“Company Material Adverse Effect” shall mean any state of facts, change, condition, occurrence, effect, event, circumstance or development (each an “Effect”, and collectively, “Effects”), individually or in the aggregate, that (a) has had, or would reasonably be expected to have, a material adverse effect on the business, assets, properties, condition (financial or otherwise) or results of operations of the Company and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole or (b) would reasonably be expected to prevent the Company from consummating, or to materially impair or materially delay the ability of the Company to consummate, the Merger or any of the other transactions contemplated by this Agreement; provided, however, that, solely in the case of clause (a), no Effect (by itself or when aggregated or taken together with any and all other effects) to the extent directly or indirectly resulting from, attributable to or arising out of any of the following shall be taken into account when determining whether a “Company Material Adverse Effect” has occurred, except to the extent any Effect directly or indirectly results from, arises out of or is attributable to the matters described in following clauses (i) through (vi), to the extent such Effect disproportionately and adversely affects the Company and its Subsidiaries relative to other companies operating in any industry or industries in which the Company or its Subsidiaries operate (in which case, the incremental disproportionate impact or impacts shall be taken into account in determining whether there has been, or would reasonably be expected to be, a “Company Material Adverse Effect”): 

(i) general economic conditions (or changes in such conditions) in the United States or any other country or region in the world, or conditions in the global economy generally; 

(ii) general conditions (or changes in such conditions) in the securities markets, capital markets, credit markets, currency markets or other financial markets in the United States or any other country or region in the world, including (A) changes in interest rates in the United States or any other country or region in the world and changes in exchange rates for the currencies of any countries and (B) any suspension of trading in securities (whether equity, debt, derivative or hybrid securities) generally on any securities exchange or over-the-counter market operating in the United States or any other country or region in the world; -81-


(iii) general conditions (or changes in such conditions) in the homebuilder industry or any other industries in which the Company or its Subsidiaries operate; 

(iv) political conditions (or changes in such conditions) in the United States or any other country or region in the world, or acts of war, sabotage or terrorism (including any escalation or general worsening of any such acts of war, sabotage or terrorism) in the United States or any other country or region in the world; 

(v) earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, floods, epidemics, pandemics (including COVID-19), cyberattacks, mudslides, wild fires or other natural disasters, weather conditions and other force majeure events in the United States or any other country or region in the world; 

(vi) changes or proposed changes in Law after the date of this Agreement (or the interpretation thereof), any COVID-19 Measures or any change in any COVID-19 Measures (or the interpretation thereof), or changes or proposed changes in GAAP or other accounting standards (or the interpretation thereof); 

(vii) the announcement of, or the compliance with, this Agreement, or the pendency or consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby, including (A) the identity of Parent, Merger Sub or their Affiliates and (B) the termination (or the failure or potential failure to renew or enter into) any Contracts with customers, suppliers, distributors or other business partners, and (C) any other negative development in the Company’s relationships with any of its customers, suppliers, distributors or other business partners; provided that, (1) this clause (vii) shall not apply to any representations and warranties set forth in Section 4.4 or the conditions set forth in clause (B)(2) of Annex A with respect to the representations warranties set forth in Section 4.4 and (2) in the case of subclauses (A), (B) and (C) of this clause (vii), the Company and its Subsidiaries have complied with their obligations under Section 6.1; 

(viii) any actions taken or failure to take action, in each case, by Parent or any of its controlled Affiliates, or the taking of any action required by this Agreement (other than any action required by the first sentence of Section 6.1), or the failure to take any action prohibited by this Agreement; 

(ix) any voluntary departure of any officers, directors, employees or independent contractors of the Company or its Subsidiaries, directly resulting from, arising out of, attributable to, or related to the transactions contemplated by this Agreement; or 

(x) changes in the Company’s stock price or the trading volume of the Company’s stock, in and of itself, or any failure by the Company to meet any estimates or expectations of the Company’s revenue, earnings or other financial performance or results of operations for any period, in and of itself, or any failure by the Company to meet any internal budgets, plans or forecasts of its revenues, earnings or other financial performance or results of operations, in and of itself (but not, in each case, the underlying cause of such changes or failures, unless the underlying cause of such changes or failures would otherwise be excepted from the definition of a “Company Material Adverse Effect”). -82- (Pages 85-86)

Question: MAE Definition
Category: Material Adverse Effect
Answer: business and operation of Target, ability to consummate transaction