“Company Material Adverse Effect” means any event, change, effect, development, or occurrence that has a material adverse effect on the business, assets, condition (financial or   96


otherwise), or results of operations of the Company Entities, taken as a whole; provided, however, that any event, change, effect, development, or occurrence arising out of any of the following shall not be such a Company Material Adverse Effect or be taken into account in determining whether a Company Material Adverse Effect has occurred or could reasonably be expected to occur: 

(i) any change in general U.S. or global economic conditions; 

(ii) any change in the general conditions of the industry or industries in which the Company or the Company Subsidiaries operate; 

(iii) any change in general regulatory, legislative or political conditions or in securities, credit, financial, debt or other capital markets in the United States or elsewhere in the world; 

(iv) any change in applicable Law or GAAP (or authoritative interpretations or enforcement thereof) after the date hereof; 

(v) any change in geopolitical conditions, the outbreak or escalation of hostilities, any acts of war (whether or not declared), sabotage or terrorism, or any escalation or worsening of any such acts of war, sabotage, or terrorism; 

(vi) any hurricane, earthquake, flood, or other natural disaster; 

(vii) any pandemic or epidemic (including, without limitation, COVID-19) or any national declaration of emergency by the United States government; 

(viii) the public announcement, pendency, or anticipated consummation of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement, or the Company’s performance of its obligations hereunder pursuant to the express requirements hereof, including any impact thereon on the relationships, contractual or otherwise, with customer, suppliers, lessors, vendors, investors, lenders, partners, contractors, or employees of the Company Entities, and the performance of this Agreement and the transactions contemplated hereby, including compliance with the covenants set forth herein; 

(ix) any Transaction-Related Litigation with respect to the Company; or 

(x) any decline, in and of itself, in the trading price or trading volume of the Company Common Stock, any failure by the Company to meet any internal or published projections, forecasts, estimates, or predictions of revenues, earnings or other financial or operating metrics for any period or any reduction in the credit rating of the Company or any of the Company Subsidiaries (provided that any event, change, effect, development, or occurrence giving rise to or contributing to such decline, failure, or reduction that is not otherwise excluded from the definition of Company Material Adverse Effect may be a Company Material Adverse Effect and may be taken into account in determining whether a Company Material Adverse Effect has occurred or whether a Company Material Adverse Effect could reasonably be expected to occur);   97


provided, however, that any event, change, effect, development, or occurrence referred to in clauses (i)–(iv) may be a Company Material Adverse Effect and may be taken into account in determining whether a Company Material Adverse Effect has occurred or whether a Company Material Adverse Effect could reasonably be expected to occur, in each case, to the extent that such event, change, effect, development, or occurrence has a disproportionate adverse effect on the Company Entities, taken as a whole, relative to the adverse effects thereof on other companies operating in the industries in which the Company Entities operate (in which case, only the incremental disproportionate adverse effect may be taken into account when determining whether a Company Material Adverse Effect has occurred or whether a Company Material Adverse Effect could reasonably be expected to occur).  (Pages 97-99)

Question: MAE Definition
Category: Material Adverse Effect
Answer: "Could" (reasonably) be expected to