the “Original Declaration”), and a Certificate of Trust filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on March 14, 2000, for the sole purpose of issuing and selling certain securities representing undivided beneficial interests in the assets of the Trust and investing the proceeds thereof in certain debentures of the Debenture Issuer (as defined herein);
WHEREAS, as of the date hereof, no interests in the Trust have been issued;
WHEREAS, all of the Trustees, the Administrators and the Sponsor, by this Declaration, amend and restate each and every term and provision of the Original Declaration; and
NOW, THEREFORE, it being the intention of the parties hereto to continue the Trust as a statutory business trust under the Business Trust Act (as defined herein) and that this Declaration constitutes the governing instrument of such statutory business trust, the Trustees declare that all assets contributed to the Trust will be held in trust for the benefit of the holders, from time to time, of the securities representing undivided beneficial interests in the assets of the Trust issued hereunder, subject to the provisions of this Declaration.
ARTICLE I
INTERPRETATION AND DEFINITIONS
SECTION 1.1 Definitions
Unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) Capitalized terms used in this Declaration but not defined in the preamble above have the respective meanings assigned to them in this Section 1.1;
(b) a term defined anywhere in this Declaration has the same meaning throughout;
(c) all references to “the Declaration” or “this Declaration” are to this Declaration as modified, supplemented or amended from time to time;
(d) all references in this Declaration to Articles and Sections and Annexes and Exhibits are to Articles and Sections of and Annexes and Exhibits to this Declaration unless otherwise specified;
(e) a term defined in the Trust Indenture Act (as defined herein) has the same meaning when used in this Declaration unless otherwise defined in this Declaration or unless the context otherwise requires; and
(f) a reference to the singular includes the plural and vice versa.
“Additional Interest” has the meaning set forth in Section 3.06 of the Indenture.
“Administrative Action” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 4(a) of Annex I.
“Administrators” means each of Thomas E. Swansen and L. Bruce Mills, Jr., solely in such Person’s capacity as Administrator of the Trust created and continued hereunder and not in such Person’s individual capacity, or such Administrator’s successor in interest in such capacity, or any successor appointed as herein provided.
“Affiliate” has the same meaning as given to that term in Rule 405 of the Securities Act or any successor rule thereunder.
“Authorized Officer” of a Person means any Person that is authorized to bind such Person.
“Bankruptcy Event” means, with respect to any Person:
(a) a court having jurisdiction in the premises enters a decree or order for relief in respect of such Person in an involuntary case under any applicable bankruptcy, insolvency or other similar law now or hereafter in effect, or appoints a receiver, liquidator, assignee, custodian, trustee, sequestrator or similar official of such Person or for any substantial part of its property, or orders the winding-up or liquidation of its affairs, and such decree, appointment or order remains unstayed and in effect for a period of 90 consecutive days; or
(b) such Person commences a voluntary case under any applicable bankruptcy, insolvency or other similar law now or hereafter in effect, consents to the entry of an order for relief in an involuntary case under any such law, or consents to the appointment of or taking possession by a receiver, liquidator, assignee, trustee, custodian, sequestrator or other similar official of such Person of any substantial part of its property, or makes any general assignment for the benefit of creditors, or fails generally to pay its debts as they become due.
“Business Day” means any day other than Saturday, Sunday or any other day on which banking institutions in New York are permitted or required by any applicable any applicable law to close.
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“Business Trust Act” means Chapter 38 of Title 12 of the Delaware Code, 12 Del. Code § 3801 et seq., as it may be amended from time to time, or any successor legislation.
“Capital Securities” has the meaning set forth in 6.1 (a).
“Capital Security Certificate” means a Certificate representing a Capital Security substantially in the form of Exhibit A-l.
“Capital Treatment Event” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 4(a) of Annex I.
“Certificate” means any certificate evidencing Securities.
“Closing Date” has the meaning set forth in the Placement Agreement.
“Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended from time to time, or any successor legislation.
“Commission” means the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Common Securities” has the meaning set forth in Section 6.1 (a).
“Common Security Certificate” means a definitive Certificate in fully registered form representing a Common Security substantially in the form of Exhibit A-2.
“Company Indemnified Person” means (a) any Administrator; (b) any Affiliate of any Administrator; (c) any officers, directors, shareholders, members, partners, employees, representatives or agents of any Administrator; or (d) any officer, employee or agent of the Trust or its Affiliates.
“Comparable Treasury Issue” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 4(a) of Annex I.
“Comparable Treasury Price” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 4(a) of Annex I.
“Corporate Trust Office” means the office of the Institutional Trustee at which the corporate trust business of the Institutional Trustee shall, at any particular time, be principally administered, which office at the date of execution of this Declaration is located at 101 Barclay Street, Floor 21 West, New York, NY 10286.
“Covered Person” means: (a) any Administrator, officer, director, shareholder, partner, member, representative, employee or agent of (i) the Trust or (ii) the Trust’s Affiliates; and (b) any Holder of Securities.
“Debenture Issuer” means Community Bancorp Inc., a bank holding company incorporated in Delaware, in its capacity as issuer of the Debentures under the Indenture.
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“Debenture Trustee” means The Bank of New York, as trustee under the Indenture until a successor is appointed thereunder, and thereafter means such successor trustee.
“Debentures” means the 11% Junior Subordinated Deferrable Interest Debentures due 2030 to be issued by the Debenture Issuer under the Indenture.
“Deferred Interest” means any interest on the Debentures that would have been overdue and unpaid for more than one Distribution Payment Date but for the imposition of an Extension Period, and the interest that shall accrue (to the extent that the payment of such interest is legally enforceable) on such interest at the rate per annum equal to 11%, compounded semi-annually from the date on which such Deferred Interest would otherwise have been due and payable until paid or made available for payment.
“Definitive Capital Securities” means any Capital Securities in definitive form issued by the Trust.
“Delaware Trustee” has the meaning set forth in Section 4.2.
“Direct Action” has the meaning set forth in Section 2.8(e).
“Distribution” means a distribution payable to Holders of Securities in accordance with Section 5.1.
“Distribution Payment Date” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 2(b) of Annex I.
“Event of Default” means any one of the following events (whatever the reason for such event and whether it shall be voluntary or involuntary or be effected by operation of law or pursuant to any judgment, decree or order of any court or any order, rule or regulation of any administrative or governmental body):
(a) the occurrence of an Indenture Event of Default;
(b) default by the Trust in the payment of any Redemption Price of any Security when it becomes due and payable;
(c) default in the performance, or breach, in any material respect, of any covenant or warranty of the Trustees in this Declaration (other than those specified in clause (b) above) and continuation of such default or breach for a period of 30 days after there has been given, by registered or certified mail to the Trustees and to the Sponsor by the Holders of at least 25% in aggregate liquidation amount of the outstanding Capital Securities a written notice specifying such default or breach and requiring it to be remedied and stating that such notice is a “Notice of Default” hereunder; or
(d) the occurrence of a Bankruptcy Event with respect to the Institutional Trustee if a successor Institutional Trustee has not been appointed within 90 days thereof.
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“Exchange Act” means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended from time to time, or any successor legislation.
“Extension Period” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 2(b) of Annex I.
“Federal Reserve” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 3 of Annex I.
“Fiduciary Indemnified Person” shall mean the Institutional Trustee, the Delaware Trustee, any Affiliate of the Institutional Trustee or the Delaware Trustee, and any officers, directors, shareholders, members, partners, employees, representatives, custodians, nominees or agents of the Institutional Trustee and the Delaware Trustee.
“Fiscal Year” has the meaning set forth in Section 10.1
“Guarantee” means the guarantee agreement to be dated as of March 23, 2000, of the Sponsor in respect of the Capital Securities.
“Holder” means a Person in whose name a Certificate representing a Security is registered, such Person being a beneficial owner within the meaning of the Business Trust Act.
“Indemnified Person” means a Company Indemnified Person or a Fiduciary Indemnified Person.
“Indenture” means the Indenture dated as of March 23, 2000, among the Debenture Issuer and the Debenture Trustee, and any indenture supplemental thereto pursuant to which the Debentures are to be issued.
“Indenture Event of Default” means an “Event of Default” as defined in the Indenture.
“Institutional Trustee” means the Trustee meeting the eligibility requirements set forth in Section 4.3.
“interest” means any interest due on the Debentures, including any Deferred Interest and Defaulted Interest (as each such term is defined in the Indenture).
“Investment Company” means an investment company as defined in the Investment Company Act.
“Investment Company Act” means the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended from time to time, or any successor legislation.
“Investment Company Event” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 4(a) of Annex I.
“Legal Action” has the meaning set forth in Section 2.8(e).
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“Liquidation” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 3 of Annex I.
“Liquidation Distribution” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 3 of Annex I.
“Majority in liquidation amount of the Securities” means Holder(s) of outstanding Securities voting together as a single class or, as the context may require, Holders of outstanding Capital Securities or Holders of outstanding Common Securities voting separately as a class, who are the record owners of more than 50% of the aggregate liquidation amount (including the stated amount that would be paid on redemption, liquidation or otherwise, plus accrued and unpaid Distributions to the date upon which the voting percentages are determined) of all outstanding Securities of the relevant class.
“Officers’ Certificates” means, with respect to any Person, a certificate signed by two Authorized Officers of such Person. Any Officers’ Certificate delivered with respect to compliance with a condition or covenant provided for it in this Declaration shall include:
(a) a statement that each officer signing the Certificate has read the covenant or condition and the definitions relating thereto;
(b) a brief statement of the nature and scope of the examination or investigation undertaken by each officer in rendering the Certificate;
(c) a statement that each such officer has made such examination or investigation as, in such officer’s opinion, is necessary to enable such officer to express an informed opinion as to whether or not such covenant or condition has been complied with; and
(d) a statement as to whether, in the opinion of each such officer, such condition or covenant has been complied with.
“Paying Agent” has the meaning specified in Section 6.2.
“Payment Amount” has the meaning set forth in Section 5.1.
“Person” means a legal person, including any individual, corporation, estate, partnership, joint venture, association, joint stock company, limited liability company, trust, unincorporated association, or government or any agency or political subdivision thereof, or any other entity of whatever nature.
“Placement Agreement” means the Placement Agreement relating to the offering and sale of Capital Securities in the form of Exhibit E.
“PORTAL” has the meaning set forth in Section 2.6(a)(i).
“Primary Treasury Dealer” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 4(a) of Annex I.
“Property Account” has the meaning set forth in Section 2.8(c).
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“Pro Rata” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 8 of Annex I.
“QIB” means a “qualified institutional buyer” as defined under Rule 144A of the Securities Act.
“Quorum” means a majority of the Administrators or, if there are only two Administrators, both of them.
“Quotation Agent” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 4(a) of Annex I.
“Redemption/Distribution Notice” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 4(e) of Annex I.
“Redemption Price” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 4(a) of Annex I.
“Registrar” has the meaning set forth in Section 6.2.
“Reference Treasury Dealer” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 4(a) of Annex I.
“Reference Treasury Dealer Quotations” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 4(a) of Annex I.
“Relevant Trustee” has the meaning set forth in Section 4.7(a).
“Remaining Life” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 4(a) of Annex I.
“Responsible Officer” means, with respect to the Institutional Trustee, any officer within the Corporate Trust Office of the Institutional Trustee, including any vice-president, any assistant vice-president, any assistant secretary, the treasurer, any assistant treasurer, any trust officer or other officer of the Corporate Trust Office of the Institutional Trustee customarily performing functions similar to those performed by any of the above designated officers and also means, with respect to a particular corporate trust matter, any other officer to whom such matter is referred because of that officer’s knowledge of and familiarity with the particular subject.
“Restricted Securities Legend” has the meaning set forth in Section 8.2(c).
“Rule 144A” means Rule 144A under the Securities Act.
“Rule 3a-5” means Rule 3a-5 under the Investment Company Act.
“Rule 3a-7” means Rule 3a-7 under the Investment Company Act.
“Securities” means the Common Securities and the Capital Securities.
“Securities Act” means the Securities Act of 1933, as amended from time to time or any successor legislation.
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“Sponsor” means Community Bancorp Inc., a bank holding company incorporated in Delaware, or any successor entity in a merger, consolidation or amalgamation, in its capacity as sponsor of the Trust.
“Successor Delaware Trustee” has the meaning set forth in Section 4.7(a).
“Successor Entity” has the meaning set forth in Section 2.15(b).
“Successor Institutional Trustee” has the meaning set forth in Section 4.7(a).
“Successor Securities” has the meaning set forth in Section 2.15(b).
“Super Majority” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 5(b) of Annex I.
“Tax Event” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 4(a) of Annex I.
“10% in liquidation amount of the Securities” means Holder(s) of outstanding Securities voting together as a single class or, as the context may require, Holders of outstanding Capital Securities or Holders of outstanding Common Securities voting separately as a class, who are the record owners of 10% or more of the aggregate liquidation amount (including the stated amount that would be paid on redemption, liquidation or otherwise, plus accrued and unpaid Distributions to the date upon which the voting percentages are determined) of all outstanding Securities of the relevant class.
“Transfer Agent” has the meaning set forth in Section 6.2.
“Treasury Rate” has the meaning set forth in paragraph 4(a) of Annex I.
“Treasury Regulations” means the income tax regulations, including temporary and proposed regulations, promulgated under the Code by the United States Treasury, as such regulations may be amended from time to time (including corresponding provisions of succeeding regulations).
“Trust Indenture Act” means the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, as amended.
“Trustee” or “Trustees” means each Person who has signed this Declaration as a trustee, so long as such Person shall continue in office in accordance with the terms hereof, and all other Persons who may from time to time be duly appointed, qualified and serving as Trustees in accordance with the provisions hereof, and references herein to a Trustee or the Trustees shall refer to such Person or Persons solely in their capacity as trustees hereunder.
“Trust Property” means (a) the Debentures, (b) any cash on deposit in, or owing to, the Property Account and (c) all proceeds and rights in respect of the foregoing and any other property and assets for the time being held or deemed to be held by the Institutional Trustee pursuant to the trusts of this Declaration.
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“U.S. Person” means a United States Person as defined a Section 7701(a)(30) of the Code.
ARTICLE II
ORGANIZATION
SECTION 2.1 Name. The Trust is named “Community (CA) Capital Trust I,” as such name may be modified from time to time by the Administrators following written notice to the Holders of the Securities. The Trust’s activities may be conducted under the name of the Trust or any other name deemed advisable by the Administrators.
SECTION 2.2 Office. The address of the principal office of the Trust is 130 W. Fallbrook Street, Fallbrook, California 92028. On ten Business Days written notice to the Holders of the Securities, the Administrators may designate another principal office which, shall be in a State of the United States or the District of Columbia.
SECTION 2.3 Purpose. The exclusive purposes and functions of the Trust are (a) to issue and sell the Securities representing undivided beneficial interests in the assets of the Trust, (b) to invest the gross proceeds from such sale to acquire the Debentures and (c) except as otherwise limited herein, to engage in only those other activities necessary or incidental thereto. The Trust shall not borrow money, issue debt or reinvest proceeds derived from investments, pledge any of its assets, or otherwise undertake (or permit to be undertaken) any activity that would cause the Trust not to be classified for United States federal income tax purposes as a grantor trust.
SECTION 2.4 Authority. Except as specifically provided in this Declaration, the Institutional Trustee shall have exclusive and complete authority to carry out the purposes of the Trust. An action taken by a Trustee in accordance with its powers shall constitute the act of and serve to bind the Trust. In dealing with the Trustees acting on behalf of the Trust, no Person shall be required to inquire into the authority of the Trustees to bind the Trust. Persons dealing with the Trust are entitled to rely conclusively on the power and authority of the Trustees as set forth in this Declaration. The Administrators shall have only those ministerial duties set forth herein with respect to accomplishing the purposes of the Trust and are not intended to be trustees or fiduciaries with respect to the Trust or the Holders.
SECTION 2.5 Title to Property of the Trust. Except as provided in Section 2.8 with respect to the Debentures and the Property Account or as otherwise provided in this Declaration, legal title to all assets of the Trust shall be vested in the Trust. The Holders shall not have legal title to any part of the assets of the Trust, but shall have an undivided beneficial interest in the assets of the Trust.
SECTION 2.6 Powers and Duties of the Trustees and the Administrators.
(a) The Trustees and the Administrators shall conduct the affairs of the Trust in accordance with the terms of this Declaration. Subject to the limitations set forth in paragraph (b) of this Section, and in accordance with the following provisions (i) and (ii), the
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Trustees and the Administrators shall have the authority to enter into all transactions and agreements determined by the Trustees to be appropriate in exercising the authority, express or implied, otherwise granted to the Trustees or the Administrators, as the case may be, under this Declaration, and to perform all acts in furtherance thereof, including without limitation, the following:
(i) Each Administrator shall have the power and authority to act on behalf of the Trust with respect to the following matters:
(A) the issuance and sale of the Securities;
(B) to cause the Trust to enter into, and to execute and deliver on behalf of the Trust, such agreements as may be necessary or desirable in connection with the purposes and function of the Trust, including agreements with the Paying Agent;
(C) ensuring compliance with the Securities Act, applicable state securities or blue sky laws;
(D) if and at such time determined by the Sponsor at the request of the Holders, assisting in the designation of the Capital Securities for trading in the Private Offering, Resales and Trading through the Automatic Linkages (“PORTAL”) system;
(E) the sending of notices (other than notices of default) and other information regarding the Securities and the Debentures to the Holders in accordance with this Declaration;
(F) the consent to the appointment of a Paying Agent, Transfer Agent and Registrar in accordance with this Declaration, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld;
(G) execution and delivery of the Securities in accordance with this Declaration;
(H) execution and delivery of closing certificates, pursuant to the Placement Agreement and the application for a taxpayer identification number;
(I) unless otherwise determined by the Institutional Trustee or the Holders of a Majority in liquidation amount of the Securities or as otherwise required by the Business Trust Act, to execute on behalf of the Trust (either acting alone or together with any or all of the Administrators) any documents that the Administrators have the power to execute pursuant to this Declaration;
(J) the taking of any action incidental to the foregoing as the Institutional Trustee may from time to time determine is necessary to give effect
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to the terms of this Declaration for the benefit of the Holders (without consideration of the effect of any such action on any particular Holder);
(K) to establish a record date with respect to all actions to be taken hereunder that require a record date be established, including Distributions, voting rights, redemptions and exchanges, and to issue relevant notices to the Holders of Capital Securities and Holders of Common Securities as to such actions and applicable record dates; and
(L) to duly prepare and file all applicable tax returns and tax information reports that are required to be filed with respect to the Trust on behalf of the Trust.
(ii) As among the Trustees and the Administrators, the Institutional Trustee shall have the power, duty and authority to act on behalf of the Trust with respect to the following matters:
(A) the establishment of the Property Account;
(B) the receipt of the Debentures;
(C) the collection of interest, principal and any other payments made in respect of the Debentures in the Property Account;
(D) the distribution through the Paying Agent of amounts owed to the Holders in respect of the Securities;
(E) the exercise of all of the rights, powers and privileges of a holder of the Debentures;
(F) the sending of notices of default and other information regarding the Securities and the Debentures to the Holders in accordance with this Declaration;
(G) the distribution of the Trust Property in accordance with the terms of this Declaration;
(H) to the extent provided in this Declaration, the winding up of the affairs of and liquidation of the Trust and the preparation, execution and filing of the certificate of cancellation with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware;
(I) after any Event of Default (provided that such Event of Default is not by or with respect to the Institutional Trustee) the taking of any action incidental to the foregoing as the Institutional Trustee may from time to time determine is necessary or advisable to give effect to the terms of this Declaration and protect and conserve the Trust Property for the benefit of the Holders
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(without consideration of the effect of any such action on any particular Holder); and
(J) to take all action that may be necessary for the preservation and the continuation of the Trust’s valid existence, rights, franchises and privileges as a statutory business trust under the laws of the State of Delaware and of each other jurisdiction in which such existence is necessary to protect the limited liability of the Holders of the Capital Securities or to enable the Trust to effect the purposes for which the Trust was created.
(b) So long as this Declaration remains in effect, the Trust (or the Trustees or Administrators acting on behalf of the Trust) shall not undertake any business, activities or transaction except as expressly provided herein or contemplated hereby. In particular, neither the Trustees nor the Administrators may cause the Trust to (i) acquire any investments or engage in any activities not authorized by this Declaration, (ii) sell, assign, transfer, exchange, mortgage, pledge, set-off or otherwise dispose of any of the Trust Property or interests therein, including to Holders, except as expressly provided herein, (iii) take any action that would cause the Trust to fail or cease to qualify as a “grantor trust” for United States federal income tax purposes, (iv) incur any indebtedness for borrowed money or issue any other debt or (v) take or consent to any action that would result in the placement of a lien on any of the Trust Property. The Institutional Trustee shall, at the sole cost and expense of the Trust, defend all claims and demands of all Persons at any time claiming any lien on any of the Trust Property adverse to the interest of the Trust or the Holders in their capacity as Holders.
(c) In connection with the issuance and sale of the Capital Securities, the Sponsor shall have the right and responsibility to assist the Trust with respect to, or effect on behalf of the Trust, the following (and any actions taken by the Sponsor in furtherance of the following prior to the date of this Declaration are hereby ratified and confirmed in all respects):
(i) the taking of any action necessary to obtain an exemption from the Securities Act;
(ii) the determination of the States in which to take appropriate action to qualify or register for sale all or part of the Capital Securities and the determination of any and all such acts, other than actions which must be taken by or on behalf of the Trust, and the advice to the Trustees of actions they must take on behalf of the Trust, and the preparation for execution and filing of any documents to be executed and filed by the Trust or on behalf of the Trust, as the Sponsor deems necessary or advisable in order to comply with the applicable laws of any such States in connection with the sale of the Capital Securities;
(iii) the negotiation of the terms of, and the execution and delivery of, the Placement Agreement providing for the sale of the Capital Securities; and
(iv) the taking of any other actions necessary or desirable to carry out any of the foregoing activities.
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(d) Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, the Administrators and the Holders of a Majority in liquidation amount of the Common Securities are authorized and directed to conduct the affairs of the Trust and to operate the Trust so that (i) the Trust will not be deemed to be an “investment company” required to be registered under the Investment Company Act and (ii) the Trust will not fail to be classified as a grantor trust for United States federal income tax purposes. The Administrator and the Holders of a Majority in liquidation amount of the Common Securities shall not take any action inconsistent with the treatment of the Debentures as indebtedness of the Debenture Issuer for United States federal income tax purposes. In this connection, the Holders of a Majority in liquidation amount of the Common Securities are authorized to take any action, not inconsistent with applicable laws, the Original Declaration or this Declaration, as amended from time to time, that such Holders determine in their discretion to be necessary or desirable for such purposes, even if such action adversely affects the interests of the Holders of the Capital Securities.
(e) All expenses incurred by the Administrators or the Trustees pursuant to this Section 2.6 shall be reimbursed by the Sponsor, and the Trustees shall have no obligations with respect to such expenses.
(f) The assets of the Trust shall consist of the Trust Property.
(g) Legal title to all Trust Property shall be vested at all times in the Institutional Trustee (in its capacity as such) and shall be held and administered by the Institutional Trustee for the benefit of the Trust and neither the Administrators nor the Holders in accordance with this Declaration.
SECTION 2.7 Prohibition of Actions by the Trust and the Trustees.
(a) The Trust shall not, and the Institutional Trustee shall cause the Trust not to, engage in any activity other than as required or authorized by this Declaration. In particular, the Trust shall not and the Institutional Trustee shall cause the Trust not to:
(i) invest any proceeds received by the Trust from holding the Debentures, but shall distribute all such proceeds to Holders of the Securities pursuant to the terms of this Declaration and of the Securities;
(ii) acquire any assets other than as expressly provided herein;
(iii) possess Trust Property for other than a Trust purpose;
(iv) make any loans or incur any indebtedness other than loans represented by the Debentures;
(v) possess any power or otherwise act in such a way as to vary the Trust assets or the terms of the Securities;
(vi) issue any securities or other evidences of beneficial ownership of, or beneficial interest in, the Trust other than the Securities; or
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(vii) other than as provided in this Declaration (including Annex I), (A) direct the time, method and place of exercising any trust or power conferred upon the Debenture Trustee with respect to the Debentures, (B) waive any past default that is waivable under the Indenture, (C) exercise any right to rescind or annul any declaration that the principal of all the Debentures shall be due and payable, or (D) consent to any amendment, modification or termination of the Indenture or the Debentures where such consent shall be required unless the Trust shall have received an opinion of counsel to the effect that such modification will not cause the Trust to cease to be classified as a grantor trust for United States federal income tax purposes.
SECTION 2.8 Powers and Duties of the Institutional Trustee.
(a) The legal title to the Debentures shall be owned by and held of record in the name of the Institutional Trustee in trust for the benefit of the Trust. The right, title and interest of the Institutional Trustee to the Debentures shall vest automatically in each Person who may hereafter be appointed as Institutional Trustee in accordance with Section 4.7. Such vesting and cessation of title shall be effective whether or not conveyancing documents with regard to the Debentures have been executed and delivered.
(b) The Institutional Trustee shall not transfer its right, title and interest in the Debentures to the Administrators or to the Delaware Trustee.
(c) The Institutional Trustee shall:
(i) establish and maintain a segregated non-interest bearing trust account (the “Property Account”) in the United States (as defined in Treasury Regulations section 301.7701-7), in the name of and under the exclusive control of the Institutional Trustee, and maintained in the Institutional Trustee’s trust department, on behalf of the Holders of the Securities and, upon the receipt of payments of funds made in respect of the Debentures held by the Institutional Trustee, deposit such funds into the Property Account and make payments to the Holders of the Capital Securities and Holders of the Common Securities from the Property Account in accordance with Section 5.1. Funds in the Property Account shall be held uninvested until disbursed in accordance with this Declaration;
(ii) engage in such ministerial activities as shall be necessary or appropriate to effect the redemption of the Capital Securities and the Common Securities to the extent the Debentures are redeemed or mature; and
(iii) upon written notice of distribution issued by the Administrators in accordance with the terms of the Securities, engage in such ministerial activities as shall be necessary or appropriate to effect the distribution of the Debentures to Holders of Securities upon the occurrence of certain circumstances pursuant to the terms of the Securities.
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(d) The Institutional Trustee shall take all actions and perform such duties as may be specifically required of the Institutional Trustee pursuant to the terms of the Securities.
(e) The Institutional Trustee may bring or defend, pay, collect, compromise, arbitrate, resort to legal action with respect to, or otherwise adjust claims or demands of or against, the Trust (a “Legal Action”) which arises out of or in connection with an Event of Default of which a Responsible Officer of the Institutional Trustee has actual knowledge or the Institutional Trustee’s duties and obligations under this Declaration or the Trust Indenture Act; provided, however, that if an Event of Default has occurred and is continuing and such event is attributable to the failure of the Debenture Issuer to pay interest or principal on the Debentures on the date such interest or principal is otherwise payable (or in the case of redemption, on the redemption date), then a Holder of the Capital Securities may directly institute a proceeding for enforcement of payment to such Holder of the principal of or interest on the Debentures having a principal amount equal to the aggregate liquidation amount of the Capital Securities of such Holder (a “Direct Action”) on or after the respective due date specified in the Debentures. In connection with such Direct Action, the rights of the Holders of the Common Securities will be subrogated to the rights of such Holder of the Capital Securities to the extent of any payment made by the Debenture Issuer to such Holder of the Capital Securities in such Direct Action; provided, however, that a Holder of the Common Securities may exercise such right of subrogation only so long as an Event of Default with respect to the Capital Securities has occurred and is continuing.
(f) The Institutional Trustee shall continue to serve as a Trustee until either:
(i) the Trust has been completely liquidated and the proceeds of the liquidation distributed to the Holders of the Securities pursuant to the terms of the Securities; or
(ii) a Successor Institutional Trustee has been appointed and has accepted that appointment in accordance with Section 4.7.
(g) The Institutional Trustee shall have the legal power to exercise all of the rights, powers and privileges of a Holder of the Debentures under the Indenture and, if an Event of Default occurs and is continuing, the Institutional Trustee may, for the benefit of Holders of the Securities, enforce its rights as holder of the Debentures subject to the rights of the Holders pursuant to this Declaration (including Annex I) and the terms of the Securities.
The Institutional Trustee must exercise the powers set forth in this Section 2.8 in a manner that is consistent with the purposes and functions of the Trust set out in Section 2.3, and the Institutional Trustee shall not take any action that is inconsistent with the purposes and functions of the Trust set out in Section 2.3.
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SECTION 2.9 Certain Duties and Responsibilities of the Trustees and Administrators.
(a) The Institutional Trustee, before the occurrence of any Event of Default and after the curing of all Events of Default that may have occurred, shall undertake to perform only such duties as are specifically set forth in this Declaration and no implied covenants shall be read into this Declaration against the Institutional Trustee. In case an Event of Default has occurred (that has not been cured or waived pursuant to Section 6.7), the Institutional Trustee shall exercise such of the rights and powers vested in it by this Declaration, and use the same degree of care and skill in their exercise, as a prudent person would exercise or use under the circumstances in the conduct of his or her own affairs.
(b) The duties and responsibilities of the Trustees and the Administrators shall be as provided by this Declaration and, in the case of the Institutional Trustee, by the Trust Indenture Act. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no provision of this Declaration shall require the Trustees or Administrators to expend or risk their own funds or otherwise incur any financial liability in the performance of any of their duties hereunder, or in the exercise of any of their rights or powers. Whether or not therein expressly so provided, every provision of this Declaration relating to the conduct or affecting the liability of or affording protection to the Trustees or Administrators shall be subject to the provisions of this Article. Nothing in this Declaration shall be construed to release an Administrator or Trustee from liability for its own negligent action, its own negligent failure to act, or its own willful misconduct. To the extent that, at law or in equity, a Trustee or an Administrator has duties and liabilities relating to the Trust or to the Holders, such Trustee or Administrator shall not be liable to the Trust or to any Holder for such Trustee’s or Administrator’s good faith reliance on the provisions of this Declaration. The provisions of this Declaration, to the extent that they restrict the duties and liabilities of the Administrators or the Trustees otherwise existing at law or in equity, are agreed by the Sponsor and the Holders to replace such other duties and liabilities of the Administrators or the Trustees.
(c) All payments made by the Institutional Trustee or a Paying Agent in respect of the Securities shall be made only from the revenue and proceeds from the Trust Property and only to the extent that there shall be sufficient revenue or proceeds from the Trust Property to enable the Institutional Trustee or a Paying Agent to make payments in accordance with the terms hereof. Each Holder, by its acceptance of a Security, agrees that it will look solely to the revenue and proceeds from the Trust Property to the extent legally available for distribution to it as herein provided and that the Trustees and the Administrators are not personally liable to it for any amount distributable in respect of any Security or for any other liability in respect of any Security. This Section 2.9(c) does not limit the liability of the Trustees expressly set forth elsewhere in this Declaration or, in the case of the Institutional Trustee, in the Trust Indenture Act.
(d) No provision of this Declaration shall be construed to relieve the Institutional Trustee from liability with respect to matters that are within the authority of the Institutional Trustee under this Declaration for its own negligent action, its own negligent failure to act, or its own willful misconduct, except that:
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(i) the Institutional Trustee shall not be liable for any error or judgment made in good faith by an Authorized Officer of the Institutional Trustee, unless it shall be proved that the Institutional Trustee was negligent in ascertaining the pertinent facts;
(ii) the Institutional Trustee shall not be liable with respect to any action taken or omitted to be taken by it in good faith in accordance with the direction of the Holders of not less than a Majority in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities or the Common Securities, as applicable, relating to the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the Institutional Trustee, or exercising any trust or power conferred upon the Institutional Trustee under this Declaration;
(iii) the Institutional Trustee’s sole duty with respect to the custody, safe keeping and physical preservation of the Debentures and the Property Account shall be to deal with such property in a similar manner as the Institutional Trustee deals with similar property for its own account, subject to the protections and limitations on liability afforded to the Institutional Trustee under this Declaration and the Trust Indenture Act;
(iv) the Institutional Trustee shall not be liable for any interest on any money received by it except as it may otherwise agree in writing with the Sponsor; and money held by the Institutional Trustee need not be segregated from other funds held by it except in relation to the Property Account maintained by the Institutional Trustee pursuant to Section 2.8(c)(i) and except to the extent otherwise required by law; and
(v) the Institutional Trustee shall not be responsible for monitoring the compliance by the Administrators or the Sponsor with their respective duties under this Declaration, nor shall the Institutional Trustee be liable for any default or misconduct of the Administrators or the Sponsor.
SECTION 2.10 Certain Rights of Institutional Trustee. Subject to the provisions of Section 2.9:
(a) the Institutional Trustee may conclusively rely and shall fully be protected in acting or refraining from acting in good faith upon any resolution, opinion of counsel, certificate, written representation of a Holder or transferee, certificate of auditors or any other certificate, statement, instrument, opinion, report, notice, request, direction, consent, order, appraisal, bond, debenture, note, other evidence of indebtedness or other paper or document believed by it to be genuine and to have been signed, sent or presented by the proper party or parties;
(b) if (i) in performing its duties under this Declaration, the Institutional Trustee is required to decide between alternative courses of action, (ii) in construing any of the provisions of this Declaration, the Institutional Trustee finds the same ambiguous or inconsistent with any other provisions contained herein, or (iii) the Institutional Trustee is unsure of the application of any provision of this Declaration, then, except as to any matter as to which the Holders of Capital Securities are entitled to vote under the terms of this Declaration, the Institutional Trustee may deliver a notice to the Sponsor requesting the Sponsor’s opinion as to
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the course of action to be taken and the Institutional Trustee shall take such action, or refrain from taking such action, as the Institutional Trustee shall be directed, in which event the Institutional Trustee shall have no liability except for its own negligence or willful misconduct;
(c) any direction or act of the Sponsor or the Administrators contemplated by this Declaration shall be sufficiently evidenced by an Officers’ Certificate;
(d) whenever in the administration of this Declaration, the Institutional Trustee shall deem it desirable that a matter be proved or established before undertaking, suffering or omitting any action hereunder, the Institutional Trustee (unless other evidence is herein specifically prescribed) may request and conclusively rely upon an Officers’ Certificate as to factual matters which, upon receipt of such request, shall be promptly delivered by the Sponsor or the Administrators;
(e) the Institutional Trustee shall have no duty to see to any recording, filing or registration of any instrument (including any financing or continuation statement or any filing under tax or securities laws) or any rerecording, refiling or reregistration thereof;
(f) the Institutional Trustee may consult with counsel of its selection (which counsel may be counsel to the Sponsor or any of its Affiliates) and the advice of such counsel shall be full and complete authorization and protection in respect of any action taken, suffered or omitted by it hereunder in good faith and in reliance thereon and in accordance with such advice; the Institutional Trustee shall have the right at any time to seek instructions concerning the administration of this Declaration from any court of competent jurisdiction;
(g) the Institutional Trustee shall be under no obligation to exercise any of the rights or powers vested in it by this Declaration at the request or direction of any of the Holders pursuant to this Declaration, unless such Holders shall have offered to the Institutional Trustee security or indemnity reasonably satisfactory to it against the costs, expenses and liabilities which might be incurred by it in compliance with such request or direction; provided, that nothing contained in this Section 2.10(g) shall be taken to relieve the Institutional Trustee, upon the occurrence of an Event of Default, of its obligation to exercise the rights and powers vested in it by this Declaration;
(h) the Institutional Trustee shall not be bound to make any investigation into the facts or matters stated in any resolution, certificate, statement, instrument, opinion, report, notice, request, consent, order, approval, bond, debenture, note or other evidence of indebtedness or other paper or document, unless requested in writing to do so by one or more Holders, but the Institutional Trustee may make such further inquiry or investigation into such facts or matters as it may see fit;
(i) the Institutional Trustee may execute any of the trusts or powers hereunder or perform any duties hereunder either directly or by or through its agents or attorneys and the Institutional Trustee shall not be responsible for any misconduct or negligence on the part of, or for the supervision of, any such agent or attorney appointed with due care by it hereunder;
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(j) whenever in the administration of this Declaration the Institutional Trustee shall deem it desirable to receive instructions with respect to enforcing any remedy or right or taking any other action hereunder, the Institutional Trustee (i) may request instructions from the Holders of the Capital Securities, which instructions may be given only by the Holders of the same proportion in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities as would be entitled to direct the Institutional Trustee under the terms of the Capital Securities in respect of such remedy, right or action, (ii) may refrain from enforcing such remedy or right or taking such other action until such instructions are received, and (iii) shall be fully protected in acting in accordance with such instructions;
(k) except as otherwise expressly provided in this Declaration, the Institutional Trustee shall not be under any obligation to take any action that is discretionary under the provisions of this Declaration;
(1) when the Institutional Trustee incurs expenses or renders services in connection with a Bankruptcy Event, such expenses (including the fees and expenses of its counsel) and the compensation for such services are intended to constitute expenses of administration under any bankruptcy law or law relating to creditors rights generally;
(m) the Institutional Trustee shall not be charged with knowledge of an Event of Default unless a Responsible Officer of the Institutional Trustee obtains actual knowledge of such event or the Institutional Trustee receives written notice of such event from any Holder;
(n) any action taken by the Institutional Trustee or its agents hereunder shall bind the Trust and the Holders of the Securities, and the signature of the Institutional Trustee or its agents alone shall be sufficient and effective to perform any such action and no third party shall be required to inquire as to the authority of the Institutional Trustee to so act or as to its compliance with any of the terms and provisions of this Declaration, both of which shall be conclusively evidenced by the Institutional Trustee’s or its agent’s taking such action; and
(o) no provision of this Declaration shall be deemed to impose any duty or obligation on the Institutional Trustee to perform any act or acts or exercise any right, power, duty or obligation conferred or imposed on it, in any jurisdiction in which it shall be illegal, or in which the Institutional Trustee shall be unqualified or incompetent in accordance with applicable law, to perform any such act or acts, or to exercise any such right, power, duty or obligation. No permissive power or authority available to the Institutional Trustee shall be construed to be a duty.
SECTION 2.11 Delaware Trustee. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Declaration other than Section 4.2, the Delaware Trustee shall not be entitled to exercise any powers, nor shall the Delaware Trustee have any of the duties and responsibilities of any of the Trustees or the Administrators described in this Declaration. Except as set forth in Section 4.2, the Delaware Trustee shall be a Trustee for the sole and limited purpose of fulfilling the requirements of § 3807 of the Business Trust Act.
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SECTION 2.12 Execution of Documents. Subject to the provisions of Section 2.11, unless otherwise determined in writing by the Institutional Trustee, and except as otherwise required by the Business Trust Act, the Institutional Trustee, or any one or more of the Administrators, as the case may be, is authorized to execute on behalf of the Trust any documents that the Trustees or the Administrators, as the case may be, have the power and authority to execute pursuant to Section 2.6.
SECTION 2.13 Not Responsible for Recitals or Issuance of Securities. The recitals contained in this Declaration and the Securities shall be taken as the statements of the Sponsor, and the Trustees do not assume any responsibility for their correctness. The Trustees make no representations as to the value or condition of the property of the Trust or any part thereof. The Trustees make no representations as to the validity or sufficiency of this Declaration, the Debentures or the Securities.
SECTION 2.14 Duration of Trust. The Trust, unless dissolved pursuant to the provisions of Article VII hereof, shall have existence for fifty-five (55) years from the Closing Date.
SECTION 2.15 Mergers. (a) The Trust may not consolidate, amalgamate, merge with or into, or be replaced by, or convey, transfer or lease its properties and assets substantially as an entirety to any corporation or other body, except as described in this Section 2.15(b) and (c).
(b) The Trust may, with the consent of the Institutional Trustee and without the consent of the Delaware Trustee or the Holders of the Capital Securities, consolidate, amalgamate, merge with or into, or be replaced by a trust organized as such under the laws of any State; provided, that:
(i) if the Trust is not the Survivor, such successor entity (the “Successor Entity”) either:
(A) expressly assumes all of the obligations of the Trust under the Securities; or
(B) substitutes for the Securities other securities having substantially the same terms as the Securities (the “Successor Securities”) so that the Successor Securities rank the same as the Securities rank with respect to Distributions and payments upon Liquidation, redemption and otherwise;
(ii) the Institutional Trustee expressly appoints a trustee of the Successor Entity that possesses the same powers and duties as the Institutional Trustee as the Holder of the Debentures;
(iii) the Capital Securities or any Successor Securities are listed, or any Successor Securities will be listed upon notification of issuance, on any national securities exchange or with another organization on which the Capital Securities are then listed or quoted, if any;
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(iv) such merger, consolidation, amalgamation or replacement does not cause the Capital Securities (including any Successor Securities) to be downgraded by any nationally recognized statistical rating organization;
(v) such merger, consolidation, amalgamation or replacement does not adversely affect the rights, preferences and privileges of the Holders of the Securities (including any Successor Securities) in any material respect (other than with respect to any dilution of such Holders’ interests in the Successor Entity as a result, of such merger, consolidation, amalgamation or replacement);
(vi) such Successor Entity has a purpose substantially identical to that of the Trust;
(vii) prior to such merger, consolidation, amalgamation or replacement, the Trust has received an opinion of a nationally recognized independent counsel to the Trust experienced in such matters to the effect that:
(A) such merger, consolidation, amalgamation or replacement does not adversely affect the rights, preferences and privileges of the Holders of the Securities (including any Successor Securities) in any material respect (other than with respect to any dilution of the Holders’ interest in the Successor Entity);
(B) following such merger, consolidation, amalgamation or replacement, neither the Trust nor the Successor Entity will be required to register as an Investment Company;
(C) following such merger, consolidation, amalgamation or replacement, the Trust (or the Successor Entity) will continue to be classified as a grantor trust for United States federal income tax purposes; and
(viii) the Sponsor guarantees the obligations of such Successor Entity under the Successor Securities at least to the extent provided by the Guarantee; and
(ix) prior to such merger, consolidation, amalgamation or replacement, the Institutional Trustee shall have received an Officers’ Certificate of the Administrators and an opinion of counsel, each to the effect that all conditions precedent of this paragraph (b) to such transaction have been satisfied.
(c) Notwithstanding Section 2.15(b), the Trust shall not, except with the consent of Holders of 100% in liquidation amount of the Securities, consolidate, amalgamate, merge with or into, or to be replaced by any other entity or permit any other entity to consolidate, amalgamate, merge with or into, or replace it if such consolidation, amalgamation, merger or replacement would cause the Trust or Successor Entity to be classified as other than a grantor trust for United States federal income tax purposes.
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ARTICLE III
SPONSOR
SECTION 3.1 Sponsor’s Purchase of Common Securities. On the Closing Date, the Sponsor will purchase all of the Common Securities issued by the Trust, in an amount at least equal to 3% of the capital of the Trust, at the same time as the Capital Securities are sold.
SECTION 3.2 Responsibilities of the Sponsor. In connection with the issue and sale of the Capital Securities, the Sponsor shall have the exclusive right and responsibility to engage in the following activities:
(a) to determine the States in which to take appropriate action to qualify or register for sale all or part of the Capital Securities and to do any and all such acts, other than actions which must be taken by the Trust, and advise the Trust of actions it must take, and prepare for execution and filing any documents to be executed and filed by the Trust, as the Sponsor deems necessary or advisable in order to comply with the applicable laws of any such States;
(b) to prepare for filing and request the Administrators to cause the filing by the Trust, as may be appropriate, of an application to the PORTAL system, for listing or quotation upon notice of issuance of any Capital Securities, if required ; and
(c) to negotiate the terms of and/or execute on behalf of the Trust, the Placement Agreement and other related agreements providing for the sale of the Capital Securities.
ARTICLE IV
TRUSTEES AND ADMINISTRATORS
SECTION 4.1 Number of Trustees. The number of Trustees initially shall be two, and:
(a) at any time before the issuance of any Securities, the Sponsor may, by written instrument, increase or decrease the number of Trustees; and
(b) after the issuance of any Securities, the number of Trustees may be increased or decreased by vote of the Holders of a Majority in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities voting as a class at a meeting of the Holders of the Capital Securities; provided, however, that there shall be a Delaware Trustee if required by Section 4.2; and there shall always be one Trustee who shall be the Institutional Trustee, and such Trustee may also serve as Delaware Trustee if it meets the applicable requirements, in which case Section 2.11 shall have no application to such entity in its capacity as Institutional Trustee.
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SECTION 4.2 Delaware Trustee. If required by the Business Trust Act, one Trustee (the “Delaware Trustee”) shall be:
(a) a natural person who is a resident of the State of Delaware; or
(b) if not a natural person, an entity which is organized under the laws of the United States or any State thereof or the District of Columbia, has its principal place of business in the State of Delaware, and otherwise meets the requirements of applicable law, including §3807 of the Business Trust Act.
SECTION 4.3 Institutional Trustee; Eligibility. (a) There shall at all times be one Trustee which shall act as Institutional Trustee which shall:
(i) not be an Affiliate of the Sponsor;
(ii) not offer or provide credit or credit enhancement to the Trust; and
(iii) be a banking corporation organized and doing business under the laws of the United States of America or any State thereof or of the District of Columbia authorized under such laws to exercise corporate trust powers, having a combined capital and surplus of at least 50 million U.S. dollars ($50,000,000), and subject to supervision or examination by Federal, State or District of Columbia authority. If such corporation publishes reports of condition at least annually, pursuant to law or to the requirements of the supervising or examining authority referred to above, then for the purposes of this Section 4.3(a)(ii), the combined capital and surplus of such corporation shall be deemed to be its combined capital and surplus as set forth in its most recent report of condition so published.
(b) If at any time the Institutional Trustee shall cease to be eligible to so act under Section 4.3(a), the Institutional Trustee shall immediately resign in the manner and with the effect set forth in Section 4.7(a).
(c) If the Institutional Trustee has or shall acquire any “conflicting interest” within the meaning of § 310(b) of the Trust Indenture Act, the Institutional Trustee shall either eliminate such interest or resign, to the extent and in the manner provided by, and subject to this Declaration.
(d) The initial Institutional Trustee shall be The Bank of New York.
SECTION 4.4 Certain Qualifications of the Delaware Trustee Generally. The Delaware Trustee shall be a U.S. Person and either a natural person who is at least 21 years of age or a legal entity that shall act through one or more Authorized Officers.
SECTION 4.5 Administrators. Each Administrator shall be a U.S. Person. The initial Administrators shall be Thomas E. Swansen and L. Bruce Mills, Jr.. There shall at all times be at least one Administrator.
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Except where a requirement for action by a specific number of Administrators is expressly set forth in this Declaration and except with respect to any action the taking of which is the subject of a meeting of the Administrators any action required or permitted to be taken by the Administrators may be taken by, and any power of the Administrators may be exercised by, or with the consent of, any one such Administrator.
SECTION 4.6 Initial Delaware Trustee. The initial Delaware Trustee shall be The Bank of New York (Delaware).
SECTION 4.7 Appointment, Removal and Resignation of Trustees and Administrators.
(a) No resignation or removal of any Trustee (the “Relevant Trustee”) and no appointment of a successor Trustee pursuant to this Article shall become effective until the acceptance of appointment by the successor Trustee in accordance with the applicable requirements of this Section 4.7.
Subject to the immediately preceding paragraph, a Relevant Trustee may resign at any time by giving written notice thereof to the Holders of the Securities and by appointing a successor Relevant Trustee. Upon the resignation of the Institutional Trustee, the Institutional Trustee shall appoint a successor by requesting from each of Bank One Trust Company, NA, Bankers Trust Company and State Street Bank & Trust Company, its expenses and charges to serve as the successor Institutional Trustee on a form provided by the Administrators, and selecting the Person who agrees to the lowest expense and charges (the “Successor Institutional Trustee”). If the instrument of acceptance by the successor Relevant Trustee required by Section 4.7 shall not have been delivered to the Relevant Trustee within 60 days after the giving of such notice of resignation or delivery of the instrument of removal, the Relevant Trustee may petition, at the expense of the Trust, any Federal, State or District of Columbia court of competent jurisdiction for the appointment of a successor Relevant Trustee. Such court may thereupon, after prescribing such notice, if any, as it may deem proper, appoint a Relevant Trustee. The Institutional Trustee shall have no liability for the selection of such successor pursuant to this Section 4.7.
The Institutional Trustee or the Delaware Trustee, or both of them, may be removed by the act of the Holders of a Majority in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities, delivered to the Relevant Trustee (in its individual capacity and on behalf of the Trust) if an Event of Default shall have occurred and be continuing. If any Trustee shall be so removed, the Holders of Capital Securities, by act of the Holders of a Majority in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities then outstanding delivered to the Relevant Trustee, shall promptly appoint a successor Relevant Trustee or Trustees, and such successor Trustee shall comply with the applicable requirements of this Section 4.7. If no successor Relevant Trustee shall have been so appointed by the Holders of a Majority in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities and accepted appointment in the manner required by this Section 4.7, within 30 days after delivery of an instrument of removal, the Relevant Trustee or any Holder who has been a Holder of the Securities for at least six months may, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, petition any Federal, State or District of Columbia court of competent jurisdiction for the
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appointment of a successor Relevant Trustee. Such court may thereupon, after prescribing such notice, if any, as it may deem proper, appoint a successor Relevant Trust or Trustees.
The Institutional Trustee shall give notice of each resignation and each removal of a Trustee and each appointment of a successor Trustee to all Holders in the manner provided in Section 4.7(b) and shall give notice to the Sponsor. Each notice shall include the name of the successor Relevant Trustee and the address of its Corporate Trust Office if it is the Institutional Trustee.
Notwithstanding the foregoing or any other provision of this Declaration, in the event a Delaware Trustee who is a natural person dies or becomes incompetent or incapacitated, the vacancy created by such death, incompetence or incapacity may be filled by the Institutional Trustee following the procedures in this Section 4.7 (with the successor being a Person who satisfies the eligibility requirement for a Delaware Trustee set forth in this Declaration) (the “Successor Delaware Trustee”).
(b) In case of the appointment hereunder of a successor Relevant Trustee, the retiring Relevant Trustee and each successor Relevant Trustee with respect to the Trust Securities shall execute and deliver an amendment hereto wherein each successor Relevant Trustee shall accept such appointment and which (a) shall contain such provisions as shall be necessary or desirable to transfer and confirm to, and to vest in, each successor Relevant Trustee all the rights, powers, trusts and duties of the retiring Relevant Trustee with respect to the Securities and the Trust and (b) shall add to or change any of the provisions of this Declaration as shall be necessary to provide for or facilitate the administration of the Trust by more than one Relevant Trustee, it being understood that nothing herein or in such amendment shall constitute such Relevant Trustees co-trustees and upon the execution and delivery of such amendment the resignation or removal of the retiring Relevant Trustee shall become effective to the extent provided therein and each such successor Relevant Trustee, without any further act, deed or conveyance, shall become vested with all the rights, powers, trusts and duties of the retiring Relevant Trustee; but, on request of the Trust of any successor Relevant Trustee such retiring Relevant Trustee shall duly assign, transfer and deliver to such successor Relevant Trustee all Trust Property, all proceeds thereof and money held by such retiring Relevant Trustee hereunder with respect to the Securities and the Trust.
(c) No Institutional Trustee or Delaware Trustee shall be liable for the acts or omissions to act of any Successor Institutional Trustee or Successor Delaware Trustee, as the case may be.
(d) The Holders of the Capital Securities will have no right to vote to appoint, remove or replace the Administrators, which voting rights are vested exclusively in the Holder of the Common Securities.
SECTION 4.8 Vacancies Among Trustees. If a Trustee ceases to hold office for any reason and the number of Trustees is not reduced pursuant to Section 4.1, or if the number of Trustees is increased pursuant to Section 4.1, a vacancy shall occur. A resolution certifying the existence of such vacancy by the Trustees or, if there are more than two, a majority of the
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Trustees shall be conclusive evidence of the existence of such vacancy. The vacancy shall be filled with an a Trustee appointed in accordance with Section 4.7.
SECTION 4.9 Effect of Vacancies. The death, resignation, retirement, removal, bankruptcy, dissolution, liquidation, incompetence or incapacity to perform the duties of a Trustee shall not operate to dissolve, terminate or annul the Trust. Whenever a vacancy in the number of Trustees shall occur, until such vacancy is filled by the appointment of a Trustee in accordance with Section 4.7, the Institutional Trustee shall have all the powers granted to the Trustees and shall discharge all the duties imposed upon the Trustees by this Declaration.
SECTION 4.10 Meetings of the Trustees and the Administrators. Meetings of the Trustees or the Administrators shall be held from time to time upon the call of any Trustee or Administrator, as applicable. Regular meetings of the Trustees and the Administrators, respectively, may be in person in the United States or by telephone, at a place (if applicable) and time fixed by resolution of the Trustees or the Administrators, as applicable. Notice of any in-person meetings of the Trustees or the Administrators shall be hand delivered or otherwise delivered in writing (including by facsimile, with a hard copy by overnight courier) not less than 48 hours before such meeting. Notice of any telephonic meetings of the Trustees or the Administrators or any committee thereof shall be hand delivered or otherwise delivered in writing (including by facsimile, with a hard copy by overnight courier) not less than 24 hours before a meeting. Notices shall contain a brief statement of the time, place and anticipated purposes of the meeting. The presence (whether in person or by telephone) of a Trustee or an Administrator, as the case may be, at a meeting shall constitute a waiver of notice of such meeting except where a Trustee or an Administrator, as the case may be, attends a meeting for the express purpose of objecting to the transaction of any activity on the ground that the meeting has not been lawfully called or convened. Unless provided otherwise in this Declaration, any action of the Trustees or the Administrators, as the case may be, may be taken at a meeting by vote of a majority of the Trustees or the Administrators present (whether in person or by telephone) and eligible to vote with respect to such matter; provided, that a Quorum is present, or without a meeting by the unanimous written consent of the Trustees or the Administrators. Meetings of the Trustees and the Administrators together shall be held from the time to time upon the call of any Trustee or Administrator.
SECTION 4.11 Delegation of Power. (a) Any Trustee or any Administrator, as the case may be, may, by power of attorney consistent with applicable law, delegate to any other natural person over the age of 21 that is a U.S. Person his or her power for the purpose of executing any documents contemplated in Section 2.6; and
(b) the Trustees shall have power to delegate from time to time to such of their number or to any officer of the Trust that is a U.S. Person, the doing of such things and the execution of such instruments either in the name of the Trust or the names of the Trustees or otherwise as the Trustees may deem expedient, to the extent such delegation is not prohibited by applicable law or contrary to the provisions of the Trust, as set forth herein.
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SECTION 4.12 Conversion, Consolidation or Succession to Business. Any Person into which the Institutional Trustee or the Delaware Trustee, as the case may be, may be merged or converted or with which either may be consolidated, or any Person resulting from any merger, conversion or consolidation to which the Institutional Trustee or the Delaware Trustee, as the case may be, shall be a party, or any Person succeeding to all or substantially all the corporate trust business of the Institutional Trustee or the Delaware Trustee, as the case may be, shall be the successor of the Institutional Trustee or the Delaware Trustee, as the case may be, hereunder, provided such Person shall be otherwise qualified and eligible under this Article, without the execution or filing of any paper or any further act on the part of any of the parties hereto.
ARTICLE V
DISTRIBUTIONS
SECTION 5.1 Distributions. Holders shall receive Distributions in accordance with the applicable terms of the relevant Holder’s Securities. Distributions shall be made on the Capital Securities and the Common Securities in accordance with the preferences set forth in their respective terms. If and to the extent that the Debenture Issuer makes a payment of interest (including any Additional Interest or Deferred Interest) and/or principal on the Debentures held by the Institutional Trustee (the amount of any such payment being a “Payment Amount”), the Institutional Trustee shall and is directed, to the extent funds are available for that purpose, to make a distribution (a “Distribution”) of the Payment Amount to Holders.
ARTICLE VI
ISSUANCE OF SECURITIES
SECTION 6.1 General Provisions Regarding Securities.
(a) The Administrators shall on behalf of the Trust issue one series of capital securities substantially in the form of Exhibit A-l representing undivided beneficial interests in the assets of the Trust having such terms as are set forth in Annex I (the “Capital Securities”) and one series of common securities representing undivided beneficial interests in the assets of the Trust having such terms as are set forth in Annex I (the “Common Securities”). The Trust shall issue no securities or other interests in the assets of the Trust other than the Capital Securities and the Common Securities. The Capital Securities rank pari passu and payment thereon shall be made Pro Rata with the Common Securities except that, where an Event of Default has occurred and is continuing, the rights of Holders of the Common Securities to payment in respect of Distributions and payments upon liquidation, redemption and otherwise are subordinated to the rights to payment of the Holders of the Capital Securities.
(b) The Certificates shall be signed on behalf of the Trust by one or more Administrators. Such signature shall be the facsimile or manual signature of any Administrator. In case any Administrator of the Trust who shall have signed any of the Securities shall cease to be such Administrator before the Certificates so signed shall be delivered by the Trust, such
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Certificates nevertheless may be delivered as though the person who signed such Certificates had not ceased to be such Administrator; and any Certificate may be signed on behalf of the Trust by such person who, at the actual date of execution of such Security, shall be an Administrator of the Trust, although at the date of the execution and delivery of the Declaration any such person was not such an Administrator. A Capital Security shall not be valid until authenticated by the manual signature of an Authorized Officer of the Institutional Trustee. Such signature shall be conclusive evidence that the Capital Security has been authenticated under this Declaration. Upon written order of the Trust signed by one Administrator, the Institutional Trustee shall authenticate the Capital Securities for original issue. The Institutional Trustee may appoint an authenticating agent that is a U.S. Person acceptable to the Trust to authenticate the Capital Securities. A Common Security need not be so authenticated.
(c) The consideration received by the Trust for the issuance of the Securities shall constitute a contribution to the capital of the Trust and shall not constitute a loan to the Trust.
(d) Upon issuance of the Securities as provided in this Declaration, the Securities so issued shall be deemed to be validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable.
(e) Every Person, by virtue of having become a Holder or a Capital Security Beneficial Owner in accordance with the terms of this Declaration, shall be deemed to have expressly assented and agreed to the terms of, and shall be bound by, this Declaration and the Guarantee.
SECTION 6.2 Paying Agent, Transfer Agent and Registrar. The Trust shall maintain in New York, New York, an office or agency where the Capital Securities may be presented for payment (the “Paying Agent”), and an office or agency where Securities may be presented for registration of transfer (the “Transfer Agent”). The Trust shall keep or cause to be kept at such office or agency a register for the purpose of registering Securities and transfers and exchanges of Securities, such register to be held by a registrar (the “Registrar”). The Administrators may appoint the Paying Agent, the Registrar and the Transfer Agent, and may appoint one or more additional Paying Agents or one or more co-Registrars, or one or more co-Transfer Agents in such other locations as it shall determine. The term “Paying Agent” includes any additional paying agent, the term “Registrar” includes any additional registrar or co-Registrar and the term “Transfer Agent” includes any additional transfer agent. The Administrators may change any Paying Agent without prior notice to any Holder. The Administrators shall notify the Institutional Trustee of the name and address of any Paying Agent, Transfer Agent and Registrar not a party to this Declaration. The Administrators hereby appoint the Institutional Trustee to act as Paying Agent, Transfer Agent and Registrar for the Capital Securities and the Common Securities. The Institutional Trustee or any of its Affiliates in the United States may act as Paying Agent, Transfer Agent or Registrar.
SECTION 6.3 Form and Dating. The Capital Securities and the Institutional Trustee’s certificate of authentication thereon shall be substantially in the form of Exhibit A-1, and the Common Securities shall be substantially in the form of Exhibit A-2, each of which is hereby incorporated in and expressly made a part of this Declaration. Certificates may be typed,
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printed, lithographed or engraved or may be produced in any other manner as is reasonably acceptable to the Administrators, as conclusively evidenced by their execution thereof. The Securities may have letters, numbers, notations or other marks of identification or designation and such legends or endorsements required by law, stock exchange rule, agreements to which the Trust is subject, if any, or usage (provided, that any such notation, legend or endorsement is in a form acceptable to the Sponsor). The Trust at the direction of the Sponsor shall furnish any such legend not contained in Exhibit A-l to the Institutional Trustee in writing. Each Capital Security shall be dated the date of its authentication. The terms and provisions of the Securities set forth in Annex I and the forms of Securities set forth in Exhibits A-l and A-2 are part of the terms of this Declaration and to the extent applicable, the Institutional Trustee, the Delaware Trustee, the Administrators and the Sponsor, by their execution and delivery of this Declaration, expressly agree to such terms and provisions and to be bound thereby. Capital Securities will be issued only in blocks having a stated liquidation amount of not less than $1,000.
The Capital Securities are being offered and sold by the Trust pursuant to the Placement Agreement in definitive, registered form without coupons with the Restricted Securities Legend.
SECTION 6.4 Mutilated, Destroyed, Lost or Stolen Certificates. If:
(a) any mutilated Certificates should be surrendered to the Registrar, or if the Registrar shall receive evidence to their satisfaction of the destruction, loss or theft of any Certificate; and
(b) there shall be delivered to the Registrar, the Administrators and the Institutional Trustee such security or indemnity as may be required by them to keep each of them harmless; then, in the absence of notice that such Certificate shall have been acquired by a bona fide purchaser, an Administrator on behalf of the Trust shall execute (and in the case of a Capital Security Certificate, the Institutional Trustee shall authenticate) and deliver, in exchange for or in lieu of any such mutilated, destroyed, lost or stolen Certificate, a new Certificate of like denomination. In connection with the issuance of any new Certificate under this Section 6.4, the Registrar or the Administrators may require the payment of a sum sufficient to cover any tax or other governmental charge that may be imposed in connection therewith. Any duplicate Certificate issued pursuant to this Section shall constitute conclusive evidence of an ownership interest in the relevant Securities, as if originally issued, whether or not the lost, stolen or destroyed Certificate shall be found at any time.
SECTION 6.5 Temporary Securities. Until definitive Securities are ready for delivery, the Administrators may prepare and, in the case of the Capital Securities, the Institutional Trustee shall authenticate, temporary Securities. Temporary Securities shall be substantially in form of definitive Securities but may have variations that the Administrators consider appropriate for temporary Securities. Without unreasonable delay, the Administrators shall prepare and, in the case of the Capital Securities, the Institutional Trustee shall authenticate definitive Securities in exchange for temporary Securities.
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SECTION 6.6 Cancellation. The Administrators at any time may deliver Securities to the Institutional Trustee for cancellation. The Registrar shall forward to the Institutional Trustee any Securities surrendered to it for registration of transfer, redemption or payment. The Institutional Trustee shall promptly cancel all Securities surrendered for registration of transfer, payment, replacement or cancellation and shall dispose of such canceled Securities as the Administrators direct. The Administrators may not issue new Securities to replace Securities that have been paid or that have been delivered to the Institutional Trustee for cancellation.
SECTION 6.7 Rights of Holders; Waivers of Past Defaults.
(a) The legal title to the Trust Property is vested exclusively in the Institutional Trustee (in its capacity as such) in accordance with Section 2.5, and the Holders shall not have any right or title therein other than the undivided beneficial interest in the assets of the Trust conferred by their Securities and they shall have no right to call for any partition or division of property, profits or rights of the Trust except as described below. The Securities shall be personal property giving only the rights specifically set forth therein and in this Declaration. The Securities shall have no preemptive or similar rights and when issued and delivered to Holders against payment of the purchase price therefor will be fully paid and nonassessable by the Trust.
(b) For so long as any Capital Securities remain outstanding, if, upon an Indenture Event of Default, the Debenture Trustee fails or the holders of not less than 25% in principal amount of the outstanding Debentures fail to declare the principal of all of the Debentures to be immediately due and payable, the Holders of at least a majority in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities then outstanding shall have the right to make such declaration by a notice in writing to the Institutional Trustee, the Sponsor and the Debenture Trustee.
At any time after a declaration of acceleration with respect to the Debentures has been made and before a judgment or decree for payment of the money due has been obtained by the Debenture Trustee as provided in the Indenture, if the Institutional Trustee fails to annul any such declaration and waive such default, the Holders of at least a majority in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities, by written notice to the Institutional Trustee, the Sponsor and the Debenture Trustee, may rescind and annul such declaration and its consequences if:
(i) the Sponsor has paid or deposited with the Debenture Trustee a sum sufficient to pay
(A) all overdue installments of interest on all of the Debentures,
(B) any accrued Deferred Interest on all of the Debentures,
(C) the principal of (and premium, if any, on) any Debentures that have become due otherwise than by such declaration of acceleration and interest and Deferred Interest thereon at the rate borne by the Debentures, and
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(D) all sums paid or advanced by the Debenture Trustee under the Indenture and the reasonable compensation, expenses, disbursements and advances of the Debenture Trustee and the Institutional Trustee, their agents and counsel; and
(ii) all Events of Default with respect to the Debentures, other than the non-payment of the principal of the Debentures that has become due solely by such acceleration, have been cured or waived as provided in Section 5.07 of the Indenture.
The Holders of at least a majority in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities may, on behalf of the Holders of all the Capital Securities, waive any past default or Event of Default under the Indenture, except a default or Event of Default in the payment of principal or interest (unless such default or Event of Default has been cured and a sum sufficient to pay all matured installments of interest and principal due otherwise than by acceleration has been deposited with the Debenture Trustee) or a default or Event of Default in respect of a covenant or provision that under the Indenture cannot be modified or amended without the consent of the holder of each outstanding Debenture. No such rescission shall affect any subsequent default or impair any right consequent thereon.
Upon receipt by the Institutional Trustee of written notice declaring such an acceleration, or rescission and annulment thereof, by Holders of any part of the Capital Securities a record date shall be established for determining Holders of outstanding Capital Securities entitled to join in such notice, which record date shall be at the close of business on the day the Institutional Trustee receives such notice. The Holders on such record date, or their duly designated proxies, and only such Persons, shall be entitled to join in such notice, whether or not such Holders remain Holders after such record date; provided, that, unless such declaration of acceleration, or rescission and annulment, as the case may be, shall have become effective by virtue of the requisite percentage having joined in such notice prior to the day that is 90 days after such record date, such notice of declaration of acceleration, or rescission and annulment, as the case may be, shall automatically and without further action by any Holder be canceled and of no further effect. Nothing in this paragraph shall prevent a Holder, or a proxy of a Holder, from giving, after expiration of such 90-day period, a new written notice of declaration of acceleration, or rescission and annulment thereof, as the case may be, that is identical to a written notice that has been canceled pursuant to the proviso to the preceding sentence, in which event a new record date shall be established pursuant to the provisions of this Section 6.7.
(d) Except as otherwise provided in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this Section 6.7, the Holders of at least a majority in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities may, on behalf of the Holders of all the Capital Securities, waive any past default or Event of Default and its consequences. Upon such waiver, any such default or Event of Default shall cease to exist, and any default or Event of Default arising therefrom shall be deemed to have been cured, for every purpose of this Trust Agreement, but no such waiver shall extend to any subsequent or other default or Event of Default or impair any right consequent thereon.
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ARTICLE VII
DISSOLUTION AND TERMINATION OF TRUST
SECTION 7.1 Dissolution and Termination of Trust. (a) The Trust shall dissolve on the first to occur of:
(i) unless earlier dissolved, on March 8, 2055, the expiration of the term of the Trust;
(ii) upon a Bankruptcy Event with respect to the Sponsor, the Trust or the Debenture Issuer;
(iii) (other than in connection with a merger, consolidation or similar transaction not prohibited by the Indenture, this Declaration or the Guarantee, as the case may be) upon the filing of a certificate of dissolution or its equivalent with respect to the Sponsor; upon the revocation of the charter of the Sponsor and the expiration of 90 days after the date of revocation without a reinstatement thereof;
(iv) upon the distribution of the Debentures to the Holders of the Securities, upon exercise of the right of the Holder of all of the outstanding Common Securities to dissolve the Trust as provided in Annex I hereto;
(v) upon the entry of a decree of judicial dissolution of the Holder of the Common Securities, the Sponsor, the Trust or the Debenture Issuer;
(vi) when all of the Securities shall have been called for redemption and the amounts necessary for redemption thereof shall have been paid to the Holders in accordance with the terms of the Securities; or
(vii) before the issuance of any Securities, with the consent of all of the Trustees and the Sponsor.
(b) As soon as is practicable after the occurrence of an event referred to in Section 7.1(a), and after satisfaction of liabilities to creditors of the Trust as required by applicable law, including Section 3808 of the Business Trust Act, and subject to the terms set forth in Annex I, the Institutional Trustee shall terminate the Trust by filing a certificate of cancellation with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware.
(c) The provisions of Section 2.9 and Article IX shall survive the termination of the Trust.
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ARTICLE VIII
TRANSFER OF INTERESTS
SECTION 8.1 General. (a) Where Capital Securities are presented to the Registrar or a co-registrar with a request to register a transfer or to exchange them for an equal number of Capital Securities represented by different certificates, the Registrar shall register the transfer or make the exchange if its requirements for such transactions are met. To permit registrations of transfer and exchanges, the Trust shall issue and the Institutional Trustee shall authenticate Capital Securities at the Registrar’s request.
(b) Upon issuance of the Common Securities, the Sponsor shall acquire and retain beneficial and record ownership of the Common Securities and for so long as the Securities remain outstanding, the Sponsor shall maintain 100% ownership of the Common Securities; provided, however, that any permitted successor of the Sponsor under the Indenture that is a U.S. Person may succeed to the Sponsor’s ownership of the Common Securities.
(c) Capital Securities may only be transferred, in whole or in part, in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in this Declaration and in the terms of the Securities. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any transfer or purported transfer of any Security not made in accordance with this Declaration shall be null and void and will be deemed to be of no legal effect whatsoever and any such transferee shall be deemed not to be the holder of such Capital Securities for any purpose, including but not limited to the receipt of Distributions on such Capital Securities, and such transferee shall be deemed to have no interest whatsoever in such Capital Securities.
(d) The Registrar shall provide for the registration of Securities and of transfers of Securities, which will be effected without charge but only upon payment (with such indemnity as the Registrar may require) in respect of any tax or other governmental charges that may be imposed in relation to it. Upon surrender for registration of transfer of any Securities, the Registrar shall cause one or more new Securities to be issued in the name of the designated transferee or transferees. Every Security surrendered for registration of transfer shall be accompanied by a written instrument of transfer in form satisfactory to the Registrar duly executed by the Holder or such Holder’s attorney duly authorized in writing. Each Security surrendered for registration of transfer shall be canceled by the Institutional Trustee pursuant to Section 6.6. A transferee of a Security shall be entitled to the rights and subject to the obligations of a Holder hereunder upon the receipt by such transferee of a Security. By acceptance of a Security, each transferee shall be deemed to have agreed to be bound by this Declaration.
(e) The Trust shall not be required (i) to issue, register the transfer of, or exchange any Securities during a period beginning at the opening of business 15 days before the day of any selection of Securities for redemption and ending at the close of business on the earliest date on which the relevant notice of redemption is deemed to have been given to all Holders of the Securities to be redeemed, or (ii) to register the transfer or exchange of any
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Security so selected for redemption in whole or in part, except the unredeemed portion of any Security being redeemed in part.
SECTION 8.2 Transfer Procedures and Restrictions.
(a) General. (i) The Capital Securities shall bear the Restricted Securities Legend, which shall not be removed unless there is delivered to the Trust such satisfactory evidence, which may include an opinion of counsel licensed to practice law in the State of New York, as may be reasonably required by the Trust, that neither the legend nor the restrictions on transfer set forth therein are required to ensure that transfers thereof comply with the provisions of the Securities Act or that such Securities are not “restricted” within the meaning of Rule 144 under the Securities Act. Upon provision of such satisfactory evidence, the Institutional Trustee, at the written direction of the Trust, shall authenticate and deliver Capital Securities that do not bear the legend.
(b) Transfer and Exchange of Capital Securities. When Capital Securities are presented to the Registrar (x) to register the transfer of such Capital Securities, or (y) to exchange such Capital Securities for an equal number of Capital Securities of another number, the Registrar shall register the transfer or make the exchange as requested if its reasonable requirements for such transaction are met; provided, however, that the Capital Securities surrendered for registration of transfer or exchange shall be duly endorsed or accompanied by a written instrument of transfer in form reasonably satisfactory to the Trust and the Registrar, duly executed by the Holder thereof or his attorney duly authorized in writing and (i) if such Capital Securities are being transferred to a QIB, accompanied by a certificate of the transferee substantially in the form set forth as Exhibit C hereto or (ii) if such Capital Securities are being transferred otherwise than to a QIB, accompanied by a certificate of the transferee substantially in the form set forth as Exhibit B hereto.
(c) Legend. Except as permitted by Section 8.2(a), each Capital Security shall bear a legend (the “Restricted Securities Legend”) in substantially the following form:
THIS SECURITY HAS NOT BEEN REGISTERED UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE “SECURITIES ACT”), OR ANY STATE SECURITIES LAWS. NEITHER THIS SECURITY NOR ANY INTEREST OR PARTICIPATION HEREIN MAY BE REOFFERED, SOLD, ASSIGNED, TRANSFERRED, PLEDGED, ENCUMBERED OR OTHERWISE DISPOSED OF IN THE ABSENCE OF SUCH REGISTRATION OR UNLESS SUCH TRANSACTION IS EXEMPT FROM, OR NOT SUBJECT TO, THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES ACT. THE HOLDER OF THIS SECURITY BY ITS ACCEPTANCE HEREOF AGREES TO OFFER, SELL OR OTHERWISE TRANSFER SUCH SECURITY ONLY (A) TO THE DEBENTURE ISSUER OR THE TRUST, (B) PURSUANT TO RULE 144A UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT (“RULE 144A”), TO A PERSON IT REASONABLY BELIEVES IS A “QUALIFIED INSTITUTIONAL BUYER” AS DEFINED IN RULE 144A THAT PURCHASES FOR ITS OWN ACCOUNT OR FOR THE ACCOUNT OF A QUALIFIED INSTITUTIONAL BUYER TO WHOM NOTICE IS GIVEN THAT THE TRANSFER IS BEING MADE IN RELIANCE ON RULE 144A, (C) TO AN “ACCREDITED INVESTOR” WITHIN THE MEANING OF SUBPARAGRAPH (a) (1),
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(2), (3) OR (7) OF RULE 501 UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT THAT IS ACQUIRING THE SECURITY FOR ITS OWN ACCOUNT, OR FOR THE ACCOUNT OF AN “ACCREDITED INVESTOR,” FOR INVESTMENT PURPOSES AND NOT WITH A VIEW TO, OR FOR OFFER OR SALE IN CONNECTION WITH, ANY DISTRIBUTION IN VIOLATION OF THE SECURITIES ACT, OR (D) PURSUANT TO ANOTHER AVAILABLE EXEMPTION FROM THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES ACT, SUBJECT TO THE DEBENTURE ISSUER’S AND THE TRUST’S RIGHT PRIOR TO ANY SUCH OFFER, SALE OR TRANSFER PURSUANT TO CLAUSES (C) OR (D) TO REQUIRE THE DELIVERY OF AN OPINION OF COUNSEL, CERTIFICATION AND/OR OTHER INFORMATION SATISFACTORY TO EACH OF THEM IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DECLARATION OF TRUST, A COPY OF WHICH MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DEBENTURE ISSUER OR THE TRUST. THE HOLDER OF THIS SECURITY AGREES THAT IT WILL COMPLY WITH THE FOREGOING RESTRICTIONS.
(d) Obligations with Respect to Transfers and Exchanges of Capital Securities.
(i) To permit registrations of transfers and exchanges, the Trust shall execute and the Institutional Trustee shall authenticate Capital Securities at the Registrar’s request.
(ii) Registrations of transfers or exchanges will be effected without charge, but only upon payment (with such indemnity as the Registrar or the Sponsor may require) in respect of any tax or other governmental charge that may be imposed in relation to it.
(iii) The Registrar shall not be required to register the transfer of or exchange of any Capital Security during a period beginning at the opening of business 15 days before the day of any selection of any Capital Security for redemption set forth in the terms and ending at the close of business on the earliest date on which the relevant notice of redemption is deemed to have been given to all Holders of Capital Securities to be redeemed.
(iv) All Capital Securities issued upon any registration of transfer or exchange pursuant to the terms of this Declaration shall evidence the same security and shall be entitled to the same benefits under this Declaration as the Capital Securities surrendered upon such registration of transfer or exchange.
SECTION 8.3 Deemed Security Holders. The Trust, the Administrators, the Trustees, the Paying Agent, the Transfer Agent or the Registrar may treat the Person in whose name any Certificate shall be registered on the books and records of the Trust as the sole holder of such Certificate and of the Securities represented by such Certificate for purposes of receiving Distributions and for all other purposes whatsoever and, accordingly, shall not be bound to recognize any equitable or other claim to or interest in such Certificate or in the Securities represented by such Certificate on the part of any Person, whether or not the Trust, the Administrators, the Trustees, the Paying Agent, the Transfer Agent or the Registrar shall have actual or other notice thereof.
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ARTICLE IX
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY OF
HOLDERS OF SECURITIES, TRUSTEES OR OTHERS
SECTION 9.1 Liability. (a) Except as expressly set forth in this Declaration, the Guarantee and the terms of the Securities, the Sponsor shall not be:
(i) personally liable for the return of any portion of the capital contributions (or any return thereon) of the Holders of the Securities which shall be made solely from assets of the Trust; and
(ii) required to pay to the Trust or to any Holder of the Securities any deficit upon dissolution of the Trust or otherwise.
(b) The Holder of the Common Securities shall be liable for all of the debts and obligations of the Trust (other than with respect to the Securities) to the extent not satisfied out of the Trust’s assets.
(c) Pursuant to § 3803(a) of the Business Trust Act, the Holders of the Capital Securities shall be entitled to the same limitation of personal liability extended to stockholders of private corporations for profit organized under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware.
SECTION 9.2 Exculpation. (a) No Indemnified Person shall be liable, responsible or accountable in damages or otherwise to the Trust or any Covered Person for any loss, damage or claim incurred by reason of any act or omission performed or omitted by such Indemnified Person in good faith on behalf of the Trust and in a manner such Indemnified Person reasonably believed to be within the scope of the authority conferred on such Indemnified Person by this Declaration or by law, except that an Indemnified Person shall be liable for any such loss, damage or claim incurred by reason of such Indemnified Person’s negligence or willful misconduct with respect to such acts or omissions.
(b) An Indemnified Person shall be fully protected in relying in good faith upon the records of the Trust and upon such information, opinions, reports or statements presented to the Trust by any Person as to matters the Indemnified Person reasonably believes are within such other Person’s professional or expert competence and, if selected by such Indemnified Person, has been selected by such Indemnified Person with reasonable care by or on behalf of the Trust, including information, opinions, reports or statements as to the value and amount of the assets, liabilities, profits, losses or any other facts pertinent to the existence and amount of assets from which Distributions to Holders of Securities might properly be paid.
SECTION 9.3 Fiduciary Duty. (a) To the extent that, at law or in equity, an Indemnified Person has duties (including fiduciary duties) and liabilities relating thereto to the Trust or to any other Covered Person, an Indemnified Person acting under this Declaration shall not be liable to the Trust or to any other Covered Person for its good faith reliance on the provisions of this Declaration. The provisions of this Declaration, to the extent that they restrict
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the duties and liabilities of an Indemnified Person otherwise existing at law or in equity (other than the duties imposed on the Institutional Trustee under the Trust Indenture Act), are agreed by the parties hereto to replace such other duties and liabilities of the Indemnified Person.
(b) Whenever in this Declaration an Indemnified Person is permitted or required to make a decision:
(i) in its “discretion” or under a grant of similar authority, the Indemnified Person shall be entitled to consider such interests and factors as it desires, including its own interests, and shall have no duty or obligation to give any consideration to any interest of or factors affecting the Trust or any other Person; or
(ii) in its “good faith” or under another express standard, the Indemnified Person shall act under such express standard and shall not be subject to any other or different standard imposed by this Declaration or by applicable law.
SECTION 9.4 Indemnification. (a) (i) The Sponsor shall indemnify, to the full extent permitted by law, any Indemnified Person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by or in the right of the Trust) by reason of the fact that he is or was an Indemnified Person against expenses (including attorneys’ fees and expenses), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by him in connection with such action, suit or proceeding if he acted in good faith and in a manner he reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the Trust, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe his conduct was unlawful. The termination of any action, suit or proceeding by judgment, order, settlement, conviction, or upon a plea of nolo contendere or its equivalent, shall not, of itself, create a presumption that the Indemnified Person did not act in good faith and in a manner which he reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the Trust, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had reasonable cause to believe that his conduct was unlawful.
(ii) The Sponsor shall indemnify, to the full extent permitted by law, any Indemnified Person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action or suit by or in the right of the Trust to procure a judgment in its favor by reason of the fact that he is or was an Indemnified Person against expenses (including attorneys’ fees and expenses) actually and reasonably incurred by him in connection with the defense or settlement of such action or suit if he acted in good faith and in a manner he reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the Trust and except that no such indemnification shall be made in respect of any claim, issue or matter as to which such Indemnified Person shall have been adjudged to be liable to the Trust unless and only to the extent that the Court of Chancery of Delaware or the court in which such action or suit was brought shall determine upon application that, despite the adjudication of liability but in view of all the circumstances of the case, such person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for such expenses which such Court of Chancery or such other court shall deem proper.
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(iii) To the extent that an Indemnified Person shall be successful on the merits or otherwise (including dismissal of an action without prejudice or the settlement of an action without admission of liability) in defense of any action, suit or proceeding referred to in paragraphs (i) and (ii) of this Section 9.4(a), or in defense of any claim, issue or matter therein, he shall be indemnified, to the full extent permitted by law, against expenses (including attorneys’ fees and expenses) actually and reasonably incurred by him in connection therewith.
(iv) Any indemnification of an Administrator under paragraphs (i) and (ii) of this Section 9.4(a) (unless ordered by a court) shall be made by the Sponsor only as authorized in the specific case upon a determination that indemnification of the Indemnified Person is proper in the circumstances because he has met the applicable standard of conduct set forth in paragraphs (i) and (ii). Such determination shall be made (A) by the Administrators by a majority vote of a Quorum consisting of such Administrators who were not parties to such action, suit or proceeding, (B) if such a Quorum is not obtainable, or, even if obtainable, if a Quorum of disinterested Administrators so directs, by independent legal counsel in a written opinion, or (C) by the Common Security Holder of the Trust.
(v) To the fullest extent permitted by law, expenses (including attorneys’ fees and expenses) incurred by an Indemnified Person in defending a civil, criminal, administrative or investigative action, suit or proceeding referred to in paragraphs (i) and (ii) of this Section 9.4(a) shall be paid by the Sponsor in advance of the final disposition of such action, suit or proceeding upon receipt of an undertaking by or on behalf of such Indemnified Person to repay such amount if it shall ultimately be determined that he is not entitled to be indemnified by the Sponsor as authorized in this Section 9.4(a). Notwithstanding the foregoing, no advance shall be made by the Sponsor if a determination is reasonably and promptly made (A) by the Administrators by a majority vote of a Quorum of disinterested Administrators, (B) if such a Quorum is not obtainable, or, even if obtainable, if a quorum of disinterested Administrators so directs, by independent legal counsel in a written opinion or (C) by the Common Security Holder of the Trust, that, based upon the facts known to the Administrators, counsel or the Common Security Holder at the time such determination is made, such Indemnified Person acted in bad faith or in a manner that such Person did not believe to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the Trust, or, with respect to any criminal proceeding, that such Indemnified Person believed or had reasonable cause to believe his conduct was unlawful. In no event shall any advance be made in instances where the Administrators, independent legal counsel or the Common Security Holder reasonably determine that such Person deliberately breached his duty to the Trust or its Common or Capital Security Holders.
(vi) Each Trustee, at the sole cost and expense of the Sponsor, retains the right to representation by counsel of its own choosing in any action, suit or any other proceeding hereunder or against it by relation to the foregoing, without affecting its right to indemnification hereunder or waiving any rights afforded to it under this Declaration or applicable law.
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(b) The Sponsor shall indemnify, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, each Indemnified Person from and against any and all loss, damage, liability, tax, penalty, expense or claim of any kind or nature whatsoever incurred by such Indemnified Person arising out of or in connection with or by reason of the creation, operation or termination of the Trust, or any act or omission performed or omitted by such Indemnified Person in good faith on behalf of the Trust and in a manner such Indemnified Person reasonably believed to be within the scope of authority conferred on such Indemnified Person by this Declaration, except that no Indemnified Person shall be entitled to be indemnified in respect of any loss, damage or claim incurred by such Indemnified Person by reason of gross negligence or willful misconduct with respect to such acts or omissions.
(c) The indemnification and advancement of expenses provided by, or granted pursuant to, the other paragraphs of this Section 9.4 shall not be deemed exclusive of any other rights to which those seeking indemnification and advancement of expenses may be entitled under any agreement, vote of stockholders or disinterested directors of the Sponsor or Capital Security Holders of the Trust or otherwise, both as to action in his official capacity and as to action in another capacity while holding such office. All rights to indemnification under this Section 9.4 shall be deemed to be provided by a contract between the Sponsor and each Indemnified Person who serves in such capacity at any time while this Section 9.4 is in effect. Any repeal or modification of this Section 9.4 shall not affect any rights or obligations then existing.
(d) The Sponsor or the Trust may purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any Person who is or was an Indemnified Person against any liability asserted against him and incurred by him in any such capacity, or arising out of his status as such, whether or not the Sponsor would have the power to indemnify him against such liability under the provisions of this Section 9.4.
(e) For purposes of this Section 9.4, references to “the Trust” shall include, in addition to the resulting or surviving entity, any constituent entity (including any constituent of a constituent) absorbed in a consolidation or merger, so that any Person who is or was a director, trustee, officer or employee of such constituent entity, or is or was serving at the request of such constituent entity as a director, trustee, officer, employee or agent of another entity, shall stand in the same position under the provisions of this Section 9.4 with respect to the resulting or surviving entity as he would have with respect to such constituent entity if its separate existence had continued.
(f) The indemnification and advancement of expenses provided by, or granted pursuant to, this Section 9.4 shall, unless otherwise provided when authorized or ratified, continue as to a Person who has ceased to be an Indemnified Person and shall inure to the benefit of the heirs, executors and administrators of such a Person.
The provisions of this Section shall survive the termination of this agreement or the earlier resignation or removal of the Institutional Trustee. The obligations of the Sponsor under this Section 9.4 to compensate and indemnify the Trustees and to pay or reimburse the Trustees for expenses, disbursements and advances shall constitute additional indebtedness
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hereunder. Such additional indebtedness shall be secured by a lien prior to that of the Securities upon all property and funds held or collected by the Trustees as such, except funds held in trust for the benefit of the holders of particular Securities.
SECTION 9.5 Outside Businesses. Any Covered Person, the Sponsor, the Delaware Trustee and the Institutional Trustee (subject to Section 4.3(c)) may engage in or possess an interest in other business ventures of any nature or description, independently or with others, similar or dissimilar to the business of the Trust, and the Trust and the Holders of Securities shall have no rights by virtue of this Declaration in and to such independent ventures or the income or profits derived therefrom, and the pursuit of any such venture, even if competitive with the business of the Trust, shall not be deemed wrongful or improper. None of any Covered Person, the Sponsor, the Delaware Trustee or the Institutional Trustee shall be obligated to present any particular investment or other opportunity to the Trust even if such opportunity is of a character that, if presented to the Trust, could be taken by the Trust, and any Covered Person, the Sponsor, the Delaware Trustee and the Institutional Trustee shall have the right to take for its own account (individually or as a partner or fiduciary) or to recommend to others any such particular investment or other opportunity. Any Covered Person, the Delaware Trustee and the Institutional Trustee may engage or be interested in any financial or other transaction with the Sponsor or any Affiliate of the Sponsor, or may act as depositary for, trustee or agent for, or act on any committee or body of holders of, securities or other obligations of the Sponsor or its Affiliates.
SECTION 9.6 Compensation; Fee. The Sponsor agrees:
(a) to pay to the Trustees from time to time such compensation for all services rendered by them hereunder as the parties shall agree from time to time (which compensation shall not be limited by any provision of law in regard to the compensation of a trustee of an express trust); and
(b) except as otherwise expressly provided herein, to reimburse the Trustees upon request for all reasonable expenses, disbursements and advances incurred or made by the Trustees in accordance with any provision of this Declaration (including the reasonable compensation and the expenses and disbursements of their respective agents and counsel), except any such expense, disbursement or advance as may be attributable to its negligence or willful misconduct.
The provisions of this Section 9.6 shall survive the dissolution of the Trust and the termination of this Declaration and the removal or resignation of any Trustee.
No Trustee may claim any lien or charge on any property of the Trust as a result of any amount due pursuant to this Section 9.6.
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ARTICLE X
ACCOUNTING
SECTION 10.1 Fiscal Year. The fiscal year (the “Fiscal Year”) of the Trust shall be the calendar year, or such other year as is required by the Code.
SECTION 10.2 Certain Accounting Matters.
(a) At all times during the existence of the Trust, the Administrators shall keep, or cause to be kept at the principal office of the Trust in the United States, as defined for purposes of Treasury regulations section 301.7701-7, full books of account, records and supporting documents, which shall reflect in reasonable detail each transaction of the Trust. The books of account shall be maintained on the accrual method of accounting, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, consistently applied. The books of account and the records of the Trust shall be examined by and reported upon as of the end of each Fiscal Year of the Trust by a firm of independent certified public accountants selected by the Administrators.
(b) The Administrators shall cause to be prepared at the principal office of the Trust in the United States, as defined for purposes of Treasury regulations section 301.7701-7, and delivered to each of the Holders of Securities, within 90 days after the end of each Fiscal Year of the Trust, annual financial statements of the Trust, including a balance sheet of the Trust as of the end of such Fiscal Year, and the related statements of income or loss which shall be examined by and reported upon by a firm of independent certified public accountants selected by the Administrators.
(c) The Administrators shall cause to be duly prepared and delivered to each of the Holders of Securities Form 1099 or such other annual United States federal income tax information statement required by the Code, containing such information with regard to the Securities held by each Holder as is required by the Code and the Treasury Regulations. Notwithstanding any right under the Code to deliver any such statement at a later date, the Administrators shall endeavor to deliver all such statements within 30 days after the end of each Fiscal Year of the Trust.
(d) The Administrators shall cause to be duly prepared in the United States, as defined for purposes of Treasury regulations section 301.7701-7, and filed an annual United States federal income tax return on a Form 1041 or such other form required by United States federal income tax law, and any other annual income tax returns required to be filed by the Administrators on behalf of the Trust with any state or local taxing authority.
(e) So long as the only Holder of the Capital Securities is Regional Diversified Funding Limited, the Administrators will cause the Sponsor’s reports on Form FR Y-9C, FR Y-9LP and FR Y-6 to be delivered to the Holder promptly following their filing with the Federal Reserve.
SECTION 10.3 Banking. The Trust shall maintain one or more bank accounts in the United States, as defined for purposes of Treasury regulations section 301.7701-7, in the
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name and for the sole benefit of the Trust; provided, however, that all payments of funds in respect of the Debentures held by the Institutional Trustee shall be made directly to the Property Account and no other funds of the Trust shall be deposited in the Property Account. The sole signatories for such accounts (including the Property Account) shall be designated by the Institutional Trustee.
SECTION 10.4 Withholding. The Institutional Trustee or any Paying Agent and the Administrators shall comply with all withholding requirements under United States federal, state and local law. The Institutional Trustee or any Paying Agent shall request, and each Holder shall provide to the Institutional Trustee or any Paying Agent, such forms or certificates as are necessary to establish an exemption from withholding with respect to the Holder, and any representations and forms as shall reasonably be requested by the Institutional Trustee or any Paying Agent to assist it in determining the extent of, and in fulfilling, its withholding obligations. The Administrators shall file required forms with applicable jurisdictions and, unless an exemption from withholding is properly established by a Holder, shall remit amounts withheld with respect to the Holder to applicable jurisdictions. To the extent that the Institutional Trustee or any Paying Agent is required to withhold and pay over any amounts to any authority with respect to distributions or allocations to any Holder, the amount withheld shall be deemed to be a Distribution to the Holder in the amount of the withholding. In the event of any claimed overwithholding, Holders shall be limited to an action against the applicable jurisdiction. If the amount required to be withheld was not withheld from actual Distributions made, the Institutional Trustee or any Paying Agent may reduce subsequent Distributions by the amount of such withholding.
ARTICLE XI
AMENDMENTS AND MEETINGS
SECTION 11.1 Amendments. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this Declaration or by any applicable terms of the Securities, this Declaration may only be amended by a written instrument approved and executed by
(i) the Institutional Trustee, and
(ii) if the amendment affects the rights, powers, duties, obligations or immunities of the Delaware Trustee, the Delaware Trustee.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Article XI, no amendment shall be made, and any such purported amendment shall be void and ineffective:
(i) unless the Institutional Trustee shall have first received
(A) an Officers’ Certificate from each of the Trust and the Sponsor that such amendment is permitted by, and conforms to, the terms of this Declaration (including the terms of the Securities); and
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(B) an opinion of counsel (who may be counsel to the Sponsor or the Trust) that such amendment is permitted by, and conforms to, the terms of this Declaration (including the terms of the Securities); and
(ii) if the result of such amendment would be to
(A) cause the Trust to cease to be classified for purposes of United States federal income taxation as a grantor trust;
(B) reduce or otherwise adversely affect the powers of the Institutional Trustee in contravention of the Trust Indenture Act;
(C) cause the Trust to be deemed to be an Investment Company required to be registered under the Investment Company Act; or
(D) cause the Debenture Issuer to be unable to treat an amount equal to the Liquidation Amount of the Debentures as “Tier 1 Capital” for purposes of the capital adequacy guidelines of the Federal Reserve.
(c) Except as provided in Section 11.1 (d), (e) or (h), no amendment shall be made, and any such purported amendment shall be void and ineffective unless the Holders of a Majority in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities shall have consented to such amendment.
(d) In addition to and notwithstanding any other provision in this Declaration, without the consent of each affected Holder, this Declaration may not be amended to (i) change the amount or timing of any Distribution on the Securities or otherwise adversely affect the amount of any Distribution required to be made in respect of the Securities as of a specified date or (ii) restrict the right of a Holder to institute suit for the enforcement of any such payment on or after such date.
(e) Section 8.1 (b) and 8.1 (c) and this Section 11.1 shall not be amended without the consent of all of the Holders of the Securities.
(f) Article III shall not be amended without the consent of the Holders of a Majority in liquidation amount of the Common Securities.
(g) the rights of the Holders of the Capital Securities under Article IV to increase or decrease the number of, and appoint and remove, Trustees shall not be amended without the consent of the Holders of a Majority in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities.
(h) This Declaration may be amended by the Institutional Trustee and the Holders of a Majority in the liquidation amount of the Common Securities without the consent of the Holders of the Capital Securities to:
(i) cure any ambiguity;
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(ii) correct or supplement any provision in this Declaration that may be defective or inconsistent with any other provision of this Declaration;
(iii) add to the covenants, restrictions or obligations of the Sponsor; and
(iv) modify, eliminate or add to any provision of this Declaration to such extent as may be necessary to ensure that the Trust will be classified for United States federal income tax purposes at all times as a grantor trust and will not be required to register as an “investment company” under the Investment Company Act (including without limitation to conform to any change in Rule 3a-5, Rule 3a-7 or any other applicable rule under the Investment Company Act or written change in interpretation or application thereof by any legislative body, court, government agency or regulatory authority) which amendment does not have a material adverse effect on the right, preferences or privileges of the Holders of Securities;
provided, however, that no such modification, elimination or addition referred to in clauses (i), (ii) or (iii) shall adversely affect the powers, preferences or special rights of Holders of Capital Securities.
SECTION 11.2 Meetings of the Holders of Securities: Action by Written Consent.
(a) Meetings of the Holders of any class of Securities may be called at any time by the Administrators (or as provided in the terms of the Securities) to consider and act on any matter on which Holders of such class of Securities are entitled to act under the terms of this Declaration, the terms of the Securities or the rules of any stock exchange on which the Capital Securities are listed or admitted for trading, if any. The Administrators shall call a meeting of the Holders of such class if directed to do so by the Holders of at least 10% in liquidation amount of such class of Securities. Such direction shall be given by delivering to the Administrators one or more calls in a writing stating that the signing Holders of the Securities wish to call a meeting and indicating the general or specific purpose for which the meeting is to be called. Any Holders of the Securities calling a meeting shall specify in writing the Certificates held by the Holders of the Securities exercising the right to call a meeting and only those Securities represented by such Certificates shall be counted for purposes of determining whether the required percentage set forth in the second sentence of this paragraph has been met.
(b) Except to the extent otherwise provided in the terms of the Securities, the following provisions shall apply to meetings of Holders of the Securities:
(i) notice of any such meeting shall be given to all the Holders of the Securities having a right to vote thereat at least 7 days and not more than 60 days before the date of such meeting. Whenever a vote, consent or approval of the Holders of the Securities is permitted or required under this Declaration or the rules of any stock exchange on which the Capital Securities are listed or admitted for trading, if any, such vote, consent or approval may be given at a meeting of the Holders of the Securities. Any action that may be taken at a meeting of the Holders of the Securities may be taken
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without a meeting if a consent in writing setting forth the action so taken is signed by the Holders of the Securities owning not less than the minimum amount of Securities in liquidation amount that would be necessary to authorize or take such action at a meeting at which all Holders of the Securities having a right to vote thereon were present and voting. Prompt notice of the taking of action without a meeting shall be given to the Holders of the Securities entitled to vote who have not consented in writing. The Administrators may specify that any written ballot submitted to the Holders of the Securities for the purpose of taking any action without a meeting shall be returned to the Trust within the time specified by the Administrators;
(ii) each Holder of a Security may authorize any Person to act for it by proxy on all matters in which a Holder of Securities is entitled to participate, including waiving notice of any meeting, or voting or participating at a meeting. No proxy shall be valid after the expiration of 11 months from the date thereof unless otherwise provided in the proxy. Every proxy shall be revocable at the pleasure of the Holder of the Securities executing it. Except as otherwise provided herein, all matters relating to the giving, voting or validity of proxies shall be governed by the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware relating to proxies, and judicial interpretations thereunder, as if the Trust were a Delaware corporation and the Holders of the Securities were stockholders of a Delaware corporation; each meeting of the Holders of the Securities shall be conducted by the Administrators or by such other Person that the Administrators may designate; and
(iii) unless the Business Trust Act, this Declaration, the terms of the Securities, the Trust Indenture Act or the listing rules of any stock exchange on which the Capital Securities are then listed for trading, if any, otherwise provides, the Administrators, in their sole discretion, shall establish all other provisions relating to meetings of Holders of Securities, including notice of the time, place or purpose of any meeting at which any matter is to be voted on by any Holders of the Securities, waiver of any such notice, action by consent without a meeting, the establishment of a record date, quorum requirements, voting in person or by proxy or any other matter with respect to the exercise of any such right to vote; provided, however, that each meeting shall be conducted in the United States (as that term is defined in Treasury regulations section 301.7701-7).
ARTICLE XII
REPRESENTATIONS OF INSTITUTIONAL TRUSTEE
AND DELAWARE TRUSTEE
SECTION 12.1 Representations and Warranties of Institutional Trustee. The Trustee that acts as initial Institutional Trustee represents and warrants to the Trust and to the Sponsor at the date of this Declaration, and each Successor Institutional Trustee represents and warrants to the Trust and the Sponsor at the time of the Successor Institutional Trustee’s acceptance of its appointment as Institutional Trustee, that:
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(a) the Institutional Trustee is a banking corporation with trust powers, duly organized, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the United States with trust power and authority to execute and deliver, and to carry out and perform its obligations under the terms of, this Declaration;
(b) the execution, delivery and performance by the Institutional Trustee of this Declaration has been duly authorized by all necessary corporate action on the part of the Institutional Trustee. This Declaration has been duly executed and delivered by the Institutional Trustee, and it constitutes a legal, valid and binding obligation of the Institutional Trustee, enforceable against it in accordance with its terms, subject to applicable bankruptcy, reorganization, moratorium, insolvency and other similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally and to general principles of equity (regardless of whether considered in a proceeding in equity or at law);
(c) the execution, delivery and performance of this Declaration by the Institutional Trustee does not conflict with or constitute a breach of the charter or by-laws of the Institutional Trustee; and
(d) no consent, approval or authorization of, or registration with or notice to, any state or federal banking authority is required for the execution, delivery or performance by the Institutional Trustee of this Declaration.
SECTION 12.2 Representations and Warranties of Delaware Trustee. The Trustee that acts as initial Delaware Trustee represents and warrants to the Trust and to the Sponsor at the date of this Declaration, and each Successor Delaware Trustee represents and warrants to the Trust and the Sponsor at the time of the Successor Delaware Trustee’s acceptance of its appointment as Delaware Trustee, that:
(a) The Delaware Trustee is duly organized, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the State of Delaware, with trust power and authority to execute and deliver, and to carry out and perform its obligations under the terms of, this Declaration.
(b) The Delaware Trustee has been authorized to perform its obligations under the Certificate of Trust and this Declaration. This Declaration under Delaware law constitutes a legal, valid and binding obligation of the Delaware Trustee, enforceable against it in accordance with its terms, subject to applicable bankruptcy, reorganization, moratorium, insolvency and other similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally, and to general principles of equity (regardless of whether considered in a proceeding in equity or at law).
(c) No consent, approval or authorization of, or registration with or notice to, any state or federal banking authority is required for the execution, delivery or performance by the Delaware Trustee of this Declaration.
(d) The Delaware Trustee is a natural person who is a resident of the State of Delaware or, if not a natural person, an entity which has its principal place of business in the
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State of Delaware and, in either case, a Person that satisfies for the Trust the requirements of Section 3807 of the Business Trust Act.
ARTICLE XIII
MISCELLANEOUS
SECTION 13.1 Notices. All notices provided for in this Declaration shall be in writing, duly signed by the party giving such notice, and shall be delivered, telecopied (which telecopy shall be followed by notice delivered or mailed by first class mail) or mailed by first class mail, as follows:
(a) if given to the Trust, in care of the Administrators at the Trust’s mailing address set forth below (or such other address as the Trust may give notice of to the Holders of the Securities:
Community (CA) Capital Trust I
c/o Community Bancorp Inc.
130 W. Fallbrook Street
Fallbrook, California 92028
Attention: Administrators for Community (CA) Capital Trust I
(b) if given to the Delaware Trustee, at the mailing address set forth below (or such other address as Delaware Trustee may give notice of to the Holders of the Securities):
The Bank of New York (Delaware)
White Clay Center, Route 273
Newark, Delaware
Attention: Corporate Trust Administration
(c) if given to the Institutional Trustee, at the Institutional Trustee’s mailing address set forth below (or such other address as the Institutional Trustee may give notice of to the Holders of the Securities):
The Bank of New York
101 Barclay Street, Floor 21W
New York, NY 10286
Attention: Corporate Trust Administration
Telecopy: 212-819-5915
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(d) if given to the Holder of the Common Securities, at the mailing address of the Sponsor set forth below (or such other address as the Holder of the Common Securities may give notice of to the Trust):
Community Bancorp Inc.
130 W. Fallbrook Street
Fallbrook, California 92028
Attention: Thomas E. Swanson, President and Chief Executive
Officer
(e) if given to any other Holder, at the address set forth on the books and records of the Trust.
All such notices shall be deemed to have been given when received in person, telecopied with receipt confirmed, or mailed by first class mail, postage prepaid except that if a notice or other document is refused delivery or cannot be delivered because of a changed address of which no notice was given, such notice or other document shall be deemed to have been delivered on the date of such refusal or inability to deliver.
SECTION 13.2 Governing Law. This Declaration and the rights of the parties hereunder shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the law of the State of Delaware and all rights and remedies shall be governed by such laws without regard to the principles of conflict of laws of the State of Delaware or any other jurisdiction that would call for the application of the law of any jurisdiction other than the State of Delaware; provided, however, that there shall not be applicable to the Trust, the Trustees or this Declaration any provision of the laws (statutory or common) of the State of Delaware pertaining to trusts that relate to or regulate, in a manner inconsistent with the terms hereof (a) the filing with any court or governmental body or agency of trustee accounts or schedules of trustee fees and charges, (b) affirmative requirements to post bonds for trustees, officers, agents or employees of a trust, (c) the necessity for obtaining court or other governmental approval concerning the acquisition, holding or disposition of real or personal property, (d) fees or other sums payable to trustees, officers, agents or employees of a trust, (e) the allocation of receipts and expenditures to income or principal, (f) restrictions or limitations on the permissible nature, amount or concentration of trust investments or requirements relating to the titling, storage or other manner of holding or investing trust assets or (g) the establishment of fiduciary or other standards of responsibility or limitations on the acts or powers of trustees that are inconsistent with the limitations or liabilities or authorities and powers of the Trustees as set forth or referenced in this Declaration. Section 3540 of Title 12 of the Delaware Code shall not apply to the Trust.
SECTION 13.3 Intention of the Parties. It is the intention of the parties hereto that the Trust be classified for United States federal income tax purposes as a grantor trust. The provisions of this Declaration shall be interpreted to further this intention of the parties.
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SECTION 13.4 Headings. Headings contained in this Declaration are inserted for convenience of reference only and do not affect the interpretation of this Declaration or any provision hereof.
SECTION 13.5 Successors and Assigns. Whenever in this Declaration any of the parties hereto is named or referred to, the successors and assigns of such party shall be deemed to be included, and all covenants and agreements in this Declaration by the Sponsor and the Trustees shall bind and inure to the benefit of their respective successors and assigns, whether or not so expressed.
SECTION 13.6 Partial Enforceability. If any provision of this Declaration, or the application of such provision to any Person or circumstance, shall be held invalid, the remainder of this Declaration, or the application of such provision to persons or circumstances other than those to which it is held invalid, shall not be affected thereby.
SECTION 13.7 Counterparts. This Declaration may contain more than one counterpart of the signature page and this Declaration may be executed by the affixing of the signature of each of the Trustees and Administrators to any of such counterpart signature pages. All of such counterpart signature pages shall be read as though one, and they shall have the same force and effect as though all of the signers had signed a single signature page.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned have caused these presents to be executed as of the day and year first above written.
THE BANK OF NEW YORK (DELAWARE) | |||
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THE BANK OF NEW YORK | |||
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| COMMUNITY (CA) CAPITAL TRUST I | ||
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ANNEX I
TERMS OF
FIXED RATE CAPITAL TRUST PASS-THROUGH SECURITIES® (TRUPS®)
Pursuant to Section 6.1 of the Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust, dated as of March 23, 2000 (as amended from time to time, the “Declaration”), the designation, rights, privileges, restrictions, preferences and other terms and provisions of the Capital Securities and the Common Securities are set out below (each capitalized term used but not defined herein has the meaning set forth in the Declaration):
1. Designation and Number. (a) Capital Securities. 10,000 Capital Securities of Community (CA) Capital Trust I (the “Trust”), with an aggregate stated liquidation amount with respect to the assets of the Trust of Ten Million ($10,000,000) and a stated liquidation amount with respect to the assets of the Trust of $1,000 per Capital Security, are hereby designated for the purposes of identification only as the “Fixed Rate Capital Trust Pass-through Securities”® (the “Capital Securities”). The Capital Security Certificates evidencing the Capital Securities shall be substantially in the form of Exhibit A-l to the Declaration, with such changes and additions thereto or deletions therefrom as may be required by ordinary usage, custom or practice or to conform to the rules of any stock exchange on which the Capital Securities are listed, if any.
(b) Common Securities. 310 Common Securities of the Trust (the “Common Securities”) will be evidenced by Common Security Certificates substantially in the form of Exhibit A-2 to the Declaration, with such changes and additions thereto or deletions therefrom as may be required by ordinary usage, custom or practice.
2. Distributions. (a) Distributions payable on each Security will be payable at an annual rate equal to 11% (the “Coupon Rate”) of the stated liquidation amount of $1,000 per Security, such rate being the rate of interest payable on the Debentures to be held by the Institutional Trustee. Except as set forth below in respect of an Extension Period, Distributions in arrears for more than one semi-annual period will bear interest thereon compounded semi- annually at the Coupon Rate (to the extent permitted by applicable law). The term “Distributions” as used herein includes cash distributions and any such compounded distributions payable unless otherwise stated. A Distribution is payable only to the extent that payments are made in respect of the Debentures held by the Institutional Trustee and to the extent the Institutional Trustee has funds available therefor. The amount of Distributions payable for any period will be computed for any full semi-annual period on the basis of a 360-day year of twelve 30-day months.
(b) Distributions on the Securities will be cumulative, will accrue from the date of original issuance, and will be payable, subject to extension of distribution payment periods as described herein, semi-annually in arrears on March 8 and September 8 of each year, commencing on September 8, 2000 (each, a “Distribution Payment Date”) when, as and if available for payment. The Debenture Issuer has the right under the Indenture to defer payments of interest on the Debentures by extending the interest payment period for up to 10 consecutive semi-annual periods (each, an “Extension Period”) at any time and from time to time on the
I-1
Debentures, subject to the conditions described below, although such interest would continue to accrue on the Debentures, and interest will accrue on such Deferred Interest at an annual rate equal to 11%, compounded semi-annually to the extent permitted by law during any Extension Period. No Extension Period may end on a date other than a Distribution Payment Date. At the end of any such Extension Period the Debenture Issuer shall pay all Deferred Interest; provided, however, that no Extension Period may extend beyond the Maturity Date and provided further, that, during any such Extension Period, the Debenture Issuer may not (i) declare or pay any dividends or distributions on, or redeem, purchase, acquire, or make a liquidation payment with respect to, any of the Debenture Issuer’s capital stock or (ii) make any payment of principal of or interest or premium, if any, on or repay, repurchase or redeem any debt securities of the Debenture Issuer that rank pari passu in all respects with or junior in interest to the Debentures (other than (a) repurchases, redemptions or other acquisitions of shares of capital stock of the Debenture Issuer in connection with any employment contract, benefit plan or other similar arrangement with or for the benefit of one or more employees, officers, directors or consultants, in connection with a dividend reinvestment or stockholder stock purchase plan or in connection with the issuance of capital stock of the Debenture Issuer (or securities convertible into or exercisable for such capital stock) as consideration in an acquisition transaction entered into prior to the applicable Extension Period, (b) as a result of any exchange or conversion of any class or series of the Debenture Issuer’s capital stock (or any capital stock of a subsidiary of the Debenture Issuer) for any class or series of the Debenture Issuer’s capital stock or of any class or series of the Debenture Issuer’s indebtedness for any class or series of the Debenture Issuer’s capital stock, (c) the purchase of fractional interests in shares of the Debenture Issuer’s capital stock pursuant to the conversion or exchange provisions of such capital stock or the security being converted or exchanged, (d) any declaration of a dividend in connection with any stockholder’s rights plan, or the issuance of rights, stock or other property under any stockholder’s rights plan, or the redemption or repurchase of rights pursuant thereto, or (e) any dividend in the form of stock, warrants, options or other rights where the dividend stock or the stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants, options or other rights is the same stock as that on which the dividend is being paid or ranks pari passu with or junior to such stock). Prior to the termination of any Extension Period, the Debenture Issuer may further extend such period, provided that such period together with all such previous and further consecutive extensions thereof shall not exceed 10 consecutive semi-annual periods, or extend beyond the Maturity Date. Upon the termination of any Extension Period and upon the payment of all Deferred Interest, the Debenture Issuer may commence a new Extension Period, subject to the foregoing requirements. No interest or Deferred Interest shall be due and payable during an Extension Period, except at the end thereof, but each installment of interest that would otherwise have been due and payable during such Extension Period shall bear Deferred Interest. If Distributions are deferred, the Distributions due shall be paid on the date that the related Extension Period terminates, or, if such date is not a Distribution Payment Date, on the immediately following Distribution Payment Date, to Holders of the Securities as they appear on the books and records of the Trust on the record date immediately preceding such date. Distributions on the Securities must be paid on the dates payable (after giving effect to any Extension Period) to the extent that the Trust has funds available for the payment of such distributions in the Property Account of the Trust. The Trust’s funds available for Distribution to the Holders of the Securities will be limited to payments received from the Debenture Issuer. The payment of Distributions out of moneys held by the Trust is guaranteed by the Guarantor pursuant to the Guarantee.
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(c) Distributions on the Securities will be payable to the Holders thereof as they appear on the books and records of the Trust on the relevant record dates. The relevant record dates shall be selected by the Administrators, which dates shall be 15 days before the relevant payment dates. Distributions payable on any Securities that are not punctually paid on any Distribution Payment Date, as a result of the Debenture Issuer having failed to make a payment under the Debentures, as the case may be, when due (taking into account any Extension Period), will cease to be payable to the Person in whose name such Securities are registered on the relevant record date, and such defaulted Distribution will instead be payable to the Person in whose name such Securities are registered on the special record date or other specified date determined in accordance with the Indenture. If any date on which Distributions are payable on the Securities is not a Business Day, then payment of the Distribution payable on such date will be made on the next succeeding day that is a Business Day (and without any interest or other payment in respect of any such delay) except that, if such Business Day is in the next succeeding calendar year, such payment shall be made on the immediately preceding Business Day, in each case with the same force and effect as if made on such payment date.
(d) In the event that there is any money or other property held by or for the Trust that is not accounted for hereunder, such property shall be distributed pro rata (as defined herein) among the Holders of the Securities.
3. Liquidation Distribution Upon Dissolution. In the event of the voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution, winding-up or termination of the Trust (each, a “Liquidation”) other than in connection with a redemption of the Debentures, the Holders of the Securities will be entitled to receive out of the assets of the Trust available for distribution to Holders of the Securities, after satisfaction of liabilities to creditors of the Trust (to the extent not satisfied by the Debenture Issuer), distributions equal to the aggregate of the stated liquidation amount of $1,000 per Security plus accrued and unpaid Distributions thereon to the date of payment (such amount being the “Liquidation Distribution”), unless in connection with such Liquidation, the Debentures in an aggregate stated principal amount equal to the aggregate stated liquidation amount of such Securities, with an interest rate equal to the Coupon Rate of, and bearing accrued and unpaid interest in an amount equal to the accrued and unpaid Distributions on, and having the same record date as, such Securities, after paying or making reasonable provision to pay all claims and obligations of the Trust in accordance with Section 3808(e) of the Business Trust Act, shall be distributed on a Pro Rata basis to the Holders of the Securities in exchange for such Securities.
The Sponsor, as the Holder of all of the Common Securities, has the right at any time to dissolve the Trust (including without limitation upon the occurrence of a Tax Event, an Investment Company Event or a Capital Treatment Event), subject to the receipt by the Debenture Issuer of prior approval from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”), if then required under applicable capital guidelines or policies of the Federal Reserve and, after satisfaction of liabilities to creditors of the Trust, cause the Debentures to be distributed to the Holders of the Securities on a Pro Rata basis in accordance with the aggregate stated liquidation amount thereof.
The Trust shall dissolve on the first to occur of (i) March 8, 2055, the expiration of the term of the Trust, (ii) a Bankruptcy Event with respect to the Sponsor, Trust or the
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Debenture Issuer, (iii) (other than in connection with a merger, consolidation or similar transaction not prohibited by the Indenture, this Declaration or the Guarantee, as the case may be) upon the filing of a certificate of dissolution of the Sponsor or upon revocation of the charter of the Sponsor and the expiration of 90 days after the date of revocation without a reinstatement thereof, (iv) the distribution to the Holders of the Securities of the Debentures, upon exercise of the right of the Holder of all of the outstanding Common Securities to dissolve the Trust as described above, (v) the entry of a decree of a judicial dissolution of the Sponsor or the Trust, or (vi) when all of the Securities shall have been called for redemption and the amounts necessary for redemption thereof shall have been paid to the Holders in accordance with the terms of the Securities. As soon as practicable after the dissolution of the Trust and upon completion of the winding up of the Trust, the Trust shall terminate upon the filing of a certificate of cancellation with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware.
If a Liquidation of the Trust occurs as described in clause (i), (ii), (iii) or (v) in the immediately preceding paragraph, the Trust shall be liquidated by the Trustees of the Trust as expeditiously as such Trustees determine to be possible by distributing, after satisfaction of liabilities to creditors of the Trust, to the Holders of the Securities, the Debentures on a Pro Rata basis to the extent not satisfied by the Debenture Issuer, unless such distribution is determined by the Institutional Trustee not to be practical, in which event such Holders will be entitled to receive out of the assets of the Trust available for distribution to the Holders, after satisfaction of liabilities of creditors of the Trust to the extent not satisfied by the Debenture Issuer, an amount equal to the Liquidation Distribution. An early Liquidation of the Trust pursuant to clause (iv) above shall occur if the Institutional Trustee determines that such Liquidation is possible by distributing, after satisfaction of liabilities to creditors of Trust, to the Holders of the Securities on a Pro Rata basis, the Debentures, and such distribution occurs.
If, upon any such Liquidation the Liquidation Distribution can be paid only in part because the Trust has insufficient assets available to pay in full the aggregate Liquidation Distribution, then the amounts payable directly by the Trust on such Capital Securities shall be paid to the Holders of the Trust Securities on a pro rata basis, except that if an Event of Default has occurred and is continuing, the Capital Securities shall have a preference over the Common Securities with regard to such distributions.
Upon any such Liquidation of the Trust involving a distribution of the Debentures, if at the time of such Liquidation, the Capital Securities were rated by at least one nationally-recognized statistical rating organization, the Debenture Issuer will use its reasonable best efforts to obtain from at least one such or other rating organization a rating for the Debentures.
After the date for any distribution of the Debentures upon dissolution of the Trust, (i) the Securities of the Trust will be deemed to be no longer outstanding, and (ii) any certificates representing the Capital Securities will be deemed to represent undivided beneficial interests in such of the Debentures as have an aggregate principal amount equal to the aggregate stated liquidation amount of, with an interest rate identical to the distribution rate of, and bearing accrued and unpaid interest equal to accrued and unpaid distributions on, the Securities until such certificates are presented to the Debenture Issuer or its agent for transfer or reissuance.
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4. Redemption and Distribution.
(a) The Debentures will mature on March 8, 2030. The Debentures may be redeemed by the Debenture Issuer, in whole or in part, on any March 8 or September 8 on or after March 8, 2010, at the Redemption Price, upon not less than 30 days nor more than 60 day’s notice to Holders of such Debentures. In addition, upon the occurrence and continuation of a Tax Event, an Investment Company Event or a Capital Treatment Event, the Debentures may be redeemed by the Debenture Issuer in whole but not in part, at any time within 90 days following the occurrence of such Tax Event, Investment Company Event or Capital Treatment Event, as the case may be (the “Special Redemption Date”), at the Special Redemption Price, upon not less than 30 nor more than 60 days’ notice to Holders of the Debentures so long as such Tax Event, Investment Company Event or Capital Treatment Event, as the case may be, is continuing. In each case, the right of the Debenture Issuer to redeem the Debentures is subject to the Debenture Issuer having received prior approval from the Federal Reserve, if then required under applicable capital guidelines or policies of the Federal Reserve.
“Tax Event” means the receipt by the Debenture Issuer and the Trust of an opinion of counsel experienced in such matters to the effect that, as a result of any amendment to or change (including any announced prospective change) in the laws or any regulations thereunder of the United States or any political subdivision or taxing authority thereof or therein, or as a result of any official administrative pronouncement (including any private letter ruling, technical advice memorandum, field service advice, regulatory procedure, notice or announcement, including any notice or announcement of intent to adopt such procedures or regulations (an “Administrative Action”)) or judicial decision interpreting or applying such laws or regulations, regardless of whether such Administrative Action or judicial decision is issued to or in connection with a proceeding involving the Debenture Issuer or the Trust and whether or not subject to review or appeal, which amendment, clarification, change, Administrative Action or decision is enacted, promulgated or announced, in each case on or after the date of issuance of the Debentures, there is more than an insubstantial risk that: (i) the Trust is, or will be within 90 days of the date of such opinion, subject to United States federal income tax with respect to income received or accrued on the Debentures; (ii) interest payable by the Debenture Issuer on the Debentures is not, or within 90 days of the date of such opinion, will not be, deductible by the Debenture Issuer, in whole or in part, for United States federal income tax purposes; or (iii) the Trust is, or will be within 90 days of the date of such opinion, subject to more than a de minimis amount of other taxes, duties or other governmental charges.
“Investment Company Event” means the receipt by the Trust of an opinion of counsel experienced in such matters to the effect that, as a result of the occurrence of a change in law or regulation or written change (including any announced prospective change) in interpretation or application of law or regulation by any legislative body, court, governmental agency or regulatory authority, there is more than an insubstantial risk that the Trust is or will be considered an “investment company” that is required to be registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended which change or prospective change becomes effective or would become effective, as the case may be, on or after the date of the issuance of the Debentures.
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“Capital Treatment Event” means the reasonable determination by the Debenture Issuer that, as a result of the occurrence of any amendment to, or change (including any announced prospective change) in, the laws of the United States or any political subdivision thereof or therein, or as the result of any official or administrative pronouncement or action or decision interpreting or applying such laws, rules or regulations, which amendment or change is effective or which pronouncement, action or decision is announced on or after the date of issuance of the Debentures, there is more than an insubstantial risk that the Debenture Issuer will not be entitled to treat an amount equal to the aggregate Liquidation Amount of the Debentures as “Tier I Capital” (or the then equivalent thereof) for purposes of the capital adequacy guidelines of the Federal Reserve, as then in effect and applicable to the Debenture Issuer; provided, however, that the distribution of the Debentures in connection with the Liquidation of the Trust by the Debenture Issuer shall not in and of itself constitute a Capital Treatment Event unless such Liquidation shall have occurred in connection with a Tax Event or an Investment Company Event.
“Special Event” means any of a Capital Treatment Event, a Tax Event or an Investment Company Event.
“Redemption Price” means the price set forth in the following table for any Redemption Date or Special Redemption Date that occurs within the twelve-month period beginning in the relevant year indicated below, expressed in percentage of the principal amount of the Debt Securities being redeemed:
Year |
| Percentage |
| |
|
|
|
| |
March 8, 2010 |
|
| 105.438 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 8, 2011 |
|
| 104.894 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 8, 2012 |
|
| 104.350 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 8, 2013 |
|
| 103.806 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 8, 2014 |
|
| 103.263 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 8, 2015 |
|
| 102.719 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 8, 2016 |
|
| 102.175 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 8, 2017 |
|
| 101.631 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 8, 2018 |
|
| 101.088 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 8, 2019 |
|
| 100.544 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 8, 2020 and after |
|
| 100.000 |
|
plus accrued and unpaid interest on such Debentures to the Redemption Date or, in the case of a redemption due to the occurrence of a Special Event, to the Special Redemption Date.
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“Special Redemption Price” means (1) if the Special Redemption Date is before March 8, 2010, the greater of (a) 100% of the principal amount of the Debentures being redeemed and (b) as determined by a Quotation Agent, the sum of the present values of scheduled payments of principal and interest from the Special Redemption Date to March 8, 2010 (the “Remaining Life”) discounted to the Special Redemption Date on a semi-annual basis (assuming a 360-day year consisting of twelve 30-day months) at the Treasury Rate plus 0.45%, plus, in the case of either (a) or (b), accrued and unpaid interest on such Debentures to the Special Redemption Date and (2) if the Special Redemption Date is on or after March 8, 2010, the Redemption Price for such Special Redemption Date.
“Comparable Treasury Issue” means with respect to any Special Redemption Date the United States Treasury security selected by the Quotation Agent as having a maturity comparable to the Remaining Life that would be utilized, at the time of selection and in accordance with customary financial practice, in pricing new issues of corporate debt securities of comparable maturity to the Remaining Life. If no United States Treasury security has a maturity which is within a period from three months before to three months after March 8, 2010, the two most closely corresponding United States Treasury securities shall be used as the Comparable Treasury Issue, and the Treasury Rate shall be interpolated or extrapolated on a straight-line basis, rounding to the nearest month using such securities.
“Comparable Treasury Price” means (a) the average of five Reference Treasury Dealer Quotations for such Special Redemption Date, after excluding the highest and lowest such Reference Treasury Dealer Quotations, or (b) if the Quotation Agent obtains fewer than five such Reference Treasury Dealer Quotations, the average of all such Quotations.
“Primary Treasury Dealer” shall mean a primary United States Government securities dealer in New York City.
“Quotation Agent” means Salomon Smith Barney, Inc. and its successors; provided, however, that if the foregoing shall cease to be a primary United States Government securities dealer in New York City (a “Primary Treasury Dealer”), the Debenture Issuer shall substitute therefor another Primary Treasury Dealer.
“Redemption Date” shall mean the date fixed for the redemption of Capital Securities, which shall be any March 8 or September 8 commencing on March 8, 2010.
“Reference Treasury Dealer” means (i) the Quotation Agent and (ii) any other Primary Treasury Dealer selected by the Debenture Trustee after consultation with the Company.
“Reference Treasury Dealer Quotations” means, with respect to each Reference Treasury Dealer and any Redemption Date, the average, as determined by the Quotation Agent, of the bid and asked prices for the Comparable Treasury Issue (expressed in each case as a percentage of its principal amount) quoted in writing to the Debenture Trustee by such Reference Treasury Dealer at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on the third Business Day preceding such Redemption Date.
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“Treasury Rate” means (i) the yield, under the heading which represents the average for the week immediately prior to the date of calculation, appearing in the most recently published statistical release designated H.15 (519) or any successor publication which is published weekly by the Federal Reserve and which establishes yields on actively traded United States Treasury securities adjusted to constant maturity under the caption “Treasury Constant Maturities”, for the maturity corresponding to the Remaining Life (if no maturity is within three months before or after the Remaining Life, yields for the two published maturities most closely corresponding to the Remaining Life shall be determined and the Treasury Rate shall be interpolated or extrapolated from such yields on a straight-line basis, rounding to the nearest month) or (ii) if such release (or any successor release) is not published during the week preceding the calculation date or does not contain such yields, the rate per annum equal to the semi-annual equivalent yield to maturity of the Comparable Treasury Issue, calculated using a price for the Comparable Treasury Issue (expressed as a percentage of its principal amount) equal to the Comparable Treasury Price for such Special Redemption Date. The Treasury Rate shall be calculated on the third Business Day preceding the Special Redemption Date.
(b) Upon the repayment in full at maturity or redemption in whole or in part of the Debenture (other than following the distribution of the Debenture to the Holders of the Securities), the proceeds from such repayment or payment shall concurrently be applied to redeem Pro Rata at the applicable Redemption Price, Securities having an aggregate liquidation amount equal to the aggregate principal amount of the Debenture so repaid or redeemed; provided, however, that holders of such Securities shall be given not less than 30 nor more than 60 days’ notice of such redemption (other than at the scheduled maturity of the Debenture).
(c) If fewer than all the outstanding Securities are to be so redeemed, the Common Securities and the Capital Securities will be redeemed Pro Rata and the Capital Securities to be redeemed will be as described in Section 4(e)(ii) below.
(d) The Trust may not redeem fewer than all the outstanding Capital Securities unless all accrued and unpaid Distributions have been paid on all Capital Securities for all semi-annual Distribution periods terminating on or before the date of redemption.
(e) Redemption or Distribution Procedures.
(i) Notice of any redemption of, or notice of distribution of the Debentures in exchange for, the Securities (a “Redemption/Distribution Notice”) will be given by the Trust by mail to each Holder of Securities to be redeemed or exchanged not fewer than 30 nor more than 60 days before the date fixed for redemption or exchange thereof which, in the case of a redemption, will be the date fixed for redemption of the Debentures. For purposes of the calculation of the date of redemption or exchange and the dates on which notices are given pursuant to this Section 4(e)(i), a Redemption/Distribution Notice shall be deemed to be given on the day such notice is first mailed by first-class mail, postage prepaid, to Holders of such Securities. Each Redemption/Distribution Notice shall be addressed to the Holders of such Securities at the address of each such Holder appearing on the books and records of the Trust. No defect in the Redemption/Distribution Notice or in the mailing thereof with respect to any
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Holder shall affect the validity of the redemption or exchange proceedings with respect to any other Holder.
(ii) In the event that fewer than all the outstanding Securities are to be redeemed, the Securities to be redeemed shall be redeemed Pro Rata from each Holder of Capital Securities.
(iii) If the Securities are to be redeemed and the Trust gives a Redemption/Distribution Notice, which notice may only be issued if the Debentures are redeemed as set out in this Section 4 (which notice will be irrevocable), then, provided that the Institutional Trustee has a sufficient amount of cash in connection with the related redemption or maturity of the Debentures, the Institutional Trustee will pay the relevant Redemption Price to the Holders of such Securities by check mailed to the address of each such Holder appearing on the books and records of the Trust on the redemption date. If a Redemption/Distribution Notice shall have been given and funds deposited as required then immediately prior to the close of business on the date of such deposit Distributions will cease to accrue on the Securities so called for redemption and all rights of Holders of such Securities so called for redemption will cease, except the right of the Holders of such Securities to receive the applicable Redemption Price specified in Section 4(a), but without interest on such Redemption Price. If any date fixed for redemption of Securities is not a Business Day, then payment of any such Redemption Price payable on such date will be made on the next succeeding day that is a Business Day (and without any interest or other payment in respect of any such delay) except that, if such Business Day falls in the next calendar year, such payment will be made on the immediately preceding Business Day, in each case with the same force and effect as if made on such date fixed for redemption. If payment of the Redemption Price in respect of any Securities is improperly withheld or refused and not paid either by the Trust or by the Debenture Issuer as guarantor pursuant to the Guarantee, Distributions on such Securities will continue to accrue at the then applicable rate from the original redemption date to the actual date of payment, in which case the actual payment date will be considered the date fixed for redemption for purposes of calculating the Redemption Price. In the event of any redemption of the Capital Securities issued by the Trust in part, the Trust shall not be required to (i) issue, register the transfer of or exchange any Security during a period beginning at the opening of business 15 days before any selection for redemption of the Capital Securities and ending at the close of business on the earliest date on which the relevant notice of redemption is deemed to have been given to all Holders of the Capital Securities to be so redeemed or (ii) register the transfer of or exchange any Capital Securities so selected for redemption, in whole or in part, except for the unredeemed portion of any Capital Securities being redeemed in part.
(iv) Redemption/Distribution Notices shall be sent by the Administrators on behalf of the Trust (A) in respect of the Capital Securities, to the Holders thereof, and (B) in respect of the Common Securities, to the Holder thereof.
(v) Subject to the foregoing and applicable law (including, without limitation, United States federal securities laws), and provided that the acquirer is not the Holder of the Common Securities or the obligor under the Indenture, the Sponsor or any
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of its subsidiaries may at any time and from time to time purchase outstanding Capital Securities by tender, in the open market or by private agreement.
5. Voting Rights - Capital Securities (a) Except as provided under Sections 5(b) and 7 and as otherwise required by law and the Declaration, the Holders of the Capital Securities will have no voting rights. The Administrators are required to call a meeting of the Holders of the Capital Securities if directed to do so by Holders of at least 10% in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities.
(b) Subject to the requirements of obtaining a tax opinion by the Institutional Trustee in certain circumstances set forth in the last sentence of this paragraph, the Holders of a Majority in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities, voting separately as a class, have the right to direct the time, method, and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the Institutional Trustee, or exercising any trust or power conferred upon the Institutional Trustee under the Declaration, including the right to direct the Institutional Trustee, as holder of the Debentures, to (i) exercise the remedies available under the Indenture as the holder of the Debentures, (ii) waive any past default that is waivable under the Indenture, or (iii) exercise any right to rescind or annul a declaration that the principal of all the Debentures shall be due and payable or (iv) consent on behalf of all the Holders of the Capital Securities to any amendment, modification or termination of the Indenture or the Debentures where such consent shall be required; provided, however, that, where a consent or action under the Indenture would require the consent or act of the holders of greater than a simple majority in principal amount of Debentures (a “Super Majority”) affected thereby, the Institutional Trustee may only give such consent or take such action at the written direction of the Holders of at least the proportion in liquidation amount of the Capital Securities outstanding which the relevant Super Majority represents of the aggregate principal amount of the Debentures outstanding. If the Institutional Trustee fails to enforce its rights under the Debentures after the Holders of a Majority in liquidation amount of such Capital Securities have so directed the Institutional Trustee, to the fullest extent permitted by law, a Holder of the Capital Securities may institute a legal proceeding directly against the Debenture Issuer to enforce the Institutional Trustee’s rights under the Debentures without first instituting any legal proceeding against the Institutional Trustee or any other person or entity. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if an Event of Default has occurred and is continuing and such event is attributable to the failure of the Debenture Issuer to pay interest or principal on the Debentures on the date the interest or principal is payable (or in the case of redemption, the redemption date), then a Holder of record of the Capital Securities may directly institute a proceeding for enforcement of payment, on or after the respective due dates specified in the Debentures, to such Holder directly of the principal of or interest on the Debentures having an aggregate principal amount equal to the aggregate liquidation amount of the Capital Securities of such Holder. The Institutional Trustee shall notify all Holders of the Capital Securities of any default actually known to the Institutional Trustee with respect to the Debentures unless (x) such default has been cured prior to the giving of such notice or (y) the Institutional Trustee determines in good faith that the withholding of such notice is in the interest of the Holders of such Capital Securities, except where the default relates to the payment of principal of or interest on any of the Debentures. Such notice shall state that such Indenture Event of Default also constitutes an Event of Default hereunder. Except with respect to directing the time, method and place of conducting a proceeding for a remedy, the Institutional Trustee shall not take any of the actions described in clauses (i), (ii) or (iii) above unless the Institutional
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Trustee has obtained an opinion of tax counsel to the effect that, as a result of such action, the Trust will not be classified as other than a grantor trust for United States federal income tax purposes.
In the event the consent of the Institutional Trustee, as the holder of the Debentures is required under the Indenture with respect to any amendment, modification or termination of the Indenture, the Institutional Trustee shall request the direction of the Holders of the Securities with respect to such amendment, modification or termination and shall vote with respect to such amendment, modification or termination as directed by a Majority in liquidation amount of the Securities voting together as a single class; provided, however, that where a consent under the Indenture would require the consent of a Super Majority, the Institutional Trustee may only give such consent at the direction of the Holders of at least the proportion in liquidation amount of such Trust Securities outstanding which the relevant Super Majority represents of the aggregate principal amount of the Debentures outstanding. The Institutional Trustee shall not take any such action in accordance with the directions of the Holders of the Securities unless the Institutional Trustee has obtained an opinion of tax counsel to the effect that, as a result of such action, the Trust will not be classified as other than a grantor trust for United States federal income tax purposes.
A waiver of an Indenture Event of Default will constitute a waiver of the corresponding Event of Default hereunder. Any required approval or direction of Holders of the Capital Securities may be given at a separate meeting of Holders of the Capital Securities convened for such purpose, at a meeting of all of the Holders of the Securities in the Trust or pursuant to written consent. The Institutional Trustee will cause a notice of any meeting at which Holders of the Capital Securities are entitled to vote, or of any matter upon which action by written consent of such Holders is to be taken, to be mailed to each Holder of record of the Capital Securities. Each such notice will include a statement setting forth the following information (i) the date of such meeting or the date by which such action is to be taken, (ii) a description of any resolution proposed for adoption at such meeting on which such Holders are entitled to vote or of such matter upon which written consent is sought and (iii) instructions for the delivery of proxies or consents. No vote or consent of the Holders of the Capital Securities will be required for the Trust to redeem and cancel Capital Securities or to distribute the Debentures in accordance with the Declaration and the terms of the Securities.
Notwithstanding that Holders of the Capital Securities are entitled to vote or consent under any of the circumstances described above, any of the Capital Securities that are owned by the Sponsor or any Affiliate of the Sponsor shall not entitle the Holder thereof to vote or consent and shall, for purposes of such vote or consent, be treated as if such Capital Securities were not outstanding.
In no event will Holders of the Capital Securities have the right to vote to appoint, remove or replace the Administrators, which voting rights are vested exclusively in the Sponsor as the Holder of all of the Common Securities of the Trust. Under certain circumstances as more fully described in the Declaration, Holders of Capital Securities have the right to vote to appoint, remove or replace the Institutional Trustee and the Delaware Trustee.
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6. Voting Rights - Common Securities. (a) Except as provided under Sections 6(b), 6(c) and 7 and as otherwise required by law and the Declaration, the Common Securities will have no voting rights.
(b) The Holders of the Common Securities are entitled, in accordance with Article V of the Declaration, to vote to appoint, remove or replace any Administrators.
(c) Subject to Section 6.7 of the Declaration and only after each Event of Default (if any) with respect to the Capital Securities has been cured, waived or otherwise eliminated and subject to the requirements of the second to last sentence of this paragraph, the Holders of a Majority in liquidation amount of the Common Securities, voting separately as a class, may direct the time, method, and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the Institutional Trustee, or exercising any trust or power conferred upon the Institutional Trustee under the Declaration, including (i) directing the time, method, place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the Debenture Trustee, or exercising any trust or power conferred on the Debenture Trustee with respect to the Debentures, (ii) waive any past default and its consequences that is waivable under the Indenture, or (iii) exercise any right to rescind or annul a declaration that the principal of all the Debentures shall be due and payable, provided, however, that, where a consent or action under the Indenture would require a Super Majority, the Institutional Trustee may only give such consent or take such action at the written direction of the Holders of at least the proportion in liquidation amount of the Common Securities which the relevant Super Majority represents of the aggregate principal amount of the Debentures outstanding. Notwithstanding this Section 6(c), the Institutional Trustee shall not revoke any action previously authorized or approved by a vote or consent of the Holders of the Capital Securities. Other than with respect to directing the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the Institutional Trustee or the Debenture Trustee as set forth above, the Institutional Trustee shall not take any action described in (i), (ii) or (iii) above, unless the Institutional Trustee has obtained an opinion of tax counsel to the effect that for the purposes of United States federal income tax the Trust will not be classified as other than a grantor trust on account of such action. If the Institutional Trustee fails to enforce its rights under the Declaration to the fullest extent permitted by law, any Holder of the Common Securities may institute a legal proceeding directly against any Person to enforce the Institutional Trustee’s rights under the Declaration, without first instituting a legal proceeding against the Institutional Trustee or any other Person.
Any approval or direction of Holders of the Common Securities may be given at a separate meeting of Holders of the Common Securities convened for such purpose, at a meeting of all of the Holders of the Securities in the Trust or pursuant to written consent. The Administrators will cause a notice of any meeting at which Holders of the Common Securities are entitled to vote, or of any matter upon which action by written consent of such Holders is to be taken, to be mailed to each Holder of the Common Securities. Each such notice will include a statement setting forth (i) the date of such meeting or the date by which such action is to be taken, (ii) a description of any resolution proposed for adoption at such meeting on which such Holders are entitled to vote or of such matter upon which written consent is sought and (iii) instructions for the delivery of proxies or consents.
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No vote or consent of the Holders of the Common Securities will be required for the Trust to redeem and cancel Common Securities or to distribute the Debentures in accordance with the Declaration and the terms of the Securities.
7. Amendments to Declaration and Indenture. (a) In addition to any requirements under Section 11.1 of the Declaration, if any proposed amendment to the Declaration provides for, or the Trustees otherwise propose to effect, (i) any action that would adversely affect the powers, preferences or special rights of the Securities, whether by way of amendment to the Declaration or otherwise, or (ii) the Liquidation of the Trust, other than as described in Section 7.1 of the Declaration, then the Holders of outstanding Securities, voting together as a single class, will be entitled to vote on such amendment or proposal and such amendment or proposal shall not be effective except with the approval of the Holders of at least a Majority in liquidation amount of the Securities, affected thereby; provided, however, if any amendment or proposal referred to in clause (i) above would adversely affect only the Capital Securities or only the Common Securities, then only the affected class will be entitled to vote on such amendment or proposal and such amendment or proposal shall not be effective except with the approval of a Majority in liquidation amount of such class of Securities.
(b) In the event the consent of the Institutional Trustee as the holder of the Debentures is required under the Indenture with respect to any amendment, modification or termination of the Indenture or the Debentures, the Institutional Trustee shall request the written direction of the Holders of the Securities with respect to such amendment, modification or termination and shall vote with respect to such amendment, modification, or termination as directed by a Majority in liquidation amount of the Securities voting together as a single class; provided, however, that where a consent under the Indenture would require a Super Majority, the Institutional Trustee may only give such consent at the direction of the Holders of at least the proportion in liquidation amount of the Securities which the relevant Super Majority represents of the aggregate principal amount of the Debentures outstanding.
(c) Notwithstanding the foregoing, no amendment or modification may be made to a Declaration if such amendment or modification would (i) cause the Trust to be classified for purposes of United States federal income taxation as other than a grantor trust, (ii) reduce or otherwise adversely affect the powers of the Institutional Trustee or (iii) cause the Trust to be deemed an “investment company” which is required to be registered under the Investment Company Act.
(d) Notwithstanding any provision of the Declaration, the right of any Holder of the Capital Securities to receive payment of distributions and other payments upon redemption or otherwise, on or after their respective due dates, or to institute a suit for the enforcement of any such payment on or after such respective dates, shall not be impaired or affected without the consent of such Holder. For the protection and enforcement of the foregoing provision, each and every Holder of the Capital Securities shall be entitled to such relief as can be given either at law or equity.
8. Pro Rata. A reference in these terms of the Securities to any payment, distribution or treatment as being “Pro Rata” shall mean pro rata to each Holder of the Securities according to the aggregate liquidation amount of the Securities held by the relevant Holder in
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relation to the aggregate liquidation amount of all Securities outstanding unless, in relation to a payment, an Event of Default has occurred and is continuing, in which case any funds available to make such payment shall be paid first to each Holder of the Capital Securities Pro Rata according to the aggregate liquidation amount of the Capital Securities held by the relevant Holder relative to the aggregate liquidation amount of all Capital Securities outstanding, and only after satisfaction of all amounts owed to the Holders of the Capital Securities, to each Holder of the Common Securities Pro Rata according to the aggregate liquidation amount of the Common Securities held by the relevant Holder relative to the aggregate liquidation amount of all Common Securities outstanding.
9. Ranking. The Capital Securities rank pari passu with and payment thereon shall be made Pro Rata with the Common Securities except that, where an Event of Default has occurred and is continuing, the rights of Holders of the Common Securities to receive payment of Distributions and payments upon liquidation, redemption and otherwise are subordinated to the rights of the Holders of the Capital Securities with the result that no payment of any Distribution on, or Redemption Price of, any Common Security, and no other payment on account of redemption, liquidation or other acquisition of Common Securities, shall be made unless payment in full in cash of all accumulated and unpaid Distributions on all outstanding Capital Securities for all distribution periods terminating on or prior thereto, or in the case of payment of the Redemption Price the full amount of such Redemption Price on all outstanding Capital Securities then called for redemption, shall have been made or provided for, and all funds immediately available to the Institutional Trustee shall first be applied to the payment in full in cash of all Distributions on, or the Redemption Price of, the Capital Securities then due and payable.
10. Acceptance of Guarantee and Indenture. Each Holder of the Capital Securities and the Common Securities, by the acceptance of such Securities, agrees to the provisions of the Guarantee, including the subordination provisions therein and to the provisions of the Indenture.
11. No Preemptive Rights. The Holders of the Securities shall have no preemptive or similar rights to subscribe for any additional securities.
12. Miscellaneous. These terms constitute a part of the Declaration. The Sponsor will provide a copy of the Declaration, the Guarantee, and the Indenture to a Holder without charge on written request to the Sponsor at its principal place of business.
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EXHIBIT A-1
FORM OF CAPITAL SECURITY CERTIFICATE
[FORM OF FACE OF SECURITY]
THIS SECURITY HAS NOT BEEN REGISTERED UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE “SECURITIES ACT”), OR ANY STATE SECURITIES LAWS. NEITHER THIS SECURITY NOR ANY INTEREST OR PARTICIPATION HEREIN MAY BE REOFFERED, SOLD, ASSIGNED, TRANSFERRED, PLEDGED, ENCUMBERED OR OTHERWISE DISPOSED OF IN THE ABSENCE OF SUCH REGISTRATION OR UNLESS SUCH TRANSACTION IS EXEMPT FROM, OR NOT SUBJECT TO, THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES ACT. THE HOLDER OF THIS SECURITY BY ITS ACCEPTANCE HEREOF AGREES TO OFFER, SELL OR OTHERWISE TRANSFER SUCH SECURITY ONLY (A) TO THE DEBENTURE ISSUER OR THE TRUST, (B) PURSUANT TO RULE 144A UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT (“RULE 144A”), TO A PERSON IT REASONABLY BELIEVES IS A “QUALIFIED INSTITUTIONAL BUYER” AS DEFINED IN RULE 144A THAT PURCHASES FOR ITS OWN ACCOUNT OR FOR THE ACCOUNT OF A QUALIFIED INSTITUTIONAL BUYER TO WHOM NOTICE IS GIVEN THAT THE TRANSFER IS BEING MADE IN RELIANCE ON RULE 144A, (C) TO AN “ACCREDITED INVESTOR” WITHIN THE MEANING OF SUBPARAGRAPH (a) (1), (2), (3) OR (7) OF RULE 501 UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT THAT IS ACQUIRING THE SECURITY FOR ITS OWN ACCOUNT, OR FOR THE ACCOUNT OF AN “ACCREDITED INVESTOR,” FOR INVESTMENT PURPOSES AND NOT WITH A VIEW TO, OR FOR OFFER OR SALE IN CONNECTION WITH, ANY DISTRIBUTION IN VIOLATION OF THE SECURITIES ACT, OR (D) PURSUANT TO ANOTHER AVAILABLE EXEMPTION FROM THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES ACT, SUBJECT TO THE DEBENTURE ISSUER’S AND THE TRUST’S RIGHT PRIOR TO ANY SUCH OFFER, SALE OR TRANSFER PURSUANT TO CLAUSES (C) OR (D) TO REQUIRE THE DELIVERY OF AN OPINION OF COUNSEL, CERTIFICATION AND/OR OTHER INFORMATION SATISFACTORY TO EACH OF THEM IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DECLARATION OF TRUST, A COPY OF WHICH MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DEBENTURE ISSUER OR THE TRUST. THE HOLDER OF THIS SECURITY AGREES THAT IT WILL COMPLY WITH THE FOREGOING RESTRICTIONS.
IN CONNECTION WITH ANY TRANSFER, THE HOLDER WILL DELIVER TO THE REGISTRAR AND TRANSFER AGENT SUCH CERTIFICATE AND OTHER INFORMATION MAY BE REQUIRED BY THE DECLARATION TO CONFIRM THAT THE TRANSFER COMPLIES WITH THE FOREGOING RESTRICTIONS.
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Certificate Number P-l | Number of Capital Securities: 10,000 |
CUSIP NO
Certificate Evidencing Capital Securities
of
Community (CA) Capital Trust I
Fixed Rate Capital Pass-through Securities® (TRUPS®)
(liquidation amount $1,000 per Capital Security)
Community (CA) Capital Trust I, a statutory business trust created under the laws of the State of Delaware (the “Trust”), hereby certifies that (the “Holder”) is the registered owner of securities of the Trust representing undivided beneficial interests in the assets of the Trust, designated the Fixed Rate Capital Trust Pass-through Securities® (liquidation amount $1,000 per Capital Security) (the “Capital Securities”). Subject to the Declaration (as defined below), the Capital Securities are transferable on the books and records of the Trust, in person or by a duly authorized attorney, upon surrender of this Certificate duly endorsed and in proper form for transfer. The designation, rights, privileges, restrictions, preferences and other terms and provisions of the Capital Securities represented hereby are issued pursuant to, and shall in all respects be subject to, the provisions of the Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust of the Trust dated as of March 23, 2000, among Thomas E. Swanson and L. Bruce Mills, Jr., as Administrators, The Bank of New York (Delaware), as Delaware Trustee, The Bank of New York, as Institutional Trustee, Community Bancorp Inc., as Sponsor, and the holders from time to time of undivided beneficial interests in the assets of the Trust, including the designation of the terms of the Capital Securities as set forth in Annex I to the Declaration, as the same may be amended from time to time (the “Declaration”). Capitalized terms used herein but not defined shall have the meaning given them in the Declaration. The Holder is entitled to the benefits of the Guarantee to the extent provided therein. The Sponsor will provide a copy of the Declaration, the Guarantee, and the Indenture to the Holder without charge upon written request to the Trust at its principal place of business.
Upon receipt of this Security, the Holder is bound by the Declaration and is entitled to the benefits thereunder.
By acceptance of this Security, the Holder agrees to treat, for United States federal income tax purposes, the Debentures as indebtedness and the Capital Securities as evidence of beneficial ownership in the Debentures.
This Capital Security is governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to principles of conflict of laws.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Trust has duly executed this certificate.
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CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICATION
This is one of the Capital Securities referred to in the within-mentioned Declaration.
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[FORM OF REVERSE OF SECURITY]
Distributions payable on each Capital Security will be payable at an annual rate of 11% (the “Coupon Rate”) of the stated liquidation amount of $1,000 per Capital Security, such rate being the rate of interest payable on the Debentures to be held by the Institutional Trustee. Except as set forth below in respect of an Extension Period, Distributions in arrears for more than a semi-annual period will bear interest thereon compounded semi-annual at the Coupon Rate (to the extent permitted by applicable law). The term “Distributions” as used herein includes cash distributions, any such compounded interest and any Additional Interest payable on the Debentures unless otherwise stated. A Distribution is payable only to the extent that payments are made in respect of the Debentures held by the Institutional Trustee and to the extent the Institutional Trustee has funds available therefor. The amount of Distributions payable for any period will be computed for any full semi-annual Distribution period on the basis of a 360-day year of twelve 30-day months.
Except as otherwise described below, Distributions on the Capital Securities will be cumulative, will accrue from the date of original issuance and will be payable semi-annually in arrears on March 8 and September 8 of each year, commencing on September 8, 2000. The Debenture Issuer has the right under the Indenture to defer payments of interest on the Debentures by extending the interest payment period for up to 10 consecutive semi-annual periods (each, an “Extension Period”) at any time and from time to time on the Debentures, subject to the conditions described below, although such interest would continue to accrue on the Debentures, and Interest will accrue on such Deferred Interest, at an annual rate equal to 11%, compounded semi-annually to the extent permitted by law during any Extension Period. No Extension Period may end on a date other than a Distribution Payment Date. At the end of any such Extension Period the Debenture Issuer shall pay all Deferred Interest then accrued and unpaid on the Debentures; provided however, that no Extension Period may extend beyond the Maturity Date. Prior to the termination of any Extension Period, the Debenture Issuer may further extend such period, provided that such period together with all such previous and further consecutive extensions thereof shall not exceed 10 consecutive semi-annual periods, or extend beyond the Maturity Date. Upon the termination of any Extension Period and upon the payment of all Deferred Interest, the Debenture Issuer may commence a new Extension Period, subject to the foregoing requirements. No interest or Deferred Interest shall be due and payable during an Extension Period, except at the end thereof, but each installment of interest that would otherwise have been due and payable during such Extension Period shall bear Deferred Interest. If Distributions are deferred, the Distributions due shall be paid on the date that the related Extension Period terminates, or, if such date is not a Distribution Payment Date, on the immediately following Distribution Payment Date, to Holders of the Securities as they appear on the books and records of the Trust on the record date immediately preceding such date. Distributions on the Securities must be paid on the dates payable (after giving effect to any Extension Period) to the extent that the Trust has funds available for the payment of such distributions in the Property Account of the Trust. The Trust’s funds available for Distribution to the Holders of the Securities will be limited to payments received from the Debenture Issuer. The payment of Distributions out of moneys held by the Trust is guaranteed by the Guarantor pursuant to the Guarantee.
The Capital Securities shall be redeemable as provided in the Declaration.
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ASSIGNMENT
FOR VALUE RECEIVED, the undersigned assigns and transfers this Capital Security Certificate to:
(Insert assignee’s social security or tax identification number)
(Insert address and zip code of assignee), and irrevocably appoints as agent to transfer this Capital Security Certificate on the books of the Trust. The agent may substitute another to act for him or her.
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(1) Signature must be guaranteed by an “eligible guarantor institution” that is a bank, stockbroker, savings and loan association or credit union meeting the requirements of the Security registrar, which requirements include membership or participation in the Securities Transfer Agents Medallion Program (“STAMP”) or such other “signature guarantee program” as may be determined by the Security registrar in addition to, or in substitution for, STAMP, all in accordance with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
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EXHIBIT A-2
FORM OF COMMON SECURITY CERTIFICATE
THIS COMMON SECURITY HAS NOT BEEN REGISTERED UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED, AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED, SOLD, PLEDGED OR OTHERWISE TRANSFERRED EXCEPT PURSUANT TO AN EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION.
THIS SECURITY MAY NOT BE OFFERED, SOLD, PLEDGED OR OTHERWISE TRANSFERRED.
Certificate Number | Number of Common Securities: 310 |
Certificate Evidencing Common Securities
of
Community (CA) Capital Trust I
Community (CA) Capital Trust I, a statutory business trust created under the laws of the State of Delaware (the “Trust”), hereby certifies that [ ] (the “Holder”) is the registered owner of common securities of the Trust representing undivided beneficial interests in the assets of the Trust (the “Common Securities”). The designation, rights, privileges, restrictions, preferences and other terms and provisions of the Common Securities represented hereby are issued pursuant to, and shall in all respects be subject to, the provisions of the Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust of the Trust dated as of March 23, 2000, among Thomas E. Swanson and L. Bruce Mills, Jr., as Administrators, The Bank of New York (Delaware), as Delaware Trustee, The Bank of New York, as Institutional Trustee, Community Bancorp Inc., as Sponsor and the holders from time to time of undivided beneficial interest in the assets of the Trust including the designation of the terms of the Common Securities as set forth in Annex I to the Declaration, as the same may be amended from time to time (the “Declaration”). Capitalized terms used herein but not defined shall have the meaning given them in the Declaration. The Holder is entitled to the benefits of the Guarantee to the extent provided therein. The Sponsor will provide a copy of the Declaration, the Guarantee and the Indenture to the Holder without charge upon written request to the Sponsor at its principal place of business.
As set forth in the Declaration, where an Event of Default has occurred and continuing, the rights of Holders of Common securities to payment in respect of Distributions and payments upon Liquidation, redemption or otherwise are subordinated to the rights of payment of Holders of the Capital Securities.
Upon receipt of this Certificate, the Holder is bound by the Declaration and is entitled to the benefits thereunder.
By acceptance of this Certificate, the Holder agrees to treat, for United States federal income tax purposes, the Debentures as indebtedness and the Common Securities as evidence of undivided beneficial ownership in the Debentures.
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This Common Security is governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to principles of conflict of laws.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Trust has executed this certificate this 23rd day of March, 2000.
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[FORM OF REVERSE OF SECURITY]
Distributions payable on each Common Security will be identical in amount to the Distributions payable on each Capital Security, which is at an annual rate of 11% (the “Coupon Rate”) of the stated liquidation amount of $1,000 per Capital Security, such rate being the rate of interest payable on the Debentures to be held by the Institutional Trustee. Except as set forth below in respect of an Extension Period, Distributions in arrears for more than one period will bear interest thereon compounded at the Coupon Rate (to the extent permitted by applicable law). The term “Distributions” as used herein includes cash distributions, any such compounded distribution and any Additional Interest payable on the Debentures unless otherwise stated. A Distribution is payable only to the extent that payments are made in respect of the Debentures held by the Institutional Trustee and to the extent the Institutional Trustee has funds available therefor. The amount of Distributions payable for any period will be computed for any full semi-annual Distribution period on 360-day year of twelve 30-day months.
Except as otherwise described below, Distributions on the Common Securities will be cumulative, will accrue from the date of original issuance and will be payable semi-annually in arrears on March 8 and September 8 of each year, commencing on September 8, 2000. The Debenture Issuer has the right under the Indenture to defer payments of interest on the Debentures by extending the interest payment period for up to 10 consecutive semi-annual periods (each, an “Extension Period”) at any time and from time to time on the Debentures, subject to the conditions described below, during which Extension Period no interest shall be due and payable. No Extension Period may end on a date other than a Distribution Payment Date. During an Extension Period, interest would continue to accrue on the Debentures, and interest on such accrued interest (such accrued interest and interest theron referred to herein as “Deferred Interest”) will accrue at an annual rate equal to 11%, compounded semi-annually from the date such Deferred Interest would have been payable were it not for the Extension Period to the extent permitted by law during any Extension Period. At the end of any such Extension Period the Debenture Issuer shall pay all Deferred Interest then accrued and unpaid on the Debentures; provided, however, that no Extension Period may extend beyond the Maturity Date. Prior to the termination of any Extension Period, the Debenture Issuer may further extend such period, provided that such period together with all such previous and further consecutive extensions thereof shall not exceed 10 consecutive semi-annual periods, or extend beyond the Maturity Date. Upon the termination of any Extension Period and upon the payment of all Deferred Interest, the Debenture Issuer may commence a new Extension Period, subject to the foregoing requirements. No interest or Deferred Interest shall be due and payable during an Extension Period, except at the end thereof, but each installment of interest that would otherwise have been due and payable during such Extension Period shall bear Deferred Interest. If Distributions are deferred, the Distributions due shall be paid on the date that the related Extension Period terminates, or, if such date is not a Distribution Payment Date, on the immediately following Distribution Payment Date, to Holders of the Securities as they appear on the books and records of the Trust on the record date immediately preceding such date. Distributions on the Securities must be paid on the dates payable (after giving effect to any Extension Period) to the extent that the Trust has funds available for the payment of such distributions in the Property Account of the Trust. The Trust’s funds available for Distribution to the Holders of the Securities will be
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limited to payments received from the Debenture Issuer. The payment of Distributions out of moneys held by the Trust is guaranteed by the Guarantor pursuant to the Guarantee.
The Common Securities shall be redeemable as provided in the Declaration.
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ASSIGNMENT
FOR VALUE RECEIVED, the undersigned assigns and transfers this Common Security Certificate to:
(Insert assignee’s social security or tax identification number)
(Insert address and zip code of assignee), and irrevocably appoints as agent to transfer this Common Security Certificate on the books of the Trust. The agent may substitute another to act for him or her.
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(2) Signature must be guaranteed by an “eligible guarantor institution” that is a bank, stockbroker, savings and loan association or credit union, meeting the requirements of the Security registrar, which requirements include membership or participation in the Securities Transfer Agents Medallion Program (“STAMP”) or such other “signature guarantee program” as may be determined by the Security registrar in addition to, or in substitution for, STAMP, all in accordance with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
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EXHIBIT B
FORM OF TRANSFEREE CERTIFICATE
TO BE EXECUTED BY TRANSFEREES OTHER THAN QIBS
, [ ]
Community Bancorp Inc.
Community (CA) Capital Trust I
130 W. Fallbrook Street
Fallbrook, CA 92028
Re: Purchase of $1,000 stated liquidation amount of Fixed Rate Capital Trust
Pass-through Securities® (TruPS)® (the “Capital Securities”) of
Community (CA) Capital Trust I
Ladies and Gentlemen:
In connection with our purchase of the Capital Securities we confirm that:
1. We understand that the Capital Securities (including the guarantee (the “Guarantee”) of Community Bancorp Inc. (the “Company”) executed in connection therewith) of Community (CA) Capital Trust I (the “Trust”) and the Fixed Rate Junior Subordinated Deferrable Interest Debentures due 2030 (the “Subordinated Debt Securities”) of the Company (the Capital Securities, the Guarantee and the Subordinated Debt Securities together being referred to herein as “Offered Securities”), have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and may not be offered or sold except as permitted in the following sentence. We agree on our own behalf and on behalf of any investor account for which we are purchasing the Offered Securities that, if, we decide to offer, sell or otherwise transfer any such Offered Securities, such offer, sale or transfer will be made only (a) to The Trust or the Company, (b) pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act, to a person we reasonably believe is a qualified institutional buyer under Rule 144A (a “QIB”) that purchases for its own account or for the account of a QIB and to whom notice is given that the transfer is being made in reliance on Rule 144A, (c) to an “accredited investor” with the meaning of subparagraph (a) (1), (2), (3) or (7) of Rule 501 under the Securities Act that is acquiring Offered Securities for its own account or for the account of such an accredited investor for investment purposes and not with a view to, or for offer or sale in connection with, any distribution thereof in violation of the Securities Act, or (d) pursuant to another available exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act, subject in each of the foregoing cases to any requirements of law that the disposition of our property or compliance with any applicable state securities laws. The foregoing restrictions on resale will not apply subsequent to the Resale Restriction Termination Date. If any resale or other transfer of the Offered Securities is proposed to be made pursuant to clause (c) or (d) above the transferor shall deliver a letter from the transferee substantially in the form of this letter to The Bank of New York as Transfer Agent, which shall provide as applicable, among other things, that the transferee is an “accredited investor” within the meaning of subparagraph (a) (1), (2), (3) or (7) of Rule 501 under the Securities Act that is acquiring such Securities for investment purposes and not for distribution in
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violation of the Securities Act. We acknowledge on our behalf and on behalf of any investor account for which we are purchasing Securities that the Trust and the Company reserve the right prior to any offer, sale or other transfer pursuant to clauses (d) or (e) to require the delivery of any opinion of counsel, certifications and/or other information satisfactory to the Trust and the Company. We understand that the certificates for any Offered Security that we receive will bear a legend substantially to the effect of the foregoing.
2. We are an “accredited investor” with the meaning of subparagraph (a) (1), (2), (3) or (7) of Rule 501 under the Securities Act purchasing for our own account or for the account of such an “accredited investor,” and we are acquiring the Offered Securities for the investment purposes and not with view to, or for offer or sale in connection with, any distribution in violation of the Securities Act and we have such knowledge and experience in financial and business matters as to be capable of evaluating the merits and risks of our investment in the Offered Securities, and we and any account for which we are acting are each able to bear the economic risks of our or its investment.
3. We are acquiring the Offered Securities purchased by us for our own account (or for one or more accounts as to each of which we exercise sole investment discretion and have authority to make, and do make, the statements contained in this letter) and not with a view to any distribution of the Offered Securities, subject, nevertheless, to the understanding that the disposition of our property will at all times be and remain within our control.
4. In the event that we purchase any Capital Securities or any Subordinated Debt Securities, we will acquire such Capital Securities having an aggregate stated liquidation amount of not less than $1,000 or such Subordinated Debt Securities having an aggregate principal amount not less than $1,000, for our own account and for each separate account for which we are acting.
5. We acknowledge that we either (A) are not a fiduciary of a pension, profit- sharing or other employee benefit plan subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) (a “Plan”), or an entity whose assets include “plan assets” by reason of any Plan’s investment in the entity and are not purchasing the Offered Securities on behalf of or with “plan assets” by reason of any Plan’s investment in the entity and is not purchasing the Offered Securities on behalf of or with “plan assets” of any Plan or (B) are eligible for the exemptive relief available under one ore more of the following prohibited transaction class exemptions (“PTCEs”) issued by the U.S. Department of Labor: PTCE 96-23, 95-60, 91-38, 90-1 or 84-14.
6. We acknowledge that the Trust and the Company and others will rely upon the truth and accuracy of the foregoing acknowledges, representations, warranties and agreements and agree that if any of the acknowledgments, representations, warranties and agreements deemed to have been made by our purchase of the Offered Securities are no longer accurate, we shall promptly notify the Initial Purchasers. If we are acquiring any Offered Securities as a fiduciary or agent for one or more investor accounts, we represent that we have sole discretion with respect to each such investor account and that we have full power to make the foregoing acknowledgments, representations and agreement on behalf of each such investor account.
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Upon transfer of the Offered Securities would be registered in the name of the new beneficial owner as follows.
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B-3
EXHIBIT C
FORM OF TRANSFEREE CERTIFICATE
TO BE EXECUTED FOR QIBs
, [ ]
Community Bancorp Inc.
Community (CA) Capital Trust I
130 W. Fallbrook Street
Fallbrook, CA 92028
Re: Purchase of $1,000 stated liquidation amount of Fixed Rate Capital Trust Pass-through Securities® (TRUPS)® (the “Capital Securities”) of
Community (CA) Capital Trust I
Reference is hereby made to the Amended and Restated Declaration dated as of March 23, 2000 (the “Declaration”) among Thomas E. Swanson and L. Bruce Mills, Jr., as Administrators, The Bank of New York (Delaware), as Delaware Trustee, The Bank of New York, as Institutional Trustee, Community Bancorp Inc., as Sponsor, and the holders from time to time of undivided beneficial interest in the assets of Community (CA) Capital Trust I. Capitalized terms used but not defined herein shall have the meanings given them in the Declaration.
This letter relates to $[ ] aggregate liquidation amount of Capital Securities which are held in the name of [name of transferor] (the “Transferor”).
In connection with such request, and in respect to such Capital Securities, the transferor does hereby certify that such Capital Securities are being transferred in accordance with (i) the transfer restrictions set forth in the Capital Securities and (ii) Rule 144A under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“Rule 144A”), to a transferee that the Transferor reasonably believes is purchasing the Capital Securities for its own account or an account with respect to which the transferee exercises sole investment discretion and the transferee and any such account is a “qualified institutional buyer” within the meaning of Rule 144A, in a transaction meeting the requirements of Rule 144A and in accordance with applicable securities laws of any state of the United States or any other jurisdiction.
You are entitled to rely upon this letter and are irrevocably authorized to produce this letter or a copy hereof to any interested party in any administrative or legal proceeding or official inquiry with respect to the matters covered hereby.
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C-2
EXHIBIT D
SPECIMEN OF INITIAL DEBENTURE
D-1
JUNIOR SUBORDINATED DEBT SECURITY
[FORM OF FACE OF SECURITY]
THIS SECURITY HAS NOT BEEN REGISTERED UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE “SECURITIES ACT”), OR ANY STATE SECURITIES LAWS. NEITHER THIS SECURITY NOR ANY INTEREST OR PARTICIPATION HEREIN MAY BE REOFFERED, SOLD, ASSIGNED, TRANSFERRED, PLEDGED, ENCUMBERED OR OTHERWISE DISPOSED OF IN THE ABSENCE OF SUCH REGISTRATION OR UNLESS SUCH TRANSACTION IS EXEMPT FROM, OR NOT SUBJECT TO, THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES ACT. THE HOLDER OF THIS SECURITY BY ITS ACCEPTANCE HEREOF AGREES TO OFFER, SELL OR OTHERWISE TRANSFER SUCH SECURITY ONLY (A) TO THE COMPANY, (B) PURSUANT TO RULE 144A UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT (“RULE 144A”), TO A PERSON IT REASONABLY BELIEVES IS A “QUALIFIED INSTITUTIONAL BUYER” AS DEFINED IN RULE 144A THAT PURCHASES FOR ITS OWN ACCOUNT OR FOR THE ACCOUNT OF A QUALIFIED INSTITUTIONAL BUYER TO WHOM NOTICE IS GIVEN THAT THE TRANSFER IS BEING MADE IN RELIANCE ON RULE 144A, (C) TO AN “ACCREDITED INVESTOR” WITHIN THE MEANING OF SUBPARAGRAPH (a) (1), (2), (3) OR (7) OF RULE 501 UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT THAT IS ACQUIRING THE SECURITY FOR ITS OWN ACCOUNT, OR FOR THE ACCOUNT OF AN “ACCREDITED INVESTOR, “FOR INVESTMENT PURPOSES AND NOT WITH A VIEW TO, OR FOR OFFER OR SALE IN CONNECTION WITH, ANY DISTRIBUTION IN VIOLATION OF THE SECURITIES ACT, OR (D) PURSUANT TO ANOTHER AVAILABLE EXEMPTION FROM THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES ACT, SUBJECT TO THE COMPANY’S RIGHT PRIOR TO ANY SUCH OFFER, SALE OR TRANSFER PURSUANT TO CLAUSES (C) OR (D) TO REQUIRE THE DELIVERY OF AN OPINION OF COUNSEL, CERTIFICATION AND/OR OTHER INFORMATION SATISFACTORY TO ITS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE INDENTURE, A COPY OF WHICH MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE COMPANY. THE HOLDER OF THIS SECURITY AGREES THAT IT WILL COMPLY WITH THE FOREGOING RESTRICTIONS.
IN CONNECTION WITH ANY TRANSFER, THE HOLDER WILL DELIVER TO THE REGISTRAR AND TRANSFER AGENT SUCH CERTIFICATE AND OTHER INFORMATION MAY BE REQUIRED BY THE INDENTURE TO CONFIRM THAT THE TRANSFER COMPLIES WITH THE FOREGOING RESTRICTIONS.
11% Junior Subordinated Debt Security
of
Community Bancorp, Inc.
Community Bancorp, Inc., a bank holding company incorporated in Delaware (the “Company”), for value received promises to pay to The Bank of New York, not in its individual capacity but solely as Institutional Trustee for Community (CA) Capital Trust I (the “Holder”) or registered assigns, the principal sum of Ten Million Three Hundred Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,310,000) on March 8, 2030, and to pay interest on said principal sum from March 23, 2000, or from the most recent interest payment date (each such date, an “Interest Payment Date”) to which interest has been paid or duly provided for, semi-annually (subject to deferral as set forth herein) in arrears on March 8 and September 8 of each year commencing September 8, 2000, at an annual rate equal to 11% (the “Interest Rate”) until the principal hereof shall have become due and payable, and on any over due principal and (without duplication and to the extent that payment of such interest is enforceable under applicable law) on any overdue installment of interest at an annual rate equal to 11% compounded semi-annually. The amount of interest payable on any Interest Payment Date shall be computed on the basis of a 360-day year of twelve 30-day months. In the event that any date on which interest is payable on this Debt Security is not a Business Day, then payment of interest payable on such date will be made on the next succeeding day that is a Business Day (and without any interest or other payment in respect of any such delay), except that, if such Business Day is in the next succeeding calendar year, such payment shall be made on the immediately preceding Business Day, in each case with the same force and effect as if made on such date. The interest installment so payable, and punctually paid or duly provided for, on any Interest Payment Date will, as provided in the Indenture, be paid to the Person in whose name this Debt Security (or one or more Predecessor Securities, as defined in said Indenture) is registered at the close of business on the Record Date for such interest installment, which shall be the close of business on the 15th day next preceding such Interest Payment Date. Any such interest installment not punctually paid or duly provided for shall forthwith cease to be payable to the registered holders on such Record Date and may be paid to the Person in whose name this Debt Security (or one or more Predecessor Debt Securities) is registered at the close of business on a special record date to be fixed by the Trustee for the payment of such defaulted interest, notice whereof shall be given to the registered holders of the Debt Securities not less than 10 days prior to such special record date, all as more fully provided in the Indenture. The principal of and interest on this Debt Security shall be payable at the office or agency of the Trustee (or other paying agent appointed by the Company) maintained for that purpose in any coin or currency of the United States of America that at the time of payment is legal tender for payment of public and private debts; provided, however, that payment of interest may be made at the option of the Company by check mailed to the registered holder at such address as shall appear in the Debt Security Register or by wire transfer to an account appropriately designated by the holder hereof. Notwithstanding the foregoing, so long as the holder of this Debt Security is the Institutional Trustee, the payment of the principal of and interest on this Debt Security will be made in immediately available funds at such place and to such account as may be designated by the Trustee.
So long as no Event of Default has occurred and is continuing, the Company shall have the right, from time to time, to defer payments of interest on the Debt Securities by extending the interest payment period on the Debt Securities at any time and from time to time during the term of the Debt Securities, for up to 10 consecutive semi-annual periods (each such extended interest payment period, an “Extension Period”), during which Extension Period no interest shall be due and payable. During any Extension Period, interest will continue to accrue on the Debt Securities and interest on such accrued interest (such accrued interest and interest thereon referred to herein as “Deferred Interest”) will accrue at the Interest Rate, compounded semi-annually from the date such Deferred Interest would have been payable were it not for the Extension Period, both to the extent permitted by law. No Extension Period may end on a date other than an Interest Payment Date. At the end of any such Extension Period the Company shall pay all Deferred Interest then accrued and unpaid on the Debt Securities; provided however, that no Extension Period may extend beyond the Maturity rate and provided further however, during any such Extension Period, the Company may not (i) declare or pay any dividends or distributions on, or redeem, purchase, acquire, or make a liquidation payment with respect to, any of the Company’s capital stock or (ii) make any payment of principal of or interest or premium, if any, on or repay, repurchase or redeem any debt securities of the Company that rank pari passu in all respects with or junior in interest to the Debt Securities (other than (a) repurchases, redemptions or other acquisitions of shares of capital stock of the Company in connection with any employment contract, benefit plan or other similar arrangement with or for the benefit of one or more employees, officers, directors or consultants, in connection with a dividend reinvestment or stockholder stock purchase plan or in connection with the issuance of capital stock of the Company (or securities convertible into or exercisable for such capital stock) as consideration in an acquisition transaction entered into prior to the applicable Extension Period, (b) as a result of any exchange or conversion of any class or series of the Company’s capital stock (or any capital stock of a subsidiary of the Company) for any class or series of the Company’s capital stock or of any class or series of the Company’s indebtedness for any class or series of the Company’s capital stock, (c) the purchase of fractional interests in shares of the Company’s capital stock pursuant to the conversion or exchange provisions of such capital stock or the security being converted or exchanged, (d) any declaration of a dividend in connection with any stockholder’s rights plan, or the issuance of rights, stock or other property under any stockholder’s rights plan, or the redemption or repurchase of rights pursuant thereto, or (e) any dividend in the form of stock, warrants, options or other rights where the dividend stock or the stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants, options or other rights is the same stock as that on which the dividend is being paid or ranks pari passu with or junior to such stock). Prior to the termination of any Extension Period, the Company may further extend such period, provided that such period together with all such previous and further consecutive extensions thereof shall not exceed 10 consecutive semi-annual periods, or extend beyond the Maturity Date. Upon the termination of any Extension Period and upon the payment of all Deferred Interest, the Company may commence a new Extension Period, subject to the foregoing requirements. No interest or Deferred Interest shall be due and payable during an Extension Period, except at the end thereof, but each installment of interest that would otherwise have been due and payable during such Extension Period shall bear Deferred Interest. The Company must give the Trustee notice of its election to begin such Extension Period at least one Business Day prior to the earlier of (i) the date interest on the Debt Securities would have been payable except for the election to begin
such Extension Period or (ii) the date such interest is payable, but in any event not less than one Business Day prior to such record date.
The indebtedness evidenced by this Debt Security is, to the extent provided in the Indenture, subordinate and junior in right of payment to the prior payment in full of all Senior Indebtedness, and this Debt Security is issued subject to the provisions of the Indenture with respect thereto. Each holder of this Debt Security, by accepting the same, (a) agrees to and shall be bound by such provisions, (b) authorizes and directs the Trustee on his or her behalf to take such action as may be necessary or appropriate to acknowledge or effectuate the subordination so provided and (c) appoints the Trustee his or her attorney-in-fact for any and all such purposes. Each holder hereof, by his or her acceptance hereof, hereby waives all notice of the acceptance of the subordination provisions contained herein and in the Indenture by each holder of Senior Indebtedness, whether now outstanding or hereafter incurred, and waives reliance by each such holder upon said provisions.
This Debt Security shall not be entitled to any benefit under the Indenture hereinafter referred to, be valid or become obligatory for any purpose until the certificate of authentication hereon shall have been signed by or on behalf of the Trustee.
The provisions of this Debt Security are continued on the reverse side hereof and such continued provisions shall for all purposes have the same effect as though fully set forth at this place.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Company has duly executed this certificate.
COMMUNITY BANCORP, INC. | |||
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| By: | /s/ L. BRUCE MILLS, JR. |
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| Name: L. BRUCE MILLS, JR. | |
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| Title: CORPORATE SECRETARY | |
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Dated: March 23, 2000 |
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CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICATION
This is one of the Debt Securities referred to in the within-mentioned Indenture.
THE BANK OF NEW YORK, as the | |||
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| By: | /s/ Annette L. Kos |
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[FORM OF REVERSE OF SECURITY]
This Debt Security is one of a duly authorized series of Debt Securities of the Company, all issued or to be issued pursuant to an Indenture (the “Indenture”) dated as of March 23, 2000, duly executed and delivered between the Company and The Bank of New York, as Trustee (the “Trustee”), to which Indenture and all indentures supplemental thereto reference is hereby made for a description of the rights, limitations of rights, obligations, duties and immunities thereunder of the Trustee, the Company and the holders of the Debt Securities (referred to herein as the “Debt Securities”) of which this Debt Security is a part. The summary of the terms of this Debt Security contained herein does not purport to be complete and is qualified by reference to the Indenture.
Upon the occurrence and continuation of a Tax Event, an Investment Company Event or a Capital Treatment Event (a “Special Event”), this Debt Security may become due and payable, in whole or in part, at any time, within 90 days following the occurrence of such Tax Event, Investment Company Event or Capital Treatment Event (the “Special Redemption Date”), as the case may be, at the Special Redemption Price. The Company shall also have the right to redeem this Debt Security at the option of the Company, in whole or in part, on any March 8 or September 8 on or after March 8, 2010 (a “Redemption Date”), at the Redemption Price.
Any redemption pursuant to the preceding paragraph will be made, subject to the receipt by the Company of prior approval from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”) if then required under applicable capital guidelines or policies of the Federal Reserve, upon not less than 30 days’ nor more than 60 days’ notice. If the Debt Securities are only partially redeemed by the Company, the Debt Securities will be redeemed prorata or by lot or by any other method utilized by the Trustee.
“Redemption Price” means the price set forth in the following table for any Redemption Date or Special Redemption Date that occurs within the twelve-month period beginning in the relevant year indicated below, expressed in percentage of the principal amount of the Debt Securities being redeemed:
Year Beginning |
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March 8, 2010 |
| 105.438 |
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March 8, 2011 |
| 104.894 |
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March 8, 2012 |
| 104.350 |
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March 8, 2013 |
| 103.806 |
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March 8, 2014 |
| 103.263 |
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March 8, 2015 |
| 102.719 |
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March 8, 2016 |
| 102.175 |
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March 8, 2017 |
| 101.631 |
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March 8, 2018 |
| 101.088 |
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March 8, 2019 |
| 100.544 |
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March 8, 2020 and after |
| 100.000 |
plus accrued and unpaid interest on such Debentures to the Redemption Date or in the case of a redemption due to the occurrence of a Special Event, to the Special Redemption Date.
“Special Redemption Price” means (1) if the Special Redemption Date is before March 8, 2010, the greater of (a) 100% of the principal amount of the Debt Securities being redeemed pursuant to Section 10.02 of the Indenture and (b) as determined by a Quotation Agent, the sum of the present values of scheduled payments of principal and interest over the Remaining Life of such Debt Securities, discounted to the Special Redemption Date on a semiannual basis (assuming a 360-day year consisting of twelve 30-day months) at the Treasury Rate plus 0.45%, plus, in the case of either (a) or (b), accrued and unpaid interest on such Debt Securities to the Special Redemption Date and (2) if the Special Redemption Date is on or after March 8, 2010, the Redemption Price for such Special Redemption Date.
“Comparable Treasury Issue” mean with respect to any Special Redemption Date the United States Treasury security selected by the Quotation Agent as having a maturity comparable to the Remaining Life that would be utilized, at the time of selection and in accordance with customary financial practice in pricing new issues of corporate debt securities of comparable maturity to the Remaining Life. If no United States Treasury security has a maturity which is within a period from three months before to three months after March 8, 2010, the two most closely corresponding United States Treasury securities shall be used as the Comparable Treasury Issue, and the Treasury Rate shall be interpolated or extrapolated on a straight-line basis, rounding to the nearest month using such securities.
“Comparable Treasury Price” means (a) the average of five Reference Treasury Dealer Quotations for such Redemption Date, after excluding the highest and lowest such Reference Treasury Dealer Quotations, or (b) if the Trustee obtains fewer than five such Reference Treasury Dealer Quotations, the average of all such Quotations.
“Primary Treasury Dealer” shall mean a primary United States Government securities dealer in New York City.
“Quotation Agent” means Salomon Smith Barney, Inc. and its successors; provided, however, that if the foregoing shall cease to be a primary United States Government securities dealer in New York City (a “Primary Treasury Dealer”), the Company shall substitute therefor another Primary Treasury Dealer.
“Reference Treasury Dealer” means (i) the Quotation Agent and (ii) any other Primary Treasury Dealer selected by the Trustee after consultation with the Corporation.
“Reference Treasury Dealer Quotations” means, with respect to each Reference Treasury Dealer and any Special Redemption Date, the average, as determined by the Trustee, of the bid and asked prices for the Comparable Treasury Issue (expressed in each case as a
percentage of its principal amount) quoted in writing to the Trustee by such Reference Treasury Dealer at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on the third Business Day preceding such Special Redemption Date.
“Treasury Rate” means (i) the yield, under the heading which represents the average for the week immediately prior to the date of calculation, appearing in the most recently published statistical release designated H.I5 (519) or any successor publication which is published weekly by the Federal Reserve and which establishes yields on actively traded United States Treasury securities adjusted to constant maturity under the caption “Treasury Constant Maturities”, for the maturity corresponding to the Remaining Life (if no maturity is within three months before or after the Remaining Life, yields for the two published maturities most closely corresponding to the Remaining Life shall be determined and the Treasury Rate shall be interpolated or extrapolated from such yields on a straight-line basis, rounding to the nearest month) or (ii) if such release (or any successor release) is not published during the week preceding the calculation date or does not contain such yields, the rate per annum equal to the semi-annual equivalent yield to maturity of the Comparable Treasury Issue, calculated using a price for the Comparable Treasury Issue (expressed as a percentage of its principal amount) equal to the Comparable Treasury Price for such Special Redemption Date. The Treasury Rate shall be calculated on the third Business Day preceding the Special Redemption Date.
In the event of redemption of this Debt Security in part only, a new Debt Security or Debt Securities for the unredeemed portion hereof will be issued in the name of the holder hereof upon the cancellation hereof.
In case an Event of Default, as defined in the Indenture, shall have occurred and be continuing, the principal of all of the Debt Securities may be declared due and payable, and upon such declaration of acceleration shall become due and payable, in the manner, with the effect and subject to the conditions provided in the Indenture.
The Indenture contains provisions permitting the Company and the Trustee, with the consent of the holders of not less than a majority in aggregate principal amount of the Debt Securities at the time outstanding affected thereby, as specified in the Indenture, to execute supplemental indentures for the purpose of adding any provisions to or changing in any manner or eliminating any of the provisions of the Indenture or of any supplemental indenture or of modifying in any manner the rights of the holders of the Debt Securities; provided, however, that no such supplemental indenture shall, among other things, without the consent of the holders of each Debt Security then outstanding and affected thereby (i) extend the fixed maturity of the Debt Securities, or reduce the principal amount thereof or any redemption premium thereon, or reduce the rate or extend the time of payment of interest thereon, or make the principal of, or interest or premium on, the Debt Securities payable in any coin or currency other than that provided in the Debt Securities, or impair or affect the right of any holder of Debt Securities to institute suit for the payment thereof, or (ii) reduce the aforesaid percentage of Debt Securities, the holders of which are required to consent to any such supplemental indenture. The Indenture also contains provisions permitting the holders of a majority in aggregate principal amount of the Debt Securities at the time outstanding affected thereby as provided in the Indenture, on behalf of all of the holders of the Debt Securities, to waive any past default in the performance of any of the covenants contained in the Indenture, or established pursuant to the Indenture, and its
consequences, except a default in the payment of the principal of or premium, if any, or interest on any of the Debt Securities. Any such consent or waiver by the registered holder of this Debt Security (unless revoked as provided in the Indenture) shall be conclusive and binding upon such holder and upon all future holders and owners of this Debt Security and of any Debt Security issued in exchange herefor or in place hereof (whether by registration of transfer or otherwise), irrespective of whether or not any notation of such consent or waiver is made upon this Debt Security.
No reference herein to the Indenture and no provision of this Debt Security or of the Indenture shall alter or impair the obligation of the Company, which is absolute and unconditional, to pay the principal of and premium, if any, and interest on this Debt Security at the time and place and at the rate and in the money herein prescribed.
As provided in the Indenture and subject to certain limitations herein and therein set forth, this Debt Security is transferable by the registered holder hereof on the Debt Security Register of the Company, upon surrender of this Debt Security for registration of transfer at the office or agency of the Trustee in the City and State of New York accompanied by a written instrument or instruments of transfer in form satisfactory to the Company or the Trustee duly executed by the registered holder hereof or his attorney duly authorized in writing, and thereupon one or more new Debt Securities of authorized denominations and for the same aggregate principal amount will be issued to the designated transferee or transferees. No service charge will be made for any such registration of transfer, but the Company may require payment of a sum sufficient to cover any tax or other governmental charge payable in relation thereto.
Prior to due presentment for registration of transfer of this Debt Security, the Company, the Trustee, any Authenticating Agent, any paying agent, any transfer agent and the Debt Security registrar may deem and treat the registered holder hereof as the absolute owner hereof (whether or not this Debt Security shall be overdue and notwithstanding any notice of ownership or writing hereon) for the purpose of receiving payment of or on account of the principal hereof and interest due hereon and for all other purposes, and neither the Company nor the Trustee nor any Authenticating Agent nor any paying agent nor any transfer agent nor any Debt Security registrar shall be affected by any notice to the contrary.
No recourse shall be had for the payment of the principal of or the interest on this Debt Security, or for any claim based hereon, or otherwise in respect hereof, or based on or in respect of the Indenture, against any incorporator, stockholder, officer or director, past, present or future, as such, of the Company or of any predecessor or successor corporation, whether by virtue of any constitution, statute or rule of law, or by the enforcement of any assessment or penalty or otherwise, all such liability being, by the acceptance hereof and as part of the consideration for the issuance hereof, expressly waived and released.
The Debt Securities are issuable only in registered certificated form without coupons. As provided in the Indenture and subject to certain limitations herein and therein set forth, Debt Securities are exchangeable for a like aggregate principal amount of Debt Securities of a different authorized denomination, as requested by the holder surrendering the same.
All terms used in this Debt Security that are defined in the Indenture shall have the meanings assigned to them in the Indenture.
THE LAW OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK SHALL GOVERN THE INDENTURE AND THE DEBT SECURITIES, WITHOUT REGARD TO CONFLICT OF LAWS PRINCIPLES THEREOF.
EXHIBIT E
PLACEMENT AGREEMENT
E-1
COMMUNITY (CA) CAPITAL TRUST I
$10,000,000
11% Fixed Rate Capital Trust Pass-Through Securities® (TruPS)®
Fully and Unconditionally Guaranteed as to Distributions
and Other Payments by
Community Bancorp Inc.
PLACEMENT AGREEMENT
New York, New York
As of March 9, 2000
Salomon Smith Barney Inc.
388 Greenwich Street
New York, New York 10013
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Community Bancorp Inc., a bank holding company incorporated in Delaware (the “Company”) and Community (CA) Capital Trust I, a Delaware statutory business trust (the “Trust”), propose, subject to the terms and conditions stated herein, to issue and sell $10,000,000 of 11% Fixed Rate Capital Trust Pass-through Securities® of the Trust, having a stated liquidation amount of $1,000 per capital security (the “Capital Securities”). Salomon Smith Barney Inc. is acting as the exclusive agent of the Company and the Trust in connection with the offering of the Capital Securities.
The Capital Securities will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed on a subordinated basis by the Company with respect to distributions and amounts payable upon liquidation, redemption or repayment (the “Guarantee”) pursuant to the Guarantee Agreement (the “Guarantee Agreement”), to be dated as of the Closing Date specified in Section 3 hereof and executed and delivered by the Company and The Bank of New York, as trustee (the “Guarantee Trustee”), for the benefit of the holders from time to time of the Capital Securities. The entire proceeds from the sale of the Capital Securities will be combined with the entire proceeds from the sale by the Trust to the Company of its common securities (the “Common Securities”), and will be used by the Trust to purchase $10,310,000 in principal amount of the Fixed Rate Junior Subordinated Deferrable Interest Debentures due 2030 of the Company (the “Subordinated Debt Securities”). The Capital Securities and the Common Securities for the Trust will be issued pursuant to the Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust (the “Declaration”), to be dated as of the Closing Date among the Company, as sponsor, the Administrator(s) named therein (the “Administrators”), The Bank of New York (Delaware), a Delaware corporation (the “Delaware Trustee”), The Bank of New York (the “Institutional Trustee”), and the holders from time to time of undivided beneficial interests in the assets of the
Trust. The Subordinated Debt Securities will be issued pursuant to an Indenture, to be dated as of the Closing Date (the “Indenture”), between the Company and The Bank of New York, as trustee (the “Indenture Trustee”).
The Capital Securities, the Common Securities and the Subordinated Debt Securities are collectively referred to herein as the “Securities.” This Agreement, the Indenture, the Declaration, the Guarantee Agreement and the Securities are referred to collectively as the “Operative Documents.” Capitalized terms used herein without definition have the respective meanings specified in the Declaration.
The Securities have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).
1. Representations and Warranties. The Company and the Trust jointly and severally represent and warrant to, and agree with you as set forth below in this Section 1.
(a) Neither the Company nor the Trust, nor any of their Affiliates (as defined in Rule 501(b) of Regulation D under the Securities Act (“Regulation D”)), nor any person acting on its or their behalf has, directly or indirectly, made offers or sales of any security, or solicited offers to buy any security, under circumstances that would require the registration of any of the Securities under the Securities Act.
(b) Neither the Company nor the Trust, nor any of their Affiliates, nor any person acting on its or their behalf has engaged in any form of general solicitation or general advertising (within the meaning of Regulation D) in connection with any offer or sale of any of the Securities.
(c) The Securities satisfy the eligibility requirements of Rule 144A(d)(3) under the Securities Act.
(d) Neither the Company nor the Trust, nor any of their Affiliates, nor any person acting on its or their behalf, has engaged or will engage in any directed selling efforts with respect to the Securities within the meaning of Regulation S.
(e) Neither the Company nor the Trust is an “investment company” or an entity “controlled” by an “investment company,” in each case within the meaning of Section 3(a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”) without regard to Section 3(c) of the Investment Company Act.
(f) Neither the Company nor the Trust has paid or agreed to pay to any person any compensation for soliciting another to purchase any of the Securities.
(g) The Trust has been duly created and is validly existing in good standing as a business trust under the Delaware Business Trust Act, 12 Del. C. 3801, et seq. (the “Business Trust Act”) with the power and authority to own property and to conduct the business it transacts and proposes to transact and to enter into and perform its obligations under the Operative Documents. The Trust is duly qualified to transact business as a foreign entity and is in good standing in each jurisdiction in which such qualification is necessary, except where the failure to
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so qualify or be in good standing would not have a material adverse effect on such Trust. The Trust is not a party to or otherwise bound by any agreement other than the Operative Documents. The Trust is and will, under current law, be classified for federal income tax purposes as a grantor trust and not as an association taxable as a corporation.
(h) The Declaration has been duly authorized by the Company and, on the Closing Date, will have been duly executed and delivered by the Company and the Administrators of the relevant Trust, and, assuming due authorization, execution and delivery by the Delaware Trustee and the Institutional Trustee, be a valid and binding obligation of the Company and such Administrators, enforceable against them in accordance with its terms, subject to applicable bankruptcy, insolvency and similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally and to general principles of equity (“Bankruptcy and Equity”). Each of the Administrators of the Trust is an employee of the Company and has been duly authorized by the Company to execute and deliver the Declaration.
(i) Each of the Guarantee Agreement and the Indenture has been duly authorized by the Company and, on the Closing Date will have been duly executed and delivered by the Company, and, assuming due authorization, execution and delivery by the Guarantee Trustee, in the case of the Guarantee, and by the Indenture Trustee, in the case of the Indenture, be a valid and binding obligation of the Company enforceable against it in accordance with its terms, subject to Bankruptcy and Equity.
(j) The Capital Securities and the Common Securities have been duly authorized by the Declaration and, when issued and delivered against payment therefore on the Closing Date to you, in the case of the Capital Securities, and to the Company, in the case of the Common Securities, will be validly issued and represent undivided beneficial interests in the assets of the Trust. The issuance of none of the Capital Securities or the Common Securities is subject to preemptive or other similar rights. On the Closing Date, all of the issued and outstanding Common Securities will be directly owned by the Company free and clear of any pledge, security interest, claim, lien or other encumbrance.
(k) The Subordinated Debt Securities have been duly authorized by the Company and, at the Closing Date, will have been duly executed and delivered to the Indenture Trustee for authentication in accordance with the Indenture, and, when authenticated in the manner provided for in the Indenture and delivered against payment therefore by the Trust, will constitute valid and binding obligations of the Company entitled to the benefits of the Indenture enforceable against the Company in accordance with their terms, subject to Bankruptcy and Equity.
(l) This Agreement has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Company and the Trust.
(m) The Trust is not in violation of the Declaration or any provision of the Business Trust Act. The execution, delivery and performance of the Operative Documents to which it is a party by the Company or Trust, and the consummation of the transactions contemplated herein or therein, will not conflict with or constitute a breach of, or a default under, or result in the creation or imposition of any lien, charge or other encumbrance upon any
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property or assets of the Trust, the Company or any of the Company’s subsidiaries pursuant to any contract, indenture, mortgage, loan agreement, note, lease or other instrument to which the Trust, the Company or any of its subsidiaries is a party or by which it or any of them may be bound, or to which any of the property or assets of any of them is subject, except for a conflict, breach, default, lien, charge or encumbrance which could not reasonably be expected to have an adverse effect on the consummation of the transactions contemplated herein or therein, nor will such action result in any violation of the Declaration or the Business Trust Act or require the consent, approval, authorization or order of any court or governmental agency or body.
(n) The Company has been duly incorporated and is validly existing as a corporation in good standing under the laws of Delaware, with all requisite corporate power and authority to own its properties and conduct the business it transacts and proposes to transact, and is duly qualified to transact business and is in good standing as a foreign corporation in each jurisdiction where the nature of its activities requires such qualification except where the failure of the Company to be so qualified would not, singly or in the aggregate, have a materially adverse effect on the condition (financial or otherwise), earnings or business of the Company and its subsidiaries taken as a whole, whether or not occurring in the ordinary course of business (a “Material Adverse Effect”).
(o) Each of the Company’s significant subsidiaries listed in Exhibit 1 (the “Subsidiaries”) has been duly incorporated and is validly existing as a corporation in good standing under the laws of the jurisdiction in which it is chartered or organized, with all requisite corporate power and authority to own its properties and conduct the business it transacts and proposes to transact, and is duly qualified to transact business and is in good standing as a foreign corporation in each jurisdiction where the nature of its activities requires such qualification except where the failure of such Subsidiary to be so qualified would not, singly or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect.
(p) The Company and each of its Subsidiaries have all requisite power and authority, and all necessary material authorizations, approvals, orders, licenses, certificates and permits of and from regulatory or governmental officials, bodies and tribunals, to own or lease their respective properties and to conduct their respective businesses as now being conducted, and neither the Company nor any of the Subsidiaries has received any notice of proceedings relating to the revocation or modification of any such authorizations, approvals, orders, licenses, certificates or permits which, singly or in the aggregate, if the failure to be so licensed or approved or if the subject of an unfavorable decision, ruling or finding, would have a Material Adverse Effect; and the Company and its Subsidiaries are in compliance with all applicable laws, rules, regulations and orders and consents, the violation of which would have a Material Adverse Effect.
(q) The audited consolidated financial statements (including the notes thereto) and schedules of the Company and its consolidated subsidiaries for December 31, 1998 (the “Financial Statements”) and the interim unaudited consolidated financial statements of the Company and its consolidated subsidiaries for September 30, 1999 (the “Interim Financial Statements”) provided to you are the most recent available audited and unaudited consolidated financial statements of the Company and its consolidated subsidiaries, respectively, and fairly presents in all material respects, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, the
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financial position of the Company and its consolidated subsidiaries, and the results of operations and changes in financial condition as of the dates and for the periods therein specified, subject, in the case of Interim Financial Statements, to year-end adjustments. Such consolidated financial statements and schedules have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles consistently applied throughout the periods involved (except as otherwise noted therein).
(r) The Company’s report on FRY-9C dated December 31, 1999 (the “FRY-9C”) provided to you is the most recent available such report and the information therein fairly presents in all material respects the financial position of the Company and its subsidiaries.
(s) Since the respective dates of the Financial Statements, Interim Financial Statements and the FRY-9C, and since the matters disclosed in the Company’s press releases of February 23, 2000 and March 7, 2000, there has been no material adverse change or development with respect to the financial condition or earnings of the Company and its subsidiaries, taken as a whole.
(t) Neither the Company nor any of the Subsidiaries is in violation of its respective charter or by-laws or similar organizational documents or in default in the performance or observance of any obligation, agreement, covenant or condition contained in any contract, indenture, mortgage, loan agreement, note, lease or other agreement or instrument to which the Company or any of the Subsidiaries is a party or by which it or any of them may be bound or to which any of the property or assets of the Company or any of the Subsidiaries is subject, the effect of which violation or default in performance or observance would have a Material Adverse Effect.
(u) The Company is duly registered as a bank holding company under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended (the “Bank Holding Company Act”), and the regulations of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”), and the deposit accounts of the Company’s subsidiary banks are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) to the fullest extent permitted by law and the rules and regulations of the FDIC, and no proceeding for the termination of such insurance are pending or threatened.
2. Sale of the Capital Securities. Subject to the terms and conditions and in reliance upon the representations and warranties herein set forth, the Company and the Trust jointly and severally hereby appoint you as placement agent (the “Placement Agent”), and you hereby accept such appointment, to act as the exclusive agent of the Company and the Trust, in connection with the offering of the Capital Securities contemplated hereby, for the purpose of soliciting offers and sales of the Capital Securities.
The Placement Agent shall solicit offers to purchase Capital Securities in connection with the offering contemplated hereby. The Placement Agent shall use its best efforts, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, to procure subscribers for the Capital Securities with an aggregate stated liquidation amount of $10,000,000 at a purchase price equal to 100% of the stated liquidation amount thereof. The Placement Agent shall not, in
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fulfilling its obligations hereunder, act as an underwriter for the Capital Securities and is in no way obligated, directly or indirectly, to advance its own funds to purchase any Capital Securities.
If the sale and delivery of the Capital Securities as provided herein is consummated, the Company will pay to the Placement Agent on the Closing Date a commission per Capital Security equal to 3% of the stated liquidation amount thereof. Any payment pursuant to this Section 2 shall be made by wire transfer in immediately available funds to the U.S. account designated in writing by the party entitled to receive such payment.
The dividend rate of the Capital Securities, as of the date hereof, is 11%. Under certain circumstances, the dividend rate of the Capital Securities may be reduced pursuant to a written agreement between you and the Company made prior to the Closing Date.
3. Delivery and Payment. Delivery of and payment for the Capital Securities shall be made at 10:00 AM, New York City time, on March 23, 2000, or such later date as you shall designate, which date and time may be postponed by agreement between you, on the one hand, and the Company and the Trust, on the other hand (such date and time of delivery and payment for the Capital Securities being herein called the “Closing Date”).
Delivery of the Capital Securities shall be made at such location, and in such names and denominations, as you shall designate at least one business day in advance of the Closing Date. The Company and the Trust agree to have the Capital Securities available for inspection and checking by you in New York, New York, not later than 1:00 PM on the business day prior to the Closing Date. The closing for the purchase and sale of the Capital Securities shall occur at the offices of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, One Liberty Plaza, New York, NY 10006, or such other place as the parties hereto shall agree.
4. Representations. You represent to the Company and the Trust that:
(a) You are aware that the Securities have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S persons except in accordance with Rule 903 of Regulation S under the Securities Act or pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. You will not offer, sell or arrange for the offer or sale of any Securities to purchasers (“Purchasers”) except in privately negotiated transactions that will not require registration of the Securities under the Securities Act. Terms used in the first sentence of this subsection (a) have the meanings given to them by Regulation S under the Securities Act.
(b) You have not offered or sold or and will not arrange for the offer or sale of the Capital Securities except (i) in an offshore transaction complying with Rule 903 of Regulation S under the Securities Act, (ii) to those you reasonably believe are qualified institutional buyers (as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act) and that in connection with each such sale, you have taken or will take reasonable steps to ensure that the purchaser of any Capital Securities is aware that such sale is being made in reliance on Rule 144A or (iii) to “accredited investors” (as defined in Rule 501(a)(l), (2), (3) or (7) of Regulation D) who provide to you and to the Company a letter in the form set out in the Declaration.
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(c) You represent and agree that you and each of your Affiliates has not entered, and will not enter into any contractual arrangement with respect to the distribution of the Securities except with the prior written consent of the Company
(d) Neither you, nor any of your Affiliates, nor any person acting on your or their behalf has engaged, or will engage, in any form of general solicitation or general advertising (within the meaning of Regulation D) in connection with any offer or sale of the Securities.
(e) Neither you nor any or your Affiliates, nor any person acting on your or their behalf, has engaged or will engage in any directed selling efforts within the meaning of Regulation S under the Securities Act with respect to the Securities.
5. Agreements. The Company and the Trust agree with the Placement Agent that:
(a) The Company and the Trust will arrange for the qualification of the Capital Securities for sale under the laws of such jurisdictions as you may designate and will maintain such qualifications in effect so long as required for the sale of the Capital Securities. The Company or the Trust, as the case may be, will promptly advise you of the receipt by the Company or the Trust, as the case may be, of any notification with respect to the suspension of the qualification of the Capital Securities for sale in any jurisdiction or the initiation or threatening of any proceeding for such purpose.
(b) Neither the Company nor the Trust will, nor will either of them permit any of its Affiliates to, resell any Capital Securities that have been acquired by any of them.
(c) Neither the Company nor the Trust will, nor will either of them permit any of its Affiliates, nor any person acting on its or their behalf, to, directly or indirectly, make offers or sales of any security, or solicit offers to buy any security, under circumstances that would require the registration of any of the Securities under the Securities Act.
(d) Neither the Company nor the Trust will, nor will either of them permit any of its Affiliates, nor any person acting on its or their behalf, to, engage in any form of general solicitation or general advertising (within the meaning of Regulation D) in connection with any offer or sale of the any of the Securities.
(e) Neither the Company nor the Trust will, nor will either of them permit any of its Affiliates, nor any person acting on its or their behalf to engage in any directed selling efforts within the meaning of Regulation S under the Securities Act with respect to the Securities.
(f) So long as any of the Securities are outstanding and are “restricted securities” within the meaning of Rule 144(a)(3) under the Securities Act, each of the Company and the Trust will, during any period in which it is not subject to and in compliance with Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act or it is not exempt from such reporting requirements pursuant to and in compliance with Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Exchange Act, provide to each holder of such restricted securities and to each prospective purchaser (as designated by such holder) of such
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restricted securities, upon the request of such holder or prospective purchaser, any information required to be provided by Rule 144A(d)(4) under the Securities Act. This covenant is intended to be for the benefit of the holders, and the prospective purchasers designated by such holders, from time to time of such restricted securities. The information provided by the Company and the Trust pursuant to this Section 5(f) hereof will not, at the date thereof, contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material fact necessary to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.
(g) Neither the Company nor the Trust will, until 180 days following the Closing Date, without your prior written consent, offer, sell, contract to sell, grant any option to purchase or otherwise dispose of, directly or indirectly, (i) any Capital Securities or other securities of the Trust other than as contemplated by this Agreement, (ii) any securities that are substantially similar to the Securities or (iii) any other securities convertible into, or exercisable or exchangeable for, any of (i) or (ii), or enter into an agreement, or announce an intention, to do any of the foregoing.
(h) The Company agrees to pay (i) the costs incident to the authorization, issuance, sale and delivery of the Capital Securities and any taxes payable in that connection; (ii) the fees and expenses of qualifying the Capital Securities under the securities laws of the several jurisdictions as provided in Section 5(a); and (iii) the fees and expenses of the Institutional Trustee (as defined in the Declaration), the Guarantee Trustee and the Indenture Trustee.
6. Conditions to Your Obligations. Your obligations to use your best efforts to procure subscription and payment for the Capital Securities shall be subject to the accuracy of the representations and warranties on the part of the Company and the Trust contained herein as of the date and time that this Agreement is executed (the “Execution Time”) and the Closing Date, to the accuracy of the statements of the Company and the Trust made in any Capital Securities pursuant to the provisions hereof, to the performance by the Company and the Trust of their obligations hereunder and to the following additional conditions:
(a) The Company shall have furnished to you the opinion of Reitner & Stuart, special counsel to the Company, dated the Closing Date, addressed to you to, in substantially the form set out in Annex A hereto.
(b) The Company shall have furnished to you the opinion of Rosenman & Colin, LLP, special tax counsel to the Company, dated the Closing Date, containing such assumptions, qualifications and limitations as shall be reasonably acceptable to you and your counsel to the effect that for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the Subordinated Debt Securities will constitute indebtedness of the Company.
(c) You shall have received the opinion of Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young, LLP, special Delaware counsel for the Company and the Trust, dated the Closing Date, addressed to you, in substantially the form set out in Annex B hereto.
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(d) You shall have received the opinion of White & Case, LLP, counsel for the Guarantee Trustee, the Institutional Trustee and the Indenture Trustee, dated the Closing Date addressed to you, in substantially the form set out in Annex C hereto.
(e) You shall have received the opinion of Richards, Layton & Finger, counsel for the Delaware Trustee, dated the Closing Date, addressed to you, in substantially the form set out in Annex D hereto.
(f) The Company shall have furnished to you a certificate of the Company, signed by a Vice President and by a Treasurer or Chief Financial Officer of the Company, dated the Closing Date, to the effect that:
(i) the representations and warranties of the Company and the Trust in this Agreement are true and correct in all material respects on and as of the Closing Date with the same effect as if made on the Closing Date, and the Company and the Trust have complied with all the agreements and satisfied all the conditions on either of their part to be performed or satisfied at or prior to the Closing Date; and
(ii) since the date of the most recent financial statements provided to you and since the matters disclosed in the Company’s press releases of February 23, 2000 and March 7, 2000, there has been no material adverse change in the condition (financial or other), earnings, business or properties of the Company and its subsidiaries, whether or not arising from transactions in the ordinary course of business.
(g) Subsequent to the Execution Time there shall not have been any change, or any development involving a prospective change, in or affecting the business or properties of the Company and its subsidiaries the effect of which, is, in your judgment, so material and adverse as to make it impractical or inadvisable to proceed with the offering or delivery of the Capital Securities.
(h) Prior to the Closing Date, the Company and the Trust shall have furnished to you such further information, certificates and documents as you may reasonably request.
(i) At the Closing Date, each of the Operative Documents shall have been duly authorized, executed and delivered by each party thereto, and copies thereof shall have been delivered to you.
If any of the conditions specified in this Section 6 shall not have been fulfilled in all material respects when and as provided in this Agreement, or if any of the opinions, certificates and documents mentioned above or elsewhere in this Agreement shall not be in all material respects reasonably satisfactory in form and substance to you, this Agreement and all your obligations hereunder may be canceled at, or at any time prior to, the Closing Date by you. Notice of such cancellation shall be given to the Company and the Trust in writing or by telephone or telegraph confirmed in writing.
7. Reimbursement of Your Expenses. If the sale of the Capital Securities provided for herein is not consummated because any condition to set forth in Section 6 hereof is not satisfied, because of any termination pursuant to Section 9 hereof or because of any refusal,
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inability or failure on the part of the Company or the Trust to perform any agreement herein or comply with any provision hereof, the Company will reimburse you upon demand for all out-of-pocket expenses (including reasonable fees and disbursements of counsel) that shall have been incurred by you in connection with the proposed offering of the Capital Securities.
8. Indemnification. (a) The Company and the Trust agree jointly and severally to indemnify and hold harmless you and your directors, officers, employees and agents and each person who controls you within the meaning of either the Securities Act or the Exchange Act against any and all losses, claims, damages or liabilities, joint or several, to which they or any of them may become subject under the Securities Act, the Exchange Act or other Federal or state statutory law or regulation, at common law or otherwise, insofar as such losses, claims, damages or liabilities (or actions in respect thereof) arise out of or are based upon any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in any information (whether oral or written) or documents furnished or made available to you in connection with the transactions contemplated herein, or arise out of or are based upon the omission or alleged omission to state therein a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, and agrees to reimburse each such indemnified party, as incurred, for any legal or other expenses reasonably incurred by them in connection with investigating or defending any such loss, claim, damage, liability or action. This indemnity agreement will be in addition to any liability which the Company or the Trust may otherwise have.
(b) The Company agrees to indemnify the Trust against all loss, liability, claim, damage and expense whatsoever, as due from the Trust under Section 8(a) hereunder.
(c) Promptly after receipt by an indemnified party under this Section 8 of notice of the commencement of any action, such indemnified party will, if a claim in respect thereof is to be made against the indemnifying party under this Section 8, notify the indemnifying party in writing of the commencement thereof; but the failure so to notify the indemnifying party (i) will not relieve the indemnifying party from liability under paragraph (a), above unless and to the extent that the indemnifying party did not otherwise learn of such action and such failure results in the forfeiture by the indemnifying party of substantial rights and defenses and (ii) will not, in any event, relieve the indemnifying party from any obligations to any indemnified party other than the indemnification obligation provided in paragraph (a) above. The indemnifying party shall be entitled to appoint counsel of the indemnifying party’s choice at the indemnifying party’s expense to represent the indemnified party in any action for which indemnification is sought (in which case the indemnifying party shall not thereafter be responsible for the fees and expenses of any separate counsel retained by the indemnified party or parties except as set forth below); provided, however, that such counsel shall be satisfactory to the indemnified party. Notwithstanding the indemnifying party’s election to appoint counsel to represent the indemnified party in an action, the indemnified party shall have the right to employ separate counsel (including local counsel), and the indemnifying party shall bear the reasonable fees, costs and expenses of such separate counsel if (i) the use of counsel chosen by the indemnifying party to represent the indemnified party would present such counsel with a conflict of interest, (ii) the actual or potential defendants in, or targets of, any such action include both the indemnified party and the indemnifying party and the indemnified party shall have reasonably concluded that there may be legal defenses available to it and/or other indemnified
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parties which are different from or additional to those available to the indemnifying party, (iii) the indemnifying party shall not have employed counsel satisfactory to the indemnified party to represent the indemnified party within a reasonable time after notice of the institution of such action or (iv) the indemnifying party shall authorize the indemnified party to employ separate counsel at the expense of the indemnifying party. An indemnifying party will not, without the prior written consent of the indemnified parties, settle or compromise or consent to the entry of any judgment with respect to any pending or threatened claim, action, suit or proceeding in respect of which indemnification or contribution may be sought hereunder (whether or not the indemnified parties are actual or potential parties to such claim or action) unless such settlement, compromise or consent includes an unconditional release of each indemnified party from all liability arising out of such claim, action, suit or proceeding.
9. Termination. This Agreement shall be subject to termination in the absolute discretion of you, by notice given to the Company and the Trust prior to delivery of and payment for the Capital Securities, if prior to such time (i) trading in any of the Company’s securities shall have been suspended by the Commission or the National Association of Securities Dealers or trading in securities generally on the New York Stock Exchange shall have been suspended or limited or minimum prices shall have been established on such Exchange, (ii) a banking moratorium shall have been declared either by Federal or California authorities or (iii) there shall have occurred any outbreak or escalation of hostilities, declaration by the United States of a national emergency or war or other calamity or crisis the effect of which on financial markets is such as to make it, in your judgment, impracticable or inadvisable to proceed with the offering or delivery of the Capital Securities.
10. Representations and Indemnities to Survive. The respective agreements, representations, warranties, indemnities and other statements of the Company and the Trust or their respective officers or trustees and of you set forth in or made pursuant to this Agreement will remain in full force and effect, regardless of any investigation made by or on behalf of you, the Company or the Trust or any of the officers, directors or trustees, administrators, controlling persons, and will survive delivery of and payment for the Capital Securities. The provisions of Sections 7 and 8 hereof shall survive the termination or cancellation of this Agreement.
11. Notices. All communications hereunder will be in writing and effective only on receipt, and, if sent to you, will be mailed, delivered or telegraphed and confirmed to at 388 Greenwich Street, New York, New York 10013, attention of the Legal Department; if sent to the Company or the Trust, will be mailed, delivered or telegraphed and confirmed to it at 130 W. Fallbrook Street, Fallbrook, California 92028, Attention: Thomas E. Swanson, President and Chief Executive Officer.
12. Successors. This Agreement will inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the parties hereto and their respective successors and the officers and directors and controlling persons, and no other person will have any right or obligation hereunder.
13. Applicable Law. THIS AGREEMENT WILL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAW OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK WITHOUT REFERENCE TO PRINCIPLES OF CONFLICTS OF LAW.
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If the foregoing is in accordance with your understanding of our agreement, please sign and return to us the enclosed duplicate hereof, whereupon this letter and your acceptance shall represent a binding agreement among the Company, the Trust and you.
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SCHEDULE 1
List of Significant Subsidiaries
Fallbrook National Bank
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ANNEX A
Pursuant to Section 6(a) of the Placement Agreement, the special counsel of the Company shall deliver an opinion to the effect that:
(i) each of the Company and the Subsidiaries (A) has been duly incorporated and is validly existing as a corporation in good standing under the laws of the jurisdiction in which it is chartered or organized, with full corporate power and authority to own its properties and conduct the business it transacts and proposes to transact, (B) is duly qualified to do business as a foreign corporation and is in good standing under the laws of each jurisdiction which requires such qualification wherein it owns or leases material properties or conducts material business, except where the failure to be so qualified would not, singularly or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect, and (C) holds all material approvals, authorizations, orders, licenses, certificates and permits from governmental authorities necessary for the conduct of its business, except where the failure to hold such approvals, authorizations, orders, licenses, certificates and/or permits would not, singularly or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect;
(ii) no consent, approval, authorization or order of any court or governmental agency or body is required for the consummation of the transactions contemplated herein or in the Operative Documents, in connection with the solicitation of the purchase and sale of the Capital Securities by you or the purchase of the Subordinated Debt Securities by the Trust except such approvals (specified in such opinion) as have been obtained;
(iii) neither the issue and sale of the Capital Securities or the Subordinated Debt Securities, the execution and delivery of the Operative Documents by the Company or the Trust and the consummation of any other of the transactions therein contemplated in any Operative Document nor the fulfillment of the terms thereof will conflict with, result in a breach or violation of, or constitute a default under any law or the charter or by-laws of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, the terms of any indenture or other agreement or instrument known to such counsel and to which the Company or any of its Subsidiaries is a party or bound or any judgment, order, decree, of any court, regulatory body, administrative agency, governmental body or arbitrator having jurisdiction over the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, or any provision of applicable law, known to such counsel to be applicable to the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, except for such conflicts, breaches, violations or defaults which are not, in the aggregate, material to the Company and its subsidiaries taken as a whole and which do not adversely affect the consummation of the transactions contemplated in this Agreement and the Operative Documents;
(iv) the Company is duly registered as a bank holding company under the Bank Holding Company Act and the regulations thereunder of the Federal Reserve, and the deposit accounts of the Company’s banking subsidiaries are insured by the FDIC
to the fullest extent permitted by law and the rules and regulations of the FDIC, and no proceeding for the termination of such insurance are pending or threatened;
(v) each of the Indenture and the Guarantee Agreement has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Company, and (in the case of the Indenture and the Guarantee, respectively, assuming it is duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Indenture Trustee and the Guarantee Trustee, respectively) constitutes a legal, valid and binding instrument of the Company enforceable against the Company in accordance with its terms, subject to Bankruptcy and Equity; the Subordinated Debt Securities have been duly and validly authorized and delivered to the Indenture Trustee for authentication in accordance with the Indenture, when authenticated in accordance with the provisions of the Indenture and delivered to and paid for by the relevant Trust, will constitute legal, valid and binding obligations of the Company entitled to the benefits of the Indenture and enforceable against the Company in accordance with its terms, subject to Bankruptcy and Equity;
(vi) this Agreement has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Company;
(vii) the Declaration has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Company and the Trust;
(viii) this Agreement has been duly executed and delivered by the Trust;
(ix) neither the Company nor the Trust is an “investment company” or an entity “controlled” by an “investment company,” in each case within the meaning of Section 3(a) of the Investment Company Act; and
(x) assuming the accuracy of the representations and warranties and compliance with the agreements contained herein, no registration of any of the Securities under the Securities Act is required for the offer and sale to you of the Capital Securities in the manner contemplated by this Agreement, and the Indenture, the Declaration and the Guarantee are not required to be qualified under the Trust Indenture Act of 1939.
In rendering such opinions, such counsel may (A) state that its opinion is limited to the laws of New York, the corporate laws of the State of Delaware and the Federal laws of the United States and (B) rely as to matters involving the application of laws of any jurisdiction other than New York and Delaware or the United States, to the extent deemed proper and specified in such opinion, upon the opinion of other counsel of good standing believed to be reliable and who are satisfactory to you and as to matters of fact, to the extent deemed proper, on certificates of responsible officers of the Company and public officials.
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ANNEX B
Pursuant to Section 6(c) of the Placement Agreement, Richards, Layton & Finger shall deliver an opinion in the following form.
(i) The Trust is a duly formed and validly existing statutory business trust in good standing under the Business Trust Act of the State of Delaware with the business trust power and authority to enter into and perform its obligations under this Agreement, the Securities and the Declaration and to own property and conduct its business as described in the Declaration.
(ii) Under the Delaware Business Trust Act and the Declaration, the execution and delivery by the Trust of this Agreement, and the performance by the Trust of its obligations hereunder, have been duly authorized by all necessary business trust action on the part of the Trust.
(iii) The Declaration constitutes a valid and binding obligation of the Company and the Trustees, enforceable against the Company and the Trustees, in accordance with its terms, subject, as to enforcement, to the effect upon the Declaration of (a) bankruptcy, insolvency, moratorium, receivership, liquidation, fraudulent conveyance and transfer, reorganization and other similar laws relating to or affecting the remedies and rights of creditors, (b) general principles of equity (regardless of whether considered or applied in a proceeding in equity or at law), (c) considerations of public policy or the effect of applicable law relating to fiduciary duties, and (d) principles of course of dealing or course of performance and standards of good faith, fair dealing, materiality or reasonableness that may be applied by a court to the exercise of rights or remedies.
(iv) The Common Securities have been duly authorized for issuance by the Trust and upon issuance and delivery by the Trust to the Company against payment therefor as described in the Declaration, will be duly and validly issued and will represent duly issued beneficial interests in the Trust. The issuance of the Common Securities is not subject to preemptive or other similar rights under the Declaration or the Business Trust Act; provided, that such counsel may note that the holders of Common Securities may be required to make payment or provide indemnity or security as set forth in the Declaration.
(v) The Capital Securities have been duly authorized for issuance by the Trust, and, when issued and delivered against payment therefor as provided herein, will be duly and validly issued and, subject to the qualifications set forth herein, fully paid and non-assessable beneficial interests in the Trust; the issuance of the Capital Securities is not subject to preemptive or other similar rights under the Declaration or the Business Trust Act; and the holders of the Capital Securities will be entitled to the same limitation of personal liability extended to stockholders of private corporations for profit organized under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware; provided that such counsel need express no opinion as to any holder of a Capital Security that is, was or becomes a named Trustee of the Trust. Such counsel may note
that the holders of the Capital Securities may be required to make payment or provide indemnity or security as set forth in the Declaration.
(vi) The issuance and sale by the Trust of the Securities, the execution, delivery and performance by the Trust of the Agreement, the consummation by the Trust of the transactions contemplated therein and the compliance by the Trust with its obligations thereunder do not violate (a) any of the provisions of the Certificate of Trust of the Trust or the Declaration or (b) any Delaware law or Delaware administrative regulation applicable to the Trust.
(vii) Assuming that the Trust derives no income from or connected with sources within the State of Delaware and has no assets, activities (other than having a Delaware trustee as required by the Delaware Business Trust Act and the filing of documents with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware) or employees in the State of Delaware, no authorization, approval, consent or order of any Delaware court or Delaware governmental authority or Delaware agency is required to be obtained by the Trust solely as a result of the issuance and sale of the Capital Securities, the consummation by the Trust of the transactions contemplated herein or the compliance by the Trust with its obligations hereunder, except such as have been obtained and such as may be required by the securities laws of the State of Delaware (as to which such counsel need express no opinion).
(viii) Assuming that the Trust derives no income from or connected with sources within the State of Delaware and has no assets, activities (other than having a Delaware trustee as required by the Delaware Business Trust Act and the filing of documents with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware) or employees in the State of Delaware, and assuming that the Trust is treated as a grantor trust for federal income tax purposes and that the holders of the Capital Securities are viewed for federal income tax purposes as owners of either all of, or their liquidation and accrued but unpaid share of, the Subordinated Debt Securities held by the Trust, the holders of Capital Securities (other than those holders of Capital Securities, or persons who are partners or S corporation shareholders for federal income tax purposes in such holders of Capital Securities, who reside or are domiciled in the State of Delaware or who are otherwise subject to income taxation in the State of Delaware) will have no liability for income taxes imposed by the State of Delaware solely as a result of their participation in the Trust, and the Trust will not be liable for any income tax imposed by the State of Delaware (in rendering the opinion expressed in this paragraph (viii), such counsel need express no opinion concerning the securities laws of the State of Delaware).
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ANNEX C
Pursuant to Section 6(d) of the Placement Agreement, White & Case LLP shall deliver an opinion to the effect that:
(i) The Bank of New York, is a national banking association with trust powers duly organized and validly existing in good standing under the laws of the United States of America with all necessary corporate power and authority to execute, deliver and carry out and perform its obligations under the terms of the Guarantee Agreement, the Declaration and the Indenture;
(ii) the execution, delivery and performance by The Bank of New York of the Guarantee Agreement, the Declaration and the Indenture have been duly authorized by all necessary corporate action on the part of The Bank of New York and each of the Guarantee Agreement, the Declaration and the Indenture has been duly executed and delivered by The Bank of New York, and constitutes the legal, valid and binding obligation of The Bank of New York, enforceable against it in accordance with its terms (subject to Bankruptcy and Equity);
(iii) the execution, delivery and performance of the Guarantee Agreement, the Declaration and the Indenture by The Bank of New York do not conflict with or constitute a breach of the charter or by-laws of The Bank of New York; and
(iv) no consent, approval or authorization of, or registration with or notice to, any governmental authority or agency of the United States of America governing the banking or trust powers of The Bank of New York is required for the execution, delivery or performance by it of the Guarantee Agreement, the Declaration and the Indenture.
ANNEX D
Pursuant to Section 6(e) of the Placement Agreement, Richards, Layton & Finger shall deliver an opinion to the following form.
1. The Delaware Trustee has been duly incorporated and is validly existing in good standing as a banking corporation under the laws of the State of Delaware.
2. The Delaware Trustee has the requisite corporate power and authority to execute and deliver each Declaration of Trust, and has taken all necessary corporate action to authorize the execution and delivery of each Declaration of Trust.
3. Neither the execution, delivery and performance by the Delaware Trustee of each Declaration of Trust, nor the consummation of any of the transactions by the Delaware Trustee contemplated thereby, are in violation of the charter or by-laws of the Delaware Trustee or of any law, governmental rule or regulation of the State of Delaware or the United States governing the banking or trust powers of the Delaware Trustee or, to our knowledge, without independent investigation, of any indenture, mortgage, bank credit agreement, note or bond purchase agreement, long-term lease, license or other agreement or instrument to which the Delaware Trustee is a party or by which it is bound or, to our knowledge, without independent investigation, of any judgment or order applicable to the Delaware Trustee.
4. Neither the execution, delivery and performance by the Delaware Trustee of each Declaration of Trust, nor the consummation of any of the transactions by the Delaware Trustee contemplated thereby, requires the consent or approval of, the withholding of objection on the part of, the giving of notice to, the filing, registration or qualification with, or the taking of any other action in respect of, any governmental authority or agency of the State of Delaware or the United States of America governing the banking or trust powers of the Delaware Trustee, except for the filing of the certificate of trust for each Trust with the Office of the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware pursuant to the Delaware Business Trust Act, 12 Del C. § 3801, et seq.