Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, in response to an intervening event, the Chesapeake Board may, subject to certain conditions, change its recommendation that the Chesapeake shareholders approve the Chesapeake Stock Issuance, but only if the Chesapeake Board reasonably determines in good faith that failure to effect such change in recommendation would be inconsistent with its duties under applicable law.
The Merger Agreement contains customary representations and warranties from both Chesapeake and WildHorse, and each party has agreed to customary covenants, including, among others, covenants relating to (1) the conduct of its business during the interim period between the execution of the Merger Agreement and the Effective Time, (2) the obligation to use reasonable best efforts to cause the Merger to be consummated and to obtain expiration of the waiting period under the HSR Act, subject to certain exceptions, (3) the obligation of WildHorse to call a meeting of its stockholders to approve the Merger Agreement and, subject to certain exceptions, to recommend that its stockholders approve the Merger Agreement and the Merger and (4) the obligation of Chesapeake to call a meeting of its shareholders to approve the Chesapeake Stock Issuance and Chesapeake Charter Amendments and, subject to certain exceptions, to recommend that its shareholders approve the Chesapeake Stock Issuance and Chesapeake Charter Amendments.
The Merger Agreement allows each of Chesapeake and WildHorse to terminate the Merger Agreement if (1) Chesapeake and WildHorse agree to terminate the Merger Agreement upon mutual written consent; (2) the Merger is not consummated on or before May 31, 2019; (3) the requisite approval of adoption of the Merger Agreement is not obtained from WildHorse’s stockholders or the requisite approval of the Chesapeake Stock Issuance is not obtained from Chesapeake shareholders; (4) a permanent injunction prohibits the Merger or a law makes the Merger illegal or otherwise prohibited; or (5) the other party breaches a representation, warranty or covenant, and such breach results in the failure of certain closing conditions to be satisfied. The Merger Agreement also provides that the Merger Agreement may be terminated (i) by WildHorse, in the event that WildHorse enters into a “superior proposal” (provided that WildHorse simultaneously tenders to Chesapeake the applicable termination fee described below and has complied in all material respects with the Merger Agreement with respect to such competing proposal), (ii) by Chesapeake, if the WildHorse Board changes its recommendation to its stockholders to approve the adoption of the Merger Agreement, regardless of if such change in recommendation is permitted by the Merger Agreement, (iii) by WildHorse, if the Chesapeake Board changes its recommendation that the Chesapeake shareholders approve the Chesapeake Stock Issuance, regardless of if such change in recommendation is permitted by the Merger Agreement (iv) by Chesapeake, if WildHorse is in violation in any material respect of thenon-solicitation provisions, or (v) by WildHorse, if Chesapeake is in violation in any material respect of thenon-solicitation provisions.
Upon termination of the Merger Agreement, under certain circumstances, WildHorse may be required to make an expense reimbursement payment of $25 million to Chesapeake, or Chesapeake may be required to make an expense reimbursement payment of $35 million to WildHorse. In certain other circumstances, WildHorse may be required to pay Chesapeake a termination fee of $85 million, or Chesapeake may be required to pay WildHorse a termination fee of $120 million. In no event will either party be entitled to receive more than one expense reimbursement payment or one termination fee payment and in no event will either party be entitled to receive both a termination fee payment and an expense reimbursement payment. In addition to the termination fees and expense reimbursement payments described above, each party remains liable to the other for any additional damages if such party commits intentional fraud or a willful and material breach of any covenant, agreement or obligation.
The foregoing description of the Merger Agreement is only a summary, does not purport to be complete, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the Merger Agreement, which is filed hereto as Exhibit 2.1 and is incorporated herein by reference.
Voting and Support Agreements
On October 29, 2018, Jay Carlton Graham, Esquisto Holdings, LLC, WHE AcqCo Holdings, LLC, WHR Holdings, LLC, NGP XI US Holdings, L.P. (collectively, the “NGP Stockholders”), and CP VI Eagle Holdings, L.P. (the “Carlyle Stockholder”, together with the NGP Stockholders, the “Stockholders”), entered into Voting and Support Agreements (the “Voting Agreements”) with Chesapeake and Wildhorse with respect to the Merger Agreement.
The Voting Agreements generally require that each of the Stockholders vote or cause to be voted all WildHorse Common Stock or WildHorse Preferred Stock (collectively, the “WildHorse Capital Stock”) owned by the Stockholders in favor of the Merger Agreement and against alternative transactions, subject to certain reductions in the amount of WildHorse Capital Stock bound by such requirement in the event the WildHorse Board changes its recommendation in accordance with the Merger Agreement, and that each of the Stockholders irrevocably elect to receive the mixed consideration consisting of Chesapeake Common Stock and cash with respect to its WildHorse Common Stock. Subject to certain exceptions, the Voting Agreements also contain prohibitions applicable to the Stockholders that are consistent with thenon-solicitation provisions of the Merger Agreement.