Covenants
Limitation on Liens on Stock of Principal Subsidiaries.
So long as any notes are outstanding, we will not, and we will not permit any of our principal subsidiaries to, incur, assume or guarantee any debt secured by a lien on any voting stock issued by any of our principal subsidiaries, unless all of the notes are secured to the same extent as and for so long as that debt is so secured. This restriction does not apply to liens existing at the time a corporation becomes a principal subsidiary of ours or to any renewal or extension of any such existing lien and does not apply to shares of subsidiaries that are not principal subsidiaries.
“Principal subsidiary” means any present or future subsidiary of Old Republic, the consolidated total assets of which constitute at least 15% of the total consolidated assets of Old Republic, and any successor to any such subsidiary.
Limitation on Issuance or Disposition of Stock of Principal Subsidiaries.
So long as any notes are outstanding, we will not, nor will we permit any of our principal subsidiaries to, issue, sell, assign, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of the voting stock of a principal subsidiary except for:
•
any issuance, sale, assignment, transfer or other disposition made in compliance with the order of a court or regulatory authority, unless the order was requested by us or one of our principal subsidiaries;
•
any of the voting stock of a principal subsidiary owned by us or by a principal subsidiary sold for cash or other property having a fair market value that is at least equal to the fair market value of the disposed stock, as determined in good faith by our board of directors; or
•
any issuance, sale, assignment, transfer or other disposition of voting stock of a principal subsidiary to us or to another principal subsidiary.
The transfer of assets from a principal subsidiary to any other person, including to us or another of our subsidiaries, is not prohibited under the indenture.
Merger, Consolidation and Sale of Assets
The indenture provides that the Company will not consolidate with or merge into any other corporation or convey or transfer or lease its properties and assets substantially as an entirety to any person unless:
(1)
the corporation formed by such consolidation or into which the Company is merged or the person which acquires by conveyance or transfer, or which leases the properties and assets of the Company substantially as an entirety shall be a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the United States of America, any state thereof or the District of Columbia, and shall expressly assume, by a supplemental indenture, executed and delivered to the trustee, all of the obligations of the Company on all of the debt securities outstanding under the base indenture;
(2)
immediately after giving effect to such transaction, no default or event of default (each as defined in the indenture) shall have occurred and be continuing; and
(3)
the Company shall have delivered to the trustee an officers’ certificate and an opinion of counsel, each stating that such consolidation, merger, conveyance, transfer or lease and such supplemental indenture comply with this provision and that all conditions precedent provided for in the indenture relating to such transaction have been complied with.
Upon any consolidation or merger with or into any other person or any conveyance, transfer or lease of all or substantially all of our properties and assets to any other person, the successor person will succeed to, and be substituted for, us under the indenture, and we, except in the case of a lease, will be relieved of all obligations and covenants under the notes and the indenture to the extent we were the predecessor person.
Events of Default
Each of the following is an event of default under the indenture: