EXHIBIT 10.2
AMENDED AND RESTATED ISSUING AND PAYING AGENCY
AGREEMENT
[4(2) Commercial Paper
Program]
Dated as of May 3, 2006
Deutsche Bank National Trust Company
Global Transaction Banking
Trust & Securities Services
25 DeForest Ave, 2nd Floor
Mail Stop: SUM01-0105
Summit, NJ 07901
ATTN: Corporate Trust and Agency
Services
Re:
AllianceBernstein L.P. Commercial
Paper Program
Ladies and Gentlemen:
This letter (herein after referred
to as the “Agreement”) sets forth the understanding
between you and AllianceBernstein L.P., formerly known as Alliance
Capital Management L.P. (the “Partnership”), whereby
you have agreed to act as depositary for the safekeeping of certain
notes of the Partnership which may be offered and sold in
transactions exempt from registration under Section 4(2) of
the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, in the United States
commercial paper market (the “Commercial Paper Notes”),
as issuing agent on behalf of the Partnership in connection with
the issuance of the Commercial Paper Notes and as paying agent to
undertake certain obligations to make payments in respect of the
Commercial Paper Notes, and amends and restates the Issuing and
Paying Agency Agreement, dated as of March 12, 2001, between
Bankers Trust Company and the Partnership. You have executed or
will promptly hereafter execute a Letter of Representations (the
“Letter of Representations”, which term shall include
the
Procedures referred to therein) with the
Partnership and The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”)
and a Certificate Agreement (the “Certificate
Agreement”) with DTC which establish or will establish, among
other things, the procedures to be followed by you in connection
with the issuance and custody of Commercial Paper Notes in
book-entry form.
1. Appointment of Agent . The Partnership hereby appoints you and
you hereby agree to act, on the terms and conditions specified
herein and in the Letter of Representations and Certificate
Agreement, as custodian and issuing and paying agent for the
Commercial Paper Notes. The Commercial Paper Notes will, in the
case of Commercial Paper Notes issued in certificated form
(“Certificated Notes”), be substantially in the form
attached hereto as Exhibit A and, in the case of Commercial Paper
Notes issued in book-entry form (“Book-Entry Notes”),
be substantially in the forms attached to the Letter of
Representations. The Commercial Paper Notes will be sold through
such commercial paper dealers as the Partnership shall have
notified you from time to time (collectively, the
“Dealer” or “Dealers”). The Dealers
currently are Banc of America Securities LLC and Merrill Lynch
Money Markets Inc.
2. Supply of Commercial Paper Notes
. The Partnership will from
time to time furnish you with an adequate supply of Commercial
Paper Notes, which shall be Book-Entry Notes and/or Certificated
Notes, as the Partnership in its sole and absolute discretion
considers appropriate. Certificated Notes shall be serially
numbered and shall have been executed by manual or facsimile
signature of an Authorized Representative (as hereafter defined),
with the principal amount, payee, date of issue, maturity date,
amount of interest (if an interest-bearing Commercial Paper Note)
and maturity value left blank. Book-Entry Notes shall be
represented by one or more master notes which shall be executed by
manual or facsimile signature by an Authorized Representative in
accordance with the Letter of Representations. Pending receipt
of
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instructions pursuant to this Agreement, you
will hold the Commercial Paper Notes in safekeeping for the account
of the Partnership or DTC, as the case may be, in accordance with
your customary practice and the requirements of the Certificate
Agreement. The Certificated Notes shall be printed on a manifold
that will produce one original and three non-negotiable
copies.
3. Authorized Representatives
. From time to time the
Partnership will furnish you with a certificate, substantially in
the form attached hereto as Exhibit B, certifying the incumbency
and specimen signatures of officers or agents of the Partnership
authorized to execute Commercial Paper Notes on behalf of the
Partnership by manual or facsimile signature and/or to take other
action hereunder on behalf of the Partnership (each an
“Authorized Representative”). Until you receive a
subsequent incumbency certificate of the Partnership, you are
entitled to rely on the last such certificate delivered to you for
purposes of determining the Authorized Representatives. You shall
not have any responsibility to the Partnership to determine by whom
or by what means a facsimile signature may have been affixed on the
Commercial Paper Notes, or to determine whether any facsimile or
manual signature is genuine, if such facsimile or manual signature
resembles the specimen signature(s) filed with you by a duly
authorized officer of the Partnership. Any Commercial Paper Note
bearing the manual or facsimile signature of a person who is an
Authorized Representative on the date such signature is affixed
shall be binding on the Partnership after the authentication
thereof by you notwithstanding that such person shall have died or
shall have otherwise ceased to hold his office on the date such
Commercial Paper Note is countersigned or delivered to
you.
4. Completion, Authentication and Delivery of
Commercial Paper Notes .
(a) Instructions for the issuance of Commercial Paper Notes
will be given via a transmission through
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an instruction and reporting communication
service (“Noteline Direct”), if available, or by
telephone, confirmed in writing (which may be by facsimile) within
twenty-four hours either by an Authorized Representative, or by any
officer or employee of a Dealer who has been designated by an
Authorized Representative in writing to you as a person authorized
to give such instructions hereunder (each an “Authorized
Dealer Representative”), provided that instructions may be
given in writing if the Noteline Direct system is unavailable or is
inoperative. Upon receipt of instructions as described in the
preceding sentence, you will withdraw the necessary Commercial
Paper Note(s) from safekeeping and, in accordance with such
instructions, shall, (i) in the case of Book-Entry Notes, cause the
issuance of such Book-Entry Notes in the manner set forth in, and
take such other actions as are required by, the Letter of
Representations and the Certificate Agreement, or (ii) in the case
of Certificated Notes:
(1) complete each
Certificated Note as to principal amount (which shall not be less
than $250,000), payee, date of issue, maturity date (which shall
not be more than 270 days from the date of issue), amount of
interest (if any) and maturity value; and
(2) manually countersign
each Certificated Note by any one of your officers or employees
duly authorized and designated for this purpose; and
(3) deliver the
Certificated Note(s) to the appropriate Dealer or its agent within
the Borough of Manhattan, City and State of New York, which
delivery shall be against receipt for payment as herein provided or
as otherwise provided in such instructions. If such instructions do
not provide for such receipt, such Dealer shall nevertheless pay
the purchase price for the Certificated Note in accordance with
Paragraph 5 hereof. Of the three non-negotiable copies of each
Commercial Paper Note, two shall be retained by you and one shall
be sent promptly to the Partnership.
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(b) Instructions given
via the system must be entered by 12:00 p.m. for physical
issuance and 1:00 p.m. for book-entry issuance, New
York time, and instructions delivered by telephone or in writing
must be received by you by 1:00 p.m., New York time, if the
Commercial Paper Note(s) are to be delivered the same day.
Telephone instructions shall be confirmed in writing the same
day.
(c) The Partnership
understands that although you have been instructed to deliver
Commercial Paper Notes against payment, delivery of Certificated
Notes will, in accordance with the custom prevailing in the
commercial paper market, be made before receipt of payment in
immediately available funds. Therefore, once you have delivered a
Certificated Note to a Dealer or its agent as provided in Paragraph
4(a)(3) hereof, the Partnership shall bear the risk that a Dealer
or its agent fails to remit payment for the Certificated Note to
you. It is understood that each delivery of Commercial Paper Notes
hereunder shall be subject to the rules of the New York Clearing
House in effect at the time of such delivery.
(d) Except as may
otherwise be provided in the Letter of Representations, if at any
time the Partnership instructs you to cease issuing Certificated
Notes and to issue only Book-Entry Notes, you agree that all
Commercial Paper Notes will be issued as Book-Entry Notes and that
no Certificated Notes shall be exchanged for Book-Entry Notes
unless and until you have received written instructions from an
Authorized Representative (any such instructions from an Authorized
Dealer Representative shall not be sufficient for this purpose) to
the contrary.
(e) Notwithstanding any
contrary instructions received from the Partnership or an
Authorized Representative, you shall cease completing,
authenticating, issuing and delivering Commercial Paper Notes, if,
following the issuance of any Commercial Paper Notes, the aggregate
principal amount of outstanding Commercial Paper Notes would exceed
the authorized
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