upon stock exchange, and (vi) declaration of the Pre-Merger Special Dividend by the Six Flags board of directors. The obligation of each of Cedar Fair and Steel to consummate the Mergers is also conditioned on, among other things, the truth and correctness of the representations and warranties made by the other party as of the closing date (subject to certain “materiality” and “material adverse effect” qualifiers) and the performance in all material respects of all of each parties’ obligations required to be performed by such party under the Merger Agreement at or prior to the Closing Date.
Termination
The Merger Agreement contains certain termination rights for each of the parties, including in the event that (i) the Mergers are not consummated on or before November) 2, 2024 (the “Outside Date”), subject to two six month automatic extensions of the termination date of the Merger Agreement in the event that the regulatory closing conditions have not been satisfied, (ii) the stockholders of Steel do not adopt the Merger Agreement at the Steel Stockholder Meeting, or (iii) if any restraint having the effect of preventing the consummation of the Mergers or the Pre-Merger Special Dividend shall have become final and nonappealable.
Additionally, Cedar Fair may terminate the Merger Agreement prior to the Steel Stockholder Meeting if, among other things, Steel’s Board of Directors has changed its recommendation that its stockholders approve and adopt the Merger Agreement, or has failed to make or reaffirm such recommendation in certain circumstances (each, a “Cedar Fair Triggering Event”).
The Merger Agreement provides that, upon termination of the Merger Agreement by Six Flags or Cedar Fair upon specified conditions, including termination by Cedar Fair in respect of a Cedar Fair Triggering Event, Six Flags will pay to Cedar Fair a termination fee equal to $63.2 million, in cash.
Other Merger Agreement Provisions
The Merger Agreement contains mutual customary representations and warranties made by each of Cedar Fair and Six Flags and customary covenants and agreements. Each of Cedar Fair and Steel agreed in the Merger Agreement: (a) to operate its businesses in the ordinary course in all material respects consistent with past practice and to refrain from taking certain actions without the other party’s consent; (b) not to solicit, initiate, knowingly encourage or take any other action designed to facilitate, and, subject to certain exceptions for Six Flags, not to participate in any discussions or negotiations, or cooperate in any way with respect to, any inquiries or the making of, any proposal of an alternative transaction; (c) to use their respective reasonable best efforts to take, or cause to be taken, all actions, and to do, or cause to be done, and to assist and cooperate with the other parties in doing, all things necessary, proper or advisable to consummate and make effective, in the most expeditious manner practicable, the Mergers and the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, including obtaining governmental, regulatory and third party approvals; and (d) to prepare and file a Form S-4, in which the Proxy Statement/Prospectus shall be included as a prospectus with respect to the issuance of shares of HoldCo Common Stock and the holding of a meeting of the Six Flags’ stockholders (the “Six Flags Stockholder Meeting”) to obtain Six Flags Stockholder Approval. The Merger Agreement also includes covenants of Cedar Fair and Six Flags (i) in respect of the protection of, and access to, confidential information of the parties; (ii) in respect of employee benefits to be provided to continuing employees after the closing, (iii) in respect of payment of expenses, (iv) in respect of indemnification and directors’ and officers’ insurance; and (v) in respect of cooperation in connection with any financing and consent solicitations. Steel also agreed that the Steel board of directors would not change its recommendation to the Steel stockholders to adopt the Merger Agreement (subject to certain exceptions specified in the Merger Agreement in response to an unsolicited proposal for an alternative transaction or following an intervening event)
The foregoing description of the Merger Agreement is qualified in its entirety by the full text of the Merger Agreement, which is attached hereto as Exhibit 2.1 and incorporated herein by reference. The Merger Agreement has been attached to provide investors with information regarding its terms. It is not intended to provide any other factual information about Cedar Fair or Six Flags. In particular, the assertions embodied in the representations and warranties contained in the Merger Agreement are qualified by information in confidential disclosure letters provided by each of Cedar Fair and Six Flags in connection with the signing of the Merger Agreement. These confidential disclosure letters contain information that modifies, qualifies and creates exceptions to the representations and warranties and certain covenants set forth in the Merger Agreement. Moreover, certain representations and warranties in the Merger Agreement were used for the purpose of allocating risk between Cedar Fair and Six Flags rather than establishing matters as facts and were made only as of the date of the Merger Agreement (or such other date or dates as may be specified in the Merger Agreement). Accordingly, the representations and warranties in the Merger Agreement should not be relied upon as characterizations of the actual state of facts about Cedar Fair or Six Flags.