FOURTH AMENDED AND RESTATED AGREEMENT OF LIMITED PARTNERSHIP OF TC PIPELINES, LP
Exhibit 3.1
FOURTH AMENDED AND RESTATED
AGREEMENT OF LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
OF
TC PIPELINES, LP
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Article I DEFINITIONS....................................................................................................... 2
Section 1.1 DEFINITIONS.......................................................................................... 2
Section 1.2 CONSTRUCTION.................................................................................. 19
Article II ORGANIZATION.............................................................................................. 20
Section 2.1 FORMATION......................................................................................... 20
Section 2.2 NAME..................................................................................................... 20
Section 2.3 REGISTERED OFFICE; REGISTERED AGENT;
PRINCIPAL OFFICE; OTHER OFFICES......................................................................... 20
Section 2.4 PURPOSE AND BUSINESS................................................................. 20
Section 2.5 POWERS................................................................................................. 21
Section 2.6 POWER OF ATTORNEY...................................................................... 21
Section 2.7 TERM....................................................................................................... 22
Section 2.8 TITLE TO PARTNERSHIP ASSETS.................................................... 22
Article III RIGHTS OF LIMITED PARTNERS................................................................ 23
Section 3.1 LIMITATION OF LIABILITY............................................................. 23
Section 3.2 MANAGEMENT OF BUSINESS....................................................... 23
Section 3.3 OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES OF THE LIMITED PARTNERS................ 23
Section 3.4 RIGHTS OF LIMITED PARTNERS.................................................. 24
Article IV CERTIFICATES; RECORD HOLDERS; TRANSFER OF PARTNERSHIP
INTERESTS; REDEMPTION OF PARTNERSHIP INTERESTS................................ 24
Section 4.1 CERTIFICATES...................................................................................... 24
Section 4.2 MUTILATED, DESTROYED, LOST OR STOLEN CERTIFICATES. 25
Section 4.3 RECORD HOLDERS............................................................................ 26
Section 4.4 TRANSFER GENERALLY................................................................. 26
Section 4.5 REGISTRATION AND TRANSFER OF LIMITED PARTNER
INTERESTS...................................................................................................................... 27
Section 4.6 TRANSFER OF THE GENERAL PARTNER’S GENERAL
PARTNER INTEREST.................................................................................................... 28
Section 4.7 TRANSFER OF INCENTIVE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS................ 28
Section 4.8 RESTRICTIONS ON TRANSFERS.................................................. 28
Section 4.9 CITIZENSHIP CERTIFICATES; NON-CITIZEN ASSIGNEES...... 29
Section 4.10 REDEMPTION OF PARTNERSHIP INTERESTS OF
NON-CITIZEN ASSIGNEES............................................................................................ 30
Article V CAPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS AND ISSUANCE OF PARTNERSHIP
INTERESTS..................................................................................................................... 31
Section 5.1 [INTENTIONALLY OMITTED.]...................................................... 31
Section 5.2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PARTNERSHIP.................................. 31
Section 5.3 [INTENTIONALLY OMITTED.]...................................................... 31
Section 5.4 INTEREST AND WITHDRAWAL................................................... 31
Section 5.5 CAPITAL ACCOUNTS..................................................................... 32
Section 5.6 ISSUANCES OF ADDITIONAL PARTNERSHIP SECURITIES... 34
Section 5.7 LIMITATIONS ON ISSUANCE OF FRACTIONAL
PARTNERSHIP SECURITIES........................................................................................... 35
Section 5.8 [INTENTIONALLY OMITTED.].......................................................... 35
Section 5.9 LIMITED PREEMPTIVE RIGHT.......................................................... 35
Section 5.10 SPLITS AND COMBINATION............................................................ 35
Section 5.11 FULLY PAID AND NON-ASSESSABLE NATURE OF LIMITED
PARTNER INTERESTS.................................................................................................... 36
Article VI ALLOCATIONS AND DISTRIBUTIONS................................................... 36
Section 6.1 ALLOCATIONS FOR CAPITAL ACCOUNT PURPOSES............. 36
Section 6.2 ALLOCATIONS FOR TAX PURPOSES.......................................... 43
Section 6.3 REQUIREMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF DISTRIBUTIONS;
DISTRIBUTIONS TO RECORD HOLDERS................................................................... 45
Section 6.4 DISTRIBUTIONS OF AVAILABLE CASH FROM OPERATING
SURPLUS......................................................................................................................... 46
Section 6.5 DISTRIBUTIONS OF AVAILABLE CASH FROM CAPITAL
SURPLUS.......................................................................................................................... 46
Section 6.6 ADJUSTMENT OF MINIMUM QUARTERLY DISTRIBUTION
AND TARGET DISTRIBUTION LEVELS................................................................... 47
Section 6.7 [INTENTIONALLY OMITTED.]...................................................... 47
Section 6.8 SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE HOLDERS OF
INCENTIVE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS........................................................................ 47
Section 6.9 ENTITY-LEVEL TAXATION........................................................... 47
Article VII MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION OF BUSINESS............................ 48
Section 7.1 MANAGEMENT................................................................................ 48
Section 7.2 CERTIFICATE OF LIMITED PARTNERSHIP................................ 50
Section 7.3 RESTRICTIONS ON GENERAL PARTNER’S AUTHORITY....... 50
Section 7.4 REIMBURSEMENT OF THE GENERAL PARTNER..................... 51
Section 7.5 OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES..................................................................... 52
Section 7.6 LOANS FROM THE GENERAL PARTNER; LOANS OR
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE PARTNERSHIP; CONTRACTS WITH AFFILIATES;
CERTAIN RESTRICTIONS ON THE GENERAL PARTNER.................................... 53
Section 7.7 INDEMNIFICATION......................................................................... 54
Section 7.8 LIABILITY OF INDEMNITEES....................................................... 56
Section 7.9 RESOLUTION OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST............................. 57
Section 7.10 OTHER MATTERS CONCERNING THE GENERAL PARTNER. 58
Section 7.11 PURCHASE OR SALE OF PARTNERSHIP SECURITIES............. 59
Section 7.12 REGISTRATION RIGHTS OF THE GENERAL PARTNER AND
ITS AFFILIATES............................................................................................................ 59
Section 7.13 RELIANCE BY THIRD PARTIES.................................................... 61
Article VIII BOOKS, RECORDS, ACCOUNTING AND REPORTS......................... 62
Section 8.1 RECORDS AND ACCOUNTING..................................................... 62
Section 8.2 FISCAL YEAR................................................................................... 62
Section 8.3 REPORTS........................................................................................... 62
Article IX TAX MATTERS........................................................................................... 63
Section 9.1 TAX RETURNS AND INFORMATION......................................... 63
Section 9.2 TAX ELECTIONS.............................................................................. 63
Section 9.3 TAX CONTROVERSIES................................................................... 63
Section 9.4 WITHHOLDING................................................................................ 63
Article X ADMISSION OF PARTNERS....................................................................... 64
Section 10.1 CURRENT PARTNERS..................................................................... 64
Section 10.2 ADMISSION OF SUBSTITUTED LIMITED PARTNER................ 64
Section 10.3 ADMISSION OF SUCCESSOR GENERAL PARTNER.................. 64
Section 10.4 ADMISSION OF ADDITIONAL LIMITED PARTNERS................ 65
Section 10.5 AMENDMENT OF AGREEMENT AND CERTIFICATE OF
LIMITED PARTNERSHIP............................................................................................... 65
Article XI WITHDRAWAL OR REMOVAL OF PARTNERS.................................... 65
Section 11.1 WITHDRAWAL OF THE GENERAL PARTNER........................... 65
Section 11.2 REMOVAL OF THE GENERAL PARTNER.................................... 67
Section 11.3 INTEREST OF DEPARTING PARTNER AND SUCCESSOR
GENERAL PARTNER..................................................................................................... 67
Section 11.4 [INTENTIONALLY OMITTED.]...................................................... 69
Section 11.5 WITHDRAWAL OF LIMITED PARTNERS................................... 69
Article XII DISSOLUTION AND LIQUIDATION...................................................... 69
Section 12.1 DISSOLUTION.................................................................................. 69
Section 12.2 CONTINUATION OF THE BUSINESS OF THE
PARTNERSHIP AFTER DISSOLUTION.................................................................... 70
Section 12.3 LIQUIDATOR.................................................................................... 70
Section 12.4 LIQUIDATION................................................................................... 71
Section 12.5 CANCELLATION OF CERTIFICATE OF LIMITED
PARTNERSHIP.............................................................................................................. 72
Section 12.6 RETURN OF CONTRIBUTIONS...................................................... 72
Section 12.7 WAIVER OF PARTITION................................................................. 72
Section 12.8 CAPITAL ACCOUNT RESTORATION........................................... 72
Article XIII AMENDMENT OF PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT; MEETINGS;
RECORD DATE............................................................................................................... 72
Section 13.1 AMENDMENT TO BE ADOPTED SOLELY BY
THE GENERAL PARTNER........................................................................................... 72
Section 13.2 AMENDMENT PROCEDURES........................................................ 74
Section 13.3 AMENDMENT REQUIREMENTS................................................... 74
Section 13.4 SPECIAL MEETINGS....................................................................... 75
Section 13.5 NOTICE OF A MEETING................................................................. 75
Section 13.6 RECORD DATE................................................................................. 76
Section 13.7 ADJOURNMENT............................................................................... 76
Section 13.8 WAIVER OF NOTICE; APPROVAL OF MEETING;
APPROVAL OF MINUTES........................................................................................... 76
Section 13.9 QUORUM........................................................................................... 76
Section 13.10 CONDUCT OF A MEETING............................................................. 77
Section 13.11 ACTION WITHOUT A MEETING................................................... 77
Section 13.12 VOTING AND OTHER RIGHTS...................................................... 78
Article XIV MERGER...................................................................................................... 78
Section 14.1 AUTHORITY...................................................................................... 78
Section 14.2 PROCEDURE FOR MERGER OR CONSOLIDATION.................. 79
Section 14.3 APPROVAL BY LIMITED PARTNERS OF MERGER OR
CONSOLIDATION.......................................................................................................... 80
Section 14.4 CERTIFICATE OF MERGER............................................................ 80
Section 14.5 EFFECT OF MERGER....................................................................... 80
Article XV RIGHT TO ACQUIRE LIMITED PARTNER INTERESTS..................... 81
Section 15.1 RIGHT TO ACQUIRE LIMITED PARTNER INTERESTS............. 81
Article XVI GENERAL PROVISIONS........................................................................... 83
Section 16.1 ADDRESSES AND NOTICES.......................................................... 83
Section 16.2 FURTHER ACTION........................................................................... 83
Section 16.3 BINDING EFFECT............................................................................. 84
Section 16.4 INTEGRATION.................................................................................. 84
Section 16.5 CREDITORS....................................................................................... 84
Section 16.6 WAIVER............................................................................................. 84
Section 16.7 COUNTERPARTS.............................................................................. 84
Section 16.8 APPLICABLE LAW........................................................................... 84
Section 16.9 INVALIDITY OF PROVISIONS....................................................... 84
Section 16.10 CONSENT OF PARTNERS............................................................... 84
EXHIBIT A –... CERTIFICATE EVIDENCING COMMON UNITS REPRESENTING
LIMITED PARTNER INTERESTS IN TC PIPELINES, LP.................................................... A-1
EXHIBIT B –... CLASS B UNIT SUPPLEMENT..................................................................... B-1
FOURTH AMENDED AND RESTATED
AGREEMENT OF LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
OF
TC PIPELINES, LP
THIS FOURTH AMENDED AND RESTATED AGREEMENT OF LIMITED PARTNERSHIP OF TC PIPELINES, LP dated as of December 31, 2018, is entered into by and among TC PipeLines GP, Inc., a Delaware corporation, as the General Partner, and other Persons who are or who become Partners in the Partnership or parties hereto as provided herein. In consideration of the covenants, conditions and agreements contained herein, the parties hereto hereby agree as follows:
RECITALS
WHEREAS, TC PipeLines GP, Inc., as the general partner of the Partnership, and TransCan Northern Ltd., as the organizational limited partner, organized the Partnership as a Delaware limited partnership pursuant to the Delaware Act by filing a certificate of limited partnership of the Partnership with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware;
WHEREAS, the General Partner, TransCan Northern Ltd. and certain other parties as limited partners entered into that certain Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of the Partnership dated as of May 28, 1999, as amended (the “ORIGINAL AGREEMENT”providing for the operation of the Partnership upon the terms and conditions set forth therein. The Original Agreement was subsequently amended as of November 14, 2007. The Original Agreement was then amended and restated as of July 1, 2009 (the “SECOND RESTATED AGREEMENT”). The Second Restated Agreement was then amended and restated as of April 1, 2015, which was amended on December 13, 2017 (as so amended, the “THIRD RESTATED AGREEMENT”);
WHEREAS, as of the date hereof, the General Partner is transferring its 100% membership interest in TC PipeLines Intermediate GP, LLC, which owns 1.0101% general partnership interest in TC GL Intermediate Limited Partnership, a Delaware limited partnership, TC PipeLines Intermediate Limited Partnership, a Delaware limited partnership and TC Tuscarora Intermediate Limited Partnership, a Delaware limited partnership (collectively, the “Intermediate Partnerships”), to the Partnership in exchange for the issuance of a 1.0% general partner interest in the Partnership, and thereby the Intermediate Partnerships will become wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Partnership;
WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 13.1(d) of the Third Restated Agreement, the General Partner has the authority to adopt amendments to the Third Restated Agreement that, in the discretion of the General Partner, do not adversely affect the Limited Partners in any material respect without the approval of any Limited Partner or Assignee; and
WHEREAS, the General Partner is adopting this Agreement pursuant to Section 13.1(d) of the Third Restated Agreement to remove references to the Intermediate Partnerships to reflect the contribution described above and to make certain associated changes and corrections.
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the covenants and agreements made herein, the Third Restated Agreement is hereby amended and restated in its entirety as follows:
Article I
DEFINITIONS
The following definitions shall be for all purposes, unless otherwise clearly indicated to the contrary, applied to the terms used in this Agreement.
“ACQUISITION”means (a) any transaction in which any Group Member acquires (through an asset acquisition, merger, stock acquisition or other form of investment) control over all or substantially all of the assets, properties or business of another Person (or a division or line of business of such Person) for the purpose of increasing the operating capacity or revenues of the Partnership Group from the operating capacity or revenues of the Partnership Group existing immediately prior to such transaction, (b) any similar transaction entered into by a JV Entity as a result of which a Group Member becomes obligated to make a capital contribution or similar payment to such JV Entity; and (c) any similar transaction entered into by a JV Entity as a result of which a Group Member is requested, but not obligated, to make a capital contribution or similar payment to such JV Entity and such Group Member reasonably believes such capital contribution or similar payment to be necessary to protect or enhance its investment in the JV Entity.
“ADDITIONAL BOOK BASIS”means the portion of any remaining Carrying Value of an Adjusted Property that is attributable to positive adjustments made to such Carrying Value as a result of Book-Up Events. For purposes of determining the extent that Carrying Value constitutes Additional Book Basis:
(i) Any negative adjustment made to the Carrying Value of an Adjusted Property as a result of either a Book-Down Event or a Book-Up Event shall first be deemed to offset or decrease that portion of the Carrying Value of such Adjusted Property that is attributable to ally prior positive adjustments made thereto pursuant to a Book-Up Event or Book-Down Event.
“ADDITIONAL BOOK BASIS DERIVATIVE ITEMS”means any Book Basis Derivative Items that are computed with reference to Additional Book Basis. To the extent that the Additional Book Basis attributable to all of the Partnership’s Adjusted Property as of the beginning of any taxable period exceeds the Aggregate Remaining Net Positive Adjustments as of the
beginning of such period (the “EXCESS ADDITIONAL BOOK BASIS”), the Additional Book Basis Derivative Items for such period shall be reduced by the amount that bears the same ratio to the amount of Additional Book Basis Derivative Items determined without regard to this sentence as the Excess Additional Book Basis bears to the Additional Book Basis as of the beginning of such period.
“ADDITIONAL LIMITED PARTNER” means a Person admitted to the Partnership as a Limited Partner after the date of this Agreement pursuant to Section 10.4 and who is shown as such on the books and records of the Partnership.
“ADJUSTED CAPITAL ACCOUNT” means the Capital Account maintained for each Partner as of the end of each taxable period of the Partnership, (a) increased by any amounts that such Partner is obligated to restore under the standards set by Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(ii)(c) (or is deemed obligated to restore under Treasury Regulation Sections 1.704-2(g) and 1.704-2(i)(5)) and (b) decreased by (i) the amount of all losses and deductions that, as of the end of such period, are reasonably expected to be allocated to such Partner in subsequent years under Sections 704(e)(2) and 706(d) of the Code and Treasury Regulation Section 1.751-1(b)(2)(ii), and (ii) the amount of all distributions that, as of the end of such period, are reasonably expected to be made to such Partner in subsequent years in accordance with the terms of this Agreement or otherwise to the extent they exceed offsetting increases to such Partner’s Capital Account that are reasonably expected to occur during (or prior to) the year in which such distributions are reasonably expected to be made (other than increases as a result of a minimum gain chargeback pursuant to Section 6.1(d)(i) or 6.1(d)(ii)). The foregoing definition of Adjusted Capital Account is intended to comply with the provisions of Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(ii)(d) and shall be interpreted consistently therewith. The “Adjusted Capital Account” of a Partner in respect of a General Partner Interest, a Common Unit or an Incentive Distribution Right or any other specified interest in the Partnership shall be the amount which such Adjusted Capital Account would be if such General Partner Interest, Common Unit, Incentive Distribution Right or other interest in the Partnership were the only interest in the Partnership held by a Partner from and after the date on which such General Partner Interest, Common Unit, Incentive Distribution Right or other interest was first issued.
“ADJUSTED PROPERTY”means any property the Carrying Value of which has been adjusted pursuant to Section 5.5(d)(i) or 5.5(d)(ii).
“AFFILIATE”means, with respect to any Person, any other Person that directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries controls, is controlled by or is under common control with, the Person in question. As used herein, the term “CONTROL” means the possession, direct or indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a Person, whether through ownership of voting securities, by contract or otherwise.
“AGGREGATE REMAINING NET POSITIVE ADJUSTMENTS”means, as of the end of any taxable period of the Partnership, the sum of the Remaining Net Positive Adjustments of all the Partners.
“AGREED ALLOCATION”means any allocation, other than a Required Allocation, of an item of income, gain, loss or deduction pursuant to the provisions of Section 6.1, including, without limitation, a Curative Allocation (if appropriate to the context in which the term “AGREED ALLOCATION”is used).
“AGREED VALUE”of any Contributed Property means the fair market value of such property or other consideration at the time of contribution as determined by the General Partner using such reasonable method of valuation as it may adopt. The General Partner shall, in its discretion, use such method as it deems reasonable and appropriate to allocate the aggregate Agreed Value of Contributed Properties contributed to the Partnership in a single or integrated transaction among each separate property on a basis proportional to the fair market value of each Contributed Property.
“AGREEMENT”means this Fourth Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of TC PipeLines, LP, as it may be amended, supplemented or restated from time to time.
“ASSIGNEE”means a Non-citizen Assignee or a Person to whom one or more Limited Partner Interests have been transferred in a manner permitted under this Agreement and who has executed and delivered a Transfer Application as required by this Agreement, but who has not been admitted as a Substituted Limited Partner.
“ASSOCIATE”means, when used to indicate a relationship with any Person, (a) any corporation or organization of which such Person is a director, officer or partner or is, directly or indirectly, the owner of 20% or more of any class of voting stock or other voting interest; (b) any trust or other estate in which such Person has at least a 20% beneficial interest or as to which such Person serves as trustee or in a similar fiduciary capacity; and (c) any relative or spouse of such Person, or any relative of such spouse, who has the same principal residence as such Person.
“AVAILABLE CASH”means, with respect to any Quarter ending prior to the Liquidation Date,
(a) the stun of (i) all cash and cash equivalents of the Partnership on hand at the end of such Quarter, and (ii) all additional cash and cash equivalents of the Partnership on hand on the date of determination of Available Cash with respect to such Quarter resulting from Working Capital Borrowings made subsequent to the end of such Quarter, less
(b) the amount of any cash reserves that is necessary or appropriate in the reasonable discretion of the General Partner to (i) provide for the proper conduct of the business of the Partnership (including reserves for future capital expenditures and for anticipated future credit needs of the Partnership Group or any JV Entity) subsequent to such Quarter, (ii) comply with applicable law or any loan agreement, security agreement, mortgage, debt instrument or other agreement or obligation to which any Group Member is a ▇▇▇▇▇ or by which it is bound or its assets are subject (iii) provide funds for distributions under Section 6.4 or 6.5 in respect of any one or more of the next four Quarters or (iv) provide funds for the distribution of the Class B Distribution amount to the Class B Unitholders; provided, however, that the General Partner may
not establish cash reserves pursuant to clause (iii) above if the effect of such reserves would be that the Partnership is unable to distribute the Minimum Quarterly Distribution on all Common Units with respect to such Quarter; and, provided further, that disbursements made by the Partnership or cash reserves established, increased or reduced after the end of such Quarter but on or before the date of determination of Available Cash with respect to such Quarter shall be deemed to have been made, established, increased or reduced, for purposes of determining Available Cash, within such Quarter if the General Partner so determines.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, “AVAILABLE CASH”with respect to the Quarter in which the Liquidation Date occurs and any subsequent Quarter shall equal zero.
“BOOK BASIS DERIVATIVE ITEMS” means any item of income, deduction, gain or loss included in the determination of Net Income or Net Loss that is computed with reference to the Carrying Value of an Adjusted Property (e.g., depreciation, depletion, gain or loss with respect to an Adjusted Property).
“BOOK-DOWN EVENT”means an event which triggers a negative adjustment to the Capital Accounts of the Partners pursuant to Section 5.5(d).
“BOOK-TAX DISPARITY”means with respect to any item of Contributed Property or Adjusted Property, as of the date of any determination, the difference between the Carrying Value of such Contributed Property or Adjusted Property and the adjusted basis thereof for federal income tax purposes as of such date. A Partner’s share of the Partnership’s Book-Tax Disparities in all of its Contributed Property and Adjusted Property will be reflected by the difference between such Partner’s Capital Account balance as maintained pursuant to Section 5.5 and the hypothetical balance of such Partner’s Capital Account computed as if it had been maintained strictly in accordance with federal income tax accounting principles.
“BOOK-UP EVENT”means an event which triggers a positive adjustment to the Capital Accounts of the Partners pursuant to Section 5.5(d).
“BUSINESS DAY”means Monday through Friday of each week, except that a legal holiday recognized as such by the government of the United States of America, the State of New York, Canada or the Province of Alberta shall not be regarded as a Business Day.
“CAPITAL ACCOUNT”means the capital account maintained for a Partner pursuant to Section 5.5. The “CAPITAL ACCOUNT”of a Partner in respect of a General Partner Interest, a Common Unit, a Class B Unit, an Incentive Distribution Right or any other Partnership Interest shall be the amount which such Capital Account would be if such General Partner Interest, Common Unit, Incentive Distribution Right or other Partnership Interest were the only interest in the Partnership held by a Partner from and after the date on which such General Partner Interest, Common Unit, Class B Unit, Incentive Distribution Right or other Partnership Interest was first issued.
“CAPITAL CONTRIBUTION”means any cash, cash equivalents or the Net Agreed Value of Contributed Property that a Partner contributes to the Partnership.
“CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT”means any (a) addition or improvement to the capital assets owned by any Group Member, (b) acquisition of existing, or the construction of new, capital assets (including, without limitation, pipeline systems, terminalling and storage facilities and related assets), in each case made to increase the operating capacity or revenues of the Partnership Group from the operating capacity or revenues of the Partnership Group existing immediately prior to such addition, improvement, acquisition or construction, (c) any similar addition, improvement, acquisition or construction by a JV Entity as a result of which a Group Member becomes obligated to make a capital contribution or similar payment to such JV Entity; and (d) any similar addition, improvement, acquisition or construction by a JV Entity as a result of which a Group Member is requested, but not obligated, to make a capital contribution or similar payment to such JV Entity and such Group Member reasonably believes such capital contribution or similar payment to be necessary to protect or enhance its investment in the JV Entity.
“CAPITAL SURPLUS”has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 6.3(a).
“CARRYING VALUE”means (a) with respect to a Contributed Property, the Agreed Value of such property reduced (but not below zero) by all depreciation, amortization and cost recovery deductions charged to the Partners’ Capital Accounts in respect of such Contributed Property, and (b) with respect to any other Partnership property, the adjusted basis of such property for federal income tax purposes, all as of the time of determination. The Carrying Value of any property shall be adjusted from time to time in accordance with Sections 5.5(d)(i) and 5.5(d)(ii) and to reflect changes, additions or other adjustments to the Carrying Value for dispositions and acquisitions of Partnership properties, as deemed appropriate by the General Partner.
“CAUSE”means a court of competent jurisdiction has entered a final, non-appealable judgment finding the General Partner liable for actual fraud, gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct in its capacity as general partner of the Partnership.
“CERTIFICATE”means a certificate or a record from an uncertificated electronic registration system (i) substantially in the form of Exhibit A to this Agreement, (ii) issued in global form in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Depositary or (iii) in such other form as may be adopted by the General Partner in its discretion, such as a record evidencing ownership of one or more Common Units or a certificate, in such form as may be adopted by the General Partner in its discretion, evidencing ownership of one or more other Partnership Securities.
“CERTIFICATE OF LIMITED PARTNERSHIP”means the Certificate of Limited Partnership of the Partnership filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware as referenced in Section 2.1, as such Certificate of Limited Partnership may be amended, supplemented or restated from time to time.
“CITIZENSHIP CERTIFICATION” means a properly completed certificate in such form as may be specified by the General Partner by which an Assignee or a Limited Partner certifies that he (and if he is a nominee holding for the account of another Person, that to the best of his knowledge such other Person) is an Eligible Citizen.
“CLAIM”has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 7.12(c).
“CLASS B DISTRIBUTION”has the meaning assigned to such term in the Class B Unit Supplement.
“CLASS B UNIT”means a Unit having the rights and obligations set forth in the Class B Unit Supplement.
“CLASS B UNIT SUPPLEMENT” means the Supplement relating to the Class B Units attached hereto as Exhibit B.
“CLASS B UNITHOLDER” means the holders of Class B Units.
“CLOSING DATE”means the first date on which Common Units were sold by the Partnership to the underwriters in the Initial Offering.
“CLOSING PRICE”has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 15.1(a).
“CODE”means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended and in effect from time to time. Any reference herein to a specific section or sections of the Code shall be deemed to include a reference to any corresponding provision of successor law.
“COMBINED INTEREST”has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 11.3(a).
“COMMISSION”means the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
“COMMON UNIT”means a Unit representing a fractional part of the Partnership Interests of all Limited Partners and Assignees (other than holders of Incentive Distribution Rights and Class B Units) and having the rights and obligations specified with respect to Common Units in this Agreement.
“COMMON UNITHOLDERS”means the holders of Common Units.
“CONFLICTS COMMITTEE”means a committee of the Board of Directors of the General Partner composed entirely of two or more directors who are neither security holders, officers nor employees of the General Partner nor officers or employees of any Affiliate of the General Partner.
“CONTRIBUTED PROPERTY”means each property or other asset, in such form as may be permitted by the Delaware Act, but excluding cash, contributed to the Partnership. Once the Carrying Value of a Contributed Property is adjusted pursuant to Section 5.5(d), such property shall no longer constitute a Contributed Property, but shall be deemed an Adjusted Property.
“CURATIVE ALLOCATION”means any allocation of an item of income, gain, deduction, loss or credit pursuant to the provisions of Section 6.1(d)(xi).
“CURRENT MARKET PRICE”has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 15.1(a).
“DELAWARE ACT”means the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act, 6 Del C. Sections 17-01, et seq., as amended, supplemented or restated from time to time, and any successor to such statute.
“DEPARTING PARTNER”means a former General Partner from and after the effective date of any withdrawal or removal of such former General Partner pursuant to Section 11.1 or 11.2.
“DEPOSITARY”means, with respect to any Units issued in global form, The Depository Trust Company and its successors and permitted assigns.
“DISPOSED OF ADJUSTED PROPERTY” has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 6.1(d)(xii)(B).
“ECONOMIC RISK OF LOSS”has the meaning set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.752-2(a).
“ELIGIBLE CITIZEN”means a Person qualified to own interests in real property in jurisdictions in which any Group Member or JV Entity does business or proposes to do business from time to time, and whose status as a Limited Partner or Assignee does not or would not subject such Group Member or JV Entity to a significant risk of cancellation or forfeiture of any of its properties or any interest therein.
“EVENT OF WITHDRAWAL”has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 11.1(a).
“EXCHANGE AGREEMENT”has the meaning assigned to such term in the Recitals.
“FIRST TARGET DISTRIBUTION” means $0.81 per Unit per Quarter, subject to adjustment in accordance with Sections 6.6 and 6.9.
“FOREIGN AFFILIATE”has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 6.2(i).
“FOREIGN AFFILIATE DIVIDEND” has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 6.2(i).
“GENERAL PARTNER”means TC PipeLines GP, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its successors and permitted assigns as general partner of the Partnership.
“GENERAL PARTNER INTEREST” means the ownership interest of the General Partner in the Partnership (in its capacity as a general partner without reference to any Limited Partner Interest held by it), and includes any and all benefits to which the General Partner is entitled as provided in this Agreement, together with all obligations of the General Partner to comply with the terms and provisions of this Agreement.
“GROUP”means a Person that with or through any of its Affiliates or Associates has any agreement, arrangement or understanding for the purpose of acquiring, holding, voting (except voting pursuant to a revocable proxy or consent given to such Person in response to a proxy or consent solicitation made to 10 or more Persons) or disposing of any Partnership Securities with
any other Person that beneficially owns, or whose Affiliates or Associates beneficially own, directly or indirectly, Partnership Securities.
“GROUP MEMBER”means a member of the Partnership Group.
“GTN”has the meaning assigned to such term in the Recitals.
“GTN INTEREST”has the meaning assigned to such term in the Recitals.
“HOLDER”as used in Section 7.12, has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 7.12(a).
“INCENTIVE DISTRIBUTION RIGHT” means a non-voting Limited Partner Interest initially held by the General Partner, which Partnership Interest will confer upon the holder thereof only the rights and obligations specifically provided in this Agreement with respect to Incentive Distribution Rights (and no other rights otherwise available to or other obligations of a holder of a Partnership Interest). Notwithstanding anything in this Agreement to the contrary, the holder of an Incentive Distribution Right shall not be entitled to vote such Incentive Distribution Right on any Partnership matter except as may otherwise be required by law.
“INCENTIVE DISTRIBUTIONS” means any amount of cash distributed to the holders of the Incentive Distribution Rights pursuant to Sections 6.4(b) and 6.4(c).
“INDEMNIFIED PERSONS”has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 7.12(c).
“INDEMNITEE”means (a) the General Partner, (b) any Departing Partner, (c) any Person who is or was an Affiliate of the General Partner or any Departing Partner, (d) any Person who is or was a member, partner, officer, director, employee, agent or trustee of any Group Member, the General Partner or any Departing Partner or any Affiliate of any Group Member, the General Partner or any Departing Partner, and (e) any Person who is or was serving at the request of the General Partner or any Departing Partner or any Affiliate of the General Partner or any Departing Partner as an officer, director, employee, member, partner, agent or trustee of another Person; provided, that a Person shall not be an Indemnitee by reason of providing, on a fee-for-services basis, trustee, fiduciary or custodial services.
“INITIAL OFFERING”means the initial offering and sale of Common Units to the public, as described in the Registration Statement.
“INITIAL UNIT PRICE”means (a) with respect to the Common Units, the initial public offering price per Common Unit at which the underwriters offered the Common Units to the public for sale in the Initial Offering as set forth on the cover page of the prospectus included as part of the Registration Statement and first issued at or after the time the Registration Statement first became effective or (b) with respect to any other class or series of Units, the price per Unit at which such class or series of Units is initially sold by the Partnership, as determined by the General Partner, in each case adjusted as the General Partner determines to be appropriate to give effect to any distribution, subdivision or combination of Units.
“INTERIM CAPITAL TRANSACTIONS” means the following transactions if they occur prior to the Liquidation Date: (a) borrowings, refinancings or refundings of indebtedness and sales of debt securities (other than Working Capital Borrowings and other than for items purchased on open account in the ordinary course of business) by any Group Member or JV Entity; (b) sales of equity interests by any Group Member or JV Entity (other than the Common Units sold to the Underwriters pursuant to the exercise of their over-allotment option); and (c) sales, exchanges or other voluntary or involuntary dispositions of any assets of any Group Member or JV Entity other than (i) sales, exchanges or other dispositions of inventory, accounts receivable and other assets in the ordinary course of business, and (ii) sales, exchanges or other dispositions of assets as part of normal retirements or replacements.
“INTERMEDIATE PARTNERSHIPS” ” has the meaning assigned to such term in the Recitals.
“ITA”has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 6.2(i).
“JV ENTITY”means a Person other than an individual in which a Group Member holds an interest but which does not constitute a Subsidiary, including, without limitation, Northern Border PipeLine.
“LIMITED PARTNER”means, unless the context otherwise requires, (a) each limited partner as of the date of this Agreement, each Substituted Limited Partner, each Additional Limited Partner and any Partner upon the change of its status front General Partner to Limited Partner pursuant to Section 11.3 or (b) solely for purposes of Articles V, VI, VII and IX and Sections 12.3 and 12.4, each Assignee; provided, however, that when the term “LIMITED PARTNER”is used herein in the context of any vote or other approval, including without limitation Articles XIII and XIV, such term shall not, solely for such purpose, include any holder of an Incentive Distribution Right except as may otherwise be required by law.
“LIMITED PARTNER INTEREST”means the ownership interest of a Limited Partner or Assignee in the Partnership, which may be evidenced by Common Units, Class B Units, Incentive Distribution Rights or other Partnership Securities or a combination thereof or interest therein, and includes any and all benefits to which such Limited Partner or Assignee is entitled as provided in this Agreement, together with all obligations of such Limited Partner or Assignee to comply with the terms and provisions of this Agreement; provided, however, that when the term “LIMITED PARTNER INTEREST”is used herein in the context of any vote or other approval, including without limitation Articles XIII and XIV, such term shall not, solely for such purpose, include any holder of an Incentive Distribution Right except as may otherwise be required by law.
“LIQUIDATION DATE”means (a) in the case of an event giving rise to the dissolution of the Partnership of the type described in clauses (a) and (b) of the first sentence of Section 12.2, the date on which the applicable time period during which the holders of Outstanding Units have the right to elect to reconstitute the Partnership and continue its business has expired without such an election being made, and (b) in the case of any other event giving rise to the dissolution of the Partnership, the date on which such event occurs.
“LIQUIDATOR”means one or more Persons selected by the General Partner to perform the functions described in Section 12.3 as liquidating trustee of the Partnership within the meaning of the Delaware Act.
“MERGER AGREEMENT”has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 14.1.
“MINIMUM QUARTERLY DISTRIBUTION” means $0.45 per Common Unit per Quarter, subject to adjustment in accordance with Sections 6.6 and 6.9.
“NATIONAL SECURITIES EXCHANGE” means an exchange registered with the Commission under Section 6(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, supplemented or restated from time to time, and any successor to such statute, or the Nasdaq Stock Market or any successor thereto.
“NET AGREED VALUE”means, (a) in the case of any Contributed Property, the Agreed Value of such property reduced by any liabilities either assumed by the Partnership upon such contribution or to which such property is subject when contributed, and (b) in the case of any property distributed to a Partner or Assignee by the Partnership, the Partnership’s Carrying Value of such property (as adjusted pursuant to Section 5.5(d)(ii)) at the time such property is distributed, reduced by any liabilities either assumed by such Partner or Assignee upon such distribution or to which such property is subject at the time of distribution, in either case, as determined under Section 752 of the Code.
“NET INCOME”means, for any taxable period, the excess, if any, of the Partnership’s items of income and gain (other than those items taken into account in the computation of Net Termination Gain or Net Termination Loss) for such taxable period over the Partnership’s items of loss and deduction (other than those items taken into account in the computation of Net Termination Gain or Net Termination Loss) for such taxable period. The items included in the calculation of Net Income shall be determined in accordance with Section 5.5(b) and shall not include any items specially allocated under Section 6.1(d); provided that the determination of the items that have been specially allocated under Section 6.1(d) shall be made as if Section 6.1(d)(xii) were not in this Agreement.
“NET LOSS”means, for any taxable period, the excess, if any, of the Partnership’s items of loss and deduction (other than those items taken into account in the computation of Net Termination Gain or Net Termination Loss) for such taxable period over the Partnership’s items of income and gain (other than those items taken into account in the computation of Net Termination Gain or Net Termination Loss) for such taxable period. The items included in the calculation of Net Loss shall be determined in accordance with Section 5.5(b) and shall not include any items specially allocated under Section 6.1(d); provided that the determination of the items that have been specially allocated under Section 6.1(d) shall be made as if Section 6.1(d)(xii) were not in this Agreement.
“NET POSITIVE ADJUSTMENTS” means, with respect to any Partner, the excess, if any, of the total positive adjustments over the total negative adjustments made to the Capital Account of such Partner pursuant to Book-Up Events and Book-Down Events.
“NET TERMINATION GAIN”means, for any taxable period, the sum, if positive, of all items of income, gain, loss or deduction recognized by the Partnership (a) after the Liquidation Date, or (b) upon the sale, exchange or other disposition of all or substantially all of the assets of the Partnership Group, taken as a whole, in a single transaction or series of related transactions (excluding any disposition to a member of the Partnership Group). The items included in the determination of Net Termination Gain shall be determined in accordance with Section 5.5(b) and shall not include any items of income, gain, loss or deduction specially allocated under Section 6.1(d).
“NET TERMINATION LOSS”means, for any taxable period, the sum, if negative, of all items of income, gain, loss or deduction recognized by the Partnership (a) after the Liquidation Date, or (b) upon the sale, exchange or other disposition of all or substantially all of the assets of the Partnership Group, taken as a whole, in a single transaction or series of related transactions (excluding any disposition to a member of the Partnership Group). The items included in the determination of Net Termination Loss shall be determined in accordance with Section 5.5(b) and shall not include any items of income, gain, loss or deduction specially allocated under Section 6.1(d).
“NON-CITIZEN ASSIGNEE”means a Person whom the General Partner has determined in its discretion does not constitute an Eligible Citizen and as to whose Partnership Interest the General Partner has become the Substituted Limited Partner, pursuant to Section 4.9.
“NONRECOURSE BUILT-IN GAIN” means with respect to any Contributed Properties or Adjusted Properties that are subject to a mortgage, pledge or other lien securing a Nonrecourse Liability, the amount of any taxable gain that would be allocated to the Partners pursuant to Sections 6.2(b)(i)(A), 6.2(b)(ii)(A) and 6.2(b)(iii) if such properties were disposed of in a taxable transaction in full satisfaction of such liabilities and for no other consideration.
“NONRECOURSE DEDUCTIONS”means any and all items of loss, deduction or expenditures (including, without limitation, any expenditures described in Section 705(a)(2)(B) of the Code) that, in accordance with the principles of Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-2(b), are attributable to a Nonrecourse Liability.
“NONRECOURSE LIABILITY”has the meaning set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.752-1(a)(2).
“NORTHERN BORDER PIPELINE” means Northern Border PipeLine Company, a Texas general partnership.
“NOTICE OF ELECTION TO PURCHASE” has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 15.1(b).
“OPERATING EXPENDITURES”means all Partnership expenditures, including, but not limited to, operating expenses, taxes, reimbursements of the General Partner, debt service payments, and capital expenditures, subject to the following:
(a) Payments (including prepayments) of principal of and premium on indebtedness shall not be an Operating Expenditure if the payment is (i) required in connection with the sale or
other disposition of assets or made in connection with the refinancing or refunding of indebtedness with the proceeds from new indebtedness or from the sale of equity interests. For purposes of the foregoing, at the election and in the reasonable discretion of the General Partner, any payment of principal or premium shall be deemed to be refunded or refinanced by any indebtedness incurred or to be incurred by the Partnership within 180 days before or after such payment to the extent of the principal amount of such indebtedness.
(b) Operating Expenditures shall not include (i) capital expenditures made for Acquisitions or for Capital Improvements, (ii) payment of transaction expenses relating to Interim Capital Transactions or (iii) distributions to Partners. Where capital expenditures are made in part for Acquisitions or for Capital Improvements and in part for other purposes, the General Partner’s good faith allocation between the amounts paid for each shall be conclusive.
“OPERATING SURPLUS”means, with respect to any period ending prior to the Liquidation Date, on a cumulative basis and without duplication,
(a) the sum of (i) $20 million plus all cash and cash equivalents of the Partnership on hand as of the close of business on the Closing Date, (ii) all cash receipts of the Partnership for the period beginning on the Closing Date and ending with the last day of such period, other than cash receipts from Interim Capital Transactions (except to the extent specified in Section 6.5) and (iii) all cash receipts of the Partnership after the end of such period but on or before the date of determination of Operating Surplus with respect to such period resulting from Working Capital Borrowings, less
(b) the sum of (i) Operating Expenditures for the period beginning on the Closing Date and ending with the last day of such period and (ii) the amount of cash reserves that is necessary or advisable in the reasonable discretion of the General Partner to provide funds for future Operating Expenditures; provided, however, that disbursements made (including contributions to a Group Member or disbursements on behalf of a Group Member) or cash reserves established, increased or reduced after the end of such period but on or before the date of determination of Available Cash with respect to such period shall be deemed to have been made, established, increased or reduced, for purposes of determining Operating Surplus, within such period if the General Partner so determines, and less
(c) the cumulative amount of all Class B Distribution amounts accrued in respect of the Class B Units for the entire period they have been outstanding, as determined in accordance with the Class B Unit Supplement (but treating any reductions in “Available Cash” under subsection (b)(iv) of the definition of such term for any Quarter, as determined by the General Partner, as a Class B Distribution amount accrued for such Quarter).
Notwithstanding the foregoing, “OPERATING SURPLUS”with respect to the Quarter in which the Liquidation Date occurs and any subsequent Quarter shall equal zero.
“OPINION OF COUNSEL”means a written opinion of counsel (who may be regular counsel to the Partnership or the General Partner or any of its Affiliates) acceptable to the General Partner in its reasonable discretion.
“ORIGINAL AGREEMENT”has the meaning assigned to such term in the Recitals.
“OUTSTANDING”means, with respect to Partnership Securities, all Partnership Securities that are issued by the Partnership and reflected as outstanding on the Partnership’s books and records as of the date of determination; provided, however, that if at any time any Person or Group (other than the General Partner or its Affiliates) beneficially owns 20% or more of any Outstanding Partnership Securities of any class then Outstanding, all Partnership Securities owned by such Person or Group shall not be voted on any matter and shall not be considered to be Outstanding when sending notices of a meeting of Limited Partners to vote on any matter (unless otherwise required by law), calculating required votes, determining the presence of a quorum or for other similar purposes under this Agreement, except that Common Units so owned shall be considered to be Outstanding for purposes of Section 11.1(b)(iv) (such Common Units shall not, however, be treated as a separate class of Partnership Securities for purposes of this Agreement); provided, further, that the foregoing limitation shall not apply (i) to any Person or Group who acquired 20% or more of any Outstanding Partnership Securities of any class then Outstanding directly from the General Partner or its Affiliates or (ii) to any Person or Group who acquired 20% or more of any Outstanding Partnership Securities of any class then Outstanding directly or indirectly from a Person or Group described in clause (i) provided that the General Partner shall have notified such Person or Group in writing that such limitation shall not apply.
“PARTNER NONRECOURSE DEBT” has the meaning set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-2(b)(4).
“PARTNER NONRECOURSE DEBT MINIMUM GAIN”has the meaning set forth in Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-2(i)(2).
“PARTNER NONRECOURSE DEDUCTIONS” means any and all items of loss, deduction or expenditure (including, without limitation, any expenditure described in Section 705(a)(2)(B) of the Code) that, in accordance with the principles of Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-2(i), are attributable to a Partner Nonrecourse Debt.
“PARTNERS”means the General Partner and the Limited Partners.
“PARTNERSHIP”means TC PipeLines, LP, a Delaware limited partnership, and any successors thereto.
“PARTNERSHIP GROUP”means the Partnership and any Subsidiary of the Partnership, treated as a single consolidated entity.
“PARTNERSHIP INTEREST”means an interest in the Partnership, which shall include the General Partner Interest and Limited Partner Interests.
“PARTNERSHIP MINIMUM GAIN” means that amount determined in accordance with the principles of Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-2(d).
“PARTNERSHIP SECURITY”means any class or series of equity interest in the Partnership (but excluding any options, rights, warrants and appreciation rights relating to an equity interest in the Partnership), including without limitation, Common Units, Class B Units and Incentive Distribution Rights.
“PERCENTAGE INTEREST”means as of any date of determination (a) as to the General Partner (with respect to its General Partner Interest), an aggregate 1%, (b) as to any Common Unitholder or Assignee of Common Units, the product obtained by multiplying (i) 99% less the percentage, if any, applicable to paragraph (c) by (ii) the quotient obtained by dividing (A) the number of Common Units held by such Common Unitholder or Assignee by (B) the total number of all Outstanding Common Units, and (c) as to the holders of additional Partnership Securities issued by the Partnership in accordance with Section 5.6, the percentage, if any, established as a part of such issuance. The Percentage Interest with respect to an Incentive Distribution Right and the Class B Units shall at all times be zero.
“PERSON”means an individual or a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, trust, unincorporated organization, association, government agency or political subdivision thereof or other entity.
“PER UNIT CAPITAL AMOUNT” means, as of any date of determination, the Capital Account, stated on a per Unit basis, underlying any Unit held by a Person other than the General Partner or any Affiliate of the General Partner who holds Units.
“PRO RATA”means (a) when used in reference to the Common Unitholders or their Assignees, apportioned equally among the Common Unitholders and their Assignees in accordance with their relative Percentage Interests, (b) when used in reference to the Class B Unitholders or any other class or series of Units (or their Assignees), as prescribed in the applicable Supplement in respect of such Units and (c) when used in reference to the holders of Incentive Distribution Rights, apportioned equally among all holders of Incentive Distribution Rights in accordance with the relative number of Incentive Distribution Rights held by each such holder.
“PURCHASE DATE”means the date determined by the General Partner as the date for purchase of all Outstanding Units of a certain class (other than Units held by the General Partner and its Affiliates) pursuant to Article XV.
“QUARTER”means, unless the context requires otherwise, a fiscal quarter of the Partnership.
“RECAPTURE INCOME”means any gain recognized by the Partnership (computed without regard to any adjustment required by Section 734 or Section 743 of the Code) upon the disposition of any property or asset of the Partnership, which gain is characterized as ordinary income because it represents the recapture of deductions previously taken with respect to such property or asset.
“RECORD DATE”means the date established by the General Partner for determining (a) the identity of the Record Holders entitled to notice of, or to vote at, any meeting of Limited Partners or entitled to vote by ballot or give approval of Partnership action in writing without a meeting or entitled to exercise rights in respect of any lawful action of Limited Partners or (b) the identity of Record Holders entitled to receive any report or distribution or to participate in any offer.
“RECORD HOLDER”means the Person in whose name a Common Unit or a Class B Unit is registered on the books of the Transfer Agent as of the opening of business on a particular Business Day, or with respect to other Partnership Securities, the Person in whose name any such other Partnership Security is registered on the books which the General Partner has caused to be kept as of the opening of business on such Business Day.
“REDEEMABLE INTERESTS”means any Partnership Interests for which a redemption notice has been given, and has not been withdrawn, pursuant to Section 4.10.
“REGISTRATION STATEMENT”means the Registration Statement on Form S-1 (Registration No. 333 69947) as amended or supplemented from time to time, filed by the Partnership with the Commission under the Securities Act to register the offering and sale of the Common Units in the Initial Offering.
“REMAINING NET POSITIVE ADJUSTMENTS” means as of the end of any taxable period, (i) with respect to the Common Unitholders in respect of their Common Units, the excess of (a) the Net Positive Adjustments of the Common Unitholders in respect of their Common Units as of the end of such period over (b) the sum of those Common Unitholders’ Share of Additional Book Basis Derivative Items in respect of their Common Units for each prior taxable period, (ii) with respect to the General Partner (as holder of the General Partner Interest), the excess of (a) the Net Positive Adjustments of the General Partner as of the end of such period over (b) the sum of the General Partner’s Share of Additional Book Basis Derivative Items with respect to the General Partner Interest for each prior taxable period, and (i) with respect to the holders of Incentive Distribution Rights, the excess of (a) the Net Positive Adjustments of the holders of Incentive Distribution Rights as of the end of such period over (b) the sum of the Share of Additional Book Basis Derivative Items of the holders of the Incentive Distribution Rights for each prior taxable period.
“REQUIRED ALLOCATIONS”means (a) any limitation imposed on any allocation of Net Losses or Net Termination Losses under Section 6.1(b) or 6.1(c)(ii) and (b) any allocation of an item of income, gain, loss or deduction pursuant to Section 6.1(d)(i), 6.1(d)(ii), 6.1(d)(iv), 6.1(d)(vii) or 6.1(d)(ix).
“RESIDUAL GAIN”or “RESIDUAL LOSS”means any item of gain or loss, as the case may be, of the Partnership recognized for federal income tax purposes resulting from a sale, exchange or other disposition of a Contributed Property or Adjusted Property, to the extent such item of gain or loss is not allocated pursuant to Section 6.2(b)(i)(A) or 6.2(b)(ii)(A), respectively, to eliminate Book-Tax Disparities.
“SECOND RESTATED AGREEMENT” has the meaning assigned to such term in the Recitals.
“SECOND TARGET DISTRIBUTION” means $0.88 per Unit per Quarter, subject to adjustment in accordance with Sections 6.6 and 6.9.
“SECURITIES ACT”means the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, supplemented or restated from time to time and any successor to such statute.
“SHARE OF ADDITIONAL BOOK BASIS DERIVATIVE ITEMS”means in connection with any allocation of Additional Book Basis Derivative Items for any taxable period, (i) with respect to the Common Unitholders in respect of their Common Units, the amount that bears the same ratio to such Additional Book Basis Derivative Items as the Common Unitholders’ Remaining Net Positive Adjustments as of the end of such period bears to the Aggregate Remaining Net Positive Adjustments as of that time, (ii) with respect to the General Partner (as holder of the General Partner Interest), the amount that bears the same ratio to such additional Book Basis Derivative Items as the General Partner’s Remaining Net Positive Adjustments as of the end of such period bears to the Aggregate Remaining Net Positive Adjustments as of that time, and (iii) with respect to the Partners holding Incentive Distribution Rights, the amount that bears the same ratio to such Additional Book Basis Derivative Items as the Remaining Net Positive Adjustments of the Partners holding the Incentive Distribution Rights as of the end of such period bears to the Aggregate Remaining Net Positive Adjustments as of that time.
“SPECIAL APPROVAL”means approval by a majority of the members of the Conflicts Committee.
“SUBSIDIARY”means, with respect to any Person, (a) a corporation of which more than 50% of the voting power of shares entitled (without regard to the occurrence of any contingency) to vote in the election of directors or other governing body of such corporation is owned, directly or indirectly, at the date of determination, by such Person, by one or more Subsidiaries of such Person or a combination thereof, (b) a partnership (whether general or limited) in which such Person or a Subsidiary of such Person is, at the date of determination, a general or limited partner of such partnership, but only if more than 50% of the partnership interests of such partnership (considering all of the partnership interests of the partnership as a single class) is owned, directly or indirectly, at the date of determination, by such Person, by one or more Subsidiaries of such Person, or a combination thereof, or (c) any other Person (other than a corporation or a partnership) in which such Person, one or more Subsidiaries of such Person, or a combination thereof, directly or indirectly, at the date of determination, has (i) at least a majority ownership interest or (ii) the power to elect or direct the election of a majority of the directors or other governing body of such Person. The foregoing definition shall not include any JV Entity, including, without limitation, Northern Border PipeLine.
“SUBSTITUTED LIMITED PARTNER” means a Person who is admitted as a Limited Partner to the Partnership pursuant to Section 10.2 in place of and with all the rights of a Limited Partner and who is shown as a Limited Partner on the books and records of the Partnership.
“SUPPLEMENT”means each Supplement designated as a “Class Unit Supplement” or “Series Supplement” from time to time by the General Partner which sets forth the rights and obligations with respect to a particular class or series of Units or other Partnership Securities.
“SURVIVING BUSINESS ENTITY” has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 14.2(b).
“THIRD RESTATED AGREEMENT” has the meaning assigned to such term in the Recitals.
“TRADING DAY”has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 15.1(a).
“TRANSACTION AGREEMENTS”means the Agreement for Purchase and Sale of Membership Interest by and between Gas Transmission Northwest Corporation and TC PipeLines Intermediate Limited Partnership dated as of May 19, 2009, the Common Unit Purchase Agreement by and between TransCan Northern Ltd. and the Partnership dated as of July 1, 2009, the Exchange Agreement, the Yuma Transfer Agreement by and between Gas Transmission Northwest Corporation and North Baja Pipeline, LLC and the PSA (as defined in the Class B Unit Supplement).
“TRANSFER”has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 4.4(a).
“TRANSFER AGENT”means such bank, trust company or other Person (including the General Partner or one of its Affiliates) as shall be appointed from time to time by the Partnership to act as registrar and transfer agent for the Common Units; provided that if no Transfer Agent is specifically designated for any other Partnership Securities, the General Partner shall act in such capacity.
“TRANSFER APPLICATION”means an application and agreement for transfer of Units in the form set forth on the back of a Certificate or in a form substantially to the same effect in a separate instrument.
“TREASURY REGULATIONS”means the permanent, temporary or proposed regulations of the United States Department of the Treasury promulgated under the Code, as such regulations may be amended and in effect from time to time. Any reference herein to a specific section or sections of the Treasury Regulations shall be deemed to include a reference to any corresponding provision of successor law.
“UNIT”means a Partnership Security that is designated as a “UNIT” and shall include Common Units, Class B Units and any other class or series of Partnership Securities so issued and designated in the future, but shall not include (i) a General Partner Interest or (ii) Incentive Distribution Rights.
“UNIT MAJORITY”means at least a majority of the Outstanding Common Units.
“UNITHOLDERS”means the holders of Common Units and Class B Units and any other Units issued by the Partnership hereafter.
“UNPAID FTD”has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 6.1(c)(i)(B).
“UNREALIZED GAIN”attributable to any item of Partnership property means, as of any date of determination, the excess, if any, of (a) the fair market value of such property as of such date (as determined under Section 5.5(d)) over (b) the Carrying Value of such property as of such date (prior to any adjustment to be made pursuant to Section 5.5(d) as of such date).
“UNREALIZED LOSS”attributable to any item of Partnership property means, as of any date of determination, the excess, if any, of (a) the Carrying Value of such property as of such
date (prior to any adjustment to be made pursuant to Section 5.5(d) as of such date) over (b) the fair market value of such property as of such date (as determined under Section 5.5(d)).
“UNRECOVERED CAPITAL”means at any time, with respect to a Common Unit, the Initial Unit Price less the sum of all distributions constituting Capital Surplus theretofore made in respect of a Common Unit sold in the Initial Offering and any distributions of cash (or the Net Agreed Value of any distributions in kind) in connection with the dissolution and liquidation of the Partnership theretofore made in respect of a Common Unit sold in the Initial Offering, adjusted as the General Partner determines to be appropriate to give effect to any distribution, subdivision or combination of such Units.
“U.S. GAAP”means United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles consistently applied.
“WITHDRAWAL OPINION OF COUNSEL” has the meaning assigned to such term in Section 11.1(b).
“WORKING CAPITAL BORROWINGS” means borrowings exclusively for working capital purposes. Amounts drawn from a credit facility to enable the Partnership to pay distributions to partners of the Partnership if there has been a temporary interruption or delay in receipt of distributions from Northern Border PipeLine shall also constitute Working Capital Borrowings.
Unless the context requires otherwise: (a) any pronoun used in this Agreement shall include the corresponding masculine, feminine or neuter forms, and the singular form of nouns, pronouns and verbs shall include the plural and vice versa; (b) references to Articles and Sections refer to Articles and Sections of this Agreement; and (c) the term “INCLUDE”or “INCLUDES”means includes, without limitation, and “INCLUDING”means including, without limitation.
Article II
ORGANIZATION
The Partnership has been operated as a limited partnership pursuant to the provisions of the Delaware Act pursuant to the Original Agreement. The General Partner hereby amends and restates the Original Agreement in its entirety. This amendment and restatement shall become effective on the date of this Agreement. The Original Agreement shall be controlling for matters prior to the effective date of this Agreement. Except as expressly provided to the contrary in this Agreement, the rights, duties (including fiduciary duties), liabilities and obligations of the Partners and the administration, dissolution and termination of the Partnership shall be governed by the Delaware Act. All Partnership Interests shall constitute personal property of the owner thereof for all purposes and a Partner has no interest in specific Partnership property.
The name of the Partnership is “TC PipeLines, LP” The Partnership’s business may be conducted under any other name or names deemed necessary or appropriate by the General Partner in its sole discretion, including the name of the General Partner. The words “Limited Partnership,” “L.P.,” “Ltd.” or similar words or letters shall be included in the Partnership’s name where necessary for the purpose of complying with the laws of any jurisdiction that so requires. The General Partner in its discretion may change the name of the Partnership at any time and from time to time and shall notify the Limited Partners of such change in the next regular communication to the Limited Partners.
Section 2.3 REGISTERED OFFICE; REGISTERED AGENT; PRINCIPAL OFFICE; OTHER OFFICES.
Unless and until changed by the General Partner, the registered office of the Partnership in the State of Delaware shall be located at Corporation Trust Center, ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇, and the registered agent for service of process on the Partnership in the State of Delaware at such registered office shall be The Corporation Trust Company, Corporation Trust Center, ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇. The principal office of the Partnership shall be located at ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇ or such other place as the General Partner may from time to time designate by notice to the Limited Partners. The Partnership may maintain offices at such other place or places within or outside the State of Delaware as the General Partner deems necessary or appropriate. The address of the General Partner shall be ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇ or such other place as the General Partner may from time to time designate by notice to the Limited Partners.
Section 2.4 PURPOSE AND BUSINESS.
The purpose and nature of the business to be conducted by the Partnership shall be to (a) engage directly in, or enter into or form any corporation, partnership, joint venture, limited liability company or other arrangement to engage indirectly in, any business activity that is approved by the General Partner and which lawfully may be conducted by a limited partnership organized pursuant to the Delaware Act and, in connection therewith, to exercise all of the rights and powers conferred upon the Partnership pursuant to the agreements relating to such business activity; provided, however, that the General Partner reasonably determines, as of the date of the acquisition or commencement of such activity, that such activity (i) generates “QUALIFYING INCOME” (as such term is defined pursuant to Section 7704 of the Code) or (ii) enhances the operations of a Partnership activity that generates qualifying income, and (b) do anything necessary or appropriate to the foregoing, including the making of capital contributions or loans to a Group Member or JV Entity. The General Partner has no obligation or duty to the Partnership, the Limited Partners or the Assignees to propose or approve, and in its discretion may decline to propose or approve, the conduct by the Partnership of any business.
The Partnership shall be empowered to do any and all acts and things necessary, appropriate, proper, advisable, incidental to or convenient for the furtherance and accomplishment of the purposes and business described in Section 2.4.
Section 2.6 POWER OF ATTORNEY.
(a) Each Limited Partner and each Assignee hereby constitutes and appoints the General Partner and, if a Liquidator shall have been selected pursuant to Section 12.3, the Liquidator, (and any successor to the Liquidator by merger, transfer, assignment, election or otherwise) and each of their authorized officers and attorneys-in-fact, as the case may be, with MI power of substitution, as his true and lawful agent and attorney-in-fact, with fill power and authority in his name, place and ▇▇▇▇▇, to:
(i) execute, swear to, acknowledge, deliver, file and record in the appropriate public offices (A) all certificates, documents and other instruments (including this Agreement and the Certificate of Limited Partnership and all amendments or restatements hereof or thereof) that the General Partner or the Liquidator deems necessary or appropriate to form, qualify or continue the existence or qualification of the Partnership as a limited partnership (or a partnership in which the limited partners have limited liability) in the State of Delaware and in all other jurisdictions in which the Partnership may conduct business or own property; (B) all certificates, documents and other instruments that the General Partner or the Liquidator deems necessary or appropriate to reflect, in accordance with its terms, any amendment, change, modification or restatement of this Agreement; (C) all certificates, documents and other instruments (including conveyances and a certificate of cancellation) that the General Partner or the Liquidator deems necessary or appropriate to reflect the dissolution and liquidation of the Partnership pursuant to the terms of this Agreement; (D) all certificates, documents and other instruments relating to the admission, withdrawal, removal or substitution of any Partner pursuant to, or other events described in, Article IV, X, XI or XII; (E) all certificates, documents and other instruments relating to the determination of the preferences, rights, powers, privileges and duties of any class or series of Partnership Securities issued pursuant to Section 5.6; and (F) all certificates, documents and other instruments (including agreements and a certificate of merger) relating to a merger or consolidation of the Partnership pursuant to Article XIV; and
(ii) execute, swear to, acknowledge, deliver, file and record all ballots, consents, approvals, waivers, certificates, documents and other instruments necessary or appropriate, in the discretion of the General Partner or the Liquidator, to make, evidence, give, confirm or ratify any vote, consent, approval, agreement or other action that is made or given by the Partners hereunder or is consistent with the terms of this Agreement or is necessary or appropriate, in the discretion of the General Partner or the Liquidator, to effectuate the terms or intent of this Agreement; provided, that when required by Section 13.3 or any other provision of this Agreement that establishes a percentage of the Limited Partners or of the Limited Partners of any class or series required to take any action, the General Partner and the Liquidator may exercise the power of attorney made in this Section 2.6(a)(ii) only after the necessary vote, consent or approval of the Limited Partners or of the Limited Partners of such class or series, as applicable.
Nothing contained in this Section 2.6(a) shall be construed as authorizing the General Partner to amend this Agreement except in accordance with Article XIII or as may be otherwise expressly provided for in this Agreement.
(b) The foregoing power of attorney is hereby declared to be irrevocable and a power coupled with an interest, and it shall survive and, to the maximum extent permitted by law, not be affected by the subsequent death, incompetency, disability, incapacity, dissolution, bankruptcy or termination of any Limited Partner or Assignee and the transfer of all or any portion of such Limited Partner’s or Assignee’s Partnership Interest and shall extend to such Limited Partner’s or Assignee’s heirs, successors, assigns and personal representatives. Each such Limited Partner or Assignee hereby agrees to be bound by any representation made by the General Partner or the Liquidator acting in good faith pursuant to such power of attorney; and each such Limited Partner or Assignee, to the maximum extent permitted by law, hereby waives any and all defenses that may be available to contest, negate or disaffirm the action of the General Partner or the Liquidator taken in good faith under such power of attorney. Each Limited Partner or Assignee shall execute and deliver to the General Partner or the Liquidator, within 15 days after receipt of the request therefor, such further designation, powers of attorney and other instruments as the General Partner or the Liquidator deems necessary to effectuate this Agreement and the purposes of the Partnership.
The term of the Partnership commenced upon the filing of the Certificate of Limited Partnership in accordance with the Delaware Act and shall continue in existence until the close of Partnership business on December 31, 2097 or until the earlier dissolution of the Partnership in accordance with the provisions of Article XII. The existence of the Partnership as a separate legal entity shall continue until the cancellation of the Certificate of Limited Partnership as provided in the Delaware Act.
Section 2.8 TITLE TO PARTNERSHIP ASSETS.
Title to Partnership assets, whether real, personal or mixed and whether tangible or intangible, shall be deemed to be owned by the Partnership as an entity, and no Partner or Assignee, individually or collectively, shall have any ownership interest in such Partnership assets or any portion thereof. Title to any or all of the Partnership assets may be held in the name of the Partnership, the General Partner, one or more of its Affiliates or one or more nominees, as the General Partner may determine. The General Partner hereby declares and warrants that any Partnership assets for which record title is held in the name of the General Partner or one or more of its Affiliates or one or more nominees shall be held by the General Partner or such Affiliate or nominee for the use and benefit of the Partnership in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement; provided, however, that the General Partner shall use reasonable efforts to cause record title to such assets (other than those assets in respect of which the General Partner determines that the expense and difficulty of conveyancing makes transfer of record title to the Partnership impracticable) to be vested in the Partnership as soon as reasonably practicable; provided, further, that, prior to the withdrawal or removal of the General Partner or as soon thereafter as practicable, the General Partner shall use reasonable efforts to effect the transfer of record title to the Partnership and, prior to any such transfer, will provide for the use
of such assets in a manner satisfactory to the General Partner. All Partnership assets shall be recorded as the property of the Partnership in its books and records, irrespective of the name in which record title to such Partnership assets is held.
Article III
RIGHTS OF LIMITED PARTNERS
Section 3.1 LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.
The Limited Partners and the Assignees shall have no liability under this Agreement except as expressly provided in this Agreement or the Delaware Act.
Section 3.2 MANAGEMENT OF BUSINESS.
No Limited Partner or Assignee, in its capacity as such, shall participate in the operation, management or control (within the meaning of the Delaware Act) of the Partnership’s business, transact any business in the Partnership’s name or have the power to sign documents for or otherwise bind the Partnership. Any action taken by any Affiliate of the General Partner or any officer, director, employee, member, general partner, agent or trustee of the General Partner or any of its Affiliates, or any officer, director, employee, member, general partner, agent or trustee of a Group Member, in its capacity as such, shall not be deemed to be participation in the control of the business of the Partnership by a limited partner of the Partnership (within the meaning of Section 17-303(a) of the Delaware Act) and shall not affect, impair or eliminate the limitations on the liability of the Limited Partners or Assignees under this Agreement.
Section 3.3 OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES OF THE LIMITED PARTNERS.
Subject to the provisions of Section 7.5, which shall continue to be applicable to the Persons referred to therein, regardless of whether such Persons shall also be Limited Partners or Assignees, any Limited Partner or Assignee shall be entitled to and may have business interests and engage in business activities in addition to those relating to the Partnership, including business interests and activities in direct competition with any Group Member or IV Entity. Neither the Partnership nor any of the other Partners or Assignees shall have any rights by virtue of this Agreement in any business ventures of any Limited Partner or Assignee.
Section 3.4 RIGHTS OF LIMITED PARTNERS.
(a) In addition to other rights provided by this Agreement or by applicable law, and except as limited by Section 3.4(b), each Limited Partner shall have the right, for a purpose reasonably related to such Limited Partner’s interest as a limited partner in the Partnership, upon reasonable written demand and at such Limited Partner’s own expense:
(i) to obtain true and full information regarding the status of the business and financial condition of the Partnership;
(ii) promptly after becoming available, to obtain a copy of the Partnership’s federal, state and local income tax returns for each year;
(iii) to have furnished to him a current list of the name and last known business, residence or mailing address of each Partner;
(iv) to have furnished to him a copy of this Agreement and the Certificate of Limited Partnership and all amendments thereto, together with a copy of the executed copies of all powers of attorney pursuant to which this Agreement, the Certificate of Limited Partnership and all amendments thereto have been executed;
(v) to obtain true and full information regarding the amount of cash and a description and statement of the Net Agreed Value of any other Capital Contribution by each Partner and which each Partner has agreed to contribute in the future, and the date on which each became a Partner; and
(vi) to obtain such other information regarding the affairs of the Partnership as is just and reasonable.
(b) The General Partner may keep confidential from the Limited Partners and Assignees, for such period of time as the General Partner deems reasonable, (i) any information that the General Partner reasonably believes to be in the nature of trade secrets or (ii) other information the disclosure of which the General Partner in good faith believes (A) is not in the best interests of any Group Member or JV Entity, (B) could damage any Group Member or JV Entity or (C) that any Group Member or JV Entity is required by law or by agreement with any third party to keep confidential (other than agreements with Affiliates of the Partnership the primary purpose of which is to circumvent the obligations set forth in this Section).
Article IV
CERTIFICATES; RECORD HOLDERS; TRANSFER OF PARTNERSHIP INTERESTS; REDEMPTION OF PARTNERSHIP INTERESTS
Upon the Partnership’s issuance of Common Units to any Person, the Partnership shall issue one or more Certificates in the name of such Person evidencing the number of such Units being so issued. In addition, (a) upon the General Partner’s request, the Partnership shall issue to it one or more Certificates in the name of the General Partner evidencing its interests in the Partnership and (b) upon the request of any Person holding Incentive Distribution Rights or any other Partnership Securities other than Common Units, the Partnership shall issue to such Person one or more certificates evidencing such Incentive Distribution Rights or other Partnership Securities other than Common Units. Certificates shall be executed on behalf of the Partnership by the Chairman, President or any Executive Vice President or Vice President and the Secretary or any Assistant Secretary of the General Partner. No Common Unit Certificate shall be valid for any purpose until it has been countersigned by the Transfer Agent; provided, however, that if the General Partner elects to issue Common Units in global form, the Common Unit Certificates shall be valid upon receipt of a certificate from the Transfer Agent certifying that the Common Units have been duly registered in accordance with the directions of the Partnership. Notwithstanding anything in this Section 4.1 or any other provision of this Agreement, at the General Partner’s discretion, Partnership Securities may be issued, recorded and transferred by
electronic or other means not involving the issuance of physical Certificates. The provisions of this Agreement shall be interpreted as reasonably required to implement such a system. For example, no signature shall be required with respect to an uncertificated electronic registration system.
Section 4.2 MUTILATED, DESTROYED, LOST OR STOLEN CERTIFICATES.
(a) If any mutilated Certificate is surrendered to the Transfer Agent, the appropriate officers of the General Partner on behalf of the Partnership shall execute, and the Transfer Agent shall countersign and deliver in exchange therefor, a new Certificate evidencing the same number and type of Partnership Securities as the Certificate so surrendered.
(b) The appropriate officers of the General Partner on behalf of the Partnership shall execute and deliver, and the Transfer Agent shall countersign a new Certificate in place of any Certificate previously issued if the Record Holder of the Certificate:
(i) makes proof by affidavit, in form and substance satisfactory to the Partnership, that a previously issued Certificate has been lost, destroyed or stolen;
(ii) requests the issuance of a new Certificate before the Partnership has notice that the Certificate has been acquired by a purchaser for value in good faith and without notice of an adverse claim;
(iii) if requested by the Partnership, delivers to the Partnership a bond, in form and substance satisfactory to the Partnership, with surety or sureties and with fixed or open penalty as the Partnership may reasonably direct, in its sole discretion, to indemnify the Partnership, the Partners, the General Partner and the Transfer Agent against any claim that may be made on account of the alleged loss, destruction or theft of the Certificate; and
(iv) satisfies any other reasonable requirements imposed by the Partnership.
If a Limited Partner or Assignee fails to notify the Partnership within a reasonable time after he has notice of the loss, destruction or theft of a Certificate, and a transfer of the Limited Partner Interests represented by the Certificate is registered before the Partnership, the General Partner or the Transfer Agent receives such notification, the Limited Partner or Assignee shall be precluded from making any claim against the Partnership, the General Partner or the Transfer Agent for such transfer or for a new Certificate.
(c) As a condition to the issuance of any new Certificate under this Section 4.2, the Partnership may require the payment of a sum sufficient to cover any tax or other governmental charge that may be imposed in relation thereto and any other expenses (including the fees and expenses of the Transfer Agent) reasonably connected therewith.
The Partnership shall be entitled to recognize the Record Holder as the Partner or Assignee with respect to any Partnership Interest and, accordingly, shall not be bound to recognize any equitable or other claim to or interest in such Partnership Interest on the part of
any other Person, regardless of whether the Partnership shall have actual or other notice thereof, except as otherwise provided by law or any applicable rule, regulation, guideline or requirement of any National Securities Exchange on which such Partnership Interests are listed for trading. Without limiting the foregoing, when a Person (such as a broker, dealer, bank, trust company or clearing corporation or an agent of any of the foregoing) is acting as nominee, agent or in some other representative capacity for another Person in acquiring and/or holding Partnership Interests, as between the Partnership on the one hand, and such other Persons on the other, such representative Person (a) shall be the Partner or Assignee (as the case may be) of record and beneficially, (b) must execute and deliver a Transfer Application and (c) shall be bound by this Agreement and shall have the rights and obligations of a Partner or Assignee (as the case may be) hereunder and as, and to the extent, provided for herein.
Section 4.4 TRANSFER GENERALLY.
(b) No Partnership Interest shall be transferred, in whole or in part, except in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in this Article IV. Any transfer or purported transfer of a Partnership Interest not made in accordance with this Article IV shall be null and void.
(c) Nothing contained in this Agreement shall be construed to prevent a disposition by any stockholder of the General Partner of any or all of the issued and outstanding stock of the General Partner.
Section 4.5 REGISTRATION AND TRANSFER OF LIMITED PARTNER INTERESTS.
(a) The Partnership shall keep or cause to be kept on behalf of the Partnership a register in which, subject to such reasonable regulations as it may prescribe and subject to the provisions of Section 4.5(b), the Partnership will provide for the registration and transfer of Limited Partner Interests. The Transfer Agent is hereby appointed registrar and transfer agent for the purpose of registering Common Units and transfers of such Common Units as herein provided. The Partnership shall not recognize transfers of Certificates evidencing Limited Partner Interests unless such transfers are effected in the manner described in this Section 4.5. Upon surrender of a Certificate for registration of transfer of any Limited Partner Interests evidenced by a Certificate, and subject to the provisions of Section 4.5(b), the appropriate officers of the General Partner on behalf of the Partnership shall execute and deliver, and in the case of Common Units, the Transfer Agent shall countersign and deliver, in the name of the holder or the designated transferee or transferees, as required pursuant to the holder’s
instructions, one or more new Certificates evidencing the same aggregate number and type of Limited Partner Interests as was evidenced by the Certificate so surrendered.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in Section 4.9, the Partnership shall not recognize any transfer of Limited Partner Interests until the Certificates evidencing such Limited Partner Interests are surrendered for registration of transfer and such Certificates are accompanied by a Transfer Application duly executed by the transferee (or the transferee’s attorney-in-fact duly authorized in writing). No charge shall be imposed by the Partnership for such transfer; provided, that as a condition to the issuance of any new Certificate under this Section 4.5, the Partnership may require the payment of a sum sufficient to cover any tax or other governmental charge that may be imposed with respect thereto.
(c) Limited Partner Interests may be transferred only in the manner described in this Section 4.5. The transfer of any Limited Partner Interests and the admission of any new Limited Partner shall not constitute an amendment to this Agreement.
(d) Until admitted as a Substituted Limited Partner pursuant to Section 10.2, the Record Holder of a Limited Partner Interest shall be an Assignee in respect of such Limited Partner Interest. Limited Partners may include custodians, nominees or any other individual or entity in its own or any representative capacity.
(e) A transferee of a Limited Partner Interest who has completed and delivered a Transfer Application shall be deemed to have (i) requested admission as a Substituted Limited Partner, (ii) agreed to comply with and be bound by and to have executed this Agreement, (iii) represented and warranted that such transferee has the right, power and authority and, if an individual, the capacity to enter into this Agreement, (iv) granted the powers of attorney set forth in this Agreement and (v) given the consents and approvals and made the waivers contained in this Agreement.
(f) The General Partner and its Affiliates shall have the right at any time to transfer their Common Units to one or more Persons.
Section 4.6 TRANSFER OF THE GENERAL PARTNER’S GENERAL PARTNER INTEREST.
(a) [INTENTIONALLY OMITTED.]
(b) Subject to Section 4.6(c) below, the General Partner may transfer all or any of its General Partner Interest without Unitholder approval.
(c) Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, no transfer by the General Partner of all or any part of its General Partner Interest to another Person shall be permitted unless (i) the transferee agrees to assume the rights and duties of the General Partner under this Agreement and to be bound by the provisions of this Agreement, (ii) the Partnership receives an Opinion of Counsel that such transfer would not result in the loss of limited liability of any Limited Partner or cause the Partnership to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation or otherwise to be taxed as an entity for federal income tax purposes (to the extent not already so treated or taxed) and (iii) such transferee also agrees to purchase all (or the appropriate portion
thereof, if applicable) of the interest of the General Partner as the general partner or managing member of each other Group Member. In the case of a transfer pursuant to and in compliance with this Section 4.6, the transferee or successor (as the case may be) shall, subject to compliance with the terms of Section 10.3, be admitted to the Partnership as a General Partner immediately prior to the transfer of the Partnership Interest, and the business of the Partnership shall continue without dissolution.
Section 4.7 TRANSFER OF INCENTIVE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS.
The General Partner or any other holder of Incentive Distribution Rights may transfer any or all of its Incentive Distribution Rights without Unitholder approval. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, no transfer of Incentive Distribution Rights to another Person shall be permitted unless the transferee agrees to be bound by the provisions of this Agreement. The General Partner shall have the authority (but shall not be required) to adopt such reasonable restrictions on the transfer of Incentive Distribution Rights and requirements for registering the transfer of Incentive Distribution Rights as the General Partner, in its sole discretion, shall determine are necessary or appropriate.
Section 4.8 RESTRICTIONS ON TRANSFERS.
(a) Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Article IV, no transfer of any Partnership Interests shall be made if such transfer would (i) violate the then applicable federal or state securities laws or rules and regulations of the Commission, any state securities commission or any other governmental authority with jurisdiction over such transfer, (ii) terminate the existence or qualification of the Partnership under the laws of the jurisdiction of its formation, or (iii) cause the Partnership to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation or otherwise to be taxed as an entity for federal income tax purposes (to the extent not already so treated or taxed).
(b) The General Partner may impose restrictions on the transfer of Partnership Interests if it determines based upon a subsequent Opinion of Counsel that such restrictions are necessary to avoid a significant risk of the Partnership being treated as an association taxable as a corporation or otherwise being taxed as an entity for federal income tax purposes. The restrictions may be imposed by making such amendments to this Agreement as the General Partner may determine to be necessary or appropriate to impose such restrictions; provided, however, that any amendment that the General Partner believes, in the exercise of its reasonable discretion, could result in the delisting or suspension of trading of any class of Limited Partner Interests on the principal National Securities Exchange on which such class of Limited Partner Interests is then traded must be approved, prior to such amendment being effected, by the holders of at least a majority of the Outstanding Limited Partner Interests of such class.
(c) Nothing contained in this Article IV or elsewhere in this Agreement, shall preclude the settlement of any transactions involving Partnership Interests entered into through the facilities of any National Securities Exchange on which such Partnership Interests are listed for trading.
Section 4.9 CITIZENSHIP CERTIFICATES; NON-CITIZEN ASSIGNEES.
(a) If any Group Member or JV Entity is or becomes subject to any federal, state or local law or regulation that, in the reasonable determination of the General Partner, creates a substantial risk of cancellation or forfeiture of any property in which the Group Member or JV Entity has an interest based on the nationality, citizenship or other related status of a Limited Partner or Assignee, the General Partner may request any Limited Partner or Assignee to furnish to the General Partner, within 30 days after receipt of such request, an executed Citizenship Certification or such other information concerning his nationality, citizenship or other related status (or, if the Limited Partner or Assignee is a nominee holding for the account of another Person, the nationality, citizenship or other related status of such Person) as the General Partner may request. If a Limited Partner or Assignee fails to furnish to the General Partner within the aforementioned 30-day period such Citizenship Certification or other requested information or if upon receipt of such Citizenship Certification or other requested information the General Partner determines, with the advice of counsel, that a Limited Partner or Assignee is not an Eligible Citizen, the Partnership Interests owned by such Limited Partner or Assignee shall be subject to redemption in accordance with the provisions of Section 4.10. In addition, the General Partner may require that the status of any such Partner or Assignee be changed to that of a Non-citizen Assignee and, thereupon, the General Partner shall be substituted for such Non-citizen Assignee as the Limited Partner in respect of his Limited Partner Interests.
(b) The General Partner shall, in exercising voting rights in respect of Limited Partner Interests held by it on behalf of Non-citizen Assignees, distribute the votes in the same ratios as the votes of Partners (including without limitation the General Partner) in respect of Limited Partner Interests other than those of Non-citizen Assignees are cast, either for, against or abstaining as to the matter.
(c) Upon dissolution of the Partnership, a Non-citizen Assignee shall have no right to receive a distribution in kind pursuant to Section 12.4 but shall be entitled to the cash equivalent thereof, and the Partnership shall provide cash in exchange for an assignment of the Non-citizen Assignee’s share of the distribution in kind. Such payment and assignment shall be treated for Partnership purposes as a purchase by the Partnership from the Non-citizen Assignee of his Limited Partner Interest (representing his right to receive his share of such distribution in kind).
(d) At any time after he can and does certify that he has become an Eligible Citizen, a Non-citizen Assignee may, upon application to the General Partner, request admission as a Substituted Limited Partner with respect to any Limited Partner Interests of such Non-citizen Assignee not redeemed pursuant to Section 4.10, and upon his admission pursuant to Section 10.2, the General Partner shall cease to be deemed to be the Limited Partner in respect of the Non-citizen Assignee’s Limited Partner Interests.
Section 4.10 REDEMPTION OF PARTNERSHIP INTERESTS OF NON-CITIZEN ASSIGNEES.
(a) If at any time a Limited Partner or Assignee fails to furnish a Citizenship Certification or other information requested within the 30-day period specified in Section 4.9(a), or if upon receipt of such Citizenship Certification or other information the General Partner
determines, with the advice of counsel, that a Limited Partner or Assignee is not an Eligible Citizen, the Partnership may, unless the Limited Partner or Assignee establishes to the satisfaction of the General Partner that such Limited Partner or Assignee is an Eligible Citizen or has transferred his Partnership Interests to a Person who is an Eligible Citizen and who furnishes a Citizenship Certification to the General Partner prior to the date fixed for redemption as provided below, redeem the Partnership Interest of such Limited Partner or Assignee as follows:
(i) The General Partner shall, not later than the 30th day before the date fixed for redemption, give notice of redemption to the Limited Partner or Assignee, at his last address designated on the records of the Partnership or the Transfer Agent, by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid. The notice shall be deemed to have been given when so mailed. The notice shall specify the Redeemable Interests, the date fixed for redemption, the place of payment, that payment of the redemption price will be made upon surrender of the Certificate evidencing the Redeemable Interests and that on and after the date fixed for redemption no further allocations or distributions to which the Limited Partner or Assignee would otherwise be entitled in respect of the Redeemable Interests will accrue or be made.
(ii) The aggregate redemption price for Redeemable Interests shall be an amount equal to the Current Market Price (the date of determination of which shall be the date fixed for redemption) of Limited Partner Interests of the class to be so redeemed multiplied by the number of Limited Partner Interests of each such class included among the Redeemable Interests. The redemption price shall be paid, in the discretion of the General Partner, in cash or by delivery of a promissory note of the Partnership in the principal amount of the redemption price, bearing interest at the rate of 10% annually and payable in three equal annual installments of principal together with accrued interest, commencing one year after the redemption date.
(iii) Upon surrender by or on behalf of the Limited Partner or Assignee, at the place specified in the notice of redemption, of the Certificate evidencing the Redeemable Interests, duly endorsed in blank or accompanied by an assignment duly executed in blank, the Limited Partner or Assignee or his duly authorized representative shall be entitled to receive the payment therefor.
(iv) After the redemption date, Redeemable Interests shall no longer constitute issued and Outstanding Limited Partner Interests.
(b) The provisions of this Section 4.10 shall also be applicable to Limited Partner Interests held by a Limited Partner or Assignee as nominee of a Person determined to be other than an Eligible Citizen.
(c) Nothing in this Section 4.10 shall prevent the recipient of a notice of redemption from transferring his Limited Partner Interest before the redemption date if such transfer is otherwise permitted under this Agreement. Upon receipt of notice of such a transfer, the General Partner shall withdraw the notice of redemption, provided the transferee of such Limited Partner Interest certifies to the satisfaction of the General Partner in a Citizenship Certification delivered in connection with the Transfer Application that he is an Eligible Citizen. If the transferee fails to make such certification, such redemption shall be effected from the transferee on the original redemption date.
Article V
CAPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS AND ISSUANCE OF PARTNERSHIP INTERESTS
Section 5.1 [INTENTIONALLY OMITTED.]
Section 5.2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PARTNERSHIP.
(a) The General Partner and the Limited Partners have previously made Capital Contributions for interests in the Partnership.
(b) Upon the subsequent issuance of any additional Limited Partner Interests by the Partnership, the General Partner shall be required to make additional Capital Contributions equal to 2/98ths of any amount contributed to the Partnership by the Limited Partners in exchange for such additional Limited Partner Interests. Except as set forth in the immediately preceding sentence and Article XII, the General Partner shall not be obligated to make any additional Capital Contributions to the Partnership.
Section 5.3 [INTENTIONALLY OMITTED.]
Section 5.4 INTEREST AND WITHDRAWAL.
No interest shall be paid by the Partnership on Capital Contributions. No Partner or Assignee shall be entitled to the withdrawal or return of its Capital Contribution, except to the extent, if any, that distributions made pursuant to this Agreement may be considered as such by law and then only to the extent provided for in this Agreement. Except to the extent expressly provided in this Agreement, no Partner or Assignee shall have priority over any other Partner or Assignee either as to the return of Capital Contributions or as to profits, losses or distributions. Any such return shall be a compromise to which all Partners and Assignees agree within the meaning of Section 17-502(b) of the Delaware Act.
(a) The Partnership has maintained and shall continue to maintain for each Partner (or a beneficial owner of Partnership Interests held by a nominee in any case in which the nominee has furnished the identity of such owner to the Partnership in accordance with Section 6031(c) of the Code or any other method acceptable to the General Partner in its sole discretion) holding a Partnership Interest a separate Capital Account with respect to such Partnership Interest in accordance with the rules of Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv). Such Capital Account has been and shall be increased by (i) the amount of all Capital Contributions made to the Partnership with respect to such Partnership Interest pursuant to this Agreement (or pursuant to the Original Agreement or the Second Restated Agreement) and (ii) all items of Partnership income and gain (including, without limitation, income and gain exempt from tax) computed in accordance with Section 5.5(b) and allocated with respect to such Partnership Interest pursuant to Section 6.1 (or allocated pursuant to Section 6.1 of the Original Agreement or the Second Restated Agreement), and has been and shall be decreased by (x) the amount of cash or Net Agreed Value of all actual and deemed distributions of cash or property made with respect to such Partnership Interest pursuant to this Agreement (or pursuant to the Original Agreement or the Second Restated Agreement) and (y) all items of Partnership deduction and loss computed in
accordance with Section 5.5(b) and allocated with respect to such Partnership Interest pursuant to Section 6.1 (or allocated pursuant to Section 6.1 of the Original Agreement or the Second Restated Agreement). Capital Account maintenance and adjustments prior to the effective date of this Agreement were governed by the terms of the Original Agreement and the Second Restated Agreement.
(b) For purposes of computing the amount of any item of income, gain, loss or deduction which is to be allocated pursuant to Article VI and is to be reflected in the Partners’ Capital Accounts, the determination, recognition and classification of any such item shall be the same as its determination, recognition and classification for federal income tax purposes (including, without limitation, any method of depreciation, cost recovery or amortization used for that purpose), provided, that:
(i) Solely for purposes of this Section 5.5, the Partnership shall be treated as owning directly its proportionate share (as determined by the General Partner based upon the provisions of the applicable Subsidiary’s organizational agreements) of all property owned by any Subsidiary that is classified as a partnership for federal income tax purposes.
(ii) All fees and other expenses incurred by the Partnership to promote the sale of (or to sell) a Partnership Interest that can neither be deducted nor amortized under Section 709 of the Code, if any, shall, for purposes of Capital Account maintenance, be treated as an item of deduction at the time such fees and other expenses are incurred and shall be allocated among the Partners pursuant to Section 6.1.
(iii) Except as otherwise provided in Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(m), the computation of all items of income, gain, loss and deduction shall be made without regard to any election under Section 754 of the Code which may be made by the Partnership and, as to those items described in Section 705(a)(1)(B) or 705(a)(2)(B) of the Code, without regard to the fact that such items are not includable in gross income or are neither currently deductible nor capitalized for federal income tax purposes. To the extent an adjustment to the adjusted tax basis of any Partnership asset pursuant to Section 734(b) or 743(b) of the Code is required, pursuant to Treasury Regulation Section 704-1(b)(2)(iv)(m), to be taken into account in determining Capital Accounts, the amount of such adjustment in the Capital Accounts shall be treated as an item of gain or loss.
(iv) Any income, gain or loss attributable to the taxable disposition of any Partnership property shall be determined as if the adjusted basis of such property as of such date of disposition were equal in amount to the Partnership’s Carrying Value with respect to such property as of such date.
(v) In accordance with the requirements of Section 704(b) of the Code, any deductions for depreciation, cost recovery or amortization attributable to any Contributed Property shall be determined as if the adjusted basis of such property on the date it was acquired by the Partnership were equal to the Agreed Value of such property. Upon an adjustment pursuant to Section 5.5(d) to the Carrying Value of any Partnership property subject to depreciation, cost recovery or amortization, any further deductions for such depreciation, cost recovery or amortization attributable to such property shall be determined (A) as if the adjusted
basis of such property were equal to the Carrying Value of such property immediately following such adjustment and (B) using a rate of depreciation, cost recovery or amortization derived from the same method and useful life (or, if applicable, the remaining useful life) as is applied for federal income tax purposes; provided, however, that, if the asset has a zero adjusted basis for federal income tax purposes, depreciation, cost recovery or amortization deductions shall be determined using any reasonable method that the General Partner may elect.
(vi) If the Partnership’s adjusted basis in a depreciable or cost recovery property is reduced for federal income tax purposes pursuant to Section 48(q)(1) or 48(q)(3) of the Code, the amount of such reduction shall, solely for purposes hereof, be deemed to be an additional depreciation or cost recovery deduction in the year such property is placed in service and shall be allocated among the Partners pursuant to Section 6.1. Any restoration of such basis pursuant to Section 48(q)(2) of the Code shall, to the extent possible, be allocated in the same manner to the Partners to whom such deemed deduction was allocated.
(c) A transferee of a Partnership Interest shall succeed to a pro rata portion of the Capital Account of the transferor relating to the Partnership Interest so transferred.
(d) (i) In accordance with Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(f), upon an issuance of additional Partnership Interests for cash or Contributed Property, the issuance of Partnership Interests in consideration for services, or upon the conversion of all or a portion of the General Partner’s Combined Interest to Common Units pursuant to Section 11.3(b), the Capital Accounts of the Partners (other than the Class B Unitholders in respect of their Class B Units) and the Carrying Value of each Partnership property immediately prior to such issuance shall be adjusted upward or downward to reflect any Unrealized Gain or Unrealized Loss attributable to such Partnership property, as if such Unrealized Gain or Unrealized Loss had been recognized on an actual sale of each such property for an amount equal to its fair market value immediately prior to such issuance and had been allocated to the Partners (other than the Class B Unitholders in respect of their Class B Units) at such time pursuant to Section 6.1(c) in the same manner as any item of gain or loss actually recognized following an event giving rise to a dissolution of the Partnership would have been allocated. In determining such Unrealized Gain or Unrealized Loss, the aggregate cash amount and fair market value of all Partnership assets (including, without limitation, cash or cash equivalents) immediately prior to the issuance of additional Partnership Interests shall be determined by the General Partner using such reasonable method of valuation as it may adopt; provided, however, that the General Partner, in arriving at such valuation, must take fully into account the fair market value of the Partnership Interests of all Partners at such time. The General Partner shall allocate such aggregate value among the assets of the Partnership (in such manner as it determines in its discretion to be reasonable) to arrive at a fair market value for individual properties.
each such property immediately prior to such distribution for an amount equal to its fair market value, and had been allocated to the Partners (other than the Class B Unitholders in respect of their Class B Units), at such time, pursuant to Section 6.1(c) in the same manner as any item of gain or loss actually recognized following an event giving rise to a dissolution of the Partnership would have been allocated. In determining such Unrealized Gain or Unrealized Loss the aggregate cash amount and fair market value of all Partnership assets (including cash or cash equivalents) immediately prior to a distribution shall (A) in the case of an actual distribution that is not made pursuant to Section 12.4 or in the case of a deemed distribution, be determined and allocated in the same manner as that provided in Section 5.5(d)(i) or (B) in the case of a liquidating distribution pursuant to Section 12.4, be determined and allocated by the Liquidator using such reasonable method of valuation as it may adopt.
Section 5.6 ISSUANCES OF ADDITIONAL PARTNERSHIP SECURITIES.
(a) Subject to Section 5.7, the Partnership may issue additional Partnership Securities and options, rights, warrants and appreciation rights relating to the Partnership Securities for any Partnership purpose at any time and from time to time to such Persons for such consideration and on such terms and conditions as shall be established by the General Partner in its sole discretion, all without the approval of any Limited Partners.
(b) Each additional Partnership Security authorized to be issued by the Partnership pursuant to Section 5.6(a) may be issued in one or more classes, or one or more series of any such classes, with such designations, preferences, rights, powers, privileges and duties (which may be senior to existing classes and series of Partnership Securities), as shall be fixed by the General Partner in the exercise of its sole discretion, including (i) the right to share Partnership profits and losses or items thereof; (ii) the right to share in Partnership distributions; (iii) the rights upon dissolution and liquidation of the Partnership; (iv) whether, and the terms and conditions upon which, the Partnership may redeem the Partnership Security; (v) whether such Partnership Security is issued with the privilege of conversion or exchange and, if so, the terms and conditions of such conversion or exchange; (vi) the terms and conditions upon which each Partnership Security will be issued, evidenced by certificates and assigned or transferred; and (vii) the right, if any, of each such Partnership Security to vote on Partnership matters, including matters relating to the relative rights, preferences and privileges of such Partnership Security.
(c) The General Partner is hereby authorized and directed to take all actions that it deems necessary or appropriate (including all actions to assure the economic uniformity of the Common Units and the Class B Units) in connection with (i) each issuance of Partnership Securities and options, rights, warrants and appreciation rights relating to Partnership Securities pursuant to this Section 5.6, (ii) the conversion of the General Partner Interest and Incentive Distribution Rights into Units pursuant to the terms of this Agreement, (iii) the admission of Additional Limited Partners and (iv) all additional issuances of Partnership Securities. The General Partner is further authorized and directed to specify the relative preferences, rights, powers, privileges and duties of the holders of the Units or other Partnership Securities being so issued. The General Partner shall do all things necessary to comply with the Delaware Act and is authorized and directed to do all things it deems to be necessary or advisable in connection with any future issuance of Partnership Securities or in connection with the conversion of the General Partner Interest and Incentive Distribution Rights into Units pursuant to the terms of this
Agreement, including compliance with any statute, rule, regulation or guideline of any federal, state or other governmental agency or any National Securities Exchange on which the Units or other Partnership Securities are listed for trading.
Section 5.7 LIMITATIONS ON ISSUANCE OF FRACTIONAL PARTNERSHIP SECURITIES.
No fractional Units shall be issued by the Partnership.
Section 5.8 [INTENTIONALLY OMITTED.]
Section 5.9 LIMITED PREEMPTIVE RIGHT.
Except as provided in this Section 5.9 and in Section 5.2(b), no Person shall have any preemptive, preferential or other similar right with respect to the issuance of any Partnership Security, whether unissued, held in the treasury or hereafter created. The General Partner shall have the right (but not obligation), which it may from time to time assign in whole or in part to any of its Affiliates, to purchase Partnership Securities from the Partnership whenever, and on the same terms that, the Partnership issues Partnership Securities to Persons other than the General Partner and its Affiliates, to the extent necessary to maintain the Percentage Interests of the General Partner and its Affiliates equal to that which existed immediately prior to the issuance of such Partnership Securities.
Section 5.10 SPLITS AND COMBINATION.
(a) Subject to Sections 5.10(d), 6.6 and 6.9 (dealing with adjustments of distribution levels), the Partnership may make a Pro Rata distribution of Partnership Securities to all Record Holders or may effect a subdivision or combination of Partnership Securities so long as, after any such event, each Partner shall have the same Percentage Interest in the Partnership as before such event, and any amounts calculated on a per Unit basis (including any Unrecovered Capital) or stated as a number of Units are proportionately adjusted.
(b) Whenever such a distribution, subdivision or combination of Partnership Securities is declared, the General Partner shall select a Record Date as of which the distribution, subdivision or combination shall be effective and shall send notice thereof at least 20 days prior to such Record Date to each Record Holder as of a date not less than 10 days prior to the date of such notice. The General Partner also may cause a firm of independent public accountants selected by it to calculate the number of Partnership Securities to be held by each Record Holder after giving effect to such distribution, subdivision or combination. The General Partner shall be entitled to rely on any certificate provided by such firm as conclusive evidence of the accuracy of such calculation.
(c) Promptly following any such distribution, subdivision or combination, the Partnership may issue Certificates to the Record Holders of Partnership Securities as of the applicable Record Date representing the new number of Partnership Securities held by such Record Holders, or the General Partner may adopt such other procedures as it may deem appropriate to reflect such changes. If any such combination results in a smaller total number of Partnership Securities Outstanding, the Partnership shall require, as a condition to the delivery to
a Record Holder of such new Certificate, the surrender of any Certificate held by such Record Holder immediately prior to such Record Date.
(d) The Partnership shall not issue fractional Units upon any distribution, subdivision or combination of Units. If a distribution, subdivision or combination of Units would result in the issuance of fractional Units but for the provisions of Section 5.7 and this Section 5.10(d), each fractional Unit shall be rounded to the nearest whole Unit (and a 0.5 Unit shall be rounded to the next higher Unit).
Section 5.11 FULLY PAID AND NON-ASSESSABLE NATURE OF LIMITED PARTNER INTERESTS.
All Limited Partner Interests issued pursuant to, and in accordance with the requirements of, this Article V shall be fully paid and non-assessable Limited Partner Interests in the Partnership, except as such non-assessability may be affected by Section 17-607 of the Delaware Act.
Article VI
ALLOCATIONS AND DISTRIBUTIONS
Section 6.1 ALLOCATIONS FOR CAPITAL ACCOUNT PURPOSES.
For purposes of maintaining the Capital Accounts and in determining the rights of the Partners among themselves, the Partnership’s items of income, gain, loss and deduction (computed in accordance with Section 5.5(b)) shall be allocated among the Partners in each taxable year (or portion thereof) as provided herein below.
(a) NET INCOME. After giving effect to the special allocations set forth in Section 6.1(d), Net Income for each taxable period and all items of income, gain, loss and deduction taken into account in computing Net Income for such taxable period shall be allocated as follows:
(i) First, 100% to the General Partner in an amount equal to the aggregate Net Losses allocated to the General Partner pursuant to Section 6.1(b)(iii) for all previous taxable periods until the aggregate Net Income allocated to the General Partner pursuant to this Section 6.1(a)(i) for the current taxable period and all previous taxable periods is equal to the aggregate Net Losses allocated to the General Partner pursuant to Section 6.1(b)(iii) for all previous taxable periods;
(ii) Second, 1% to the General Partner in an amount equal to the aggregate Net Losses allocated to the General Partner pursuant to Section 6.1(b)(ii) for all previous taxable periods and 99% to the Common Unitholders, in accordance with their respective Percentage Interests, until the aggregate Net Income allocated to such Partners pursuant to this Section 6.1(a)(ii) for the current taxable period and all previous taxable periods is equal to the aggregate Net Losses allocated to such Partners pursuant to Section 6.1(b)(ii) for all previous taxable periods; and
(b) NET LOSSES. After giving effect to the special allocations set forth in Section 6.1(d), Net Losses for each taxable period and all items of income, gain, loss and deduction taken into account in computing Net Losses for such taxable period shall be allocated as follows:
(i) First, 1% to the General Partner and 99% to the Common Unitholders, Pro Rata, until the aggregate Net Losses allocated pursuant to this Section 6.1(b)(i) for the current taxable period and all previous taxable periods is equal to the aggregate Net Income allocated to such Partners pursuant to Section 6.1(a)(iii) for all previous taxable periods, provided that the Net Losses shall not be allocated pursuant to this Section 6.1(b)(i) to the extent that such allocation would cause any Common Unitholder to have a deficit balance in its Adjusted Capital Account at the end of such taxable period (or increase any existing deficit balance in its Adjusted Capital Account);
(ii) Second, 1% to the General Partner and 99% to the Common Unitholders, Pro Rata; provided, that Net Losses shall not be allocated pursuant to this Section 6.1(b)(ii) to the extent that such allocation would cause any Common Unitholder to have a deficit balance in its Adjusted Capital Account at the end of such taxable period (or increase any existing deficit balance in its Adjusted Capital Account);
(iii) Third, the balance, if any, 100% to the General Partner.
(c) NET TERMINATION GAINS AND LOSSES. After giving effect to the special allocations set forth in Section 6.1(d), all items of income, gain, loss and deduction taken into account in computing Net Termination Gain or Net Termination Loss for each taxable period shall be allocated in the same manner as such Net Termination Gain or Net Termination Loss is allocated hereunder. All allocations under this Section 6.1(c) shall be made after Capital Account balances have been adjusted by all other allocations provided under this Section 6.1 and after all distributions of Available Cash provided under Sections 6.4 and 6.5 have been made; provided, however, that solely for purposes of this Section 6.1(c), Capital Accounts shall not be adjusted for distributions made pursuant to Section 12.4.
(i) If a Net Termination Gain is recognized (or deemed recognized pursuant to Section 5.5(d)), such Net Termination Gain shall be allocated among the Partners in the following manner (and the Capital Accounts of the Partners shall be increased by the amount so allocated in each of the following subclauses, in the order listed, before an allocation is made pursuant to the next succeeding subclause):
(A) First, to each such Partner having a deficit balance in its Capital Account, in the proportion that such deficit balance bears to the total deficit balances in the Capital Accounts of all such Partners, until each such Partner has been allocated Net Termination Gain equal to any such deficit balance in its Capital Account;
equal to the sum of (1) its Unrecovered Capital plus (2) the First Target Distribution for the Quarter during which the Liquidation Date occurs, reduced by any distribution pursuant to Section 6.4(a) with respect to such Common Unit for such Quarter (the amount determined pursuant to this clause (2) is hereinafter defined as the “UNPAID FTD”);
(C) Third, 85.8673% to all Common Unitholders, Pro Rata, 13.1327% to the holders of the Incentive Distribution Rights, Pro Rata, and 1% to the General Partner until the Capital Account in respect of each Common Unit then Outstanding is equal to the sum of (1) its Unrecovered Capital plus (2) the Unpaid FTD, plus (3) the excess of (aa) the Second Target Distribution less the First Target Distribution for each Quarter after the date of this Agreement over (bb) the cumulative per Unit amount of any distributions of Operating Surplus made pursuant to Section 6.4(b) after the date of this Agreement;
(D) Finally, any remaining amount 75.7653% to all Common Unitholders, Pro Rata, 23.2347% to the holders of the Incentive Distribution Rights, Pro Rata, and 1% to the General Partner.
(ii) If a Net Termination Loss is recognized (or deemed recognized pursuant to Section 5.5(d)), such Net Termination Loss shall be allocated among the Partners in the following manner (and the Capital Accounts of the Partners shall be decreased by the amount so allocated in each of the following subclauses, in the order listed, before an allocation is made pursuant to the next succeeding subclause):
(A) First, 99% to all Common Unitholders, Pro Rata, and 1% to the General Partner until the Capital Account in respect of each Common Unit then Outstanding has been reduced to zero; and
(B) Second, the balance, if any, 100% to the General Partner.
(d) SPECIAL ALLOCATIONS. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section 6.1, the following special allocations shall be made for such taxable period:
(i) PARTNERSHIP MINIMUM GAIN CHARGEBACK. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section 6.1, if there is a net decrease in Partnership Minimum Gain during any Partnership taxable period, each Partner shall be allocated items of Partnership income and gain for such period (and, if necessary, subsequent periods) in the manner and amounts provided in Treasury Regulation Sections 1.704-2(f)(6), 1.704-2(g)(2) and 1.704-2(j)(2)(i). For purposes of this Section 6.1(d), each Partner’s Adjusted Capital Account balance shall be determined, and the allocation of income or gain required hereunder shall be effected, prior to the application of any other allocations pursuant to this Section 6.1(d) with respect to such taxable period (other than an allocation pursuant to Sections 6.1(d)(vi) and 6.1(d)(vii)). This Section 6.1(d)(i) is intended to comply with the Partnership Minimum Gain chargeback requirement in Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-2(f) and shall be interpreted consistently therewith.
(ii) CHARGEBACK OF PARTNER NONRECOURSE DEBT MINIMUM GAIN. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section 6.1 (other than Section 6.1(d)(i)), except as provided in Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-2(i)(4), if there is a net decrease in Partner Nonrecourse Debt Minimum Gain during any Partnership taxable period, any Partner
with a share of Partner Nonrecourse Debt Minimum Gain at the beginning of such taxable period shall be allocated items of Partnership income and gain for such period (and, if necessary, subsequent periods) in the manner and amounts provided in Treasury Regulation Sections 1.704-2(i)(4) and 1.704-2(j)(2)(ii). For purposes of this Section 6.1(d), each Partner’s Adjusted Capital Account balance shall be determined, and the allocation of income or gain required hereunder shall be effected, prior to the application of any other allocations pursuant to this Section 6.1(d), other than Section 6.1(d)(i) and other than an allocation pursuant to Sections 6.1(d)(vi) and 6.1(d)(vii), with respect to such taxable period. This Section 6.1(d)(ii) is intended to comply with the chargeback of items of income and gain requirement in Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-2(i)(4) and shall be interpreted consistently therewith.
(iii) PRIORITY ALLOCATIONS. (A) If the amount of cash or the Net Agreed Value of any property distributed (except cash or property distributed pursuant to Section 12.4) to any Unitholder with respect to its Units for any taxable period is greater (on a per Unit basis) than the amount of cash or the Net Agreed Value of property distributed to the other Unitholders with respect to their Units (on a per Unit basis), then (1) each Unitholder receiving such greater cash or property distribution shall be allocated gross income in an amount equal to the product of (aa) the amount by which the distribution (on a per Unit basis) to such Unitholder exceeds the distribution (on a per Unit basis) to the Unitholders receiving the smallest distribution and (bb) the number of Units held by the Unitholder receiving the greater distribution; and (2) the General Partner shall be allocated gross income in an aggregate amount equal to 1/99th of the sum of the amounts allocated in clause (1) above.
(B) After the application of Section 6.1(d)(iii)(A), all or any portion of the remaining items of Partnership gross income or gain for the taxable period, if any, shall be allocated 100% to the holders of Incentive Distribution Rights, Pro Rata, until the aggregate amount of such items allocated to the holders of Incentive Distribution Rights pursuant to this paragraph 6.1(d)(iii)(B) for the current taxable period and all previous taxable periods is equal to the cumulative amount of all Incentive Distributions made to the holders of Incentive Distribution Rights from the Closing Date to a date 45 days after the end of the current taxable period.
(v) GROSS INCOME ALLOCATIONS. In the event any Partner has a deficit balance in its Capital Account at the end of any Partnership taxable period in excess of the sum of (A) the amount such Partner is required to restore pursuant to the provisions of this Agreement and (B) the amount such Partner is deemed obligated to restore pursuant to Treasury Regulation Sections 1.704-2(g) and 1.704-2(i)(5), such Partner shall be specially allocated items of Partnership gross income and gain in the amount of such excess as quickly as possible; provided, that an allocation pursuant to this Section 6.1(d)(v) shall be made only if and to the extent that
such Partner would have a deficit balance in its Capital Account as adjusted after all other allocations provided for in this Section 6.1 have been tentatively made as if this Section 6.1(d)(v) were not in this Agreement.
(viii) NONRECOURSE LIABILITIES. For purposes of Treasury Regulation Section 1.752-3(a)(3), the Partners agree that Nonrecourse Liabilities of the Partnership in excess of the sum of (A) the amount of Partnership Minimum Gain and (B) the total amount of Nonrecourse Built-in Gain shall be allocated among the Partners in accordance with their respective Percentage Interests.
(x) ECONOMIC UNIFORMITY. For the proper administration of the Partnership and for the preservation of uniformity of the Limited Partner Interests (or any class or classes thereof), the General Partner shall (i) adopt such conventions as it deems appropriate in determining the amount of depreciation, amortization and cost recovery deductions; (ii) make special allocations of income, gain, loss, deduction, Unrealized Gain or Unrealized Loss; and (iii) amend the provisions of this Agreement as appropriate (x) to reflect the proposal or promulgation of Treasury Regulations under Section 704(b) or Section 704(c) of the Code or (y) otherwise to preserve or achieve uniformity of the Limited Partner Interests (or any class or classes thereof). The General Partner may adopt such conventions, make such allocations and make such amendments to this Agreement as provided in this Section 6.1(d)(x) only if such conventions, allocations or amendments would not have a material adverse effect on the Partners, the holders of any class or classes of Limited Partner Interests issued and Outstanding
or the Partnership, and if such allocations are consistent with the principles of Section 704 of the Code.
(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section 6.1, other than the Required Allocations, the Required Allocations shall be taken into account in making the Agreed Allocations so that, to the extent possible, the net amount of items of income, gain, loss and deduction allocated to each Partner pursuant to the Required Allocations and the Agreed Allocations, together, shall be equal to the net amount of such items that would have been allocated to each such Partner under the Agreed Allocations had the Required Allocations and the related Curative Allocation not otherwise been provided in this Section 6.1. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, Required Allocations relating to (1) Nonrecourse Deductions shall not be taken into account except to the extent that there has been a decrease in Partnership Minimum Gain and (2) Partner Nonrecourse Deductions shall not be taken into account except to the extent that there has been a decrease in Partner Nonrecourse Debt Minimum Gain. Allocations pursuant to this Section 6.1(d)(xi)(A) shall only be made with respect to Required Allocations to the extent the General Partner reasonably determines that such allocations will otherwise be inconsistent with the economic agreement among the Partners. Further, allocations pursuant to this Section 6.1(d)(xi)(A) shall be deferred to the extent the General Partner reasonably determines that such allocations are likely to be offset by subsequent Required Allocations.
(B) The General Partner shall have reasonable discretion, with respect to each taxable period, to (1) apply the provisions of Section 6.1(d)(xi)(A) in whatever order is most likely to minimize the economic distortions that might otherwise result from the Required Allocations, and (2) divide all allocations pursuant to Section 6.1(d)(xi)(A) among the Partners in a manner that is likely to minimize such economic distortions.
(A) Except as provided in Section 6.1(d)(xii)(B), in the case of any allocation of Additional Book Basis Derivative Items (other than an allocation of Unrealized Gain or Unrealized Loss under Section 5.5(d) hereof) with respect to any Partnership property, the General Partner shall allocate such Additional Book Basis Derivative Items (1) to (aa) the holders of Incentive Distribution Rights and (bb) the General Partner in the same manner that the Unrealized Gain or Unrealized Loss attributable to such property is allocated pursuant to Section 5.5(d)(i) or 5.5(d)(ii) and (2) to the Common Unitholders, Pro Rata, to the extent that the Unrealized Gain or Unrealized Loss attributable to such property is allocated to any Common Unitholders in respect of their Common Units pursuant to Section 5.5(d)(i) or 5.5(d)(ii).
(B) In the case of any allocation of Additional Book Basis Derivative Items (other than an allocation of Unrealized Gain or Unrealized Loss under Section 5.5(d) or an allocation of Net Termination Gain or Net Termination Loss under Section 6.1(c)) as a result of a sale or other taxable disposition of any Partnership asset that is an Adjusted Property (“DISPOSED OF ADJUSTED PROPERTY”), the General Partner shall allocate additional items
of gross income and gain away from the holders of Incentive Distribution Rights and the General Partner to the Common Unitholders, or additional items of deduction and loss away from the Common Unitholders to the holders of Incentive Distribution Rights and the General Partner, to the extent that the Additional Book Basis Derivative Items allocated to the Common Unitholders exceed their Share of Additional Book Basis Derivative Items with respect to such Disposed of Adjusted Property. For this purpose, the Common Unitholders shall be treated as being allocated Additional Book Basis Derivative Items to the extent that such Additional Book Basis Derivative Items have reduced the amount of income that would otherwise have been allocated to the Common Unitholders under this Agreement (e.g., Additional Book Basis Derivative Items taken into account in computing cost of goods sold would reduce the amount of book income otherwise available for allocation among the Partners). Any allocation made pursuant to this Section 6.1(d)(xii)(B) shall be made after all of the other Agreed Allocations have been made as if this Section 6.1(d)(xii) were not in this Agreement and, to the extent necessary, shall require the reallocation of items that have been allocated pursuant to such other Agreed Allocations.
(C) In the case of any negative adjustments to the Capital Accounts of the Partners resulting from a Book-Down Event or from the recognition of a Net Termination Loss, such negative adjustment (1) shall first be allocated, to the extent of the Aggregate Remaining Net Positive Adjustments, in such a manner, as reasonably determined by the General Partner, that to the extent possible the aggregate Capital Accounts of the Partners will equal the amount that would have been the Capital Account balance of the Partners if no prior Book-Up Events had occurred, and (2) any negative adjustment in excess of the Aggregate Remaining Net Positive Adjustments shall be allocated pursuant to Section 6.1(c).
(D) In making the allocations required under this Section 6.1(d)(xii), the General Partner, in its sole discretion, may apply whatever conventions or other methodology it deems reasonable to satisfy the purpose of this Section 6.1(d)(xii).
(xiii) CAPITAL ACCOUNT DEFICITS. Except as otherwise provided in this Section 6.1(d)(xiii), the General Partner shall not be allocated its portion of any item of Net Losses to the extent that such allocation would cause or increase a deficit balance in the General Partner’s Adjusted Capital Account. Any item of Net Losses or portion thereof which, but for the limitation in the first sentence of this Section 6.1(d)(xiii), would be allocated to the General Partner, shall be allocated to the Class B Unitholders having positive balances in their Adjusted Capital Accounts, to the extent of and in proportion to such positive balances, provided that if the Adjusted Capital Account of all of the Class B Unitholders have been reduced to zero, any remaining Net Losses shall be allocated to the General Partner. If Net Losses have been allocated to the Class B Unitholders pursuant to this Section 6.1(d)(xiii) for any taxable year, then Net Income for each subsequent taxable year and all items of income, gain, loss and deduction taken into account in computing Net Income for such taxable year shall be allocated 100% to such Class B Unitholders in proportion to such Net Losses previously allocated to them before any allocation of Net Income pursuant to Section 6.1(a) until the aggregate Net Income allocated to them pursuant to this Section 6.1(d)(xiii) for the current taxable year and all previous taxable years is equal to the aggregate Net Losses allocated to them pursuant to this Section 6.1(d)(xiii) for all previous taxable years.
Section 6.2 ALLOCATIONS FOR TAX PURPOSES.
(b) In an attempt to eliminate Book-Tax Disparities attributable to a Contributed Property or Adjusted Property, items of income, gain, loss, depreciation, amortization and cost recovery deductions shall be allocated for federal income tax purposes among the Partners as follows:
(i) (A) In the case of a Contributed Property, such items attributable thereto shall be allocated among the Partners in the manner provided under Section 704(c) of the Code that takes into account the variation between the Agreed Value of such property and its adjusted basis at the time of contribution; and (B) any item of Residual Gain or Residual Loss attributable to a Contributed Property shall be allocated among the Partners in the same manner as its correlative item of “BOOK” gain or loss is allocated pursuant to Section 6.1.
(ii) (A) In the case of an Adjusted Property, such items shall (1) first, be allocated among the Partners in a manner consistent with the principles of Section 704(c) of the Code to take into account the Unrealized Gain or Unrealized Loss attributable to such property and the allocations thereof pursuant to Section 5.5(d)(i) or 5.5(d)(ii), and (2) second, in the event such property was originally a Contributed Property, be allocated among the Partners in a manner consistent with Section 6.2(b)(i)(A); and (B) any item of Residual Gain or Residual Loss attributable to an Adjusted Property shall be allocated among the Partners in the same manner as its correlative item of “BOOK” gain or loss is allocated pursuant to Section 6.1.
(c) For the proper administration of the Partnership and for the preservation of uniformity of the Limited Partner Interests (or any class or classes thereof), the General Partner shall have sole discretion to (i) adopt such conventions as it deems appropriate in determining the amount of depreciation, amortization and cost recovery deductions; (ii) make special allocations for federal income tax purposes of income (including, without limitation, gross income) or deductions; and (iii) amend the provisions of this Agreement as appropriate (x) to reflect the proposal or promulgation of Treasury Regulations under Section 704(b) or Section 704(c) of the Code or (y) otherwise to preserve or achieve uniformity of the Limited Partner Interests (or any class or classes thereof). The General Partner may adopt such conventions, make such allocations and make such amendments to this Agreement as provided in this Section 6.2(c) only if such conventions, allocations or amendments would not have a material adverse effect on the Partners, the holders of any class or classes of Limited Partner Interests issued and Outstanding or the Partnership, and if such allocations are consistent with the principles of Section 704 of the Code.
(d) The General Partner in its discretion may determine to depreciate or amortize the portion of an adjustment under Section 743(b) of the Code attributable to unrealized appreciation in any Adjusted Property (to the extent of the unamortized Book-Tax Disparity) using a predetermined rate derived from the depreciation or amortization method and useful life applied to the Partnership’s common basis of such property, despite any inconsistency of such approach with Treasury Regulation Section 1.167(c)-1(a)(6). If the General Partner determines that such reporting position cannot reasonably be taken, the General Partner may adopt depreciation and amortization conventions under which all purchasers acquiring Limited Partner Interests in the same month would receive depreciation and amortization deductions, based upon the same applicable rate as if they had purchased a direct interest in the Partnership’s property. If the General Partner chooses not to utilize such aggregate method, the General Partner may use any other reasonable depreciation and amortization conventions to preserve the uniformity of the intrinsic tax characteristics of any Limited Partner Interests, so long as such conventions would not have a material adverse effect on the Limited Partners or the Record Holders of any class or classes of Limited Partner Interests.
(e) Any gain allocated to the Partners upon the sale or other taxable disposition of any Partnership asset shall, to the extent possible, after taking into account other required allocations of gain pursuant to this Section 6.2, be characterized as Recapture Income in the same proportions and to the same extent as such Partners (or their predecessors in interest) have been allocated any deductions directly or indirectly giving rise to the treatment of such gains as Recapture Income.
(f) All items of income, gain, loss, deduction and credit recognized by the Partnership for federal income tax purposes and allocated to the Partners in accordance with the provisions hereof shall be determined without regard to any election under Section 754 of the Code which may be made by the Partnership; provided, however, that such allocations, once made, shall be adjusted as necessary or appropriate, as determined by the General Partner, to take into account those adjustments permitted or required by Sections 734 and 743 of the Code.
(h) Allocations that would otherwise be made to a Limited Partner under the provisions of this Article VI shall instead be made to the beneficial owner of Limited Partner Interests held by a nominee in any case in which the nominee has furnished the identity of such owner to the Partnership in accordance with Section 6031(c) of the Code or any other method acceptable to the General Partner in its sole discretion.
(i) Notwithstanding any other provision of this agreement, solely for Canadian income tax purposes,
(i) the gross amount of any dividend or deemed dividend (a “FOREIGN AFFILIATE DIVIDEND”)paid by any entity that is a “foreign affiliate” (as defined in subsection 95(1) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the “ITA”))of the Partnership (a “FOREIGN AFFILIATE”)to the Partnership, and the gross amount of any expenses of the Partnership attributable thereto, shall be allocated in a manner consistent with subsection 93.1(2) of the ITA; and
(ii) the amount of all other items of income, gain, loss, deduction and credit recognized by the Partnership shall be allocated to the Partners in accordance with this Section 6.2, provided that such amount shall exclude any such item that (A) is recognized by a Foreign Affiliate, and (B) is not required to be included in the income of the Partnership under subsection 91(1) of the ITA.
Section 6.3 REQUIREMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF DISTRIBUTIONS; DISTRIBUTIONS TO RECORD HOLDERS.
(a) Within 45 clays following the end of each Quarter, an amount equal to 100% of Available Cash with respect to such Quarter shall, subject to Section 17-607 of the Delaware Act, be distributed in accordance with this Article VI by the Partnership to the Partners as of the Record Date selected by the General Partner in its reasonable discretion. All amounts of Available Cash distributed by the Partnership on any date from any source shall be deemed to be Operating Surplus until the sum of all amounts of Available Cash theretofore distributed by the Partnership to the Partners pursuant to Section 6.4 equals the Operating Surplus from the Closing Date through the close of the immediately preceding Quarter. Ally remaining amounts of Available Cash distributed by the Partnership on such date shall, except as otherwise provided in Section 6.5, be deemed to be “CAPITAL SURPLUS.”All distributions required to be made under this Agreement shall be made subject to Section 17-607 of the Delaware Act.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 6.3(a), in the event of the dissolution and liquidation of the Partnership, all receipts received during or after the Quarter in which the Liquidation Date occurs, other than from borrowings described in (a)(ii) of the definition of Available Cash, shall be applied and distributed solely in accordance with, and subject to the terms and conditions of, Section 12.4.
(c) The General Partner shall have the discretion to treat taxes paid by the Partnership on behalf of, or amounts withheld with respect to, all or less than all of the Partners, as a distribution of Available Cash to such Partners.
(d) Each distribution in respect of a Partnership Interest shall be paid by the Partnership, directly or through the Transfer Agent or through any other Person or agent, only to the Record Holder of such Partnership Interest as of the Record Date set for such distribution. Such payment shall constitute full payment and satisfaction of the Partnership’s liability in respect of such payment, regardless of any claim of any Person who may have an interest in such payment by reason of an assignment or otherwise.
Section 6.4 DISTRIBUTIONS OF AVAILABLE CASH FROM OPERATING SURPLUS.
Available Cash with respect to any Quarter that is deemed to be Operating Surplus pursuant to the provisions of Section 6.3 or 6.5, subject to Section 17-607 of the Delaware Act, shall be distributed as follows, except as otherwise required by Section 5.6(b) in respect of additional Partnership Securities issued pursuant thereto:
provided, however, if the First Target Distribution and the Second Target Distribution have been reduced to zero pursuant to the second sentence of Section 6.6(a), the distribution of Available Cash that is deemed to be Operating Surplus with respect to any Quarter will be made solely in accordance with Section 6.4(c).
Section 6.5 DISTRIBUTIONS OF AVAILABLE CASH FROM CAPITAL SURPLUS.
Available Cash that is deemed to be Capital Surplus pursuant to the provisions of Section 6.3(a) shall, subject to Section 17-607 of the Delaware Act, be distributed, unless the provisions of Section 6.3 require otherwise, 99% to all Common Unitholders, Pro Rata, and 1% to the General Partner until a hypothetical holder of a Common Unit acquired on the Closing Date has received with respect to such Common Unit, during the period since the Closing Date through such date, distributions of Available Cash that are deemed to be Capital Surplus in an aggregate amount equal to the Initial Unit Price. Thereafter, all Available Cash shall be distributed as if it were Operating Surplus and shall be distributed in accordance with Section 6.4.
Section 6.6 ADJUSTMENT OF MINIMUM QUARTERLY DISTRIBUTION AND TARGET DISTRIBUTION LEVELS.
(a) The Minimum Quarterly Distribution, First Target Distribution and Second Target Distribution shall be proportionately adjusted in the event of any distribution, combination or subdivision (whether effected by a distribution payable in Common Units or otherwise) of the Common Units or other Partnership Securities in accordance with Section 5.10. In the event of a distribution of Available Cash that is deemed to be from Capital Surplus, the then applicable Minimum Quarterly Distribution, First Target Distribution and Second Target Distribution shall be adjusted proportionately downward to equal the product obtained by multiplying the
otherwise applicable Minimum Quarterly Distribution, First Target Distribution and Second Target Distribution, as the case may be, by a fraction of which the numerator is the Unrecovered Capital of the Common Units immediately after giving effect to such distribution and of which the denominator is the Unrecovered Capital of the Common Units immediately prior to giving effect to such distribution. These adjustments will not apply to the quarter in which the distributions of Available Cash that are deemed to be from Capital Surplus trigger these adjustments.
(b) The Minimum Quarterly Distribution, First Target Distribution and Second Target Distribution shall also be subject to adjustment pursuant to Section 6.9.
Section 6.7 [INTENTIONALLY OMITTED.]
Section 6.8 SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE HOLDERS OF INCENTIVE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary set forth in this Agreement, the holders of the Incentive Distribution Rights (a) shall (i) possess the rights and obligations provided in this Agreement with respect to a Limited Partner pursuant to Articles III and VII and (ii) have a Capital Account as a Partner pursuant to Section 5.5 and all other provisions related thereto and (b) shall not (i) be entitled to vote on any matters requiring the approval or vote of the holders of Outstanding Units, (ii) be entitled to any distributions other than as provided in Sections 6.4(b), 6.4(c) and 12.4 or (iii) be allocated items of income, gain, loss or deduction other than as specified in this Article VI.
Section 6.9 ENTITY-LEVEL TAXATION.
If legislation is enacted or the interpretation of existing legislation is modified by the relevant governmental authority which causes the Partnership or any Group Member to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation or otherwise subjects the Partnership, or any Group Member to entity-level taxation for federal income tax purposes, the then applicable Minimum Quarterly Distribution, First Target Distribution and Second Target Distribution may, at the General Partner's discretion, be adjusted to an amount that is not less than the amount equal to the product obtained by multiplying (a) the amount thereof by (b) one minus the sum of (i) the highest marginal federal corporate (or other entity, as applicable) income tax rate that could apply to the Partnership or any Group Member for the taxable year of the Partnership or such Group Member in which such Quarter occurs (expressed as a decimal) plus (ii) the effective overall state and local income tax rate (expressed as a decimal) that would have been applicable to the Partnership or such Group Member for the calendar year next preceding the calendar year in which such Quarter occurs (after taking into account the benefit of any deduction allowable for federal income tax purposes with respect to the payment of state and local income taxes), but only to the extent of the increase in such rates resulting from such legislation or interpretation. For purposes of this Section 6.9, such effective overall state and local income tax rate shall be determined for the taxable year next preceding the first taxable year during which the Partnership or any Group Member is taxable for federal income tax purposes as an association taxable as a corporation or is otherwise subject to entity-level taxation by determining such rate as if the
Partnership or any Group Member had been subject to such state and local taxes during such preceding taxable year.
Article VII
MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION OF BUSINESS
(a) The General Partner shall conduct, direct and manage all activities of the Partnership. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement, all management powers over the business and affairs of the Partnership shall be exclusively vested in the General Partner, and no Limited Partner or Assignee shall have any management power over the business and affairs of the Partnership. In addition to the powers now or hereafter granted a general partner of a limited partnership under applicable law or which are granted to the General Partner under any other provision of this Agreement, the General Partner, subject to Section 7.3, shall have full power and authority to do all things and on such terms as it, in its sole discretion, may deem necessary or appropriate to conduct the business of the Partnership, to exercise all powers set forth in Section 2.5 and to effectuate the purposes set forth in Section 2.4, including the following:
(i) the making of any expenditures, the lending or borrowing of money, the assumption or guarantee of, or other contracting for, indebtedness and other liabilities, the issuance of evidences of indebtedness, including indebtedness that is convertible into Partnership Securities, and the incurring of any other obligations;
(ii) the making of tax, regulatory and other filings, or rendering of periodic or other reports to governmental or other agencies having jurisdiction over the business or assets of the Partnership;
(iii) the acquisition, disposition, mortgage, pledge, encumbrance, hypothecation or exchange of any or all of the assets of the Partnership or the merger or other combination of the Partnership with or into another Person (the matters described in this clause (iii) being subject, however, to any prior approval that may be required by Section 7.3);
(iv) the use of the assets of the Partnership (including cash on hand) for any purpose consistent with the terms of this Agreement, including the financing of the conduct of the operations of the Partnership Group or making investments in or loans to JV Entities; subject to Section 7.6(a), the lending of funds to other Persons; the repayment of obligations of the Partnership Group or any JV Entity and the making of capital contributions to any Group Member or JV Entity;
(v) the negotiation, execution and performance of any contracts, conveyances or other instruments (including contracts, conveyances or instruments that limit the liability of the Partnership under contractual arrangements to all or particular assets of the Partnership, with the other party to the contract to have no recourse against the General Partner or its assets other than its interest in the Partnership, even if these arrangements result in the terms of the transaction being less favorable to the Partnership than would otherwise be the case);
(vi) the distribution of Partnership cash;
(vii) the selection and dismissal of employees (including employees having titles such as “president,” “vice president,” “secretary” and “treasurer”) and agents, outside attorneys, accountants, consultants and contractors and the determination of their compensation and other terms of employment or hiring;
(viii) the maintenance of such insurance for the benefit of the Partnership Group and the Partners as it deems necessary or appropriate;
(ix) the formation of, or acquisition of an interest in, and the contribution of property and the making of loans to, any further limited or general partnerships, joint ventures, corporations or other relationships subject to the restrictions set forth in Section 2.4;
(x) the control of any matters affecting the rights and obligations of the Partnership, including the bringing and defending of actions at law or in equity and otherwise engaging in the conduct of litigation and the incurring of legal expense and the settlement of claims and litigation;
(xi) the indemnification of any Person against liabilities and contingencies to the extent permitted by law;
(xii) the entering into of listing agreements with any National Securities Exchange and the delisting of some or all of the Limited Partner Interests from, or requesting that trading be suspended on, any such exchange (subject to any prior approval that may be required under Section 4.8); and
(xiii) unless restricted or prohibited by Section 5.7, the issuance, purchase, sale or other acquisition or disposition of Partnership Securities or options, rights, warrants and appreciation rights relating to Partnership Securities.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, the Delaware Act or any applicable law, rule or regulation, each of the Partners and the Assignees and each other Person who may acquire an interest in Partnership Securities agrees that the execution, delivery or performance by the General Partner, any Group Member or any Affiliate of any of them, of this Agreement or any agreement authorized or permitted under this Agreement (including the exercise by the General Partner or any Affiliate of the General Partner of the rights accorded pursuant to Article XV), shall not constitute a breach by the General Partner of any duty that the General Partner may owe the Partnership or the Limited Partners or any other Persons under this Agreement (or any other agreements) or of any duty stated or implied by law or equity.
Section 7.2 CERTIFICATE OF LIMITED PARTNERSHIP.
The General Partner has caused the Certificate of Limited Partnership to be filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware as required by the Delaware Act and shall use all reasonable efforts to cause to be filed such other certificates or documents as may be determined by the General Partner in its sole discretion to be reasonable and necessary or appropriate for the formation, continuation, qualification and operation of a limited partnership (or a partnership in
which the limited partners have limited liability) in the State of Delaware or any other state in which the Partnership may elect to do business or own property. To the extent that such action is determined by the General Partner in its sole discretion to be reasonable and necessary or appropriate, the General Partner shall file amendments to and restatements of the Certificate of Limited Partnership and do all things to maintain the Partnership as a limited partnership (or a partnership or other entity in which the limited partners have limited liability) under the laws of the State of Delaware or of any other state in which the Partnership may elect to do business or own property. Subject to the terms of Section 3.4(a), the General Partner shall not be required, before or after filing, to deliver or mail a copy of the Certificate of Limited Partnership, any qualification document or any amendment thereto to any Limited Partner.
Section 7.3 RESTRICTIONS ON GENERAL PARTNER’S AUTHORITY.
(a) The General Partner may not, without written approval of the specific act by holders of all of the Outstanding Limited Partner Interests or by other written instrument executed and delivered by holders of all of the Outstanding Limited Partner Interests subsequent to the date of this Agreement, take any action in contravention of this Agreement, including, except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, (i) committing any act that would make it impossible to carry on the ordinary business of the Partnership; (ii) possessing Partnership property, or assigning any rights in specific Partnership property, for other than a Partnership purpose; (iii) admitting a Person as a Partner; (iv) amending this Agreement in any manner; or (v) transferring its interest as general partner of the Partnership.
(b) Except as provided in Articles XII and XIV, the General Partner may not sell, exchange or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of the Partnership’s assets in a single transaction or a series of related transactions (including by way of merger, consolidation or other combination) without the approval of holders of a Unit Majority; provided however that this provision shall not preclude or limit the General Partner’s ability to mortgage, pledge, hypothecate or grant a security interest in all or substantially all of the assets of the Partnership and shall not apply to any sale of any or all of the assets of the Partnership pursuant to the foreclosure of, or other realization upon, any such encumbrance. Without the approval of holders of a Unit Majority, the General Partner shall not, on behalf of the Partnership, except as permitted under Section 4.6, 11.1 or 11.2, elect or cause the Partnership to elect a successor general partner of the Partnership.
(c) The General Partner may not approve or consent to the conversion of Northern Border PipeLine or any other JV Entity that is not then taxable as an entity for federal income tax purposes to corporate form without first obtaining the approval of the holders of at least a majority of the Outstanding Units.
Section 7.4 REIMBURSEMENT OF THE GENERAL PARTNER.
(a) Except as provided in this Section 7.4 and elsewhere in this Agreement, the General Partner shall not be compensated for its services as general partner or managing member of any Group Member.
(b) The General Partner shall be reimbursed on a monthly basis, or such other reasonable basis as the General Partner may determine hi its sole discretion, for (i) all direct and indirect expenses it incurs or payments it makes on behalf of the Partnership (including salary, bonus, incentive compensation and other amounts paid to any Person including Affiliates of the General Partner to perform services for the Partnership or for the General Partner in the discharge of its duties to the Partnership), and (ii) all other necessary or appropriate expenses allocable to the Partnership or otherwise reasonably incurred by the General Partner in connection with operating the Partnership’s business (including expenses allocated to the General Partner by its Affiliates). The General Partner shall determine the expenses that are allocable to the Partnership in any reasonable manner determined by the General Partner in its sole discretion. Reimbursements pursuant to this Section 7.4 shall be in addition to any reimbursement to the General Partner as a result of indemnification pursuant to Section 7.7.
(c) Subject to Section 5.7, the General Partner, in its sole discretion and without the approval of the Limited Partners (who shall have no right to vote in respect thereof), may propose and adopt on behalf of the Partnership employee benefit plans, employee programs and employee practices (including plans, programs and practices involving the issuance of Partnership Securities or options to purchase Partnership Securities), or cause the Partnership to issue Partnership Securities in connection with, or pursuant to, any employee benefit plan, employee program or employee practice maintained or sponsored by the General Partner or any of its Affiliates, in each case for the benefit of employees of the General Partner, any Group Member or any Affiliate, or any of them, in respect of services performed, directly or indirectly, for the benefit of the Partnership Group. The Partnership agrees to issue and sell to the General Partner or any of its Affiliates any Partnership Securities that the General Partner or such Affiliate is obligated to provide to any employees pursuant to any such employee benefit plans, employee programs or employee practices. Expenses incurred by the General Partner in connection with any such plans, programs and practices (including the net cost to the General Partner or such Affiliate of Partnership Securities purchased by the General Partner or such Affiliate from the Partnership to fulfill options or awards under such plans, programs and practices) shall be reimbursed in accordance with Section 7.4(b). Any and all obligations of the General Partner under any employee benefit plans, employee programs or employee practices adopted by the General Partner as permitted by this Section 7.4(c) shall constitute obligations of the General Partner hereunder and shall be assumed by any successor General Partner approved pursuant to Section 11.1 or 11.2 or the transferee of or successor to all of the General Partner’s General Partner Interest pursuant to Section 4.6.
Section 7.5 OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES.
(a) The General Partner, for so long as it is the General Partner of the Partnership (i) agrees that its sole business will be to act as the general partner (or managing member) of the Partnership and any other partnership or limited liability company of which the Partnership is, directly or indirectly, a partner or member and to undertake activities that are ancillary or related thereto (including being a limited partner in the Partnership) and (ii) shall not engage in any business or activity or incur any debts or liabilities except in connection with or incidental to (A) its performance as general partner (or managing member) of one or more Group Members or as described in or contemplated by the Registration Statement or (B) the acquiring, owning or disposing of debt or equity securities or interests in any Group Member.
(b) Except as specifically restricted by Section 7.5(a), each Indemnitee (other than the General Partner) shall have the right to engage in businesses of any and every type and description and other activities for profit and to engage in and possess an interest in other business ventures of any and every type or description, whether in businesses engaged in or anticipated to be engaged in by any Group Member or JV Entity, independently or with others, including business interests and activities in direct competition with the business and activities of any Group Member or JV Entity, and none of the same shall constitute a breach of this Agreement or any duty express or implied by law to any Group Member or JV Entity or any Partner or Assignee. Neither any Group Member, any JV Entity, any Limited Partner nor any other Person shall have any rights by virtue of this Agreement or the partnership relationship established hereby in any business ventures of any Indemnitee.
(c) Subject to the terms of Sections 7.5(a) and 7.5(b), but otherwise notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, (i) the engaging in competitive activities by any Indemnitees (other than the General Partner) in accordance with the provisions of this Section 7.5 is hereby approved by the Partnership and all Partners, (ii) it shall be deemed not to be a breach of the General Partner’s fiduciary duty or any other obligation of any type whatsoever of the General Partner for the Indemnitees (other than the General Partner) to engage in such business interests and activities in preference to or to the exclusion of the Partnership and (iii) the General Partner and the Indemnities shall have no obligation to present business opportunities to the Partnership.
(e) The term “AFFILIATES”when used in Section 7.5(d) with respect to the General Partner shall not include any Group Member or any Subsidiary of a Group Member.
(f) Anything in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, to the extent that provisions of Section 7.7, 7.8, 7.9, 7.10 or other Sections of this Agreement purport or are interpreted to have the effect of restricting the fiduciary duties that might otherwise, as a result of Delaware or other applicable law, be owed by the General Partner to the Partnership and its Limited Partners, or to constitute a waiver or consent by the Limited Partners to any such restriction, such provisions shall be inapplicable and have no effect in determining whether the General Partner has complied with its fiduciary duties in connection with determinations made by it under Section 7.5(a).
Affiliates, funds needed or desired by the Group Member or JV Entity for such periods of time and in such amounts as the General Partner may determine; provided, however, that in any such case the lending party may not charge the borrowing party interest at a rate greater than the rate that would be charged the borrowing party or impose terms less favorable to the borrowing party than would be charged or imposed on the borrowing party by unrelated lenders on comparable loans made on an arm’s-length basis (without reference to the lending party’s financial abilities or guarantees). The borrowing party shall reimburse the lending party for any costs (other than any additional interest costs) incurred by the lending party in connection with the borrowing of such funds. For purposes of this Section 7.6(a) and Section 7.6(b), the term “GROUP MEMBER” shall include any Affiliate of a Group Member that is controlled by the Group Member. No Group Member may lend funds to the General Partner or any of its Affiliates (other than another Group Member).
(c) The General Partner may itself, or may enter into an agreement with any of its Affiliates to, render services to a Group Member or JV Entity or to the General Partner in the discharge of its duties as general partner of the Partnership. Any services rendered to a Group Member or JV Entity by the General Partner or any of its Affiliates shall be on terms that are fair and reasonable to the Partnership; provided, however, that the requirements of this Section 7.6(c) shall be deemed satisfied as to (i) any transaction approved by Special Approval, (ii) any transaction, the terms of which are no less favorable to such Group Member or JV Entity than those generally being provided to or available from unrelated third parties or (iii) any transaction that, taking into account the totality of the relationships between the parties involved (including other transactions that may be particularly favorable or advantageous to such Group Member or JVEntity), is equitable to such Group Member or JV Entity. The provisions of Section 7.4 shall apply to the rendering of services described in this Section
(d) The Partnership Group may transfer assets to joint ventures, other partnerships, corporations, limited liability companies or other business entities in which it is or thereby becomes a participant upon such terms and subject to such conditions as are consistent with this Agreement and applicable law.
(e) Neither the General Partner nor any of its Affiliates shall sell, transfer or convey any property to, or purchase any property from, the Partnership, any other Group Member or any JV Entity directly or indirectly, except pursuant to transactions that are fair and reasonable to the Partnership; provided, however, that the requirements of this Section 7.6(e) shall be deemed to be satisfied as to (i) the transactions effected pursuant to the Transaction Agreements, (ii) any transaction approved by Special Approval, (iii) any transaction, the terms of which are no less favorable to the Partnership than those generally being provided to or available from unrelated
third parties, or (iv) any transaction that, taking into account the totality of the relationships between the parties involved (including other transactions that may be particularly favorable or advantageous to the Partnership), is equitable to the Partnership. With respect to any contribution of assets to the Partnership in exchange for Partnership Securities, the Conflicts Committee, in determining whether the appropriate number of Partnership Securities are being issued, may take into account, among other things, the fair market value of the assets, the liquidated and contingent liabilities assumed, the tax basis in the assets, the extent to which tax-only allocations to the transferor will protect the existing partners of the Partnership against a low tax basis, and such other factors as the Conflicts Committee deems relevant under the circumstances.
(g) Without limitation of Sections 7.6(a) through 7.6(f), and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement (including Sections 7.6(a) through 7.6(f)), the existence of the conflicts of interest described in the Registration Statement have previously been approved by the Partners.
(a) To the fullest extent permitted by law but subject to the limitations expressly provided in this Agreement, all Indemnitees shall be indemnified and held harmless by the Partnership from and against any and all losses, claims, damages, liabilities, joint or several, expenses (including legal fees and expenses), judgments, fines, penalties, interest, settlements or other amounts arising from any and all claims, demands, actions, suits or proceedings, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative, in which any Indemnitee may be involved, or is threatened to be involved, as a party or otherwise, by reason of its status as an Indemnitee; provided, that in each case the Indemnitee acted in good faith and in a manner that such Indemnitee reasonably believed to be in, or (in the case of a Person other than the General Partner) not opposed to, the best interests of the Partnership and, with respect to any criminal proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe its conduct was unlawful; and provided further that no indemnification pursuant to this Section 7.7 shall be available to the General Partner or its Affiliates with respect to their obligations incurred pursuant to the Transaction Agreements (other than obligations incurred by the General Partner on behalf of the Partnership). The termination of any action, suit or proceeding by judgment, order, settlement, conviction or upon a plea of nolo contendere, or its equivalent, shall not create a presumption that the Indemnitee acted in a ▇▇▇▇▇▇ contrary to that specified above. Any indemnification pursuant to this Section 7.7 shall be made only out of the assets of the Partnership, it being agreed that the General Partner shall not be personally liable for such indemnification and shall have no obligation to contribute or loan any monies or property to the Partnership to enable it to effectuate such indemnification.
(b) To the fullest extent permitted by law, expenses (including legal fees and expenses) incurred by an Indemnitee who is indemnified pursuant to Section 7.7(a) in defending any claim, demand, action, suit or proceeding shall, from time to time, be advanced by the Partnership prior to the final disposition of such claim, demand, action, suit or proceeding upon receipt by the Partnership of any undertaking by or on behalf of the Indemnitee to repay such amount if it shall be determined that the Indemnitee is not entitled to be indemnified as authorized in this Section 7.7.
(c) The indemnification provided by this Section 7.7 shall be in addition to any other rights to which an Indemnitee may be entitled under any agreement, pursuant to any vote of the holders of Outstanding Limited Partner Interests, as a matter of law or otherwise, both as to actions in the Indemnitee’s capacity as an Indemnitee and as to actions in any other capacity and shall continue as to an Indemnitee who has ceased to serve in such capacity and shall inure to the benefit of the heirs, successors, assigns and administrators of the Indemnitee.
(d) The Partnership may purchase and maintain (or reimburse the General Partner or its Affiliates for the cost of) insurance, on behalf of the General Partner, its Affiliates and such other Persons as the General Partner shall determine, against any liability that may be asserted against or expense that may be incurred by such Person in connection with the Partnership’s activities or such Person’s activities on behalf of the Partnership, regardless of whether the Partnership would have the power to indemnify such Person against such liability under the provisions of this Agreement.
(e) For purposes of this Section 7.7, the Partnership shall be deemed to have requested an Indemnitee to serve as fiduciary of an employee benefit plan whenever the performance by it of its duties to the Partnership also imposes duties on, or otherwise involves services by, it to the plan or participants or beneficiaries of the plan; excise taxes assessed on an Indemnitee with respect to an employee benefit plan pursuant to applicable law shall constitute “FINES” within the meaning of Section 7.7(a); and action taken or omitted by it with respect to any employee benefit plan in the performance of its duties for a purpose reasonably believed by it to be in the interest of the participants and beneficiaries of the plan shall be deemed to be for a purpose which is in, or not opposed to, the best interests of the Partnership.
(f) In no event may an Indemnitee subject the Limited Partners to personal liability by reason of the indemnification provisions set forth in this Agreement.
(g) An Indemnitee shall not be denied indemnification in whole or in part under this Section 7.7 because the Indemnitee had an interest in the transaction with respect to which the indemnification applies if the transaction was otherwise permitted by the terms of this Agreement.
(h) The provisions of this Section 7.7 are for the benefit of the Indemnitees, their heirs, successors, assigns and administrators and shall not be deemed to create any rights for the benefit of any other Persons.
(i) No amendment, modification or repeal of this Section 7.7 or any provision hereof shall in any manner terminate, reduce or impair the right of any past, present or future
Indemnitee to be indemnified by the Partnership, nor the obligations of the Partnership to indemnify any such Indemnitee under and in accordance with the provisions of this Section 7.7 as in effect immediately prior to such amendment, modification or repeal with respect to claims arising from or relating to matters occurring, in whole or in part, prior to such amendment, modification or repeal, regardless of when such claims may arise or be asserted.
Section 7.8 LIABILITY OF INDEMNITEES.
(a) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary set forth in this Agreement, no Indemnitee shall be liable for monetary damages to the Partnership, the Limited Partners, the Assignees or any other Persons who have acquired interests in the Partnership Securities, for losses sustained or liabilities incurred as a result of any act or omission if such Indemnitee acted in good faith.
(b) Subject to its obligations and duties as General Partner set forth in Section 7.1(a), the General Partner may exercise any of the powers granted to it by this Agreement and perform any of the duties imposed upon it hereunder either directly or by or through its agents, and the General Partner shall not be responsible for any misconduct or negligence on the part of any such agent appointed by the General Partner in good faith.
(c) To the extent that, at law or in equity, an Indemnitee has duties (including fiduciary duties) and liabilities relating thereto to the Partnership or to the Partners, the General Partner and any other Indemnitee acting in connection with the Partnership’s business or affairs shall not be liable to the Partnership or to any Partner for its good faith reliance on the provisions of this Agreement. The provisions of this Agreement, to the extent that they restrict or otherwise modify the duties and liabilities of an Indemnitee otherwise existing at law or in equity, are agreed by the Partners to replace such other duties and liabilities of such Indemnitee.
(d) Any amendment, modification or repeal of this Section 7.8 or any provision hereof shall be prospective only and shall not in any way affect the limitations on the liability to the Partnership, the Limited Partners, the General Partner, and the Partnership’s and General Partner’s directors, officers and employees under this Section 7.8 as in effect immediately prior to such amendment, modification or repeal with respect to claims arising from or relating to matters occurring, in whole or in part, prior to such amendment, modification or repeal, regardless of when such claims may arise or be asserted.
Section 7.9 RESOLUTION OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.
(a) Unless otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement, whenever a potential conflict of interest exists or arises between the General Partner or any of its Affiliates, on the one hand, and the Partnership, any Partner or any Assignee, on the other, any resolution or course of action by the General Partner or its Affiliates in respect of such conflict of interest shall be permitted and deemed approved by all Partners, and shall not constitute a breach of this Agreement, of any agreement contemplated herein, or of any duty stated or implied by law or equity, if the resolution or course of action is, or by operation of this Agreement is deemed to be, fair and reasonable to the Partnership. The General Partner shall be authorized but not required in connection with its resolution of such conflict of interest to seek Special Approval of such
resolution. Any conflict of interest and any resolution of such conflict of interest shall be conclusively deemed fair and reasonable to the Partnership if such conflict of interest or resolution is (i) approved by Special Approval (as long as the material facts known to the General Partner or any of its Affiliates regarding any proposed transaction were disclosed to the Conflicts Committee at the time it gave its approval), (ii) on terms no less favorable to the Partnership than those generally being provided to or available from unrelated third parties or (iii) fair to the Partnership, taking into account the totality of the relationships between the parties involved (including other transactions that may be particularly favorable or advantageous to the Partnership). The General Partner may also adopt a resolution or course of action that has not received Special Approval. The General Partner (including the Conflicts Committee in connection with Special Approval) shall be authorized in connection with its determination of what is “fair and reasonable” to the Partnership and in connection with its resolution of any conflict of interest to consider (A) the relative interests of any party to such conflict, agreement, transaction or situation and the benefits and burdens relating to such interest; (B) any customary or accepted industry practices and any customary or historical dealings with a particular Person; (C) any applicable generally accepted accounting practices or principles; and (D) such additional factors as the General Partner (including the Conflicts Committee) determines in its sole discretion to be relevant, reasonable or appropriate under the circumstances. Nothing contained in this Agreement, however, is intended to nor shall it be construed to require the General Partner (including the Conflicts Committee) to consider the interests of any Person other than the Partnership. In the absence of bad faith by the General Partner, the resolution, action or terms so made, taken or provided by the General Partner with respect to such matter shall not constitute a breach of this Agreement or any other agreement contemplated herein or a breach of any standard of care or duty imposed herein or therein or, to the extent permitted by law, under the Delaware Act or any other law, rule or regulation.
(b) Whenever this Agreement or any other agreement contemplated hereby provides that the General Partner or any of its Affiliates is permitted or required to make a decision (i) in its “sole discretion” or “discretion,” that it deems “necessary or appropriate” or “necessary or advisable” or under a grant of similar authority or latitude, except as otherwise provided herein, the General Partner or such Affiliate shall be entitled to consider only such interests and factors as it desires and shall have no duty or obligation to give any consideration to any interest of, or factors affecting, the Partnership, any other Group Member or JV Entity, any Limited Partner or any Assignee, (ii) it may make such decision in its sole discretion (regardless of whether there is a reference to “sole discretion” or “discretion”) unless another express standard is provided for, or (iii) in “good faith” or under another express standard, the General Partner or such Affiliate shall act under such express standard and shall not be subject to any other or different standards imposed by this Agreement, any other agreement contemplated hereby or under the Delaware Act or any other law, rule or regulation. In addition, any actions taken by the General Partner or such Affiliate consistent with the standards of “reasonable discretion” set forth in the definitions of Available Cash or Operating Surplus shall not constitute a breach of any duty of the General Partner to the Partnership or the Limited Partners. The General Partner shall have no duty, express or implied, to sell or otherwise dispose of any asset of the Partnership Group other than in the ordinary course of business. No borrowing by any Group Member or the approval thereof by the General Partner shall be deemed to constitute a breach of any duty of the General Partner to the Partnership or the Limited Partners by reason of the fact that the purpose or effect of such borrowing is directly or indirectly to enable distributions to the General Partner or its Affiliates
(including in their capacities as Limited Partners) to exceed 1% of the total amount distributed to all Partners.
(c) Whenever a particular transaction, arrangement or resolution of a conflict of interest is required under this Agreement to be “fair and reasonable” to any Person, the fair and reasonable nature of such transaction, arrangement or resolution shall be considered in the context of all similar or related transactions.
Section 7.10 OTHER MATTERS CONCERNING THE GENERAL PARTNER.
(a) The General Partner may rely and shall be protected in acting or refraining from acting upon any resolution, certificate, statement, instrument, opinion, report, notice, request, consent, order, bond, debenture or other paper or document believed by it to be genuine and to have been signed or presented by the proper party or parties.
(b) The General Partner may consult with legal counsel, accountants, appraisers, management consultants, investment bankers and other consultants and advisers selected by it, and any act taken or omitted to be taken in reliance upon the opinion (including an Opinion of Counsel) of such Persons as to matters that the General Partner reasonably believes to be within such Person’s professional or expert competence and in accordance with such opinion shall be conclusively presumed to have been done or omitted in good faith.
(c) The General Partner shall have the right, in respect of any of its rights, powers or obligations hereunder, to act through any of its duly authorized officers, a duly appointed attorney or attorneys-in-fact or the duly authorized officers of the Partnership.
(d) Any standard of care and duty imposed by this Agreement or under the Delaware Act or any applicable law, rule or regulation shall be modified, waived or limited, to the extent permitted by law, as required to permit the General Partner to act under this Agreement or any other agreement contemplated by this Agreement and to make any decision pursuant to the authority prescribed in this Agreement, so long as such action is reasonably believed by the General Partner to be in, or not inconsistent with, the best interests of the Partnership.
Section 7.11 PURCHASE OR SALE OF PARTNERSHIP SECURITIES.
The General Partner may cause the Partnership to purchase or otherwise acquire Partnership Securities. As long as Partnership Securities are held by any Group Member, such Partnership Securities shall not be considered Outstanding for any purpose, except as otherwise provided herein. The General Partner or any Affiliate of the General Partner may also purchase or otherwise acquire and sell or otherwise dispose of Partnership Securities for its own account, subject to the provisions of Articles IV and X.
Section 7.12 REGISTRATION RIGHTS OF THE GENERAL PARTNER AND ITS AFFILIATES.
(a) If (i) the General Partner or any Affiliate of the General Partner (including for purposes of this Section 7.12, any Person that is an Affiliate of the General Partner at the date hereof notwithstanding that it may later cease to be an Affiliate of the General Partner) holds Partnership Securities that it desires to sell and (ii) Rule 144 of the Securities Act (or any successor rule or regulation to Rule 144) or another exemption from registration is not available to enable such holder of Partnership Securities (the “HOLDER”)to dispose of the number of Partnership Securities it desires to sell at the time it desires to do so without registration under the Securities Act, then upon the request of the General Partner or any of its Affiliates, the Partnership shall file with the Commission as promptly as practicable after receiving such request, and use all reasonable efforts to cause to become effective and remain effective for a period of not less than six months following its effective date or such shorter period as shall terminate when all Partnership Securities covered by such registration statement have been sold, a registration statement under the Securities Act registering the offering and sale of the number of Partnership Securities specified by the Holder; provided, however, that the Partnership shall not be required to effect more than three registrations pursuant to this Section 7.12(a); and provided further, however, that if the Conflicts Committee determines in its good faith judgment that a postponement of the requested registration for up to six months would be in the best interests of the Partnership and its Partners due to a pending transaction, investigation or other event, the filing of such registration statement or the effectiveness thereof may be deferred for up to six months, but not thereafter. In connection with any registration pursuant to the immediately preceding sentence, the Partnership shall promptly prepare and file (x) such documents as may be necessary to register or qualify the securities subject to such registration under the securities laws of such states as the Holder shall reasonably request; provided, however, that no such qualification shall be required in any jurisdiction where, as a result thereof, the Partnership would become subject to general service of process or to taxation or qualification to do business as a foreign corporation, or partnership doing business in such jurisdiction solely as a result of such registration, and (y) such documents as may be necessary to apply for listing or to list the Partnership Securities subject to such registration on such National Securities Exchange as the Holder shall reasonably request, and do any and all other acts and things that may reasonably be necessary or advisable to enable the Holder to consummate a public sale of such Partnership Securities in such states. Except as set forth in Section 7.12(c), all costs and expenses of any such registration and offering (other than the underwriting discounts and commissions) shall be paid by the Partnership, without reimbursement by the Holder.
(b) If the Partnership shall at any time propose to file a registration statement under the Securities Act for an offering of equity securities of the Partnership for cash (other than an offering relating solely to an employee benefit plan), the Partnership shall use all reasonable efforts to include such number or amount of securities held by the Holder in such registration statement as the Holder shall request. If the proposed offering pursuant to this Section 7.12(b) shall be an underwritten offering, then, in the event that the managing underwriter or managing underwriters of such offering advise the Partnership and the Holder in writing that in their opinion the inclusion of all or some of the Holder’s Partnership Securities would adversely and materially affect the success of the offering, the Partnership shall include in such offering only that number or amount, if any, of securities held by the Holder which, in the opinion of the
managing underwriter or managing underwriters, will not so adversely and materially affect the offering. Except as set forth in Section 7.12(c), all costs and expenses of any such registration and offering (other than the underwriting discounts and commissions) shall be paid by the Partnership, without reimbursement by the Holder.
(c) If underwriters are engaged in connection with any registration referred to in this Section 7.12, the Partnership shall provide indemnification, representations, covenants, opinions and other assurance to the underwriters in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to such underwriters. Further, in addition to and not in limitation of the Partnership’s obligation under Section 7.7, the Partnership shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, indemnify and hold harmless the Holder and each Person who controls the Holder (within the meaning of the Securities Act) and their respective directors, officers, employees, members, partners or agents (collectively, “INDEMNIFIED PERSONS”)against any losses, claims, demands, actions, causes of action, assessments, damages, liabilities (joint or several), costs and expenses (including interest, penalties and reasonable attorneys’ fees and disbursements), resulting to, imposed upon, or incurred by the Indemnified Persons, directly or indirectly, under the Securities Act or otherwise (hereinafter referred to in this Section 7.12(c) as a “CLAIM”and in the plural as “CLAIMS”)based upon, arising out of or resulting from any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of any material fact contained in any registration statement under which any Partnership Securities were registered under the Securities Act or any state securities or Blue Sky laws, in any preliminary prospectus (if used prior to the effective date of such registration statement), or in any summary or final prospectus or in any amendment or supplement thereto (if used during the period the Partnership is required to keep the registration statement current), or arising out of, based upon or resulting from the omission or alleged omission to state therein a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements made therein not misleading; provided, however, that the Partnership shall not be liable to any Indemnified Person to the extent that any such claim arises out of, is based upon or results from an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission made in such registration statement, such preliminary, summary or final prospectus or such amendment or supplement, in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Partnership by or on behalf of such Indemnified Person specifically for use in the preparation thereof.
(d) The provisions of Sections 7.12(a) and 7.12(b) shall continue to be applicable with respect to the General Partner (and any of the General Partner’s Affiliates) after it ceases to be a Partner of the Partnership, during a period of two years subsequent to the effective date of such cessation and for so long thereafter as is required for the Holder to sell all of the Partnership Securities with respect to which it has requested during such two-year period inclusion in a registration statement otherwise filed or that a registration statement be filed; provided, however, that the Partnership shall not be required to file successive registration statements covering the same Partnership Securities for which registration was demanded during such two-year period. The provisions of Section 7.12(c) shall continue in effect thereafter.
(e) Any request to register Partnership Securities pursuant to this Section 7.12 shall (i) specify the Partnership Securities intended to be offered and sold by the Person making the request, (ii) express such Person’s present intent to offer such shares for distribution, (iii) describe the nature or method of the proposed offer and sale of Partnership Securities, and (iv) contain the undertaking of such Person to provide all such information and materials and
take all action as may be required in order to permit the Partnership to comply with all applicable requirements in connection with the registration of such Partnership Securities.
Section 7.13 RELIANCE BY THIRD PARTIES.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, any Person dealing with the Partnership shall be entitled to assume that (i) the General Partner and (ii) any officer or attorney-in-fact of the General Partner authorized by the General Partner to act on behalf of and in the name of the Partnership, has fill power and authority to encumber, sell or otherwise use in any manner any and all assets of the Partnership and to enter into any authorized contracts on behalf of the Partnership, and such Person shall be entitled to deal with the General Partner or any such officer or attorney-in-fact as if it were the Partnership’s sole party in interest, both legally and beneficially. Each Limited Partner hereby waives any and all defenses or other remedies that may be available against such Person to contest, negate or disaffirm any action of the General Partner or any such officer or attorney-in-fact in connection with any such dealing. In no event shall any Person dealing with the General Partner or any such officer or attorney-in-fact be obligated to ascertain that the terms of the Agreement have been complied with or to inquire into the necessity or expedience of any act or action of the General Partner or any such officer or attorney-in-fact. Each and every certificate, document or other instrument executed on behalf of the Partnership by the General Partner or any such officer or attorney-in-fact shall be conclusive evidence in favor of any and every Person relying thereon or claiming thereunder that (a) at the time of the execution and delivery of such certificate, document or instrument, this Agreement was in full force and effect, (b) the Person executing and delivering such certificate, document or instrument was duly authorized and empowered to do so for and on behalf of the Partnership and (c) such certificate, document or instrument was duly executed and delivered in accordance with the terms and provisions of this Agreement and is binding upon the Partnership.
Article VIII
BOOKS, RECORDS, ACCOUNTING AND REPORTS
Section 8.1 RECORDS AND ACCOUNTING.
The General Partner shall keep or cause to be kept at the principal office of the Partnership appropriate books and records with respect to the Partnership’s business, including all books and records necessary to provide to the Limited Partners any information required to be provided pursuant to Section 3.4(a). Any books and records maintained by or on behalf of the Partnership in the regular course of its business, including the record of the Record Holders and Assignees of Units or other Partnership Securities, books of account and records of Partnership proceedings, may be kept on, or be in the form of, computer disks, hard drives, punch cards, magnetic tape, photographs, micrographics or any other information storage device; provided, that the books and records so maintained are convertible into clearly legible written form within a reasonable period of time. The books of the Partnership shall be maintained, for financial reporting purposes, on an accrual basis in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
The fiscal year of the Partnership shall be a fiscal year ending December 31.
(a) As soon as practicable, but in no event later than 120 days after the close of each fiscal year of the Partnership, the General Partner shall cause to be mailed or made available by any reasonable means (including posting on or accessible through the Partnership’s or the SEC’s website) to each Record Holder of a Unit, as of a date selected by the General Partner in its discretion, an annual report containing financial statements of the Partnership for such fiscal year of the Partnership, presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP, including a balance sheet and statements of operations, Partnership equity and cash flows, such statements to be audited by a firm of independent public accountants selected by the General Partner.
(b) To the extent required by applicable law, regulation or rule of any National Securities Exchange on which the Common Units are listed for trading or as the General Partner determines to be necessary or appropriate, as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 90 days after the close of each Quarter except the last Quarter of each fiscal year, the General Partner shall cause to be mailed or made available by any reasonable means (including posting on or accessible through the Partnership’s or the SEC’s website) to each Record Holder of a Unit, as of a date selected by the General Partner in its discretion, a report containing unaudited financial statements of the Partnership and such other information as so required, or as the General Partner determines to be necessary or appropriate.
Article IX
TAX MATTERS
Section 9.1 TAX RETURNS AND INFORMATION.
The Partnership shall timely file all returns of the Partnership that are required for federal, state and local income tax purposes on the basis of the accrual method and a taxable year ending on December 31. The tax information reasonably required by Record Holders for federal and state income tax reporting purposes with respect to a taxable year shall be furnished to them within 90 days of the close of the calendar year in which the Partnership?s taxable year ends. The classification, realization and recognition of income, gain, losses and deductions and other items shall be on the accrual method of accounting for federal income tax purposes.
(a) The Partnership shall make the election under Section 754 of the Code in accordance with applicable regulations thereunder, subject to the reservation of the right to seek to revoke any such election upon the General Partner’s determination that such revocation is in the best interests of the Limited Partners. Notwithstanding any other provision herein contained, for the purposes of computing the adjustments under Section 743(b) of the Code, the General Partner shall be authorized (but not required) to adopt a convention whereby the price paid by a transferee of a Limited Partner Interest will be deemed to be the lowest quoted closing price of the Limited Partner Interests on any National Securities Exchange on which such Limited Partner Interests are traded during the calendar month in which such transfer is deemed to occur pursuant to Section 6.2(g) without regard to the actual price paid by such transferee.
(b) Except as otherwise provided herein, the General Partner shall determine whether the Partnership should make any other elections permitted by the Code.
Section 9.3 TAX CONTROVERSIES.
(a) Subject to the provisions hereof, the General Partner (or its designee) is designated as the Tax Matters Partner (as defined in Section 6231(a)(7) of the Code as in effect prior to the enactment of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015), and the Partnership Representative (as defined in Section 6223 of the Code following the enactment of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 or under any applicable state or local law providing for an analogous capacity), and is authorized to represent the Partnership (at the Partnership's expense) in connection with all examinations of the Partnership's affairs by tax authorities, including resulting administrative and judicial proceedings, and to expend Partnership funds for professional services and costs associated therewith. In its capacity as Partnership Representative, the General Partner shall exercise any and all authority of the Partnership Representative, including, without limitation, (i) binding the Partnership and its Partners with respect to tax matters and (ii) determining whether to make any available election under Section 6226 of the Code or an analogous election under state or local law, which election permits the Partnership to pass any partnership adjustment through to the Persons who were Partners of the Partnership in the year to which the adjustment relates and irrespective of whether such Persons are Partners of the Partnership at the time such election is made. Each Partner agrees to cooperate with the General Partner and to do or refrain from doing any or all things reasonably requested by the General Partner in its capacity as the Tax Matters Partner or Partnership Representative. For Partners that are not tax-exempt entities (as defined in Section 168(h)(2) of the Code) and subject to the General Partner's discretion to seek modifications of an imputed underpayment, this cooperation includes (i) filing amended federal, state or local tax returns, paying any additional tax (including interest, penalties and other additions to tax), and providing the General Partner with an affidavit swearing to relevant facts (all within the requisite time periods), and (ii) providing any other information requested by the General Partner in order to seek modifications of an imputed underpayment. For Partners that are tax-exempt entities (as defined in Section 168(h)(2) of the Code) and subject to the General Partner's discretion to seek modifications of an imputed underpayment, this cooperation includes providing the General Partner with information necessary to establish any such Partner's tax-exempt status. This agreement to cooperate applies irrespective of whether such Persons are Partners of the Partnership at the time of such requested cooperation.
(b) Each Partner agrees that notice of or updates regarding tax controversies shall be deemed conclusively to have been given or made by the General Partner if the Partnership has either (i) filed the information for which notice is required with the Commission via its Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval system and such information is publicly available on such system or (ii) made the information for which notice is required available on any publicly available website maintained by the Partnership, whether or not such Partner remains a Partner in the Partnership at the time such information is made publicly available. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, nothing in this provision shall obligate the Partnership Representative to provide notice to the Partners other than as required by the Code.
(c) The General Partner may amend the provisions of this Agreement as it determines appropriate to satisfy any requirements, conditions, or guidelines set forth in any amendment to
the provisions of Subchapter C of Chapter 63 of Subtitle F of the Code, any analogous provisions of the laws of any state or locality, or the promulgation of regulations or publication of other administrative guidance thereunder.
(a) The General Partner may treat taxes paid by the Partnership on behalf of all or less than all of the Partners as a distribution of cash to such Partners, as a general expense of the Partnership, or as indemnifiable payments made by the Partnership on behalf of the Partners (as provided in Section 9.4(c)), as determined appropriate under the circumstances by the General Partner.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, the General Partner is authorized to take any action that may be required to cause the Partnership and other Group Members to comply with any withholding requirements established under the Code or any other federal, state or local law including pursuant to Sections 1441, 1442, 1445 and 1446 of the Code. To the extent that the Partnership is required or elects to withhold and pay over to any taxing authority any amount resulting from the allocation or distribution of income or from a distribution to any Partner (including by reason of Section 1446 of the Code), the General Partner may treat the amount withheld as a distribution of cash pursuant to Section 6.3 or Section 12.4(c) in the amount of such withholding from such Partner.
(c) If the Partnership pays an imputed underpayment under Section 6225 of the Code and/or any analogous provision of the laws of any state or locality, the General Partner may require that Partners of the Partnership in the year to which the underpayment relates indemnify the Partnership for their allocable share of that underpayment (including interest, penalties and other additions to tax). This indemnification obligation shall not apply to a Partner to the extent that (i) the Partnership received a modification of the imputed underpayment under Section 6225(c)(2) of the Code (or any analogous provision of state or local law) due to the Partner's filing of amended tax returns and payment of any resulting tax (including interest, penalties and other additions to tax), (ii) the Partner is a tax-exempt entity (as defined in Section 168(h)(2) of the Code) and either the Partnership received a modification of the imputed underpayment under Section 6225(c)(3) of the Code (or any analogous provision of state or local law) because of such Partner's status as a tax-exempt entity or the Partnership did not make a good faith effort to obtain a modification of the imputed underpayment due to such Partner's status as a tax-exempt entity, or (iii) the Partnership received a modification of the imputed underpayment under Section 6225(c)(4)-(6) of the Code (or any analogous provision of state or local law) as a result of other information that was either provided by the Partner or otherwise available to the Partnership with respect to the Partner. This indemnification obligation imposed on Partners, including former Partners, applies irrespective of whether such Persons are Partners of the Partnership at the time the Partnership pays the imputed underpayment.
Article X
ADMISSION OF PARTNERS
Section 10.1 CURRENT PARTNERS.
The General Partner and the Limited Partners who are Record Holders of interests in the Partnership as Limited Partners are the current Partners of the Partnership as of the date of this Agreement.
Section 10.2 ADMISSION OF SUBSTITUTED LIMITED PARTNER.
By transfer of a Limited Partner Interest in accordance with Article IV, the transferor shall be deemed to have given the transferee the right to seek admission as a Substituted Limited Partner subject to the conditions of, and in the manner permitted under, this Agreement. A transferor of a Certificate representing a Limited Partner Interest shall, however, only have the authority to convey to a purchaser or other transferee who does not execute and deliver a Transfer Application (a) the right to negotiate such Certificate to a purchaser or other transferee and (b) the right to transfer the right to request admission as a Substituted Limited Partner to such purchaser or other transferee in respect of the transferred Limited Partner Interests. Each transferee of a Limited Partner Interest (including any nominee holder or an agent acquiring such Limited Partner Interest for the account of another Person) who executes and delivers a Transfer Application shall, by virtue of such execution and delivery, be an Assignee and be deemed to have applied to become a Substituted Limited Partner with respect to the Limited Partner Interests so transferred to such Person. Such Assignee shall become a Substituted Limited Partner (x) at such time as the General Partner consents thereto, which consent may be given or withheld in the General Partner’s discretion, and (y) when any such admission is shown on the books and records of the Partnership. If such consent is withheld, such transferee shall be an Assignee. An Assignee shall have an interest in the Partnership equivalent to that of a Limited Partner with respect to allocations and distributions, including liquidating distributions, of the Partnership. With respect to voting rights attributable to Limited Partner Interests that are held by Assignees, the General Partner shall be deemed to be the Limited Partner with respect thereto and shall, in exercising the voting rights in respect of such Limited Partner Interests on any matter, vote such Limited Partner Interests at the written direction of the Assignee who is the holder of such Limited Partner Interests. If no such written direction is received, such Limited Partner Interests will not be voted. An Assignee shall have no other rights of a Limited Partner.
Section 10.3 ADMISSION OF SUCCESSOR GENERAL PARTNER.
A successor General Partner approved pursuant to Section 11.1 or 11.2 or the transferee of or successor to all of the General Partner Interest pursuant to Section 4.6 who is proposed to be admitted as a successor General Partner shall be admitted to the Partnership as the General Partner, effective immediately prior to the withdrawal or removal of the predecessor or transferring General Partner pursuant to Section 11.1 or 11.2 or the transfer of the General Partner Interest pursuant to Section 4.6, provided, however, that no such successor shall be admitted to the Partnership until compliance with the terms of Section 4.6 has occurred and such successor has executed and delivered such other documents or instruments as may be required to
effect such admission. Any such successor shall, subject to the terms hereof, carry on the business of the members of the Partnership Group without dissolution.
Section 10.4 ADMISSION OF ADDITIONAL LIMITED PARTNERS.
(a) A Person (other than the General Partner, an Initial Limited Partner or a Substituted Limited Partner) who makes a Capital Contribution to the Partnership in accordance with this Agreement shall be admitted to the Partnership as an Additional Limited Partner only upon furnishing to the General Partner (i) evidence of acceptance in form satisfactory to the General Partner of all of the terms and conditions of this Agreement, including the power of attorney granted in Section 2.6, and (ii) such other documents or instruments as may be required in the discretion of the General Partner to effect such Person’s admission as an Additional Limited Partner.
(b) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Section 10.4, no Person shall be admitted as an Additional Limited Partner without the consent of the General Partner, which consent may be given or withheld in the General Partner’s discretion. The admission of any Person as an Additional Limited Partner shall become effective on the date upon which the name of such Person is recorded as such in the books and records of the Partnership, following the consent of the General Partner to such admission.
Section 10.5 AMENDMENT OF AGREEMENT AND CERTIFICATE OF LIMITED PARTNERSHIP.
To effect the admission to the Partnership of any Partner, the General Partner shall take all steps necessary and appropriate under the Delaware Act to amend the records of the Partnership to reflect such admission and, if necessary, to prepare as soon as practicable an amendment to this Agreement and, if required by law, the General Partner shall prepare and file an amendment to the Certificate of Limited Partnership, and the General Partner may for this purpose, among others, exercise the power of attorney granted pursuant to Section 2.6.
Article XI
WITHDRAWAL OR REMOVAL OF PARTNERS
Section 11.1 WITHDRAWAL OF THE GENERAL PARTNER.
(ii) The General Partner transfers all of its rights as General Partner pursuant to Section 4.6;
(iii) The General Partner is removed pursuant to Section 11.2;
(iv) The General Partner (A) makes a general assignment for the benefit of creditors; (B) files a voluntary bankruptcy petition for relief under Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code; (C) files a petition or answer seeking for itself a liquidation, dissolution or similar relief (but not a reorganization) under any law; (D) files an answer or other pleading admitting or failing to contest the material allegations of a petition filed against the General Partner in a proceeding of the type described in clauses (A)-(C) of this Section 11.1(a)(iv); or (E) seeks, consents to or acquiesces in the appointment of a trustee (but not a debtor-in-possession), receiver or liquidator of the General Partner or of all or any substantial part of its properties;
(vi) (A) in the event the General Partner is a corporation, a certificate of dissolution or its equivalent is filed for the General Partner, or 90 days expire after the date of notice to the General Partner of revocation of its charter without a reinstatement of its charter, under the laws of its state of incorporation; (B) in the event the General Partner is a partnership or a limited liability company, the dissolution and commencement of winding up of the General Partner; (C) in the event the General Partner is acting in such capacity by virtue of being a trustee of a trust, the termination of the trust; (D) in the event the General Partner is a natural person, his death or adjudication of incompetency; and (E) otherwise in the event of the termination of the General Partner.
If an Event of Withdrawal specified in Section 11.1(a)(iv), (v) or (vi)(A), (B), (C) or (E) occurs, the withdrawing General Partner shall give notice to the Limited Partners within 30 days after such occurrence. The Partners hereby agree that only the Events of Withdrawal described in this Section 11.1 shall result in the withdrawal of the General Partner from the Partnership.
(b) Withdrawal of the General Partner from the Partnership upon the occurrence of an Event of Withdrawal shall not constitute a breach of this Agreement under the following circumstances: (i) at any time during the period beginning on the Closing Date and ending at 12:00 midnight, Eastern Standard Time, on June 30, 2009, the General Partner voluntarily withdraws by giving at least 90 days’ advance notice of its intention to withdraw to the Limited Partners; provided that prior to the effective date of such withdrawal, the withdrawal is approved by Unitholders holding at least a majority of the Outstanding Common Units (excluding Common Units held by the General Partner and its Affiliates) and the General Partner delivers to the Partnership an Opinion of Counsel (“WITHDRAWAL OPINION OF COUNSEL”)that such withdrawal (following the selection of the successor General Partner) would not result in the loss of the limited liability of any Limited Partner or cause the Partnership to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation or otherwise to be taxed as an entity for federal income tax purposes (to the extent not previously treated as such); (ii) at any time after 12:00 midnight, Eastern Standard Time, on June 30, 2009, the General Partner voluntarily withdraws by giving at least 90 days’ advance notice to the Unitholders, such withdrawal to take effect on the date specified in such notice; (iii) at any time that the General Partner ceases to be the General Partner pursuant to Section 11.1(a)(ii) or is removed pursuant to Section 11.2; or (iv) notwithstanding clause (i) of this sentence, at any time that the General Partner voluntarily withdraws by giving at
least 90 days’ advance notice of its intention to withdraw to the Limited Partners, such withdrawal to take effect on the date specified in the notice, if at the time such notice is given one Person and its Affiliates (other than the General Partner and its Affiliates) own beneficially or of record or control at least 50% of the Outstanding Common Units. The withdrawal of the General Partner from the Partnership upon the occurrence of an Event of Withdrawal shall also constitute the withdrawal of the General Partner as general partner or managing member, as the case may be, of the other Group Members. If the General Partner gives a notice of withdrawal pursuant to Section 11.1(a)(i), the holders of a Unit Majority, may, prior to the effective date of such withdrawal, elect a successor General Partner. The Person so elected as successor General Partner shall automatically become the successor general partner or managing member, as the case may be, of the other Group Members of which the General Partner is a general partner or a managing member. If, prior to the effective date of the General Partner’s withdrawal, a successor is not selected by the Unitholders as provided herein or the Partnership does not receive a Withdrawal Opinion of Counsel, the Partnership shall be dissolved in accordance with Section 12.1. Any successor General Partner elected in accordance with the terms of this Section 11.1 shall be subject to the provisions of Section 10.3.
Section 11.2 REMOVAL OF THE GENERAL PARTNER.
The General Partner may be removed if such removal is approved by the Common Unitholders holding at least 66 2/3% of the Outstanding Common Units (including Common Units held by the General Partner and its Affiliates). Any such action by such holders for removal of the General Partner must also provide for the election of a successor General Partner by the Common Unitholders holding a Unit Majority (including Common Units held by the General Partner and its Affiliates). Such removal shall be effective immediately following the admission of a successor General Partner pursuant to Section 10.3. The removal of the General Partner shall also automatically constitute the removal of the General Partner as general partner or managing member, as the case may be, of the other Group Members of which the General Partner is a general partner or a managing member. If a Person is elected as a successor General Partner in accordance with the terms of this Section 11.2, such Person shall, upon admission pursuant to Section 10.3, automatically become a successor general partner or managing member, as the case may be, of the other Group Members of which the General Partner is a general partner or a managing member. The right of the holders of Outstanding Common Units to remove the General Partner shall not exist or be exercised unless the Partnership has received an opinion opining as to the matters covered by a Withdrawal Opinion of Counsel. Any successor General Partner elected in accordance with the terms of this Section 11.2 shall be subject to the provisions of Section 10.3.
Section 11.3 INTEREST OF DEPARTING PARTNER AND SUCCESSOR GENERAL PARTNER.
(a) In the event of (i) withdrawal of the General Partner under circumstances where such withdrawal does not violate this Agreement or (ii) removal of the General Partner by the holders of Outstanding Common Units under circumstances where Cause does not exist, if a successor General Partner is elected in accordance with the terms of Section 11.1 or 11.2, the Departing Partner shall have the option exercisable prior to the effective date of the departure of such Departing Partner to require its successor to purchase its General Partner Interest and its
general partner interest (or equivalent interest) in the other Group Members and all of its Incentive Distribution Rights (collectively, the “COMBINED INTEREST”)in exchange for an amount in cash equal to the fair market value of such Combined Interest, such amount to be determined and payable as of the effective date of its departure. If the General Partner is removed by the Unitholders under circumstances where Cause exists or if the General Partner withdraws under circumstances where such withdrawal violates this Agreement, and if a successor General Partner is elected in accordance with the terms of Section 11.1 or 11.2, such successor shall have the option, exercisable prior to the effective date of the departure of such Departing Partner, to purchase the Combined Interest for such fair market value of such Combined Interest. In either event, the Departing Partner shall be entitled to receive all reimbursements due such Departing Partner pursuant to Section 7.4, including any employee-related liabilities (including severance liabilities), incurred in connection with the termination of any employees employed by the Departing Partner for the benefit of the Partnership or the other Group Members.
For purposes of this Section 11.3(a), the fair market value of the Combined Interest shall be determined by agreement between the Departing Partner and its successor or, failing agreement within 30 days after the effective date of such Departing Partner’s departure, by an independent investment banking firm or other independent expert selected by the Departing Partner and its successor, which, in turn, may rely on other experts, and the determination of which shall be conclusive as to such matter. If such parties cannot agree upon one independent investment banking firm or other independent expert within 45 days after the effective date of such departure, then the Departing Partner shall designate an independent investment banking firm or other independent expert, the Departing Partner’s successor shall designate an independent investment banking firm or other independent expert, and such firms or experts shall mutually select a third independent investment banking firm or independent expert, which third independent investment banking firm or other independent expert shall determine the fair market value of the Combined Interest. In making its determination, such third independent investment banking firm or other independent expert may consider the then current trading price of Common Units on any National Securities Exchange on which Common Units are then listed, the value of the Partnership’s assets, the rights and obligations of the Departing Partner and other factors it may deem relevant.
(b) If the Combined Interest is not purchased in the manner set forth in Section 11.3(a), the Departing Partner (or its transferee) shall become a Limited Partner and its Combined Interest shall be converted into Common Units pursuant to a valuation made by an investment banking firm or other independent expert selected pursuant to Section 11.3(a), without reduction in such Partnership Interest (but subject to proportionate dilution by reason of the admission of its successor). Any successor General Partner shall indemnify the Departing Partner (or its transferee) as to all debts and liabilities of the Partnership arising on or after the date on which the Departing Partner (or its transferee) becomes a Limited Partner. For purposes of this Agreement, conversion of the Combined Interest to Common Units will be characterized as if the Departing Partner (or its transferee) contributed its Combined Interest to the Partnership in exchange for the newly issued Common Units.
(c) If a successor General Partner is elected in accordance with the terms of Section 11.1 or 11.2 and the option described in Section 11.3(a) is not exercised by the party
entitled to do so, the successor General Partner shall, at the effective date of its admission to the Partnership, contribute to the Partnership cash in the amount equal to 1/99th of the Net Agreed Value of the Partnership’s assets on such date. In such event, such successor General Partner shall, subject to the following sentence, be entitled to 1% of all Partnership allocations and distributions. The successor General Partner shall cause this Agreement to be amended to reflect that, from and after the date of such successor General Partner’s admission, the successor General Partner’s interest in all Partnership distributions and allocations shall be 1%.
Section 11.4 [INTENTIONALLY OMITTED.]
Section 11.5 WITHDRAWAL OF LIMITED PARTNERS.
No Limited Partner shall have any right to withdraw from the Partnership; provided, however, that when a transferee of a Limited Partner’s Limited Partner Interest becomes a Record Holder of the Limited Partner Interest so transferred, such transferring Limited Partner shall cease to be a Limited Partner with respect to the Limited Partner Interest so transferred.
Article XII
DISSOLUTION AND LIQUIDATION
The Partnership shall not be dissolved by the admission of Substituted Limited Partners or Additional Limited Partners or by the admission of a successor General Partner in accordance with the terms of this Agreement. Upon the removal or withdrawal of the General Partner, if a successor General Partner is elected pursuant to Section 11.1 or 11.2, the Partnership shall not be dissolved and such successor General Partner shall continue the business of the Partnership. The Partnership shall dissolve, and (subject to Section 12.2) its affairs shall be wound up, upon:
(a) the expiration of its term as provided in Section 2.7;
(b) an Event of Withdrawal of the General Partner as provided in Section 11.1(a) (other than Section 11.1(a)(ii)), unless a successor is elected and an Opinion of Counsel is received as provided in Section 11.1(b) or 11.2 and such successor is admitted to the Partnership pursuant to Section 10.3;
(d) the entry of a decree of judicial dissolution of the Partnership pursuant to the provisions of the Delaware Act; or
(e) the sale of all or substantially all of the assets and properties of the Partnership Group.
Section 12.2 CONTINUATION OF THE BUSINESS OF THE PARTNERSHIP AFTER DISSOLUTION.
Upon (a) dissolution of the Partnership following an Event of Withdrawal caused by the withdrawal or removal of the General Partner as provided in Section 11.1(a)(i) or (iii) and the failure of the Partners to select a successor to such Departing Partner pursuant to Section 11.1 or 11.2, then within 90 days thereafter, or (b) dissolution of the Partnership upon an event constituting an Event of Withdrawal as defined in Section 11.1(a)(iv), (v) or (vi), then, to the maximum extent permitted by law, within 180 days thereafter, the holders of a Unit Majority may elect to reconstitute the Partnership and continue its business on the same terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement by forming a new limited partnership on terms identical to those set forth in this Agreement and having as the successor General Partner a Person approved by the holders of a Unit Majority (subject to the proviso in the last sentence of this Section 12.2). Unless such an election is made within the applicable time period as set forth above, the Partnership shall conduct only activities necessary to wind up its affairs. If such an election is so made, then:
(i) the reconstituted Partnership shall continue until the end of the term set forth in Section 2.7 unless earlier dissolved in accordance with this Article XII;
(ii) if the successor General Partner is not the former General Partner, then the interest of the former General Partner shall be treated in the manner provided in Section 11.3; and
(iii) all necessary steps shall be taken to cancel this Agreement and the Certificate of Limited Partnership and to enter into and, as necessary, to file a new partnership agreement and certificate of limited partnership, and the successor General Partner may for this purpose exercise the powers of attorney granted the General Partner pursuant to Section 2.6; provided, that the right of the holders of a Unit Majority to approve a successor General Partner and to reconstitute and to continue the business of the Partnership shall not exist and may not be exercised unless the Partnership has received an Opinion of Counsel that (x) the exercise of the right would not result in the loss of limited liability of any Limited Partner and (y) neither the Partnership nor the reconstituted limited partnership 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 such right to continue.
Upon dissolution of the Partnership, unless the Partnership is continued under an election to reconstitute and continue the Partnership pursuant to Section 12.2, the General Partner shall select one or more Persons to act as Liquidator. The Liquidator (if other than the General Partner) shall be entitled to receive such compensation for its services as may be approved by holders of at least a majority of the Outstanding Common Units. The Liquidator (if other than the General Partner) shall agree not to resign at any time without 15 days’ prior notice and may be removed at any time, with or without cause, by notice of removal approved by holders of at least a majority of the Outstanding Common Units. Upon dissolution, removal or resignation of the Liquidator, a successor and substitute Liquidator (who shall have and succeed to all rights,
powers and ditties of the original Liquidator) shall within 30 days thereafter be approved by holders of at least a majority of the Outstanding Common Units, who shall also approve the compensation payable to such Liquidator. The right to approve a successor or substitute Liquidator in the manner provided herein shall be deemed to refer also to any such successor or substitute Liquidator approved in the manner herein provided. Except as expressly provided in this Article XII, the Liquidator approved in the manner provided herein shall have and may exercise, without further authorization or consent of any of the parties hereto, all of the powers conferred upon the General Partner under the terms of this Agreement (but subject to all of the applicable limitations, contractual and otherwise, upon the exercise of such powers, other than the limitation on sale or other disposition set forth in Section 7.3(b)) to the extent necessary or desirable in the good faith judgment of the Liquidator to carry out the duties and functions of the Liquidator hereunder for and during such period of time as shall be reasonably required in the good faith judgment of the Liquidator to complete the winding up and liquidation of the Partnership as provided for herein.
The Liquidator shall proceed to dispose of the assets of the Partnership, discharge its liabilities, and otherwise wind up its affairs in such manner and over such period as the Liquidator determines to be in the best interest of the Partners, subject to Section 17-804 of the Delaware Act and the following:
(a) DISPOSITION OF ASSETS. The assets may be disposed of by public or private sale or by distribution in kind to one or more Partners on such terms as the Liquidator and such Partner or Partners may agree. If any property is distributed in kind, the Partner receiving the property shall be deemed for purposes of Section 12.4(c) to have received cash equal to its fair market value; and contemporaneously therewith, appropriate cash distributions must be made to the other Partners. The Liquidator may, in its absolute discretion, defer liquidation or distribution of the Partnership’s assets for a reasonable time if it determines that an immediate sale or distribution of all or some of the Partnership’s assets would be impractical or would cause undue loss to the Partners. The Liquidator may, in its absolute discretion, distribute the Partnership’s assets, in whole or in part, in kind if it determines that a sale would be impractical or would cause undue loss to the Partners.
(b) DISCHARGE OF LIABILITIES. Liabilities of the Partnership include amounts owed to Partners otherwise than in respect of their distribution rights under Article VI. With respect to any that is contingent, conditional or unmatured or is otherwise not yet due and payable, the Liquidator shall either settle such claim for such amount as it thinks appropriate or establish a reserve of cash or other assets to provide for its payment. When paid, any unused portion of the reserve shall be distributed as additional liquidation proceeds.
(c) LIQUIDATION DISTRIBUTIONS. All property and all cash in excess of that required to discharge liabilities as provided in Section 12.4(b) shall be distributed to the Partners in accordance with, and to the extent of, the positive balances in their respective Capital Accounts, as determined after taking into account all Capital Account adjustments (other than those made by reason of distributions pursuant to this Section 12.4(c)) for the taxable period during which the liquidation of the Partnership occurs (with such date of occurrence being
determined pursuant to Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(ii)(g)), and such distribution shall be made by the end of such taxable period (or, if later, within 90 days after said date of such occurrence).
Section 12.5 CANCELLATION OF CERTIFICATE OF LIMITED PARTNERSHIP.
Upon the completion of the distribution of Partnership cash and property as provided in Section 12.4 in connection with the liquidation of the Partnership, the Certificate of Limited Partnership and all qualifications of the Partnership as a foreign limited partnership in jurisdictions other than the State of Delaware shall be canceled and such other actions as may be necessary to terminate the Partnership shall be taken.
Section 12.6 RETURN OF CONTRIBUTIONS.
The General Partner shall not be personally liable for, and shall have no obligation to contribute or loan any monies or property to the Partnership to enable it to effectuate, the return of the Capital Contributions of the Limited Partners, or any portion thereof, it being expressly understood that any such return shall be made solely from Partnership assets.
Section 12.7 WAIVER OF PARTITION.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, each Partner hereby waives any right to partition of the Partnership property.
Section 12.8 CAPITAL ACCOUNT RESTORATION.
No Limited Partner shall have any obligation to restore any negative balance in its Capital Account upon liquidation of the Partnership. The General Partner shall be obligated to restore any negative balance in its Capital Account upon liquidation of its interest in the Partnership by the end of the taxable period during which such liquidation occurs, or, if later, within 90 days after the date of such liquidation.
Article XIII
AMENDMENT OF PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT; MEETINGS; RECORD DATE
Section 13.1 AMENDMENT TO BE ADOPTED SOLELY BY THE GENERAL PARTNER.
Each Partner agrees that the General Partner, without the approval of any Partner or Assignee, may amend any provision of this Agreement and execute, swear to, acknowledge, deliver, file and record whatever documents may be required in connection therewith, to reflect:
(a) a change in the name of the Partnership, the location of the principal place of business of the Partnership, the registered agent of the Partnership or the registered office of the Partnership;
(b) admission, substitution, withdrawal or removal of Partners in accordance with this Agreement;
(c) a change that, in the sole discretion of the General Partner, is necessary or advisable to qualify or continue the qualification of the Partnership as a limited partnership or a partnership in which the Limited Partners have limited liability under the laws of any state or to ensure that the Partnership will not be treated as associations taxable as corporations or otherwise taxed as entities for federal income tax purposes;
(d) a change that, in the discretion of the General Partner, (i) does not adversely affect the Limited Partners in any material respect, (ii) is necessary or advisable to (A) satisfy any requirements, conditions or guidelines contained in any opinion, directive, order, ruling or regulation of any federal or state agency or judicial authority or contained in any federal or state statute (including the Delaware Act) or (B) facilitate the trading of the Limited Partner Interests (including the division of any class or classes of Outstanding Limited Partner Interests into different classes to facilitate uniformity of tax consequences within such classes of Limited Partner Interests) or comply with any rule, regulation, guideline or requirement of any National Securities Exchange on which the Limited Partner Interests are or will be listed for trading, compliance with any of which the General Partner determines in its discretion to be in the best interests of the Partnership and the Limited Partners, (iii) is necessary or advisable in connection with action taken by the General Partner pursuant to Section 5.10 or (iv) is required to effect the intent expressed in the Registration Statement or the intent of the provisions of this Agreement or is otherwise contemplated by this Agreement;
(e) a change in the fiscal year or taxable year of the Partnership and any changes that, in the discretion of the General Partner, are necessary or advisable as a result of a change in the fiscal year or taxable year of the Partnership including, if the General Partner shall so determine, a change in the definition of “QUARTER”and the dates on which distributions are to be made by the Partnership;
(f) an amendment that is necessary, in the Opinion of Counsel, to prevent the Partnership, or the General Partner or its directors, officers, trustees or agents from in any manner being subjected to the provisions of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended, or “plan asset” regulations adopted under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, regardless of whether such are substantially similar to plan asset regulations currently applied or proposed by the United States Department of Labor;
(g) an amendment that, in the discretion of the General Partner, is necessary or advisable in connection with the authorization or issuance of any class or series of Partnership Securities (or options, rights, warrants and appreciation rights relating to such Partnership Securities) pursuant to Section 5.6;
(h) any amendment expressly permitted in this Agreement to be made by the General Partner acting alone;
(i) an amendment effected, necessitated or contemplated by a Merger Agreement approved in accordance with Section 14.3;
(j) an amendment that, in the discretion of the General Partner, is necessary or advisable to reflect, account for and deal with appropriately the formation by the Partnership of, or investment by the Partnership in, any corporation, partnership, joint venture, limited liability company or other entity, in connection with the conduct by the Partnership of activities permitted by the terms of Section 2.4;
(k) a merger or conveyance pursuant to Section 14.3(d); or
(l) any other amendments substantially similar to the foregoing.
Section 13.2 AMENDMENT PROCEDURES.
Except as provided in Sections 13.1 and 13.3 and the Class B Unit Supplement, all amendments to this Agreement shall be made in accordance with the following requirements. Amendments to this Agreement may be proposed only by or with the consent of the General Partner which consent may be given or withheld in its sole discretion. A proposed amendment shall be effective upon its approval by the holders of a Unit Majority, unless a greater or different percentage is required under this Agreement or by Delaware law. Each proposed amendment that requires the approval of the holders of a specified percentage of Outstanding Common Units shall be set forth in a writing that contains the text of the proposed amendment. If such an amendment is proposed, the General Partner shall seek the written approval of the requisite percentage of Outstanding Common Units or call a meeting of the Common Unitholders to consider and vote on such proposed amendment. The General Partner shall notify all Record Holders upon final adoption of any such proposed amendments.
Section 13.3 AMENDMENT REQUIREMENTS.
(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 13.1 and 13.2, no provision of this Agreement that establishes a percentage of Outstanding Common Units (including Common Units held, or deemed held, by the General Partner or its Affiliates) required to take any action shall be amended, altered, changed, repealed or rescinded in any respect that would have the effect of reducing such voting percentage unless such amendment is approved by the written consent or the affirmative vote of holders of Outstanding Common Units whose aggregate Outstanding Common Units constitute not less than the voting requirement sought to be reduced.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 13.1 and 13.2, no amendment to this Agreement may (i) enlarge the obligations of any Limited Partner without its consent, unless such shall be deemed to have occurred as a result of an amendment approved pursuant to Section 13.3(c), (ii) 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 to, the General Partner or any of its Affiliates without its consent, which consent may be given or withheld in its sole discretion, (iii) change Section 12.1(a) or 12.1(c), or (iv) change the term of the Partnership or, except as set forth in Section 12.1(c), give any Person the right to dissolve the Partnership.
(c) Except as provided in Section 14.3 or otherwise as may be provided in this Agreement and without limitation of the General Partner’s authority to adopt amendments to this Agreement as contemplated in Section 13.1, any amendment that would have a material adverse effect on the rights or preferences of any class of Partnership Interests in relation to other classes
of Partnership Interests must be approved by the holders of not less than a majority of the Outstanding Partnership Interests of the class affected.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, except for amendments pursuant to Section 13.1 and except as otherwise provided by Section 14.3(b), no amendments shall become effective without the approval of the holders of at least 90% of the Outstanding Common Units unless the Partnership obtains an Opinion of Counsel to the effect that such amendment will not (i) adversely affect the limited liability of any Limited Partner under the Delaware Act or the law of any other state in which the Partnership is registered as a foreign limited partnership or is otherwise qualified to do business or (ii) cause the Partnership to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation or otherwise to be taxed as an entity for federal income tax purposes (to the extent not previously treated as such).
(e) Except as provided in Section 13.1, this Section 13.3 shall only be amended with the approval of the holders of at least 90% of the Outstanding Common Units.
Section 13.4 SPECIAL MEETINGS.
All acts of Limited Partners to be taken pursuant to this Agreement shall be taken in the manner provided in this Article XIII. Special meetings of the Limited Partners may be called by the General Partner or by Limited Partners holding 20% or more of the Outstanding Limited Partner Interests of the class or classes for which a meeting is proposed. Limited Partners shall call a special meeting by delivering to the General Partner one or more requests in writing stating that the signing Limited Partners wish to call a special meeting and indicating the general or specific purposes for which the special meeting is to be called. Within 60 days after receipt of such a call from Limited Partners or within such greater time as may be reasonably necessary for the Partnership to comply with any statutes, rules, regulations, listing agreements or similar requirements governing the holding of a meeting or the solicitation of proxies for use at such a meeting, the General Partner shall send a notice of the meeting to the Limited Partners either directly or indirectly through the Transfer Agent. A meeting shall be held at a time and place determined by the General Partner on a date not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days after the mailing of notice of the meeting. Limited Partners shall not vote on matters that would cause the Limited Partners to be deemed to be taking part in the management and control of the business and affairs of the Partnership so as to jeopardize the Limited Partners’ limited liability under the Delaware Act or the law of any other state in which the Partnership is registered as a foreign limited partnership or is otherwise qualified to do business.
Section 13.5 NOTICE OF A MEETING.
Notice of a meeting called pursuant to Section 13.4 shall be given to the Record Holders of the class or classes of Limited Partner Interests for which a meeting is proposed in writing by mail or other means of written communication in accordance with Section 16.1. The notice shall be deemed to have been given at the time when deposited in the mail or sent by other means of written communication.
For purposes of determining the Limited Partners entitled to notice of or to vote at a meeting of the Limited Partners or to give approvals without a meeting as provided in Section 13.11 the General Partner may set a Record Date, which shall not be less than 10 nor more than 60 days before (a) the date of the meeting (unless such requirement conflicts with any rule, regulation, guideline or requirement of any National Securities Exchange on which the Limited Partner Interests are listed for trading, in which case the rule, regulation, guideline or requirement of such exchange shall govern) or (b) in the event that approvals are sought without a meeting, the date by which Limited Partners are requested in writing by the General Partner to give such approvals.
When a meeting is adjourned to another time or place, notice need not be given of the adjourned meeting and a new Record Date need not be fixed, if the time and place thereof are announced at the meeting at which the adjournment is taken, unless such adjournment shall be for more than 45 days. At the adjourned meeting, the Partnership may transact any business which might have been transacted at the original meeting. If the adjournment is for more than 45 days or if a new Record Date is fixed for the adjourned meeting, a notice of the adjourned meeting shall be given in accordance with this Article XIII.
Section 13.8 WAIVER OF NOTICE; APPROVAL OF MEETING; APPROVAL OF MINUTES.
The transactions of any meeting of Limited Partners, however called and noticed, and whenever held, shall be as valid as if it had occurred at a meeting duly held after regular call and notice, if a quorum is present either in person or by proxy, and if, either before or after the meeting, Limited Partners representing such quorum who were present in person or by proxy and entitled to vote, sign a written waiver of notice or an approval of the holding of the meeting or an approval of the minutes thereof. All waivers and approvals shall be filed with the Partnership records or made a part of the minutes of the meeting. Attendance of a Limited Partner at a meeting shall constitute a waiver of notice of the meeting, except when the Limited Partner does not approve, at the beginning of the meeting, of the transaction of any business because the meeting is not lawfully called or convened; and except that attendance at a meeting is not a waiver of any right to disapprove the consideration of matters required to be included in the notice of the meeting, but not so included, if the disapproval is expressly made at the meeting.
The holders of a majority of the Outstanding Limited Partner Interests of the class or classes for which a meeting has been called (including Limited Partner Interests held or deemed held by the General Partner or its Affiliates) represented in person or by proxy shall constitute a quorum at a meeting of Limited Partners of such class or classes unless any such action by the Limited Partners requires approval by holders of a greater percentage of such Limited Partner Interests, in which case the quorum shall be such greater percentage. At any meeting of the Limited Partners duly called and held in accordance with this Agreement at which a quorum is
present, the act of Limited Partners holding Outstanding Limited Partner Interests that in the aggregate represent a majority of the Outstanding Limited Partner Interests entitled to vote and be present in person or by proxy at such meeting shall be deemed to constitute the act of all Limited Partners, unless a greater or different percentage is required with respect to such action under the provisions of this Agreement, in which case the act of the Limited Partners holding Outstanding Limited Partner Interests that in the aggregate represent at least such greater or different percentage shall be required. The Limited Partners present at a duly called or held meeting at which a quorum is present may continue to transact business until adjournment, notwithstanding the withdrawal of enough Limited Partners to leave less than a quorum, if any action taken (other than adjournment) is approved by the required percentage of Outstanding Limited Partner Interests specified in this Agreement (including Limited Partner Interests deemed owned by the General Partner). In the absence of a quorum any meeting of Limited Partners may be adjourned from time to time by the affirmative vote of holders of at least a majority of the Outstanding Limited Partner Interests entitled to vote at such meeting (including Limited Partner Interests held or deemed held by the General Partner or its Affiliates) represented either in person or by proxy, but no other business may be transacted, except as provided in Section 13.7.
Section 13.10 CONDUCT OF A MEETING.
The General Partner shall have full power and authority concerning the manner of conducting any meeting of the Limited Partners or solicitation of approvals in writing, including the determination of Persons entitled to vote, the existence of a quorum, the satisfaction of the requirements of Section 13.4, the conduct of voting, the validity and effect of any proxies and the determination of any controversies, votes or challenges arising in connection with or during the meeting or voting. The General Partner shall designate a Person to serve as chairman of any meeting and shall further designate a Person to take the minutes of any meeting. All minutes shall be kept with the records of the Partnership maintained by the General Partner. The General Partner may make such other regulations consistent with applicable law and this Agreement as it may deem advisable concerning the conduct of any meeting of the Limited Partners or solicitation of approvals in writing, including regulations in regard to the appointment of proxies, the appointment and duties of inspectors of votes and approvals, the submission and examination of proxies and other evidence of the right to vote, and the revocation of approvals in writing.
Section 13.11 ACTION WITHOUT A MEETING.
If authorized by the General Partner, any action that may be taken at a meeting of the Limited Partners may be taken without a meeting if an approval in writing setting forth the action so taken is signed by Limited Partners holding not less than the minimum percentage of the Outstanding Limited Partner Interests (including Limited Partner Interests held or deemed held by the General Partner or its Affiliates) that would be necessary to authorize or take such action at a meeting at which all the Limited Partners were present and voted (unless such provision conflicts with any rule, regulation, guideline or requirement of any National Securities Exchange on which the Limited Partner Interests are listed for trading, in which case the rule, regulation, guideline or requirement of such exchange shall govern). Prompt notice of the taking of action without a meeting shall be given to the Limited Partners who have not approved in writing. The General Partner may specify that any written ballot submitted to Limited Partners for the purpose
of taking any action without a meeting shall be returned to the Partnership within the time period, which shall be not less than 20 days, specified by the General Partner. If a ballot returned to the Partnership does not vote all of the Limited Partner Interests held by a Limited Partner, the Partnership shall be deemed to have failed to receive a ballot for the Limited Partner Interests that were not voted. If approval of the taking of any action by the Limited Partners is solicited by any Person other than by or on behalf of the General Partner, the written approvals shall have no force and effect unless and until (a) they are deposited with the Partnership in care of the General Partner, (b) approvals sufficient to take the action proposed are dated as of a date not more than 90 days prior to the date sufficient approvals are deposited with the Partnership and (c) an Opinion of Counsel is delivered to the General Partner to the effect that the exercise of such right and the action proposed to be taken with respect to any particular matter (i) will not cause the Limited Partners to be deemed to be taking part in the management and control of the business and affairs of the Partnership so as to jeopardize the Limited Partners’ limited liability, and (ii) is otherwise permissible under the state statutes then governing the rights, duties and liabilities of the Partnership and the Partners.
Section 13.12 VOTING AND OTHER RIGHTS.
(a) Only those Record Holders of the Limited Partner Interests on the Record Date set pursuant to Section 13.6 (and also subject to the limitations contained in the definition of “OUTSTANDING”)shall be entitled to notice of, and to vote at, a meeting of Limited Partners or to act with respect to matters as to which the holders of the Outstanding Limited Partner Interests have the right to vote or to act. All references in this Agreement to votes of, or other acts that may be taken by, the Outstanding Limited Partner Interests shall be deemed to be references to the votes or acts of the Record Holders of such Outstanding Limited Partner Interests.
(b) With respect to Limited Partner Interests that are held for a Person’s account by another Person (such as a broker, dealer, bank, trust company or clearing corporation, or an agent of any of the foregoing), in whose name such Limited Partner Interests are registered, such other Person shall, in exercising the voting rights in respect of such Limited Partner Interests on any matter, and unless the arrangement between such Persons provides otherwise, vote such Limited Partner Interests in favor of, and at the direction of, the Person who is the beneficial owner, and the Partnership shall be entitled to assume it is so acting without further inquiry. The provisions of this Section 13.12(b) (as well as all other provisions of this Agreement) are subject to the provisions of Section 4.3.
Article XIV
MERGER
The Partnership may merge or consolidate with one or more corporations, limited liability companies, business trusts or associations, real estate investment trusts, common law trusts or unincorporated businesses, including a general partnership or limited partnership, formed under the laws of the State of Delaware or any other state of the United States of America, pursuant to a written agreement of merger or consolidation (“MERGER AGREEMENT”)in accordance with this Article XIV.
Section 14.2 PROCEDURE FOR MERGER OR CONSOLIDATION.
Merger or consolidation of the Partnership pursuant to this Article XIV requires the prior approval of the General Partner. If the General Partner shall determine, in the exercise of its discretion, to consent to the merger or consolidation, the General Partner shall approve the Merger Agreement, which shall set forth:
(a) The names and jurisdictions of formation or organization of each of the business entities proposing to merge or consolidate;
(c) The terms and conditions of the proposed merger or consolidation;
(d) The manner and basis of exchanging or converting the equity securities of each constituent business entity for, or into, cash, property or general or limited partner interests, rights, securities or obligations of the Surviving Business Entity; and (i) if any general or limited partner interests, securities or rights of any constituent business entity are not to be exchanged or converted solely for, or into, cash, property or general or limited partner interests, rights, securities or obligations of the Surviving Business Entity, the cash, property or general or limited partner interests, rights, securities or obligations of any limited partnership, corporation, trust or other entity (other than the Surviving Business Entity) which the holders of such general or limited partner interests, securities or rights are to receive in exchange for, or upon conversion of their general or limited partner interests, securities or rights, and (ii) in the case of securities represented by certificates, upon the surrender of such certificates, which cash, property or general or limited partner interests, rights, securities or obligations of the Surviving Business Entity or any general or limited partnership, corporation, trust or other entity (other than the Surviving Business Entity), or evidences thereof, are to be delivered;
(e) A statement of any changes in the constituent documents or the adoption of new constituent documents (the articles or certificate of incorporation, articles of trust, declaration of trust, certificate or agreement of limited partnership or other similar chatter or governing document) of the Surviving Business Entity to be effected by such merger or consolidation;
(f) The effective time of the merger, which may be the date of the filing of the certificate of merger pursuant to Section 14.4 or a later date specified in or determinable in accordance with the Merger Agreement (provided, that if the effective time of the merger is to be later than the date of the filing of the certificate of merger, the effective time shall be fixed no later than the time of the filing of the certificate of merger and stated therein); and
(g) Such other provisions with respect to the proposed merger or consolidation as are deemed necessary or appropriate by the General Partner.
Section 14.3 APPROVAL BY LIMITED PARTNERS OF MERGER OR CONSOLIDATION.
(a) Except as provided in Section 14.3(d), the General Partner, upon its approval of the Merger Agreement, shall direct that the Merger Agreement be submitted to a vote of the Limited Partners, whether at a special meeting or by written consent, in either case in accordance with the requirements of Article XIII. A copy or a summary of the Merger Agreement shall be included in or enclosed with the notice of a special meeting or the written consent.
(b) Except as provided in Section 14.3(d), the Merger Agreement shall be approved upon receiving the affirmative vote or consent of the holders of a Unit Majority unless the Merger Agreement contains any provision that, if contained in an amendment to this Agreement, the provisions of this Agreement or the Delaware Act would require for its approval the vote or consent of a greater percentage of the Outstanding Limited Partner Interests or of any class of Limited Partners, in which case such greater percentage vote or consent shall be required for approval of the Merger Agreement.
(c) Except as provided in Section 14.3(d), after such approval by vote or consent of the Limited Partners, and at any time prior to the filing of the certificate of merger pursuant to Section 14.4, the merger or consolidation may be abandoned pursuant to provisions therefor, if any, set forth in the Merger Agreement.
(d) Notwithstanding anything else contained in this Article XIV or in this Agreement, the General Partner is permitted, in its discretion, without Limited Partner approval, to merge the Partnership or any Group Member into, or convey all of the Partnership’s assets to, another limited liability entity which shall be newly formed and shall have no assets, liabilities or operations at the time of such Merger other than those it receives from the Partnership or other Group Member if (i) the General Partner has received an Opinion of Counsel that the merger or conveyance, as the case may be, would not result in the loss of the limited liability of any Limited Partner or cause the Partnership to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation or otherwise to be taxed as an entity for federal income tax purposes (to the extent not previously treated as such), (ii) the sole purpose of such merger or conveyance is to effect a mere change in the legal form of the Partnership into another limited liability entity and (iii) the governing instruments of the new entity provide the Limited Partners and the General Partner with the same rights and obligations as are herein contained.
Section 14.4 CERTIFICATE OF MERGER.
Upon the required approval by the General Partner and the Unitholders of a Merger Agreement, a certificate of merger shall be executed and filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware in conformity with the requirements of the Delaware Act.
Section 14.5 EFFECT OF MERGER.
(a) At the effective time of the certificate of merger:
(i) all of the rights, privileges and powers of each of the business entities that has merged or consolidated, and all property, real, personal and mixed, and all debts due to any
of those business entities and all other things and causes of action belonging to each of those business entities, shall be vested in the Surviving Business Entity and after the merger or consolidation shall be the property of the Surviving Business Entity to the extent they were property of each constituent business entity;
(ii) the title to any real property vested by deed or otherwise in any of those constituent business entities shall not revert and shall not in any way be impaired because of the merger or consolidation;
(iii) all rights of creditors and all liens on or security interests in property of any of those constituent business entities shall be preserved unimpaired; and
(iv) all debts, liabilities and duties of those constituent business entities shall attach to the Surviving Business Entity and may be enforced against it to the same extent as if the debts, liabilities and duties had been incurred or contracted by it.
(b) A merger or consolidation effected pursuant to this Article shall not be deemed to result in a transfer or assignment of assets or liabilities from one entity to another.
Article XV
RIGHT TO ACQUIRE LIMITED PARTNER INTERESTS
Section 15.1 RIGHT TO ACQUIRE LIMITED PARTNER INTERESTS.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, if at any time not more than 20% of the total Limited Partner Interests of any class then Outstanding is held by Persons other than the General Partner and its Affiliates, the General Partner shall then have the right, which right it may assign and transfer in whole or in part to the Partnership or any Affiliate of the General Partner, exercisable in its sole discretion, to purchase all, but not less than all, of such Limited Partner Interests of such class then Outstanding held by Persons other than the General Partner and its Affiliates, at the greater of (x) the Current Market Price as of the date three days prior to the date that the notice described in Section 15.1(b) is mailed and (y) the highest price paid by the General Partner or any of its Affiliates for any such Limited Partner Interest of such class purchased during the 90-day period preceding the date that the notice described in Section 15.1(b) is mailed. As used in this Agreement, (i) “CURRENT MARKET PRICE”as of any date of any class of Limited Partner Interests listed or admitted to trading on any National Securities Exchange means the average of the daily Closing Prices (as hereinafter defined) per Limited Partner Interest of such class for the 20 consecutive Trading Days (as hereinafter defined) immediately prior to such date; (ii) “CLOSING PRICE”for any day means the last sale price on such day, regular way, or in case no such sale takes place on such day, the average of the closing bid and asked prices on such day, regular way, in either case as reported in the principal consolidated transaction reporting system with respect to securities listed or admitted for trading on the principal National Securities Exchange (other than the Nasdaq Stock Market) on which such Limited Partner Interests of such class are listed or admitted to trading or, if such Limited Partner Interests of such class are not listed or admitted to trading on any National Securities Exchange (other than the Nasdaq Stock Market), the last quoted price on such day or, if not so quoted, the average of the high bid and low asked prices on such day in the
over-the-counter market, as reported by the Nasdaq Stock Market or such other system then in use, or, if on any such day such Limited Partner Interests of such class are not quoted by any such organization, the average of the closing bid and asked prices on such day as furnished by a professional market maker making a market in such Limited Partner Interests of such class selected by the General Partner, or if on any such day no market maker is making a market in such Limited Partner Interests of such class, the fair value of such Limited Partner Interests on such day as determined reasonably and in good faith by the General Partner; and (iii) “TRADING DAY” means a day on which the principal National Securities Exchange on which such Limited Partner Interests of any class are listed or admitted to trading is open for the transaction of business or, if Limited Partner Interests of a class are not listed or admitted to trading on any National Securities Exchange, a day on which banking institutions in New York City generally are open.
(b) If the General Partner, any Affiliate of the General Partner or the Partnership elects to exercise the right to purchase Limited Partner Interests granted pursuant to Section 15.1(a), the General Partner shall deliver to the Transfer Agent notice of such election to purchase (the “NOTICE OF ELECTION TO PURCHASE”)and shall cause the Transfer Agent to mail a copy of such Notice of Election to Purchase to the Record Holders of Limited Partner Interests of such class (as of a Record Date selected by the General Partner) at least 10, but not more than 60, days prior to the Purchase Date. Such Notice of Election to Purchase shall also be published for a period of at least three consecutive days in at least two daily newspapers of general circulation printed in the English language and published in the Borough of Manhattan, New York, The Notice of Election to Purchase shall specify the Purchase Date and the price (determined in accordance with Section 15.1(a)) at which Limited Partner Interests will be purchased and state that the General Partner, its Affiliate or the Partnership, as the case may be, elects to purchase such Limited Partner Interests, upon surrender of Certificates representing such Limited Partner Interests in exchange for payment, at such office or offices of the Transfer Agent as the Transfer Agent may specify, or as may be required by any National Securities Exchange on which such Limited Partner Interests are listed or admitted to trading. Any such Notice of Election to Purchase mailed to a Record Holder of Limited Partner Interests at his address as reflected in the records of the Transfer Agent shall be conclusively presumed to have been given regardless of whether the owner receives such notice. On or prior to the Purchase Date, the General Partner, its Affiliate or the Partnership, as the case may be, shall deposit with the Transfer Agent cash in an amount sufficient to pay the aggregate purchase price of all of such Limited Partner Interests to be purchased in accordance with this Section 15.1. If the Notice of Election to Purchase shall have been duly given as aforesaid at least 10 days prior to the Purchase Date, and if on or prior to the Purchase Date the deposit described in the preceding sentence has been made for the benefit of the holders of Limited Partner Interests subject to purchase as provided herein, then from and after the Purchase Date, notwithstanding that any Certificate shall not have been surrendered for purchase, all rights of the holders of such Limited Partner Interests (including any rights pursuant to Articles IV, V, VI, and XII) shall thereupon cease, except the right to receive the purchase price (determined in accordance with Section 15.1(a)) for Limited Partner Interests therefor, without interest, upon surrender to the Transfer Agent of the Certificates representing such Limited Partner Interests, and such Limited Partner Interests shall thereupon be deemed to be transferred to the General Partner, its Affiliate or the Partnership, as the case may be, on the record books of the Transfer Agent and the Partnership, and the General Partner or any Affiliate of the General Partner, or the Partnership, as
the case may be, shall be deemed to be the holder of all such Limited Partner Interests from and after the Purchase Date and shall have all rights as the holder of such Limited Partner Interests (including all rights as holder of such Limited Partner Interests pursuant to Articles IV, V, VI and XII).
(c) At any time from and after the Purchase Date, a holder of an Outstanding Limited Partner Interest subject to purchase as provided in this Section 15.1 may surrender his Certificate evidencing such Limited Partner Interest to the Transfer Agent in exchange for payment of the amount described in Section 15.1(a), therefor, without interest thereon.
Article XVI
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 16.1 ADDRESSES AND NOTICES.
Any notice, demand, request, report or proxy materials required or permitted to be given or made to a Partner or Assignee under this Agreement shall be in writing and shall be deemed given or made when delivered in person or when sent by first class United States mail or by other means of written communication to the Partner or Assignee at the address described below. Any notice, payment or report to be given or made to a Partner or Assignee hereunder shall be deemed conclusively to have been given or made, and the obligation to give such notice or report or to make such payment shall be deemed conclusively to have been fully satisfied, upon sending of such notice, payment or report to the Record Holder of such Partnership Securities at his address as shown on the records of the Transfer Agent or as otherwise shown on the records of the Partnership, regardless of any claim of any Person who may have an interest in such Partnership Securities by reason of any assignment or otherwise. An affidavit or certificate of making of any notice, payment or report in accordance with the provisions of this Section 16.1 executed by the General Partner, the Transfer Agent or the mailing organization shall be prima facie evidence of the giving or making of such notice, payment or report. If any notice, payment or report addressed to a Record Holder at the address of such Record Holder appearing on the books and records of the Transfer Agent or the Partnership is returned by the United States Postal Service marked to indicate that the United States Postal Service is unable to deliver it, such notice, payment or report and any subsequent notices, payments and reports shall be deemed to have been duly given or made without further mailing (until such time as such Record Holder or another Person notifies the Transfer Agent or the Partnership of a change in his address) if they are available for the Partner or Assignee at the principal office of the Partnership for a period of one year from the date of the giving or making of such notice, payment or report to the other Partners and Assignees. Any notice to the Partnership shall be deemed given if received by the General Partner at the principal office of the Partnership designated pursuant to Section 2.3. The General Partner may rely and shall be protected in relying on any notice or other document from a Partner, Assignee or other Person if believed by it to be genuine.
The patties hereto shall execute and deliver all documents, provide all information and take or refrain from taking action as may be necessary or appropriate to achieve the purposes of this Agreement.
This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties hereto and their heirs, executors, administrators, successors, legal representatives and permitted assigns.
This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement among the parties hereto pertaining to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings pertaining thereto.
None of the provisions of this Agreement shall be for the benefit of, or shall be enforceable by, any creditor of the Partnership.
No failure by any party to insist upon the strict performance of any covenant, duty, agreement or condition of this Agreement or to exercise any right or remedy consequent upon a breach thereof shall constitute a waiver of any subsequent breach or any breach of any other covenant, duty, agreement or condition.
This Agreement may be executed in counterparts, all of which together shall constitute an agreement binding on all the parties hereto, notwithstanding that all such parties are not signatories to the original or the same counterpart. Each party shall become bound by this Agreement immediately upon affixing its signature hereto or, in the case of a Person acquiring a Unit, upon accepting the certificate evidencing such Unit or executing and delivering a Transfer Application as herein described, independently of the signature of any other party.
This Agreement shall be construed in accordance with and governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to the principles of conflicts of law.
Section 16.9 INVALIDITY OF PROVISIONS.
If any provision of this Agreement is or becomes invalid, illegal or unenforceable in any respect, the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions contained herein shall not be affected thereby.
Section 16.10 CONSENT OF PARTNERS.
Each Partner hereby expressly consents and agrees that, whenever in this Agreement it is specified that an action may be taken upon the affirmative vote or consent of less than all of the
Partners, such action may be so taken upon the concurrence of less than all of the Partners and each Partner shall be bound by the results of such action.
[REST OF PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have executed this Agreement as of the date first written above.
GENERAL PARTNER:
TC PIPELINES GP, INC.
By: /s/ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇
Name: ▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇
Title: President
By: /s/ ▇▇▇ ▇. ▇▇▇▇▇▇
Name: ▇▇▇ ▇. ▇▇▇▇▇▇
Title: Secretary
All Limited Partners now and hereafter admitted as Limited Partners of the Partnership, pursuant to powers of attorney now and hereafter executed in favor of, and granted and delivered to the General Partner.
TC PIPELINES GP, INC.
By: /s/ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇
Name: ▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇
Title: President
By: /s/ ▇▇▇ ▇. ▇▇▇▇▇▇
Name: ▇▇▇ ▇. ▇▇▇▇▇▇
Title: Secretary
Exhibit A
TO
Fourth AMENDED AND RESTATED
AGREEMENT OF LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
OF
TC PIPELINES, LP
CERTIFICATE EVIDENCING COMMON UNITS
REPRESENTING LIMITED PARTNER INTERESTS IN
TC PIPELINES, LP
No. __________ __________ Common Units
In accordance with Section 4.1 of the Fourth Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of TC PipeLines, LP, as amended, supplemented or restated from time to time (the “PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT”), TC PipeLines, LP, a Delaware limited partnership (the “PARTNERSHIP”), hereby certifies that ____________________ (the “HOLDER”)is the registered owner of __________ Common Units representing limited partner interests in the Partnership (the “COMMON UNITS”)transferable on the books of the Partnership, in person or by duly authorized attorney, upon surrender of this Certificate properly endorsed and accompanied by a properly executed application for transfer of the Common Units represented by this Certificate. The rights, preferences and limitations of the Common Units are set forth in, and this Certificate and the Common Units represented hereby are issued and shall in all respects be subject to the terms and provisions of, the Partnership Agreement. Copies of the Partnership Agreement are on file at, and will be furnished without charge on delivery of written request to the Partnership at, the principal office of the Partnership located at ____________________. Capitalized terms used herein but not defined shall have the meanings given them in the Partnership Agreement.
The Holder, by accepting this Certificate, is deemed to have (i) requested admission as, and agreed to become, a Limited Partner and to have agreed to comply with and be bound by and to have executed the Partnership Agreement, (ii) represented and warranted that the Holder has all right, power and authority and, if an individual, the capacity necessary to enter into the Partnership Agreement, (iii) granted the powers of attorney provided for in the Partnership Agreement and (iv) made the waivers and given the consents and approvals contained in the Partnership Agreement.
Except as otherwise provided in the Partnership Agreement, this Certificate shall not be valid for any purpose unless it has been countersigned and registered by the Transfer Agent and Registrar.
Dated: TC PIPELINES, LP
Countersigned and Registered by: By: TC PipeLines GP, Inc., its General Partner
By:
as Transfer Agent and Registrar Name:
By: By:___________________________________
Authorized Signature Secretary
[REVERSE OF CERTIFICATE]
ABBREVIATIONS
The following abbreviations, when used in the inscription on the face of this Certificate, shall be construed as follows according to applicable laws or regulations:
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TEN COM — |
as tenants in common |
UNIF GIFT/TRANSFERS MIN ACT— |
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TEN ENT — |
as tenants by the entireties |
___________________________________ |
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JT TEN — |
as joint tenants with right of survivorship and not as tenants in common |
___________________________________ ___________________________________ |
Additional abbreviations, though not in the above list, may also be used.
FOR VALUE RECEIVED,
_________________________ HEREBY ASSIGNS, CONVEYS, SELLS AND TRANSFERS UNTO
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Please print or typewrite name and address of Assignee: |
Please insert Social Security or other identifying number of Assignee: |
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__________ Common Units representing limited partner interests evidenced by this Certificate, subject to the Partnership Agreement, and does hereby irrevocably constitute and appoint_________________________ as its attorney-in-fact with full power of substitution to transfer the same on the books of TC PipeLines, LP
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Date: ____________________ |
NOTE: The signature to any endorsement hereon must correspond with the name as written upon the face of this Certificate in every particular, without alteration, enlargement or change. |
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SIGNATURE(S) MUST BE |
(Signature)
(Signature) |
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SIGNATURE(S) GUARANTEED |
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No transfer of the Common Units evidenced hereby will be registered on the books of the Partnership, unless the Certificate evidencing the Common Units to be transferred is surrendered for registration or transfer and an Application for Transfer of Common Units has been executed by a transferee either (a) on the form set forth below or (b) on a separate application that the Partnership will furnish on request without charge. A transferor of the Common Units shall have no duty to the transferee with respect to execution of the transfer application in order for such transferee to obtain registration of the transfer of the Common Units.
APPLICATION FOR TRANSFER OF COMMON UNITS
The undersigned (“ASSIGNEE”)hereby applies for transfer to the name of the Assignee of the Common Units evidenced hereby.
The Assignee (a) requests admission as a Substituted Limited Partner and agrees to comply with and be bound by, and hereby executes, the Fourth Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of TC PipeLines, LP (the “PARTNERSHIP”), as amended, supplemented or restated to the date hereof (the “PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT”), (b) represents and warrants that the Assignee has all right, power and authority and, if an individual, the capacity necessary to enter into the Partnership Agreement, (c) appoints the General Partner of the Partnership and, if a Liquidator shall be appointed, the Liquidator of the Partnership as the Assignee’s attorney-in-fact to execute, swear to, acknowledge and file any document, including, without limitation, the Partnership Agreement and any amendment thereto and the Certificate of Limited Partnership of the Partnership and any amendment thereto, necessary or appropriate for the Assignee’s admission as a Substituted Limited Partner and as a party to the Partnership Agreement, (d) gives the powers of attorney provided for in the Partnership Agreement, and (e) makes the waivers and gives the consents and approvals contained in the Partnership Agreement. Capitalized terms not defined herein have the meanings assigned to such terms in the Partnership Agreement.
Date: ____________________
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Purchase Price including commissions, if any:
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Name and Addressee of Assignee |
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Type of Entity (check one):
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☐ Individual |
☐ Partnership |
☐ Other |
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☐ Trust |
☐ Corporation |
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Nationality (check one):
☐ U.S. Citizen, Resident or Domestic
Entity
☐ Foreign Corporation
☐ Non-Resident Alien
If the U.S. Citizen, Resident or Domestic Entity box is checked, the following certification must be completed.
Under Section 1445(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “CODE?), the Partnership must withhold tax with respect to certain transfers of property if a holder of an interest in the Partnership is a foreign person. To inform the Partnership that no withholding is required with respect to the undersigned interestholder’s interest in it, the undersigned hereby certifies the following (or, if applicable, certifies the following on behalf of the interestholder).
Complete Either A or B:
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A. Individual Interestholder |
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1. 1. I am not a non-resident alien for purposes of U.S. income taxation. |
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2. 2. My U.S. taxpayer identification number (Social Security Number) is: |
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3. 3. My home address is: |
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B. Partnership, Corporation or Other Interestholder |
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1. 1. The Interestholder is not a foreign corporation, foreign partnership, foreign trust or foreign estate (as those terms are defined in the Code and Treasury Regulations). |
(Name of Interestholder) |
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2. 2. The Interestholder’s U.S. employer identification number is: |
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3. 3. The Interestholder’s office address and place of incorporation (if applicable) is: |
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The Interestholder agrees to notify the Partnership within sixty (60) days of the date the interestholder becomes a foreign person.
The interestholder understands that this certificate may be disclosed to the Internal Revenue Service by the Partnership and that any false statement contained herein could be punishable by fine, imprisonment or both.
Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined this certification and to the best of my knowledge and belief it is true, correct and complete and, if applicable, I further declare that I have authority to sign this document on behalf of:
__________________________________________
Signature
Dated:
Name of Interestholder
__________________________________________
Title (if applicable)
Note: If the Assignee is a broker, dealer, bank, trust company, clearing corporation, other nominee holder or an agent of any of the foregoing, and is holding for the account of any other person, this application should be completed by an officer thereof or, in the case of a broker or dealer, by a registered representative who is a member of a registered national securities exchange or a member of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., or, in the case of any other nominee holder, a person performing a similar function. If the Assignee is a broker, dealer, bank, trust company, clearing corporation, other nominee owner or an agent of any of the foregoing, the above certification as to any person for whom the Assignee will hold the Common Units shall be made to the best of the Assignee’s knowledge.
Exhibit B
TO
Fourth AMENDED AND RESTATED
AGREEMENT OF LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
OF
TC PIPELINES, LP
CLASS B UNIT SUPPLEMENT
This Class B Unit Supplement to the Fourth Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of TC PipeLines, LP (the “AGREEMENT”) is effective as of the Class B Issuance Date.
Section 1.1 of the Agreement provides that the Partnership may issue additional Partnership Securities for any Partnership purpose at any time and from time to time to such Persons for such consideration and on such terms and conditions as shall be established by the General Partner in its sole discretion, all without the approval of any Limited Partners.
Pursuant to the General Partner’s determination, the Partnership is establishing a new class of Units designated as “Class B Units” and is issuing 1,900,000 Class B Units to TransCanada American Investments Ltd. as of the Class B Issuance Date pursuant to the PSA.
The following provisions shall apply with respect to the Class B Units, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Agreement, and this Supplement is intended to be incorporated into the Agreement:
1. Defined Terms Generally. Capitalized terms used in this Supplement but not defined herein shall have the meanings ascribed to such terms in the Agreement.
2. Supplement Defined Terms. With respect to the Class B Units, the capitalized terms below shall have the following meanings:
“CLASS B DISTRIBUTION” means the amount distributable annually to the Class B Unitholders in respect of their Class B Units, calculated as follows:
(A) For the partial year commencing on the Class B Issuance Date and ending December 31, 2015, an amount equal to (I) 30% of the GTN Distributable Cash Flow during such period, less (II) $15 million.
(B) For each of the calendar years 2016 through 2019, an amount equal to (I) 30% of the GTN Distributable Cash Flow during such year, less (II) $20 million.
(C) For the calendar year 2020, an amount equal to (I) 43.75% of (II) (x) 30% the GTN Distributable Cash Flow during such year, less (y) $20 million.
(D) For each of the calendar years after 2020, an amount equal to (I) 25% of (II)(x) 30% of the GTN Distributable Cash Flow during such year, less (y) $20 million reduced by the Class B Reduction (if any) for such year.
“CLASS B ISSUANCE DATE” means April 1, 2015, or if the “Closing Date,” as defined in the PSA, occurs on a different date, such Closing Date.
“CLASS B UNIT LIQUIDATION VALUE” means the fair market value of the Class B Units determined immediately prior to the occurrence of liquidation pursuant to Section 12.4 of the Agreement.
“CLASS B REDUCTION” means, for any particular calendar year, the percentage (if any) by which distributions payable in respect of Common Units for such calendar year are less than the maximum distributions paid in respect of Common Units for any calendar year beginning on or after January 1, 2014.
“CLASS B UNITS” means 1,900,000 Class B Units issued as of the Class B Issuance Date.
“GTN DISTRIBUTABLE CASH FLOW” means an amount, determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP on a stand-alone basis for any calendar year (or partial calendar year), equal to GTN’s net income for the applicable period, increased by GTN’s (a) depreciation expenses and (b) amortization of regulatory assets, and decreased by GTN’s (x) amortization of regulatory liabilities, (y) allowance for funds used during construction, and (z) maintenance capital expenditures during such period, to be, and to the extent, distributed by GTN directly or indirectly to the Partnership in a manner consistent with the GTN Distribution Policy and historical practice prior to the date of a distribution to the Class B Unitholders.
“GTN DISTRIBUTION POLICY” means the GTN cash distribution policy dated October 25, 2011, in effect as of February 24, 2015.
“PRO RATA” means, with respect to the Class B Unitholders and their Assignees, proportionately based on the number of Class B Units held by them, respectively.
“PSA” means that certain Agreement for Purchase and Sale of Membership Interest dated as of February 24, 2015 by and among the Partnership and TransCanada American Investments Ltd.
“SIGNIFICANT EVENT” means (i) a sale or other disposition by the Partnership or its Affiliate of all or substantially all of its membership interests in GTN or (ii) a sale or other disposition of all or substantially all of the assets owned by GTN.
“SUPPLEMENT” means this Class B Unit Supplement dated April 1, 2015.
3. Initial Capital Accounts of Class B Units. The initial Capital Account balance in respect of each Class B Unit shall be $50.00, as more particularly described in the PSA.4. Allocations.
(a) Except as provided in Sections 4(b), 4(c) and 10 of this Supplement and Section 6.1(d)(xiii) of the Agreement, the Class B Unitholders shall not be allocated any Net Income, Net Loss, Net Termination Gain, Net Termination Loss or other “BOOK” items pursuant to terms of Section 6.1 or corresponding tax items pursuant to terms of Section 6.2 in respect of its Class B Units.
(b) The Class B Unitholders shall be allocated items of “BOOK” gross income as provided in Section 6.1(d)(v) of the Agreement and corresponding tax items under Section 6.2(a) of the Agreement. In addition, the Class B Unitholders shall be allocated taxable income, gain or loss under Section 6.2(b)(i) of the Agreement as required by Section 704(c) of the Code.
(c) Solely for Canadian income tax purposes, the Class B Unitholders shall be allocated the amounts as provided in Section 6.2(i) of Agreement.
5. Distributions. The General Partner shall distribute the Class B Distribution Amount in accordance with this Section 5 of the Supplement and the Agreement. The Class B Distribution amount for each year shall be distributed to the Class B Unitholders at the same time as the first quarterly distribution is made to the Common Unitholders after the end of such year. Such distribution shall be made Pro Rata among the Class B Unitholders as of the Record Date for such distribution. Each Record Date established pursuant to this Section 5 for distribution in respect of the Class B Units shall be the same Record Date established for any distribution to be made by the Partnership in respect of the Common Units during the first Quarter of the applicable taxable year. For the avoidance of doubt, no distribution shall be payable in respect of the Incentive Distribution Rights under Section 6.4 or 6.5 by virtue of the distribution of the Class B Unit Distribution amounts.
6. Significant Event. Without restricting the powers of the General Partner under Section 7.1 of the Agreement, a Significant Event shall also require Special Approval. The General Partner shall not cause a Significant Event to occur without prior Special Approval.
7. Transfers of Class B Units. No transfer of a Class B Unit shall be made without prior Special Approval except for (i) transfers to the transferor’s Affiliates, or (ii) transfers to Persons who are not Affiliates in connection with the transfer by the General Partner of all of the General Partner Interests held by the General Partner.
8. Splits and Combinations. Notwithstanding Section 5.10(a) of the Agreement, the Class B Unitholders shall not be entitled to receive any Partnership Securities other than Class B Units under Section 5.10(a), and no Class B Units shall be distributed to Record Holders other than the Class B Unitholders.
9. Voting Rights. Except as provided by law or Section 13.3 of the Agreement, the Class B Unitholders shall have no voting rights in respect of their Class B Units except that any amendment of the Agreement, including this Supplement, that would have an adverse effect on the Class B Unitholders disproportionate to the effect on other Partnership Securities shall require the approval of a majority in interest of the Class B Unitholders.
10. Special Allocation Upon Liquidation to Class B Units. Immediately prior to making any distribution of cash or property to the Partners pursuant to Section 12.4 of the Agreement, items of Net Income or Net Termination Gain shall be allocated among the Class B Unitholders in a manner that, to the nearest extent possible, results in the Capital Accounts of Class B Unitholders in respect of their Class B Units to equal their respective Pro Rata shares of Class B Unit Liquidation Value immediately prior to such distribution.