Opinion ID: 2319629
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Merger Agreement and Election Form

Text: On September 14, 2006, NYBOT entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the Merger Agreement) with ICE and ICE's wholly owned subsidiary, CFC Acquisition Co. (CFC). The Merger Agreement provided that NYBOT's predecessor would be merged with and into CFC (the Merger). The Merger Agreement provided that each NYBOT membership interest (Membership Interest) would be converted into either 17,025 newly issued shares of ICE common stock or $1,074,719 in cash, or some combination of shares and cash. The Merger Agreement also provided that each NYBOT member (NYBOT Member) was permitted to elect the form of consideration the member preferred to receive. But, the Merger Agreement fixed the total amount of cash that ICE would pay in connection with the Merger at $400 million. If the available cash consideration was either over- or under-subscribed, the Merger Agreement provided for a pro rata reallocation. The Merger Agreement also importantly provided that if a NYBOT Member failed to elect the form of consideration he preferred to receive, that NYBOT Member would automatically receive the form of consideration that was undersubscribed. The Merger Agreement also provided the procedure by which NYBOT Members could make their elections: An election form (Election Form) would be mailed to NYBOT Members. The Election Form would allow each NYBOT Member to specify which form of considerationstock or cashthe member preferred to receive. A NYBOT Member also could refrain from indicating a preference and instead receive whatever form of consideration that the pro rata reallocation required. The Merger Agreement further provided that to effect an election of stock or cash, the exchange agenthere, Computersharehad to receive the Election Form by a specific date and time (the Election Deadline), which was defined as on or before 5:00 p.m. on the fifth day before the NYBOT Members Meeting (or such other time and date as ICE and NYBOT may mutually agree). If the Election Form was not received by the Election Deadline, the Merger Agreement provided that the relevant Membership Interests would be treated as if the NYBOT Member had made no election (No Election Shares). [1] Six days after the parties executed the Merger Agreement, ICE publicly filed that document with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Approximately two months later, ICE and NYBOT filed a definitive joint proxy statement and prospectus (the Proxy Statement/Prospectus) with the SEC. Copies of the Proxy Statement/Prospectus were mailed to all NYBOT Members. The Election Form was not mailed at that time, but the Proxy Statement/Prospectus advised NYBOT Members that the Election Form would follow in a subsequent mailing. The Proxy Statement/Prospectus also advised NYBOT Members that the exact date and time of the Election Deadline would be disclosed in that mailing. Amirsaleh received the Proxy Statement/Prospectus and returned his proxy, voting in favor of the Merger, on November 28, 2006. The Merger was ultimately approved on December 11, 2006.