arrangement, or any trust agreement related thereto, in respect of any directors, officers or employees, including without limitation taking any action that accelerates, or the lapsing of restrictions with respect to, the vesting or exercise of any benefits payable thereunder.
(g) Exchange, cancel, borrow from, surrender, or increase or decrease the death benefit provided under, or otherwise amend or terminate, any existing bank or corporate owned life insurance covering any current or former employee, other than any increase in the death benefit in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice.
(h) Incur any material obligation, indebtedness or liability (whether absolute or contingent, excluding suits instituted against it), make any pledge or encumber any of its material assets, or dispose of any of its material assets in any other manner, except in the ordinary course of its business and for adequate value.
(i) Make, declare, pay or set aside for payment any dividend on or in respect of, or declare or make any distribution on any shares of its capital stock or directly or indirectly adjust, split, combine, redeem, reclassify, purchase or otherwise acquire, any shares of its capital stock other than (i) quarterly cash dividends on HomeTown Common Stock not to exceed $0.04 per share (provided that HomeTownex-dividend dates shall be coordinated with Americanex-dividend dates so that holders of HomeTown Common Stock shall receive one (and only one) quarterly dividend per quarter) and (ii) dividends from its wholly-owned Subsidiaries to it or another of its wholly-owned Subsidiaries.
(j) Make any material investment in or acquisition of (either by purchase of stock or securities, contributions to capital, property transfers, or purchase of any property or assets) any other person other than its wholly-owned Subsidiaries, except by way of foreclosures or acquisitions of control in a fiduciary or similar capacity or in satisfaction of debts previously contracted in good faith, in each case in the ordinary and usual course of business.
(k) Implement or adopt any change in its tax or financial accounting principles, practices or methods, including reserving methodologies, other than as may be required by GAAP, regulatory accounting guidelines or applicable law, or as recommended by HomeTown’s outside auditor.
(l) Make, change or revoke any Tax election, change an annual Tax accounting period, adopt or change any Tax accounting method, file any amended Tax Return, enter into any closing agreement with respect to Taxes, or settle any Tax claim, audit, assessment or dispute or surrender any right to claim a refund of Taxes.
(m) Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, (i) knowingly take, or knowingly omit to take, any action that would reasonably be expected to prevent the Merger from qualifying as a reorganization within the meaning of Section 368(a) of the Code or (ii) knowingly take, or knowingly omit to take, any action that is reasonably likely to result in any of the conditions to the Merger set forth in Article 6 not being satisfied on a timely basis.
(n) Enter into any new line of business or change its investment, risk and asset liability management and other banking and operating policies that are material to it and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole, except as required by then applicable market conditions.
(o) Fail to materially follow its existing policies or practices with respect to managing exposure to interest rate and other risk, or fail to use commercially reasonable means to avoid any material increase in its aggregate exposure to interest rate risk.
(p) Make, renew, restructure or otherwise modify any loans or extensions of credit that would result in the aggregate amount of the lending relationship to any one borrower or its affiliates to exceed $4,000,000 or, if the total lending relationship to any one borrower and its affiliates is in excess of $4,000,000 as of the date of this Agreement, to make, renew, restructure or otherwise modify any loan or extension of credit for such borrower and its affiliates; provided that any consent sought from American pursuant to this clause (p) shall be given within three (3) business days after the relevant loan package is provided to American.
(q) Make any material changes to its policies and practices with respect to underwriting, pricing, originating, acquiring, selling, servicing or buying or selling rights to service Loans, or to its hedging practices and policies, in each case except as required by a Regulatory Agency.
(r) (i) Enter into, modify, amend, terminate, fail to renew, cancel or extend any HomeTown Material Contract or expressly waive any material benefits under any HomeTown Material Contract, other than in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice; (ii) purchase or otherwise acquire any investment securities or enter into any Derivative Contract other than as provided in HomeTown’s currently existing investment policies and in accordance with prudent
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