Exhibit 4.1
[EXECUTION COPY]
REGISTRATION RIGHTS
AGREEMENT
THIS REGISTRATION RIGHTS AGREEMENT
(this “ Agreement ”) is made and entered into as
of April 1, 2007 between Tribune Company, a Delaware corporation
(the “ Company ”), EGI-TRB, L.L.C., a Delaware
limited liability company (“ EGI-TRB ”), and
GreatBanc Trust Company, not in its individual or corporate
capacity, but solely as trustee (the “ ESOP Fiduciary
”) of the Tribune Employee Stock Ownership Trust, which forms
a part of the Tribune Employee Stock Ownership Plan (the “
ESOP ,” and together with EGI-TRB, the “
Initial Stockholders ” and each, an “ Initial
Stockholder ”).
WHEREAS, the Company, EGI-TRB and
Samuel Zell, as Guarantor, have concurrently herewith entered into
that certain Securities Purchase Agreement, dated April 1, 2007
(the “ Securities Purchase Agreement ”),
pursuant to which EGI-TRB will purchase from the Company, as soon
as practicable following the execution and delivery of this
Agreement, (i) an aggregate of 1,470,588 newly-issued shares (the
“ EGI-TRB Purchased Shares ”) of the
Company’s common stock, par value $0.01 per share (the
“ Common Stock ”), and (ii) an unsecured
subordinated exchangeable promissory note in the principal amount
of $200 million, which shall be exchangeable into shares of
Common Stock (the “ Exchangeable Note
”).
WHEREAS, the Company and the ESOP
Fiduciary, not in its individual or corporate capacity, but solely
as trustee of the ESOP, have concurrently herewith entered into
that certain ESOP Purchase Agreement, dated April 1, 2007 (the
“ ESOP Purchase Agreement ”), pursuant to which
the ESOP will purchase from the Company, as soon as practicable
following the execution and delivery of this Agreement, an
aggregate of 8,928,571 newly-issued shares of Common Stock (the
“ ESOP Purchased Shares ” and together with the
EGI-TRB Purchased Shares, the “ Purchased Shares
”).
WHEREAS, EGI-TRB, the ESOP
Fiduciary, not in its individual or corporate capacity, but solely
as trustee of the ESOP, Tesop Corporation, a Delaware corporation
(“ Merger Sub ”), and the Company have
concurrently herewith entered into that certain Agreement and Plan
of Merger, dated as of April 1, 2007 (the “ Merger
Agreement ”), pursuant to which
Merger Sub, a wholly owned subsidiary of the ESOP, will be merged
with and into the Company, with the Company surviving the Merger
(the “ Merger ”), on the terms and subject to
the conditions set forth therein.
WHEREAS, in order to induce EGI-TRB
and the ESOP Fiduciary, not in its individual or corporate
capacity, but solely as trustee of the ESOP, to enter into the
Securities Purchase Agreement and ESOP Purchase Agreement,
respectively, the Company hereby agrees that this Agreement shall
govern the rights of the Stockholders to cause the Company to
register shares of Common Stock owned by or issuable to the
Stockholders, and shall govern certain other matters as set forth
in this Agreement.
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NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of
the mutual covenants contained herein and other good and valuable
consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby
acknowledged, the parties hereby agree as follows:
SECTION 1.
Definitions . In addition to the terms that are
defined elsewhere in this Agreement, the following terms shall have
the following meanings:
“
Affiliate ” means, with respect to a Person, another
Person who, directly or indirectly, controls, is controlled by or
is under common control with such Person, including, without
limitation, any general partner, officer, director, or manager of
such Person; provided , however , that no Person for
whom the ESOP Fiduciary serves as trustee shall be deemed to be an
Affiliate of the ESOP Fiduciary.
“ Agreement ” has
the meaning specified in the first paragraph of this
Agreement.
“ Business Day ”
means each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday that is
not a day on which banking institutions in The City of Chicago are
authorized or obligated by law or executive order to
close.
“ Chandler Registration
Rights Agreement ” has the meaning specified in
Section 10.
“ Common Stock ”
has the meaning specified in the recitals to this
Agreement.
“ Company ” has
the meaning specified in the first paragraph of this
Agreement.
“ Deferral Notice
” has the meaning specified in Section 3(i).
“ Deferral Period
” has the meaning specified in Section 3(i).
“ Demand Registration
” has the meaning specified in Section 2(a)(i).
“ EGI Transferee
” means any direct or indirect Affiliate of EGI-TRB, Equity
Group Investments, L.L.C. or Samuel Zell, and any senior
employee of Equity Group Investments, L.L.C. and any direct or
indirect Affiliate thereof.
“ EGI-TRB ” has
the meaning specified in the first paragraph of this
Agreement.
“ EGI-TRB Purchased
Shares ” has the meaning specified in the recitals to
this Agreement.
“ EGI-TRB Restriction
Termination Date ” has the meaning set forth in
Section 2(a)(i).
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“ EGI-TRB Stockholders
Representative ” has the meaning specified in
Section 9(a).
“ ESOP ” has the
meaning specified in the first paragraph of this
Agreement.
“ ESOP Fiduciary
” has the meaning specified in the first paragraph of this
Agreement.
“ ESOP Purchase
Agreement ” has the meaning specified in the recitals to
this Agreement.
“ ESOP Purchased Shares
” has the meaning specified in the recitals to this
Agreement.
“ ESOP Restriction
Termination Date ” has the meaning set forth in
Section 2(a)(i).
“ ESOP Stockholders
Representative ” has the meaning specified in
Section 9(a).
“ Exchange Act ”
means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the
rules and regulations of the SEC promulgated thereunder.
“ Exchangeable Note
” has the meaning specified in the recitals to this
Agreement.
“ Initial Stockholders
” and “ Initial Stockholder ” have the
meaning specified in the first paragraph of this
Agreement.
“ Issuer Free Writing
Prospectus ” has the meaning specified in Section
2(d).
“ Lock-up Period
” has the meaning specified in Section 2(c).
“ Material Event
” has the meaning specified in Section 3(i).
“ Merger ” has
the meaning specified in the recitals to this Agreement.
“ Merger Agreement
” has the meaning specified in the recitals to this
Agreement.
“ Merger Sub ”
has the meaning specified in the recitals to this
Agreement.
“ Merger Termination
Date ” means the date the Merger Agreement is terminated,
without consummation of the Merger, pursuant to Article VII
thereof.
“
Permitted Transferee ” means any EGI Transferee and
any member of the Zell Family Group.
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“ Person ” shall
mean any individual, corporation, partnership, joint venture,
association, joint-stock company, limited liability company, trust,
unincorporated organization or government or other agency or
political subdivision thereof.
“ Piggyback
Registration ” has the meaning specified in
Section 2(b)(i).
“ Prospectus ”
means the prospectus included in any Registration Statement, as
amended or supplemented by all amendments and prospectus
supplements, including post-effective amendments, and all materials
incorporated by reference or explicitly deemed to be incorporated
by reference in such Prospectus.
“ Purchase Date ”
means the date on which the purchase and sale of the Purchased
Shares and the Exchangeable Note are consummated at the First
Closing (as defined in the Securities Purchase
Agreement).
“ Purchased Shares
” has the meaning specified in the recitals to this
Agreement.
“ Registrable
Securities ” means
(a) the Purchased Shares, (b) any shares of Common Stock issued by
the Company to the Stockholders pursuant to the Exchangeable Note
or (c) any equity security issued with respect to any shares of
Common Stock referred to in clauses (a) or (b) above upon any stock
dividend, split, merger or similar event. As to any
particular Registrable Securities, such securities shall cease to
be Registrable Securities on the earliest of the date on which such
securities: (x) have been effectively registered under the
Securities Act and disposed of in accordance with a Registration
Statement; (y) have been sold to the public pursuant to Rule 144 or
may be sold or transferred pursuant to Rule l44(k) (or any similar
provision then in force, but not Rule 144A) under the Securities
Act; or (z) cease to be outstanding (whether as a result of
redemption, repurchase and cancellation, conversion or
otherwise).
“ Registration
Statement ” means any registration statement of the
Company that covers any of the Registrable Securities pursuant to
the provisions of this Agreement, including the Prospectus,
amendments and supplements to such registration statement,
including post-effective amendments, all exhibits, and all
materials incorporated by reference or explicitly deemed to be
incorporated by reference in such registration
statement.
“ Restriction Termination
Dates ” has the meaning set forth in
Section 2(a)(i).
“ Rule 144 ”
means Rule 144 under the Securities Act, as such Rule may be
amended from time to time, or any similar or successor rule or
regulation hereafter adopted by the SEC having substantially the
same effect as such Rule.
“ Rule 145 ”
means Rule 145 under the Securities Act, as such Rule may be
amended from time to time, or any similar or successor rule or
regulation hereafter adopted by the SEC having substantially the
same effect as such Rule.
“ SEC ” means the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission and any successor
agency.
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“ Securities Act
” means the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the rules
and regulations promulgated by the SEC thereunder.
“ Securities Purchase
Agreement ” has the meaning specified in the recitals to
this Agreement.
“ Stockholders ”
means the Initial Stockholders and any Permitted Transferees of the
Initial Stockholders to whom Registrable Securities and/or the
Exchangeable Note are properly transferred and, in each case, who
continue to be entitled to the rights of a Stockholder
hereunder.
“ Stockholder Indemnified
Person ” has the meaning specified in Section
6(a).
“ Stockholder
Representatives ” and “ Stockholder
Representative ” have the meaning specified in Section
9(a).
“ Zell Family Group
” shall mean Samuel Zell and his spouse, lineal ancestors and
descendants (whether natural or adopted), and any trust or
retirement account primarily for the benefit of Samuel Zell and/or
his spouse, lineal ancestors and descendants.
SECTION 2.
Registrations and Transfer Restrictions .
(a) Demand
Registrations .
(i) Each
Stockholder Representative may, subject to Sections 2(a)(ii) and
2(a)(iv), request up to three registrations under the Securities
Act of all or any portion of (A) its Registrable Securities
and (B) any Registrable Securities of a Stockholder to whom such
Stockholder Representative has properly assigned its rights under
this Section 2(a) (each such registration request, a “
Demand Registration ”), subject to a minimum of $50
million of Registrable Securities in any Demand Registration;
provided that, in the case of a Demand Registration
requested by the EGI-TRB Stockholders Representative, the Company
shall not be required to file such requested registration prior to
the third anniversary of the Purchase Date (the “ EGI-TRB
Restriction Termination Date ”) and, in the case of a
Demand Registration requested by the ESOP Stockholders
Representative, the Company shall not be required to file such
requested registration prior to the first anniversary of the date
hereof (the “ ESOP Restriction Termination Date
” and, together with the EGI-TRB Restriction Termination
Date, the “ Restriction Termination Dates ”);
provided , further , that each Stockholder
Representative may make such request up to 90 days prior to the
applicable Restriction Termination Date for a filing on or after
the applicable Restriction Termination Date. Each request for
a Demand Registration shall specify the number of Registrable
Securities requested to be registered and the intended method of
distribution thereof (it being understood that no Demand
Registration shall require the Company to effect a shelf
registration statement).
(ii) A registration requested
pursuant to this Agreement shall be deemed to have been effected
for purposes of Section 2(a)(i) if (A) it has been declared
effective by the SEC, (B) at least 80% of the Registrable
Securities requested to be included in such Demand Registration
(after giving effect to any reduction pursuant to Section
2(a)(iii)) shall have been
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registered and, in the case of an
underwritten offering, sold, (C) it has not failed to remain
effective for the period set forth in Section 3(c) and (D) the
offering of Registrable Securities pursuant to such Demand
Registration has not been subject to any stop order or injunction
or other order or requirement of the SEC lasting more than 45 days
and preventing the offering of Registrable Securities
thereunder.
(iii) In connection with a Demand
Registration pursuant to which an underwritten public offering is
requested as the intended method of distribution pursuant to
Section 2(a)(i), if the managing underwriters advise the Company in
writing, with a copy to be delivered to the requesting Stockholder
Representative, that, in their opinion, the number of Registrable
Securities requested to be included in such offering exceeds the
largest number of securities which can be sold therein without
adversely affecting the marketability of the offering and within a
price range reasonably acceptable to the requesting Stockholder
Representative, the Company shall include in such registration the
amount of Registrable Securities requested to be included which in
the opinion of such underwriters can be sold without adversely
affecting the marketability of the offering; provided , that
if the number of Registrable Securities to be included in the
registration is less than 75% of the number requested to be so
included, the requesting Stockholder Representative shall be
entitled to withdraw its request for a Demand Registration in lieu
of the registration of such lesser amount of Registrable Securities
and, if such request is withdrawn, such Demand Registration shall
not count as one of the permitted Demand Registrations
hereunder.
(iv) The Company shall not be
obligated to effect any Demand Registration within (A) 180 days
after the effective date of a previous Demand Registration or (B)
120 days after the date of a previous Piggyback Registration in
which the Stockholder participates pursuant to Section 2(b).
The Company may postpone or suspend, as applicable, for no more
than two periods in any 12-month period aggregating not more than
120 days in such 12-month period the filing, effectiveness or use
of a registration statement for a Demand Registration (and the
Stockholder agrees not to offer or sell any Registrable Securities
pursuant to such Registration Statement during such deferral or
suspension), pursuant to this Section 2(a)(iv) or clause (C) of
Section 3(i), if the Company’s board of directors determines
in good faith that such filing or effectiveness would
(A) interfere with or adversely affect in any material respect
the negotiation or completion of any material transaction or other
Material Event that is being contemplated by the Company or
(B) involve initial or continuing disclosure obligations
relating to a Material Event, the disclosure of which could, in the
reasonable judgment of the Company, be materially adverse to its
interests; provided , that in the event of such a
postponement of registration, each requesting Stockholder
Representative shall be entitled to withdraw its request for a
Demand Registration and, if such request is withdrawn, such Demand
Registration shall not count as one of the permitted Demand
Registrations hereunder. In the event the Company shall
exercise its deferral or suspension rights hereunder following the
effectiveness of a registration statement filed in response to the
request for a Demand Registration, the applicable time period
during which the registration statement is to remain effective
under Section 3(c) shall be extended by a period of time equal to
the duration of such deferral or suspension. The number and
length of deferral and suspension periods in any 12-month period
under this Section 2(a)(iv) shall be aggregated with the number and
the length of Deferral Periods under clause (C) of
Section 3(i), such that the Company shall not be permitted to
postpone or suspend, for more
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than two periods in any 12-month
period aggregating not more than 120 days in such 12-month period
the filing, effectiveness or use of a registration statement for a
Demand Registration pursuant to this Section 2(a)(iv) and/or clause
(C) of Section 3(i) taken together.
(v) In connection with any Demand
Registration, the requesting Stockholder Representative shall have
the right to designate a nationally recognized underwriter or
underwriters as the lead or managing underwriter(s) of such
underwritten offering who shall be reasonably acceptable to the
Company. In connection with any such underwritten offering,
each Stockholder holding Registrable Securities to be included in
such registration and the Company agree that they will each enter
into a customary underwriting agreement with the underwriter(s)
selected pursuant to the preceding sentence.
(b) Piggyback Registrations
.
(i) If the Company proposes to
register Common Stock (for its own account or for the account of
any other holder of its securities) under the Securities Act (other
than pursuant to a Demand Registration which shall be governed by
Section 2(a), and registrations on Form S-4 or Form S-8 or on
any successor or other form promulgated for similar purposes or
relating to a Rule 145 transaction) at any time after the
applicable Restriction Termination Date and the registration form
to be used may be used for the registration of Registrable
Securities for sale to the public under the Securities Act (a
“ Piggyback Registration ”), then the Company
shall give prompt written notice to each applicable Stockholder
Representative of its intention to effect such a registration and,
subject to the terms hereof, shall use reasonable best efforts to
include in such registration all Registrable Securities with
respect to which the Company has received written requests for
inclusion therein from such Stockholder Representative (which
request shall specify the number of Registrable Securities intended
to be disposed of by such Stockholder Representative and any
Registrable Securities of a Stockholder to whom such Stockholder
Representative has properly assigned its rights under this Section
2(b)) within 20 days after such Stockholder Representative receives
the Company’s notice; provided , that (A) if, at any
time after giving written notice of its intention to register any
securities and prior to the effective date of the registration
statement filed in connection with such registration, the Company
shall determine for any reason not to proceed with the proposed
registration, the Company may, at its election, give written notice
of such determination to the applicable Stockholder Representatives
and thereupon shall be relieved of its obligation to register any
Registrable Securities in connection with such registration, (B) if
such registration involves an underwritten offering by the Company,
each Stockholder holding Registrable Securities to be included in
such registration must sell its Registrable Securities to such
underwriters who shall have been selected by the Company on the
same terms and conditions as apply to the Company, with such
differences, including any with respect to indemnification and
contribution, as may be customary or appropriate in combined
primary and secondary offerings and (C) if such registration
involves an underwritten secondary offering on behalf of holders of
the Company’s securities other than the Stockholders pursuant
to a demand or similar registration right, each applicable
Stockholder Representative may, in lieu of exercising its rights on
its own behalf and/or on behalf of other Stockholders under this
Section 2(b), elect (by written notice sent to the Company within
ten (10) Business Days from the date of the Company’s notice
pursuant to this Section 2(b)(i)) to include all or a portion of
its Registrable Securities and any
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Registrable Securities of a
Stockholder to whom such Stockholder Representative has properly
assigned its rights under Section 2(a) in such demand registration
(it being understood that, subject to Section 2(a)(ii), such a
registration shall be deemed to be one of such Stockholder
Representative’s Demand Registrations).
(ii) If a Piggyback Registration is
an underwritten primary offering on behalf of the Company, and the
managing underwriters advise the Company in writing that in their
opinion the number of securities requested to be included in such
offering exceeds the largest number of securities which can be sold
therein without adversely affecting the marketability of the
offering and within a price range reasonably acceptable to the
Company, the Company shall include in such registration (A) first,
the securities the Company proposes to sell and (B) second, the
Registrable Securities requested to be included in such
registration by the applicable Stockholder Representatives and any
other securities requested to be included in such registration,
pro rata among the holders of all such securities
(including the Registrable Securities of the Stockholders) on the
basis of the number of securities of the Company owned by each such
holder.
(iii) If a Piggyback Registration is
an underwritten secondary offering on behalf of holders of the
Company’s securities other than the Stockholders, and the
managing underwriters advise the Company in writing that in their
opinion the number of securities requested to be included in such
offering exceeds the largest number of securities which can be sold
in such offering without adversely affecting the marketability of
the offering and within a price range reasonably acceptable to the
holders of the Company’s securities requesting such
registration other than the Stockholders, the Company shall include
in such registration (A) first, the securities requested to be
included therein by the holders of registrable securities
requesting such registration, including Registrable Securities
included therein pursuant to Section 2(b)(i)(C), pro
rata among the holders of all such securities on the basis
of the number of securities of the Company owned by each such
holder and (B) second, Registrable Securities requested to be
included in such registration by the applicable Stockholder
Representatives (other than Registrable Securities included
pursuant to clause (A) above) and any other securities requested to
be included in such registration, pro rata among the
holders of all such securities on the basis of the number of
securities of the Company owned by each such holder. For the
avoidance of doubt, the parties hereto agree that the Company may
offer registration rights in the future that have reciprocal
piggyback registration provisions that permit the holder of such
registration rights to exercise one of its demand registrations
following a Demand Registration request from a Stockholder
Representative and be treated pari passu with the
Stockholders participating in such Demand Registration in the event
of an underwritten offering cutback of the type contemplated by
this paragraph (iii).
(iv) The Company shall have the
right to select the investment banker(s) and/or manager(s) to
administer the offering in connection with any Piggyback
Registration.
(v) Each Stockholder holding
Registrable Securities to be included in a registration pursuant to
this Section 2(b) agrees that it will execute such other customary
agreements as the Company may reasonably request to further
accomplish the purposes of this Section 2(b).
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(c) Holdback Agreement
. Upon the written request of the underwriters managing an
underwritten registered public offering of the Common Stock, the
Stockholders shall not effect any public sale or distribution
(including sales pursuant to Rule 144) of equity securities of the
Company, or any securities convertible into or exchangeable or
exercisable for such securities, during the 7 days prior to, and
during the 90-day period beginning on, the effective date of the
registration statement relating to such underwritten offering (the
“ Lock-Up Period ”); provided ,
however , that if (i) during the last 17 days of the initial
Lock-Up Period, the Company releases earnings results or a Material
Event relating to the Company occurs or (ii) prior to the
expiration of the initial Lock-Up Period, the Company announces
that it will release earnings results during the 16-day period
beginning on the last day of the initial Lock-Up Period, then in
either case the Lock-Up Period will be extended until the
expiration of the 18-day period beginning on the date of release of
the earnings results or the occurrence of the Material Event, as
applicable, unless the underwriters managing such underwritten
registered public offering of the Common Stock waive, in writing,
such extension.
(d) Issuer Free-Writing
Prospectuses . The Company represents and agrees that,
unless it obtains the prior consent of each of the Stockholder
Representatives or the approval of the counsel for each of the
Stockholder Representatives, and each of the Stockholders
represents and agrees that, unless it obtains the prior consent of
the Company, it will not make any offer relating to the Registrable
Securities that would constitute an “issuer free writing
prospectus,” as defined in Rule 433 under the Securities Act
(an “ Issuer Free Writing Prospectus ”), or that
would otherwise constitute a “free writing prospectus,”
as defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act, required to be
filed with the SEC. The Company represents that any Issuer
Free Writing Prospectus will not include any information that
conflicts with the information contained in a Registration
Statement or Prospectus and that any Issuer Free Writing
Prospectus, when taken together with the information in the
Registration Statement and the Prospectus, will not include any
untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material
fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in light of
the circumstances under which they were made, not
misleading.
(e) Transfer Restrictions
. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein,
EGI-TRB hereby agrees that from the Merger Termination Date until
the EGI-TRB Restriction Termination Date, it shall not and shall
not offer to, directly or indirectly (including by means of a
transfer of EGI-TRB), sell, assign, give, mortgage, pledge,
hypothecate, hedge, issue, bequeath or in any manner encumber or
dispose of, or permit to be sold, assigned, encumbered, attached or
otherwise disposed of in any manner, whether voluntarily,
involuntarily or by operation of law, with or without
consideration, the Exchangeable Note or the Registrable Securities
(without giving effect to the second sentence of the definition of
Registrable Securities) held by EGI-TRB, other than to a Permitted
Transferee who agrees to be bound by these transfer
restrictions.
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SECTION 3.
Registration Procedures . Whenever a Stockholder
Representative has properly requested that any Registrable
Securities be registered pursuant to this Agreement, the Company
shall use reasonable best efforts to effect the registration under
the Securities Act of the offering a