Liabilities of the Adviser A. In the absence of willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of obligations or duties hereunder on the part of the Adviser, the Adviser shall not be subject to liability to the Trust or the Fund or to any shareholder of the Fund for any act or omission in the course of, or connected with, rendering services hereunder or for any losses that may be sustained in the purchase, holding or sale of any security by the Fund.
B. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Adviser agrees to reimburse the Trust for any and all costs, expenses, and counsel and trustees’ fees reasonably incurred by the Trust in the preparation, printing and distribution of proxy statements, amendments to its Registration Statement, holdings of meetings of its shareholders or trustees, the conduct of factual investigations, any legal or administrative proceedings (including any applications for exemptions or determinations by the Securities and Exchange Commission) which the Trust incurs as the result of action or inaction of the Adviser or any of its affiliates or any of their officers, directors, employees or stockholders where the action or inaction necessitating such expenditures (i) is directly or indirectly related to any transactions or proposed transaction in the stock or control of the Adviser or its affiliates (or litigation related to any pending or proposed or future transaction in such shares or control) which shall have been undertaken without the prior, express approval of the Trust’s Board of Trustees; or, (ii) is within the control of the Adviser or any of its affiliates or any of their officers, directors, employees or stockholders. The Adviser shall not be obligated pursuant to the provisions of this Subparagraph 6.B., to reimburse the Trust for any expenditures related to the institution of an administrative proceeding or civil litigation by the Trust or a shareholder seeking to recover all or a portion of the proceeds derived by any stockholder of the Adviser or any of its affiliates from the sale of his shares of the Adviser, or similar matters. So long as this Agreement is in effect, the Adviser shall pay to the Trust the amount due for expenses subject to this Subparagraph 6.B. within thirty (30) days after a ▇▇▇▇ or statement has been received by the Adviser therefore. This provision shall not be deemed to be a waiver of any claim the Trust may have or may assert against the Adviser or others for costs, expenses or damages heretofore incurred by the Trust or for costs, expenses or damages the Trust may hereafter incur which are not reimbursable to it hereunder. C. No provision of this Agreement shall be construed to protect any trustee or officer of the Trust, or director or officer of the Adviser, from liability in violation of Sections 17(h) and (i) of the 1940 Act.
Conduct of Business of the Company Except as contemplated by this Agreement or in connection with the IPO Transaction or as described on Exhibit B or in Section 4.1 of the Company Disclosure Schedule, during the period from the date of this Agreement to the Effective Time, the Company will and will cause each of its subsidiaries to conduct its operations in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice and, to the extent consistent therewith, with no less diligence and effort than would be applied in the absence of this Agreement, use commercially reasonable efforts to preserve intact its current business organizations, keep available the service of its current officers and employees and preserve its relationships with customers, suppliers, distributors, lessors, creditors, employees, contractors and others having business dealings with it with the intention that its goodwill and ongoing businesses shall be unimpaired at the Effective Time. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, except as otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement and except as contemplated by this Agreement or in connection with the IPO Transaction or as described on Exhibit B or in Section 4.1 of the Company Disclosure Schedule, prior to the Effective Time, neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries will, without the prior written consent of AREP Oil & Gas:
(a) amend its Certificate of Incorporation or bylaws (or other similar governing instrument);
(b) authorize for issuance, issue, sell, deliver or agree or commit to issue, sell or deliver (whether through the issuance or granting of options, warrants, commitments, subscriptions, rights to purchase or otherwise) any stock of any class or any other debt or equity securities or equity equivalents (including any stock options or stock appreciation rights);
(c) split, combine or reclassify any shares of its capital stock, declare, set aside or pay any dividend or other distribution (whether in cash, stock or property or any combination thereof) in respect of its capital stock, make any other actual, constructive or deemed distribution in respect of its capital stock or otherwise make any payments to stockholders in their capacity as such, or redeem or otherwise acquire any of its securities or any securities of any of its subsidiaries;
(d) adopt a plan of complete or partial liquidation, dissolution, merger, consolidation, restructuring, recapitalization or other reorganization of the Company or any of its subsidiaries (other than the Merger);
(e) alter through merger, liquidation, reorganization, restructuring or any other fashion the corporate structure of any subsidiary;
(f) (i) incur or assume any long-term or short-term debt or issue any debt securities in each case, except for borrowings under lines of credit in the ordinary course of business, or modify or agree to any amendment of the terms of any of the foregoing; (ii) assume, guarantee, endorse or otherwise become liable or responsible (whether directly, contingently or otherwise) for the obligations of any other person except for obligations of subsidiaries of the Company incurred in the ordinary course of business; (iii) make any loans, advances or capital contributions to or investments in any other person (other than to subsidiaries of the Company or customary loans or advances to employees in each case in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice); (iv) pledge or otherwise encumber shares of capital stock of the Company or any of its subsidiaries; or (v) mortgage or pledge any of its material assets, tangible or intangible, or create or suffer to exist any material Lien thereupon;
(g) except as may be required by Applicable Law, enter into, adopt or amend or terminate any bonus, special remuneration, compensation, severance, stock option, stock purchase agreement, retirement, health, life, or disability insurance, severance or other employee benefit plan agreement, trust, fund or other arrangement for the benefit or welfare of any director, officer, employee or consultant in any manner or increase in any manner the compensation or fringe benefits of any director, officer or employee or pay any benefit not required by any plan and arrangement as in effect as of the date of this Agreement (including the granting of stock appreciation rights or performance units);
(h) grant any severance or termination pay to any director, officer, employee or consultant, except payments made pursuant to written agreements outstanding on the date of this Agreement, the terms of which are in all material respects completely and correctly disclosed on Schedule 4.1(h) or as required by applicable federal, state or local law or regulations;
(i) acquire, sell, lease, license, transfer, distribute or otherwise dispose of any material assets in any single transaction or series of related transactions, other than in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practices;
(j) except as may be required as a result of a change in law or in GAAP, materially change any of the accounting principles, practices or methods used by it;
(k) acquire (by merger, consolidation or acquisition of stock or assets) any corporation, partnership or other entity or division thereof or any equity interest therein;
(l) make any material tax election or settle or compromise any material income tax liability or permit any material insurance policy naming it as a beneficiary or loss-payable to expire, or to be canceled or terminated, unless a comparable insurance policy reasonably acceptable to AREP Oil & Gas is obtained and in effect;
(m) fail to file any tax returns when due (or, alternatively, fail to file for available extensions) or fail to cause such tax returns when filed to be complete and accurate in all material respects;
(n) fail to pay any taxes or other material debts when due;
(o) settle or compromise any pending or threatened suit, action or claim that (i) relates to the transactions contemplated hereby or (ii) the settlement or compromise of which would be material to the Company;
(p) take any action or fail to take any action that could reasonably be expected to limit the utilization of any of the net operating losses, built-in losses, tax credits or other similar items of the Company or its subsidiaries under Section 382, 383, 384 or 1502 of the Code and the Treasury Regulations thereunder; or
(q) take or agree in writing or otherwise to take any of the actions described in Sections 4.1(a) through 4.1(p) (and it shall use all reasonable efforts not to take any action that would make any of the representations or warranties of the Company contained in this Agreement (including the exhibits hereto) untrue or incorrect).