Obligations and Compensation of Dealer Manager 3.1. The Company hereby appoints the Dealer Manager as its agent and principal distributor for the purpose of selling for cash up to a maximum of $2,975,000,000 in Shares (or such other amount as the Company allocates to the primary Offering of Shares as described in the first paragraph of this Agreement) through the dealers selected to participate in the distribution of Shares in the Offering who have executed Selected Dealer Agreements with the Dealer Manager (each, a “Dealer” and, collectively, the “Dealers”), all of whom shall be members of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”). The Dealer Manager may also sell Shares for cash directly to its own clients and customers at the public offering price and subject to the terms and conditions stated in the Prospectus. The Dealer Manager hereby accepts such agency and distributorship and agrees to use its best efforts to sell the Shares on said terms and conditions. The Dealer Manager represents to the Company that (i) it is a member of FINRA; (ii) it and its employees and representatives have all required licenses and registrations to act under this Agreement; and (iii) it has established and implemented anti-money laundering compliance programs in accordance with applicable law, including applicable FINRA rules, SEC rules, and the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, reasonably designed to detect and cause the reporting of suspicious transactions in connection with the sale of Shares of the Company.
3.2. The Dealer Manager and the Dealers shall commence the offering of the Shares for cash to the public only in jurisdictions in which the Shares are registered or qualified for sale or in which such offering is otherwise permitted. The Dealer Manager and the Dealers will suspend or terminate offering of the Shares upon request of the Company at any time and will resume offering the Shares upon subsequent request of the Company.
3.3. Except as provided in the “Plan of Distribution” section of the Prospectus, as compensation for the services rendered by the Dealer Manager, the Company agrees that it will pay to the Dealer Manager selling commissions in the amount of 7.0% of the gross proceeds of the Class A Shares sold and 3.0% of the gross proceeds of the Class T Shares sold, plus a dealer manager fee in the amount of 2.0% of the gross proceeds of the Shares sold to the public; provided, however, that there shall be no selling commissions and no dealer manager fees paid for sales of Shares under the Company’s distribution reinvestment plan. In addition, the Company agrees that it will pay to the Dealer Manager a monthly distribution and stockholder servicing fee that will accrue daily in an amount equal to 1/365th of 0.8% of the Company’s per share NAV of Class T Shares sold, excluding Class T Shares sold pursuant to the distribution reinvestment plan. The Company will cease paying the distribution and stockholder servicing fee with respect to Class T Shares sold in the Offering at the earliest of (i) the end of the month in which the transfer agent, on behalf of the Company, determines that total selling commissions and distribution and stockholder servicing fees paid by a stockholder within his or her individual account would be equal to 7.0% of the stockholder’s total gross investment amount at the time of the purchase of the primary Class T shares held in such account; (ii) the date on which the aggregate underwriting compensation from all sources equals 10.0% of the gross proceeds from the sale of Shares, excluding Shares sold pursuant to the distribution reinvestment plan; (iii) the fifth anniversary of the last day of the month in which the Offering (excluding the offering of shares pursuant to the Company’s distribution reinvestment plan offering) terminates; (iv) the date such Class T share is no longer outstanding; and (v) the date the Company effects a liquidity event. The distribution and stockholder servicing fee relates to the share or shares sold. Payments to the Dealer Manager shall be made by the end of the week following the week in which Shares are sold by wire transfer of immediately available funds to an account designated by the Dealer Manager. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Dealer Manager will reallow all of the selling commissions to Dealers. The Dealer Manager also may reallow all or a portion of the dealer manager fee and the distribution and stockholder servicing fee to Dealers; provided, however, that with respect to any individual investment, the Dealer Manager will not re-allow the related distribution and stockholder servicing fee to a Dealer if such Dealer ceases to hold the account related to such investment. In addition, the Dealer Manager will not reallow the distribution and stockholder servicing fee to any Dealer if such Dealer has not executed a Participating Dealer Agreement with the Dealer Manager or if the Dealer’s previously executed Selected Dealer Agreement with the Dealer Manager is terminated. In any instance in which the Dealer Manager does not re-allow the distribution and stockholder servicing fee to a Dealer, the Dealer Manager will return such fee to the Company. If, for any reason, a sale is cancelled or rescinded, the Dealer Manager shall return to the Company the selling commission, the dealer manager fee and the distribution and stockholder servicing fee paid to it with respect to such sale. The Company will not be liable or responsible to any Dealer for direct payment of commissions to such Dealer, it being the sole and exclusive responsibility of the Dealer Manager to make payment of commissions to Dealers. Notwithstanding the above, at its discretion, the Company may act as agent of the Dealer Manager by making direct payment of commissions to such Dealers without incurring any liability therefore.
3.4. The Dealer Manager shall use and distribute, in conjunction with the offer and sale of any Shares, only the Prospectus and such sales literature and advertising as shall have been previously approved in writing by the Company.
3.5. The Dealer Manager acknowledges that the Company may reimburse its advisor for underwriting expenses not covered by the selling commissions, dealer manager fee and distribution and stockholder servicing fee set forth in Section 3.3, but only to the extent that the total of such reimbursements for underwriting expenses and the selling commissions, dealer manager fee and distribution and stockholder servicing fee set forth in Section 3.3 is no more than 10.0% of the gross offering proceeds of the Shares sold in the Offering, excluding proceeds from the distribution reinvestment plan. In no event will total underwriting compensation exceed 10.0% of the gross proceeds of the Shares sold in the Offering, excluding proceeds from the distribution reinvestment plan.
Obligation to Maintain Confidentiality (a) The Optionee agrees that all information, whether or not in writing, of a private, secret or confidential nature concerning the Company’s business, business relationships or financial affairs (collectively, “Confidential Information”) is and shall be the exclusive property of the Company. By way of illustration, but not limitation, Confidential Information may include inventions, products, processes, methods, techniques, formulas, compositions, compounds, projects, developments, plans, research data, financial data, personnel data, computer programs, customer and supplier lists, and contacts at or knowledge of customers or prospective customers of the Company. The Optionee will not disclose any Confidential Information to any person or entity other than employees of the Company or use the same for any purposes (other than in the performance of his duties as an employee of the Company) without written approval by the Board, either during or after his employment with the Company, unless and until such Confidential Information has become public knowledge without fault by the Optionee.
(b) The Optionee agrees that all files, letters, memoranda, reports, records, data, sketches, drawings, laboratory notebooks, program listings, or other written, photographic, or other tangible material containing Confidential Information, whether created by the Optionee or others, which shall come into his custody or possession, shall be and are the exclusive property of the Company to be used by the Optionee only in the performance of his duties for the Company. All such materials or copies thereof and all tangible property of the Company in the custody or possession of the Optionee shall be delivered to the Company, upon the earlier of (i) a request by the Company or (ii) termination of his employment. After such delivery, the Optionee shall not retain any such materials or copies thereof or any such tangible property.
(c) The Optionee agrees that his obligation not to disclose or to use information and materials of the types set forth in paragraphs (a) and (b) above, and his obligation to return materials and tangible property set forth in paragraph (b) above also extends to such types of information, materials and tangible property of customers of the Company or suppliers to the Company or other third parties who may have disclosed or entrusted the same to the Company or to the Optionee.
Obligation of Confidentiality The parties agree to hold all Confidential Information in strict confidence and not to copy, reproduce, sell, transfer, or otherwise dispose of, give or disclose such Confidential Information to third parties other than employees, agents, or subcontractors of a party who have a need to know in connection with this Contract or to use such Confidential Information for any purposes whatsoever other than the performance of this Contract. The parties agree to advise and require their respective employees, agents, and subcontractors of their obligations to keep all Confidential Information confidential. Disclosure to a subcontractor is permissible where: (a) use of a subcontractor is authorized under this Contract; (b) the disclosure is necessary or otherwise naturally occurs in connection with work that is within the subcontractor's responsibilities; and (c) Contractor obligates the subcontractor in a written contract to maintain the State's Confidential Information in confidence. At the State's request, any employee of Contractor or any subcontractor may be required to execute a separate agreement to be bound by the provisions of this Section.
Obligations of Executive (a) For two years following the Termination Event, Executive agrees not to personally solicit any of the employees either of the Company or of any entity in which the Company directly or indirectly possesses the ability to determine the voting of 50% or more of the voting securities of such entity (including two-party joint ventures in which each party possesses 50% of the total voting power of the entity) to become employed elsewhere or provide the names of such employees to any other company which Executive has reason to believe will solicit such employees.
(b) Following the occurrence of a Termination Event, Executive agrees to continue to satisfy Executive’s obligations under the terms of the Company’s standard form of Proprietary Information and Non-Disclosure Agreement previously executed by Executive (or any comparable agreement subsequently executed by Executive in substitution or supplement thereto). Executive’s obligations under this Section 4.2(b) shall survive the termination of this Agreement.
(c) It is expressly understood and agreed that although Executive and the Company consider the restrictions contained in this Section 4 to be reasonable, if a final judicial determination is made by a court of competent jurisdiction that the time or territory or any other restriction contained in this Agreement is an unenforceable restriction against Executive, the provisions of this Agreement shall not be rendered void, but shall be deemed amended to apply as to such maximum time or territory and to such maximum extent as such court may judicially determine or indicate to be enforceable. Alternatively, if any court of competent jurisdiction finds that any restriction contained in this Agreement is unenforceable, and such restriction cannot be amended so as to make it enforceable, such finding shall not affect the enforceability of any of the other restrictions contained herein.
(d) Following a Termination Event, Executive agrees not to make any public statement or statements to the press concerning the Company, its business objectives, its management practices, or other sensitive information without first receiving the Company’s written approval. Executive further agrees to take no action which would cause the Company or its employees or agents any embarrassment or humiliation or otherwise cause or contribute to the Company’s or any such person’s being held in disrepute by the general public or the Company’s employees, clients, or customers.
(e) Executive acknowledges and agrees that the Company’s remedies at law for a breach or threatened breach of any of the provisions of Section 4.2(a) or Section 4.2(b) would be inadequate and, in recognition of this fact, Executive agrees that, in the event of such a breach or threatened breach, in addition to any remedies at law, the Company, without posting any bond, shall, with respect to a breach or threatened breach of Section 4.2(a) or Section 4.2(b) only, obtain equitable relief in the form of specific performance, temporary restraining order, temporary or permanent injunction, or any other equitable remedy which may then be available.
Obligation of the Parties 2.1 The Fund shall prepare and be responsible for filing with the SEC and any state securities regulators requiring such filing, all shareholder reports, notices, proxy materials (or similar materials such as voting instruction solicitation materials), prospectuses and statements of additional information of the Fund. The Fund shall bear the costs or registration and qualification of its Shares, preparation and filing of the documents listed in this Section 2.1 and all taxes to which an issuer is subject on the issuance and transfer of its shares.
2.2 At least annually, the Fund or its designee shall provide the Company, free of charge, with as many copies of the current prospectus (describing only the Portfolios) for the Shares as the Company may reasonably request for distribution to existing Contract owners whose Contracts are funded by such Shares. The Fund or its designee shall provide the Company, at the Company's expense, with as many copies of the current prospectus for the Shares as the Company may reasonably request for distribution to prospective purchasers of Contracts. If requested by the Company in lieu thereof, the Fund or its designee shall provide such documentation (including a "camera ready" copy of the new prospectus as set in type) and other assistance as is reasonably necessary in order for the parties hereto once each year (or more frequently if the prospectus for the Shares is supplemented or amended) to have the prospectus for the Contracts and the prospectus for the Shares printed together in one document; the expenses of such printing to be borne by the Company. in the event that the Company requests that the Fund or its designee provide the Fund's prospectus in a "camera ready" format, the Fund shall be responsible solely for providing the prospectus in the format in which it is accustomed to formatting prospectuses and shall bear the expense of providing the prospectus in such format (e.g., typesetting expenses), and the Company shall bear the expense of adjusting or changing the format to conform with any of its prospectuses.
2.3 The prospectus for the Shares shall state that the statement of additional information for the Shares is available from the Fund or its designee. The Fund or its designee, at its expense, shall print and provide such statement of additional information to the Company (or a master of such statement suitable for duplication by the Company) for distribution to any owner of a Contract funded by the Shares. The Fund or its designee, at the Company's expense, shall print and provide such statement to the Company (or a master of such statement suitable for duplication by the Company) for distribution to a prospective purchaser who requests such statement.
2.4 The Fund or its designee shall provide the Company free of charge copies, if and to the extent applicable to the Shares, of the Fund's proxy materials, reports to Shareholders and other communications to Shareholders in such quantity as the Company shall reasonably require for distribution to Contract owners.
2.5 The Company shall furnish, or cause to be furnished, to the Fund or its designee, a copy of each prospectus for the Contracts or statement of additional information for the Contracts in which the Fund or its investment adviser is named prior to the filing of such document with the SEC. The Company shall furnish, or shall cause to be furnished, to the Fund or its designee, each piece of sales literature or other promotional material in which the Fund or its investment adviser is named, at least five Business Days prior to its use. No such prospectus, statement of additional information or material shall be used if the Fund or its designee reasonably objects to such use within five Business Days after receipt of such material.
2.6 The Company shall not give any information or make any representations or statements on behalf of the Fund or concerning the Fund or its investment adviser in connection with the sale of the Contracts other than information or representations contained in and accurately derived from the registration statement or prospectus for the Fund Shares (as such registration statement and prospectus may be amended or supplemented from time to time), reports of the Fund, Fund-sponsored proxy statement, or in sales literature or other promotional material approved by the Fund or its designee, except with the written permission of the Fund or its designee.
2.7 The Fund shall not give any information or make any representations or statements on behalf of the Company or concerning the Company, the Accounts or the Contracts other than information or representations contained in and accurately derived from the registration statement or prospectus for the Contracts (as such registration statement and prospectus may by amended or supplemented from time to time), or in materials approved by the Company for distribution including sales literature or other promotional materials, except with the written permission of the Company.
2.8 The Company shall amend the registration statement of the Contracts under the 1933 Act and registration statement for each Account under the 1940 Act from time to time as required in order to effect the continuous offering of the Contracts or as may otherwise be required by applicable law. The Company shall register and qualify the Contracts for sale to the extent required by applicable securities laws and insurance laws of the various states.
2.9 The Company shall be responsible for assuring that any prospectus offering a Contract that is a life insurance contract where it is reasonably probable that such Contract would be a "modified endowment contract," as that term is defined in Section 7702A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), will identify such Contract as a modified endowment contract (or policy).
2.10 Solely with respect to Contracts and Accounts that are subject to the 1940 Act, so long as, and to the extent that, the SEC interprets the 1940 Act to require pass-through voting privileges for variable policyowners: (a) the Company will provide pass-through voting privileges to owners of Contracts whose cash values are invested, through the Accounts, in Shares of the Fund; (b) the Fund shall require all Participating Insurance Companies to calculate voting privileges in the same manner and the Company shall be responsible for assuring that the Accounts calculate voting privileges in the manner established by the Fund; (c) with respect to each Account, the Company will vote Shares of the Fund held by the Account and for which no timely voting instructions from Contract or policyowners are received, as well as Shares held by the Account that are owned by the Company for its general account, in the same proportion as the Company votes-Shares held by the Account for which timely voting instructions are received from Contract owners; and (d) the Company and its agents will in no way recommend or oppose or interfere with the solicitation of proxies for Fund Shares held by Contract owners without the prior written consent of the Fund, which consent may be withheld in the Fund's sole discretion.