provided, however, that following the Closing the foregoing restrictions shall not apply to the Buyer’s use of documents and information concerning any Group Company.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Buyer shall be authorized to disclose any information regarding the transactions contemplated by this Agreement and regarding the Group Companies and the Business to its advisors, investors and financing providers.
From the Closing, the Sellers shall keep strictly confidential and shall procure that any Affiliates and or Connected Persons of the Sellers keep strictly confidential any confidential information and business secrets concerning any Group Company and the Business and shall refrain, and shall cause their Affiliates and Connected Persons to refrain, from using such confidential information and business secrets for its or their own benefit and for the benefit of another Person.
As from the date of this Agreement, all public announcements or press releases concerning this Agreement shall only be issued after the Sellers and the Buyer have agreed on the contents and timing of such public announcement or press release, save for any public announcement or press release required by applicable Law or any Governmental Authority (including any securities exchange).
Simultaneously with any public announcement, the employees of the Group Companies shall be informed by the Sellers in an appropriate manner about this Agreement.
12.3 | Non-Competition and Non-Solicitation by the Sellers |
Each Seller undertakes not to, directly or indirectly, and procures that none of its Affiliates and Connected Persons will, for the period of one year (three years for Dr. Dorian Bevec) after the Closing, either on its or their own account or in conjunction with or on behalf of any other Person:
| a) | carry on or be engaged in, concerned with or interested in, whether as shareholder (other than as a shareholder in a company traded on an internationally recognized stock exchange carrying on such a business where the shareholding is for investment purposes only and amounts to not more than 5% of the issued and outstanding equity interests of such company), partner, board member agent, advisor, employee or otherwise, any business which competes with the Business of any Group Company as of the date of this agreement; |
| b) | actively solicit or entice away any employee, exclusively bound agent or consultant of any Group Company or otherwise encourage such Person to leave any Group Company; and/or |
| c) | induce any partner or customer of any Group Company to cease or reduce doing business with any Group Company. |
In the event of a breach of any covenant set forth in this Section 12.3, and if the respective Seller has not cured such breach, if cured to the reasonable satisfaction of the Buyer, in its entirety within 20 Business Days following the receipt by the respective Seller of the Buyer’s written notification of such breach, the respective Seller shall pay a contractual penalty to the Buyer in the amount of EUR 50,000 per breach. In case of a continuous breach, an additional contractual penalty of EUR 50,000 shall become due after each week of duration of such breach (whereby the amount shall be payable pro rata in case of a breach lasting less than a full week), whereby, in any event, the penalty shall not exceed EUR 250,000. The payment of the contractual penalty or any damages shall not discharge the Sellers from continued compliance with the covenants set forth in this Section 12.3. In addition, the Buyer has the right to seek specific performance of the Sellers’ obligations under this Section 12.3 and to seek the payment of damages from the Sellers for any damage or loss suffered by the Buyer or any Affiliate of the Buyer (including, without limitation, the Group Companies).