DELEK LOGISTICS PARTNERS, LP DESCRIPTION OF COMMON UNITS
Exhibit 4.1
DESCRIPTION OF COMMON UNITS
General
Delek Logistics Partners, LP (“us”, “we”, “our” or the “Partnership”) was formed in the state of Delaware. The rights of holders of our common units are generally covered by Delaware law and our Certificate of Limited Partnership (“Certificate”) our Second Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of Delek Logistics Partners, LP, dated August 13, 2020, as amended by that certain Amendment No. 1, dated as of February 26, 2023 (the “Partnership Agreement”) (each as amended and restated and in effect as of the date hereof). The terms of our common units are therefore subject to Delaware law, including the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act (the “Delaware Act”), and the common and constitutional law of Delaware.
This exhibit describes the general terms of our common units. This is a summary and does not purport to be complete. Our Certificate and the Partnership Agreement as they exist on the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K are incorporated by reference or filed as an exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this exhibit is a part, and amendments or restatements of each will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) in future periodic or current reports in accordance with the rules of the SEC. You are encouraged to read those documents.
For more detailed information about the rights of our common units, you should refer to our Certificate, the Partnership Agreement and the applicable provisions of Delaware law, including the DGCL, for additional information.
The Units
The common units are limited partner interests in us. The holders of common units are entitled to participate in partnership distributions and exercise the rights or privileges available to limited partners under the Partnership Agreement.
Limited Liability
Assuming that a limited partner does not participate in the control of our business within the meaning of the Delaware Act and that the limited partner otherwise acts in conformity with the provisions of the Partnership Agreement, the limited partner’s liability under the Delaware Act will be limited, subject to possible exceptions, to the amount of capital the limited partner is obligated to contribute to us for common units plus the limited partner’s share of any undistributed profits and assets. If it were determined, however, that the right, or exercise of the right, by the limited partners as a group:
•to remove or replace the general partner;
•to approve some amendments to the Partnership Agreement; or
•to take other action under the Partnership Agreement;
constituted “participation in the control” of our business for the purposes of the Delaware Act, then the limited partners could be held personally liable for our obligations under the laws of Delaware, to the same extent as the general partner. This liability would extend to persons who transact business with us who reasonably believe that the limited partner is a general partner. Neither the Partnership Agreement nor the Delaware Act specifically provides for legal recourse against the general partner if a limited partner were to lose limited liability through any fault of the general partner. While this does not mean that a limited partner could not seek legal recourse, we know of no precedent for this type of a claim in Delaware case law.
Under the Delaware Act, a limited partnership may not make a distribution to a partner if, after the distribution, all liabilities of the limited partnership, other than liabilities to partners on account of their limited partner interests and liabilities for which the recourse of creditors is limited to specific property of the partnership, would exceed the fair value of the assets of the limited partnership. For the purpose of determining the fair value of the assets of a limited partnership, the Delaware Act provides that the fair value of property subject to liability for which recourse of creditors is limited shall be included in the assets of the limited partnership only to the extent that the fair value of that property exceeds the non-recourse liability. The Delaware Act provides that a limited partner who receives a distribution and knew at the time of the distribution that the distribution was in violation of the Delaware Act shall be liable to the limited partnership for the amount of the distribution for three years. Under the Delaware Act, a substituted limited partner of a limited partnership is liable for the obligations of the limited partner’s assignor to make contributions to the partnership, except that such person is not obligated for liabilities unknown to limited partner at the time the limited partner became a limited partner and that could not be ascertained from the partnership agreement.
Our subsidiaries conduct business in several states and we may have subsidiaries that conduct business in other states in the future. Maintenance of our limited liability as a limited partner of our operating subsidiaries may require compliance with legal requirements in the jurisdictions in which our operating subsidiaries conduct business, including qualifying our subsidiaries to do business there.
Limitations on the liability of limited partners or members for the obligations of a limited partnership or limited liability company have not been clearly established in many jurisdictions. If, by virtue of our limited partner interest in our operating company or otherwise, it were determined that we were conducting business in any state without compliance with the applicable limited partnership or limited liability company statute, or that the right or exercise of the right by the limited partners as a group to remove or replace the general partner, to approve some amendments to the Partnership Agreement, or to take other action under the Partnership Agreement constituted “participation in the control” of our business for purposes of the statutes of any relevant jurisdiction, then the limited partners could be held personally liable for our obligations under the law of that jurisdiction to the same extent as the general partner under the circumstances. We will operate in a manner that the general partner considers reasonable and necessary or appropriate to preserve the limited liability of the limited partners.
Issuance of Additional Partnership Interests
The Partnership Agreement authorizes us to issue an unlimited number of additional partnership interests for the consideration and on the terms and conditions determined by our general partner without the approval of the unitholders.
It is possible that we will fund acquisitions through the issuance of additional common units or other partnership interests. Holders of any additional common units we issue will be entitled to share equally with the then-existing holders of common units in our distributions of available cash. In addition, the issuance of additional common units or other partnership interests may dilute the value of the interests of the then-existing holders of common units in our net assets.
In accordance with Delaware law and the provisions of the Partnership Agreement, we may also issue additional partnership interests that, as determined by our general partner, may have special voting rights to which the common units are not entitled. In addition, the Partnership Agreement does not prohibit the issuance by our subsidiaries of equity interests, which may effectively rank senior to the common units.
Our general partner will have the right, which it may from time to time assign in whole or in part to any of its affiliates, to purchase common units or other partnership interests whenever, and on the same terms that, we issue those interests to persons other than our general partner and its affiliates, to the extent necessary to maintain the percentage interest of the general partner and its affiliates, including such interest represented by common units, that existed immediately prior to each issuance. The other holders of common units will not have preemptive rights to acquire additional common units or other partnership interests.
Cash Distributions
Distributions of Available Cash
The Partnership Agreement requires that, within 45 days after the end of each quarter, we distribute all of our available cash to unitholders of record on the applicable record date.
Definition of Available Cash
Available cash generally means, for any quarter, all cash and cash equivalents on hand at the end of that quarter:
•less the amount of cash reserves established by our general partner to:
oprovide for the proper conduct of our business (including cash reserves for our future capital expenditures and anticipated future debt service requirements and refunds of collected rates reasonably likely to be refunded as a result of a settlement or hearing related to FERC rate proceedings or rate proceedings under applicable law subsequent to that quarter);
ocomply with applicable law, any of our debt instruments or other agreements; or
oprovide funds for distributions to our unitholders and to our general partner for any one or more of the next four quarters (provided that our general partner may not establish cash reserves for distributions if the effect of the establishment of such reserves will prevent us from distributing the minimum quarterly distribution on all common units for the current quarter);
•plus, if our general partner so determines, all or any portion of the cash (A) on hand on the date of determination of available cash for the quarter resulting from working capital borrowings made subsequent to the end of such quarter or (B) available to be borrowed as a working capital borrowing as of the date of determination of available cash with respect to such quarter (even if not actually borrowed until the date on which the distribution of available cash with respect to such quarter is paid). Under the Partnership Agreement, working capital borrowings are generally borrowings that are made under a credit facility, commercial paper facility or similar financing arrangement, and in all cases are used solely for working capital purposes or to pay distributions to partners, and with the intent of the borrower to repay such borrowings within 12 months with funds other than from additional working capital borrowings.
Distributions of Cash Upon Liquidation
If we dissolve in accordance with the Partnership Agreement, we will sell or otherwise dispose of our assets in a process called liquidation. We will first apply the proceeds of liquidation to the payment of our creditors. We will distribute any remaining proceeds to our unitholders, in accordance with their capital account balances, as adjusted to reflect any gain or loss upon the sale or other disposition of our assets in liquidation.
Amendment of the Partnership Agreement
General
Amendments to the Partnership Agreement may be proposed only by our general partner. However, our general partner will have no duty or obligation to propose any amendment and may decline to do so free of any duty or obligation whatsoever to us or the limited partners, including any duty to act in the best interests of us or the limited partners, other than the implied contractual covenant of good faith and fair dealing. In order to adopt a proposed amendment, our general partner is usually required to seek written approval of the holders of the number of units required to approve the amendment or call a meeting of the limited partners to consider and vote upon the proposed amendment. However, in some circumstances, more particularly described in our partnership agreement, our general partner may make amendments to our partnership agreement without the approval of our limited partners. Except as described below, an amendment that must be approved by our limited partners must be approved by a unit majority.
Prohibited Amendments
No amendment may be made that would:
•enlarge the obligations of any limited partner without its consent, unless such is deemed to have occurred as a result of an amendment approved by at least a majority of the type or class of limited partner interests so affected; or
•enlarge the obligations of, restrict in any way any action by or rights of, or reduce in any way the amounts distributable, reimbursable or otherwise payable by us to our general partner or any of its affiliates without its consent, which consent may be given or withheld at its option.
The provisions of the Partnership Agreement preventing the amendments having the effects described in any of the clauses above can be amended upon the approval of the holders of at least 90.0% of the outstanding units voting together as a single class (including units owned by our general partner and its affiliates).
Merger, Consolidation, Conversion, Sale or Other Disposition of Assets
A merger, consolidation or conversion of us requires the prior consent of our general partner. However, our general partner will have no duty or obligation to consent to any merger, consolidation or conversion and may decline to do so free of any duty or obligation whatsoever to us or the limited partners, including any duty to act in the best interest of us or the limited partners, other than the implied contractual covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
In addition, the Partnership Agreement generally prohibits our general partner without the prior approval of the holders of a unit majority, from causing us to, among other things, sell, exchange or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets in a single transaction or a series of related transactions. Our general partner may, however, mortgage, pledge, hypothecate or grant a security interest in all or substantially all of our assets without that approval. Our general partner may also sell any or all of our assets under a foreclosure or other realization upon those encumbrances without that approval. Finally, our general partner may consummate any merger with another limited liability entity without the prior approval of our unitholders if we are the surviving entity in the transaction, our general partner has received an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters, the transaction would not result in an amendment to the partnership agreement requiring unitholder approval, each of our units will be an identical unit of our partnership following the transaction, and the partnership interests to be issued by us in such merger do not exceed 20.0% of our outstanding partnership interests immediately prior to the transaction.
If the conditions specified in the Partnership Agreement are satisfied, our general partner may convert us or any of our subsidiaries into a new limited liability entity or merge us or any of our subsidiaries into, or convey all of our assets to, a newly formed entity if the sole purpose of that conversion, merger or conveyance is to effect a mere change in our legal form into another limited liability entity, our general partner has received an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters, and the general partner determines that the governing instruments of the new entity provide the limited partners and the general partner with the same rights and obligations as contained in the partnership agreement. The unitholders are not entitled to dissenters’ rights of appraisal under the Partnership Agreement or applicable Delaware law in the event of a conversion, merger or consolidation, a sale of substantially all of our assets or any other similar transaction or event.
Termination and Dissolution
We will continue as a limited partnership until dissolved and terminated under the Partnership Agreement. We will dissolve upon:
•the election of our general partner to dissolve us, if approved by the holders of units representing a unit majority;
•there being no limited partners, unless we are continued without dissolution in accordance with applicable Delaware law;
the entry of a decree of judicial dissolution of our partnership; or
•the withdrawal or removal of our general partner or any other event that results in its ceasing to be our general partner other than by reason of a transfer of its general partner interest in accordance with the Partnership Agreement or withdrawal or removal followed by approval and admission of a successor.
Upon a dissolution under the last clause above, the holders of a unit majority may also elect, within specific time limitations, to continue our business on the same terms and conditions described in the Partnership Agreement by appointing as a successor general partner an entity approved by the holders of units representing a unit majority, subject to our receipt of an opinion of counsel to the effect that:
•the action would not result in the loss of limited liability of any limited partner; and
•neither our partnership nor any of our subsidiaries would be treated as an association taxable as a corporation or otherwise be taxable as an entity for federal income tax purposes upon the exercise of that right to continue.
Liquidation and Distribution of Proceeds
Upon our dissolution, unless we are continued as a new limited partnership, the liquidator authorized to wind up our affairs will, acting with all of the powers of our general partner that are necessary or appropriate to liquidate our assets and apply the proceeds of the liquidation as described in “Distributions of Cash Upon Liquidation.” The liquidator may defer liquidation or distribution of our assets for a reasonable period of time or distribute assets to partners in kind if it determines that a sale would be impractical or would cause undue loss to our partners.
Withdrawal or Removal of the General Partner
Except as described below, our general partner has agreed not to withdraw voluntarily as our general partner prior to December 31, 2022 without obtaining the approval of the holders of at least a majority of the outstanding common units, excluding common units held by the general partner and its affiliates, and furnishing an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters. On or after December 31, 2022, our general partner may withdraw as general partner without first obtaining approval of any unitholder by giving 90 days’ written notice, and that withdrawal will not constitute a violation of the Partnership Agreement. Notwithstanding the information above, our general partner may withdraw without unitholder approval upon 90 days’ notice to the limited partners if at least 50.0% of the outstanding units are held or controlled by one person and its affiliates other than the general partner and its affiliates. In addition, the partnership agreement permits our general partner to sell or otherwise transfer all of its general partner interest in us without the approval of the unitholders.
Upon voluntary withdrawal of our general partner by giving written notice to the other partners, the holders of a unit majority may select a successor to that withdrawing general partner. If a successor is not elected, or is elected but an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters cannot be obtained, we will be dissolved, wound up and liquidated, unless within a specified period after that withdrawal, the holders of a unit majority agree to continue our business by appointing a successor general partner.
Our general partner may not be removed unless that removal is approved by the vote of the holders of not less than 66 2/3% of the outstanding units, voting together as a single class, including units held by our general partner and its affiliates, and we receive an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters. Any removal of our general partner is also subject to the approval of a successor general partner by the vote of the holders of a majority of the outstanding common units voting as a separate class. The ownership of more than 33 1/3% of the outstanding units by our general partner and its affiliates would give them the practical ability to prevent our general partner’s removal.
In the event of removal of a general partner under circumstances where cause exists or withdrawal of a general partner where that withdrawal violates the Partnership Agreement, a successor general partner will have the option to purchase the general partner interest of the departing general partner for a cash payment equal to the fair market value of that interest. Under all other circumstances where a general partner withdraws or is removed by the limited partners, the departing general partner will have the option to require the successor general partner to purchase the general partner interest of the departing general partner for fair market value. In that case, this fair market value will be determined by agreement between the departing general partner and the successor general partner. If no agreement is reached, an independent investment banking firm or other independent expert selected by the departing general partner and the successor general partner will determine the fair market value. Or, if the departing general partner and the successor general partner cannot agree upon an expert, then an expert chosen by agreement of the experts selected by each of them will determine the fair market value.
If the option described above is not exercised by either the departing general partner or the successor general partner, the departing general partner will become a limited partner and its general partner interest will automatically convert into common units pursuant to a valuation of that interest as determined by an investment banking firm or other independent expert selected in the manner described in the preceding paragraph.
In addition, we will be required to reimburse the departing general partner for all amounts due the departing general partner, including, without limitation, all employee-related liabilities, including severance liabilities, incurred for the termination of any employees employed by the departing general partner or its affiliates for our benefit.
Transfer of General Partner Units
Our general partner may transfer all or any of its general partner units to an affiliate or a third party without the approval of our unitholders. As a condition of this transfer, the transferee must assume, among other things, the rights and duties of our general partner, agree to be bound by the provisions of the Partnership Agreement, and furnish an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters.
Our general partner and its affiliates may at any time, transfer common units to one or more persons, without unitholder approval.
Transfer of Ownership Interests in the General Partner
At any time, Delek and its subsidiaries may sell or transfer all or part of their membership interest in our general partner to an affiliate or third party without the approval of our unitholders.
Change of Management Provisions
The Partnership Agreement contains specific provisions that are intended to discourage a person or group from attempting to remove Delek Logistics GP, LLC as our general partner or otherwise change our management. If any person or group other than our general partner and its affiliates acquires beneficial ownership of 20.0% or more of any class of units, that person or group loses voting rights on all of its units. This loss of voting rights does not apply to any person or group that acquires the units from our general partner or its affiliates and any transferees of that person or group who are notified by our general partner that they will not lose their voting rights or to any person or group who acquires the units with the prior approval of the board of directors of our general partner.
Limited Call Right
If at any time our general partner and its affiliates own more than 85.0% of the then-issued and outstanding common units, our general partner will have the right, which it may assign in whole or in part to any of its affiliates or to us, to acquire all, but not less than all, of the limited partner interests of such class held by unaffiliated persons as of a record date to be selected by our general partner, on at least 10 but not more than 60 days’ notice. The 85.0% threshold will automatically decrease to 80.0% if at
any time our general partner and its affiliates together own less than 77.0% of our outstanding common units. The purchase price in the event of this purchase is the greater of:
•the highest cash price paid by either of our general partner or any of its affiliates for any limited partner interests of the class purchased within the 90 days preceding the date on which our general partner first mails notice of its election to purchase those limited partner interests; and
•the current market price calculated in accordance with the Partnership Agreement as of the date three business days before the date the notice is mailed.
As a result of our general partner’s right to purchase outstanding limited partner interests, a holder of limited partner interests may have the limited partner interests purchased at a price that may be lower than market prices at various times prior to such purchase or lower than a unitholder may anticipate the market price to be in the future. The tax consequences to a unitholder of the exercise of this call right are the same as a sale by that unitholder of the common units in the market.
Meetings; Voting
Except as described below regarding a person or group owning 20.0% or more of any class of units then outstanding, record holders of units on the record date will be entitled to notice of, and to vote at, meetings of our limited partners and to act upon matters for which approvals may be solicited.
Our general partner does not anticipate that any meeting of unitholders will be called in the foreseeable future. Any action that is required or permitted to be taken by the unitholders may be taken either at a meeting of the unitholders or, if authorized by our general partner, without a meeting if consents in writing describing the action so taken are signed by holders of the number of units that would be necessary to authorize or take that action at a meeting where all limited partners were present and voted. Meetings of the unitholders may be called by our general partner or by unitholders owning at least 20.0% of the outstanding units of the class for which a meeting is proposed. Unitholders may vote either in person or by proxy at meetings. The holders of a majority of the outstanding units of the class or classes for which a meeting has been called represented in person or by proxy will constitute a quorum unless any action by the unitholders requires approval by holders of a greater percentage of the units, in which case the quorum will be the greater percentage.
Each record holder of a unit has a vote according to the percentage interest in us, although additional limited partner interests having special voting rights could be issued. However, if at any time any person or group, other than our general partner and its affiliates, a direct transferee of our general partner and its affiliates or a transferee of such direct transferee who is notified by our general partner that it will not lose its voting rights, acquires, in the aggregate, beneficial ownership of 20.0% or more of any class of units then outstanding, that person or group will lose voting rights on all of its units and the units may not be voted on any matter and will not be considered to be outstanding when sending notices of a meeting of unitholders, calculating required votes, determining the presence of a quorum or for other similar purposes. Common units held in nominee or street name account will be voted by the broker or other nominee in accordance with the instruction of the beneficial owner unless the arrangement between the beneficial owner and the nominee provides otherwise.
Any notice, demand, request, report or proxy material required or permitted to be given or made to record holders of common units under the Partnership Agreement will be delivered to the record holder by us or by the transfer agent.
Status as Limited Partner
By transfer of common units in accordance with the Partnership Agreement, each transferee of common units shall be admitted as a limited partner with respect to the common units transferred when such transfer and admission is reflected in our register. Except as described under “Limited Liability,” the common units will be fully paid, and unitholders will not be required to make additional contributions.
Ineligible Holders; Redemption
Under the Partnership Agreement, an “Eligible Holder” is a limited partner whose (a) federal income tax status is not reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on the rates that can be charged by us on assets that are subject to regulation by FERC or an analogous regulatory body and (b) nationality, citizenship or other related status would not create a substantial risk of cancellation or forfeiture of any property in which we have an interest, in each case as determined by our general partner with the advice of counsel.
If at any time our general partner determines, with the advice of counsel, that one or more limited partners are not Eligible Holders (any such limited partner, an “Ineligible Holder”), then our general partner may request any limited partner to furnish to the general partner an executed certification or other information about the limited partner’s federal income tax status and/or nationality, citizenship or related status. If a limited partner fails to furnish such certification or other requested information within 30 days (or such other period as the general partner may determine) after a request for such certification or other information, or our general partner determines after receipt of the information that the limited partner is not an Eligible Holder, the limited partner may be treated as an Ineligible Holder. An Ineligible Holder does not have the right to direct the voting of the Ineligible Holder’s units and may not receive distributions in kind upon our liquidation.
Furthermore, we have the right to redeem all of the common units of any holder that our general partner concludes is an Ineligible Holder or fails to furnish the information requested by our general partner. The redemption price in the event of such redemption for each unit held by such unitholder will be the current market price of such unit (the date of determination of which shall be the date fixed for redemption). The redemption price will be paid, as determined by our general partner, in cash or by delivery of a promissory note. Any such promissory note will bear interest at the rate of 5% annually and be payable in three equal annual installments of principal and accrued interest, commencing one year after the redemption date.
Indemnification
Under the Partnership Agreement, in most circumstances, we will indemnify the following persons, to the fullest extent permitted by law, from and against all losses, claims, damages or similar events:
•our general partner;
•any departing general partner;
•any person who is or was an affiliate of a general partner or any departing general partner;
•any person who is or was a director, officer, managing member, manager, general partner, fiduciary or trustee of our subsidiaries, us or any entity set forth in the preceding three bullet points;
•any person who is or was serving as director, officer, managing member, manager, general partner, fiduciary or trustee of another person owing a fiduciary duty to us or any of our subsidiaries at the request of our general partner or any departing general partner or any of their affiliates; and
•any person designated by our general partner.
Any indemnification under these provisions will only be out of our assets. Unless it otherwise agrees, our general partner will not be personally liable for, or have any obligation to contribute or lend funds or assets to us to enable us to effectuate, indemnification. We will purchase insurance against liabilities asserted against and expenses incurred by persons for our activities, regardless of whether we would have the power to indemnify the person against such liabilities under the Partnership Agreement.
Reimbursement of Expenses
The Partnership Agreement requires us to reimburse our general partner for all direct and indirect expenses it incurs or payments it makes on our behalf and all other expenses allocable to us or otherwise incurred by our general partner in connection with operating our business. These expenses include salary, bonus, incentive compensation and other amounts paid to persons who perform services for us or on our behalf and expenses allocated to our general partner by its affiliates. The general partner is entitled to determine in good faith the expenses that are allocable to us.
Books and Reports
Our general partner is required to keep appropriate books of our business at our principal offices. The books will be maintained for financial reporting purposes on an accrual basis. For tax and fiscal reporting purposes, our fiscal year is the calendar year.
We will mail or make available to record holders of common units, within 105 days after the close of each fiscal year, an annual report containing audited financial statements and a report on those financial statements by our independent public accountants. Except for our fourth quarter, we will also mail or make available summary financial information within 50 days after the close of each quarter.
We will furnish each record holder of a unit with information reasonably required for tax reporting purposes within 90 days after the close of each calendar year. This information is expected to be furnished in summary form so that some complex calculations normally required of partners can be avoided. Our ability to furnish this summary information to unitholders will depend on the cooperation of unitholders in supplying us with specific information. Every unitholder will receive information to assist the partner in determining the partner’s federal and state tax liability and filing the partner’s federal and state income tax returns, regardless of whether the partner supplies us with information.
Right to Inspect Our Books and Records
The Partnership Agreement provides that a limited partner can, for a purpose reasonably related to the limited partner’s interest as a limited partner, upon reasonable written demand stating the purpose of such demand and at the limited partner’s own expense, have furnished to the limited partner:
•a current list of the name and last known address of each record holder;
•copies of the Partnership Agreement and our certificate of limited partnership and all amendments thereto; and
•certain information regarding the status of our business and financial condition.
Our general partner may, and intends to, keep confidential from the limited partners, trade secrets or other information the disclosure of which our general partner determines is not in our best interests or that we are required by law or by agreements with third parties to keep confidential. The Partnership Agreement limits the right to information that a limited partner would otherwise have under Delaware law.
Listing
Our common units are listed for trading on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "DKL."
Transfer Agent and Registrar
The transfer agent and registrar for our Common Stock is Equiniti Trust Company, LLC.