-162- which gave Generale Bank and CLIS the right to put their preferred interests in “Newco” to Rockport Capital. Mr. Geary testified that by the time of the draft letter agreement, “clearly there was going to be a second letter, a put letter. That’s what I understood to be monetized. There was a put available. We didn’t have to wait, you know, for the time of the deal.” According to Mr. Geary, it was unimportant to CDR or Mr. Jouannet what the letter agreement said about the terms of the preferred interests and the conversion rights, because CDR was relying on the side letter agreement that required Rockport Capital to purchase all of Generale Bank’s and CLIS’s preferred interests for $5 million. Other than this “put” agreement, four points of negotiation developed from CDR’s perspective: First, CDR insisted that the $5 million advisory fee be paid as a condition to closing on the exchange and contribution agreement and the $5 million put price be deposited in a blocked account before closing, thus guaranteeing payment when the put rights were exercised. The banks decided that the put price should be placed in escrow in connection with the closing on the CDR transaction. Mr. Geary drafted a deposit account agreement,Page: Previous 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 Next
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