- The following words and expressions shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings:
"Accounts" means the audited financial statements (comprising a balance sheet, profit and loss account, cash flow statement, notes and directors' report and auditors' certificates) of the Seller for the financial period ended on the Accounts Date in the Agreed Form;
"Accounts Date" means 30 September 2001;
"Agreed Form" means, in relation to a document, in the form agreed between the parties on or prior to the date hereof and for the purposes of identification signed on their behalf;
"Assets" means all assets, property or rights of the Seller relating to or connected with or belonging to or used in the Business which shall, without limitation include the Goodwill, Books and Records, Contracts, Business Intellectual Property, Fixed Plant, Loose Plant and Stock together with the assets and rights and the benefit of any claims directly and exclusively relating to the Business, other than the Excluded Assets;
"Assumed Employees" means those employees engaged in the Business as at Completion and set out in the list in the Agreed Form headed "Assumed Employees" at schedule 3 to this agreement;
"Books and Records" means the lists of customers and suppliers, books of account, financial records, and all other records exclusively relating to the Business and Assets on whatsoever medium they are stored;
"Business" means that part of the custom chemical synthesis business and related analytical services business carried on through Quchem by the CSS division of the Seller and wheresoever carried on;
"Business Intellectual Property" means Intellectual Property owned by the Seller or any member of the Seller's Group and used wholly and exclusively in the Business, together with the goodwill relating thereto;
"Buyer's Group" means the Buyer, its parent, any of its parent's subsidiary undertakings and the associated companies from time to time, all of them and each of them as the context admits;
"Buyer's Solicitors" means L'Estrange and Brett Solicitors, Arnott House, 12-16 Bridge Street, Belfast BT1 1LS;
"Completion" means the completion of the sale and purchase of the Business and Assets in accordance with clause 4;
"Completion Date" means 7 January 2002 or such other date as the Seller and Buyer may agree;
"connected person" means a person who is connected with another for the purpose of section 839 of the TA;
"Contracts" means all contracts and arrangements entered into prior to Completion but which are wholly or partly unperformed at the Completion Date relating to the Business set out in the list in the Agreed Form headed "Contracts" at schedule 4 to this agreement but excluding those contracts which are Excluded Assets;
"Creditors" means all trade and other debts, accrued charges and all other amounts owing by the Seller or any member of the Seller's Group in connection with the Business as at Completion;
"Encumbrance" means any mortgage, charge, pledge, lien, security or other third party right or interest (legal or equitable) or restriction over or in respect of the use of the relevant asset, security or right;
"Excluded Assets" means any assets or rights and the benefit of any claims consisting of or comprised in the following:
- statutory books and records of the Seller (other than the Books and Records);
- benefits from insurance policies put in place by the Seller's Group in relation to the Business and/or the Assets;
- Receivables;
- cash at bank and in hand; and
- any prepayments received by the Seller which are governed by clause 8 of this agreement;
"Excluded Liabilities" means those liabilities and obligations of the Business or Assets or Assumed Employees as at the Completion Date which are not Liabilities which shall include but are not limited to:
- liabilities of the Seller's Group to Taxation; and
- amounts owed to any third party by way of overdraft or other borrowings; and
- Creditors of the Business;
"Fixed Plant" means the fixed plant, machinery, equipment and tooling used directly and exclusively in the Business attached or fixed to the premises occupied by Quchem as at the date hereof;
"Goodwill" means the goodwill, custom and connection relating to the Business as at Completion together with the exclusive right for the Buyer and its successors and assigns to represent itself as carrying on the Business in succession to the Seller and together with the trade names "Quchem" and "CSS" associated with the Business;
"holding company" has the meaning given to it in Article 4 of The Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 (as amended);
"Intellectual Property" means any and all patents, registered and unregistered trade marks, rights in designs, trade, business or domain names, copyrights, rights in inventions, know-how, trade secrets and other confidential information, rights in databases and other intellectual property rights of a similar or corresponding character which may subsist in any part of the world;
"Lease"means the lease dated 22 March 2000 between The Queen's University of Belfast (1) and Quchem (2);
"Liabilities"means those liabilities of the Business relating to the Assets and the Lease, the obligations under the Contracts and the liabilities relating to the Assumed Employees at the Completion Date which the Buyer has expressly assumed responsibility for under the terms of this agreement and which are not Excluded Liabilities;
"London Stock Exchange" means London Stock Exchange plc;
"Loose Plant" means the movable plant, machinery, equipment, desk top computers, spare parts, tooling, vehicles and furniture used directly and exclusively in the Business;
"Property" means the first floor premises of the David Kerr Building, Stranmillis Road, Belfast held under and by virtue of the Lease;
"Quchem" means Quchem Limited (with registered number NI30077);
"Receivables" means those amounts owed to the Seller or the Seller's Group directly and exclusively in connection with the Business as at the Completion Date including those identified in the list in the Agreed Form headed "Receivables";
"Regulations" means the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981;
"Related Persons" means, in relation to any party, its holding companies and the subsidiary undertakings and associated companies from time to time of such holding companies, all of them and each of them as the context admits;
"Restricted Services"means services the nature of which are carried on by the Business as at the date hereof, including for the avoidance of doubt those services carried out by the Business as at Completion;
"Restricted Territory" means England, Wales and the province of Northern Ireland;
"Seller's Accountants" means PricewaterhouseCoopers, Fanum House, 108 Great Victoria Street, Belfast BT2 7AX;
"Seller's Group" means the Seller, its ultimate holding company and any subsidiary of such holding company, excluding Syngal;
"Seller's Solicitors" means Ashurst Morris Crisp, Broadwalk House, 5 Appold Street, London EC2A 2HA;
"Stock" means the stock in trade, raw materials, fuels, packing materials, work in progress and finished goods acquired or produced in the course of the Business at the Quchem Properties or elsewhere as at Completion;
"subsidiary" has the meaning given to it in Article 4 of The Companies Order 1986 (as amended);
"TA" means the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988;
"Taxation" means any tax and any duty, impost, levy or governmental charge in the nature of tax whether domestic or foreign and any fine, penalty or interest connected therewith (a) including (without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing) corporation tax, income tax, national insurance and social security contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, capital transfer tax, development land tax, value added tax, customs, excise and import duties, any deferred taxation and any other payment whatsoever which the relevant party or any member of their group of companies is or may be or become bound to make to any person as a result of any enactment relating to any of the foregoing (b) but excluding any stamp duty or stamp duty reserve tax payable on this agreement or any instrument executed pursuant to this agreement or on any agreement;
"UK Listing Authority" means the Financial Services Authority in its capacity as the competent authority for the purposes of Part IV of the Financial Services Act 1986; and
"Warranties" means the warranties given pursuant to clause 12 and schedule 2;
- The words and expressions defined in the schedules hereto shall have the meanings set out therein.
- References to the parties hereto include their respective permitted assignees and in the case of individuals their respective successors in title, personal representatives, heirs and estates and references to the masculine gender shall include the feminine and vice versa.
- References to statutes or statutory provisions include references to any orders or regulations made thereunder and references to any statute, provision, order or regulation include references to that statute, provision, order or regulation as re-enacted from time to time before the date hereof (subject as otherwise expressly provided herein) and to any previous statute, statutory provision, order or regulation amended, modified, re-enacted or replaced by such statute, provision, order or regulation before the date hereof.
- References to persons shall include bodies corporate and unincorporated, associations, partnerships and individuals.
- Headings to clauses and paragraphs are for information only and shall not form part of the operative provisions of this agreement and shall be ignored in construing the same.
- References to recitals, clauses or schedules are to recitals to, clauses of and schedules to this agreement.
- The recitals, the schedules and documents in the Agreed Form form part of the operative provisions of this agreement and references to this agreement shall, unless otherwise expressly stated, include references to the recitals, the schedules and documents in the Agreed Form.