Exhibit 10.1
BNP PARIBAS SECURITIES
CORP.
BNP PARIBAS
THE EQUITABLE
TOWER
787 SEVENTH AVENUE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
10019
November 2, 2006
Baldor Electric Company
$1,200,000,000 Senior Secured Credit
Facilities
$900,000,000 Bridge Facility
Commitment Letter
Baldor Electric Company
5711 R.S. Boreham Jr. Street
Fort Smith, Arkansas 72901
Attention: Ronald E. Tucker
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President,
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CFO and
Secretary
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Ladies and Gentlemen:
You have advised us that Baldor
Electric Company, a Missouri corporation (the “
Borrower ” or “ You
”), intends to purchase the principal businesses of the Power
Systems operating segment (the “ Target
”) of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (the “
Seller ”) for total consideration of up to
$1,800,000,000 (the “ Acquisition ”) and
that, in connection therewith, the Borrower intends to refinance
certain of its existing indebtedness (the “
Refinancing ”).
You have further advised us that
(a) the Borrower will borrow under the Senior Credit
Facilities (the “ Senior Credit Facilities
”) described in the Summary of Terms, Senior Secured Credit
Facilities (the “ Senior Term Sheet ”)
attached hereto as Annex A and issue $900,000,000 aggregate
principal amount of debt and/or equity securities (the “
Securities ”) in a public offering or a Rule
144A private placement or, in the event the Borrower is unable to
issue the full amount of the Securities at or prior to the time of
the Transaction (as herein defined), (b) the Borrower will
borrow unsecured increasing rate bridge loans (the “
Bridge Loans ” and, together with the Senior
Credit Facilities, the “ Credit Facilities
”) described in the Summary of Terms, Bridge Loans (the
“ Bridge Term Sheet ” and, together with
the Senior Term Sheet, the “ Term Sheets
”) attached hereto as Annex B, as interim financing to the
Securities, (c) the Borrower will use the proceeds of the
Senior Credit Facilities and the Securities (or the Bridge Loans)
to pay a portion of the purchase price for the Acquisition, to
consummate the Refinancing and to pay fees, commissions, costs and
expenses related to the transactions contemplated hereby. The
Acquisition, the Refinancing, the borrowings under the Senior
Credit Facilities, the issuance of the Securities (or the borrowing
of the Bridge Loans, if
applicable) and the use of proceeds of such
indebtedness are referred to herein collectively as the “
Transaction ”). The sources and uses of funds
to consummate the Transaction are set forth in Schedule II attached
to the Senior Term Sheet.
BNP Paribas is pleased to inform you
that it or one of its affiliates hereby commits to provide the
entire principal amount of the Bridge Loans. In addition, BNP
Paribas is pleased to inform you that it hereby commits to provide
the entire principal amount of the Senior Credit Facilities and to
act as the sole and exclusive administrative agent (the “
Administrative Agent ”) for the Credit
Facilities. BNP Paribas Securities Corp. (“
BNPPSC ”) is willing to act as sole and
exclusive lead arranger and book manager and to use its reasonable
commercial efforts to arrange for syndicates of banks and other
financial institutions (each such bank and other financial
institution, including BNP Paribas, being a “
Lender ” and, collectively, the “
Lenders ”) to participate in the Credit
Facilities. BNP Paribas shall be relieved of its obligation to
provide the entire amount of the Credit Facilities to the extent
that the offers of Lenders other than BNP Paribas to provide any
portion of the Credit Facilities are accepted. Our fees for such
services are set forth in the accompanying confidential fee letter
(the “ Fee Letter ”). The Borrower agrees
that BNP Paribas shall have the exclusive right during the term of
this Commitment Letter (as defined below) to provide any bridge or
interim financing utilized by the Borrower or any of its affiliates
to finance any portion of the Transaction.
BNP Paribas is satisfied with the
results of its diligence investigation of the Borrower and the
Target to date. BNP Paribas’ commitment shall not be subject
to additional due diligence unless BNP Paribas shall become aware
of any information relating to conditions or events not previously
disclosed to BNP Paribas or constituting new information or
additional developments concerning conditions or events previously
disclosed to BNP Paribas which, in its reasonable judgment, is
inconsistent with the information theretofore provided to BNP
Paribas and which BNP Paribas reasonably deems materially adverse
in respect of the condition (financial or otherwise), business,
operations, debt service capacity, properties, assets, accounting
treatment, or liabilities (including environmental liabilities ) of
the Borrower and its subsidiaries, taken as a whole, or of the
Target. BNP Paribas’ commitment hereunder and BNPPSC’s
agreement to perform the services described herein are subject to
(a) there shall not have been any change in the business,
financial condition or operations of the Target, taken as a whole,
that has had a Material Adverse Effect (as defined in the draft of
the Purchase Agreement for the Acquisition that you furnished to
us, and that you informed us accompanied your bid for the Target,
on October 30, 2006 (such Purchase Agreement in the form of
such draft being referred to herein as the “ Purchase
Agreement ”)), (b) our satisfaction that prior
to and during the syndication of the Credit Facilities there shall
be no competing offering, placement or arrangement of any debt
securities or bank financing by or on behalf of the Borrower, any
of its affiliates or the Target except as expressly contemplated by
the Term Sheets and (c) the conditions set forth in the Term
Sheets and Annex C.
The documentation for both Credit
Facilities (the “ Facilities Documentation
”) shall be consistent, in each case, with the Term Sheets
and customary and appropriate for transactions of this size and
type (provided that, notwithstanding
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anything in this Commitment Letter, the Term
Sheets, the Fee Letter, the Facilities Documentation or any other
letter agreement or other undertaking concerning the financing of
the Transactions to the contrary, (i) the only representations
relating to the Target the making of which shall be a condition to
availability of any of the Credit Facilities on the Closing Date
(as defined in Annex A hereto) shall be (A) such of the
representations made by the Seller in the Purchase Agreement as are
material to the interests of the Lenders, but only to the extent
that you have the right to terminate your obligations under such
Purchase Agreement as a result of a breach of such representations
(determined without regard to whether any notice is required to be
delivered by you) or the accuracy of such representations is a
condition precedent under the Purchase Agreement to your obligation
to consummate the Acquisition, and (B) the Specified
Representations (as defined below) and (ii) to the extent
any Collateral (as described in Annex A hereto) (other than the
pledge and perfection of the security interests in the capital
stock of subsidiaries held by the Borrower and the Guarantors (to
the extent required under the Senior Term Sheet) and other assets
pursuant to which a lien may be perfected by the filing of a
financing statement under the Uniform Commercial Code) is not
provided on the Closing Date after your use of commercially
reasonable efforts to do so, the delivery of such Collateral shall
not constitute a condition precedent to the availability of the
Credit Facilities on the Closing Date but shall be required to be
delivered after the Closing Date pursuant to reasonable
arrangements and timing to be mutually agreed)). For purposes
hereof, “ Specified Representations ”
means the representations and warranties set forth in the Term
Sheets relating to corporate existence, corporate power and
authority, authorization, execution, delivery and enforceability of
the Facilities Documentation, Federal Reserve margin regulations,
the Investment Company Act, status of the Senior Secured Facilities
as senior debt and (without limitation of clause (ii) of the
preceding sentence) validity, priority and perfection of security
interests.
BNPPSC will manage all aspects of
the syndications, including decisions as to the selection of
institutions to be approached and when they will be approached,
when their commitments will be accepted, which institutions will
participate, the allocations of the commitments among potential
Lenders, any titles offered to potential Lenders and the amount and
distribution of fees among the Lenders. You agree that no other
agents, co-agents or arrangers will be appointed, no other titles
will be awarded and no compensation other than as expressly set
forth in the Term Sheets and the Fee Letter will be paid in
connection with the Credit Facilities unless you and we shall so
agree. BNPPSC intends to commence syndication efforts promptly upon
the execution of this Commitment Letter, and you agree actively to
assist BNPPSC in completing syndications satisfactory to it. Such
assistance shall include (i) your using commercially
reasonable efforts to ensure that the syndication efforts benefit
materially from your and your subsidiaries’ lending and
investment banking relationships as well as those of the Target,
(ii) your using reasonable efforts to make certain members of
the management of the Borrower and its subsidiaries, as well as its
consultants and advisors and the Target, are available during
regular business hours to answer questions regarding the Credit
Facilities, (iii) the Borrower and its subsidiaries providing
or causing to be provided to us all information reasonably deemed
necessary by us to complete syndication, and (iv) the hosting
by the Borrower and its subsidiaries of meetings with prospective
Lenders. You
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further agree that BNP Paribas’ commitment
hereunder is conditioned upon the satisfaction of the requirements
set forth in clauses (i) – (iv) of the immediately
preceding sentence no later than 45 days prior to the closing date
and that thereafter you shall continue to actively assist BNPPSC
until the completion of successful syndications of the Credit
Facilities.
To further assist BNPPSC in its
syndication efforts, you agree promptly to prepare and provide to
BNPPSC all information with respect to the Borrower and its
subsidiaries, the Target, and the Transaction , including all
Projections (as defined below), as we may reasonably request in
connection with the arrangement and syndication of the Credit
Facilities. At the request of BNPPSC, you agree to assist us in
preparing an additional version of the information package and
presentation (the “ Public Side Version
”) to be used by prospective Lenders’ public-side
employees and representatives (“ Public-Siders
”) who do not wish to receive material non-public information
(within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws)
with respect to you and your affiliates and any of your or their
respective securities (“ MNPI ”) and who
may be engaged in investment and other market related activities
with respect to your and your affiliates’ securities or
loans. Before distribution of any information materials, you agree
to execute and deliver to us (i) a letter in which you
authorize distribution of such information materials to a
prospective Lender’s employees willing to receive MNPI
(“ Private-Siders ”) and (ii) a
separate letter in which you authorize distribution of the Public
Side Version to Public-Siders and represent that no MNPI is
contained therein. You agree that the following documents may be
distributed to both Private-Siders and Public-Siders, unless you
advise BNPPSC in writing (including by e-mail) within a reasonable
time prior to their intended distribution that such materials
should only be distributed to Private-Siders:
(a) administrative materials prepared by BNPPSC for
prospective Lenders (such as a lender meeting invitation, bank
allocation, if any, and funding and closing memoranda),
(b) notification of changes in the Credit Facilities’
terms and (c) other materials intended for prospective Lenders
after the initial distribution of the information materials. If you
advise us that any of the foregoing should be distributed only to
Private-Siders, then Public-Siders will not receive such materials
without further discussions with you. You hereby authorize us to
distribute drafts of definitive documentation with respect to the
Credit Facilities to Private-Siders and Public-Siders. You hereby
represent that, to the best of your knowledge after due diligence:
(i) all information, other than Projections (as defined
below), which has been or is hereafter made available to us or the
other Lenders by the Borrower and its subsidiaries or any of your
or their representatives in connection with the transactions
contemplated hereby (the “ Information ”)
has been reviewed and analyzed by you in connection with the
performance of your own due diligence and is or will be, in the
case of Information made available after the date hereof, complete
and correct in all material respects and does not or will not
contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a
material fact necessary to make the statements contained therein
not materially misleading in light of the circumstances under which
such statements were or are made, and (ii) all financial
projections concerning the Borrower and its subsidiaries or the
Target that have been or are hereafter made available to us or the
other Lenders by you, any of the Borrower and its subsidiaries or
any of your or its representatives in connection with the
transactions contemplated hereby (the “
Projections ”) have been or
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will be, in the case of Projections made
available after the date hereof, prepared in good faith based upon
reasonable assumptions. You agree to supplement the Information and
the Projections from time to time until the closing date so that
the representation and warranty in the preceding sentence is
correct on the closing date. In arranging and syndicating the
Credit Facilities, BNPPSC will be using and relying on the
Information and the Projections without independent verification
thereof. The representations and covenants contained in this
paragraph shall remain effective until the initial funding under a
definitive financing agreement and thereafter the disclosure
representations contained herein shall be superseded by those
contained in such definitive financing agreement.
You hereby agree to pay our
reasonable costs and expenses (including the reasonable fees and
expenses of counsel, reasonable professional fees of consultants
and other experts and reasonable out-of-pocket expenses, including
without limitation syndication expenses) incurred before or after
the date of this Commitment Letter arising in connection with this
Commitment Letter, the definitive financing agreements, the
syndications of the Credit Facilities and the Transactions . You
hereby further agree to indemnify and hold harmless the
Administrative Agent, BNPPSC and each Lender (including BNP
Paribas) and their respective affiliates and each director,
officer, employee, agent, attorney and affiliate thereof (each such
person, an “ indemnified person ”) from
and against any losses, claims, damages, liabilities or other
expenses to which an indemnified person may become subject, insofar
as such losses, claims, damages, liabilities (or actions or other
proceedings commenced or threatened in respect thereof) or other
expenses arise out of or in any way relate to or result from the
Transaction, the Fee Letter, the extension of the financing
contemplated hereby, the Credit Facilities or any use or intended
use of the proceeds of any of the loans and other extensions of
credit contemplated hereby, and you shall reimburse each
indemnified person for any reasonable legal or other expenses
incurred in connection with investigating, defending or
participating in any such investigation, litigation or other
proceeding (whether or not any such investigation, litigation or
other proceeding involves claims made between you, the Borrower,
its subsidiaries or any third party and any such indemnified
person, and whether or not any such indemnified person is a party
to any investigation, litigation or proceeding out of which any
such expenses arise); provided, however, that the indemnity
contained herein shall not apply to the extent that it is
determined in a final nonappealable judgment by a court of
competent jurisdiction that such losses, claims, damages,
liabilities or other expenses result from the gross negligence or
willful misconduct of such indemnified person. The obligations to
indemnify each indemnified person and to pay such legal and other
expenses shall remain effective until the initial funding under a
definitive financing agreement and thereafter the indemnification
and expense reimbursement obligations contained herein shall be
superseded by those contained in such definitive financing
agreement. No indemnified person shall be liable for any damages
arising from the use by others of Information or other materials
obtained through internet, Intralinks or similar information
transmission systems in connection with the Credit Facilities. No
indemnified person shall be responsible or liable to any other
party or any other person for any indirect, consequential or
special damages. The foregoing provisions of this paragraph shall
be in addition to any rights that any indemnified person may have
at common law or otherwise.
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As you know, BNP Paribas or its
affiliates may from time to time effect transactions, for its own
account or for the accounts of customers, and may hold positions in
loans, options on loans, securities and options on securities, of
companies that may be the subject of the transactions contemplated
by this Commitment Letter or otherwise relate to the Borrower or
any of its subsidiaries or the Target. Further, you acknowledge
that BNP Paribas or its affiliates may be providing debt financing,
equity capital or other services (including financial advisory
services) to other companies in respect of which you may have
conflicting interests regarding the transactions described hereby
and otherwise and that neither BNP Paribas nor any of its
affiliates has any obligation to use in connection with the
transactions contemplated hereby, or to furnish to you,
confidential information obtained from such other
companies.
You acknowledge and agree that in
connection with all elements of each transaction contemplated under
this Commitment Letter and the Fee Letter (i) neither BNP
Paribas nor any of its affiliates has assumed any advisory
responsibility or any other obligation in favor of the Borrower and
its subsidiaries except the obligations expressly provided for
under this Commitment Letter and the Fee Letter and (ii) BNP
Paribas and its affiliates, on the one hand, and the Borrower and
its subsidiaries, on the other hand, have an arms-length business
relationship that does not directly or indirectly give rise to, nor
do the Borrower and its subsidiaries rely on, any fiduciary duty on
the part of BNP Paribas or any of its affiliates.
This Commitment Letter and the Fee
Letter are intended solely for your benefit and nothing in this
Commitment Letter or the Fee Letter, express or implied, shall give
any person other than the parties hereto, any beneficial or legal
right, remedy or claim hereunder. Neither this Commitment Letter
nor the Fee Letter is assignable by you, and neither may be relied
upon by any other person or entity. Each of this Commitment Letter
and the Fee Letter is confidential and shall not be disclosed by
any of the parties hereto to any person other than such
party’s accountants, attorneys and other advisors and, in the
case of BNP Paribas and BNPPSC, their affiliates and prospective
Lenders, purchasers and assignees, and then only on a confidential
basis and in connection with the Transaction. Any disclosure to an
advisor may be made for the sole purpose of evaluating and advising
on the offer of financing made in this Commitment Letter and may
not be used by such advisor in formulating any offer of financing
by such advisor or an affiliate. Additionally, any of the parties
hereto may make such disclosures of this Commitment Letter as are
required by regulatory authority, law or judicial process or as may
be required or appropriate in response to any summons or subpoena
or in connection with any litigation; provided that such party will
use its commercially reasonable efforts to notify the other parties
hereto of any such disclosure prior to making such
disclosure.
We hereby consent to your disclosure
of this Commitment Letter (but not the Fee Letter) on a
confidential basis to the Seller and its financial, legal and
accounting advisors for their use in connection with their
evaluation of your proposal for the Acquisition. If this Commitment
Letter and the Fee Letter are not accepted by you as provided for
below, you are to immediately return this Commitment Letter and the
Fee Letter (and any copies hereof and thereof) to the undersigned
or confirm to the undersigned that they have been
destroyed.
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BNP Paribas hereby notifies you that
pursuant to the requirements of the USA PATRIOT Act, Title III of
Pub. L. 107-56 (signed into law October 26, 2001) (the “
Act ”), BNP Paribas may be required to obtain,
verify and record information that identifies you, which
information would include your name and address and other
information that would allow BNP Paribas to identify you in
accordance with the Act.
You hereby agree that upon
consummation of the Transaction BNP Paribas or any of its
affiliates may place customary “tombstone”
advertisements (which may include any of your trade names or
corporate logos) in publications of its choice (including without
limitation “e-tombstones” published or otherwise
circulated in electronic form and related hyperlinks to your
corporate website) at its own expense. In addition, you agree that
BNP Paribas or any of its affiliates may disclose information about
the Transaction to market data collectors and similar service
providers to the financing community.
Our offer will terminate on
November 15, 2006, unless on or before that date you sign and
return an enclosed counterpart of this Commitment Letter and the
Fee Letter to BNP Paribas at 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York
10019, attention Shayn March. The commitments herein provided for
will also expire at the earliest of (i) the abandonment by the
Borrower of its efforts to make the Acquisition; (ii) the
closing of the Acquisition without the use of the Credit
Facilities; or (iii) the close of business on April 30,
2007, if the closing of the Transaction has not occurred by such
time; provided, however, that any term or provision hereof to the
contrary notwithstanding all of your obligations hereunder in
respect of indemnification, confidentiality and fee and expense
reimbursement shall survive any termination of the commitments
pursuant to this paragraph.
THIS COMMITMENT LETTER SHALL BE
GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE INTERNAL LAWS OF
THE STATE OF NEW YORK. Each of the undersigned parties hereby
knowingly, voluntarily and intentionally waives any rights it may
have to a trial by jury in respect of any litigation based hereon,
or arising out of or in connection with, this Commitment Letter and
the Fee Letter, and any course of conduct, course of dealing,
statements (whether oral or written) or actions of any of the
undersigned parties in connection herewith or therewith. The
parties hereto submit to the nonexclusive jurisdiction of the
Federal and New York State courts located in the City of New York
in connection with any dispute related to this Commitment Letter,
the Fee Letter or any of the matters contemplated hereby or
thereby. This Commitment Letter and the Fee Letter constitute the
entire understanding among the parties hereto with respect to the
subject matter hereof and replace and supersede all prior
agreements and understandings, both written and oral, between the
parties hereto with respect to the subject matter hereof. This
Commitment Letter may not be amended or waived except by an
instrument in writing signed by each party hereto. This Commitment
Letter may be executed in any number of counterparts and by
different parties hereto in separate counterparts, each of which
when so executed and delivered
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shall be deemed an original, but all such
counterparts together shall constitute but one and the same
instrument. This Commitment Letter supersedes and replaces the
commitment letter from us to you dated October 30, 2006
relating to the Credit Facilities.
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We appreciate having been given the
opportunity by you to be involved in this transaction.
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Very truly
yours,
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BNP
PARIBAS
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By:
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Title:
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By:
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Title:
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BNP PARIBAS
SECURITIES CORP.
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By:
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Title:
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By:
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Title:
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AGREED AND ACCEPTED
this 6th day of November ,
2006
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BALDOR
ELECTRIC COMPANY
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By:
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Title:
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President, CFO and
Secretary
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S-1
ANNEX A
$1,200,000,000 SENIOR SECURED
CREDIT FACILITIES
Summary of Terms, Senior Secured
Credit Facilities
November 2, 2006
Baldor Electric Company intends to
purchase the principal businesses of the Power Systems operating
segment (the “ Target ”) of Rockwell
Automation, Inc. (the “ Seller ”) for
total consideration of up to $1,800,000,000 (the “
Acquisition ”) and that, in connection
therewith, the Borrower intends to refinance certain of its
existing indebtedness (the “ Refinancing
”). To finance the Acquisition and the Refinancing, the
Borrower will borrow under the Senior Credit Facilities described
in this Summary of Terms, Senior Secured Credit Facilities and
issue $900,000,000 aggregate principal amount of debt and/or equity
securities (the “ Securities ”) in a
public offering or a Rule 144A private placement or, in the event
the Borrower is unable to issue the full amount of the Securities
at or prior to the time of the Transaction (as defined below), the
Borrower will borrow unsecured increasing rate bridge loans (the
“ Bridge Loans ”) on the terms and
conditions described in the Bridge Term Sheet referred to in the
Commitment Letter to which this Summary of Terms is attached. The
Acquisition, the Refinancing, the borrowings under the Senior
Credit Facilities, the issuance of the Securities (or the borrowing
of the Bridge Loans, if applicable) and the use of proceeds of such
indebtedness are referred to herein collectively as the “
Transaction ”.
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I.
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Parties
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Borrower:
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Baldor Electric
Company (the “ Borrower ”).
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Guarantors:
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Guaranteed by
each present and future direct and indirect Significant Domestic
Subsidiary and each present and future direct and indirect Foreign
Subsidiary to the extent no adverse tax consequences would result
therefrom (the “ Guarantors ”; the
Borrower and the Guarantor, collectively, the “ Credit
Parties ”).
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Lead Arranger
and Bookrunner:
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BNP Paribas
Securities Corp. (“ BNPPSC ” and, in such
capacity, the “ Lead Arranger
”).
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Administrative
Agent:
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BNP Paribas (in
such capacity, the “ Administrative Agent
”).
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Lenders:
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A syndicate of
banks, financial institutions and other entities, including BNP
Paribas, arranged by the Lead Arranger (collectively, the “
Lenders ”).
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Baldor Electric
Company
A-1
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II.
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Types and
Amounts of Senior
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Senior
Credit Facilities
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1.
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Term Loan
Facility
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Type and Amount
of Facility:
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Seven-year term loan facility (the
“ Term Loan Facility ”) in the amount of
$1,000,000,000 (the loans thereunder, the “ Term
Loans ”).
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Amortization:
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The
Te
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