BUSINESS OF THE PARTNERSHIP The purpose and nature of the business to be conducted by the Partnership is (i) to conduct any business that may be lawfully conducted by a limited partnership organized pursuant to the Act, provided, however, that such business shall be limited to and conducted in such a manner as to permit the General Partner at all times to qualify as a REIT, unless the General Partner otherwise ceases to qualify as a REIT, and in a manner such that the General Partner will not be subject to any taxes under Section 857 or 4981 of the Code, (ii) to enter into any partnership, joint venture, co-ownership or other similar arrangement to engage in any of the foregoing or the ownership of interests in any entity engaged in any of the foregoing and (iii) to do anything necessary or incidental to the foregoing. In connection with the foregoing, and without limiting the General Partner’s right in its sole and absolute discretion to qualify or cease qualifying as a REIT, the Partners acknowledge that the General Partner intends to qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes and upon such qualification the avoidance of income and excise taxes on the General Partner inures to the benefit of all the Partners and not solely to the General Partner. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Limited Partners agree that the General Partner may terminate its status as a REIT under the Code at any time to the full extent permitted under the Charter. The General Partner on behalf of the Partnership shall also be empowered to do any and all acts and things necessary or prudent to ensure that the Partnership will not be classified as a “publicly traded partnership” for purposes of Section 7704 of the Code.
Transfer of General Partner’s Partnership Interest A. Except in connection with a Termination Transaction permitted under Section 11.2.B, the General Partner shall not withdraw from the Partnership and shall not transfer all or any portion of its interest in the Partnership (whether by sale, statutory merger or consolidation, liquidation or otherwise), other than to an Affiliate, without the Consent of the Limited Partners, which may be given or withheld by each Limited Partner in its sole and absolute discretion, and only upon the admission of a successor General Partner pursuant to Section 12.1. Upon any transfer of a Partnership Interest in accordance with the provisions of this Section 11.2, the transferee shall become a substitute General Partner for all purposes herein, and shall be vested with the powers and rights of the transferor General Partner, and shall be liable for all obligations and responsible for all duties of the General Partner, once such transferee has executed such instruments as may be necessary to effectuate such admission and to confirm the agreement of such transferee to be bound by all the terms and provisions of this Agreement with respect to the Partnership Interest so acquired. It is a condition to any transfer otherwise permitted hereunder that the transferee assumes, by operation of law or express agreement, all of the obligations of the transferor General Partner under this Agreement with respect to such transferred Partnership Interest, and no such transfer (other than pursuant to a statutory merger or consolidation wherein all obligations and liabilities of the transferor General Partner are assumed by a successor corporation by operation of law) shall relieve the transferor General Partner of its obligations under this Agreement without the Consent of the Limited Partners, in their reasonable discretion. In the event the General Partner withdraws from the Partnership, in violation of this Agreement or otherwise, or otherwise dissolves or terminates, or upon the Incapacity of the General Partner, all of the remaining Partners may elect to continue the Partnership business by selecting a substitute General Partner in accordance with the Act.
B. The General Partner shall not engage in any merger, consolidation or other combination with or into another person, sale of all or substantially all of its assets or any reclassification, recapitalization or change of its outstanding equity interests (“Termination Transaction”) unless (1) the Termination Transaction has been approved by a Consent of the Partners and (2) either clause (a) or (b) below is satisfied:
(a) in connection with such Termination Transaction all Limited Partners either will receive, or will have the right to elect to receive, for each Common Unit an amount of cash, securities, or other property equal to the product of the REIT Shares Amount and the greatest amount of cash, securities or other property paid to a holder of one REIT Share in consideration of one REIT Share in connection with the Termination Transaction; provided, that, if, in connection with the Termination Transaction, a purchase, tender or exchange offer shall have been made to and accepted by the holders of more than fifty percent (50%) of the outstanding REIT Shares, each Holder of Common Units shall receive, or shall have the right to elect to receive, the greatest amount of cash, securities, or other property which such holder would have received had it exercised its right to Redemption (as set forth in Section 8.6) and received REIT Shares in exchange for its Common Units immediately prior to the expiration of such purchase, tender or exchange offer and had thereupon accepted such purchase, tender or exchange offer and then such Termination Transaction shall have been consummated; or
(b) the following conditions are met: (i) substantially all of the assets directly or indirectly owned by the surviving entity are held directly or indirectly by the Partnership or another limited partnership or limited liability company which is the survivor of a merger, consolidation or combination of assets with the Partnership (in each case, the “Surviving Partnership”); (ii) the holders of Common-Equivalent Units own a percentage interest of the Surviving Partnership based on the relative fair market value of the net assets of the Partnership and the other net assets of the Surviving Partnership immediately prior to the consummation of such transaction; (iii) the rights, preferences and privileges of such holders in the Surviving Partnership are at least as favorable as those in effect immediately prior to the consummation of such transaction and as those applicable to any other limited partners or non-managing members of the Surviving Partnership; and (iv) such rights of the Limited Partners include at least one of the following: (a) the right to redeem their interests in the Surviving Partnership for the consideration available to such persons pursuant to Section 11.2.B(a); or (b) the right to redeem their Common Units for cash on terms equivalent to those in effect with respect to their Common Units immediately prior to the consummation of such transaction, or, if the ultimate controlling person of the Surviving Partnership has publicly traded common equity securities, such common equity securities, with an exchange ratio based on the determination of relative fair market value of such securities and the REIT Shares.