UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

 

 

FORM 8-K

 

 

CURRENT REPORT

PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of report (Date of earliest event reported): June 1, 2017

 

 

DDR Corp.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)

 

 

 

Ohio    1-11690    34-1723097

(State or other jurisdiction

of incorporation)

  

(Commission

File Number)

  

(IRS Employer

Identification No.)

 

3300 Enterprise Parkway, Beachwood, Ohio    44122
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)    (Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (216) 755-5500

Not Applicable

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

 

 

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions ( see General Instruction A.2. below):

 

Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

 

Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

 

Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

 

Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).

Emerging growth company  ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

 

 

 


Item 3.03. Material Modification to Rights of Security Holders.

On June 1, 2017, DDR Corp. (the “Company”) filed Amendment No. 1 (the “Amendment”) to the Company’s Third Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation (the “Articles of Incorporation”), with the Secretary of State of the State of Ohio. The Amendment established and fixed the rights and preferences of 350,000 shares of the Company’s 6.375% Class A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, without par value (the “Class A Preferred Shares”).

The Class A Preferred Shares will be redeemable, in whole or in part, at $500.00 per share at the Company’s election on or after June 5, 2022, will pay a 6.375% annual dividend and will have a liquidation preference of $500.00 per share, plus an amount equal to accrued and unpaid dividends to, but not including, the date of payment. With respect to the payment of dividends and amounts upon the Company’s liquidation, the Class A Preferred Shares will rank equally with all of the Company’s other preferred shares and senior to the Company’s common shares. Unless full dividends on the Class A Preferred Shares and any other class of the Company’s shares ranking on parity with the Class A Preferred Shares as to dividends have been paid or funds set aside for payment therefor for all past dividend periods, no dividend or distribution may be declared or paid or funds set aside for payment on the Company’s common shares or any other shares ranking junior to the Class A Preferred Shares as to dividends and none of the Company’s common shares or any other shares ranking junior to the Class A Preferred Shares as to dividends may be purchased, retired or otherwise acquired by the Company. In the event of the Company’s liquidation, dissolution or winding up, the holders of the Class A Preferred Shares are entitled to be paid out of the Company’s assets legally available for distribution to its shareholders a liquidation preference of $500.00 per share, plus an amount equal to any accrued and unpaid dividends to, but not including, the date of payment before any distribution of assets is made to holders of the Company’s common shares or any shares ranking junior to the Class A Preferred Shares as to liquidation preference.

On and after June 5, 2022, the Company may, at its option, redeem the Class A Preferred Shares, in whole or in part, by paying $500.00 per share, plus accrued and unpaid dividends to, but not including, the date of redemption (the “Optional Redemption Right”). In addition, upon the occurrence of a “Change of Control” (as defined below), the Company may, at its option, redeem the Class A Preferred Shares, in whole or in part within 120 days after the first date on which such Change of Control occurred, by paying $500.00 per share, plus any accrued and unpaid dividends to, but not including, the date of redemption.

Upon the occurrence of a Change of Control, holders of Class A Preferred Shares will have the right (unless, prior to the Change of Control Conversion Date (as defined below), the Company has provided or provides notice of its election to redeem the Class A Preferred Shares) to convert some or all of their Class A Preferred Shares (the “Change of Control Conversion Right”) into a number of common shares (or equivalent value of alternative conversion consideration) per Class A Preferred Shares to be converted equal to the lesser of:

 

    the quotient obtained by dividing (1) the sum of $500.00 per share plus the amount of any accrued and unpaid dividends to, but not including, the Change of Control Conversion Date (unless the Change of Control Conversion Date is after a record date for a Class A Preferred Shares dividend payment and prior to the corresponding Class A Preferred Shares dividend payment date, in which case no additional amount for such accrued and unpaid dividend will be included in this sum) by (2) the Common Share Price (as defined below); and

 

    111.60714, subject to certain adjustments.

A “Change of Control” is when, after the original issuance of the Class A Preferred Shares, the following have occurred and are continuing:

 

    the acquisition by any person, including any syndicate or group deemed to be a “person” under Section 13(d)(3) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 of beneficial ownership, directly or indirectly, through a purchase, merger or other acquisition transaction or series of purchases, mergers or other acquisition transactions of shares of the Company entitling that person to exercise more than 50% of the total voting power of all shares of the Company entitled to vote generally in elections of directors (except that such person will be deemed to have beneficial ownership of all securities that such person has the right to acquire, whether such right is currently exercisable or is exercisable only upon the occurrence of a subsequent condition); and


    following the closing of any transaction referred to in the bullet point above, neither the Company nor the acquiring or surviving entity has a class of common securities (or American Depositary Receipts representing such securities) listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the NYSE MKT or the NASDAQ Stock Market, or listed or quoted on an exchange or quotation system that is a successor thereto.

The “Change of Control Conversion Date” is the date the Class A Preferred Shares are to be converted, which will be a business day that is no fewer than 20 days nor more than 35 days after the date on which the Company provides the notice of occurrence of a Change of Control to the holders of Class A Preferred Shares.

The “Common Share Price” will be: (1) if the consideration to be received in the Change of Control by the holders of the Company’s common shares is solely cash, the amount of cash consideration per common share or (2) if the consideration to be received in the Change of Control by holders of the Company’s common shares is other than solely cash (x) the average of the closing sale prices per common share (or, if no closing sale price is reported, the average of the closing bid and ask prices per common share or, if more than one in either case, the average of the average closing bid and the average closing ask prices per common share) for the ten consecutive trading days immediately preceding, but not including, the date on which such Change of Control occurred as reported on the principal U.S. securities exchange on which the Company’s common shares are then traded, or (y) the average of the last quoted bid prices for the Company’s common shares in the over-the-counter market as reported by OTC Markets Group Inc. or a similar organization for the ten consecutive trading days immediately preceding, but not including, the date on which such Change of Control occurred, if the Company’s common shares are not then listed for trading on a U.S. securities exchange.

The foregoing is a summary and is not complete. The full terms of the Class A Preferred Shares are set forth in the Amendment, filed as Exhibit 3.1 hereto and incorporated herein by reference. The terms of the depositary shares, each representing a 1/20 th interest in a share of Class A Preferred Shares, are set forth in the Deposit Agreement, dated June 5, 2017, among the Company, Computershare Shareowner Services LLC, as Depositary, and all holders from time to time of depositary shares issued thereunder (the “Deposit Agreement”). The Deposit Agreement is filed as Exhibit 4.1 hereto and is incorporated herein by reference.

 

Item 5.03. Amendments to Articles of Incorporation or Bylaws; Change in Fiscal Year.

On June 1, 2017, the Company filed the Amendment with the Secretary of State of the State of Ohio, establishing and fixing the rights and preferences of 350,000 shares of the Class A Preferred Shares. A copy of the Amendment is filed as Exhibit 3.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K, and is incorporated herein by reference. For additional information about the terms and conditions of the Class A Preferred Shares, see Item 3.03 above, which is incorporated herein by reference.

 

Item 8.01. Other Events.

The Company is filing herewith the following exhibits to its Registration Statement on Form S-3 (Registration No. 333-205059):

1. Underwriting Agreement Basic Provisions, dated May 30, 2017, by and among the Company and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated and UBS Securities LLC, as representatives of the several underwriters named therein;

2. Deposit Agreement, dated June 5, 2017, among the Company, Computershare Shareowner Services LLC, as Depositary, and all holders from time to time of depositary shares; and

3. Opinion of Jones Day.


Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits.

 

(d) Exhibits

 

Exhibit Number

  

Description

1.1    Underwriting Agreement Basic Provisions, dated May 30, 2017, by and among the Company and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated and UBS Securities LLC, as representatives of the several underwriters named therein.
3.1    Amendment No. 1 to the Third Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation of the Company (filed as Exhibit 3.2 to the Company’s Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed on June 2, 2017 and incorporated herein by reference).
4.1    Deposit Agreement, dated June 5, 2017, among the Company, Computershare Shareowner Services LLC, as Depositary, and all holders from time to time of depositary shares.
4.2    Specimen certificate for 6.375% Class A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, without par value, of the Company (filed as Exhibit 4.3 to DDR Corp.’s Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed on June 2, 2017 and incorporated herein by reference).
5.1    Opinion of Jones Day as to the legality of the securities being issued by the Company.
23.1    Consent of Jones Day (included in Exhibit 5.1).


SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

 

DDR CORP.
By:   /s/ Matthew L. Ostrower
 

Name: Matthew L. Ostrower

Title: Executive Vice President,

Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Date: June 5, 2017


EXHIBIT INDEX

 

Exhibit Number

  

Description

1.1    Underwriting Agreement Basic Provisions, dated May 30, 2017, by and among DDR Corp. and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated and UBS Securities LLC, as representatives of the several underwriters named therein.
3.1    Amendment No. 1 to the Third Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation of DDR Corp. (filed as Exhibit 3.2 to DDR Corp.’s Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed on June 2, 2017 and incorporated herein by reference).
4.1    Deposit Agreement, dated June 5, 2017, among DDR Corp., Computershare Shareowner Services LLC, as Depositary, and all holders from time to time of depositary shares.
4.2    Specimen certificate for 6.375% Class A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, without par value, of DDR Corp. (filed as Exhibit 4.3 to DDR Corp.’s Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed on June 2, 2017 and incorporated herein by reference).
5.1    Opinion of Jones Day as to the legality of the securities being issued by the Company.
23.1    Consent of Jones Day (included in Exhibit 5.1).

Exhibit 1.1

DDR CORP.

(an Ohio corporation)

Preferred Shares, Depositary Shares

UNDERWRITING AGREEMENT BASIC PROVISIONS

May 30, 2017

WELLS FARGO SECURITIES, LLC

RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, LLC

STIFEL, NICOLAUS & COMPANY, INCORPORATED

UBS SECURITIES LLC

 

c/o Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

550 South Tryon Street

Charlotte, North Carolina 28202

RBC Capital Markets, LLC

200 Vesey Street

New York, New York 10281

Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated

501 N. Broadway

St. Louis, Missouri 63102

UBS Securities LLC

1285 Avenue of the Americas

New York, New York 10019

Ladies and Gentlemen:

1. Introductory . DDR Corp., an Ohio corporation (the “Company”), proposes to issue and sell preferred shares, without par value (the “Preferred Shares”), from time to time, in one or more offerings on terms to be determined at the time of sale. The Preferred Shares may be offered in the form of depositary shares (the “Depositary Shares”) represented by depositary receipts (the “Depositary Receipts”). Except as provided under Ohio law and in the Company’s Third Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation (the “Articles of Incorporation”), each series of Preferred Shares may vary as to the specific number of shares, title, stated value, liquidation preference, issuance price, ranking, dividend rate or rates (or method of calculation), dividend payment dates, any redemption or sinking fund requirements, any conversion provisions and any other variable terms as set forth in the Articles of Incorporation relating to such Preferred Shares. As used herein, “Securities” shall mean the Preferred Shares, the Depositary Shares and the Depositary Receipts. As used herein, “you” and “your,” unless the context otherwise requires, shall mean the parties to whom this Agreement is addressed together with the other parties, if any, identified in the applicable Terms Agreement (as hereinafter defined) as additional co-managers with respect to Underwritten Securities (as hereinafter defined) purchased pursuant thereto.


Whenever the Company determines to make an offering of Securities through you or through an underwriting syndicate managed by you, the Company will enter into an agreement (the “Terms Agreement”) providing for the sale of such Securities (the “Underwritten Securities”) to, and the purchase and offering thereof by, you and such other underwriters, if any, selected by you as have authorized you to enter into such Terms Agreement on their behalf (the “Underwriters,” which term shall include you whether acting alone in the sale of the Underwritten Securities or as a member of an underwriting syndicate and any Underwriter substituted pursuant to Section 11 hereof). The Terms Agreement relating to the offering of Underwritten Securities shall specify the number of Underwritten Securities of each class or series to be initially issued (the “Initial Underwritten Securities”) and whether the Initial Underwritten Securities shall be in the form of Depositary Shares and, if so, the fractional amount of Preferred Shares represented by each Depositary Share, the names of the Underwriters participating in such offering (subject to substitution as provided in Section 11 hereof), the number of Initial Underwritten Securities which each such Underwriter severally agrees to purchase, the names of such of you or such other Underwriters acting as co-managers, if any, in connection with such offering, the price at which the Initial Underwritten Securities are to be purchased by the Underwriters from the Company, the initial public offering price, the time, date and place of delivery and payment, any delayed delivery arrangements and any other variable terms of the Initial Underwritten Securities (including, but not limited to, current ratings, designations, liquidation preferences, conversion provisions, redemption provisions and sinking fund requirements). In addition, each Terms Agreement shall specify whether the Company has agreed to grant to the Underwriters an option to purchase additional Underwritten Securities to cover over-allotments, if any, and the number of Underwritten Securities subject to such option (the “Option Securities”). As used herein, the term “Underwritten Securities” shall include the Initial Underwritten Securities and all or any portion of the Option Securities agreed to be purchased by the Underwriters as provided herein, if any. The Terms Agreement, which shall be substantially in the form of Exhibit A hereto, may take the form of an exchange of any standard form of written telecommunication between you and the Company. Each offering of Underwritten Securities through you or through an underwriting syndicate managed by you will be governed by this Agreement, as supplemented by the applicable Terms Agreement.

2. Representations and Warranties . (a) The Company represents and warrants to you, as of the date hereof, and to you and each other Underwriter named in the applicable Terms Agreement, as of the date thereof (such latter date being referred to herein as a “Representation Date”), as of the Applicable Time referred to in Section 2(a)(iii), as of the Closing Time (as defined below) and, if applicable, as of each Date of Delivery referred to in Section 3(b), that:

 

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(i) The Company has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) an automatic shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (No. 333-205059), including the related preliminary prospectus or prospectuses. Such registration statement registers the issuance and sale by the Company of the Securities (including the Underwritten Securities) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”). Promptly after execution and delivery of the applicable Terms Agreement, the Company will prepare and file a prospectus supplement relating to the offering of Underwritten Securities (the “Prospectus Supplement”) in accordance with the provisions of Rule 430B (“Rule 430B”) of the rules and regulations of the Commission under the 1933 Act (the “1933 Act Regulations”) and paragraph (b) of Rule 424 (“Rule 424(b)”) of the 1933 Act Regulations. Any information included in such Prospectus Supplement that was omitted from such registration statement at the time it became effective but that is deemed to be part of and included in such registration statement pursuant to Rule 430B is referred to as “Rule 430B Information.” The prospectus that is part of such registration statement and each prospectus supplement used in connection with the offering of Underwritten Securities that omitted Rule 430B Information is herein called a “preliminary prospectus.” Such registration statement, at any given time, including the amendments thereto to such time, the exhibits and any schedules thereto at such time, the documents incorporated by reference therein pursuant to Item 12 of Form S-3 under the 1933 Act at such time and the documents otherwise deemed to be a part thereof or included therein by the 1933 Act Regulations, is herein called the “Registration Statement.” The Registration Statement at the time it originally became effective is herein called the “Original Registration Statement.” The final prospectus and the applicable Prospectus Supplement in the form first furnished to the Underwriters for use in connection with the offering of Underwritten Securities, including the documents incorporated by reference therein pursuant to Item 12 of Form S-3 under the 1933 Act at the time of the execution of the applicable Terms Agreement is herein called the “Prospectus”; provided, however, that a Prospectus Supplement shall be deemed to have supplemented the Prospectus only with respect to the offering of the Underwritten Securities to which it relates.

All references in this Agreement to financial statements and schedules and other information which is “contained,” “included” or “stated” in the Registration Statement, any preliminary prospectus or the Prospectus (and all other references of like import) shall be deemed to mean and include all such financial statements and schedules and other information which is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference in or otherwise deemed by the 1933 Act Regulations to be a part of or included in the Registration Statement, any preliminary prospectus or the Prospectus, as the case may be, as of any specified date; and all references in this Agreement to amendments or supplements to the Registration Statement, any preliminary prospectus or the Prospectus shall be deemed to mean and include, without limitation, the filing of any document under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “1934 Act”), which is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference in or otherwise deemed by the 1933 Act Regulations to be a part of or included in the Registration Statement, such preliminary prospectus or the Prospectus, as the case may be, as of any specified date.

 

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(ii) (A) At the time of filing the Original Registration Statement, (B) at the time of the most recent amendment thereto for the purposes of complying with Section 10(a)(3) of the 1933 Act (whether such amendment was by post-effective amendment, incorporated report filed pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the 1934 Act or form of prospectus), (C) at the time the Company or any person acting on its behalf (within the meaning, for this clause only, of Rule 163(c) of the 1933 Act Regulations) made any offer relating to the Underwritten Securities in reliance on the exemption of Rule 163 of the 1933 Act Regulations, and (D) at the date hereof, the Company was a “well-known seasoned issuer” as defined in Rule 405 of the 1933 Act Regulations (“Rule 405”). The Registration Statement is an “automatic shelf registration statement,” as defined in Rule 405, that initially became effective within three years of the date hereof, and the Securities (including the Underwritten Securities), and if applicable, the Company’s common shares, par value $0.10 per share (the “Common Shares”), issuable upon conversion of any of the Underwritten Securities, since their registration on the Registration Statement, have been and remain eligible for registration by the Company on a Rule 405 “automatic shelf registration statement.” The Company has not received from the Commission any notice pursuant to Rule 401(g)(2) under the 1933 Act objecting to the use of the automatic shelf registration statement form.

At the time of filing the Original Registration Statement, at the earliest time thereafter that the Company or another offering participant made a bona fide offer (within the meaning of Rule 164(h)(2) of the 1933 Act Regulations) of the Underwritten Securities, at the date hereof and at the applicable Representation Date, the Company was not and is not an “ineligible issuer,” as defined in Rule 405.

(iii) The Original Registration Statement became effective upon filing under Rule 462(e) of the 1933 Act Regulations (“Rule 462(e)”) on June 18, 2015, and any post-effective amendment thereto also became effective upon filing under Rule 462(e). No stop order suspending the effectiveness of the Registration Statement has been issued under the 1933 Act and no proceedings for that purpose have been instituted, are pending or, to the knowledge of the Company, have been threatened, and any request on the part of the Commission for additional information has been complied with.

If applicable, any offer that is a written communication relating to the Underwritten Securities made prior to the filing of the Original Registration Statement by the Company or any person acting on its behalf (within the meaning, for this paragraph only, of Rule 163(c) of the 1933 Act Regulations) has been filed with the Commission in accordance with Rule 163 of the 1933 Act Regulations (“Rule 163”) and otherwise complied with the requirements of Rule 163, including without limitation the legending requirement, to qualify such offer for the exemption from Section 5(c) of the 1933 Act provided by Rule 163.

At the respective times the Original Registration Statement and each amendment thereto (including amendments filed for the purpose of complying with Section 10(a)(3) of the 1933 Act) became effective, at each deemed effective date with respect to the Underwriters pursuant to Rule 430B(f)(2) of the 1933 Act Regulations, at the date hereof, at the applicable Representation Date, at the Applicable Time and at the Closing Time and any Date of Delivery, the Registration Statement, as amended as of such date, complied, complies and will comply in all material respects with the requirements of the 1933 Act and the 1933 Act Regulations, and the Registration Statement, as amended as of such date, did not, does not and will not contain an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading.

 

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Neither the Prospectus nor any amendments or supplements thereto, at the time the Prospectus or any such amendment or supplement was issued, at the applicable Representation Date, at the Applicable Time, at the time of any filing pursuant to Rule 424(b) of the 1933 Act Regulations and at the Closing Time and any Date of Delivery, included, includes or will include an untrue statement of a material fact or omitted, omits or will omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.

Any preliminary prospectus (including the prospectus filed as part of the Registration Statement or any amendment thereto) complied when so filed in all material respects with the 1933 Act and the 1933 Act Regulations and any such preliminary prospectus and the Prospectus delivered or made available to the Underwriters for use in connection with the offering of Underwritten Securities was and will be, at the time of such delivery, identical to the electronically transmitted copies thereof filed with the Commission pursuant to its Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval system (“EDGAR”), except to the extent permitted by Regulation S-T.

As of the Applicable Time, neither (i) the Issuer General Use Free Writing Prospectus(es) (as defined below) (including the Final Term Sheet (as defined in Section 4(c))) issued at or prior to the Applicable Time and the Statutory Prospectus (as defined below), all considered together (collectively, the “General Disclosure Package”), nor (ii) any individual Issuer Limited Use Free Writing Prospectus, when considered together with the General Disclosure Package, included any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state any material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.

The representations and warranties in this Section 2(a)(iii) shall not apply to statements in or omissions from the Registration Statement or any post-effective amendment thereto or the Prospectus or any amendments or supplements thereto, or the General Disclosure Package made in reliance upon and in conformity with information furnished to the Company in writing by any Underwriter through you expressly for use in the Registration Statement or any post-effective amendment thereto, or the Prospectus, or any amendments or supplements thereto, or the General Disclosure Package.

As used in this subsection and elsewhere in this Agreement:

“Applicable Time” means such date and time as indicated as the “Applicable Time” in the applicable Terms Agreement.

“Issuer Free Writing Prospectus” means any “issuer free writing prospectus,” as defined in Rule 433 of the 1933 Act Regulations (“Rule 433”), relating to the Underwritten Securities (including the Final Term Sheet) that (i) is required to be filed with the Commission by the Company, (ii) is a “road show that is a written communication” within the meaning of Rule 433(d)(8)(i), whether or not required to be filed with the Commission, or (iii) is exempt from filing pursuant to Rule 433(d)(5)(i) because it contains a description of the Underwritten Securities or of the offering that does not reflect the final terms, in each case in the form filed or required to be filed with the Commission or, if not required to be filed, in the form retained in the Company’s records pursuant to Rule 433(g).

 

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“Issuer General Use Free Writing Prospectus” means any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus that is intended for general distribution to prospective investors, as evidenced by its being specified in Schedule I to the applicable Terms Agreement.

“Issuer Limited Use Free Writing Prospectus” means any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus that is not an Issuer General Use Free Writing Prospectus.

“Statutory Prospectus” means the prospectus and/or prospectus supplement relating to the Underwritten Securities that is included in the Registration Statement immediately prior to the Applicable Time, including the documents incorporated by reference therein and any preliminary or other prospectus and/or prospectus supplement deemed to be a part thereof.

(iv) Each Issuer Free Writing Prospectus identified on Schedule I to the applicable Terms Agreement (including the Final Term Sheet), as of its issue date and at all subsequent times through the Closing Time and any Date of Delivery or until any earlier date that the Company notified or notifies you as described in Section 4(f), did not, does not and will not include any information that conflicted, conflicts or will conflict with the information contained in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package or the Prospectus, including any document incorporated by reference therein and any preliminary or other prospectus deemed to be a part thereof that has not been superseded or modified. The foregoing sentence does not apply to statements in or omissions from any such Issuer Free Writing Prospectus based upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Company by any Underwriter, through you specifically for use therein.

(v) The documents incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus pursuant to Item 12 of Form S-3 under the 1933 Act, at the time they were or hereafter are filed with the Commission, complied and will comply in all material respects with the requirements of the 1934 Act and the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder (the “1934 Act Regulations”), and, when read together with the other information in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package or the Prospectus, as the case may be, (a) at the time the Original Registration Statement became effective, (b) at the Applicable Time and (c) as of the applicable Representation Date or the Closing Time or any Date of Delivery or during the period specified in Section 4(f), did not and will not include an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.

 

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(vi) Since the respective dates as of which information is given in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, except as otherwise provided therein, (A) there has not occurred any material adverse change or any development that is reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on the financial condition or in the earnings or business of the Company and its subsidiaries considered as one enterprise (a “Material Adverse Effect”) from that set forth in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus (exclusive of any amendments or supplements thereto subsequent to the date of the applicable Terms Agreement), (B) there have been no transactions entered into by the Company or its subsidiaries which are material with respect to the Company and its subsidiaries considered as one enterprise other than those in the ordinary course of business and (C) except for regular quarterly distributions on the Common Shares, and regular distributions declared, paid or made in accordance with the terms of any class or series of the Company’s preferred shares, there has been no dividend or distribution of any kind declared, paid or made by the Company on any class of its capital shares.

(vii) The consolidated financial statements and supporting schedules of the Company included in, or incorporated by reference into, the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus (in each case, other than any pro forma financial information and projections) present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company and its consolidated subsidiaries as of the dates indicated and the results of their operations for the periods specified; except as otherwise stated in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, said financial statements have been prepared in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) applied on a consistent basis; and the supporting schedules, if any, included in, or incorporated by reference into, the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus present fairly, in all material respects, the information required to be stated therein. The selected financial data and the summary financial information of the Company included in, or incorporated by reference into, the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus (in each case, other than any pro forma financial information and projections) present fairly, in all material respects, the information shown therein and have been compiled on a basis consistent with that of the audited financial statements of the Company included in, or incorporated by reference into, the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus. The statements of certain revenues and expenses of the properties acquired or proposed to be acquired by the Company, if any, included in, or incorporated by reference into, the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus present fairly in all material respects the information set forth therein and have been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the applicable financial statement requirements of Rule 3-14 under the 1934 Act with respect to real estate operations acquired or to be acquired. The pro forma financial statements and the other pro forma financial information (including the notes thereto) of the Company, if any, included in, or incorporated by reference into, the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus present fairly, in all material respects, the information set forth therein, have been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the Commission’s rules and guidelines with respect to pro forma financial statements and have been properly compiled on the basis described therein and the assumptions used in the preparation of such pro forma financial statements and other pro forma financial information (including the notes thereto) are reasonable and the adjustments used therein are appropriate to give effect to the transactions or circumstances referred to therein. To the knowledge of the Company, the consolidated financial statements and supporting schedules of DDR-SAU Retail Fund, L.L.C. (“DDR-SAU”) included in, or incorporated by reference into, the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus (other than any pro forma financial information and projections) present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of DDR-SAU and its consolidated subsidiaries as of the dates indicated and the results of its operations for the periods specified; except as otherwise stated in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, such financial statements have been prepared in all material respects in conformity with GAAP applied on a consistent basis and otherwise have been prepared in accordance with the financial statement requirements of Rule 3-09 under the 1934 Act. All disclosures contained in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus regarding “non-GAAP financial measures” (as such term is defined by the rules and regulations of the Commission), if any, comply with Regulation G under the 1934 Act and Item 10 of Regulation S-K of the 1933 Act Regulations, to the extent applicable. The interactive data in eXtensible Business Reporting Language included or incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus fairly presents the information called for in all material respects and has been prepared in accordance with the Commission’s rules and guidelines applicable thereto.

 

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(viii) PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP with respect to the Company and DDR-SAU, which has expressed its opinion on the audited financial statements and related schedules included in, or incorporated by reference into, the Registration Statement, is an independent registered public accounting firm within the meaning of the 1933 Act and the applicable 1933 Act Regulations.

(ix) The Company has been duly organized and is validly existing and in good standing as a corporation under the laws of the State of Ohio, with power and authority (corporate and other) to own, lease and operate its properties and to conduct its business as described in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus; the Company is in possession of and operating in compliance with all material franchises, grants, authorizations, licenses, permits, easements, consents, certificates and orders required for the conduct of its business, all of which are valid and in full force and effect, except where the failure to so possess or comply would not have a Material Adverse Effect; and the Company is duly qualified to do business and in good standing as a foreign corporation in all other jurisdictions where its ownership or leasing of properties or the conduct of its business requires such qualification, except where failure to qualify and be in good standing would not have a Material Adverse Effect.

(x) Each significant subsidiary (as defined in Rule 405 of the 1933 Act Regulations and for purposes of such definition, the most recently completed fiscal year shall be the most recently completed fiscal year for which the Company has filed an Annual Report on Form 10-K) (each, a “Significant Subsidiary”), has been duly incorporated or formed and is validly existing as a corporation, partnership or limited liability company in good standing or in full force and effect under the laws of the jurisdiction of its incorporation or formation, has corporate, partnership or limited liability company power and authority to own, lease and operate its properties and to conduct its business and is duly qualified as a foreign corporation, partnership or limited liability company to transact business and is in good standing in each jurisdiction in which such qualification is required, whether by reason of the ownership or leasing of property or the conduct of business, except where the failure to so qualify would not have a Material Adverse Effect.

 

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(xi) If applicable, the capitalization of the Company is as set forth in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus under “Description of the New Class A Preferred Shares and Depositary Shares—Capitalization” and “Description of Common Shares—Capitalization”; the issued and outstanding capital shares of the Company have been duly authorized and validly issued and are fully paid and non-assessable and are not subject to preemptive or other similar rights; and all of the issued and outstanding capital stock of the Company’s Significant Subsidiaries have been duly authorized and validly issued, are fully paid and non-assessable, and such issued and outstanding capital stock are owned directly or indirectly by the Company and are owned free and clear of any security interest, mortgage, pledge, lien, encumbrance, claim or equity, except as otherwise set forth in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus or for such security interests, mortgages, pledges, liens, encumbrances, claims or equities that would not have a Material Adverse Effect.

(xii) The Underwritten Securities have been duly authorized by the Company for issuance and sale pursuant to this Agreement and, when issued and delivered pursuant to this Agreement and, if applicable, a Deposit Agreement (each, a “Deposit Agreement”), among the Company, the financial institution named in the Deposit Agreement (the “Preferred Shares Depositary”) and the holders of the Depositary Receipts issued thereunder, against payment of the consideration therefor specified in the applicable Terms Agreement or any Delayed Delivery Contract (as hereinafter defined), will be validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable; the Preferred Shares conform to the provisions of the Articles of Incorporation; and the Underwritten Securities will conform in all material respects, as of the applicable Representation Date, to all statements relating thereto contained in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus; and the issuance of the Underwritten Securities is not subject to preemptive or other similar rights.

(xiii) If applicable, the Common Shares issuable upon conversion of any of the Underwritten Securities will have been duly and validly authorized and reserved for issuance upon such conversion by all necessary corporate action and such shares, when issued upon such conversion, will be duly and validly issued and will be fully paid and non-assessable, and the issuance of such shares upon such conversion will not be subject to preemptive or other similar rights; the Common Shares so issuable will conform in all material respects, as of the applicable Representation Date, to all statements relating thereto contained in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus.

 

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(xiv) The applicable Deposit Agreement, if any, will have been duly authorized by the Company prior to the execution of the applicable Terms Agreement and, when executed and delivered by the Company and the Preferred Shares Depositary, will constitute a valid and legally binding agreement of the Company, enforceable against the Company in accordance with its terms, except as enforcement thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency or other similar laws relating to or affecting creditors’ rights generally and by general equity principles (regardless of whether enforcement is considered in a proceeding in equity or at law); and the Deposit Agreement, if any, will conform in all material respects, as of the applicable Representation Date, to all statements relating thereto contained in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus.

(xv) If applicable, upon execution and delivery of the Deposit Agreement pursuant to the terms thereof, the persons in whose names the Depositary Receipts are registered will be entitled to the rights specified therein and in the Deposit Agreement, except as enforcement thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency or other similar laws relating to or affecting creditors’ rights generally and by general equity principles (regardless of whether enforcement is considered in a proceeding in equity or at law).

(xvi) There is no action, suit or proceeding before or by any court or governmental agency or body, domestic or foreign, now pending, or, to the knowledge of the Company, threatened against the Company or its subsidiaries, which is required to be disclosed in the Prospectus (other than as disclosed therein), or which would have a Material Adverse Effect or would materially and adversely affect the properties or assets thereof or which might materially and adversely affect the consummation of this Agreement, the applicable Terms Agreement, the applicable Deposit Agreement, if any, or the transactions contemplated herein and therein; all pending legal or governmental proceedings to which the Company or any of its subsidiaries is a party or of which any of their respective property is the subject which are not described in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, including routine litigation incidental to the business, could not, considered in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect; and there are no material contracts or documents of the Company or its subsidiaries which are required to be filed as exhibits to the Registration Statement by the 1933 Act or by the 1933 Act Regulations which have not been so filed.

(xvii) Neither the Company nor any of its Significant Subsidiaries is (i) in violation of the Articles of Incorporation, or certificate of formation, certificate of limited partnership or other organizational document, as the case may be, or the Company’s Amended and Restated Code of Regulations (the “Code of Regulations”), or bylaws, operating agreement or partnership agreement, as the case may be, or (ii) in default in the performance or observance of any material obligation, agreement, covenant or condition contained in any contract, indenture, mortgage, loan agreement, note, lease or other instrument to which it is a party or by which it or its properties may be bound, where such defaults in the aggregate would have a Material Adverse Effect; and the execution and delivery of this Agreement, the applicable Terms Agreement and the applicable Deposit Agreement, if any, and the consummation of the transactions contemplated herein and therein will have been duly authorized by all necessary corporate action prior to the execution of the applicable Terms Agreement, and compliance by the Company with its obligations hereunder and thereunder will not conflict with or constitute a breach of, or default under, or result in the creation or imposition of any lien, charge or encumbrance upon any property or assets of the Company or its Significant Subsidiaries pursuant to, any contract, indenture, mortgage, loan agreement, note, lease or other instrument to which the Company or any of its Significant Subsidiaries is a party or by which it may be bound or to which any of the property or assets of the Company or any of its Significant Subsidiaries is subject, nor will such action result in any violation of (i) the provisions of the Articles of Incorporation or any Significant Subsidiary’s certificate of formation, certificate of limited partnership or other organizational documents, as the case may be, or Code of Regulations or any Significant Subsidiary’s bylaws, operating agreement or partnership agreement, as the case may be, or, (ii) to the Company’s knowledge, any law, administrative regulation or administrative or court order or decree except, in the case of clause (ii) hereof, for such conflicts, breaches, defaults, liens, charges, encumbrances or violations that would not have a Material Adverse Effect or materially and adversely affect the consummation of this Agreement, the applicable Terms Agreement, or the transactions contemplated herein and therein; and no consent, approval, authorization or order of any court or governmental authority or agency is required for the consummation by the Company of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement, the applicable Terms Agreement or the applicable Deposit Agreement, if any, except such as has been obtained or as may be required under the 1933 Act, the 1934 Act, state securities or blue sky laws or real estate syndication laws in connection with the purchase and distribution of the Underwritten Securities by the Underwriters.

 

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(xviii) The Company has full right, power and authority to enter into this Agreement, the applicable Terms Agreement and the Delayed Delivery Contracts, if any, and this Agreement has been, and as of the applicable Representation Date, the applicable Terms Agreement and the Delayed Delivery Contracts, if any, will have been, duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Company.

(xix) Starting with its taxable year ended December 31, 1993, the Company has elected under Section 856(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”), and such election has not been revoked or terminated. The Company has qualified as a REIT for its taxable years ended December 31, 1993 through December 31, 2016 and the Company has operated and intends to continue to operate so as to qualify as a REIT thereafter.

(xx) Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries is, or will be immediately after giving effect to the receipt of payment for the Underwritten Securities and the application of the proceeds thereof as contemplated under the caption “Use of Proceeds” in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, required to be registered as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”).

 

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(xxi) Except as set forth in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, there are no persons with registration or other similar rights to have any securities registered pursuant to the Registration Statement.

(xxii) None of the Company or any of its wholly-owned subsidiaries or, to the Company’s knowledge, any of the officers and directors thereof acting on the Company’s or such subsidiaries’ behalf has taken, directly or indirectly, any action resulting in a violation of Regulation M under the 1934 Act or designed to cause or result in, or which has constituted or which reasonably might be expected to constitute, the stabilization or manipulation of the price of the Underwritten Securities or the Common Shares issuable upon conversion of any of the Underwritten Securities or facilitation of the sale or resale of the Underwritten Securities.

(xxiii) If required pursuant to the applicable Terms Agreement, the Underwritten Securities will be approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) as of the Closing Time.

(xxiv) (A) Except as described in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, the Company or its subsidiaries have good and marketable title or leasehold interest, as the case may be, to the portfolio properties, including, without limitation, shopping centers (including, without limitation, centers owned through unconsolidated joint ventures and others that are otherwise consolidated by the Company) and undeveloped land (the “Portfolio Properties”) described in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus as being owned by the Company or its subsidiaries (except with respect to undeveloped land described in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus as being held by the Company through joint ventures), in each case free and clear of all liens, encumbrances, claims, security interests and defects (excluding mortgages for borrowed money) (collectively, “Defects”), except where such Defects would not have a Material Adverse Effect; (B) the joint venture interest in each property described in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, as being held by the Company through a joint venture, is owned free and clear of all Defects except for such Defects that would not have a Material Adverse Effect; (C) all liens, charges, encumbrances, claims or restrictions on or affecting the properties and assets of the Company or its subsidiaries (excluding mortgages for borrowed money) are disclosed in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, except for any such liens, charges, encumbrances, claims or restrictions that would not have a Material Adverse Effect; and (D) none of the Company, its wholly-owned subsidiaries or, to the knowledge of the Company, any lessee of any of the Portfolio Properties is in default under any of the leases governing the Portfolio Properties, except such defaults that would not have a Material Adverse Effect, and the Company does not know of any event which, but for the passage of time or the giving of notice, or both, would constitute a default under any of such leases, except such defaults that would not have a Material Adverse Effect.

 

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(xxv) The Company or its subsidiaries have title insurance on each of the Portfolio Properties (except with respect to each property described in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus as held by the Company through a joint venture) in an amount at least equal to the greater of (A) the cost of acquisition of such Portfolio Property and (B) the cost of construction of the improvements located on such Portfolio Property except, in each case, where the failure to maintain such title insurance would not have a Material Adverse Effect; the joint venture owning each property described in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus as held by the Company through a joint venture has title insurance on such property in an amount at least equal to the greater of (A) the cost of acquisition of such Portfolio Property by such joint venture and (B) the cost of construction of the improvements located on such Portfolio Property, except in each case, where the failure to maintain such title insurance would not have a Material Adverse Effect.

(xxvi) The notes secured by the mortgages and deeds of trust encumbering the Portfolio Properties (except with respect to each property described in the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus as held by the Company through a joint venture) are not convertible except where the conversion of such notes would not have a Material Adverse Effect, and said mortgages and deeds of trust are not cross-defaulted or cross-collateralized to any property that is not a Portfolio Property, except where such cross-default or cross-collateralization, if triggered, would not have a Material Adverse Effect.

(xxvii) The Company has no knowledge of (a) the unlawful presence of any regulated hazardous substances, hazardous materials, toxic substances or waste materials (collectively, “Hazardous Materials”) in violation of Environmental Laws (as hereinafter defined) on any of the Portfolio Properties or (b) any spills, releases, discharges or disposals of Hazardous Materials in violation of Environmental Laws that have occurred or are presently occurring from the Portfolio Properties as a result of any construction on or operation and use of the Portfolio Properties, which presence or occurrence would have a Material Adverse Effect. In connection with the construction on or operation and use of the Portfolio Properties, the Company represents that, as of the date of this Agreement and as of the Closing Time, the Company has no knowledge of any material failure to comply with all applicable local, state and federal environmental laws, regulations, ordinances and binding administrative and judicial orders relating to the generation, storage, handling, transport and disposal of any Hazardous Materials (“Environmental Laws”) that would have a Material Adverse Effect.

(xxviii) The Company and its subsidiaries maintain a system of internal accounting and other controls sufficient to provide reasonable assurances that (i) transactions are executed in accordance with management’s general or specific authorizations, (ii) transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP and to maintain accountability for assets, (iii) access to assets is permitted only in accordance with management’s general or specific authorization and (iv) the recorded accounting for assets is compared with existing assets at reasonable intervals and appropriate action is taken with respect to any differences. The Company has no knowledge of any material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting and, except as described in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, since the end of the Company’s most recent audited fiscal year, there has been no change in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

 

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(xxix) The Company has established and maintains effective disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the 1934 Act) in accordance with the rules and regulations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the 1933 Act and the 1934 Act.

(xxx) No labor problem or dispute with the employees of the Company or its Significant Subsidiaries exists or, to the knowledge of the Company, is threatened or imminent, that would have a Material Adverse Effect, except as set forth in or contemplated in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus (exclusive of any amendments or supplement thereto subsequent to the date of the applicable Terms Agreement).

(xxxi) Each of the Company and its subsidiaries is insured by insurers of recognized financial responsibility against such material losses and risks and in such amounts as management of the Company believes to be prudent.

(xxxii) Neither the Company, nor any of its subsidiaries nor any director or officer, nor to the knowledge of the Company, any agent or employee of the Company or any of its subsidiaries has taken or will take any action in furtherance of an offer, payment, promise to pay, or authorization or approval of the payment or giving of money, property, gifts or anything else of value, directly or indirectly, to any “government official” (including any officer or employee of a government or government-owned or controlled entity or of a public international organization, or any person acting in an official capacity for or on behalf of any of the foregoing, or any political party or party official or candidate for political office) to unlawfully influence official action or secure an unlawful advantage; and the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries have conducted their businesses in compliance with applicable anti-corruption laws and have instituted and maintain and will continue to maintain policies and procedures designed to promote and achieve compliance with such laws and with the representation and warranty contained herein.

(xxxiii) The operations of the Company and its subsidiaries are and have been conducted at all times in compliance in all material respects with all applicable financial recordkeeping and reporting requirements, including those of the Bank Secrecy Act, as amended by Title III of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act), and the applicable anti-money laundering statutes of jurisdictions where the Company and its subsidiaries conduct business, the rules and regulations thereunder and any related or similar rules, regulations or guidelines, issued, administered or enforced by any governmental agency (collectively, the “Anti-Money Laundering Laws”), and no action, suit or proceeding by or before any court or governmental agency, authority or body or any arbitrator involving the Company or any of its subsidiaries with respect to the Anti-Money Laundering Laws is pending or, to the best knowledge of the Company, threatened.

 

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(xxxiv) (A) Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries (collectively, the “Entity”) or, to the knowledge of the Company, any director, officer, employee, agent, affiliate or representative of the Entity, is an individual or entity (“Person”) that is, or is owned or controlled by a Person that is: (I) the subject of any sanctions (“Sanctions”) administered or enforced by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), nor (II) located, organized or resident in a country or territory that is the subject of Sanctions (including, without limitation, Burma/Myanmar, the Crimea region, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria).

(B) The Company will not, directly or indirectly, use the proceeds of the offering of the Underwritten Securities, or lend, contribute or otherwise make available such proceeds to any subsidiary, joint venture partner or other Person: (I) to fund or facilitate any activities or business of or with any Person or in any country or territory that, at the time of such funding or facilitation, is the subject of Sanctions; or (II) in any other manner that will result in a violation of Sanctions by any Person (including any Person participating in the offering of Underwritten Securities, whether as underwriter, advisor, investor or otherwise).

(C) For the past five years, the Company has not knowingly engaged in and is not now knowingly engaged in any dealings or transactions with any Person, or in any country or territory, that at the time of the dealing or transaction is or was the subject of Sanctions.

(b) Any certificate signed by any officer of the Company and delivered to you or to counsel for the Underwriters in connection with an offering of the Underwritten Securities shall be deemed a representation and warranty by the Company to each Underwriter participating in such offering as to the matters covered thereby on the date of such certificate.

3. Purchase by, and Sale and Delivery to, Underwriters . (a) The several commitments of the Underwriters to purchase the Underwritten Securities pursuant to the applicable Terms Agreement shall be deemed to have been made on the basis of the representations and warranties herein contained and shall be subject to the terms and conditions herein set forth.

(a) In addition, on the basis of the representations and warranties herein contained and subject to the terms and conditions herein set forth, the Company may grant, if so provided in the applicable Terms Agreement relating to the Initial Underwritten Securities, an option to the Underwriters named in such Terms Agreement, severally and not jointly, to purchase up to the number of Option Securities set forth therein at the same price per Option Security as is applicable to the Initial Underwritten Securities less an amount equal to any dividend paid or payable on the Initial Underwritten Securities and not payable on the Option Securities. Such option, if granted, will expire 30 days (or such lesser number of days as may be specified in the applicable Terms Agreement) after the Representation Date relating to the Initial Underwritten Securities, and may be exercised in whole or in part from time to time only for the purpose of covering over-allotments which may be made in connection with the offering and distribution of the Initial Underwritten Securities upon notice by you to the Company setting forth the number of Option Securities as to which the several Underwriters are then exercising the option and the time and date of payment and delivery for such Option Securities. Any such time, date and place of delivery (a “Date of Delivery”) shall be determined by you, but shall not be later than ten full business days after the exercise of such option and not be earlier than two full business days after the exercise of said option, nor in any event prior to the Closing Time, unless otherwise agreed upon by you and the Company. If the option is exercised as to all or any portion of the Option Securities, each of the Underwriters, acting severally and not jointly, will purchase that proportion of the total number of Option Securities then being purchased which the number of Initial Underwritten Securities each such Underwriter has severally agreed to purchase as set forth in the applicable Terms Agreement bears to the total number of Initial Underwritten Securities (except as otherwise provided in the applicable Terms Agreement).

 

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(b) Payment of the purchase price for, and delivery of, the Underwritten Securities to be purchased by the Underwriters shall be made at the office of Sidley Austin LLP , 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10019 by wire transfer in same-day funds, or at such other place as shall be agreed upon by you and the Company, at 10:00 A.M., New York City time, on the date specified in the Terms Agreement (such time and date of payment and delivery being referred to herein as the “Closing Time”). In addition, in the event that any or all of the Option Securities are purchased by the Underwriters, payment of the purchase price for, and delivery of certificates representing, such Option Securities, shall be made at the above-mentioned offices of Sidley Austin LLP , or at such other place as shall be agreed upon by you and the Company on each Date of Delivery as specified in the notice from you to the Company. Unless otherwise specified in the applicable Terms Agreement, payment shall be made to the Company by wire transfer in same-day funds payable against delivery to you for the respective accounts of the Underwriters for the Underwritten Securities to be purchased by them. The Underwritten Securities shall be in such authorized denominations and registered in such names as you may request in writing at least one business day prior to the Closing Time or Date of Delivery, as the case may be. The Underwritten Securities, which may be in temporary form, will be made available for examination and packaging by you on or before the first business day prior to the Closing Time or the Date of Delivery, as the case may be.

If authorized by the applicable Terms Agreement, the Underwriters named therein may solicit offers to purchase Underwritten Securities from the Company pursuant to delayed delivery contracts (“Delayed Delivery Contracts”) substantially in the form of Exhibit C hereto with such changes therein as the Company may approve. As compensation for arranging Delayed Delivery Contracts, the Company will pay to you at the Closing Time, for the respective accounts of the Underwriters, a fee specified in the applicable Terms Agreement for each of the Underwritten Securities for which Delayed Delivery Contracts are made at the Closing Time as is specified in the applicable Terms Agreement. Any Delayed Delivery Contracts are to be with institutional investors of the types described in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus. At the Closing Time, the Company will enter into Delayed Delivery Contracts (for not less than the minimum number of Underwritten Securities per Delayed Delivery Contract specified in the applicable Terms Agreement) with all purchasers proposed by the Underwriters and previously approved by the Company as provided below, but not for an aggregate number of Underwritten Securities in excess of that specified in the applicable Terms Agreement. The Underwriters will not have any responsibility for the validity or performance of Delayed Delivery Contracts.

 

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You shall submit to the Company, at least two business days prior to the Closing Time, the names of any institutional investors with which it is proposed that the Company will enter into Delayed Delivery Contracts and the number of Underwritten Securities to be purchased by each of them, and the Company will advise you, at least one business day prior to the Closing Time, of the names of the institutions with which the making of Delayed Delivery Contracts is approved by the Company and the number of Underwritten Securities to be covered by each such Delayed Delivery Contract.

The number of Underwritten Securities agreed to be purchased by the several Underwriters pursuant to the applicable Terms Agreement shall be reduced by the number of Underwritten Securities covered by Delayed Delivery Contracts, as to each Underwriter as set forth in a written notice delivered by you to the Company; provided, however, that the total number of Underwritten Securities to be purchased by all Underwriters shall be the total number of Underwritten Securities covered by the applicable Terms Agreement, less the number of Underwritten Securities covered by Delayed Delivery Contracts.

4. Covenants and Agreements of the Company . The Company covenants with the several Underwriters participating in the offering of Underwritten Securities that:

(a) Immediately following the execution of the applicable Terms Agreement, the Company, subject to Section 4(c) hereof, will prepare a Prospectus Supplement containing the Rule 430B Information, and the Company will effect the filings required under Rule 424(b) of the 1933 Act Regulations, in the manner and within the time period required by Rule 424(b) (without reliance on Rule 424(b)(8)). The Company shall pay the required Commission filing fees relating to the Underwritten Securities within the time required by Rule 456(b)(1)(i) of the 1933 Act Regulations without regard to the proviso therein and otherwise in accordance with Rules 456(b) and 457(r) of the 1933 Act Regulations (including, if applicable, by updating the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in accordance with Rule 456(b)(1)(ii) either in a post-effective amendment to the Registration Statement or on the cover page of the Prospectus Supplement filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)).

(b) The Company will advise you promptly (i) of the issuance by the Commission of any stop order suspending the effectiveness of the Registration Statement or of the institution of any proceedings for that purpose or of any examination pursuant to Section 8(e) of the 1933 Act concerning the Registration Statement and (ii) if the Company becomes the subject of a proceeding under Section 8A of the 1933 Act in connection with the offering of the Underwritten Securities or if the Company receives from the Commission a notice pursuant to Rule 401(g)(2) of the 1933 Act Regulations. The Company will use its reasonable best efforts to prevent the issuance of any stop order and to obtain as soon as possible the lifting thereof, if issued. The Company will advise you promptly of any request by the Commission for any amendment of or supplement to the Registration Statement, the filing of a new registration statement relating to the Underwritten Securities, any amendment of or supplement to the Prospectus or for additional information.

 

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(c) At any time when the Prospectus relating to the Underwritten Securities is required to be delivered (or but for the exception afforded by Rule 172 of the 1933 Act Regulations would be required to be delivered) under the 1933 Act or the 1934 Act in connection with sales of the Underwritten Securities (the “Prospectus Delivery Period”), the Company will give you notice of its intention to file any amendment to the Registration Statement, a new registration statement relating to the Underwritten Securities or any amendment or supplement to the Prospectus, whether pursuant to the 1933 Act, the 1934 Act or otherwise, and will furnish you with copies of any such amendment or supplement or such new registration statement a reasonable amount of time prior to such proposed filing, and will not file any such amendment or supplement or such new registration statement or other documents in a form to which you or counsel for the Underwriters shall reasonably object in writing or which is not in material compliance with the 1933 Act, the 1933 Act Regulations, the 1934 Act or the 1934 Act Regulations, as applicable; provided, however, that with respect to any proposed amendment or supplement resulting solely from the incorporation by reference of any report to be filed under the 1934 Act and the 1934 Act Regulations, the Company will only be required to furnish you with copies of such report a reasonable amount of time prior to the proposed filing thereof. The Company has given you notice of any filings made pursuant to the 1934 Act or the 1934 Act Regulations within 48 hours prior to the Applicable Time; the Company will give you notice of its intention to make any such filing from the Applicable Time to the Closing Time and will furnish you with copies of any such documents a reasonable amount of time prior to such proposed filing, as the case may be, and will not file or use any such document to which you or counsel for the Underwriters shall reasonably object. The Company will prepare a final term sheet (the “Final Term Sheet”) reflecting the final terms of the Underwritten Securities, in form and substance satisfactory to you and substantially in the form attached on Schedule I to the applicable Terms Agreement, and shall file such Final Term Sheet as an “issuer free writing prospectus” pursuant to Rule 433 as soon as possible after execution of such Terms Agreement; provided that the Company shall furnish you with copies of any such Final Term Sheet a reasonable amount of time prior to such proposed filing and will not use or file any such document to which you or counsel to the Underwriters shall object. The Final Term Sheet is a Permitted Free Writing Prospectus (as defined herein) for purposes of this Agreement.

(d) At the request of an Underwriter, the Company will deliver to such Underwriter a conformed copy of the Original Registration Statement and of each amendment thereto (including exhibits filed therewith and documents incorporated by reference therein pursuant to Item 12 of Form S-3 under the 1933 Act or otherwise deemed to be a part thereof).

(e) The Company will furnish to each Underwriter, upon written request, as many copies of each preliminary prospectus and any amendment or supplement thereto as such Underwriter reasonably requests (which copies may be delivered via email), and the Company hereby consents to the use of such copies for purposes permitted by the 1933 Act. The Company will furnish to each Underwriter, from time to time during the Prospectus Delivery Period, such number of copies of the Prospectus (as amended or supplemented) as such Underwriter may reasonably request for the purposes contemplated by the 1933 Act, the 1933 Act Regulations, the 1934 Act or the 1934 Act Regulations.

 

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(f) If, during the Prospectus Delivery Period, any event relating to or affecting the Company occurs as a result of which the Prospectus or any other prospectus as then in effect would include an untrue statement of a material fact, or omit to state any material fact necessary to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, or if it is necessary at any time to amend the Registration Statement or to file a new registration statement relating to the Underwritten Securities or amend or supplement the Prospectus to comply with the 1933 Act or the 1934 Act, the Company will promptly notify you thereof and, subject to Section 4(c) hereof, will amend the Registration Statement, file such new registration statement or amend or supplement the Prospectus, as applicable, to correct such statement or omission whether by filing documents pursuant to the 1933 Act, the 1934 Act or otherwise, as may be necessary to correct such untrue statement or omission or to make the Registration Statement and Prospectus comply with such requirements; the Company will use its reasonable best efforts to have such amendment or such new registration statement declared effective as soon as practicable (if it is not an automatic shelf registration statement with respect to the Underwritten Securities) and the Company will furnish to the Underwriters a reasonable number of copies of such amendment or supplement or such new registration statement. If at any time after the date of the applicable Terms Agreement, an event or development occurs as a result of which the General Disclosure Package contains an untrue statement of a material fact or omits to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances existing at the Applicable Time or at the time it is delivered or conveyed to a purchaser, not misleading, the Company will promptly notify you and, subject to Section 4(c) hereof, will promptly amend or supplement in a manner reasonably satisfactory to the Underwriters at its own expense the General Disclosure Package to eliminate or correct such untrue statement or omission. If, prior to the completion of the public offer and sale of the Underwritten Securities, at any time following the issuance of an Issuer Free Writing Prospectus there occurred or occurs an event or development as a result of which such Issuer Free Writing Prospectus conflicted or would conflict with the information contained in the Registration Statement (or any other registration statement relating to the Underwritten Securities) or the Statutory Prospectus or any preliminary prospectus or included or would include an untrue statement of a material fact or omitted or would omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances prevailing at that subsequent time, not misleading, the Company will promptly notify you and, subject to Section 4(c) hereof, will promptly amend or supplement, at its own expense, such Issuer Free Writing Prospectus to eliminate or correct such conflict, untrue statement or omission. The Underwriters’ delivery of any such amendment or supplement shall not constitute a waiver of any of the conditions in Section 8 hereof.

(g) If immediately prior to the third anniversary of June 18, 2015 (such third anniversary, the “Renewal Deadline”) any of the Underwritten Securities remain unsold by the Underwriters, the Company will, prior to the Renewal Deadline, promptly notify you and file, if it has not already done so and is eligible to do so, an automatic shelf registration statement (as defined in Rule 405 of the 1933 Act Regulations) relating to such Underwritten Securities, in a form satisfactory to you. If at the Renewal Deadline any of the Underwritten Securities remain unsold by the Underwriters and the Company is not eligible to file an automatic shelf registration statement, the Company will, if it has not already done so, promptly notify you and file a new shelf registration statement or post-effective amendment on the proper form relating to such Underwritten Securities in a form satisfactory to you, and will use its best efforts to cause such registration statement or post-effective amendment to be declared effective as soon as practicable after the Renewal Deadline and promptly notify you of such effectiveness. The Company will take all other action necessary or appropriate to permit the public offering and sale of the Underwritten Securities to continue as contemplated in the expired registration statement relating thereto. References herein to the “Registration Statement” shall include such automatic shelf registration statement or such new shelf registration statement or post-effective amendment, as the case may be.

 

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(h) The Company will cooperate with the Underwriters to enable the Underwritten Securities and the Common Shares issuable upon conversion of the Underwritten Securities, if any, to be qualified for sale under the securities laws and real estate syndication laws of such jurisdictions as you may reasonably designate and at the reasonable request of the Underwriters will make such applications and furnish such information as may be required of it as the issuer of the Underwritten Securities and the Common Shares issuable upon conversion of the Underwritten Securities, if any, for that purpose; provided, however, that the Company shall not be required to qualify to do business or to file a general consent to service of process or to become subject to taxation as a foreign business in any such jurisdiction. The Company will, from time to time, prepare and file such statements and reports as are or may be required of it as the issuer of the Underwritten Securities and the Common Shares issuable upon conversion of the Underwritten Securities, if any, to continue such qualifications in effect for so long a period as the Underwriters may reasonably request for the distribution of the Underwritten Securities; and in each jurisdiction in which the Underwritten Securities and the Common Shares issuable upon conversion of the Underwritten Securities, if any, have been so qualified, the Company will file such statements and reports as may be required by the laws of such jurisdiction to continue such qualification in effect for so long as may be required for the distribution of the Underwritten Securities and the Common Shares issuable upon conversion of the Underwritten Securities, if any; provided, however, that the Company shall not be obligated to qualify as a foreign corporation or to take any action that would subject it to general service of process in any jurisdiction where it is not so qualified or where it would be subject to taxation as a foreign business.

(i) With respect to each sale of Underwritten Securities, the Company will timely file such reports pursuant to the 1934 Act as are necessary in order to make generally available to its securityholders an earnings statement in form complying with the provisions of Rule 158 of the 1933 Act Regulations for the purposes of, and to provide to the Underwriters the benefits contemplated by, the last paragraph of Section 11(a) of the 1933 Act.

(j) During the period of five years from the date hereof, to the extent not otherwise available on EDGAR or on the Company’s website, the Company will deliver to you and, upon request, to each of the other Underwriters, (i) copies of each annual report of the Company and each other report furnished by the Company to its shareholders; and will deliver to you, (ii) as soon as they are available, copies of any other reports (financial or other) which the Company shall publish or otherwise make available to any of its security holders as such, and (iii) as soon as they are available, copies of any reports and financial statements furnished to or filed with the Commission or any national securities exchange.

 

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(k) The Company will use the net proceeds received by it from the sale of Underwritten Securities in the manner specified in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus under “Use of Proceeds.”

(l) The Company will use its reasonable best efforts to continue to meet the requirements to qualify as a REIT under the Code for the taxable year in which sales of the Underwritten Securities are to occur, unless otherwise specified in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus.

(m) The Company, during the Prospectus Delivery Period, will file promptly all documents required to be filed with the Commission pursuant to Section 13, 14 or 15 of the 1934 Act within the time periods prescribed by the 1934 Act and the 1934 Act Regulations.

(n) The Company represents and agrees that, unless it obtains your prior written consent, and each Underwriter represents and agrees that, unless it obtains the prior written consent of the Company and you, it has not made and will not make any offer relating to the Underwritten Securities that would constitute an “issuer free writing prospectus,” as defined in Rule 433, or that would otherwise constitute a “free writing prospectus,” as defined in Rule 405; provided, however, that the prior written consent of the Company and you shall be deemed to have been given in respect of any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus(es) included on Schedule I to the applicable Terms Agreement; and provided, further, that prior to the preparation of the Final Term Sheet in accordance with Section 4(c) hereof, the Underwriters are authorized to use any free writing prospectus that contains substantially only information specified in the Final Term Sheet. Any such free writing prospectus consented to in writing by the Company and you is hereinafter referred to as a “Permitted Free Writing Prospectus.” The Company represents that it has treated or agrees that it will treat each Permitted Free Writing Prospectus as an “issuer free writing prospectus,” as defined in Rule 433, and has complied and will comply with the requirements of Rule 433 applicable to any Permitted Free Writing Prospectus, including timely filing with the Commission where required, legending and record keeping.

(o) The Company will not, directly or indirectly, issue, sell, offer, contract or grant any option to sell, pledge, transfer or establish an open “put equivalent position” or liquidate or decrease a “call equivalent position” within the meaning of Rule 16a-1 under the 1934 Act, or otherwise dispose of or transfer (or enter into any transaction which is designed to, or might reasonably be expected to, result in the disposition of), or announce the offering of, or file any registration statement under the 1933 Act in respect of, any Depositary Shares or Preferred Shares or any securities exchangeable or exercisable for or convertible into any of the foregoing, or publicly announce an intention to do any of the foregoing, for a period of 30 days after the date of the applicable Terms Agreement without your prior written consent, except for Depositary Shares and Preferred Shares issued to the Underwriters and the Preferred Shares Depositary pursuant to the applicable Terms Agreement.

 

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(p) If applicable, the Company will reserve and keep available at all times, free of preemptive rights or other similar rights, a sufficient number of Common Shares for the purpose of enabling the Company to satisfy any obligations to issue such shares upon conversion of the Underwritten Securities.

5. Payment of Expenses . Whether or not the transactions contemplated in this Agreement are consummated or this Agreement is terminated, the Company agrees to pay or cause to be paid all expenses incident to the performance of its obligations under this Agreement or the applicable Terms Agreement, including: (i) the fees, disbursements and expenses of the Company’s counsel and the Company’s registered public accounting firm in connection with the registration and delivery of the Underwritten Securities under the 1933 Act and all other fees or expenses in connection with the preparation and filing of the Registration Statement, any preliminary prospectus, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus, the Prospectus and amendments and supplements to any of the foregoing, including all printing costs associated therewith, and the mailing and delivery of copies thereof to the Underwriters and dealers, in the quantities hereinabove specified, and any costs associated with electronic delivery of any of the foregoing by the Underwriters to investors, (ii) all costs and expenses related to the transfer and delivery of the Underwritten Securities to the Underwriters, including any transfer or other taxes payable thereon, (iii) the cost of printing or producing any blue sky or legal investment memorandum in connection with the offer and sale of the Underwritten Securities under state securities laws and all expenses in connection with the qualification of the Underwritten Securities for offer and sale under state securities laws and real estate syndication laws as provided in Section 4(h) hereof, including filing fees and the reasonable fees and disbursements of counsel for the Underwriters in connection with such qualification and in connection with the blue sky or legal investment memorandum (provided that the amount for such memorandum shall not exceed $5,000), (iv) all filing fees and the reasonable fees and disbursements of counsel to the Underwriters incurred in connection with the review and qualification of the offering of the Underwritten Securities by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (provided that any fees of such counsel shall not exceed $5,000), (v) all fees and expenses in connection with the preparation and filing of the registration statement on Form 8-A relating to the Underwritten Securities and all costs and expenses incident to listing the Underwritten Securities on the NYSE, (vi) the cost of printing certificates representing the Underwritten Securities, (vii) the costs and charges of any transfer agent, registrar or depositary, (viii) the costs and expenses of the Company relating to investor presentations on any “road show” undertaken in connection with the marketing of the offering of the Underwritten Securities including, without limitation, expenses associated with the production of road show slides and graphics, fees and expenses of any consultants engaged in connection with the road show presentations with the prior approval of the Company, travel and lodging expenses of the representatives and officers of the Company and any such consultants, and the cost of any aircraft chartered in connection with the road show and (ix) all other costs and expenses incident to the performance of the obligations of the Company hereunder for which provision is not otherwise made in this Section. It is understood, however, that except as provided in this Section, Section 6 hereof and Section 10 hereof, the Underwriters will pay all of their costs and expenses, including fees and disbursements of their counsel, stock transfer taxes payable on resale of any of the Underwritten Securities by them and any advertising expenses connected with any offers they may make.

 

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6. Indemnity and Contribution . (a) The Company agrees to indemnify and hold harmless each Underwriter (including, for this purpose, any affiliated broker-dealer of an Underwriter participating as an initial seller in the offering of the Underwritten Securities) and each person, if any, who controls any Underwriter within the meaning of either Section 15 of the 1933 Act or Section 20 of the 1934 Act from and against any and all losses, claims, damages and liabilities (including, without limitation, any legal or other expenses reasonably incurred in connection with defending or investigating any such action or claim) caused by any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in the Registration Statement or any amendment thereof, including the Rule 430B Information, or in the General Disclosure Package, any preliminary prospectus, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus or the Prospectus (as amended or supplemented if the Company shall have furnished any amendments or supplements thereto), or caused by any omission or alleged omission to state therein a material fact required to be stated therein (with respect to any preliminary prospectus, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus or the Prospectus only, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made) or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, except insofar as such losses, claims, damages or liabilities are caused by any such untrue statement or omission or alleged untrue statement or omission based upon information relating to any Underwriter furnished to the Company in writing by such Underwriter through you expressly for use therein.

(b) Each Underwriter agrees, severally and not jointly, to indemnify and hold harmless the Company, its directors, its officers who sign the Registration Statement and each person, if any, who controls the Company within the meaning of either Section 15 of the 1933 Act or Section 20 of the 1934 Act to the same extent as the foregoing indemnity from the Company to such Underwriter, but only with reference to information relating to such Underwriter furnished to the Company in writing by such Underwriter through you expressly for use in the Registration Statement, including the Rule 430B Information, or in the General Disclosure Package, any preliminary prospectus, any Issuer Free Writing Prospectus, the Prospectus or any amendments or supplements thereto.

 

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(c) In case any proceeding (including any governmental investigation) shall be instituted involving any person in respect of which indemnity may be sought pursuant to Section 6(a) or 6(b) hereof, such person (the “indemnified party”) shall promptly notify the person against whom such indemnity may be sought (the “indemnifying party”) in writing and the indemnifying party shall be entitled to retain counsel reasonably satisfactory to the indemnified party to represent the indemnified party and any others the indemnifying party may designate in such proceeding and shall pay the fees and disbursements of such counsel related to such proceeding. In any such proceeding, any indemnified party shall have the right to retain its own counsel, but the fees and expenses of such counsel shall be at the expense of such indemnified party unless (i) the indemnifying party and the indemnified party shall have mutually agreed to the retention of such counsel, (ii) the indemnifying party does not promptly retain counsel reasonably satisfactory to the indemnified party or (iii) the named parties to any such proceeding (including any impleaded parties) include both the indemnifying party and the indemnified party and the indemnified party reasonably concludes that the representation of both parties by the same counsel would be inappropriate due to actual or potential differing interests between them. It is understood that the indemnifying party shall not, in respect of the legal expenses of any indemnified party in connection with any proceeding or related proceedings in the same jurisdiction, be liable for the fees and expenses of more than one separate firm (in addition to any local counsel) for all such indemnified parties and that all such fees and expenses shall be reimbursed as they are incurred. Such firm shall be designated in writing by Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated and UBS Securities LLC, in the case of parties indemnified pursuant to Section 6(a) hereof, and by the Company, in the case of parties indemnified pursuant to Section 6(b) hereof. The indemnifying party shall not be liable for any settlement of any proceeding effected without its written consent, but if settled with such consent or if there be a final judgment for the plaintiff, the indemnifying party agrees to indemnify the indemnified party from and against any loss or liability by reason of such settlement or judgment. Notwithstanding the foregoing sentence, if at any time an indemnified party shall have requested an indemnifying party to reimburse the indemnified party for fees and expenses of counsel as contemplated by the second and third sentences of this paragraph, the indemnifying party agrees that it shall be liable for any settlement of any proceeding effected without its written consent if (i) such settlement is entered into more than 45 days after receipt by such indemnifying party of the aforesaid request, (ii) such indemnifying party shall have received notice of the terms of such settlement at least 30 days prior to such settlement being entered into and (iii) such indemnifying party shall not have reimbursed the indemnified party in accordance with such request prior to the date of such settlement; provided that an indemnifying party shall not be liable for any such settlement effected without its consent if such indemnifying party (x) reimburses such indemnified party in accordance with such request to the extent that the indemnifying party in its judgment considers such request to be reasonable and (y) provides written notice to the indemnified party stating the reason it deems the unpaid balance unreasonable, in each case no later than 45 days after receipt by such indemnifying party of the aforesaid request from the indemnified party. No indemnifying party shall, without the prior written consent of the indemnified party, effect any settlement of any pending or threatened proceeding in respect of which any indemnified party is or could have been a party and indemnity could have been sought hereunder by such indemnified party, unless (i) such settlement includes an unconditional release of such indemnified party from all liability on claims that are the subject matter of such proceeding and (ii) does not include a statement as to or an admission of fault, culpability or a failure to act by or on behalf of any indemnified party.

 

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(d) To the extent the indemnification provided for in Section 6(a) or 6(b) hereof is unavailable to an indemnified party or insufficient in respect of any losses, claims, damages or liabilities referred to therein, then each indemnifying party under such paragraph, in lieu of indemnifying such indemnified party thereunder, shall contribute to the amount paid or payable by such indemnified party as a result of such losses, claims, damages or liabilities (i) in such proportion as is appropriate to reflect the relative benefits received by the Company on the one hand and the Underwriters on the other hand from the offering of the Underwritten Securities or (ii) if the allocation provided by clause 6(d)(i) above is not permitted by applicable law, in such proportion as is appropriate to reflect not only the relative benefits referred to in clause 6(d)(i) above but also the relative fault of the Company on the one hand and of the Underwriters on the other hand in connection with the statements or omissions that resulted in such losses, claims, damages or liabilities, as well as any other relevant equitable considerations. The relative benefits received by the Company on the one hand and the Underwriters on the other hand in connection with the offering of the Underwritten Securities shall be deemed to be in the same respective proportions as the net proceeds from the offering of the Underwritten Securities (before deducting expenses) received by the Company and the total underwriting discounts and commissions received by the Underwriters, in each case as set forth in the table on the cover of the Prospectus, bear to the aggregate public offering price of the Underwritten Securities. The relative fault of the Company on the one hand and the Underwriters on the other hand shall be determined by reference to, among other things, whether the untrue or alleged untrue statement of a material fact or the omission or alleged omission to state a material fact relates to information supplied by the Company or by the Underwriters and the parties’ relative intent, knowledge, access to information and opportunity to correct or prevent such statement or omission. The Underwriters’ respective obligations to contribute pursuant to this Section 6 are several in proportion to the respective number of Underwritten Securities they have purchased hereunder, and not joint.

(e) The Company and the Underwriters agree that it would not be just or equitable if contribution pursuant to this Section 6 were determined by pro rata allocation (even if the Underwriters were treated as one entity for such purpose) or by any other method of allocation that does not take account of the equitable considerations referred to in Section 6(d) hereof. The amount paid or payable by an indemnified party as a result of the losses, claims, damages and liabilities referred to in the immediately preceding paragraph shall be deemed to include, subject to the limitations set forth above, any legal or other expenses reasonably incurred by such indemnified party in connection with investigating or defending any such action or claim. Notwithstanding the provisions of this Section 6, no Underwriter shall be required to contribute any amount in excess of the amount by which the total price at which the Underwritten Securities underwritten by it and distributed to the public were offered to the public exceeds the amount of any damages that such Underwriter has otherwise been required to pay by reason of such untrue or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission. No person guilty of fraudulent misrepresentation (within the meaning of Section 11(f) of the 1933 Act) shall be entitled to contribution from any person who was not guilty of such fraudulent misrepresentation. The remedies provided for in this Section 6 are not exclusive and shall not limit any rights or remedies which may otherwise be available to any indemnified party at law or in equity.

(f) The indemnity and contribution provisions contained in this Section 6 and the representations, warranties and other statements of the Company contained in this Agreement shall remain operative and in full force and effect regardless of (i) any termination of this Agreement, (ii) any investigation made by or on behalf of any Underwriter or any person controlling any Underwriter or by or on behalf of the Company, its officers or directors or any person controlling the Company and (iii) acceptance of and payment for any of the Underwritten Securities.

7. Survival of Indemnities, Representation, Warranties, etc. The respective indemnities, covenants, agreements, representations, warranties and other statements of the Company and the several Underwriters, as set forth in this Agreement or the applicable Terms Agreement or made by them, respectively, pursuant to this Agreement or the applicable Terms Agreement, shall remain in full force and effect, regardless of any investigation made by or on behalf of any Underwriter or the Company or any of their officers or directors or any controlling person, and shall survive delivery of and payment for the Underwritten Securities.

 

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8. Conditions of Underwriters’ Obligations . The respective obligations of the several Underwriters to purchase Underwritten Securities pursuant to the applicable Terms Agreement are subject to the accuracy, at and (except as otherwise stated herein) as of the date hereof, the Applicable Time, the applicable Representation Date, the Closing Time and at each Date of Delivery, of the representations and warranties made herein by the Company, to the accuracy of the statements of the Company’s officers or directors in any certificate furnished pursuant to the provisions hereof, to compliance at and as of the Closing Time and at each Date of Delivery by the Company, with its covenants and agreements herein contained and other provisions hereof to be satisfied at or prior to the Closing Time, or Date of Delivery, as the case may be, and to the following additional conditions:

(a) The Registration Statement has become effective and, at the Closing Time and any Date of Delivery, (i) no stop order suspending the effectiveness of the Registration Statement shall have been issued and no proceedings for that purpose shall have been initiated or, to the knowledge of the Company or you, threatened by the Commission and any request on the part of the Commission for additional information shall have been complied with to the reasonable satisfaction of counsel to the Underwriters, (ii) each preliminary prospectus and the Prospectus containing the Rule 430B Information shall have been filed with the Commission in the manner and within the time period required by Rule 424(b) without reliance on Rule 424(b)(8) (or a post-effective amendment providing such information shall have been filed and become effective in accordance with the requirements of Rule 430B), (iii) the Final Term Sheet and any other material required to be filed by the Company pursuant to Rule 433(d) of the 1933 Act Regulations shall have been filed with the Commission within the applicable time periods prescribed for such filings under such Rule 433, (iv) the Company shall have paid the required Commission filing fees relating to the Underwritten Securities within the time period required by Rule 456(b)(1)(i) of the 1933 Act Regulations without regard to the proviso therein and otherwise in accordance with Rules 456(b) and 457(r) of the 1933 Act Regulations, and (v) there shall not have come to your attention any facts that would cause you to believe that (a) the Prospectus, together with the applicable Prospectus Supplement, at the time it was required to be delivered (or but for the exception afforded by Rule 172 of the 1933 Act Regulations would be required to be delivered) to purchasers of the Underwritten Securities, or (b) the General Disclosure Package, at the Applicable Time, contained any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state any material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances existing at such time, not misleading.

(b) At the time of execution of the applicable Terms Agreement, you shall have received from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP a letter, dated the date of such execution, in form and substance satisfactory to you, containing statements and information of the type customarily included in accountants’ “comfort letters” to underwriters.

(c) At the Closing Time, you shall have received from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP a letter, dated the Closing Time, to the effect that such accountants reaffirm, as of the Closing Time, and as though made on the Closing Time, the statements made in the letter furnished by such accountants pursuant to paragraph (b) of this Section 8, except that the specified date will be a date not more than three business days prior to the Closing Time.

 

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(d) At the Closing Time, you shall have received from Jones Day, counsel for the Company, an opinion, dated as of the Closing Time, substantially in the form set forth in Exhibit B hereto and to such further effect as counsel to the Underwriters may reasonably request.

(e) At the Closing Time, you shall have received from Sidley Austin LLP , counsel for the Underwriters, their opinion or opinions dated the Closing Time in form and substance satisfactory to the Underwriters, and the Company shall have furnished to such counsel such documents as they may request for the purpose of enabling them to pass upon such matters.

In giving their opinion, Sidley Austin LLP may rely as to matters involving the laws of the State of Ohio upon the opinion of Jones Day. Jones Day and Sidley Austin LLP may rely (i) as to the qualification of the Company or its subsidiaries to do business in any state or jurisdiction, upon certificates of appropriate government officials, telephonic confirmation by representatives of such states or confirmation from information contained on the websites of such states and (ii) as to matters of fact, upon certificates and written statements of officers and employees of and accountants for the Company or its subsidiaries.

(f) Subsequent to the execution and delivery of this Agreement and the Terms Agreement and prior to the Closing Time or any Date of Delivery:

(i) there shall not have occurred any downgrading, nor shall any notice have been given of any intended or potential downgrading or of any review for a possible change that either (x) does not indicate the direction of the possible change or (y) indicates a negative change, in the rating accorded any of the Company’s securities by any “nationally recognized statistical rating organization,” as such term is defined in Section 3(a)(62) of the 1934 Act; and

(ii) there shall not have occurred any change, or any development involving a prospective change, in the condition, financial or otherwise, or in the earnings, business or operations of the Company and its subsidiaries, taken as a whole, from that set forth in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus (exclusive of any amendments or supplements thereto subsequent to the date of this Agreement) that, in your judgment, is material and adverse and that makes it, in your judgment, impracticable to market the Underwritten Securities on the terms and in the manner contemplated in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus.

(g) At the Closing Time (i) there shall not have been, since the date of the applicable Terms Agreement or since the respective dates as of which information is given in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, any Material Adverse Effect, other than as set forth in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus, (ii) the Company has complied with all agreements and satisfied all conditions on its part to be performed or satisfied at or prior to the Closing Time, (iii) the Company has not received from the Commission any notice pursuant to Rule 401(g)(2) of the 1933 Act objecting to the use of the automatic shelf registration statement form, (iv) no stop order suspending the effectiveness of the Registration Statement shall have been issued under the 1933 Act and no proceeding therefor shall have been instituted or threatened by the Commission and (v) you shall have received at the Closing Time a certificate of (A) the President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer or any Executive Vice President of the Company and (B) the President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer or any Executive Vice President of the Company (in each case, only if such officer had not executed the certificate pursuant to clause (v)(A) above), dated as of the Closing Time, evidencing compliance with the provisions of this Section 8(g).

 

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(h) You shall have received a certificate, dated the Closing Time, of (i) the President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer or any Executive Vice President of the Company and (ii) the President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer or any Executive Vice President of the Company (in each case, only if such officer had not executed the certificate pursuant to clause (i) above), to the effect that the representations and warranties of the Company contained in Section 2(a) hereof are true and correct with the same force and effect as though expressly made at and as of the Closing Time.

(i) The Company shall have furnished to you such additional certificates as specified in the applicable Terms Agreement as you may have reasonably requested as to the accuracy, at and as of the Closing Time, of the representations and warranties made herein by them, as to compliance, at and as of the Closing Time, by them with their covenants and agreements herein contained and other provisions hereof to be satisfied at or prior to the Closing Time, and as to other conditions to the obligations of the Underwriters hereunder.

(j) In the event the Underwriters exercise their option provided in a Terms Agreement as set forth in Section 3 hereof to purchase all or any portion of the Option Securities, the representations and warranties of the Company contained herein and the statements in any certificates furnished by the Company hereunder shall be true and correct as of each Date of Delivery, and you shall have received:

(i) A letter from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in form and substance satisfactory to you and dated such Date of Delivery, substantially the same in scope and substance as the letter furnished to you pursuant to Section 8(c), except that the specified date in the letter furnished pursuant to this Section 8(j)(i) shall be a date not more than three business days prior to such Date of Delivery.

(ii) The opinion of Jones Day, counsel for the Company, in form and substance satisfactory to counsel for the Underwriters, dated such Date of Delivery, relating to the Option Securities and otherwise to the same effect as the opinion required by Section 8(d).

(iii) The opinion of Sidley Austin LLP , counsel for the Underwriters, dated such Date of Delivery, relating to the Options Securities and otherwise to the same effect as the opinion required by Section 8(e).

 

28


(iv) A certificate, dated such Date of Delivery, of (A) the President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer or any Executive Vice President of the Company and (B) the President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer or any Executive Vice President of the Company (in each case, only if such officer had not executed the certificate pursuant to clause (A) above) confirming that the certificate or certificates delivered at the Closing Time pursuant to Section 8(g)(v) and 8(h) remains or remain true as of such Date of Delivery.

(v) Such additional certificates, dated such Date of Delivery, as you may have reasonably requested pursuant to Section 8(i).

If any of the conditions hereinabove provided for in this Section shall not have been satisfied when and as required to be satisfied, the applicable Terms Agreement may be terminated by you by notifying the Company of such termination in writing or by telegram at or prior to the Closing Time, but you shall be entitled to waive any of such conditions.

9. Termination .

(a) This Agreement (excluding the applicable Terms Agreement) may be terminated for any reason at any time by the Company or by you upon the giving of 30 days’ written notice of such termination to the other party hereto.

(b) This Agreement and the Terms Agreement shall be subject to termination by notice given by you to the Company, if after the execution and delivery of this Agreement and the Terms Agreement and prior to the Closing Time and any Date of Delivery (as to the Option Securities) (i) trading generally shall have been suspended or materially limited on or by, as the case may be, the NYSE or the Nasdaq Global Market, (ii) trading of any securities of the Company shall have been suspended on any exchange or in any over-the-counter market, (iii) a general moratorium on commercial banking activities in New York shall have been declared by either Federal or New York State authorities or a material disruption in commercial banking or securities settlement or clearance services has occurred in the United States, (iv) the rating assigned by any nationally recognized statistical rating organization to any securities of the Company as of the date of the applicable Terms Agreement shall have been lowered since such date or if any such rating organization shall have publicly announced that it has placed any securities of the Company on what is commonly termed a “watch list” for possible downgrading, (v) there shall have occurred any outbreak or escalation of hostilities, declaration by the United States of a national emergency or war, or other calamity or crisis or any change in national or international political, financial or economic condition, the effect of which on financial markets is such as to make it, in your sole judgment, impractical or inadvisable to proceed with the offering or delivery of the Underwritten Securities as contemplated by the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package and the Prospectus (exclusive of any amendment or supplement thereto subsequent to the date of the applicable Terms Agreement), or (vi) there has been, since the date of the applicable Terms Agreement or since the respective dates as of which information is given in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package or the Prospectus, any Material Adverse Effect.

 

29


(c) In the event of any such termination, the covenants set forth in Section 4 hereof with respect to any offering of Underwritten Securities shall remain in effect so long as any Underwriter owns any such Underwritten Securities purchased from the Company pursuant to the applicable Terms Agreement.

10. Reimbursement of Underwriters . Notwithstanding any other provisions hereof, if this Agreement or the applicable Terms Agreement shall be terminated by you under Section 8 hereof, Section 9(b) hereof or Section 12 hereof, the Company will bear and pay the expenses specified in Section 5 hereof and, in addition to their obligations pursuant to Section 6 hereof, the Company will reimburse the reasonable out-of-pocket expenses of the several Underwriters (including reasonable fees and disbursements of counsel for the Underwriters) incurred in connection with this Agreement or the applicable Terms Agreement and the proposed purchase of the Underwritten Securities, and promptly upon demand, the Company will pay such amounts to you for and on behalf of such Underwriter. In addition, the provisions of Section 6 hereof shall survive any such termination.

11. Default by One or More of the Underwriters . If one or more of the Underwriters shall fail at the Closing Time or the relevant Date of Delivery, as the case may be, to purchase the Underwritten Securities which it or they are obligated to purchase under the applicable Terms Agreement (the “Defaulted Securities”), then you shall have the right, within 36 hours thereafter, to make arrangements for one or more of the non-defaulting Underwriters, or any other underwriters, to purchase all, but not less than all, of the Defaulted Securities in such amounts as may be agreed upon and upon the terms herein set forth; if, however, you shall not have completed such arrangements within such 36-hour period, then:

 

  (a) if the number of Defaulted Securities does not exceed 10% of the number of Underwritten Securities to be purchased on such date pursuant to such Terms Agreement, the non-defaulting Underwriters shall be obligated, severally and not jointly, to purchase the full amount thereof in the proportions that their respective underwriting obligations under such Terms Agreement bear to the underwriting obligations of all non-defaulting Underwriters, or

 

  (b) if the number of Defaulted Securities exceeds 10% of the number of Underwritten Securities to be purchased on such date pursuant to such Terms Agreement, such Terms Agreement (or, with respect to the Underwriters’ exercise of any applicable option for the purchase of Option Securities on a Date of Delivery after the Closing Time, the obligations of the Underwriters to purchase, and the Company to sell, such Option Securities on such Date of Delivery) shall terminate without liability on the part of any non-defaulting Underwriter.

No action taken pursuant to this Section 11 shall relieve any defaulting Underwriter from liability in respect of its default.

In the event of any such default which does not result in (i) a termination of the applicable Terms Agreement or (ii) in the case of a Date of Delivery after the Closing Time, a termination of the obligations of the Underwriters and the Company with respect to the related Option Securities, as the case may be, either you or the Company shall have the right to postpone the Closing Time or the relevant Date of Delivery, as the case may be, for a period not exceeding seven days in order to effect any required changes in the Registration Statement, the General Disclosure Package or the Prospectus or in any other documents or arrangements.

 

30


12. Default by the Company . If the Company shall fail at the Closing Time to sell and deliver the total number of Underwritten Securities which it is obligated to sell pursuant to the applicable Terms Agreement, then such agreement shall terminate without any liability on the part of any non-defaulting party, other than obligations under Sections 6 and 10 hereof. No action taken pursuant to this Section 12 shall relieve the Company from liability, if any, in respect of such default.

13. No Fiduciary Relationship . The Company acknowledges and agrees that each Underwriter is acting solely in the capacity of an arm’s length contractual counterparty to the Company with respect to the offering of Underwritten Securities contemplated hereby and in the applicable Terms Agreement (including in connection with determining the terms of the offering) and not as a financial advisor or a fiduciary to, or an agent of, the Company or any other person. Additionally, no Underwriter is advising the Company or any other person as to any legal, tax, investment, accounting or regulatory matters in any jurisdiction. The Company shall consult with its own advisors concerning such matters and shall be responsible for making its own independent investigation and appraisal of the transactions contemplated hereby, and no Underwriter shall have any responsibility or liability to the Company with respect thereto. Any review by an Underwriter of the Company, the transactions contemplated hereby or other matters relating to such transactions will be performed solely for the benefit of such Underwriter and shall not be on behalf of the Company.

14. Notices . All communications hereunder shall be in writing and, if sent to the Underwriters shall be mailed or delivered and confirmed to you, c/o: Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, 550 South Tryon Street, 5th Floor, Charlotte, North Carolina 28202, Attn: Transaction Management, Fax: 704-410-0326; RBC Capital Markets, LLC, 200 Vesey Street, New York, New York 10281, Attn: Scott Primrose/USDCM Transaction Management, Fax: 212-658-6137; Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, One South Street, 15th Floor, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, Attn: Syndicate Department, Fax: 443-224-1273; and UBS Securities LLC, 1285 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10019, Attn: Fixed Income Syndicate, Fax: 203-719-0495, except that notices given to an Underwriter pursuant to Section 6 hereof shall be sent to such Underwriter at the address furnished by you, or if sent to the Company shall be mailed or delivered and confirmed to it at 3300 Enterprise Parkway, Beachwood, Ohio 44122, Attn: General Counsel.

15. Patriot Act . In accordance with the requirements of the USA Patriot Act (Title III of Pub. L. 107-56 (signed into law October 26, 2001)), the Underwriters are required to obtain, verify and record information that identifies their respective clients, including the Company, which information may include the name and address of their respective clients, as well as other information that will allow the Underwriters to properly identify their respective clients.

 

31


16. Successors . This Agreement and the applicable Terms Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon you and the Company and any Underwriter who becomes a party to such Terms Agreement, the Company and their respective successors and legal representatives. Nothing expressed or mentioned in this Agreement or the applicable Terms Agreement is intended or shall be construed to give any person other than the persons mentioned in the preceding sentence any legal or equitable right, remedy or claim under or in respect of this Agreement, or any provisions herein contained, this Agreement or such Terms Agreement and all conditions and provisions hereof being intended to be and being for the sole and exclusive benefit of such persons and for the benefit of no other person; except that the representations, warranties, covenants, agreements and indemnities of the Company contained in this Agreement shall also be for the benefit of the person or persons, if any, who control any Underwriter within the meaning of Section 15 of the 1933 Act, and the indemnities given by the several Underwriters shall also be for the benefit of each director of the Company, each of the Company’s officers who has signed the Registration Statement and the person or persons, if any, who control the Company within the meaning of Section 15 of the 1933 Act.

17. Applicable Law . This Agreement and the applicable Terms Agreement, and any claim, controversy or dispute relating to or arising out of this Agreement and the applicable Terms Agreement, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York applicable to agreements made and to be performed in said state. Specified times of day refer to New York City time.

18. Waiver of Jury Trial . The Company and each of the Underwriters hereby irrevocably waives, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any and all right to trial by jury in any legal proceeding arising out of or relating to this Agreement or the transactions contemplated hereby.

19. Counterparts . This Agreement and the applicable Terms Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, and if executed in more than one counterpart the executed counterparts shall constitute a single instrument.

20. Headings . The section headings used herein are for convenience only and shall not affect the construction hereof.

 

32


If the foregoing correctly sets forth our understanding, please indicate your acceptance thereof in the space provided below for that purpose, whereupon this letter and your acceptance shall constitute a binding agreement between us.

 

Very truly yours,
DDR CORP.
By:   /s/ David E. Weiss
  Name: David E. Weiss
  Title: Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary


CONFIRMED AND ACCEPTED,

as of the date first above written:

WELLS FARGO SECURITIES, LLC

RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, LLC

STIFEL, NICOLAUS & COMPANY, INCORPORATED

UBS SECURITIES LLC

 

By:   WELLS FARGO SECURITIES, LLC
By:   /s/ Carolyn Hurley
  Name: Carolyn Hurley
  Title: Director

 

By:   RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, LLC
By:   /s/ Mark Hagan
  Name: Mark Hagan
  Title: Managing Director

 

By:   STIFEL, NICOLAUS & COMPANY, INCORPORATED
By:   /s/ Chad M. Gorsuch
  Name: Chad M. Gorsuch
  Title: Managing Director

 

By:   UBS SECURITIES LLC
By:   /s/ Christopher Forshner
  Name: Christopher Forshner
  Title: Managing Director UBS Securities LLC
By:   /s/ Prath Reddy
  Name: Prath Reddy
  Title: Associate Director UBS Securities LLC


Acting for themselves and the other Underwriters

named in the applicable Terms Agreement


Exhibit A

DDR CORP.

(an Ohio corporation)

[Preferred Shares] [Depositary Shares]

[Each Representing 1/                 of a Share of                 % Class                  Cumulative

Redeemable Preferred Shares]

(Liquidation Preference $                 per [Preferred Share] [Depositary Share])

TERMS AGREEMENT

Dated:                         

 

To: DDR Corp.

3300 Enterprise Parkway

Beachwood, Ohio 44122

 

Attention: Mr. David R. Lukes

President and Chief Executive Officer

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We (the “Underwriters”) understand that DDR Corp., an Ohio corporation (the “Company”), proposes to issue and sell the number of its [Class              Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares] [Depositary Shares each representing 1/             of a Share of             %              Class Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares] (Liquidation Preference $ per [Preferred Share] [Depositary Share]), set forth below (the “[Preferred Shares] [Depositary Shares]”) (such [Preferred Shares] [Depositary Shares] being collectively hereinafter also referred to as the “Underwritten Securities”). Subject to the terms and conditions set forth or incorporated by reference herein, the Underwriters named below offer to purchase, severally and not jointly, the respective number of Initial Underwritten Securities (as defined in the Underwriting Agreement referenced below) set forth below opposite their respective names.

 

Underwriter

 

Number of Initial

Underwritten Securities

 

Total

 

A-1


The Underwritten Securities shall have the following terms:

Title of Securities:

Number of Shares:

If applicable, fractional amount of Preferred Shares represented by each Depositary Share:

Expected Ratings:

Dividend Rate:

Dividend Payment Dates:

Liquidation Preference:

Public offering price per share: $

Purchase price per share: $

Optional Redemption:

Special Optional Redemption:

Conversion Rights:

Sinking fund requirements:

Number of Option Securities, if any, that may be purchased by the Underwriters:

Price of Option Securities:

Delayed Delivery Contracts:

Representatives and Joint Book-Running Managers:

Co-Managers:

Other Underwriters:

NYSE Listing Requirement:

Other terms:

Issuer Free Writing Prospectus (including the Final Term Sheet, if applicable): See Schedule I hereto

Applicable Time:          a.m./p.m., New York City time, on         , 20        

Closing time, date and location: 10:00 A.M., New York City time, on             , 20        , Sidley Austin LLP , 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10019

All the provisions contained in the document attached as Annex A hereto entitled “DDR Corp. Preferred Shares, Depositary Shares-Underwriting Agreement Basic Provisions” are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety herein and shall be deemed to be a part of this Terms Agreement to the same extent as if such provisions had been set forth in full herein. Terms defined in such document are used herein as therein defined.

 

A-2


Please accept this offer by signing a copy of this Terms Agreement in the space set forth below and returning the signed copy to us.

 

Very truly yours,

WELLS FARGO SECURITIES, LLC

RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, LLC

STIFEL, NICOLAUS & COMPANY, INCORPORATED

UBS SECURITIES LLC

By:   WELLS FARGO SECURITIES, LLC
By:    
  Name:
  Title:
By:   RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, LLC
By:    
  Name:
  Title:
By:   STIFEL, NICOLAUS & COMPANY, INCORPORATED
By:    
  Name:
  Title:
By:   UBS SECURITIES LLC
By:    
  Name:
  Title:
By:    
  Name:
  Title:

Acting for themselves and the other

Underwriters named above

 

A-3


Accepted:
DDR CORP.
By:    
  Name:
  Title:

 

A-4


Schedule I

to Terms Agreement

Schedule of Issuer Free Writing Prospectuses

Included in the General Disclosure Package

 

1. Final Term Sheet, attached hereto as Schedule I-A

 

A-5


Exhibit B

FORM OF OPINION OF COMPANY’S COUNSEL

TO BE DELIVERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 8(d)

 

Exhibit B-1


Exhibit C

DDR CORP.

(an Ohio corporation)

[Title of Securities]

DELAYED DELIVERY CONTRACT

                              , 20__

DDR Corp.

3300 Enterprise Parkway

Beachwood, Ohio 44122

 

Attention: Mr. David R. Lukes

President and Chief Executive Officer

Dear Sirs:

The undersigned hereby agrees to purchase from DDR Corp. (the “Company”), and the Company agrees to sell to the undersigned on                      , 20__ (the “Delivery Date”), of the Company’s [insert title of security] (the “Securities”), offered by the Company’s Prospectus dated                      , 20__, as supplemented by its Prospectus Supplement dated                      , 20__, receipt of which is hereby acknowledged at a purchase price of [$                      ] per share, plus accrued dividends to the Delivery Date, and on the further terms and conditions set forth in this contract.

Payment for the Securities which the undersigned has agreed to purchase on the Delivery Date shall be made to the Company or its order by certified or official bank check in New York Clearing House funds at the office of

                                         , on the Delivery Date, upon delivery to the undersigned of the Securities to be purchased by the undersigned in definitive form and in such denominations and registered in such names as the undersigned may designate by written or telegraphic communication addressed to the Company not less than five full business days prior to the Delivery Date.

The obligation of the undersigned to take delivery of and make payment for Securities on the Delivery Date shall be subject only to the conditions that (1) the purchase of Securities to be made by the undersigned shall not on the Delivery Date be prohibited under the laws of the jurisdiction to which the undersigned is subject and (2) the Company, on or before                      , 20__, shall have sold to the Underwriters of the Securities (the “Underwriters”) such principal amount of the Securities as is to be sold to them pursuant to the Terms Agreement dated                      , 20__ between the Company and the Underwriters. The obligation of the undersigned to take delivery of and make payment for Securities shall not be affected by the failure of any purchaser to take delivery of and make payments for Securities pursuant to other contracts similar to this contract. The undersigned represents and warrants to you that its investment in the Securities is not, as of the date hereof, prohibited under the laws of any jurisdiction to which the undersigned is subject and which govern such investment.

 

Exhibit C-1


Promptly after completion of the sale to the Underwriters, the Company will mail or deliver to the undersigned at its address set forth below notice to such effect, accompanied by a copy of the opinion of counsel for the Company delivered to the Underwriters in connection therewith.

By the execution hereof, the undersigned represents and warrants to the Company that all necessary action for the due execution and delivery of this contract and the payment for and purchase of the Securities has been taken by it and no further authorization or approval of any governmental or other regulatory authority is required for such execution, delivery, payment or purchase, and that, upon acceptance hereof by the Company and mailing or delivery of a copy as provided below, this contract will constitute a valid and binding agreement of the undersigned in accordance with its terms.

This contract will inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the parties hereto and their respective successors, but will not be assignable by either party hereto without the written consent of the other.

It is understood that the Company will not accept Delayed Delivery Contracts for a number of Securities in excess of                      and that the acceptance of any Delayed Delivery Contract is in the Company’s sole discretion and, without limiting the foregoing, need not be on a first-come, first-served basis. If this contract is acceptable to the Company, it is requested that the Company sign the form of acceptance on a copy hereof and mail or deliver a signed copy hereof to the undersigned at its address set forth below. This will become a binding contract between the Company and the undersigned when such copy is so mailed or delivered.

 

Exhibit C-2


This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of New York.

 

Yours very truly,
   
  (Name of Purchaser)
By    
  (Title)
   
   
  (Address)

Accepted as of the date first above written.

 

DDR CORP.
By:    
  (Title)

PURCHASER-PLEASE COMPLETE AT TIME OF SIGNING

The name and telephone number of the representative of the Purchaser with whom details of delivery on the Delivery Date may be discussed are as follows: (Please print.)

 

Name

           Telephone No.        
(including Area Code)
 
  

 

Exhibit C-3

Exhibit 4.1

DEPOSIT AGREEMENT

DEPOSIT AGREEMENT, dated as of June 5, 2017, among (i) DDR Corp., an Ohio corporation; (ii) Computershare Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its wholly owned subsidiary, Computershare Trust Company, N.A., a federally chartered trust company, jointly as Depositary; and (iii) all holders from time to time of Depositary Shares (as hereinafter defined).

WITNESSETH:

WHEREAS, it is desired to provide, as hereinafter set forth in this Deposit Agreement, for the deposit of the Company’s Preferred Shares (as hereinafter defined) with the Depositary for the purposes set forth in this Deposit Agreement and for the issuance hereunder of the Receipts (as hereinafter defined) evidencing Depositary Shares representing a fractional interest in the Preferred Shares deposited; and

WHEREAS, the Receipts are to be substantially in the form of Exhibit A annexed to this Deposit Agreement, with appropriate insertions, modifications and omissions, as hereinafter provided in this Deposit Agreement.

NOW, THEREFORE in consideration of the premises contained herein, it is agreed by and among the parties hereto as follows:

ARTICLE I

DEFINITIONS

The following definitions shall apply to the respective terms (in the singular and plural forms of such terms) used in this Deposit Agreement and the Receipts:

SECTION 1.01. “ Amendment to the Articles ” shall mean the Amendment to the Articles of Incorporation establishing the Preferred Shares as a series of Class A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares of the Company.

SECTION 1.02. “ Articles of Incorporation ” shall mean the Third Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation, as amended, and as may be further amended from time to time, of the Company.

SECTION 1.03. “ Business Day ” shall have the meaning assigned to such term in the Amendment to the Articles.

SECTION 1.04. “ Change of Control ” shall have the meaning assigned to such term in the Amendment to the Articles.

SECTION 1.05. “ Change of Control Conversion Date ” shall have the meaning assigned to such term in the Amendment to the Articles.


SECTION 1.06. “ Common Shares ” shall mean the Company’s Common Shares, par value $0.10 per share.

SECTION 1.07. “ Common Shares Conversion Consideration ” shall have the meaning assigned to such term in the Amendment to the Articles.

SECTION 1.08. “ Common Share Price ” shall have the meaning assigned to such term in the Amendment to the Articles.

SECTION 1.09. “ Company ” shall mean DDR Corp., an Ohio corporation, and its successors.

SECTION 1.10. “ Computershare ” shall mean Computershare Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its successors.

SECTION 1.11. “ Corporate Office ” shall mean the corporate office of the Depositary at which at any particular time its business in respect of matters governed by this Deposit Agreement shall be administered, which at the date of this Deposit Agreement is located at 250 Royall Street, Canton, MA 02021.

SECTION 1.12. “ Deposit Agreement ” shall mean this agreement, as the same may be amended, modified or supplemented from time to time.

SECTION 1.13. “ Depositary ” shall mean Computershare and the Trust Company, acting jointly, and any successor as Depositary hereunder.

SECTION 1.14. “ Depositary Share ” shall mean a fractional interest of 1/20th of a Preferred Share deposited with the Depositary hereunder and the same proportionate interest in any and all other property received by the Depositary in respect of such Preferred Share and held under this Deposit Agreement, all as evidenced by the Receipts. Subject to the terms of this Deposit Agreement, each owner of a Depositary Share is entitled, proportionately, to all the rights, preferences and privileges of the Preferred Share represented by such Depositary Share, including the dividend, voting, redemption, conversion and liquidation rights contained in the Amendment to the Articles and the Articles of Incorporation.

SECTION 1.15. “ Depositary’s Agent ” shall mean an agent appointed by the Depositary as provided, and for the purposes specified, in Section 7.07.

SECTION 1.16. “ Dividend Payment Date ” shall have the meaning assigned to such term in the Amendment to the Articles.

SECTION 1.17. “ Excess Preferred Shares ” shall mean any of the Preferred Shares that constitute “Excess Preferred Shares” within the meaning of the Articles of Incorporation.

 

- 2 -


SECTION 1.18. “ Optional Redemption Right ” shall have the meaning assigned to such term in the Amendment to the Articles.

SECTION 1.19. “ Preferred Shares ” shall mean the Company’s 6.375% Class A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, without par value, heretofore validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.

SECTION 1.20. “ Receipt ” shall mean a depositary receipt issued hereunder to evidence one or more Depositary Shares, whether in definitive or temporary form, substantially in the form set forth as Exhibit A hereto.

SECTION 1.21. “ record date ” shall mean the date fixed pursuant to Section 4.04.

SECTION 1.22. “ record holder ” or “ holder ” as applied to a Receipt shall mean the person in whose name a Receipt is registered on the books maintained by the Depositary for such purpose.

SECTION 1.23. “ Registrar ” shall mean Computershare or such other successor bank or trust company which shall be appointed by the Corporation to register ownership and transfers of Receipts, the deposited Preferred Shares or Excess Preferred Shares, as the case may be, as herein provided.

SECTION 1.24. “ Securities Act ” shall mean the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

SECTION 1.25. “ Share Cap ” shall have the meaning assigned to such term in the Amendment to the Articles.

SECTION 1.26. “ Special Optional Redemption Right ” shall have the meaning assigned to such term in the Amendment to the Articles.

SECTION 1.27. “ Transfer Agent ” shall mean Computershare or such other successor bank or trust company which shall be appointed by the Corporation to transfer the Receipts, as herein provided.

SECTION 1.28. “ Trust Company ” shall mean Computershare Trust Company, N.A., a federally chartered trust company, and its successors.

ARTICLE II

FORM OF RECEIPTS; DEPOSIT OF PREFERRED SHARES;

EXECUTION AND DELIVERY, TRANSFER,

SURRENDER AND REDEMPTION OF RECEIPTS

SECTION 2.01. Form and Transferability of Receipts . (a) Definitive Receipts issued on or after the date hereof shall be engraved or printed or lithographed with steel-engraved borders and underlying tint and shall be substantially in the form set forth in Exhibit A annexed to this

 

- 3 -


Deposit Agreement, with appropriate insertions, modifications and omissions, as hereinafter provided. Pending the preparation of definitive Receipts, the Depositary, upon, and pursuant to, the written order of the Company, delivered in compliance with Section 2.02, shall be authorized and instructed to, and shall, execute and deliver temporary Receipts which may be printed, lithographed, typewritten, mimeographed or otherwise substantially of the tenor of the definitive Receipts in lieu of which they are issued and with such appropriate insertions, omissions, substitutions and other variations as the persons executing such Receipts may determine (but which do not affect the rights or duties of the Depositary), as evidenced by their execution of such Receipts. If temporary Receipts are issued, the Company and the Depositary will cause definitive Receipts to be prepared without unreasonable delay. After the preparation of definitive Receipts, the temporary Receipts shall be exchangeable for definitive Receipts upon surrender of the temporary Receipts at the Corporate Office or such other offices, if any, as the Depositary may designate, without charge to the holder. Upon surrender for cancellation of any one or more temporary Receipts, the Depositary is authorized and instructed to, and shall, execute and deliver in exchange therefor definitive Receipts representing the same number of Depositary Shares as represented by the surrendered temporary Receipt or Receipts. Such exchange shall be made at the Company’s expense and without any charge therefor. Until so exchanged, the temporary Receipts shall in all respects be entitled to the same benefits under this Deposit Agreement, and with respect to the Preferred Shares deposited, as definitive Receipts.

(b) Receipts issued on or after the date hereof shall be executed by the Depositary by the manual or facsimile signature of a duly authorized signatory of the Depositary, provided that if a Registrar (other than the Depositary) shall have been appointed then such Receipts shall also be countersigned by manual or facsimile signature of a duly authorized signatory of the Registrar. No Receipt issued on or after the date hereof shall be entitled to any benefits under this Deposit Agreement or be valid or obligatory for any purpose unless it shall have been executed as provided in the preceding sentence. The Depositary shall record on its books each Receipt executed as provided above and delivered as hereinafter provided.

(c) Receipts issued on or after the date hereof shall be in denominations of any number of whole Depositary Shares. All Receipts issued on or after the date hereof shall be dated the date of their issuance.

(d) Receipts may be endorsed with or have incorporated in the text thereof such legends or recitals or changes not inconsistent with the provisions of this Deposit Agreement as may be required by the Depositary and approved by the Company, or which the Company has determined are required to comply with any applicable law or regulation or with the rules and regulations of any securities exchange upon which the Preferred Shares or the Depositary Shares may be listed for trading or to conform with any usage with respect thereto, or to indicate any special limitations or restrictions to which any particular Receipts are subject.

(e) Title to any Receipt (and the beneficial ownership of the Depositary Shares evidenced by such Receipt) that is properly endorsed or accompanied by a properly executed instrument of transfer or endorsement shall be transferable by delivery with the same

 

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effect as in the case of a negotiable instrument; provided , however , that until a Receipt shall be transferred on the books of the Depositary as provided in Section 2.05, the Depositary may, notwithstanding any notice to the contrary, treat the record holder thereof at such time as the absolute owner thereof for all purposes, including without limitation, for the purpose of determining the person entitled to (i) distribution of dividends or other distributions, (ii) the exercise of any conversion rights or (iii) any notice provided for in this Deposit Agreement and for all other purposes.

SECTION 2.02. Deposit of Preferred Shares; Execution and Delivery of Receipts in Respect Thereof . (a) Concurrently with the execution of this Deposit Agreement, the Company is delivering to the Depositary instructions to issue 350,000 Preferred Shares in book-entry form by registering such Preferred Shares in the name of the Depositary in the records maintained by the Depositary in its capacity as the Registrar of the Preferred Shares, together with all such certifications as may be required by the Depositary in accordance with the provisions of this Deposit Agreement, and a written order of the Company directing the Depositary to deliver to, or upon the written order of, the person or persons stated in such order a Receipt or Receipts for the Depositary Shares representing such deposited Preferred Shares or directing the Depositary to issue and register the Depositary Shares representing such deposited Preferred Shares in book-entry form in the name of, or in the name of the person or persons designated by, the person or persons stated in such order, as the case may be. The Depositary acknowledges receipt of such Preferred Shares and related documentation and agrees to hold such Preferred Shares in book-entry form in an account to be established by the Depositary at the Corporate Office or at such other office as the Depositary shall determine. To the extent that the Company issues additional Preferred Shares and (i) causes such Preferred Shares to be issued in book-entry form by registration thereof in the name of the Depositary upon the records maintained by the Registrar of the Preferred Shares, or (ii) deposits with the Depositary certificates representing such Preferred Shares registered in the name of the Depositary, properly endorsed or accompanied, if required by the Depositary, by a duly executed instrument of transfer or endorsement, in form satisfactory to the Depositary, together with all such certifications as may be required by the Depositary in accordance with the provisions of this Deposit Agreement, the Company shall deliver to the Depositary a written order of the Company directing the Depositary to execute and deliver to, or upon the written order of, the person or persons stated in such order a Receipt or Receipts for the Depositary Shares representing such Preferred Shares or directing the Depositary to issue and register the Depositary Shares representing such deposited Preferred Shares in book-entry form in the name of, or in the name of the person or persons designated by, the person or persons stated in such order, as the case may be.

(b) If required by the Depositary, Preferred Shares presented for deposit by the Company at any time, whether or not the register of shareholders of the Company is closed, shall also be accompanied by an agreement or assignment, or other instrument satisfactory to the Depositary, that will provide for the prompt transfer to the Depositary or its nominee of any dividend or any right to subscribe for additional Preferred Shares or to receive other property that any person in whose name the Preferred Shares is or has been registered may thereafter receive upon or in respect of such deposited Preferred Shares, or in lieu thereof such agreement of indemnity or other agreement as shall be satisfactory to the Depositary.

 

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(c) Upon receipt by the Depositary (or the then Registrar of the Preferred Shares if other than the Depositary) of instructions to issue and register Preferred Shares in book-entry form in the name of the Depositary or upon receipt by the Depositary of a certificate or certificates (if applicable) for Preferred Shares issued on or after the date hereof and deposited hereunder, together with the other documents specified above, and upon the registration of such Preferred Shares in the name of the Depositary, the Depositary, subject to the terms and conditions of this Deposit Agreement, shall execute and deliver to, or upon the order of, the person or persons in the written order delivered to the Depositary referred to in Section 2.02(a), a Receipt or Receipts for (or issue in book-entry form to the applicable persons, as the case may be) the number of whole Depositary Shares representing such Preferred Shares and registered in such name or as may be requested by such person or persons. The Depositary shall execute and deliver such Receipt or Receipts at the Corporate Office, except that, at the request, risk and expense of any person requesting such delivery, such delivery may be made at such other place as may be designated by such person. To the extent that the Company issues any Preferred Shares after the date hereof, the Company shall notify the Depositary of such issuance.

(d) Other than in the case of splits, combinations or other reclassifications affecting the Preferred Shares, or in the case of dividends or other distributions of Preferred Shares, if any, there shall be deposited hereunder not more than the number of Preferred Shares as set forth in the Amendment to the Articles, as such may be amended.

(e) The Company shall deliver to the Depositary from time to time such quantities of Receipts as the Depositary may request to enable the Depositary to perform its obligations under this Deposit Agreement.

SECTION 2.03. Optional Redemption and Special Optional Redemption of Preferred Shares for Cash . (a) Preferred Shares are not redeemable prior to June 5, 2022, except as required to preserve the Company’s status as a real estate investment trust under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (or any successor law) and except pursuant to the Special Optional Redemption Right. Whenever the Company shall elect to redeem deposited Preferred Shares for cash pursuant to the Optional Redemption Right or Special Optional Redemption Right, in accordance with the provisions of the Amendment to the Articles, it shall (unless otherwise agreed with the Depositary) give the Depositary not less than 10 days prior written notice of its intent to redeem deposited Preferred Shares, which notice shall include the date of such proposed redemption and of the number of such Preferred Shares held by the Depositary to be redeemed and the applicable redemption price, determined pursuant to the Amendment to the Articles, including the amount, if any, of accrued and unpaid dividends to, but not including, the date of such redemption. Subsequently, the Depositary shall mail, first-class postage prepaid, notice of the redemption of Preferred Shares and the proposed simultaneous redemption of the Depositary Shares representing the Preferred Shares to be redeemed, not less than 30 and not more than 60 days prior to the date fixed for redemption of such Preferred Shares and Depositary

 

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Shares (the “cash redemption date”), to the holders of record of the Receipts evidencing the Depositary Shares to be so redeemed (such holders to be the holders of record on the record date fixed for such redemption pursuant to Section 4.04, if one is so fixed), at the addresses of such holders as the same appear on the records of the Depositary; but neither failure to mail any such notice nor any defect in any such notice or in the mailing thereof shall affect the validity of the proceedings for the redemption of any Depositary Shares except as to the holder of the Depositary Shares as to whom such notice was defective or not given.

The Company shall also cause notice of redemption (whether pursuant to the Optional Redemption Right or the Special Optional Redemption Right) to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the City of New York at least once a week for two successive weeks commencing not less than 30 days nor more than 60 days prior to the cash redemption date.

In connection with the exercise of the Optional Redemption Right or Special Optional Redemption Right, the Company shall provide the Depositary with such notice in a timely manner sufficient to enable such notice to be mailed in accordance with this Section, and each such notice shall state: (i) the cash redemption date; (ii) the cash redemption price; (iii) the number of deposited Preferred Shares and Depositary Shares to be redeemed; (iv) if fewer than all the Depositary Shares held by any holder are to be redeemed, the number of such Depositary Shares held by such holder to be so redeemed; (v) the place or places where Receipts evidencing Depositary Shares to be redeemed are to be surrendered for payment of the cash redemption price; and (vi) that dividends in respect of the Preferred Shares represented by the Depositary Shares to be redeemed will cease to accrue on the cash redemption date. In the event the Company is exercising the Special Optional Redemption Right, the notice referred to above shall also state: (i) that the Preferred Shares and the Depositary Shares are being redeemed pursuant to the Special Optional Redemption Right in connection with the occurrence of a Change of Control and a brief description of the transaction(s) constituting such Change of Control; and (ii) that the Preferred Shares to which the notice relates (and the Depositary Shares related to such Preferred Shares) may not be tendered for conversion in connection with the Change of Control by the holders thereof and that each Preferred Share (and related Depositary Shares) so tendered for conversion that is selected, prior to the Change of Control Conversion Date, for redemption will be redeemed on the related date of redemption instead of converted on the Change of Control Conversion Date. If fewer than all the outstanding Depositary Shares are to be redeemed, the Depositary Shares to be redeemed shall be selected pro rata (as nearly as may be practicable without creating fractional Depositary Shares) by the Depositary or by lot, subject to the ownership limits set forth in the Articles of Incorporation.

(b) In the event that notice of redemption has been made as described in Section 2.03(a) and the Company shall then have paid in full to the Depositary the cash redemption price (determined pursuant to the Amendment to the Articles) of the Preferred Shares deposited with the Depositary to be redeemed (including any accrued and unpaid dividends to, but not including, the cash redemption date), the Depositary shall redeem the number of Depositary Shares representing such Preferred Shares so called for redemption by the Company and from and after the cash redemption date (unless the Company shall have failed to redeem the

 

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Preferred Shares to be redeemed by it as set forth in the Company’s notice provided for in Section 2.03(a)), all dividends in respect of the Preferred Shares called for redemption shall cease to accrue, the Depositary Shares called for redemption shall be deemed no longer to be outstanding and all rights of the holders of Receipts evidencing such Depositary Shares (except the right to receive the cash redemption price) shall, to the extent of such Depositary Shares, cease and terminate. Upon surrender in accordance with said notice of the Receipts evidencing such Depositary Shares (properly endorsed or assigned for transfer, if the Depositary shall so require), such Depositary Shares shall be redeemed at a cash redemption price of $25.00 per Depositary Share plus any accrued and unpaid dividends to, but not including, the cash redemption date. The foregoing shall be further subject to the terms and conditions of the Amendment to the Articles.

(c) If fewer than all of the Depositary Shares evidenced by a Receipt are called for redemption, the Depositary will deliver to the holder of such Receipt upon its surrender to the Depositary, together with payment of the cash redemption price payable in respect of the Depositary Shares called for redemption, a new Receipt evidencing the Depositary Shares evidenced by such prior Receipt and not called for redemption.

SECTION 2.04. Optional Conversion Upon a Change of Control . Preferred Shares shall not be convertible into or exchangeable for any other property or securities of the Company, except as provided in the Amendment to the Articles and except that the Preferred Shares will automatically be converted into Excess Preferred Shares in accordance with the Articles of Incorporation as described below in Section 2.11.

Upon the occurrence of a Change of Control, each holder of Depositary Shares shall have the right, unless, prior to the Change of Control Conversion Date, the Company has provided or provides notice of the Company’s election to redeem the Preferred Shares pursuant to the Optional Redemption Right or the Special Optional Redemption Right (as provided for in Section 2.03(a)), to direct the Depositary, on such holder’s behalf, to convert some or all of the Preferred Shares represented by the Depositary Shares held by such holder (the “Change of Control Conversion Right”) on the Change of Control Conversion Date in accordance with and subject to the provisions set forth in the Amendment to the Articles (the Share Cap being equivalent to 5.58036 per Depositary Share).

In the case of a Change of Control pursuant to which Common Shares shall be converted into cash, securities or other property or assets (including any combination thereof) (the “Alternative Form Consideration”), a holder of Depositary Shares shall receive upon conversion of such Preferred Shares the kind and amount of Alternative Form Consideration which such holder of Depositary Shares would have owned or been entitled to receive upon the Change of Control had such holder of Depositary Shares held a number of shares of Common Shares equal to the Common Shares Conversion Consideration immediately prior to the effective time of the Change of Control (the “Alternative Conversion Consideration”; and the Common Shares Conversion Consideration or the Alternative Conversion Consideration, as may be applicable to a Change of Control, shall be referred to herein as the “Conversion Consideration”).

 

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In the event that holders of Common Shares have the opportunity to elect the form of consideration to be received in the Change of Control, the consideration that the holders of Depositary Shares shall receive shall be the form and proportion of the aggregate consideration elected by the holders of the Common Shares who participate in the determination (based on the weighted average of elections) and shall be subject to any limitations to which all holders of Common Shares are subject, including, without limitation, pro rata reductions applicable to any portion of the consideration payable in the Change of Control.

No fractional Common Shares shall be issued upon the conversion of Preferred Shares. In lieu of fractional shares, holders shall be entitled to receive the cash value of such fractional shares based on the Common Share Price.

Within 15 days following the occurrence of a Change of Control, the Depositary will deliver a notice of occurrence of the Change of Control, describing the resulting Change of Control Conversion Right, to the holders of record of the Depositary Shares. No failure to give such notice or any defect thereto or in the mailing thereof shall affect the validity of the proceedings for the conversion of any Depositary Shares except as to the holder of Depositary Shares to whom notice was defective or not given. Each such notice shall state: (a) the events constituting the Change of Control; (b) the date of the Change of Control; (c) the last date on which the holders of Depositary Shares may exercise their Change of Control Conversion Right; (d) the method and period for calculating the Common Share Price; (e) the Change of Control Conversion Date; (f) that if, prior to the Change of Control Conversion Date, the Company has provided or provides notice of the Company’s election to redeem all or any portion of the Preferred Shares (and the related Depositary Shares), the holders of Depositary Shares will not be able to direct the Depositary to convert such Preferred Shares (and the related Depositary Shares) and such Preferred Shares (and the related Depositary Shares) shall be redeemed on the related redemption date, even if they have already been tendered for conversion pursuant to the Change of Control Conversion Right; (g) if applicable, the type and amount of Alternative Conversion Consideration entitled to be received per Depositary Share and per Preferred Share; (h) the name and address of the paying agent and the conversion agent; (i) the procedures that the holders of Depositary Shares must follow to exercise the Change of Control Conversion Right; and (j) the last date on which the holders of the Depositary Shares may withdraw Depositary Shares surrendered for conversion and the procedures that such holders must follow to effect such a withdrawal.

The Company shall issue a press release for publication on the Dow Jones & Company, Inc., Business Wire, PR Newswire or Bloomberg Business News (or, if these organizations are not in existence at the time of issuance of the press release, such other news or press organization as is reasonably calculated to broadly disseminate the relevant information to the public), or post notice on the Company’s website, in any event prior to the opening of business on the first Business Day following any date on which the Depositary provides the Change of Control notice described above to the holders of the Depositary Shares.

 

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In order to exercise the Change of Control Conversion Right, a holder of Depositary Shares shall be required to deliver, on or before the close of business on the Change of Control Conversion Date, the Receipts evidencing the Depositary Shares to be converted, duly endorsed for transfer to the extent such shares are certificated, together with a written conversion notice completed, to the Depositary. Such notice shall state: (i) the relevant Change of Control Conversion Date; (ii) the number of Depositary Shares to be converted; and (iii) that the Depositary Shares are to be converted pursuant to the applicable terms of the Preferred Shares. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Depositary Shares are held in global form, such notice shall comply with applicable procedures of The Depository Trust Company or successor securities clearing depositary for the Depositary Shares (the “Clearing Agency”).

Holders of Depositary Shares may withdraw any notice of exercise of a Change of Control Conversion Right (in whole or in part) by a written notice of withdrawal delivered to the Depositary prior to the close of business on the Business Day prior to the Change of Control Conversion Date. The notice of withdrawal must state: (i) the number of withdrawn Depositary Shares; (ii) if certificated Depositary Shares have been issued, the receipt numbers of the withdrawn Depositary Shares; and (iii) the number of Depositary Shares, if any, which remain subject to the conversion notice. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Depositary Shares are held in global form, the notice of withdrawal shall comply with applicable procedures of the Clearing Agency.

The Depositary shall act upon the conversion notices and withdrawal notices properly tendered to it in accordance with the foregoing provisions, by delivering conversion notices and withdrawal notices with respect to the Preferred Shares that are in the aggregate representative of the notices received by it, in accordance with, and within the time provided by, the provisions governing the delivery of such notices under the Amendment to the Articles, as instructed by the Company in writing.

Preferred Shares as to which the Change of Control Conversion Right has been properly exercised and for which the conversion notice has not been properly withdrawn shall be converted into the applicable Conversion Consideration in accordance with the Change of Control Conversion Right on the Change of Control Conversion Date, unless, prior to the Change of Control Conversion Date, the Company has provided or provides notice of the Company’s election to redeem such Preferred Shares (and the related Depositary Shares), whether pursuant to the Optional Redemption Right or Special Optional Redemption Right, in which case the holders of the Depositary Shares will not have the Change of Control Conversion Right.

The Depositary, on behalf of the Company, shall deliver the applicable Conversion Consideration to the holders of Depositary Shares no later than the third Business Day following the Change of Control Conversion Date.

 

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Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, no holder of Depositary Shares will be entitled to convert Preferred Shares into Common Shares to the extent that receipt of such Common Shares would cause such holder (or any other person) to exceed the share ownership limits contained in the Articles of Incorporation unless the Company provides and exemption from any such limitation for such holder or other person.

SECTION 2.05. Registration of Transfers of Receipts . The Company hereby appoints Computershare as the Registrar and Transfer Agent for the Depositary Shares, and Computershare hereby accepts such appointment and, as such, shall register on its books from time to time transfers of the Depositary Shares, including transfers of Receipts, upon any surrender thereof by the holder in person or by a duly authorized attorney, agent or representative, properly endorsed or accompanied by a properly executed instrument of transfer or endorsement, subject to the inclusion therein of a signature guarantee from an eligible guarantor institution participating in a signature guarantee program approved by the Securities Transfer Association and anything else required to be included therein by applicable law, together with evidence of the payment by the applicable party of any transfer taxes as may be required by law. Upon such surrender, the Depositary shall execute a new Receipt or Receipts and deliver the same to or upon the order of the person entitled thereto evidencing the same aggregate number of Depositary Shares evidenced by the Receipt or Receipts surrendered.

SECTION 2.06. Combinations and Split-Ups of Receipts . Upon surrender of a Receipt or Receipts at the Corporate Office or such other office as the Depositary may designate for the purpose of effecting a split-up or combination of Receipts, subject to the terms and conditions of this Deposit Agreement, the Depositary shall execute and deliver a new Receipt or Receipts in the authorized denominations requested evidencing the same aggregate number of Depositary Shares evidenced by the Receipt or Receipts surrendered.

SECTION 2.07. Surrender of Receipts and Withdrawal of Preferred Shares . (a) Any holder of a Receipt or Receipts may withdraw any or all of the deposited Preferred Shares represented by the Depositary Shares evidenced by such Receipt or Receipts and all money and other property, if any, represented by such Depositary Shares by surrendering such Receipt or Receipts at the Corporate Office or at such other office as the Depositary may designate for such withdrawals, provided that a holder of a Receipt or Receipts may not withdraw such Preferred Shares (or money and other property, if any, represented thereby) which have previously been called for redemption or which have been converted to Excess Preferred Shares in accordance with Section 2.11. After such surrender, without unreasonable delay, the Depositary shall notify the Transfer Agent for the Preferred Shares and shall deliver, or cause to be delivered, to such holder, or to the person or persons designated by such holder as hereinafter provided, the number of whole or fractional Preferred Shares and all such money and other property, if any, represented by the Depositary Shares evidenced by the Receipt or Receipts so surrendered for withdrawal, but holders of such whole or fractional Preferred Shares will not thereafter be entitled to deposit such Preferred Shares hereunder or to receive Depositary Shares therefor. If the Receipt or Receipts delivered by the holder to the Depositary in connection with such withdrawal shall evidence a number of Depositary Shares in excess of the number of Depositary Shares representing the number of whole or fractional shares of deposited Preferred Shares to be withdrawn, the Depositary shall at the same time, in addition to such number of whole or

 

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fractional Preferred Shares and such money and other property, if any, to be withdrawn, deliver to such holder, or (subject to Section 2.05) upon his order, a new Receipt or Receipts evidencing such excess number of Depositary Shares. Delivery of such Preferred Shares and such money and other property being withdrawn may be made by the delivery of such certificates, documents of title and other instruments as the Depositary may deem appropriate, which, if required by the Depositary, shall be properly endorsed or accompanied by proper instruments of transfer.

(b) If the deposited Preferred Shares and the money and other property being withdrawn are to be delivered to a person or persons other than the record holder of the Receipt or Receipts being surrendered for withdrawal of Preferred Shares, such holder shall execute and deliver to the Depositary a written order so directing the Depositary and the Depositary may require that the Receipt or Receipts surrendered by such holder for withdrawal of such Preferred Shares be properly endorsed in blank or accompanied by a properly executed instrument of transfer or endorsement in blank.

(c) The Depositary shall deliver, or cause to be delivered, the deposited Preferred Shares and the money and other property, if any, represented by the Depositary Shares evidenced by Receipts surrendered for withdrawal at the Corporate Office, except that, at the request, risk and expense of the holder surrendering such Receipt or Receipts and for the account of the holder thereof, such delivery may be made at such other place as may be designated by such holder.

SECTION 2.08. Limitations on Execution and Delivery, Transfer, Split-Up, Combination, Surrender and Exchange of Receipts . (a) As a condition precedent to the execution and delivery, transfer, split-up, combination, surrender or exchange of any Receipt, the Depositary, any of the Depositary’s Agents or the Company may require any or all of the following: (i) payment to it of a sum sufficient for the payment (or, in the event that the Company shall have made such payment, the reimbursement to it) of any tax or other charge and stock transfer or registration fee with respect thereto (including any such tax or charge with respect to the Preferred Shares being deposited or withdrawn); (ii) the production of proof satisfactory to it as to the identity and genuineness of any signature (or the authority of any signature) which authority shall include a signature guarantee from an eligible guarantor institution participating in a signature guarantee program approved by the Securities Transfer Association, and any other evidence of authority that may be reasonably required by the Depositary; and (iii) compliance with such regulations, if any, as the Depositary or the Company may establish consistent with the provisions of this Deposit Agreement as may be required by any securities exchange upon which the deposited Preferred Shares, the Depositary Shares or the Receipts may be included for quotation or listed on any applicable self- regulatory body.

(b) The deposit of Preferred Shares may be refused, the delivery of Receipts against Preferred Shares may be suspended, the transfer of Receipts may be refused, and the transfer, split-up, combination, surrender, exchange or redemption of outstanding Receipts may be suspended (i) during any period when the register of shareholders of the Company is closed or (ii) if any such action is deemed reasonably necessary or advisable by the Depositary, any of the Depositary’s Agents or the Company at any time or from time to time because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body or commission, or under any provision of this Deposit Agreement.

 

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SECTION 2.09. Lost Receipts, etc . In case any Receipt shall be mutilated and surrendered to the Depositary or destroyed or lost or stolen, the Depositary shall execute and deliver a Receipt of like form and tenor in exchange and substitution for such mutilated Receipt or in lieu of and in substitution for such destroyed, lost or stolen Receipt, provided that the holder thereof provides the Depositary with (i) an affidavit reasonably satisfactory to the Depositary attesting to such destruction, loss or theft of such Receipt, evidence of the authenticity thereof and of such holder’s ownership thereof, (ii) a request for such execution and delivery, which must be received by the Depositary before the Depositary has notice that the Receipt has been acquired by a protected purchaser, (iii) an open penalty surety bond reasonably satisfactory to the Depositary and covering the Depositary and the Company, and (iv) any other documents reasonably required by the Depositary or prescribed pursuant to Section 8-405 of the Uniform Commercial Code in effect in the State of New York, or any successor provision.

SECTION 2.10. Cancellation and Destruction of Surrendered Receipts . All Receipts surrendered to the Depositary or any Depositary’s Agent shall be cancelled by the Depositary. Except as prohibited by applicable law or regulation, the Depositary is authorized, but not required, to destroy such Receipts so cancelled.

SECTION 2.11. Conversion of Preferred Shares into Excess Preferred Shares . (a) As provided in the Articles of Incorporation, upon the happening of certain events, certain Preferred Shares shall be automatically converted into Excess Preferred Shares. In the event of such a conversion, the Receipt representing the deposited Preferred Shares so converted shall no longer represent, to the extent of the shares so converted, such deposited Preferred Shares. Promptly upon its knowledge of the conversion of such deposited Preferred Shares into Excess Preferred Shares, the Company shall notify the Depositary in writing of such conversion, the number of deposited Preferred Shares so converted, and the identity of the holder of the Receipt so affected, whereupon the Depositary shall promptly notify the holder of such Receipt to surrender such Receipt(s) to the Depositary for cancellation of the number of Depositary Shares evidenced thereby equal to the converted deposited Preferred Shares represented thereby.

(b) If fewer than all of the Depositary Shares evidenced by a Receipt are required to be surrendered for cancellation, the Depositary will deliver to the holder of such Receipt upon its surrender to the Depositary a new Receipt evidencing the Depositary Shares evidenced by such prior Receipt and not required to be surrendered for cancellation of the Depositary Shares represented thereby, and the Depositary will make appropriate adjustments in its records (as contemplated in Section 2.02) to reflect such conversion and cancellation (including the reduction of any fractional share of deposited Preferred Shares and the issuance of any Excess Preferred Shares).

 

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ARTICLE III

CERTAIN OBLIGATIONS OF HOLDERS OF

RECEIPTS AND THE COMPANY

SECTION 3.01. Filing Proofs, Certificates and Other Information . Any person presenting Preferred Shares for deposit or any holder of a Receipt may be required from time to time to file with the Depositary such proof of residence, guarantee of signature or other information, and to execute such certificates and to make such representations and warranties as the Depositary may reasonably deem necessary or proper or the Company may reasonably require by written request to the Depositary. The Depositary or the Company may withhold or delay the delivery of any Receipt, the transfer, redemption, conversion or exchange of any Receipt, the withdrawal of the deposited Preferred Shares represented by the Depositary Shares evidenced by any Receipt, the distribution of any dividend or other distribution or the sale of any rights or of the proceeds thereof, until such proof or other information is filed, such certificates are executed or such representations and warranties are made.

SECTION 3.02. Payment of Fees and Expenses . Holders of Receipts shall be obligated to make payments to the Depositary of certain fees and expenses and taxes or other charges to the extent provided in Section 5.07, or provide evidence reasonably satisfactory to the Depositary that such fees and expenses and taxes or other charges have been paid. Until such payment is made, transfer of any Receipt or any withdrawal of the Preferred Shares or money or other property, if any, represented by the Depositary Shares evidenced by such Receipt may be refused, any dividend or other distribution may be withheld, and any part or all of the Preferred Shares or other property represented by the Depositary Shares evidenced by such Receipt may be sold for the account of the holder thereof (after attempting by reasonable means to notify such holder a reasonable number of days prior to such sale). Any dividend or other distribution so withheld and the proceeds of any such sale may be applied to any payment of such fees or expenses, the holder of such Receipt remaining liable for any deficiency.

SECTION 3.03. Representations and Warranties as to Preferred Shares . In the case of the initial deposit of the Preferred Shares hereunder, the Company and, in the case of subsequent deposits thereof, each person so depositing Preferred Shares under this Deposit Agreement shall be deemed thereby to represent and warrant that such Preferred Shares and each certificate therefor, if any, are valid and that the person making such deposit is duly authorized to do so. The Company hereby further represents and warrants that such Preferred Shares, when issued, will be, validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable. Such representations and warranties shall survive the deposit of the Preferred Shares and the issuance of Receipts.

SECTION 3.04. Representation and Warranties as to Receipts and Depositary Shares . The Company hereby represents and warrants that the Receipts, when issued, will evidence legal and valid interests in the Depositary Shares and each Depositary Share will represent a legal and valid 1 / 20th fractional interest in a deposited Preferred Share. Such representation and warranty shall survive the deposit of the Preferred Shares and the issuance of Receipts.

 

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ARTICLE IV

THE PREFERRED SHARES; NOTICES

SECTION 4.01. Cash Distributions . Whenever the Depositary shall receive any cash dividend or other cash distribution on the deposited Preferred Shares, including any cash received upon redemption of any Preferred Shares pursuant to Section 2.03, the Depositary shall, subject to Section 3.02, distribute to record holders of Receipts on the record date fixed pursuant to Section 4.04 such amounts of such dividend or distribution as are, as nearly as practicable, in proportion to the respective numbers of Depositary Shares evidenced by the Receipts held by such holders; provided , however , that (i) in case the Company or the Depositary shall be required to and shall withhold from any cash dividend or other cash distribution in respect of the Preferred Shares represented by the Receipts held by any holder an amount on account of taxes or as otherwise required by law, regulation or court order, the amount made available for distribution or distributed in respect of Depositary Shares represented by such Receipts subject to such withholding shall be reduced accordingly, (ii) holders of Receipts on such record date will be entitled to receive the dividend payable in respect of the Preferred Shares represented by the Receipts, notwithstanding the redemption or conversion of such Receipts after such record date and on or prior to the corresponding Dividend Payment Date or the Company’s default in the payment of the dividend due on such Preferred Shares on such Dividend Payment Date and (iii) no cash dividends will be paid in respect of any Depositary Share to the extent that it represents any Preferred Shares converted into Excess Preferred Shares. The Depositary shall distribute or make available for distribution, as the case may be, only such amount as can be distributed without attributing to any holder of Receipts a fraction of one cent, and any balance not so distributable shall be held by the Depositary (without liability for interest thereon) and shall be added to and be treated as part of the next sum received by the Depositary for distribution to record holders of Receipts then outstanding. Prior to any such distribution, to the extent the Depositary does not have the requisite tax form from a holder, the Depositary may require such holder to provide the Depositary with a properly completed Form W-8 (i.e., Form W-8BEN, W-8BEN-E, Form W-8EXP, Form W-8IMY, Form W8ECI or another applicable Form W-8) or Form W-9 (which form shall set forth such holder’s certified taxpayer identification number if requested on such form), as may be applicable. Each holder of a Receipt acknowledges that, in the event of non-compliance with the preceding sentence, the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (or any successor law), may require withholding by the Depositary of a portion of any of the distribution to be made hereunder.

The Company acknowledges that the bank accounts maintained by the Depositary in connection with the services provided under this Deposit Agreement will be in its name and that the Depositary may receive investment earnings in connection with the investment at the Depositary’s risk and for its benefit of funds held in those accounts from time to time. Neither the Company nor the record holders will receive interest on any of these deposits.

SECTION 4.02. Distributions Other Than Cash . Whenever the Depositary shall receive any distribution other than cash on the deposited Preferred Shares, the Depositary shall, subject to Section 3.02, distribute to record holders of Receipts on the record date fixed pursuant to

 

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Section 4.04 such amounts of the securities or property received by it as are, as nearly as practicable, in proportion to the respective numbers of Depositary Shares evidenced by the Receipts held by such holders, in any manner that the Depositary and the Company may deem equitable and practicable for accomplishing such distribution, except that no distribution will be made in respect of any Depositary Share to the extent that it represents any Preferred Shares converted into Excess Preferred Shares. If, in the opinion of the Depositary after consultation with the Company, such distribution cannot be made proportionately among such record holders, or if for any other reason (including any requirement that the Company or the Depositary withhold an amount on account of taxes), the Depositary deems, after consultation with the Company, such distribution not to be feasible, the Depositary may, with the approval of the Company, adopt such method as it deems equitable and practicable for the purpose of effecting such distribution, including the sale (at public or private sale) of the securities or property thus received, or any part thereof, at such place or places and upon such terms as it may deem proper. The net proceeds of any such sale shall, subject to Section 3.02, be distributed or made available for distribution, as the case may be, by the Depositary to record holders of Receipts as provided by Section 4.01 in the case of a distribution received in cash. The Company shall not make any distribution of such securities or property to the holders of Receipts unless the Company shall have provided to the Depositary an opinion of counsel reasonably satisfactory to the Depositary stating that:

(a) the distribution of such securities or property has been registered under the Securities Act or that registration is not required, and any applicable state securities law filings have been made with respect to such securities; and

(b) all such securities are validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable.

The Company shall advise the Depositary of the nature of any property, and if the Depositary in its reasonable judgment determines that it may incur liability by reason of being deemed an owner thereof, the Depositary shall have the right to refuse such property, but the Depositary shall assist the Company in determining an appropriate means of distributing such property. References to a “distribution” under this Section 4.02 shall not be construed to include the receipt and distribution by the Depositary of Conversion Consideration.

SECTION 4.03. Subscription Rights, Preferences or Privileges . (a) If the Company shall at any time offer or cause to be offered to the persons in whose names deposited Preferred Shares are registered on the books of the Company any rights, preferences or privileges to subscribe for or to purchase any securities or any rights, preferences or privileges of any other nature, such rights, preferences or privileges shall in each such instance be made available by the Depositary to the record holders of Receipts in such manner as the Company shall instruct (including by the issue to such record holders of warrants representing such rights, preferences or privileges); provided , however , that (i) if at the time of issue or offer of any such rights, preferences or privileges the Company determines upon advice of its legal counsel that it is not lawful or feasible to make such rights, preferences or privileges available to the holders of Receipts (by the issue of warrants or otherwise) or (ii) if and to the extent instructed by holders

 

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of Receipts who do not desire to exercise such rights, preferences or privileges, the Depositary shall then, if so instructed by the Company, and if applicable laws or the terms of such rights, preferences or privileges so permit, sell such rights, preferences or privileges of such holders at public or private sale, at such place or places and upon such terms as it may deem proper. The net proceeds of any such sale shall, subject to Section 3.01 and Section 3.02, be distributed by the Depositary to the record holders of Receipts entitled thereto as provided by Section 4.01 in the case of a distribution received in cash. The Depositary shall not make any distribution of such rights, preferences or privileges, unless the Company shall have provided to the Depositary the opinion of counsel required by Section 4.03(b).

(b) If registration under the Securities Act of the securities to which any rights, preferences or privileges relate is required in order for holders of Receipts to be offered or sold the securities to which such rights, preferences or privileges relate, the Company agrees that it will promptly file a registration statement pursuant to the Securities Act with respect to such rights, preferences or privileges and securities and use its commercially reasonable efforts and take all steps available to it to cause such registration statement to become effective sufficiently in advance of the expiration of such rights, preferences or privileges to enable such holders to exercise such rights, preferences or privileges. In no event shall the Depositary make available to the holders of Receipts any right, preference or privilege to subscribe for or to purchase any securities unless and until such a registration statement shall have become effective or unless the offering and sale of such securities to such holders are exempt from registration under the provisions of the Securities Act and the Company shall have provided to the Depositary an opinion of counsel to such effect.

(c) If any other action under the law of any jurisdiction or any governmental or administrative authorization, consent or permit is required in order for such rights, preferences or privileges to be made available to holders of Receipts, the Company agrees to use its commercially reasonable efforts to take such action or obtain such authorization, consent or permit sufficiently in advance of the expiration of such rights, preferences or privileges to enable such holders to exercise such rights, preferences or privileges.

(d) The Depositary will not be deemed to have any knowledge of any item for which it is supposed to receive notification under any Section of this Deposit Agreement unless and until it has received such notification.

SECTION 4.04. Notice of Dividends; Fixing of Record Date for Holders of Receipts . Whenever any cash dividend or other cash distribution shall become payable, any distribution other than cash shall be made, or any rights, preferences or privileges shall at any time be offered, with respect to the deposited Preferred Shares, or whenever the Depositary shall receive notice of (i) any meeting at which holders of such Preferred Shares are entitled to vote or of which holders of such Preferred Shares are entitled to notice or (ii) any election on the part of the Company to redeem any such Preferred Shares, the Depositary shall in each such instance fix a record date if a record date is fixed by Company with respect to the Preferred Shares (which record date shall be the same date as the record date fixed by the Company with respect to the

 

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Preferred Shares), for the determination of the holders of Receipts who shall be entitled to receive such dividend, distribution, rights, preferences or privileges or the net proceeds of the sale thereof, to give instructions for the exercise of voting rights at any such meeting or to receive notice of such meeting or the determination of holders of Receipts who shall be entitled to receive the cash redemption price on a cash redemption date.

SECTION 4.05. Voting Rights . Upon receipt of notice of any meeting at which the holders of deposited Preferred Shares are entitled to vote, the Depositary shall, as soon as practicable thereafter, mail to the record holders of Receipts a notice, which shall be provided by the Company and which shall contain (i) such information as is contained in such notice of meeting, (ii) a statement that the holders of Receipts at the close of business on a specified record date fixed pursuant to Section 4.04 will be entitled, subject to any applicable provision of law, to instruct the Depositary as to the exercise of the voting rights pertaining to the amount of Preferred Shares represented by their respective Depositary Shares and (iii) a brief statement as to the manner in which such instructions may be given. Upon the written request of a holder of a Receipt on such record date, the Depositary shall vote or cause to be voted the amount of Preferred Shares represented by the Depositary Shares evidenced by such Receipt in accordance with the instructions set forth in such request. To the extent any such instructions request the voting of a fractional interest of a share of deposited Preferred Shares, the Depositary shall aggregate such interest with all other fractional interests resulting from requests with the same voting instructions and shall vote the number of whole votes resulting from such aggregation in accordance with the instructions received in such requests. Each Preferred Share is entitled to one vote on all matters as to which the Preferred Shares vote and, accordingly, each Depositary Share is entitled to 1/20th of a vote on such matters. The Company hereby agrees to take all reasonable actions that may be deemed necessary by the Depositary in order to enable the Depositary to vote such Preferred Shares or cause such Preferred Shares to be voted. In the absence of specific instructions from the holder of a Receipt, the Depositary will abstain from voting to the extent of the Preferred Shares represented by the Depositary Shares evidenced by such Receipt. The Depositary shall not be required to exercise discretion in voting any Preferred Shares represented by the Depositary Shares evidenced by such Receipt.

SECTION 4.06. Changes Affecting Preferred Shares and Reclassifications, Recapitalizations, etc . Upon any change in par or stated value, split-up, combination or any other reclassification of Preferred Shares, or upon any recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation affecting the Company or to which it is a party or sale of all or substantially all of the Company’s assets, the Depositary shall, upon the written instructions of the Company, (i) make such adjustments in (a) the fraction of an interest represented by one Depositary Share in one Preferred Share, (b) the ratio of the redemption price per Depositary Share to the redemption price of a Preferred Share and (c) the ratio of the Common Shares Conversion Consideration per Depositary Share to the Common Shares Conversion Consideration for a Preferred Share, in each case as may be required by or as is consistent with the provisions of the Amendment to the Articles and the Articles of Incorporation to fully reflect the effects of such change in par or stated value, split-up, combination or other reclassification, or of such

 

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recapitalization, reorganization, merger, consolidation or sale and (ii) treat any shares or other securities or property (including cash) that shall be received by the Depositary in exchange for or upon conversion of or in respect of the Preferred Shares as new deposited property under this Deposit Agreement, and Receipts then outstanding shall thereafter represent the proportionate interests of holders thereof in the new deposited property so received in exchange for or upon conversion or in respect of such Preferred Shares. In any such case the Depositary may, upon the written instructions of the Company, execute and deliver additional Receipts, or may call for the surrender of all outstanding Receipts to be exchanged for new Receipts specifically describing such new deposited property. Anything to the contrary herein notwithstanding but subject to the rights of holders of Depositary Shares provided for in Section 2.04, holders of Receipts shall have the right from and after the effective date of any such change in par or stated value, split-up, combination or other reclassification of the Preferred Shares or any such recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation or sale of substantially all the assets of the Company to surrender such Receipts to the Depositary with instructions to convert, exchange or surrender the Preferred Shares represented thereby only into or for, as the case may be, the kind and amount of shares and other securities and property and cash into which the deposited Preferred Shares evidenced by such Receipts might have been converted or for which such Preferred Shares might have been exchanged or surrendered immediately prior to the effective date of such transaction. The Company shall cause an effective provision to be made in the corporate charter of the resulting or surviving corporation (if other than the Company) for protection of such rights as may be applicable upon exchange of the deposited Preferred Shares for securities or property or cash of the surviving corporation in connection with the transactions set forth above. The Company shall cause any such surviving corporation (if other than the Company) expressly to assume the obligations of the Company hereunder.

SECTION 4.07. Inspection of Reports . The Depositary shall make available for inspection by holders of Receipts at the Corporate Office and at such other places as it may from time to time deem advisable during normal business hours any reports and communications received from the Company that are both received by the Depositary as the holder of deposited Preferred Shares and made generally available to the holders of the Preferred Shares. In addition, the Depositary shall transmit certain notices and reports to the holders of Receipts as provided in Section 5.05.

SECTION 4.08. Lists of Receipt Holders . Promptly upon request from time to time by the Company, the Depositary or Registrar, as applicable, shall furnish to the Company a list, as of a recent date specified by the Company, of the names, addresses and holdings of Depositary Shares of all persons in whose names Receipts are registered on the books of the Depositary or Registrar, as applicable.

SECTION 4.09. Tax and Regulatory Compliance . The Depositary shall be responsible for (i) preparation and mailing of 1099 forms for all open and closed accounts, (ii) foreign tax withholding, (iii) withholding at the then applicable rate of dividends from holders of Receipts subject to back-up withholding, (iv) mailing W-9 forms to new holders of Receipts without a certified taxpayer identification number, (v) processing certified W-9 forms, (vi) preparation and filing of state information returns and (vii) escheatment services.

 

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SECTION 4.10. Withholding . Notwithstanding any other provision of this Deposit Agreement, in the event that the Depositary determines that any distribution in property is subject to any tax or other charge which the Depositary is obligated by law to withhold, the Depositary may dispose of all or a portion of such property in such amounts and in such manner as the Depositary deems necessary and practicable to pay such taxes, by public or private sale, and the Depositary shall distribute the net proceeds of any such sale or the balance of any such property after deduction of such taxes to the holders of Receipts entitled thereto in proportion to the number of Depositary Shares held by them, respectively.

ARTICLE V

THE DEPOSITARY AND THE COMPANY

SECTION 5.01. Maintenance of Offices, Agencies and Transfer Books by the Depositary and the Registrar . (a) The Depositary shall maintain at the Corporate Office facilities for the execution and delivery transfer, surrender and exchange, split-up, combination, redemption and conversion of Receipts and for the deposit and withdrawal of Preferred Shares and at the offices of the Depositary’s Agents, if any, facilities for the delivery, transfer, surrender and exchange, split-up, combination and redemption of Receipts and for the deposit and withdrawal of Preferred Shares, all in accordance with the provisions of this Deposit Agreement.

(b) The Depositary or Registrar, as applicable, shall keep books at the Corporate Office for the registration and transfer of Receipts, which books at all reasonable times shall be open for inspection by the record holders of Receipts as provided by applicable law. The Depositary may close such books, at any time or from time to time, when deemed expedient by it in connection with the performance of its duties hereunder.

(c) If the Receipts or the Depositary Shares evidenced thereby or the Preferred Shares represented by such Depositary Shares shall be listed on the New York Stock Exchange or any other stock exchange, the Depositary may, with the approval of the Company, appoint a Registrar (acceptable to the Company) for registration of such Receipts or Depositary Shares in accordance with the requirements of such exchange. Such Registrar (which may be the Depositary if so permitted by the requirements of such exchange) may be removed and a substitute registrar appointed by the Depositary upon the request or with the approval of the Company. If the Receipts, such Depositary Shares or such Preferred Shares are listed on one or more other stock exchanges, the Depositary will, at the request and expense of the Company, arrange such facilities for the delivery, transfer, surrender, redemption, exchange and conversion of such Receipts, such Depositary Shares or such Preferred Shares as may be required by law or applicable stock exchange regulations.

 

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SECTION 5.02. Prevention or Delay in Performance by the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agents, the Registrar or the Company . Neither the Depositary, any Depositary’s Agent, the Registrar nor the Company shall incur any liability to any holder of any Receipt, if by reason of any provision of any present or future law or regulation thereunder of the United States of America or of any other governmental authority or, in the case of the Company, the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent or the Registrar, by reason of any provision, present or future, of the Articles of Incorporation or the Amendment to the Articles or, in the case of the Company, the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent or the Registrar, by reason of any act of God or war or other circumstance beyond the control of the relevant party, the Depositary, any Depositary’s Agent, the Registrar or the Company shall be prevented or forbidden from doing or performing any act or thing that the terms of this Deposit Agreement provide shall be done or performed; nor shall the Depositary, any Depositary’s Agent, the Registrar or the Company incur any liability to any holder of a Receipt by reason of any nonperformance or delay, caused as aforesaid, in the performance of any act or thing that the terms of this Deposit Agreement provide shall or may be done or performed, or by reason of any exercise of, or failure to exercise, any discretion provided for in this Deposit Agreement.

SECTION 5.03. Scope of the Depositary’s Obligations . (a) The Depositary shall act solely as agent for the Company under this Deposit Agreement and owes no duties hereunder to any other person. The Depositary undertakes to perform the duties and only the duties that are specifically set forth in this Deposit Agreement, and no implied covenants or obligations shall be read into this Deposit Agreement against the Depositary.

(b) None of the Depositary, any Depositary’s Agent, the Registrar or the Company shall be under any obligation to appear in, prosecute or defend any action, suit or other proceeding with respect to the deposited Preferred Shares, Depositary Shares or Receipts that in its opinion may involve it in expense or liability, unless indemnity satisfactory to it against all expense and liability be furnished as often as may be required.

(c) The Depositary, any Depositary’s Agent and the Registrar may rely upon, and shall be protected in acting or refraining from acting in reliance upon, (i) any communication from Company, any predecessor Depositary or Depositary’s Agent, any predecessor co-Depositary or any Registrar (other than Depositary), predecessor Registrar or co-Registrar; (ii) any instruction, notice, request, direction, consent, report, certificate, opinion or other instrument, paper, document or electronic transmission believed by the Depositary to be genuine and to have been signed or given by the proper party or parties; (iii) the identity, authority or rights of the parties (other than with respect to the Depositary) executing or delivering or purporting to execute or deliver this Deposit Agreement or any documents or papers deposited or called for under this Deposit Agreement, (iv) any guaranty of signature by an “eligible guarantor institution” that is member or participant in the Securities Transfer Agents Medallion Program or other comparable “signature guarantee program” or insurance program in addition to the foregoing, (v) any instructions received through Direct Registration System/Profile; or (vi) any law, act, regulation or any reasonable interpretation of the same even though such law, act, or regulation may thereafter have been altered, changed, amended or repealed.

 

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(d) In connection with any question of law arising in the course of the Depositary performing its duties hereunder, the Depositary may consult with legal counsel (including internal counsel) whose advice shall be an indication of good faith in respect of any action taken, suffered or omitted by the Depositary hereunder.

(e) The Depositary, its parent, affiliate, or subsidiaries, any Depositary’s Agent, and the Registrar may own, buy, sell or deal in any class of securities of the Company and its affiliates and its Receipts or Depositary Shares or become pecuniarily interested in any transaction in which the Company or its affiliates may be interested or contract with or lend money to or otherwise act as fully or as freely as if it were not the Depositary or the Depositary’s Agent hereunder. The Depositary may also act as transfer agent or registrar of any of the securities of the Company and its affiliates or act in any other capacity for the Company or its affiliates.

(f) It is intended that neither the Depositary nor any Depositary’s Agent shall be deemed to be an “issuer” of securities under the federal securities laws or applicable state securities laws, it being expressly understood and agreed that the Depositary and any Depositary’s Agent are acting only in a ministerial capacity as Depositary for the deposited Preferred Shares; provided , however , that the Depositary agrees to comply with all information reporting and withholding requirements applicable to it under law or this Deposit Agreement in its capacity as Depositary. Neither the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent nor the Registrar shall be under any duty or responsibility to ensure compliance with any applicable federal or state securities laws in connection with the issuance, transfer or exchange of the Receipts, Preferred Shares or Depository Shares; provided , however , that each of the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent and the Registrar agrees to comply with all federal and state securities laws applicable to it in its respective capacity as Depositary, Depositary’s Agent and Registrar.

(g) Neither the Depositary (or its officers, directors, employees or agents) nor any Depositary’s Agent makes any representation or has any responsibility as to the validity of any registration statement pursuant to which the Depositary Shares may be registered under the Securities Act, the deposited Preferred Shares, the Depositary Shares, the Receipts (except its countersignature thereon) or any instruments referred to therein or herein, or as to the correctness of any statement made in any such registration statement or herein; provided , however , that the Depositary is responsible for its representations in this Deposit Agreement, for the validity of any action taken or required to be taken by the Depositary in connection with this Deposit Agreement and for any information provided to the Company in writing for the purpose of including such information in any such registration statement.

(h) In the event the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent or the Registrar believes any ambiguity, uncertainty or conflict exists in any notice, instruction, direction, request or other communication, paper or document received by it pursuant to this Deposit Agreement, the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent or Registrar shall promptly notify the Company of the details of such alleged ambiguity, uncertainty or conflict, and may, in its sole discretion, refrain from taking any action, and the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent or Registrar shall be fully

 

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protected and shall incur no liability to any person from refraining from taking such action, absent gross negligence or intentional misconduct (as determined by a final, non-appealable, judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction), unless and until (i) the rights of all parties have been fully and finally adjudicated by a court of appropriate jurisdiction or (ii) the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent or Registrar receives written instructions with respect to such matter signed by the Company that eliminates such ambiguity, uncertainty or conflict to the satisfaction of the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent or Registrar.

(i) Whenever in the performance of its duties under this Deposit Agreement, the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent or Registrar shall deem it necessary that any fact or matter be proved or established by the Company prior to taking, suffering or omitting to take any action hereunder, such fact or matter (unless other evidence in respect thereof be herein specifically prescribed) may be deemed to be conclusively provided and established by a certificate signed by any one of the Chairman of the Board, the Chief Executive Officer, the President, any Executive Vice President, any Senior Vice President, the Treasurer, any Assistant Treasurer, the Secretary or Assistant Secretary of the Company and delivered to the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent or Registrar; and such certificate shall be full and complete authorization and protection to the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent or Registrar and the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent or Registrar shall incur no liability for or in respect of any action taken, suffered or omitted by it under the provisions of this Deposit Agreement in reliance upon such certificate. The Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent or Registrar shall not be liable for or by reason of any of the statements of fact or recitals contained in this Deposit Agreement or in the Receipts (except its countersignature thereof) or be required to verify the same, but all such statements and recitals are and shall be deemed to have been made by the Company only.

(j) Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, no amendment to the Articles of Incorporation shall affect the rights, duties, obligations or immunities of the Depositary, the Depositary’s Agent or Registrar hereunder.

(k) The Depositary and the Registrar hereunder:

(i) shall have no duties or obligations other than those specifically set forth herein (and no implied duties or obligations), or as may subsequently be agreed to in writing by the parties; and

(ii) shall have no obligation to make payment hereunder to holders of Receipts unless the Company shall have provided the necessary federal or other immediately available funds or securities or property, as the case may be, to pay in full amounts due and payable with respect thereto.

SECTION 5.04. Limitation of Liability . In the absence of bad faith, gross negligence, misconduct or breach of this Deposit Agreement on its part, the Depositary, any Depositary’s Agent or the Registrar shall not be liable for any action taken, suffered or omitted by it or for any error of judgment made by it in the performance of its duties under this Deposit Agreement. In

 

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the absence of bad faith, fraud or willful misconduct, any liability of the Depositary under this Deposit Agreement will be limited to the amount of annual fees paid by the Company to the Depositary. Without limiting the indemnification obligations described in Section 5.06, in no event will the Depositary or the Company be liable for special, indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive losses or damages of any kind whatsoever (including but not limited to lost profits), even if the Depositary or the Company has been advised of the possibility of such losses or damages and regardless of the form of action.

SECTION 5.05. Notices, Reports and Documents . The Company agrees that it will deliver to the Depositary, and the Depositary will, promptly after receipt thereof, transmit to the record holders of Receipts, in each case at the address recorded in the Depositary’s books, copies of all notices and reports (including financial statements) required by law, by the rules of any national securities exchange upon which the Preferred Shares, the Depositary Shares or the Receipts are included for quotation or listed or by the Articles of Incorporation, as amended by the Amendment to the Articles to be furnished by the Company to holders of the deposited Preferred Shares and, if requested by the holder of any Receipt, a copy of this Deposit Agreement, the form of Receipt, the Articles of Incorporation as amended, and the form of Preferred Shares. Such transmission will be at the Company’s expense and the Company will provide the Depositary with such number of copies of such documents as the Depositary may reasonably request. In addition, the Depositary will transmit to the record holders of Receipts at the Company’s expense such other documents as may be requested by the Company.

SECTION 5.06. Indemnification . The Company shall indemnify the Depositary, any Depositary’s Agent and any Registrar for, and hold each of them harmless from and against, any loss, liability, claim (whether with or without basis in fact or law), demand, cost or expense (collectively, “Loss”) arising out of or in connection with its acting as Depositary, Depositary’s Agent or Registrar, respectively, under this Deposit Agreement and the Receipts or this appointment, including the reasonable costs and expenses of defending itself against any Loss or enforcing this Deposit Agreement, except to the extent that such Loss shall have been determined by a final, non-appealable, judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction to be a result of the Depositary’s, Depositary’s Agent or any Registrar’s gross negligence or intentional misconduct. Subject to the limitations set forth in Section 5.04 above, the Depositary shall indemnify the Company for, and hold it harmless from and against, any Loss arising out of or in connection with the services provided by the Depositary, Depositary’s Agent and any Registrar under this Deposit Agreement or this appointment, including the reasonable costs and expenses of defending itself against any Loss or enforcing this Deposit Agreement to the extent that such Loss shall have been determined by a final, non-appealable, judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction to be a result of the Depositary’s, Depositary’s Agent or any Registrar’s gross negligence or intentional misconduct. If a party (“Indemnitor”) shall be obligated to provide indemnification for any Loss to the other party (“Indemnitee”), such Indemnitor shall be entitled to assume the defense of such Loss with counsel approved by the Indemnitee (which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed) upon delivery to Indemnitee of written notice of Indemnitor’s election to do so, provided that Indemnitor shall not be entitled to assume such defense if (a) Indemnitee has reasonably concluded that there may be legal defenses available to it that are different from or in addition to those available to Indemnitor or (b) there is a conflict or potential conflict of interest between Indemnitor and Indemnitee.

 

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SECTION 5.07. Fees, Charges and Expenses . No charges and expenses of the Depositary or any Depositary’s Agent hereunder shall be payable by the Company, except as provided in this Section and in Section 16 of the Transfer Agent Agreement, dated October 26, 2009, by and between the Company and the Depositary and no charges and expenses of the Depositary or any Depositary’s Agent hereunder shall be payable by any other person except as provided in this Section. The Company shall pay all transfer and other taxes and governmental charges arising solely from the existence of this Deposit Agreement. The Company shall also pay all charges and expenses of the Depositary in connection with the initial deposit of the Preferred Shares and the initial issuance of the Depositary Shares, any redemption of the Preferred Shares at the option of the Company and all withdrawals of the Preferred Shares by holders of Depositary Shares. If a holder of Receipts requests the Depositary to perform duties not required under this Deposit Agreement, the Depositary shall notify the holder of the cost of the performance of such duties prior to the performance thereof. Such holder will be liable for the charges and expenses related to such performance. The Depositary may refuse to effect any transfer of a Receipt or any withdrawal of Preferred Shares evidenced thereby until all such taxes, charges and expenses with respect to such Receipt or Preferred Shares are paid.

ARTICLE VI

AMENDMENT, TERM AND TERMINATION

SECTION 6.01. Amendment . This Deposit Agreement may not be amended or modified in any manner except by a written agreement signed by both the Company and the Depositary; provided , however , that no such amendment (other than any change in the fees of any Depositary, Registrar or Transfer Agent) which (i) shall materially and adversely alter the rights of the holders of Receipts or (ii) would be materially and adversely inconsistent with the rights granted to the holders of the Preferred Shares pursuant to the Articles of Incorporation as amended by the Amendment to the Articles shall be effective unless such amendment shall have been approved by the holders of at least a majority of the Depositary Shares then outstanding. In no event shall any amendment impair the right, subject to the provisions of Section 2.06 and Section 2.07 of Article II, of any holder of any Depositary Shares to surrender the Receipt evidencing such Depositary Shares with instructions to the Depositary to deliver to the holder the deposited Preferred Shares and all money and other property, if any, represented thereby, except in order to comply with mandatory provisions of applicable law. Every holder of an outstanding Receipt at the time any such amendment becomes effective shall be deemed, by continuing to hold such Receipt, to consent and agree to such amendment and to be bound by this Deposit Agreement as amended thereby. As a condition precedent to the Depositary’s execution of any amendment, the Company shall deliver to the Depositary a certificate from a duly authorized officer of the Company that states that the proposed amendment is in compliance with the terms of this Section 6.01.

 

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SECTION 6.02. Term of Agreement . The Depositary’s appointment hereunder shall commence on June 5, 2017, and shall continue through June 4, 2022 (the “Initial Term”). Unless either party gives written notice of termination of this Deposit Agreement at least 60 days prior to the end of the Initial Term, or any successive one-year term, this Deposit Agreement shall automatically renew for successive additional one-year terms.

SECTION 6.03. Termination . (a) The Company may terminate this Deposit Agreement if (i) the Depositary defaults on any of its obligations hereunder and such default remains uncured 30 days after the Depositary’s receipt of notice of such default from the Company; (ii) any proceeding in bankruptcy, reorganization, receivership or insolvency is commenced by or against the Depositary, the Depositary shall become insolvent or shall cease paying its obligations as they become due or makes any assignment for the benefit of its creditors or (iii) the Depositary is acquired by or is merged with or into a non-affiliate where the Depositary is not the surviving company.

(b) The Depositary may suspend providing services hereunder or terminate this Deposit Agreement if (i) the Company fails to pay amounts due hereunder or defaults on any of its obligations hereunder and such failure or default remains uncured 30 days after the Company’s receipt of notice of such failure or default from the Depositary; (ii) any proceeding in bankruptcy, reorganization, receivership or insolvency is commenced by or against the Company, the Company shall become insolvent, or shall cease paying its obligations as they become due or makes any assignment for the benefit of its creditors; or (iii) the Company is acquired by or is merged with or into another entity where the Company is not the surviving company.

(c) In addition, this Deposit Agreement may be terminated by the Company upon not less than 30 days prior written notice to the Depositary if (i) such termination is necessary to preserve the Company’s status as a real estate investment trust under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (or any successor law), or (ii) the holders of a majority of the Depositary Shares consent to such termination, whereupon the Depositary shall deliver or make available to each holder of Depositary Shares, upon surrender of the Receipt, if any, held by such holder, such number of whole or fractional deposited Preferred Shares as are represented by the Depositary Shares, together with any other property held by the Depositary in respect of such Receipt. In the event that this Deposit Agreement is terminated pursuant to clause (iv) of the immediately preceding sentence, the Company hereby agrees to use its best efforts to list the Preferred Shares issued upon surrender of the Receipt evidencing the Depositary Shares represented thereby on a national securities exchange. This Deposit Agreement will automatically terminate if (x) all outstanding Depositary Shares shall have been redeemed pursuant to Section 2.03 or (y) there shall have been made a final distribution in respect of the deposited Preferred Shares in connection with any liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the Company and such distribution shall have been distributed to the holders of Receipts entitled thereto.

 

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(d) Upon termination of this Deposit Agreement, all fees earned and expenses incurred by the Depositary up to and including the date of such termination shall be immediately due and payable to the Depositary on or before the effective date of such termination.

(e) Prior to termination of this Deposit Agreement, the Company shall provide the Depositary with written instructions as to the disposition of records, as well as any additional documentation reasonably requested by the Depositary. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Deposit Agreement, the respective rights and duties of the Company and the Depositary under this Deposit Agreement shall cease upon termination of this Deposit Agreement.

(f) In case at any time this Deposit Agreement shall be terminated, the Company shall, within 60 days after the delivery of the notice of termination, appoint a successor depositary, which shall be a bank or trust company having its principal office in the United States of America and having a combined capital and surplus of at least $100,000,000. If a successor depositary shall not have been appointed and accepted appointment in 60 days, the resigning Depositary may petition a court of competent jurisdiction to appoint a successor depositary. Every successor depositary shall execute and deliver to its predecessor and to the Company an instrument in writing accepting its appointment hereunder, and thereupon such successor depositary, without any further act or deed, shall become fully vested with all the rights, powers, duties and obligations of its predecessor and for all purposes shall be the Depositary under this Deposit Agreement, and such predecessor, upon payment of all sums due it and on the written request of the Company, shall promptly execute and deliver an instrument transferring to such successor all rights and powers of such predecessor hereunder, shall duly assign, transfer and deliver all rights, title and interest in the deposited Preferred Shares and any moneys or property held hereunder to such successor and shall deliver to such successor a list of the record holders of all outstanding Receipts. Any successor depositary shall promptly mail notice of its appointment to the record holders of Receipts.

(g) Subject to the right of the Company to terminate this Deposit Agreement pursuant to Section 6.03, any corporation or association or other entity into or with which the Depositary may be merged, consolidated or converted, or any corporation or association or other entity to which all or a substantial part of the assets of the Depositary may be transferred, shall be the successor of such Depositary without the execution or filing of any document or any further act. Such successor depositary may execute the Receipts either in the name of the predecessor depositary or in the name of the successor depositary.

(h) The provisions of Section 6.03(f) and (g) as they apply to the Depositary apply to the Registrar as if specifically enumerated therein.

 

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ARTICLE VII

MISCELLANEOUS

SECTION 7.01. Counterparts . This Deposit Agreement may be executed manually in any number of counterparts, each of which such counterparts, when so executed and delivered, shall be deemed an original, and all such counterparts when taken together shall constitute one and the same original instrument. Copies of this Deposit Agreement shall be filed with the Depositary and the Depositary’s Agents and shall be open to inspection during business hours at the Corporate Office and the respective officer of the Depositary’s Agents, if any, by any holder of a Receipt.

SECTION 7.02. Exclusive Benefits of Parties . Nothing in this Deposit Agreement shall be construed to give any person or entity other than the parties hereto and their respective successors hereunder any legal or equitable right, remedy or claim under this Deposit Agreement; but this Deposit Agreement shall be for the sole and exclusive benefit of the parties hereto and their respective successors hereunder.

SECTION 7.03. Severability . Whenever possible, each provision of this Deposit Agreement will be interpreted in such a manner as to be effective and valid under applicable law, but if any provision of this Deposit Agreement is found to violate a law, it will be severed from the rest of the Deposit Agreement and ignored; provided, however, that if any such invalid, void or unenforceable provision shall adversely affect the Depositary, the Depositary shall be entitled to resign immediately.

SECTION 7.04. Conflicts with Amendment to the Articles . In the event of any conflict between the provisions of this Deposit Agreement and the provisions of the Amendment to the Articles, the provisions of the Amendment to the Articles will govern, except with respect to the rights, immunities, duties, obligations and liabilities of the Depositary, and the Company will instruct the Depositary accordingly.

SECTION 7.05. Assignment . This Deposit Agreement shall be binding upon the parties hereto and their respective successors and assigns; provided that this Deposit Agreement may not be assigned, or otherwise transferred, in whole or in part, by either party without the prior written consent of the other party, which the other party will not unreasonably withhold, condition or delay; provided further that consent is not required for an assignment by the Depositary to an entity in which more than 50% of the equity interests are held either directly or indirectly by Computershare. Any attempted assignment in violation of the foregoing will be void.

SECTION 7.06. Notices . (a) All notices, demands and other communications given pursuant to this Deposit Agreement shall be in writing, shall be deemed effective on the date of receipt or first refusal by the recipient, and may be sent by e-mail, facsimile, overnight delivery service, or by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested to:

 

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If to the Company:    with an additional copy to:

 

DDR Corp.

3300 Enterprise Parkway

Beachwood, OH 44122

Attn: General Counsel

Tel: 216-755-5650

Fax: 216-755-1493

E-mail: dweiss@ddr.com

  

 

DDR Corp.

3300 Enterprise Parkway

Beachwood, OH 44122

Attn: Vice President External Reporting

Tel: 216-755-5770

Fax: 216-755-1650

E-mail: tbattler@ddr.com

If to the Depositary:    with an additional copy to:

Computershare Inc.

7530 Lucerne Drive, Suite 305

Cleveland, OH 44130

Attn: Relationship Manager

Fax: (440) 239-7355

Email: sharon.boughter@computershare.com

  

Computershare Inc.

250 Royall Street

Canton, MA 02021    

Attn: General Counsel

Facsimile: (781) 575-2916

(b) Any notices given to any record holder of a Receipt hereunder or under the Receipts shall be in writing and shall be deemed to have been duly given if personally delivered or sent by mail, or by e-mail or facsimile confirmed by letter, addressed to such record holder at the address of such record holder as it appears on the books of the Depositary or, if such holder shall have filed with the Depositary in a timely manner a written request that notices intended for such holder be mailed to some other address, at the address designated in such request.

SECTION 7.07. Depositary’s Agents . The Depositary may from time to time appoint Depositary’s Agents to act in any respect for the Depositary for the purposes of this Deposit Agreement and may at any time appoint additional Depositary’s Agents and vary or terminate the appointment of such Depositary’s Agents. The Depositary will notify the Company of any such action.

SECTION 7.08. Holders of Receipts Are Parties . The holders of Receipts from time to time shall be deemed to be parties to this Deposit Agreement and shall be bound by all of the terms and conditions hereof and of the Receipts by acceptance of delivery thereof.

SECTION 7.09. Governing Law . This Deposit Agreement and the Receipts and all rights hereunder and thereunder and provisions hereof and thereof shall be governed by, construed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Ohio, without regard to principles of conflicts of law; provided, however, that all provisions regarding the rights, duties and obligations of the Depositary shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York applicable to contracts made to be performed entirely within such State.

 

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SECTION 7.10. Inspection of Deposit Agreement . Copies of this Deposit Agreement shall be filed with the Depositary and the Depositary’s Agents and shall be open to inspection during business hours at the Corporate Office and the respective offices of the Depositary’s Agents, if any, by any holder of any Receipt.

SECTION 7.11. Headings . The headings contained in this Deposit Agreement and in the form of the Receipt set forth in Exhibit A are for the purposes of convenience only and are not intended to define or limit the contents of this Deposit Agreement.

SECTION 7.12. Entire Agreement . This Deposit Agreement constitutes the entire understanding of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior written or oral communications, understandings, and agreements with respect to the subject matter of this Deposit Agreement. The parties acknowledge that the Exhibits hereto are an integral part of this Deposit Agreement.

SECTION 7.13. Confidentiality . (a) In connection with the Depositary’s appointment hereunder, each party shall obtain confidential information related to the other party or its stockholders that is not available to the general public (“Confidential Information”), which Confidential Information shall include the terms and conditions of this Deposit Agreement and the exhibits attached hereto. Each party agrees that the Confidential Information shall be held and treated by it, its directors, officers, employees, affiliates, agents and subcontractors (collectively, “Representatives”) in confidence and, except as hereinafter provided, shall not be disclosed in any manner whatsoever except as otherwise required by law, regulation, subpoena or governmental authority. Confidential Information shall be used by each party and its Representatives only for the purposes for which provided and shall be disclosed by such party only to those Representatives who have a need to know in order to accomplish the business purpose in connection with which the Confidential Information has been provided. Confidential Information does not include information that (i) is now or subsequently becomes generally available to the public through no fault or breach on the part of the receiving party; (ii) the receiving party had rightfully in its possession prior to disclosure to it by the disclosing party; (iii) is independently developed by the receiving party without the use of or reference to any Confidential Information; or (iv) the receiving party rightfully obtains on a non-confidential basis from a source other than the disclosing party who has the right to transfer or disclose it.

(b) In connection with the provision of services under this Deposit Agreement, the Company may direct the Depositary to release information, including non-public personal information (“NPPI”), as defined in Title V of the Gramm Leach Bliley Act and the regulations issued thereunder (including but not limited to Regulation P of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve) to the Company’s agents or other third party service providers, including, without limitation, broker/dealers, custodians and depositories. In addition, the Company consents to the release of information, including NPPI, (i) to any of the Depositary’s Representatives in connection with the services provided hereunder and (ii) as required by law, regulation, subpoena or governmental authority. The Depositary shall not be liable for the release of information in accordance with the foregoing provisions.

 

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SECTION 7.14. Survival of Terms . Sections 5.04, 5.06, 5.07 and 7.13 shall survive the termination of this Deposit Agreement and any succession of any Depositary, Registrar or Depositary’s Agent.

SECTION 7.15. Force Majeure . The Depositary shall not be liable for any failures, delays or losses, arising directly or indirectly out of conditions beyond its reasonable control, including, but not limited to, acts of government, exchange or market ruling, suspension of trading, work stoppages or labor disputes, civil disobedience, riots, rebellions, electrical or mechanical failure, computer hardware or software failure, communications facilities failures including telephone failure, war, terrorism, insurrection, fires, earthquakes, storms, floods, acts of God or similar occurrences.

SECTION 7.16. Submission to Jurisdiction; Foreign Law.

(a) The parties irrevocably (i) submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of any New York State court sitting in New York City or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in any action or proceeding arising out of or relating to this Deposit Agreement, and (ii) waive, to the fullest extent they may effectively do so, any defense based on inconvenient forum, improper venue or lack of jurisdiction to the maintenance of any such action or proceeding.

(b) The Depositary shall not be required hereunder to comply with the laws or regulations of any country other than the United States of America or any political subdivision thereof. The Depositary may consult with foreign counsel, at the Company’s expense, to resolve any foreign law issues that may arise as a result of the Company or any other party being subject to the laws or regulations of any foreign jurisdiction.

SECTION 7.17. Patriot Act . The Company acknowledges that the Depositary is subject to the customer identification program requirements under the USA PATRIOT Act and its implementing regulations (the “Customer Identification Program Requirements”), and that the Depositary must obtain, verify and record information that allows the Depositary to identify the Company. Accordingly, prior to accepting an appointment hereunder, the Depositary has received information from the Company that will help the Depositary to identify the Company, including without limitation the Company’s physical address, tax identification number, organizational documents, certificate of good standing, license to do business, or any other information that the Depositary deems necessary and that pending verification of received information, the Depositary may request further such information. The Company agrees to provide all reasonably requested information necessary for the Depositary to verify the Company’s identity in accordance with the Customer Identification Program Requirements.

[Remainder of Page Left Blank]

 

 

- 31 -


IN WITNESS WHEREOF, DDR Corp., Computershare Inc., and Computershare Trust Company, N.A. have duly executed this Deposit Agreement as of the day and year first above set forth and all holders of Receipts outstanding on the date hereof shall become parties hereto and all holders of Receipts issued after the date hereof shall become parties hereto by and upon acceptance by them of delivery of Receipts issued in accordance with the terms hereof.

 

DDR CORP.
By:   

/s/ David E. Weiss

Name: David E. Weiss
Title: Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary

COMPUTERSHARE INC., as Depositary,

Transfer Agent and Registrar

By:   

/s/ Michael Lang

Name: Michael Lang
Title: Senior Vice President

COMPUTERSHARE TRUST COMPANY,

N.A., as Depositary

By:   

/s/ Michael Lang

Name: Michael Lang
Title: Senior Vice President


Exhibit A

SPECIMEN

Form of Temporary Receipt – Exchangeable for Definitive Engraved Receipts – When Ready for Delivery.

[If this Receipt is issued in global form, include the following:] Unless this Receipt is presented by an authorized representative of The Depository Trust Company, a New York corporation (“DTC”), to DDR Corp. or its agent for registration of transfer, exchange, or payment, and any Receipt issued is registered in the name of Cede & Co. or in such other name as is requested by an authorized representative of DTC (and any payment is made to Cede & Co. or to such other entity as is requested by an authorized representative of DTC), ANY TRANSFER, PLEDGE, OR OTHER USE HEREOF FOR VALUE OR OTHERWISE BY OR TO ANY PERSON IS WRONGFUL inasmuch as the registered owner hereof, Cede & Co., has an interest herein.

DR

RECEIPT FOR DEPOSITARY SHARES,

EACH REPRESENTING 1/20th OF A SHARE OF 6.375% CLASS A

CUMULATIVE REDEEMABLE PREFERRED SHARES

DDR CORP.

 

THIS CERTIFICATE IS TRANSFERABLE IN

 

CANTON, MA, JERSEY CITY, NJ,

 

NEW YORK, NY AND PITTSBURGH, PA

 

INCORPORATED UNDER THE LAWS OF

THE STATE OF OHIO

   CUSIP 23317H 870
   SEE REVERSE FOR CERTAIN DEFINITIONS

Computershare Inc. and Computershare Trust Company, N.A., jointly as Depositary (the “Depositary”), hereby certifies that

is the registered owner of

   DEPOSITARY SHARES

(“Depositary Shares”), each Depositary Share representing 1/20th of one share of 6.375% Class A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, without par value (the “Shares”) ($25.00 Liquidation Preference per Depositary Share), of DDR Corp., a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the State of Ohio (the “Corporation”), on deposit with the Depositary, subject to the terms and entitled to the benefits of the Deposit Agreement, dated as of                     (the “Deposit Agreement”), among the Corporation, the Depositary and the holders from time to time of Receipts for Depositary Shares. By accepting this Receipt, the holder hereof becomes a party to and agrees to be bound by all the terms and conditions of the Deposit Agreement. This Receipt shall not be valid or obligatory for any purpose or entitled to


any benefits under the Deposit Agreement unless it shall have been executed by the Depositary by the manual or facsimile signature of a duly authorized officer and, if a Registrar in respect of the Receipt (other than the Depositary) shall have been appointed, also by the manual signature of a duly authorized officer of such Registrar.

 

    COMPUTERSHARE INC., DEPOSITARY
Dated:     By:  

 

      Authorized Signature
    COMPUTERSHARE TRUST COMPANY, N.A., DEPOSITARY
    By:  

 

      Authorized Signature


The Depositary Shares evidenced by this Depositary Receipt are subject to restrictions on transfer for the purpose of the Corporation’s maintenance of its status as a Real Estate Investment Trust under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. Subject to certain provisions of the Corporation’s Articles of Incorporation, no Person may Beneficially Own or Constructively Own Depositary Shares representing shares of any series of any class of Preferred Shares in excess of 9.8% of the outstanding Preferred Shares of such series. Any Person who attempts to Beneficially Own or Constructively Own Depositary Shares representing shares of any series of any class of Preferred Shares in excess of the above limitations must immediately notify the Corporation. Unless otherwise defined in this Receipt, all capitalized terms in this legend have the meanings defined in the Corporation’s Articles of Incorporation, a copy of which, including the restrictions on transfer, will be sent without charge to each Depositary Receipt holder who so requests. If the restrictions on transfer are violated, certain of the Preferred Shares represented by the Depositary Shares evidenced by this Depositary Receipt may be subject to repurchase by the Corporation on the terms and conditions set forth in the Corporation’s Articles of Incorporation.

DDR CORP.

DDR CORP. WILL FURNISH WITHOUT CHARGE WITHIN FIVE DAYS AFTER RECEIPT OF A WRITTEN REQUEST TO EACH REGISTERED HOLDER OF RECEIPTS WHO SO REQUESTS A COPY OF THE DEPOSIT AGREEMENT AND A COPY OF THE ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION, WITH RESPECT TO THE 6.375% CLASS A CUMULATIVE REDEEMABLE PREFERRED SHARES OF DDR CORP. ANY SUCH REQUEST IS TO BE ADDRESSED TO THE DEPOSITARY NAMED ON THE FACE OF THIS RECEIPT.

The following abbreviations, when used in the inscription on the face of this Receipt, shall be construed as though they were written out in full according to applicable laws or regulations:

 

TEN COM      as tenants in common    UNIF GIFT MIN ACT —   

________ custodian ________

 

(Cust)                          (Minor)

TEN ENT      as tenants by the entireties      
JT TEN      as joint tenants with right of survivorship and not as tenants in common      

under Uniform Gifts to Minors

        _______

 

Act                         _______

 

                    (State)

Additional abbreviations may also be used though not in the above list.


ASSIGNMENT

For value received,                                                          hereby sell(s), assign(s) and transfer(s) unto

 

PLEASE INSERT SOCIAL SECURITY OR

OTHER

IDENTIFYING NUMBER OF ASSIGNEE

 
     

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                   Depositary Shares represented by the within Receipt, and do hereby irrevocably constitute and appoint                                                                                               Attorney to transfer the said Depositary Shares on the books of the within names Depositary with full power of substitution in the premises.

 

Dated:                         

Signature(s) 

  

 

 

NOTICE THE SIGNATURE TO THIS ASSIGNMENT MUST CORRESPOND WITH THE NAME(S) AS WRITTEN UPON THE FACE OF THE RECEIPT IN EVERY PARTICULAR, WITHOUT ALTERATION OR ENLARGEMENT, OR ANY CHANGE WHATEVER.

  

Signature(s)

Guaranteed:

  

 

 

THE SIGNATURE(S) MUST BE GUARANTEED BY AN ELIGIBLE GUARANTOR INSTITUTION (BANKS, STOCKBROKERS, SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS AND CREDIT UNIONS) WITH MEMBERSHIP IN AN APPROVED SIGNATURE GUARANTEE MEDALLION PROGRAM, PURSUANT TO S.E.C. RULE 17Ad-15.

Exhibit 5.1

 

LOGO

June 5, 2017

DDR Corp.

3300 Enterprise Parkway

Beachwood, Ohio 44122

 

  Re: Up to 7,000,000 Depositary Shares, each representing a 1/20th interest in a 6.375% Class A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Share, without par value, of DDR Corp.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We have acted as counsel for DDR Corp., an Ohio corporation (the “ Company ”), in connection with the issuance and sale of up to 7,000,000 Depositary Shares (the “ Depositary Shares ”), which represent an ownership interest in 350,000 of the Company’s 6.375% Class A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, without par value (the “ Preferred Shares ”), pursuant to the Underwriting Agreement Basic Provisions, dated May 30, 2017 (the “ Basic Provisions ”), by and among the Company and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated and UBS Securities LLC, acting as representatives of the several underwriters named therein (the “ Underwriters ”), and the Terms Agreement, dated May 30, 2017, by and between the Company and Jefferies LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, acting as representatives of the Underwriters (together with the Basic Provisions, the “ Underwriting Agreement ”). The Depositary Shares, each of which represents a 1/20th fractional ownership interest of a Preferred Share, will be issued under a Deposit Agreement, dated as of June 5, 2017 (the “ Deposit Agreement ”), among the Company and Computershare Shareowner Services LLC, as depositary (the “ Depositary ”), registrar and transfer agent, and the holders and beneficial owners from time to time of the Depositary Shares.

In connection with the opinions expressed herein, we have examined such documents, records and matters of law as we have deemed relevant or necessary for purposes of such opinions. Based upon the foregoing and subject to the further limitations, qualifications and assumptions set forth herein, we are of the opinion that:

1. The Preferred Shares have been authorized by all necessary corporate action of the Company and, when (i) the Preferred Shares have been deposited with the Depositary pursuant to the Deposit Agreement against issuance of Depositary Shares as provided therein and (ii) the Depositary Shares are issued and delivered pursuant to the Underwriting Agreement and the Deposit Agreement against payment of the consideration therefor as provided in the Underwriting Agreement, the Preferred Shares will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.

2. The Depositary Shares, when issued and delivered pursuant to the terms of the Underwriting Agreement and the Deposit Agreement against payment of the consideration therefor as provided in the Underwriting Agreement, will be validly issued, and the depositary receipts representing the Depositary Shares will entitle the holders thereof to the rights specified therein and in the Deposit Agreement.

 

LOGO


LOGO

DDR Corp.

June 5, 2017

Page 2

 

3. The Deposit Agreement has been authorized by all necessary corporate action of the Company and, when executed and delivered by the Company, will constitute a valid and binding obligation of the Company.

4. The common shares, $0.10 par value per share, of the Company (together with the Depositary Shares and the Preferred Shares, the “ Securities ”) initially issuable upon conversion of the Preferred Shares pursuant to the Third Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation of the Company, as amended, have been authorized by all necessary corporate action of the Company and, when they are issued upon conversion of the Preferred Shares, will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.

In rendering the opinions above, we have assumed that the Underwriting Agreement will have been executed and delivered by the parties thereto and the resolutions authorizing the Company to issue and deliver the Securities pursuant to the Underwriting Agreement or upon conversion of the Preferred Shares will be in full force and effect at all times at which the Securities are issued and delivered by the Company. With respect to the Depositary Shares, we have further assumed that (i) the Deposit Agreement will have been executed and delivered by the parties thereto and the resolutions authorizing the Company to enter into the Deposit Agreement will be in full force and effect at all times at which the Depositary Shares are issued and delivered; and (ii) the Depositary Shares will be issued after the Company deposits with the Depositary the Preferred Shares to be represented by such Depositary Shares as contemplated by the Deposit Agreement and the Registration Statement on Form S-3 (No. 333-205059) (the “ Registration Statement ”) filed by the Company to effect registration of the Securities under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “ Act ”).

The opinions expressed herein are limited by bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, fraudulent transfer and fraudulent conveyance, voidable preference, moratorium or other similar laws and related regulations and judicial doctrines from time to time in effect relating to or affecting creditors’ rights generally, and by general equitable principles and public policy considerations, whether such principles and considerations are considered in a proceeding at law or at equity.

The opinions expressed herein are limited to the laws of the State of Ohio and the State of New York, as currently in effect, and we express no opinion as to the effect of the laws of any other jurisdiction.


LOGO

DDR Corp.

June 5, 2017

Page 3

 

We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as Exhibit 5.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K, dated the date hereof, filed by the Company and incorporated by reference into the Registration Statement filed by the Company to effect registration of the Depositary Shares and the Preferred Shares under the Act and to the reference to us under the caption “Legal Matters” in the prospectus constituting a part of the Registration Statement. In giving such consent, we do not hereby admit that we are included in the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Act or the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission promulgated thereunder.

Very truly yours,

/s/ Jones Day