Business of the Company The purpose of the Company is to carry on any lawful business, purpose or activity for which limited liability companies may be formed in accordance with Section 18-106 of the Act.
Investments and Subsidiaries The Borrower will not make or permit to exist any loans or advances to, or make any investment or acquire any interest whatsoever in, any other Person or Affiliate, including any partnership or joint venture, nor purchase or hold beneficially any stock or other securities or evidence of indebtedness of any other Person or Affiliate, except:
(a) Investments in direct obligations of the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality thereof whose obligations constitute full faith and credit obligations of the United States of America having a maturity of one year or less, commercial paper issued by U.S. corporations rated “A-1” or “A-2” by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services or “P-1” or “P-2” by ▇▇▇▇▇’▇ Investors Service or certificates of deposit or bankers’ acceptances having a maturity of one year or less issued by members of the Federal Reserve System having deposits in excess of $100,000,000 (which certificates of deposit or bankers’ acceptances are fully insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation);
(b) Travel advances or loans to the Borrower’s Officers and employees not exceeding at any one time an aggregate of $50,000;
(c) Prepaid rent not exceeding one month or security deposits; and
(d) Current investments in the Subsidiaries in existence on the date hereof and listed in Schedule 5.5 hereto.
Subsidiaries All of the direct and indirect subsidiaries of the Company are set forth on Schedule 3.1(a). The Company owns, directly or indirectly, all of the capital stock or other equity interests of each Subsidiary free and clear of any Liens, and all of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of each Subsidiary are validly issued and are fully paid, non-assessable and free of preemptive and similar rights to subscribe for or purchase securities. If the Company has no subsidiaries, all other references to the Subsidiaries or any of them in the Transaction Documents shall be disregarded.
Capitalization of the Company and its Subsidiaries (a) The authorized stock of the Company consists of 14,984,490 shares of Class A common stock, par value $.01 per share (the "Shares"), of which, as of September 30, 2000, 5,681,156 Shares were issued and outstanding, and 15,510 shares of Series A-1 convertible preferred stock, par value $.01 per share (the "Convertible Preferred Stock"), of which, as of September 30, 2000, 14,511 shares were outstanding. All of the outstanding Shares have been validly issued and are fully paid and nonassessable, and free of preemptive rights granted by the Company. As of September 30, 2000, (i) 1,515,338 were reserved for issuance upon the exercise of outstanding Company Stock Options issued pursuant to the Option Plans and other stock option plans, or agreements to which the Company or any of its subsidiaries is a party, (ii) 967,448 Shares were reserved for issuance upon the conversion of the outstanding Convertible Preferred Stock, and (iii) 123,370 Shares were reserved for issuance upon the exercise of the outstanding Warrants. Except as set forth in Section 3.2(a) of the Company Disclosure Schedule, since September 30, 2000, no shares of the Company's stock have been issued other than pursuant to Company Stock Options or other stock-based employee benefit plans of the Company and no options to acquire Shares have been granted other than pursuant to the Option Plans. Except as set forth above and in Section 3.2(a) of the Company Disclosure Schedule, as of the date hereof, there are issued, reserved for issuance, or outstanding (i) no shares of stock or other voting securities of the Company, (ii) no securities of the Company or its subsidiaries convertible into or exchangeable for shares of stock or voting securities of the Company, (iii) no options or other rights to acquire from the Company or its subsidiaries and, except for the Series B Preferred Stock issuable upon exercise of the Option or as described in Section 3.2(a) of the Company Disclosure Schedule, no obligations of the Company or its subsidiaries to issue any stock, voting securities or securities convertible into or exchangeable for stock or voting securities of the Company, (iv) no bonds, debentures, notes or other indebtedness or obligations of the Company or any of its subsidiaries entitling the holders thereof to have the right to vote (or which are convertible into, or exercisable or exchangeable for, securities entitling the holders thereof to have the right to vote) with the stockholders of the Company or any of its subsidiaries on any matter, and (v) no equity equivalent interests in the ownership or earnings of the Company or its subsidiaries or other similar rights (collectively "Company Securities"). As of the date hereof, except as set forth in Section 3.2(a) of the Company Disclosure Schedule, there are no outstanding obligations of the Company or its subsidiaries (absolute, contingent or otherwise) to repurchase, redeem or otherwise acquire any Company Securities. There are no Shares outstanding subject to rights of first refusal of the Company, nor are there any pre-emptive rights granted by the Company with respect to any Shares. Other than this Agreement, there are no stockholder agreements, voting trusts or other agreements or understandings to which the Company is a party or by which it is bound relating to the voting or, except as set forth in Section 3.2(a) of the Company Disclosure Schedule, registration of any shares of stock of the Company.
(b) Except as set forth in Section 3.2(b) of the Company Disclosure Schedule, all of the outstanding stock of the Company's subsidiaries is owned by the Company, directly or indirectly, free and clear of any Lien (as defined below). There are no securities of the Company or its subsidiaries convertible into or exchangeable for, no options or other rights to acquire from the Company or its subsidiaries and no other contract, understanding, arrangement or obligation (whether or not contingent) providing for the issuance or sale, directly or indirectly, of any stock or other ownership interests in, or any other securities, of any subsidiary of, the Company. Except as set forth in Section 3.2(b) of the Company Disclosure Schedule, there are no outstanding contractual obligations of the Company or its subsidiaries to repurchase, redeem or otherwise acquire any outstanding shares of capital stock or other ownership interests in any subsidiary of the Company. For purposes of this Agreement, "Lien" means, with respect to any asset (including without limitation any security), any mortgage, lien, pledge, charge, security interest or encumbrance of any kind in respect of such asset (including any restrictions on the right to vote or sell the same except as may be provided as a matter of law).
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).