Assignments and Participations Binding Effect (a) This Agreement shall become effective when it shall have been executed by the Borrower, the other Credit Parties signatory hereto and the Agent and when the Agent shall have been notified by each Lender and the initial L/C Issuer that such Lender or L/C Issuer has executed it. Thereafter, it shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of, but only to the benefit of, the Borrower, the other Credit Parties hereto (in each case except for Article VIII), the Agent, each Lender and L/C Issuer and, in each case, their respective successors and permitted assigns. Except as expressly provided in any Loan Document (including in Section 8.9), none of the Borrower, any other Credit Party, any L/C Issuer or the Agent shall have the right to assign any rights or obligations hereunder or any interest herein.
(b) Each Lender may sell, transfer, negotiate or assign (a “Sale”) all or a portion of its rights and obligations hereunder (including all or a portion of its Revolving Loan Commitments and its rights and obligations with respect to Loans and Letters of Credit) to (i) any existing Lender, (ii) any Affiliate or Approved Fund of any existing Lender or (iii) any other Person acceptable (which acceptance shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed) to the Agent and, as long as no Event of Default is continuing, the Borrower; provided, however, that (x) such Sales must be ratable among the obligations owing to and owed by such Lender with respect to the Revolving Loans and (y) for each Loan, the aggregate outstanding principal amount (determined as of the effective date of the applicable Assignment) of the Loans, Revolving Loan Commitments and Letter of Credit Obligations subject to any such Sale shall be in a minimum amount of $1,000,000, unless such Sale is made to an existing Lender or an Affiliate or Approved Fund of any existing Lender, is of the assignor’s (together with its Affiliates and Approved Funds) entire interest in such Facility or is made with the prior consent of the Borrower and the Agent.
(c) The parties to each Sale made in reliance on clause (b) above (other than those described in clause (e) or (f) below) shall execute and deliver to the Agent (which shall keep a copy thereof) an Assignment, together with any existing Note subject to such Sale (or any affidavit of loss therefor acceptable to the Agent), any tax forms required to be delivered pursuant to Section 10.1 and payment by the assignee of an assignment fee in the amount of $3,500. Upon receipt of all the foregoing, and conditioned upon such receipt and upon the Agent consenting to such Assignment (if required), from and after the effective date specified in such Assignment, the Agent shall record or cause to be recorded in the Register the information contained in such Assignment.
(d) Effective upon the entry of such record in the Register, (i) such assignee shall become a party hereto and, to the extent that rights and obligations under the Loan Documents have been assigned to such assignee pursuant to such Assignment, shall have the rights and obligations of a Lender; provided that such assignee shall not be entitled to any greater rights under Section 10.1 hereof than the assigning Lender was entitled in the absence of such Assignment, (ii) any applicable Note shall be transferred to such assignee through such entry and (iii) the assignor thereunder shall, to the extent that rights and obligations under this Agreement have been assigned by it pursuant to such Assignment, relinquish its rights (except for those surviving the termination of the Revolving Loan Commitments and the payment in full of the Obligations) and be released from its obligations under the Loan Documents, other than those relating to events or circumstances occurring prior to such assignment (and, in the case of an Assignment covering all or the remaining portion of an assigning Lender’s rights and obligations under the Loan Documents, such Lender shall cease to be a party hereto).
(e) In addition to the other rights provided in this Section 9.9, each Lender may grant a security interest in, or otherwise assign as collateral, any of its rights under this Agreement, whether now owned or hereafter acquired (including rights to payments of principal or interest on the Loans), to (A) any federal reserve bank (pursuant to Regulation A of the Federal Reserve Board), without notice to the Agent or (B) any holder of, or trustee for the benefit of the holders of, such Lender’s Indebtedness or equity securities, by notice to the Agent; provided, however, that no such holder or trustee, whether because of such grant or assignment or any foreclosure thereon (unless such foreclosure is made through an assignment in accordance with clause (b) above), shall be entitled to any rights of such Lender hereunder and no such Lender shall be relieved of any of its obligations hereunder.
(f) In addition to the other rights provided in this Section 9.9, each Lender may, (x) with notice to the Agent, grant to an SPV the option to make all or any part of any Loan that such Lender would otherwise be required to make hereunder (and the exercise of such option by such SPV and the making of Loans pursuant thereto shall satisfy the obligation of such Lender to make such Loans hereunder) and such SPV may assign to such Lender the right to receive payment with respect to any Obligation and (y) without notice to or consent from the Agent or the Borrower, sell participations to one or more Persons in or to all or a portion of its rights and obligations under the Loan Documents (including all its rights and obligations with respect to the Revolving Loans and Letters of Credit); provided, however, that, whether as a result of any term of any Loan Document or of such grant or participation, (i) no such SPV or participant shall have a commitment, or be deemed to have made an offer to commit, to make Loans hereunder, and, except as provided in the applicable option agreement, none shall be liable for any obligation of such Lender hereunder, (ii) such Lender’s rights and obligations, and the rights and obligations of the Credit Parties and the Secured Parties towards such Lender, under any Loan Document shall remain unchanged and each other party hereto shall continue to deal solely with such Lender, which shall remain the holder of the Obligations in the Register, except that (A) each such participant and SPV shall be entitled to the benefit of Article X, but, with respect to Section 10.1, only to the extent such participant or SPV delivers the tax forms such Lender is required to collect pursuant to subsection 10.1(f) and then only to the extent of any amount to which such Lender would be entitled in the absence of any such grant or participation and (B) each such SPV may receive other payments that would otherwise be made to such Lender with respect to Loans funded by such SPV to the extent provided in the applicable option agreement and set forth in a notice provided to the Agent by such SPV and such Lender, provided, however, that in no case (including pursuant to clause (A) or (B) above) shall an SPV or participant have the right to enforce any of the terms of any Loan Document, and (iii) the consent of such SPV or participant shall not be required (either directly, as a restraint on such Lender’s ability to consent hereunder or otherwise) for any amendments, waivers or consents with respect to any Loan Document or to exercise or refrain from exercising any powers or rights such Lender may have under or in respect of the Loan Documents (including the right to enforce or direct enforcement of the Obligations), except for those described in clauses (ii) and (iii) of subsection 9.1(a) with respect to amounts, or dates fixed for payment of amounts, to which such participant or SPV would otherwise be entitled and, in the case of participants, except for those described in clause (vi) of subsection 9.1
(a) No party hereto shall institute (and the Borrower shall cause each other Credit Party not to institute) against any SPV grantee of an option pursuant to this clause (f) any bankruptcy, reorganization, insolvency, liquidation or similar proceeding, prior to the date that is one year and one day after the payment in full of all outstanding commercial paper of such SPV; provided, however, that each Lender having designated an SPV as such agrees to indemnify each Indemnitee against any Liability that may be incurred by, or asserted against, such Indemnitee as a result of failing to institute such proceeding (including a failure to get reimbursed by such SPV for any such Liability). The agreement in the preceding sentence shall survive the termination of the Revolving Loan Commitments and the payment in full of the Obligations.