CERTAIN ERISA CONSIDERATIONS
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) imposes requirements on employee benefit plans subject to Title I of ERISA, which we refer to as “ERISA plans,” and on those persons who are fiduciaries of ERISA plans. Investments by ERISA plans are subject to ERISA’s general fiduciary requirements, including, but not limited to, the requirement of investment prudence and diversification and the requirement that an ERISA plan’s investments be made in accordance with the documents governing such ERISA plan.
Section 406 of ERISA and Section 4975 of the Code prohibit certain transactions involving the assets of an ERISA plan, as well as those plans that are not subject to ERISA but that are subject to Section 4975 of the Code, such as individual retirement accounts, which, together with ERISA plans, we refer to as the “plans,” and specified persons, referred to as “parties in interest” or “disqualified persons,” having specified relationships to such plans, unless a statutory or administrative exemption is applicable to the transaction. A party in interest or disqualified person who engages in a prohibited transaction may be subject to excise taxes and to other penalties and liabilities under ERISA and the Code. In addition, if a prohibited transaction occurs with respect to a plan, the fiduciary may be subject to penalties and liabilities under ERISA and the Code.
The fiduciary of a plan that proposes to purchase and hold any notes should consider, among other things, whether such purchase and holding may involve (1) a direct or indirect extension of credit to a party in interest or to a disqualified person, (2) the sale or exchange of any property between a plan and a party in interest or disqualified person, or (3) the transfer to, or use by or for the benefit of, a party in interest or disqualified person, of any plan assets. Such parties in interest or disqualified persons could include, without limitation, Brown-Forman Corporation and its affiliates, the underwriters, and the trustee under the indenture. Depending upon the identity of the plan fiduciary making the decision to acquire or hold the notes on behalf of a plan, Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption (“PTCE”), as amended, 91-38, as amended, (relating to investments by bank collective investment funds), PTCE 84-14, as amended, (relating to transactions effected by a “qualified professional asset manager”), PTCE 95-60, as amended, (relating to investments by an insurance company general account), PTCE 96-23, as amended, (relating to transactions directed by an in-house professional asset manager) or PTCE 90-1, as amended, (relating to investments by insurance company pooled separate accounts), could provide an exemption from the prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA and Section 4975 of the Code, although there can be no assurance that all of the conditions of such class exemptions will be satisfied.
Federal, state, local, or non-U.S. laws governing the investment and management of the assets of governmental plans and other plans which are not subject to ERISA or the Code may contain fiduciary and prohibited transaction requirements similar to those under Title I of ERISA and Section 4975 of the Code, which we refer to as “similar laws.” Accordingly, fiduciaries of such plans, in consultation with their counsel, should consider the impact of their respective laws on investments in the notes and the considerations discussed above, to the extent applicable.
Because of the above, the notes should not be purchased or held by any person investing “plan assets” of any plan or employee benefit plan subject to similar laws, unless such purchase and holding will not be subject to, or will be exempt from, the prohibited transactions rules of ERISA and the Code or any applicable similar laws.
Accordingly, by acceptance of a note, each purchaser and subsequent transferee of a note will be deemed by such acquisition or acceptance to have represented and warranted that either: (1) no portion of the assets used by such purchaser or transferee to acquire the notes constitutes assets of any employee benefit plan subject to Title I of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code or the applicable provisions of any similar law or (2) the purchase and holding of the notes by such purchaser or transferee will not constitute a non-exempt prohibited transaction under Section 406 of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code or a violation of any similar laws.
Due to the complexity of these rules and penalties that may be imposed upon persons involved in nonexempt prohibited transactions, it is particularly important that fiduciaries, or other persons, considering
S-20