SIXTH SUPPLEMENTAL INDENTURE
SUPPLEMENTAL INDENTURE (this "SUPPLEMENTAL INDENTURE"), dated as of August
5th, 2002, among Audubon Europe S. a.r.l. (the "GUARANTEEING SUBSIDIARY") a
subsidiary of Columbus McKinnon Corporation (or its permitted successor), a New
York corporation (the "COMPANY"), the company, the other Guarantors (as defined
in the Indenture referred to herein) and State Street Bank and Trust Company,
N.A., as trustee under the indenture referred to below (the "TRUSTEE").
W I T N E S S E T H
WHEREAS, the Company has heretofore executed and delivered to the Trustee
an indenture (the "ORIGINAL INDENTURE"), dated as of March 31, 1998 providing
for the issuance of an aggregate principal amount of up to $300.0 million of 8
1/2% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2008 (the "NOTES");
WHEREAS, the Company, the Guarantors and the Trustee amended the Original
Indenture by entering into a Supplemental Indenture dated as of March 31, 1998,
a Second Supplemental Indenture dated as of February 12, 1999, a Third
Supplemental Indenture dated as of March 1, 1999, a Fourth Supplemental
Indenture dated as of November 1, 1999 and a Fifth Supplemental Indenture dated
as of April 4, 2002 in order to add certain entities as guarantors and to
reflect the merger or disposition of certain Guarantors (the Original Indenture,
as supplemented by the First Supplemental Indenture, the Second Supplemental
Indenture, the Third Supplemental Indenture, the Fourth Supplemental Indenture
and the Fifth Supplemental Indenture, the "INDENTURE"); and
WHEREAS, the Indenture provides that under certain circumstances the
Guaranteeing Subsidiary shall execute and deliver to the Trustee a supplemental
indenture pursuant to which the Guaranteeing Subsidiary shall unconditionally
guarantee all of the Company's Obligations under the Notes and the Indenture on
the terms and conditions set forth herein (the "SUBSIDIARY GUARANTEE"); and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 9.01 of the Indenture, the Trustee is
authorized to execute and deliver this Sixth Supplemental Indenture;
NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the foregoing and for other good and
valuable consideration, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, the
Guaranteeing Subsidiary and the Trustee mutually covenant and agree for the
equal and ratable benefit of the Holders of the Notes as follows:
1. CAPITALIZED TERMS. Capitalized terms used herein without
definition shall have the meanings assigned to them in the Indenture.
2. AGREEMENT TO GUARANTEE. The Guaranteeing Subsidiary hereby agrees
as follows:
(a) Along with all Guarantors named in the Indenture, to jointly and
severally Guarantee to each Holder of a Note authenticated and
delivered by the Trustee and to the Trustee and its successors
and assigns, irrespective of the validity and enforceability of
the Indenture, the Notes or the obligations of the Company
hereunder or thereunder, that:
(i) the principal of and interest on the Notes will be promptly
paid in full when due, whether at maturity, by acceleration,
redemption or otherwise, and interest on the overdue
principal of and interest on the Notes, if any, if lawful,
and all other obligations of the Company to the Holders or
the Trustee hereunder or thereunder will be promptly paid in
full or performed, all in accordance with the terms hereof
and thereof; and
(ii) in case of any extension of time of payment or renewal of
any Notes or any of such other obligations, that same will
be promptly paid in full when due or performed in accordance
with the terms of the extension or renewal, whether at
stated maturity, by acceleration or otherwise. Failing
payment when due of any amount so guaranteed or any
performance so guaranteed for whatever reason, the
Guarantors shall be jointly and severally obligated to pay
the same immediately.
(b) The obligations hereunder shall be unconditional, irrespective of
the validity, regularity or enforceability of the Notes or the
Indenture, the absence of any action to enforce the same, any
waiver or consent by any Holder of the Notes with respect to any
provisions hereof or thereof, the recovery of any judgment
against the Company, any action to enforce the same or any other
circumstance which might otherwise constitute a legal or
equitable discharge or defense of a guarantor.
(c) The following is hereby waived: diligence presentment, demand of
payment, filing of claims with a court in the event of insolvency
or bankruptcy of the Company, any right to require a proceeding
first against the Company, protest, notice and all demands
whatsoever.
(d) This Subsidiary Guarantee shall not be discharged except by
complete performance of the obligations contained in the Notes
and the Indenture.
(e) If any Holder or the Trustee is required by any court or
otherwise to return to the Company, the Guarantors, or any
Custodian, Trustee, liquidator or other similar official acting
in relation to either the Company or the Guarantors, any amount
paid by either to the Trustee or such Holder, this Subsidiary
Guarantee, to the extent theretofore discharged, shall be
reinstated in full force and effect.
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(f) The Guaranteeing Subsidiary shall not be entitled to any right of
subrogation in relation to the Holders in respect of any
obligations guaranteed hereby until payment in full of all
obligations guaranteed hereby.
(g) As between the Guarantors, on the one hand, and the Holders and
the Trustee, on the other hand, (x) the maturity of the
obligations guaranteed hereby may be accelerated as provided in
Article 6 of the Indenture for the purposes of this Subsidiary
Guarantee, notwithstanding any stay, injunction or other
prohibition preventing such acceleration in respect of the
obligations guaranteed hereby, and (y) in the event of any
declaration of acceleration of such obligations as provided in
Article 6 of the Indenture, such obligations (whether or not due
and payable) shall forthwith become due and payable by the
Guarantors for the purpose of this Subsidiary Guarantee.
(h) The Guarantors shall have the right to seek contribution from any
non-paying Guarantor so long as the exercise of such right does
not impair the rights of the Holders under the Subsidiary
Guarantee.
(i) Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that this Subsidiary
Guarantee would constitute or result in a violation of any
applicable fraudulent conveyance or similar law of any relevant
jurisdiction, the liability of the Guarantor under this Sixth
Supplemental Indenture and its Subsidiary Guarantee shall be
reduced to the maximum amount permissible under such fraudulent
conveyance or similar law.
3. SUBORDINATION. Payment of principal, premium, if any, and
interest and Liquidated Damages, if any, on the Subsidiary Guarantee is
subordinated to the prior payment in full of Senior Debt on the terms provided
in the Indenture.
4. EXECUTION AND DELIVERY. Each Guaranteeing Subsidiary agrees that
the Subsidiary Guarantees shall remain in full force and effect notwithstanding
any failure to endorse on each Note a notation of such Subsidiary Guarantee.
5. GUARANTEEING SUBSIDIARY MAY CONSOLIDATE, ETC. ON CERTAIN TERMS.
(a) The Guaranteeing Subsidiary may not consolidate with or merge
with or into (whether or not such Guarantor is the surviving
Person) another corporation, Person or entity whether or not
affiliated with such Guarantor unless:
(i) subject to Section 11.05 of the Indenture, the Person formed
by or surviving any such consolidation or merger (if other
than a Guarantor or the Company) unconditionally assumes all
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the obligations of such Guarantor, pursuant to a
supplemental indenture in form and substance reasonably
satisfactory to the Trustee, under the Notes, the Indenture
and the Subsidiary Guarantee on the terms set forth herein
or therein; and
(ii) immediately after giving effect to such transaction, no
Default or Event of Default exists.
(b) In case of any such consolidation, merger, sale or conveyance and upon
the assumption by the successor corporation, by supplemental
indenture, executed and delivered to the Trustee and satisfactory in
form to the Trustee, of the Subsidiary Guarantee endorsed upon the
Notes and the due and punctual performance of all of the covenants and
conditions of the Indenture to be performed by the Guarantor, such
successor corporation shall succeed to and be substituted for the
Guarantor with the same effect as if it had been named herein as a
Guarantor. Such successor corporation thereupon may cause to be signed
any or all of the Subsidiary Guarantees to be endorsed upon all of the
Notes issuable hereunder which theretofore shall not have been signed
by the Company and delivered to the Trustee. All the Subsidiary
Guarantees so issued shall in all respects have the same legal rank
and benefit under the Indenture as the Subsidiary Guarantees
theretofore and thereafter issued in accordance with the terms of the
Indenture as though all of such Subsidiary Guarantees had been issued
at the date of the execution hereof.
(c) Except as set forth in Articles 4 and 5 of the Indenture, and
notwithstanding clauses (a) and (b) above, nothing contained in the
Indenture or in any of the Notes shall prevent any consolidation or
merger of a Guarantor with or into the Company or another Guarantor,
or shall prevent any sale or conveyance of the property of a Guarantor
as an entirety or substantially as an entirety to the Company or
another Guarantor.
6. RELEASES.
(a) In the event of a sale or other disposition of all of the assets of
any Guarantor, by way of merger, consolidation or otherwise, or a sale
or other disposition of all of the capital stock of any Guarantor,
then such Guarantor (in the event of a sale or other disposition, by
way of merger, consolidation or otherwise, of all of the capital stock
of such Guarantor) or the corporation acquiring the property (in the
event of a sale or other disposition of all or substantially all of
the assets of such Guarantor) will be released and relieved of any
obligations under its Subsidiary Guarantee; PROVIDED that the Net
Proceeds of such sale or other disposition are applied in accordance
with the applicable provisions of the Indenture, including without
limitation, Section 4.10 of the Indenture. Upon delivery by the
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Company to the Trustee of an Officers' Certificate and an Opinion of
Counsel to the effect that such sale or other disposition was made by
the Company in accordance with the provisions of the Indenture,
including without limitation Section 4.10 of the Indenture, the
Trustee shall execute any documents reasonably required in order to
evidence the release of any Guarantor from its obligations under its
Subsidiary Guarantee.
(b) Any Guarantor not released from its obligations under its Subsidiary
Guarantee shall remain liable for the full amount of principal of and
interest on the Notes and for the other obligations of any Guarantor
under the Indenture as provided in Article 11 of the Indenture.
7. NO RECOURSE AGAINST OTHERS. No past, present or future director,
officer, employee, incorporator, stockholder or agent of the Guaranteeing
Subsidiary, as such, shall have any liability for any obligations of the Company
or any Guaranteeing Subsidiary under the Notes, any Subsidiary Guarantees, the
Indenture or this Sixth Supplemental Indenture or for any claim based on, in
respect of, or by reason of, such obligations or their creation. Each Holder of
the Notes by accepting a Note waives and releases all such liability. The waiver
and release are part of the consideration for issuance of the Notes. Such waiver
may not be effective to waive liabilities under the federal securities laws and
it is the view of the SEC that such a waiver is against public policy.
8. NEW YORK LAW TO GOVERN. THE INTERNAL LAW OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
SHALL GOVERN AND BE USED TO CONSTRUE THIS SUPPLEMENTAL INDENTURE BUT WITHOUT
GIVING EFFECT TO APPLICABLE PRINCIPLES OF CONFLICTS OF LAW TO THE EXTENT THAT
THE APPLICATION OF THE LAWS OF ANOTHER JURISDICTION WOULD BE REQUIRED THEREBY.
9. COUNTERPARTS. The parties may sign any number of copies of this
Supplemental Indenture. Each signed copy shall be an original, but all of them
together represent the same agreement.
10. EFFECT OF HEADINGS. The Section headings herein are for convenience
only and shall not affect the construction hereof.
11. THE TRUSTEE. The Trustee shall not be responsible in any manner
whatsoever for or in respect of the validity or sufficiency of this Supplemental
Indenture or for or in respect of the recitals contained herein, all of which
recitals are made solely by the Guaranteeing Subsidiary and the Company.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this Sixth Supplemental
Indenture to be duly executed and attested, all as of the date first above
written.
Dated: August 5, 2002
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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION
By: /S/ ROBERT L. MONTGOMERY
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Name: Robert L. Montgomery
Title: Executive Vice President
AUDUBON WEST, INC.
By: /S/ ROBERT L. MONTGOMERY
---------------------------
Name: Robert L. Montgomery
Title: Treasurer
CRANE EQUIPMENT & SERVICE, INC.
By: /S/ ROBERT L. MONTGOMERY
---------------------------
Name: Robert L. Montgomery
Title: Treasurer
LICO STEEL, INC.
By: /S/ ROBERT L. MONTGOMERY
---------------------------
Name: Robert L. Montgomery
Title: Treasurer
YALE INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS, INC.
By: /S/ ROBERT L. MONTGOMERY
---------------------------
Name: Robert L. Montgomery
Title: Vice President & Treasurer
AUDUBON EUROPE S.a.r.l.
By: /S/ ROBERT L. MONTGOMERY
---------------------------
Name: Robert L. Montgomery
Title: Director
By: /S/ ROMAIN THILLENS
---------------------------
Name: Romain Thillens
Title: Director
STATE STREET BANK AND TRUST
COMPANY, N.A., as Trustee
By: /S/ JASON G. GREGORY
---------------------------
Name: Jason G. Gregory
Title: Assistant Vice President
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