“Company Material Adverse Effect” means any fact, circumstance, effect, change, event or development that, individually or in the aggregate, (a) prevents, or has a material adverse effect on, the ability of the Company to consummate the Transactions or (b) has a material adverse effect on the business, properties, financial condition or results of operations of the Company and the Company Subsidiaries (without giving effect to the Merger), taken as a whole; provided, however, that none of the following, nor any fact, circumstance, effect, change, event or development to the extent arising out of or relating to the following, shall constitute or be taken   65


into account in determining whether a “Company Material Adverse Effect” has occurred or may, would or could occur under the foregoing clause (b) only: (i) general economic or political conditions or securities, credit, financial or other capital markets conditions, in each case, in the United States or any foreign jurisdiction, (ii) any failure, in and of itself, by the Company to meet any internal or published projections, forecasts, estimates or predictions in respect of revenues, earnings or other financial or operating metrics for any period (it being understood that the facts or occurrences giving rise to or contributing to such failure may be deemed to constitute, or be taken into account in determining whether there has been or will be, a Company Material Adverse Effect to the extent permitted by this definition and not otherwise excepted by a clause of this proviso), (iii) the execution and delivery of this Agreement or the public announcement or pendency of the Transactions, including (x) the impact thereof on the relationships, contractual or otherwise, of the Company or any Company Subsidiary, as applicable, with employees, labor unions, customers, suppliers or partners and (y) any stockholder litigation with respect thereto, (iv) any change, in and of itself, in the market price or trading volume of the securities of the Company or in the credit ratings of the Company (it being understood that the facts or occurrences giving rise to or contributing to such change may be deemed to constitute, or be taken into account in determining whether there has been or will be, a Company Material Adverse Effect to the extent permitted by this definition and not otherwise excepted by a clause of this proviso), (v) any change in applicable Law, regulation or GAAP (or authoritative interpretation thereof), (vi) geopolitical conditions, the outbreak or escalation of hostilities, any acts of war, sabotage, cyberattack or terrorism, or any escalation or worsening of any such acts of war, sabotage, cyberattack or terrorism threatened or underway as of the date of this Agreement, (vii) any epidemic, pandemic (including COVID-19) or other outbreak of illness or public health event, any COVID-19 Measures, (viii) any hurricane, tornado, flood, fire, earthquake or other natural or manmade disaster, (ix) changes or conditions generally affecting the industries, businesses or segments thereof, in which the Company or any Company Subsidiary operate (x) any taking of any action (or omitting to take any action) at the request of the other party hereto or (xi) any breach of this Agreement or any taking of any action (or omitting to take any action) by Parent or any of its Subsidiaries; except, in the case of clauses (i), (v), (vi), (vii), (viii) and (ix), to the extent such fact, circumstance, effect, change, event or development has a materially disproportionate effect on the Company and the Company Subsidiaries, taken as a whole, relative to others in the industries and regions in which the Company and the Company Subsidiaries operate in respect of the businesses conducted in such industries in such regions.  (Pages 70-71)

Question: FLS (MAE) applies to
Subquestion: business and operation of Target
Answer: No