Exhibit 10.1
Execution Version
AMENDED AND RESTATED CONDITIONAL
SHARE TRANSFER AGREEMENT
THIS AMENDED AND RESTATED
CONDITIONAL SHARE TRANSFER AGREEMENT (this “
Agreement ”), dated as of October 24,
2008, is entered into among:
JSC BTA Securities, a joint stock
company registered under the laws of Kazakhstan and holding
broker-dealer license No. 0401201983, as securities agent
(together with its successors and assigns in such capacity, the
“ Securities Agent ”) under the Amended
and Restated Securities Agency Agreement of even date herewith (the
“ Securities Agency Agreement ”), acting
on behalf of (i) The Bank of New York Mellon, as
Collateral Agent under the Original Indenture and the New Indenture
(each as defined herein), (ii) The Bank of New York
Mellon, as trustee under the Original Indenture (in such capacity,
the “ Original Trustee ”) for the benefit
of the Original Trustee and the holders of the Original Notes (as
defined herein), and (iii) The Bank of New York Mellon,
as trustee under the New Indenture (in such capacity, the “
New Trustee ” and, together with the Original
Trustee, the “ Trustee ”) for the benefit
of the New Trustee and the holders of the New Notes (as defined
herein), but, in each such case, solely in respect of the
Kazakhstan Documents (as defined in the Securities Agency
Agreement) and the Shares (as defined herein) covered thereby,
and
Transmeridian Exploration Inc., a
British Virgin Islands company (“ TME ”),
and Bramex Management, Inc., a British Virgin Islands company
(“ Bramex ” and, together with TME, the
“ Shareholders ”).
RECITALS:
A. JSC Caspi Neft TME (“ Caspi
Neft ”) is a Kazakhstan joint stock company
registered under the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan, with an
authorized Charter Capital of 50,000,000 tenge consisting of 50,000
common shares with a nominal value of 1,000 tenge per share, all of
which shares are issued and outstanding (National Identification
Number KZ1C41630019), of which 25,000 are legally and beneficially
owned by TME and 25,000 are legally and beneficially owned by
Bramex.
B. The Securities Agent and the Shareholders are
party to that certain Conditional Share Transfer Agreement, dated
as of January 3, 2006, as amended on May 24, 2006 (the
“ Original CSTA ”), securing the
obligations of the Shareholders under the Original Indenture and
the Original Notes and the guarantee of Bramex and all other
obligations of the Shareholders under the Transaction Documents (as
defined herein).
C. Money Experts JSC, a joint stock company
registered under the laws of Kazakhstan and holding broker-dealer
license No. 0401200555, shall act as nominee for the
Shareholders and the Securities Agent (in such capacity, together
with its successors and assigns in such capacity, the
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“ Nominee ”) pursuant
to those certain Brokerage Services Agreements (with nominal
holding) entered into between each Shareholder and the Nominee and
the Securities Agent and the Nominee, each such agreement dated as
of April 2, 2007 (collectively, the “ Brokerage
Services Agreements ”). The Nominee shall be
instructed by the Parties (as defined herein) to act pursuant to
this Agreement, and the Nominee shall acknowledge in writing
receipt hereof.
D. All of the shares of Caspi Neft owned by the
Shareholders are recorded in the share register maintained by JSC
“ Securities Registrar System ,” License
No. 20050017 of the National Companies and Securities
Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan (located at Republic of
Kazakhstan, Almaty, 75 Muratbayeva St.) in the name of the Nominee,
and all such shares are fully paid and, subject to the encumbrance
and pledge appearing in the records of the Nominee, are free of all
other Encumbrances (as defined herein), except only as may be
created by the Transaction Documents.
E. TME issued its Senior Secured Notes due 2010
(the “ Original Notes ”) in an aggregate
principal amount of $290 million pursuant to that certain
Indenture, dated as of December 12, 2005, as supplemented by
the First, Second and Third Supplemental Indentures thereto, dated
as of December 22, 2005, May 24, 2006 and the date
hereof, respectively, by and among TME, the Original Trustee,
Transmeridian Exploration Incorporated (the “
Parent ”), as guarantor, and the other
guarantors party thereto (the “ Subsidiary
Guarantors ” and, together with the Parent, the
“ Guarantors ”) (as further amended,
supplemented or otherwise modified from time to time, the “
Original Indenture ”), and the Original Notes,
and all of TME’s obligations with respect thereto and
otherwise under the Original Indenture, are guaranteed by the
Guarantors.
F. Pursuant to that certain Indenture, dated as of
the date hereof, by and among TME, the Guarantors, and the New
Trustee (as amended, amended and restated, supplemented or
otherwise modified from time to time, the “ New
Indenture ” and, together with the Original
Indenture, the “ Indentures ”), TME will
issue its new Senior Secured Notes due 2010 (the “New
Notes” and, together with the Original Notes, the “
Notes ”) in an aggregate principal amount of up
to $177,726,000 (or such other aggregate principal amount set forth
in an Authentication Order delivered on the Issue Date (as defined
in the New Indenture)) in exchange for all or a portion of the
Original Notes.
G. The Shareholders and the Securities Agent have
each agreed to enter into this Agreement to (a) afford the Trustee
the practical benefit of remedies, upon the occurrence of an event
which under the Original Indenture would constitute an “Event
of Default” (as defined in the Original Indenture), or the
occurrence of an event that under the New Indenture would
constitute an “Event of Default” (as defined in the New
Indenture), in each case such event of default hereunder, an
“ Event of Default ,” that taken as a
whole are not less than substantially equivalent to the remedies
that would be available to the holder of a perfected share pledge
under Kazakhstan law and (b) make the other modifications to
the Original CSTA as set forth herein.
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SECTION 1
INTERPRETATION
1.1 Definitions.
In this Agreement, unless something
in the subject matter or context is inconsistent therewith, the
following terms shall have the meanings set forth below:
“ Business Day
” means any day, other than a Saturday, Sunday or statutory
holiday, on which the principal commercial banks located in Almaty,
in the Republic of Kazakhstan and New York, New York, are
open for business during normal banking hours;
“ Encumbrances
” means any encumbrance, lien, charge, hypothecation, pledge,
mortgage, title retention agreement, security interest of any
nature, adverse claim, exception, reservation, easement, right of
occupation, transfer “blockage” notice or any other
matter capable of registration against title, option, right of
pre-emption, privilege or any contract to create any of the
foregoing;
“ Losses ”
has the meaning given in Section 5.1 hereof;
“ Parties
” means the Securities Agent and the Shareholders, and
“ Party ” means any of them;
“ Person ”
includes any natural person, corporation, company, limited
liability company, trust, joint venture, association, incorporated
organization, partnership, governmental authority or other
entity;
“ Sales Proceeds
” means the aggregate proceeds of any sale by or at the
direction of the Securities Agent of Transferred Shares, net of any
stamp or transfer taxes or statutory withholdings, customary
brokerage commissions or similar fees and reasonable out-of-pocket
expenses of the Securities Agent incurred in connection with such
sale;
“ Securities
” means:
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(i)
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equity
securities of Caspi Neft, including common shares, together with
all dividends accrued thereon;
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(ii)
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rights,
warrants, options and other instruments issued by Caspi Neft, which
entitle the holder, either under all circumstances or under some
circumstances, to acquire from Caspi Neft equity securities of
Caspi Neft; and
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(iii)
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instruments
that are convertible or exchangeable, either under all
circumstances or under some circumstances, into any of the
foregoing;
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“ Share Transfer
” has the meaning given in Section 2.1
hereof;
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“ Shares ”
means the common shares of Caspi Neft owned by the Shareholders as
described in Recital A at the date hereof, and includes any
additional Securities hereafter acquired by the
Shareholders;
“ Solicitation
Statement ” means the Offering Memorandum and Consent
Solicitation Statement, dated July 23, 2008, as
supplemented;
“ Subsidiary
” means, in relation to any Person or corporation, any body
corporate of which more than 50% of the outstanding shares carrying
voting rights at all times are owned directly or indirectly by or
for the Person or corporation and/or by or for any body corporate
in like relation to the Person or corporation, provided that the
ownership of such shares confers at all times the right to elect at
least a majority of the board of directors of such body corporate,
and includes any body corporate in like relation to a
Subsidiary;
“ Termination
Date ” means the first to occur of (i) the date
upon which all Transferred Shares have been disposed of or the
ownership thereof re-transferred to the Shareholders pursuant to
Section 2.2(b) hereof and (ii) the date that all Secured
Obligations (as defined in the Securities Agency Agreement) (other
than indemnification obligations for which no claim has been made)
have been paid or otherwise satisfied in full;
“ Transaction
Documents ” means the Notes, the Indentures, the
Security Documents (as defined in the New Indenture, of which this
Agreement is one) and each and every other agreement, contract or
undertaking executed by the Parent, either Shareholder or any other
subsidiary of the Parent in connection therewith;
“ Transfer
Instruction ” has the meaning given in
Section 2.1 hereof; and
“ Transferred
Shares ” means the Shares, after the occurrence of a
Share Transfer.
1.2 Extended
Meanings.
In this Agreement, unless something
in the subject matter or context is inconsistent therewith: words
importing the singular number shall include the plural and vice
versa; words importing a gender shall include the masculine,
feminine and neuter genders; and words importing Persons shall
include individuals, partnerships, corporations, associations,
trusts, government agencies and any other form of organization or
entity whatsoever.
1.3 Headings.
The division of this Agreement into
Sections and subsections and the insertion of headings are for
convenience of reference only and shall not affect the construction
or the interpretation of this Agreement. The terms “this
Agreement,” “hereof,” “hereunder” and
similar expressions refer to this Agreement in its entirety and not
to any particular Section, subsection, or other portion hereof and
include any agreement supplemental hereto. Unless something in the
subject matter or context is inconsistent herewith, references
herein to Sections, subsections and Schedules are to Sections and
subsections and Schedules of this Agreement.
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1.4 Business Days.
If any payment is required to be
made or other action is required to be taken pursuant to this
Agreement on a day which is not a Business Day, then such payment
or action shall be made or taken on the next Business
Day.
SECTION 2
TRANSFER AND
DISPOSITION
2.1 Transfer of
Shares.
Subject to the terms and conditions
hereof, if (but only if) the Securities Agent shall be directed to
do so in writing by the Collateral Agent pursuant to the Securities
Agency Agreement, the Securities Agent shall deliver a written
notice to the Nominee (a “ Transfer Instruction
”) instructing the Nominee to transfer on the Nominee’s
books and records ownership of the Shares to, or as otherwise
directed by (in accordance with the Collateral Agent’s
instructions), the Securities Agent (a “ Share
Transfer ”). Each Shareholder hereby authorizes,
directs, requests and instructs the Nominee to accept and comply
with any such Transfer Instruction without any duty of further
inquiry of the Shareholders. The Securities Agent hereby agrees
that it will not effect any transfer of the Shares prior to the
Termination Date other than pursuant to a Transfer
Instruction.
2.2 Disposition of Transferred
Shares.
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(a)
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Following
completion of a Share Transfer, the Securities Agent shall, at the
direction of the Collateral Agent given pursuant to the Securities
Agency Agreement, sell the Transferred Shares for cash or other
consideration in one or more transactions pursuant to the written
instructions of the Collateral Agent and in a manner consistent
with applicable law. Without the express written consent of the
Collateral Agent, the Securities Agent shall not sell or otherwise
transfer, or place or permit any Encumbrance on, the Transferred
Shares.
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(b)
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All Sales
Proceeds shall be remitted by the Securit
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