“Company Material Adverse Effect” means any event, change, effect, development, state of facts, condition, circumstance or occurrence that has a material adverse effect on the business, assets, liabilities, condition (financial or otherwise) or results of operations of the Acquired Companies, taken as a whole; provided, however, in no event shall any of the following events, changes, effects, developments, states of facts, conditions, circumstances or occurrences be deemed to constitute, nor be taken into account in determining whether there has been or may be, a Company Material Adverse Effect: (a) changes in or affecting general political or economic conditions (including changes in interest rates) or the financial, credit, or securities markets in the United States or elsewhere in the world; (b) changes in or conditions generally affecting the industries in which the Acquired Companies operate; or (c) resulting from or arising out of (i) the announcement of, or taking any action expressly required by this Agreement or the Transactions (provided, if any of the foregoing results in a breach of Section 3.3 or Section 3.4 of this Agreement, the effects that result from or arise out of such breach shall not be disregarded in determining whether a Company Material Adverse Effect has occurred or would reasonably be expected to occur), (ii) any taking of any action at the written request of Parent or Merger Sub, solely to the extent so requested, (iii) change in Law, GAAP or SAP or accounting standards or interpretations thereof after the date hereof, (iv) any outbreak or escalation of hostilities or acts of war or terrorism or epidemics or pandemics, (v) weather or climate conditions, including any earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tropical storms, fires or other natural disasters, or (vi) any Action initiated or threatened on or after the date hereof by any stockholders of the Company against the Company, any of its Affiliates or any of their respective directors or officers arising out of this Agreement or the Transactions, (vii) any change in the price or trading volume of any securities of the Company, in the Company’s credit rating, financial strength rating or in any analyst’s recommendations, in each case in and of itself, or the failure of the Company to meet any projections or forecasts (provided in the case of this clause (vii), that the event, change, effect, development, condition, circumstance, cause or occurrence underlying such change or failure shall not be excluded and may be taken into account, in determining whether there has been or may be a Company Material Adverse Effect); provided, that any event, change, effect, development, state of facts, condition, circumstance or occurrence referred to in clauses (a), (b) or (c)(iii), (iv) or (v) shall not be excluded, and may be taken into account, in determining whether there has been or may be a Company Material Adverse Effect to the extent the Acquired Companies are adversely affected thereby in a disproportionate manner relative to other similarly- situated participants in the industries in which the Acquired Companies operate; (Page 72)

Question: A/P/C application to-Answer
Subquestion: pendency
Answer: announcement