(cc) “Joint Venture” of a Person, means any Person that is not a subsidiary of such first Person, in which such first Person or one or more of its subsidiaries owns directly or indirectly any Equity Securities, other than Equity Securities held for passive investment purposes that are less than five percent (5%) of each class of the outstanding voting securities or voting capital stock of such second Person.
(dd) “knowledge” (i) with respect to the Company means the actual knowledge of any of the individuals listed in Section 9.5(dd) of the Company Disclosure Schedule and (ii) with respect to Parent or Merger Sub means the actual knowledge of any of the individuals listed in Section 9.5(dd) of the Parent Disclosure Schedule.
(ee) “Law” means any federal, state, local, municipal, foreign or other law, statute, constitution, principle of common law, ordinance, code, decree, order, judgment, injunction, rule, regulation, executive order, ruling or requirement issued, enacted, adopted, promulgated, implemented or otherwise put into effect by or under the authority of any Governmental Entity or any order or decision of an applicable arbitrator or arbitration panel.
(ff) “Liability” means any liability, cost, expense, debt or obligation of any kind, character, or description, and whether known or unknown, accrued, matured, absolute, determined, determinable, contingent or otherwise, and regardless of when asserted or by whom.
(gg) “Material Adverse Effect” means any event, development, change, circumstances, effect or occurrence that, individually or in the aggregate with all other events, developments, changes, circumstances, effects or occurrences, (a) would prevent or materially impair or materially delay the consummation of the Merger or (b) has a material adverse effect on or with respect to the business, assets, liabilities, results of operations or condition (financial or otherwise) of the Company and its subsidiaries taken as a whole; provided that, with respect to clause (b) only, no events, developments, changes, circumstances, effects or occurrences relating to, arising out of or in connection with or resulting from any of the following shall be deemed, either alone or in combination, to constitute or contribute to a Material Adverse Effect and no event, development, change, circumstance, effect or occurrence relating to, arising out of or in connection with or resulting from any of the following shall be taken into account when determining whether a Material Adverse Effect has occurred or may, would or could occur: (i) general changes or developments in the legislative or political condition, or in the economy or the financial, debt, capital, credit, commodities or securities markets, in each such case, in the United States or elsewhere in the world, including as a result of changes in geopolitical conditions, (ii) any change affecting any industry in which the Company or its subsidiaries operate, including electric generating, transmission or distribution industries (including, in each case, any changes in operations thereof) or any change affecting retail markets for electric power, capacity or fuel or related products, (iii) any changes in the national, regional, state, provincial or local electric generation, transmission or distribution systems or increases or decreases in planned spending with respect thereto, (iv) the entry into this Agreement or the public announcement of the Merger or other transactions contemplated hereby, including any impact
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