Exhibit 10.1
EXECUTION COPY
CREDIT SUISSE SECURITIES (USA) LLC | | CREDIT SUISSE | |
Eleven Madison Avenue | | Eleven Madison Avenue | |
New York, NY 10010 | | New York, NY 10010 | |
| | | |
BANK OF AMERICA, N.A. | |
BANC OF AMERICA SECURITIES LLC | |
BANC OF AMERICA BRIDGE LLC | |
9 West 57th Street | |
| New York, NY 10019 |
| | | | |
CONFIDENTIAL
July 15, 2007
ReAble Therapeutics Finance LLC
9800 Metric Blvd.
Austin, TX 78758
Attention:
with a copy to:
The Blackstone Group
345 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10154
Attention: Chinh E. Chu and Julia Kahr
Project David
Commitment Letter
Ladies and Gentlemen:
You have advised each of Credit Suisse (“CS”), Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (“CS Securities” and, together with CS and their respective affiliates, “Credit Suisse”), Bank of America, N.A., (“Bank of America”), Banc of America Securities LLC (“BAS”) and Banc of America Bridge LLC (“Banc of America Bridge”, and together with Bank of America, BAS and Credit Suisse, “we” or “us”) that ReAble Therapeutics Finance LLC (the “Borrower” or “you”), a Delaware limited liability company controlled by the Blackstone Group and its affiliates (collectively, “Blackstone” or the “Sponsor”) and certain other investors (including members of management), will acquire, through the merger (the “Merger) of DJO Incorporated, a Delaware corporation (the “Target”), with your newly formed wholly-owned subsidiary, Reaction Acquisition Merger Sub, Inc., (“Merger Sub”), with the Target as the surviving corporation in such Merger, all of the outstanding equity interests of the Target, and that you intend to consummate the other Transactions described herein (such term and each other capitalized term used but not defined herein having the meaning assigned to such term in the Summary of Principal Terms and Conditions attached hereto as Exhibit A (the “Senior Facilities Term Sheet”)).
You have further advised CS, Bank of America and Banc of America Bridge (collectively, the “Initial Lenders”) that, in connection therewith, it is intended that the financing for the Transactions will include:
(a) the senior secured credit facilities (the “Senior Facilities”) described in the Senior Facilities Term Sheet, in an aggregate principal amount of up to (i) with respect to the Term B Facility, $1,055 million and (ii) with respect to the Revolving Facility, $100 million;
(b) either (i) up to $575 million in aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes, which, at your election, may include up to $200 million in aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured PIK election notes (the “Senior Unsecured Notes”) in a public offering or in a Rule 144A or other private placement or (ii) if all or any portion of the Senior Unsecured Notes are not issued on or prior to the Closing Date (as defined below), up to $575 million of senior unsecured increasing rate loans, which, at your election, may include up to $200 million in senior PIK election increasing rate loans (the “Senior Unsecured Bridge Loans” or the “Bridge Loans”) under the senior unsecured credit facility (the “Senior Unsecured Bridge Facility” or the “Bridge Facility”) described in the Summary of Principal Terms and Conditions attached hereto as Exhibit B (the “Bridge Term Sheet” and, together with the Senior Facilities Term Sheet, the “Term Sheets”); and
(c) the Borrower’s existing 11.75% senior subordinated notes due 2014 (the “Existing Notes” and, together with the Senior Unsecured Notes, the “Notes”) will remain outstanding after giving effect to the Transactions.
The Senior Facilities and the Bridge Facility are collectively referred to herein as the “Facilities”.
1. Commitments.
In connection with the foregoing, (a) Credit Suisse is pleased to advise you of its commitment to provide 60% of the principal amount of each of the Senior Facilities and (b) Bank of America is please to advise you of its commitment to provide 40% of the principal amount of each of the Senior Facilities, in each case upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth or referred to in this commitment letter (including the Term Sheets and other attachments hereto, this “Commitment Letter”). In connection with the foregoing, (a) Credit Suisse is pleased to advise you of its commitment to provide 60% of the principal amount of the Bridge Facility and (b) Banc of America Bridge is pleased to advise you of its commitment to provide 40% of the principal amount of the Bridge Facility, in each case upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth or referred to in this Commitment Letter. The commitments and obligations of the Initial Lenders hereunder are several and not joint.
2. Titles and Roles.
It is agreed that CS Securities (the “Lead Arranger”) and BAS will act as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners for the Facilities (collectively, the “Joint Lead Arrangers”). It is agreed that CS Securities shall have “left placement” in any and all marketing materials or other documentation used in connection with each of the Facilities and to hold the leading role and responsibilities conventionally associated with such “left” placement, including maintaining sole “physical books” in respect of each of the Facilities, and BAS will have “right” placement in respect of each of the Facilities. No compensation (other than that expressly contemplated by this
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Commitment Letter and the Fee Letters referred to below) will be paid to any Lender in connection with the Facilities unless you and we shall so agree.
3. Syndication.
Each Initial Lender reserves the right, prior to or after the execution of definitive documentation for the Facilities, to syndicate all or a portion of such Initial Lender’s commitment hereunder to a group of banks, financial institutions and other institutional lenders (together with the Initial Lenders, the “Lenders”) identified by such Initial Lender in consultation with you and reasonably acceptable to them and you (your consent not to be unreasonably withheld or delayed); provided, that, notwithstanding each Initial Lender’s right to syndicate the Facilities and receive commitments with respect thereto, such Initial Lender may not assign all or any portion of its commitment hereunder prior to the date of the initial funding under the Senior Facilities (the “Closing Date”) except to any of its affiliates, provided that any such assignment to an affiliate will not relieve the assignor from any of its obligations hereunder unless and until such affiliates shall have funded the portion of the Commitment so assigned. Without limiting your obligations to assist with syndication efforts as set forth below, it is understood that the Initial Lenders’ commitments hereunder are not subject to syndication of the Facilities. You agree to use commercially reasonable efforts to provide us with a period of at least 20 consecutive calendar days following the launch of the general syndication of the Senior Facilities and immediately prior to the Closing Date to syndicate the Senior Facilities. We intend to commence syndication efforts promptly upon the execution of this Commitment Letter and as part of its syndication efforts, it is our intent to have Lenders commit to the Facilities prior to the Closing Date. You agree actively to assist us in completing a timely syndication that is reasonably satisfactory to us and you. Such assistance shall include, without limitation, (a) your using commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that any syndication efforts benefit materially from your existing lending and investment banking relationships and the existing lending and investment banking relationships of the Sponsor and, to the extent practical and appropriate, the Target, (b) direct contact between senior management, representatives and advisors of you and representatives and advisors of the Sponsor, and your using commercially reasonable efforts to cause to occur direct contact between senior management, representatives and advisors of the Target, and the proposed Lenders at times mutually agreed upon, (c) assistance by you and the Sponsor, and your using commercially reasonable efforts to cause to occur assistance by the Target, in the preparation of a customary Confidential Information Memorandum for the Facilities and other customary marketing materials to be used in connection with the syndications, (d) your providing or causing to be provided a detailed business plan or projections of the Borrower and its subsidiaries for the years 2007 through 2014, (e) prior to the launch of the syndications, using your commercially reasonable efforts to (i) procure ratings for each of the Facilities and the Notes from each of Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (“S&P”) and Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) and (ii) procure a reaffirmation of the corporate rating from S&P and the corporate family rating from Moody’s, in each case in respect of the Borrower, and (f) the hosting, with the Lead Arranger, of one or more meetings of prospective Lenders at times mutually agreed upon.
The Lead Arranger will, in consultation with the other Joint Lead Arranger and you, manage all aspects of any syndication, including decisions as to the selection of institutions to be approached and when they will be approached, when their commitments will be accepted, which institutions will participate (subject to your consent rights set forth in the preceding paragraph), the allocation of the commitments among the Lenders and the amount and distribution of fees among the Lenders. To assist the Lead Arranger in its syndication efforts, you agree to use commercially reasonable efforts to prepare and provide promptly to us (and to use commercially reasonable efforts to cause the Sponsor and the Target to provide) to the Lead Arranger all
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customary information available to you with respect to you, the Target and each of your and their respective subsidiaries, the Transactions and the other transactions contemplated hereby, including all financial information and projections (including financial estimates, forecasts and other forward-looking information, the “Projections”), as the Lead Arranger may reasonably request in connection with the syndication of the Facilities.
4. Information.
You hereby represent and warrant that, (a) all written information and written data (other than the Projections and information of a general economic or general industry nature) (the “Information”) that has been or will be made available to us by you, the Target, the Sponsor or any of your and their respective representatives, in connection with the transactions contemplated hereunder (supplemented as contemplated herein), taken as a whole, is or will be, when furnished, complete and correct in all material respects and does not or will not, when furnished, taken as a whole, contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements contained therein not materially misleading in light of the circumstances under which such statements are made (after giving effect to all supplements thereto), it being understood that the representations set forth in this clause (a) with respect to the Target shall be to the best of your knowledge, and (b) the Projections that have been or will be made available to us by you, the Target, the Sponsor or any of your and their respective representatives have been or will be prepared in good faith based upon assumptions that are believed by you to be reasonable at the time made and at the time the related Projections are made available to the us. You agree that if at any time prior to the closing of the Facilities any of the representations in the preceding sentence would be incorrect in any material respect if the Information and Projections were being furnished, and such representations were being made, at such time, then you will promptly supplement the Information and the Projections so that such representations will be correct in all material respects under those circumstances. In arranging and syndicating the Facilities, we will be entitled to use and rely primarily on the Information and the Projections without responsibility for independent verification thereof.
You hereby acknowledge that (a) we will make available Information and Projections to the proposed syndicate of Lenders and (b) certain of the Lenders may be “public side” Lenders (i.e. Lenders that do not wish to receive material non-public information with respect to the Target, the Borrower or their respective securities) (each, a “Public Lender”). If reasonably requested, you will assist us (and you will use commercially reasonable efforts to cause the Target to assist us) in preparing an additional version of the confidential information memorandum to be used by Public Lenders. The information to be included in the additional version of the confidential information memorandum will be substantially consistent with the information included in any public filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission by you and the Target and with the information included in the offering memorandum for the offering of the Senior Unsecured Notes. You agree to use commercially reasonable efforts to identify that portion of the Information that may be distributed to the Public Lenders as “PUBLIC”. You acknowledge that the following documents may be distributed to Public Lenders (unless you notify us promptly that any such document contains material non-public information with respect to you, the Target or your or their respective securities): (a) drafts and final definitive documentation with respect to the Facilities; (b) administrative materials prepared by us for prospective Lenders (such as a lender meeting invitation, allocations and funding and closing memoranda); and (c) notification of changes in the terms of the Facilities.
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5. Fees.
As consideration for the commitments of the Initial Lenders hereunder and our agreement to perform the services described herein, you agree to pay the fees set forth in this Commitment Letter and in the Fee Letter and in the Administrative Agent Fee Letter (collectively, the “Fee Letters”), each dated the date hereof and delivered herewith with respect to the Facilities. Once paid, such fees shall not be refundable under any circumstances, except as expressly set forth in the Fee Letters.
6. Conditions Precedent.
The commitments of the Initial Lenders hereunder and its agreement to perform the services described herein are subject to (a) our reasonable satisfaction that, prior to and during the syndications of the Facilities, there shall be no competing issues of debt securities or commercial bank or other credit facilities of you, the Target or any of your or their respective subsidiaries or parent companies being offered, placed or arranged (other than the Notes and any indebtedness permitted to be incurred by the Target pursuant to the Merger Agreement (as hereinafter defined)) and (b) the other conditions set forth in the Term Sheets and the other exhibits hereto.
In addition, the commitments of the Initial Lenders hereunder are subject to the negotiation, execution and delivery of definitive documentation with respect to the Facilities (the “Facilities Documentation”), which shall, in each case, be consistent with this Commitment Letter and the Term Sheets (provided that, notwithstanding anything in this Commitment Letter, the Fee Letters, the Facilities Documentation or any other letter agreement or other undertaking concerning the financing of the Transactions to the contrary, (i) the only representations relating to you, the Target, your and its subsidiaries and your and its business the making of which shall be a condition to availability of the Facilities on the Closing Date shall be (A) such of the representations made by the Target in the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of July 15, 2007 among you, Merger Sub and the Target (in such form as has been provided to us on the date hereof prior to execution of this Commitment Letter) (the “Merger Agreement”), as are material to the interests of the Lenders, but only to the extent that you have the right to terminate your obligations under the Merger Agreement as a result of a breach of such representations in the Merger Agreement and (B) the Specified Representations (as defined below) and (ii) the terms of the Facilities Documentation shall be in a form such that they do not impair availability of the Facilities on the Closing Date if the conditions set forth herein and in the Term Sheets are satisfied (it being understood that, to the extent any Collateral (as defined in Exhibit A hereto) (other than the pledge and perfection of the security interests in the capital stock of domestic subsidiaries held by the Borrower and the Guarantors (to the extent required under the Senior Facilities Term Sheet) and other assets pursuant to which a lien may be perfected by the filing of a financing statement under the Uniform Commercial Code) is not provided on the Closing Date after your use of commercially reasonable efforts to do so, the delivery of such Collateral shall not constitute a condition precedent to the availability of the Facilities on the Closing Date but shall be required to be delivered after the Closing Date pursuant to arrangements and timing to be mutually agreed)). Those matters that are not covered by or made clear under the provision of this Commitment Letter are subject to the approval and agreement of us and you; provided that such approvals and agreements shall be in a manner that is consistent with the Term Sheets and customary and appropriate for transactions of this type with affiliates of the Sponsor. For purposes hereof, “Specified Representations” means the representations and warranties set forth in the Term Sheets relating to corporate power and authority, the enforceability of the Facilities Documentation, Federal Reserve margin regulations, the Investment Company Act and status of the Senior Facilities and Bridge Facility as senior debt.
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7. Indemnification; Expenses.
You agree (a) to indemnify and hold harmless us and our respective affiliates and controlling persons and the respective officers, directors, employees, agents, members and successors of each of the foregoing (each, an “Indemnified Person”) from and against any and all losses, claims, damages, liabilities and expenses, joint or several, to which any such Indemnified Person may become subject arising out of or in connection with this Commitment Letter (including the Term Sheets), the Fee Letters, the Transactions, the Facilities and the use of the proceeds thereof or any transaction contemplated hereby or any claim, litigation, investigation or proceeding relating to any of the foregoing, regardless of whether any such Indemnified Person is a party thereto, and to reimburse each such Indemnified Person upon demand for any reasonable documented out-of-pocket legal or other expenses incurred in connection with investigating or defending any of the foregoing; provided that the foregoing indemnity will not, as to any Indemnified Person, apply to losses, claims, damages, liabilities or related expenses to the extent they resulted from the willful misconduct, bad faith or gross negligence of, or material breach of this Commitment Letter by, such Indemnified Person or any of its affiliates or controlling persons or any of the officers, directors, employees, agents or members of any of the foregoing and (b) to reimburse us and each Indemnified Person from time to time, upon presentation of a summary statement, for all reasonable out-of-pocket expenses (including but not limited to expenses of our due diligence investigation, syndication expenses, travel expenses and reasonable fees, disbursements and other charges of our counsel to identified in the Term Sheets and of a single local counsel to us in each relevant jurisdiction (and of additional counsel if an actual conflict of interest exists between Indemnified Parties)), in each case incurred in connection with the Facilities and the preparation of this Commitment Letter, the Fee Letters, the definitive documentation for the Facilities and any security arrangements in connection therewith (collectively, the “Expenses”); provided that you shall not be required to reimburse any of the Expenses in the event the Closing Date does not occur. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Commitment Letter, no Indemnified Person shall be liable for (i) any damages arising from the use by others of information or other materials obtained through electronic, telecommunications or other information transmission systems, except to the extent such damages have resulted from the willful misconduct, bad faith or gross negligence of such Indemnified Person or any of its affiliates or controlling persons or any of the officers, directors, employees, agents or members of any of the foregoing or (ii) any indirect, special, punitive or consequential damages in connection with its activities related to the Facilities.
8. Sharing Information; Absence of Fiduciary Relationship; Affiliate Activities.
None of the Initial Lenders, the Joint Lead Arrangers nor any of their respective affiliates will use confidential information obtained from you or the Sponsor by virtue of the transactions contemplated by this Commitment Letter or any of their other relationships with you or the Sponsor in connection with the performance by them and their affiliates of services for other persons, and none of the Joint Lead Arrangers, the Initial Lenders nor any of their respective affiliates will furnish any such information to other persons. You also acknowledge that none of the Initial Lenders, the Joint Lead Arrangers nor any of their respective affiliates have any obligation to use in connection with the transactions contemplated by this Commitment Letter, or to furnish to you, confidential information obtained by them or their affiliates from other persons. In addition, the Initial Lenders and the Joint Lead Arrangers may employ the services of any of its affiliates in providing certain services hereunder (it being understood that if any such affiliate does not provide such services, the Joint Lead Arrangers or the Initial Lenders shall provide such services) and may exchange with such affiliates information concerning you, the Target, the Sponsor and other companies that may be the subject of this arrangement, and such affiliates shall
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be entitled to the benefits and subject to the obligations afforded to the Joint Lead Arrangers and the Initial Lenders hereunder.
9. Assignments; Amendments; Governing Law, Etc.
This Commitment Letter and the commitments hereunder shall not be assignable by you (except, upon reasonable notice to us, to any of your affiliates that is controlled by you and newly formed solely in connection with the Merger) without the prior written consent of each of us (and any attempted assignment without such consent shall be null and void), is intended to be solely for the benefit of the parties hereto (and Indemnified Persons), is not intended to confer any benefits upon, or create any rights in favor of, any person other than the parties hereto (and Indemnified Persons). You acknowledge that we will be acting pursuant to a contractual relationship on an arm’s length basis and in no event do the parties intend that we act or be responsible as a fiduciary to you or to your or their management, stockholders, creditors or to any other person. Any and all obligations of, and services to be provided by, us hereunder (including, without limitation, its commitments) may be performed, and any and all of our rights hereunder may be exercised, by or through any of its affiliates or branches. This Commitment Letter may not be amended or any provision hereof waived or modified except by an instrument in writing signed by us and you. This Commitment Letter may be executed in any number of counterparts, each of which shall be an original and all of which, when taken together, shall constitute one agreement. Delivery of an executed counterpart of a signature page of this Commitment Letter by facsimile or other electronic transmission shall be effective as delivery of a manually executed counterpart hereof. This Commitment Letter and, together with the Fee Letters dated the date hereof, supersedes all prior understandings, whether written or oral, among us with respect to the Facilities and sets forth the entire understanding of the parties hereto with respect thereto. THIS COMMITMENT LETTER SHALL BE GOVERNED BY, AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH, THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK; provided, however, that the interpretation of the definition of Material Adverse Effect (and whether or not a Material Adverse Effect has occurred) in this Commitment Letter shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of Delaware, regardless of the laws that might otherwise govern under applicable principles of conflicts of laws thereof.
10. Waiver of Jury Trial.
EACH OF THE PARTIES HERETO IRREVOCABLY WAIVES THE RIGHT TO TRIAL BY JURY IN ANY ACTION, PROCEEDING, CLAIM OR COUNTERCLAIM BROUGHT BY OR ON BEHALF OF ANY PARTY RELATED TO OR ARISING OUT OF THIS COMMITMENT LETTER OR THE FEE LETTERS OR THE PERFORMANCE OF SERVICES HEREUNDER OR THEREUNDER.
11. Jurisdiction.
Each of the parties hereto hereby irrevocably and unconditionally (a) submits, for itself and its property, to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of any New York State court or Federal court of the United States of America sitting in New York City, and any appellate court from any thereof, in any action or proceeding arising out of or relating to this Commitment Letter or the Fee Letters or the transactions contemplated hereby or thereby, or for recognition or enforcement of any judgment, and agrees that all claims in respect of any such action or proceeding may be heard and determined in such New York State or, to the extent permitted by law, in such Federal court, (b) waives, to the fullest extent it may legally and effectively do so, any objection which it may now or hereafter have to the laying of venue of any suit, action or proceeding arising out of or relating
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to this Commitment Letter or the transactions contemplated hereby in any New York State or in any such Federal court and (c) waives, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the defense of an inconvenient forum to the maintenance of such action or proceeding in any such court.
12. Confidentiality.
This Commitment Letter is delivered to you on the understanding that none of the Fee Letters and their terms or substance, or, prior to your acceptance hereof, this Commitment Letter and its terms or substance, or our activities pursuant hereto or to the Fee Letters shall be disclosed, directly or indirectly, to any other person or entity (including other lenders, underwriters, placement agents, advisors or any similar persons) except (a) to the Sponsor and to your and its officers, directors, employees, members, partners, stockholders, attorneys, accountants, advisors and other agents on a confidential and need-to-know basis, (b) if we consent to such proposed disclosure, (c) pursuant to the order of any court or administrative agency in any pending legal or administrative proceeding, or otherwise as required by applicable law or compulsory legal process (in which case you, to the extent permitted by law, agree to inform us promptly thereof) or (d) the existence and contents of the Term Sheets to any rating agency in connection with the Transactions; provided that (i) you may disclose this Commitment Letter and the contents hereof (and the nature of the provisions related to “market flex” in the Fee Letter) to the Target and its officers, directors, employees, attorneys, accountants, advisors and other agents, on a confidential and need-to-know basis, and (ii) you may disclose the Commitment Letter and its contents in any public filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission or any applicable stock exchange or in any prospectus or offering memorandum relating to the Notes; provided, further, that the foregoing restrictions shall cease to apply (except in respect of the Fee Letters and the contents thereof) after the Facilities Documentation shall have been executed and delivered by the parties thereto.
We and our affiliates will use all confidential information provided to it or such affiliates by or on behalf of you, the Sponsor, the Target or any of your or their respective subsidiaries or affiliates hereunder solely for the purpose of providing the services which are the subject of this Commitment Letter and shall treat confidentially all such information; provided that nothing herein shall prevent the us from disclosing any such information (a) pursuant to the order of any court or administrative agency or in any pending legal or administrative proceeding, or otherwise as required by applicable law or compulsory legal process (in which case we, to the extent permitted by law, agree to inform you promptly thereof), (b) upon the request or demand of any regulatory authority having jurisdiction over us or any of our affiliates, (c) to the extent that such information becomes publicly available other than by reason of improper disclosure by us or any of our affiliates, (d) to the extent that such information is received by us from a third party that is not to our’ knowledge subject to confidentiality obligations to you, (e) to the extent that such information is independently developed by us, (f) to our affiliates and our officers, directors, employees, partners, legal counsel, independent auditors and other experts or agents who need to know such information in connection with the Transactions and are informed of the confidential nature of such information, (g) to potential Lenders, participants or assignees who agree to be bound by the terms of this paragraph (or language substantially similar to this paragraph) or (h) for purposes of establishing a “due diligence” defense. Our obligations under this paragraph shall automatically terminate and be superseded by the confidentiality provisions in the definitive documentation relating to the Facilities upon the initial funding thereunder.
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13. Surviving Provisions.
The indemnification, jurisdiction and confidentiality provisions contained herein and in the Fee Letters shall remain in full force and effect regardless of whether definitive financing documentation shall be executed and delivered and notwithstanding the termination of this Commitment Letter or the Initial Lenders’ commitment hereunder; provided that your obligations under this Commitment Letter, other than those relating to confidentiality, shall automatically terminate and be superseded by the definitive documentation relating to the Facilities upon the initial funding thereunder (or, in the case any Notes are issued on the Closing Date, upon the initial funding of the Senior Facilities only), and you shall be released from all liability in connection therewith at such time.
As you know, each of Credit Suisse, Bank of America, BAS and Banc of America Bridge is a full service securities firm engaged, either directly or through its affiliates, in various activities, including securities trading, investment management, financing and brokerage activities and financial planning and benefits counseling for both companies and individuals. In the ordinary course of these activities, Credit Suisse, Bank of America, BAS and Banc of America Bridge or their respective affiliates may actively trade the debt and equity securities (or related derivative securities) of you or the Target and other companies which may be the subject of the arrangements contemplated by this letter for its own account and for the accounts of its customers and may at any time hold long and short positions in such securities. Credit Suisse, Bank of America, BAS and Banc of America Bridge or their respective affiliates may also co-invest with, make direct investments in, and invest or co-invest client monies in or with funds or other investment vehicles managed by other parties, and such funds or other investment vehicles may trade or make investments in securities of you, the Target or other companies which may be the subject of the arrangements contemplated by this letter. You acknowledge that Credit Suisse, Bank of America, Bank of America Bridge and BAS or their respective affiliates may be providing financing or other services to parties whose interests may conflict with yours.
We and our affiliates, (collectively, the “Commitment Parties”) may have economic interests that conflict with those of you, the Sponsor or the Target. You agree that each Commitment Party will act under this letter as an independent contractor and that nothing in this Commitment Letter or the Fee Letters or otherwise will be deemed to create an advisory, fiduciary or agency relationship or fiduciary or other implied duty between any Commitment Party, on the one hand and you or the Target and your and the Target’s respective stockholders and affiliates, on the other hand. You acknowledge and agree that (i) the transactions contemplated by this Commitment Letter and the Fee Letters are arm’s-length commercial transactions between the Commitment Parties, on the one hand, and you, on the other, (ii) in connection therewith and with the process leading to such transaction each Commitment Party is acting solely as a principal and not the agent or fiduciary of you or the Target, your or its management stockholders, creditors or any other person, (iii) no Commitment Party has assumed an advisory or fiduciary responsibility in favor of you or the Target with respect to the transactions contemplated hereby or the process leading thereto (irrespective of whether any Commitment Party or any of their affiliates has advised or is currently advising you or the Target or any of your or the Target’s respective affiliates on other matters) or any other obligation to you or the Target or your or the Target’s respective affiliates except the obligations expressly set forth in this Commitment Letter and the Fee Letters and (iv) you and the Target have each consulted your and its own legal and financial advisors to the extent it deemed appropriate. You further acknowledge and agree that you are responsible for making your own independent judgment with respect to such transactions and the process leading thereto.
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14. PATRIOT Act Notification.
We hereby notify you that pursuant to the requirements of the USA Patriot Act, Title III of Pub. L. 107-56 (signed into law October 26, 2001) (the “Patriot Act”), we and each other Lender is required to obtain, verify and record information that identifies the Borrower and the Guarantors, which information includes the name, address, tax identification number and other information regarding the Borrower and the Guarantors that will allow the us or such Lender to identify the Borrower and the Guarantors in accordance with the Patriot Act. This notice is given in accordance with the requirements of the Patriot Act and is effective as to the us and each Lender.
15. Acceptance and Termination.
If the foregoing correctly sets forth our agreement, please indicate your acceptance of the terms of this Commitment Letter and of the Fee Letters by returning to us executed counterparts hereof and of the Fee Letters not later than 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on July 20, 2007. The Initial Lenders’ commitments hereunder and agreements contained herein will expire at such time in the event that we have not received such executed counterparts in accordance with the immediately preceding sentence. In the event that the initial borrowing in respect of the Senior Facilities does not occur on or before March 15, 2008 (or such earlier date on which the Merger Agreement terminates), then this Commitment Letter and our commitments and undertakings hereunder shall automatically terminate unless it shall, in its discretion, agree to an extension.
BY SIGNING THIS COMMITMENT LETTER, EACH OF THE PARTIES HERETO HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT (A) BANK OF AMERICA IS OFFERING TO PROVIDE THE SENIOR FACILITIES SEPARATE AND APART FROM BANC OF AMERICA BRIDGE’S OFFER TO PROVIDE THE BRIDGE FACILITY AND (B) BANC OF AMERICA BRIDGE IS OFFERING TO PROVIDE THE BRIDGE FACILITY SEPARATE AND APART FROM THE OFFER BY BANK OF AMERICA TO PROVIDE THE SENIOR FACILITIES. YOU MAY, AT YOUR OPTION, ELECT TO ACCEPT THIS COMMITMENT LETTER (AND THE APPLICABLE PROVISIONS OF THE FEE LETTER) WITH RESPECT TO EITHER THE SENIOR FACILITIES OR THE BRIDGE FACILITY OR BOTH.
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