SECURITIESPURCHASE AGREEMENT

 

 

This Securities Purchase Agreement (this “Agreement”) is dated as of December 24, 2009, between General Steel Holdings, Inc., a Nevada corporation (the “Company”), and each purchaser identified on the signature pages hereto (each, including its successors and assigns, a “Purchaser” and collectively the “Purchasers”).

 

WHEREAS, subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement and pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), the Company desires to issue and sell to each Purchaser, and each Purchaser, severally and not jointly, desires to purchase from the Company, securities of the Company as more fully described in this Agreement.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, IN CONSIDERATION of the mutual covenants contained in this Agreement, and for other good and valuable consideration the receipt and adequacy of which are hereby acknowledged, the Company and each Purchaser agree as follows:

 

 

1.1           Definitions.  In addition to the terms defined elsewhere in this Agreement, for all purposes of this Agreement, the following terms have the meanings set forth in this Section 1.1:

 

“Acquiring Person” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.5.

 

“Action” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(j).

 

“Affiliate” means any Person that, directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls or is controlled by or is under common control with a Person as such terms are used in and construed under Rule 405 under the Securities Act.  With respect to a Purchaser, any investment fund or managed account that is managed on a discretionary basis by the same investment manager as such Purchaser will be deemed to be Affiliate of such Purchaser.

 

“Board of Directors” means the board of directors of the Company.

 

“Business Day” means any day except any Saturday, any Sunday, any day which is a federal legal holiday in the United States or any day on which banking institutions in the State of New York are authorized or required by law or other governmental action to close.

 

“Closing” means the closing of the purchase and sale of the Securities pursuant to Section 2.1.

 

“Closing Date” means the Trading Day on which all of the Transaction Documents have been executed and delivered by the applicable parties thereto, and all conditions precedent to (i) the Purchasers’ obligations to pay the Subscription Amount and (ii) the Company’s obligations to deliver the Securities, in each case, have been satisfied or waived, but in no event later than the third Trading Day following the date hereof.

 

 “Commission” means the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

“Common Stock” means the common stock of the Company, par value $0.001 per share, and any other class of securities into which such securities may hereafter be reclassified or changed.

 

“Common Stock Equivalents” means any securities of the Company or the Subsidiaries which would entitle the holder thereof to acquire at any time Common Stock, including, without limitation, any debt, preferred stock, rights, options, warrants or other instrument that is at any time convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for, or otherwise entitles the holder thereof to receive, Common Stock.

 

“Company Counsel” means Burns & Levinson LLP, with offices located at 125 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02110.

 

“Evaluation Date” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(r).

 

“Exchange Act” means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.

“Exempt Issuance” means the issuance of (a) shares of Common Stock or options to employees, officers or directors of the Company pursuant to any stock or option plan duly adopted for such purpose, by a majority of the non-employee members of the Board of Directors or a majority of the members of a committee of non-employee directors established for such purpose, (b) securities upon the exercise or exchange of or conversion of any Securities issued hereunder and/or other securities exercisable or exchangeable for or convertible into shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding on the date of this Agreement (including the Existing PIPE Securities), provided that such securities have not been amended since the date of this Agreement to increase the number of such securities or to decrease the exercise price, exchange price or conversion price of such securities, and (c) securities issued pursuant to acquisitions or strategic transactions approved by a majority of the disinterested directors of the Company, provided that any such issuance shall only be to a Person (or to the equityholders of a Person) which is, itself or through its subsidiaries, an operating company or an owner of an asset in a business synergistic with the business of the Company and shall provide to the Company additional benefits in addition to the investment of funds, but shall not include a transaction in which the Company is issuing securities primarily for the purpose of raising capital or to an entity whose primary business is investing in securities.

 

“Existing PIPE Securities” means the existing outstanding promissory notes convertible into shares of Common Stock and warrants to purchase shares of Common Stock issued in accordance with the Securities Purchase Agreement December 13, 2007, by and among the Company and the buyers listed on the Schedule of Buyers thereto, along with the Common Stock issued in connection therewith.

 

 

 “GAAP” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(h).

 

 “Intellectual Property Rights” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(o).

 

“Liens” means a lien, charge, security interest, encumbrance, right of first refusal, preemptive right or other restriction.

 

“Material Adverse Effect” shall have the meaning assigned to such term in Section 3.1(b).

 

“Material Permits” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(m).

 

“Money Laundering Laws” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(jj).

 

“Offered Security” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.11(e)

 

“OFAC” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(gg).

 

“Participation Maximum” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.11(a).

 

“Per Share Purchase Price” equals $4.50, subject to adjustment for reverse and forward stock splits, stock dividends, stock combinations and other similar transactions of the Common Stock that occur after the date of this Agreement.

 

“Person” means an individual or corporation, partnership, trust, incorporated or unincorporated association, joint venture, limited liability company, joint stock company, government (or an agency or subdivision thereof) or other entity of any kind.

 

“Pre-Notice” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.11(b).

 

“Principal Shareholders” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 2.3(b)(v).

 

“Pro Rata Portion” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.11(e).

 

“Proceeding” means an action, claim, suit, investigation or proceeding (including, without limitation, an informal investigation or partial proceeding, such as a deposition), whether commenced or threatened.

 

“Prospectus” means the final prospectus filed for the Registration Statement.

 

 

“Prospectus Supplement” means the supplement to the Prospectus that is filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) of the Securities Act  and delivered by the Company to each Purchaser at the Closing.

 

“Purchaser Party” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.8.

 

“Registration Statement” means the effective registration statement with Commission file No. 333-161585 which registers the sale of the Shares, the Warrants and the Warrant Shares to the Purchasers.

 

“Required Approvals” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(e).

 

“Rule 144” means Rule 144 promulgated by the Commission pursuant to the Securities Act, as such Rule may be amended from time to time, or any similar rule or regulation hereafter adopted by the Commission having substantially the same effect as such Rule.

 

“Rule 424” means Rule 424 promulgated by the Commission pursuant to the Securities Act, as such Rule may be amended or interpreted from time to time, or any similar rule or regulation hereafter adopted by the Commission having substantially the same purpose and effect as such Rule.

 

“SEC Reports” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(h).

 

 “Securities” means the Shares, the Warrants and the Warrant Shares.

 

 “Securities Act” means the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.

 

“Shareholder Approval” means such approval as may be required by the applicable rules and regulations of The New York Stock Exchange (or any successor entity) from the shareholders of the Company with respect to the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents and the transactions contemplated pursuant to that certain Securities Purchase Agreement, dated December 13, 2007, including the Shares, Warrant Shares and Existing PIPE Securities (as amended, including pursuant to those certain letter agreements entered into by and among the holders of Existing PIPE Securities and the Company on the date hereof) in excess of 19.99% of the issued and outstanding Common Stock on the applicable Closing Date.

 

“Shares” means the shares of Common Stock issued or issuable to each Purchaser pursuant to this Agreement.

 

“Short Sales” means all “short sales” as defined in Rule 200 of Regulation SHO under the Exchange Act (but shall not be deemed to include the location and/or reservation of borrowable shares of Common Stock). 

 

 

 “Subscription Amount” means, as to each Purchaser, the aggregate amount to be paid for Shares and Warrants purchased hereunder as specified below such Purchaser’s name on the signature page of this Agreement and next to the heading “Subscription Amount,” in United States dollars and in immediately available funds.

 

“Subsequent Financing” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.11(a).

 

“Subsequent Financing Notice” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.11(b).

 

“Subsidiary” means any subsidiary of the Company as set forth on Schedule 3.1(a), and shall, where applicable, also include any direct or indirect subsidiary of the Company formed or acquired after the date hereof.

 

“Trading Day” means a day on which the principal Trading Market is open for trading; provided that "Trading Day" shall not include any day on which the Common Stock is scheduled to trade on such exchange or market for less than 4.5 hours or any day that the Common Stock is suspended from trading during the final hour of trading on such exchange or market (or if such exchange or market does not designate in advance the closing time of trading on such exchange or market, then during the hour ending at 4:00:00 p.m., New York time).

 

“Trading Market” means any of the following markets or exchanges on which the Common Stock is listed or quoted for trading on the date in question: the NYSE AMEX, the Nasdaq Capital Market, the Nasdaq Global Market, the Nasdaq Global Select Market, or the New York Stock Exchange (or any successors to any of the foregoing).

 

“Transaction Documents” means this Agreement, the Warrants, the Voting Agreements and any other documents or agreements executed in connection with the transactions contemplated hereunder.

 

“Transfer Agent” means Securities Transfer Company, the current transfer agent of the Company, with a mailing address of 2591 Dallas Parkway, Suite 102 Frisco, TX  75034 and a facsimile number of ###-###-####, and any successor transfer agent of the Company.

 

 “Variable Rate Transaction” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.12(b).

 

“Voting Agreement” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 2.3(b)(v).

 

 “Warrants” means, collectively, the Common Stock purchase warrants delivered to the Purchasers at the Closing in accordance with Section 2.2(a) hereof, which Warrants shall be exercisable commencing 181 days following the Closing Date and have a term of exercise equal to 2 years, in the form of Exhibit A attached hereto.

 

 

“Warrant Shares” means the shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Warrants.

 

“WS” means Weinstein Smith LLP with offices located at 420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 2620, New York, New York 10170-0002.

 

 

2.1          Closing.  On the Closing Date, upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth herein, substantially concurrent with the execution and delivery of this Agreement by the parties hereto, the Company agrees to sell, and the Purchasers, severally and not jointly, agree to purchase, up to an aggregate of 6,666,667 Shares and 3,333,333 Warrants.  Each Purchaser shall deliver to the Company, via wire transfer or a certified check, immediately available funds equal to such Purchaser’s Subscription Amount as set forth on the signature page hereto executed by such Purchaser and the Company shall deliver to each Purchaser its respective Shares and a Warrant as determined pursuant to Section 2.2(a), and the Company and each Purchaser shall deliver the other items set forth in Section 2.2 deliverable at the Closing.  Upon satisfaction of the covenants and conditions set forth in Sections 2.2 and 2.3, the Closing shall occur at the offices of WS or such other location as the parties shall mutually agree.  The Closing shall occur in accordance with Rule 15c6-1 of the Exchange Act.

 

2.2          Deliveries.

 

(a)           On or prior to the Closing Date, the Company shall deliver or cause to be delivered to each Purchaser the following:

 

(i)           this Agreement duly executed and delivered by the Company;

 

(ii)          a legal opinion of Company Counsel, substantially in the form of Exhibit B attached hereto;

 

(iii)         a copy of the irrevocable instructions to the Company’s transfer agent, duly executed and delivered by the Company, instructing the transfer agent to deliver via the Depository Trust Company Deposit Withdrawal Agent Commission System (“DWAC”) Shares equal to such Purchaser’s Subscription Amount divided by the Per Share Purchase Price, registered in the name of such Purchaser;

 

(iv)         a Warrant registered in the name of such Purchaser to purchase up to a number of shares of Common Stock equal to 50% of such Purchaser’s Shares, with an exercise price equal to $5.00 subject to adjustment therein (such Warrant certificate may be delivered within three Trading Days of the Closing Date); and

 

(v)          the Prospectus and Prospectus Supplement (which may be delivered in accordance with Rule 172 under the Securities Act).

 

 

(b)           On or prior to the Closing Date, each Purchaser shall deliver or cause to be delivered to the Company the following:

 

(i)           this Agreement duly executed and delivered by such Purchaser; and

 

(ii)          such Purchaser’s Subscription Amount (less, in the case of Empery Asset Master Ltd. (a Purchaser), the amount withheld pursuant to Section 5.2) by wire transfer to the account as specified in writing by the Company.

 

2.3          Closing Conditions.

 

(a)           The obligations of the Company hereunder in connection with the Closing are subject to the following conditions being met:

 

(i)           the accuracy in all material respects (except for those representations and warranties that are qualified by materiality or Material Adverse Effect, which are true and correct in all respects) on the Closing Date of the representations and warranties of the Purchasers contained herein (except for representations and warranties that speak as of a specific date, which shall be true and correct as of such specified date);

 

(ii)          all obligations, covenants and agreements of each Purchaser required to be performed at or prior to the Closing Date shall have been performed; and

 

(iii)         the delivery by each Purchaser of the items set forth in Section 2.2(b) of this Agreement.

 

(b)           The respective obligations of the Purchasers hereunder in connection with the Closing are subject to the following conditions being met, which may be waived in the sole discretion of such Purchaser:

 

(i)           the accuracy in all material respects except for those representations and warranties that are qualified by materiality or Material Adverse Effect, which are true and correct in all respects when made and on the Closing Date of the representations and warranties of the Company contained herein (except for representations and warranties that speak as of a specific date, which shall be true and correct as of such specified date);

 

(ii)          all obligations, covenants and agreements of the Company required to be performed at or prior to the Closing Date shall have been performed;

 

(iii)         the delivery by the Company of the items set forth in Section 2.2(a) of this Agreement;

 

(iv)         there shall have been no Material Adverse Effect with respect to the Company since the date hereof;

 

 

(v)          the Company shall have obtained voting agreements reasonably acceptable to the Purchasers (“Voting Agreement”) duly executed by holders (“Principal Shareholders”) of at least 50.1% of the issued and outstanding voting capital stock of the Company as of the date of this Agreement agreeing to vote in favor of Shareholder Approval; and

 

(vi)         from the date hereof to the Closing Date, trading in the Common Stock shall not have been suspended by the Commission or the Company’s principal Trading Market (except for any suspension of trading of limited duration agreed to by the Company, which suspension shall be terminated prior to the Closing), and, at any time prior to the Closing Date, trading in securities generally as reported by Bloomberg L.P. shall not have been suspended or limited, or minimum prices shall not have been established on securities whose trades are reported by such service, or on any Trading Market, nor shall a banking moratorium have been declared either by the United States or New York State authorities.

 

 

3.1          Representations and Warranties of the Company.  Except as set forth in the SEC Reports, Prospectus or the Prospectus Supplement or any information contained or incorporated therein, the Company hereby makes the following representations and warranties to each Purchaser:

 

(a)           Subsidiaries.  All of the direct and indirect subsidiaries of the Company are set forth on Schedule 3.1(a) hereto.  The Company owns, directly or indirectly, all of the capital stock or other equity interests of each Subsidiary free and clear of any Liens, and all of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of each Subsidiary are validly issued and are fully paid, non-assessable and free of preemptive and similar rights to subscribe for or purchase securities.  If the Company has no subsidiaries, all other references to the Subsidiaries or any of them in the Transaction Documents shall be disregarded.

 

(b)           Organization and Qualification.  The Company and each of the Subsidiaries is an entity duly incorporated or otherwise organized, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the jurisdiction of its incorporation or organization, with the requisite power and authority to own and use its properties and assets and to carry on its business as currently conducted.  Neither the Company nor any Subsidiary is in violation nor default of any of the provisions of its respective certificate or articles of incorporation, bylaws or other organizational or charter documents.  Each of the Company and the Subsidiaries is duly qualified to conduct business and is in good standing as a foreign corporation or other entity in each jurisdiction in which the nature of the business conducted or property owned by it makes such qualification necessary, except where the failure to be so qualified or in good standing, as the case may be, could not have or reasonably be expected to result in: (i) a material adverse effect on the legality, validity or enforceability of any Transaction Document, (ii) a material adverse effect on the results of operations, assets, business or condition (financial or otherwise) of the Company and the Subsidiaries, taken as a whole, or (iii) a material adverse effect on the Company’s ability to perform in any material respect on a timely basis its obligations under any Transaction Document (any of (i), (ii) or (iii), a “Material Adverse Effect”); provided, however, that neither of the following standing alone shall be deemed, in and of itself, to constitute a Material Adverse Effect: (i) a change in the market price or trading volume of the Common Stock or (ii) changes in general economic conditions so long as such changes do not have a materially disproportionate effect on the Company. Each of the Company and the Subsidiaries is duly qualified to conduct business and is in good standing as a foreign corporation or other entity in each jurisdiction in which the nature of the business conducted or property owned by it makes such qualification necessary, except where the failure to be so qualified or in good standing, as the case may be, could not have or reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect and no Proceeding has been instituted in any such jurisdiction revoking, limiting or curtailing or seeking to revoke, limit or curtail such power and authority or qualification. and no Proceeding has been instituted in any such jurisdiction revoking, limiting or curtailing or seeking to revoke, limit or curtail such power and authority or qualification.

 

(c)           Authorization; Enforcement.  The Company has the requisite corporate power and authority to enter into and to consummate the transactions contemplated by each of the Transaction Documents and otherwise to carry out its obligations hereunder and thereunder.  The execution and delivery of each of the Transaction Documents by the Company and the consummation by it of the transactions contemplated hereby and thereby have been duly authorized by all necessary action on the part of the Company and no further action is required by the Company, the Board of Directors or the Company’s stockholders in connection therewith other than in connection with the Required Approvals.  Each Transaction Document to which it is a party has been (or upon delivery will have been) duly executed by the Company and, when delivered in accordance with the terms hereof and thereof, will constitute the valid and binding obligation of the Company enforceable against the Company in accordance with its terms, except (i) as limited by general equitable principles and applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium and other laws of general application affecting enforcement of creditors’ rights generally, (ii) as limited by laws relating to the availability of specific performance, injunctive relief or other equitable remedies and (iii) insofar as indemnification and contribution provisions may be limited by applicable law.

 

(d)           No Conflicts.  The execution, delivery and performance by the Company of the Transaction Documents, the issuance and sale of the Securities and the consummation by it of the transactions contemplated hereby and thereby to which it is a party do not and will not (i) conflict with or violate any provision of the Company’s or any Subsidiary’s certificate or articles of incorporation, bylaws or other organizational or charter documents, or (ii) conflict with, or constitute a default (or an event that with notice or lapse of time or both would become a default) under, result in the creation of any Lien upon any of the properties or assets of the Company or any Subsidiary, or give to others any rights of termination, amendment, acceleration or cancellation (with or without notice, lapse of time or both) of, any agreement, credit facility, debt or other instrument (evidencing a Company or Subsidiary debt or otherwise) or other understanding to which the Company or any Subsidiary is a party or by which any property or asset of the Company or any Subsidiary is bound or affected, or (iii) subject to the Required Approvals, conflict with or result in a violation of any law, rule, regulation, order, judgment, injunction, decree or other restriction of any Trading Market, court or governmental authority to which the Company or a Subsidiary is subject (including federal and state securities laws and regulations and the regulations of any Trading Market), or by which any property or asset of the Company or a Subsidiary is bound or affected; except in the case of each of clauses (ii) and (iii), such as could not have or reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect.

 

 

(e)           Filings, Consents and Approvals.  The Company is not required to obtain any consent, waiver, authorization or order of, give any notice to, or make any filing or registration with, any court or other federal, state, local or other governmental authority or other Person in connection with the execution, delivery and performance by the Company of the Transaction Documents, other than: (i) the filings required pursuant to Section 4.4 of this Agreement, (ii) the filing with the Commission of the Prospectus Supplement, (iii) application(s) to each applicable Trading Market for the listing of the Securities for trading thereon in the time and manner required thereby and (iv) such filings as are required to be made under applicable state securities laws (collectively, the “Required Approvals”).

 

(f)           Issuance of the Securities; Registration.  The Securities are duly authorized and, when issued and paid for in accordance with the applicable Transaction Documents, will be duly and validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable, free and clear of all Liens imposed by the Company.  The Warrant Shares, when issued in accordance with the terms of the Warrants, will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable, free and clear of all Liens imposed by the Company.  The Company has reserved from its duly authorized capital stock the maximum number of shares of Common Stock issuable pursuant to this Agreement and the Warrants. The Company has prepared and filed the Registration Statement in conformity with the requirements of the Securities Act, which became effective on October 22, 2009 (the “Effective Date”), including the Prospectus, and such amendments and supplements thereto as may have been required to the date of this Agreement.  The Registration Statement is effective under the Securities Act and no stop order preventing or suspending the effectiveness of the Registration Statement or suspending or preventing the use of the Prospectus has been issued by the Commission and no proceedings for that purpose have been instituted or, to the knowledge of the Company, are threatened by the Commission.    At the time the Registration Statement and any amendments thereto became effective, at the date of this Agreement and at the Closing Date, the Registration Statement and any amendments thereto conformed and will conform in all material respects to the requirements of the Securities Act and did not and will not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading; and the Prospectus and any amendments or supplements thereto, at time the Prospectus or any amendment or supplement thereto was issued and at the Closing Date, conformed and will conform in all material respects to the requirements of the Securities Act and did not and will not contain an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.

 

 

(g)           Capitalization.  The capitalization of the Company is as set forth in the SEC Reports.  The Company has not issued any capital stock since its most recently filed periodic report under the Exchange Act, other than pursuant to the exercise of employee stock options under the Company’s stock option plans, the issuance of shares of Common Stock to employees pursuant to the Company’s employee stock purchase plans and pursuant to the conversion and/or exercise of Common Stock Equivalents outstanding as of the date of the most recently filed periodic report under the Exchange Act.  No Person has any right of first refusal, preemptive right, right of participation, or any similar right to participate in the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents.  Except as a result of the purchase and sale of the Securities and the Existing PIPE Securities or as disclosed in the SEC Reports, there are no outstanding options, warrants, scrip rights to subscribe to, calls or commitments of any character whatsoever relating to, or securities, rights or obligations convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for, or giving any Person any right to subscribe for or acquire, any shares of Common Stock, or contracts, commitments, understandings or arrangements by which the Company or any Subsidiary is or may become bound to issue additional shares of Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents.  Except with respect to the Existing PIPE Securities, the issuance and sale of the Securities will not obligate the Company to issue shares of Common Stock or other securities to any Person (other than the Purchasers) and will not result in a right of any holder of Company securities to adjust the exercise, conversion, exchange or reset price under any of such securities. All of the outstanding shares of capital stock of the Company are validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable, have been issued in compliance with all federal and state securities laws, and none of such outstanding shares was issued in violation of any preemptive rights or similar rights to subscribe for or purchase securities.  No further approval or authorization of any stockholder, the Board of Directors or third party is required for the issuance and sale of the Securities.  Except as disclosed in the SEC Reports or in any exhibit thereto, there are no stockholders agreements, voting agreements or other similar agreements with respect to the Company’s capital stock to which the Company is a party or, to the knowledge of the Company, between or among any of the Company’s stockholders.

 

(h)           SEC Reports; Financial Statements.  The Company has filed all reports, schedules, forms, statements and other documents required to be filed by the Company under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act, including pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) thereof, for the two years preceding the date hereof (or such shorter period as the Company was required by law or regulation to file such material) (the foregoing materials, including the exhibits thereto and documents incorporated by reference therein, together with the Prospectus and the Prospectus Supplement, being collectively referred to herein as the “SEC Reports”) on a timely basis or has received a valid extension of such time of filing and has filed any such SEC Reports prior to the expiration of any such extension.  As of their respective dates, the SEC Reports complied in all material respects with the requirements of the Securities Act and the Exchange Act, as applicable, and none of the SEC Reports, when filed, contained any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading. The financial statements of the Company included in the SEC Reports comply in all material respects with applicable accounting requirements and the rules and regulations of the Commission with respect thereto as in effect at the time of filing.  Such financial statements have been prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles applied on a consistent basis during the periods involved (“GAAP”), except as may be otherwise specified in such financial statements or the notes thereto and except that unaudited financial statements may not contain all footnotes required by GAAP, and fairly present in all material respects the financial position of the Company and its consolidated Subsidiaries as of and for the dates thereof and the results of operations and cash flows for the periods then ended, subject, in the case of unaudited statements, to normal, immaterial, year-end audit adjustments.

 

 

(i)            Material Changes; Undisclosed Events, Liabilities or Developments.  Since the date of the latest audited financial statements included within the SEC Reports, except as specifically disclosed in a subsequent SEC Report filed prior to the date hereof, (i) there has been no event, occurrence or development that has had or that could reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect, (ii) the Company has not incurred any liabilities (contingent or otherwise) other than (A) trade payables and accrued expenses incurred in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice and (B) liabilities not required to be reflected in the Company’s financial statements pursuant to GAAP or disclosed in filings made with the Commission, (iii) the Company has not altered its method of accounting, (iv) the Company has not declared or made any dividend or distribution of cash or other property to its stockholders or purchased, redeemed or made any agreements to purchase or redeem any shares of its capital stock and (v) the Company has not issued any equity securities to any officer, director or Affiliate, except pursuant to existing Company stock option plans.  The Company does not have pending before the Commission any request for confidential treatment of information.

 

(j)            Litigation.  There is no action, suit, inquiry, notice of violation, proceeding or investigation pending or, to the knowledge of the Company, threatened against or affecting the Company, any Subsidiary or any of their respective properties before or by any court, arbitrator, governmental or administrative agency or regulatory authority (federal, state, county, local or foreign) (collectively, an “Action”) which (i) adversely affects or challenges the legality, validity or enforceability of any of the Transaction Documents or the Securities or (ii) could, if there were an unfavorable decision, have or reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect.  Neither the Company nor any Subsidiary, nor, to the knowledge of the Company, any director or officer thereof, is or has been the subject of any Action involving a claim of violation of or liability under federal or state securities laws or a claim of breach of fiduciary duty.  There has not been, and to the knowledge of the Company, there is not pending or contemplated, any investigation by the Commission involving the Company or, to the knowledge of the Company, any current or former director or officer of the Company.  The Commission has not issued any stop order or other order suspending the effectiveness of any registration statement filed by the Company or any Subsidiary under the Exchange Act or the Securities Act.

 

 

(k)           Labor Relations.  No material labor dispute exists or, to the knowledge of the Company, is imminent with respect to any of the employees of the Company, which could reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect.  The Company and its Subsidiaries are in compliance with all U.S. federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations relating to employment and employment practices, terms and conditions of employment and wages and hours, except where the failure to be in compliance could not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.

 

(l)            Compliance.  Neither the Company nor any Subsidiary: (i) is in default under or in violation of (and no event has occurred that has not been waived that, with notice or lapse of time or both, would result in a default by the Company or any Subsidiary under), nor has the Company or any Subsidiary received notice of a claim that it is in default under or that it is in violation of, any indenture, loan or credit agreement or any other agreement or instrument to which it is a party or by which it or any of its properties is bound (whether or not such default or violation has been waived), (ii) is in violation of any judgment, decree or order of any court, arbitrator or governmental body or (iii) is or has been in violation of any statute, rule, ordinance or regulation of any governmental authority, including without limitation all foreign, federal, state and local laws relating to taxes, environmental protection, occupational health and safety, product quality and safety and employment and labor matters, except in each case as could not have or reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect.

 

(m)           Regulatory Permits.  The Company and the Subsidiaries possess all certificates, authorizations and permits issued by the appropriate federal, state, local or foreign regulatory authorities necessary to conduct their respective businesses as currently conducted as described in the SEC Reports, except where the failure to possess such permits could not reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect (“Material Permits”), and neither the Company nor any Subsidiary has received any notice of proceedings relating to the revocation or modification of any Material Permit.

 

(n)           Title to Assets.  The Company and the Subsidiaries have good and marketable title in fee simple to all real property owned by them and good and marketable title in all personal property owned by them that is material to the business of the Company and the Subsidiaries, in each case free and clear of all Liens, except for Liens as do not materially affect the value of such property and do not materially interfere with the use made and proposed to be made of such property by the Company and the Subsidiaries and Liens for the payment of federal, state or other taxes, the payment of which is neither delinquent nor subject to penalties.  Any real property and facilities held under lease by the Company and the Subsidiaries are held by them under valid, subsisting and enforceable leases with which the Company and the Subsidiaries are in compliance, except where the failure to be in compliance would not reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.

 

(o)           Patents and Trademarks.  The Company and the Subsidiaries have, or have rights to use, all patents, patent applications, trademarks, trademark applications, service marks, trade names, trade secrets, inventions, copyrights, licenses and other intellectual property rights and similar rights necessary for use in connection with their respective businesses as described in the SEC Reports and which the failure to so  could reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect (collectively, the “Intellectual Property Rights”).  None of, and neither the Company nor any Subsidiary has received a notice (written or otherwise) that any of, the Intellectual Property Rights has expired, terminated or been abandoned, or is expected to expire or terminate or be abandoned, within two (2) years from the date of this Agreement, in either case which are material to the Company’s business.  Neither the Company nor any Subsidiary has received, since the date of the latest audited financial statements included within the SEC Reports, a written notice of a claim or otherwise has any knowledge that the Intellectual Property Rights violate or infringe upon the rights of any Person, except as would not have a Material Adverse Effect.  To the knowledge of the Company, all such Intellectual Property Rights are enforceable and there is no existing infringement by another Person of any of the Intellectual Property Rights.  The Company and its Subsidiaries have taken reasonable security measures to protect the secrecy and confidentiality of all of their intellectual properties, except where failure to do so could not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.

 

(p)           Insurance.  The Company and the Subsidiaries are insured by insurers of recognized financial responsibility against such losses and risks and in such amounts as are prudent and customary in the businesses in which the Company and the Subsidiaries are engaged, including, but not limited to, directors and officers insurance coverage at least equal to the aggregate Subscription Amount.  Neither the Company nor any Subsidiary has any reason to believe that it will not be able to renew its existing insurance coverage as and when such coverage expires or to obtain similar coverage from similar insurers as may be necessary to continue its business without a significant increase in cost.

 

(q)           Transactions With Affiliates and Employees.  Except as set forth in the SEC Reports, none of the officers or directors of the Company and, to the knowledge of the Company, none of the employees of the Company is presently a party to any transaction with the Company or any Subsidiary (other than for services as employees, officers and directors), including any contract, agreement or other arrangement providing for the furnishing of services to or by, providing for rental of real or personal property to or from, or otherwise requiring payments to or from any officer, director or such employee or, to the knowledge of the Company, any entity in which any officer, director, or any such employee has a substantial interest or is an officer, director, trustee or partner, in each case in excess of $120,000 other than for (i) payment of salary or consulting fees for services rendered, (ii) reimbursement for expenses incurred on behalf of the Company and (iii) other employee benefits, including stock option agreements under any stock option plan of the Company.

 

(r)           Sarbanes-Oxley; Internal Accounting Controls.  The Company is in material compliance with any and all applicable requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that are effective as of the date hereof, and any and all applicable rules and regulations promulgated by the Commission thereunder that are effective as of the date hereof and as of the Closing Date, except where the failure to be in compliance would not have a Material Adverse Effect.  The Company and the Subsidiaries maintain a system of internal accounting controls sufficient to provide reasonable assurance that: (i) transactions are executed in accordance with management’s general or specific authorizations, (ii) transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP and to maintain asset accountability, (iii) access to assets is permitted only in accordance with management’s general or specific authorization, and (iv) the recorded accountability for assets is compared with the existing assets at reasonable intervals and appropriate action is taken with respect to any differences. The Company has established disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the Company and designed such disclosure controls and procedures to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the Commission’s rules and forms.  The Company’s certifying officers have evaluated the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by the Company’s most recently filed periodic report under the Exchange Act (such date, the “Evaluation Date”).  The Company presented in its most recently filed periodic report under the Exchange Act the conclusions of the certifying officers about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures based on their evaluations as of the Evaluation Date.  Since the Evaluation Date, there have been no changes in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in the Exchange Act) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

 

(s)           Certain Fees.  Except as set forth in the Prospectus Supplement, no brokerage or finder’s fees or commissions are or will be payable by the Company to any broker, financial advisor or consultant, finder, placement agent, investment banker, bank or other Person with respect to the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents.  The Purchasers shall have no obligation with respect to any fees or with respect to any claims made by or on behalf of other Persons for fees of a type contemplated in this Section that may be due in connection with the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents.

 

(t)           Investment Company. The Company is not, and is not an Affiliate of, and immediately after receipt of payment for the Securities, will not be or be an Affiliate of, an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.  The Company shall conduct its business in a manner so that it will not become an “investment company” subject to registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.

 

(u)           Registration Rights.  Except as set forth in the Registration Rights Agreement, dated December 13, 2007, by and among the Company and the buyers listed on the signature page thereto and as described in the SEC Reports, no Person has any right to cause the Company to effect the registration under the Securities Act of any securities of the Company.

 

 

(v)           Listing and Maintenance Requirements.  The Common Stock is registered pursuant to Section 12(b) or 12(g) of the Exchange Act, and the Company has taken no action designed to, or which to its knowledge is likely to have the effect of, terminating the registration of the Common Stock under the Exchange Act nor has the Company received any notification that the Commission is contemplating terminating such registration.  Except as set forth on Schedule 3.1(u) hereto, the Company has not, in the 12 months preceding the date hereof, received notice from any Trading Market on which the Common Stock is or has been listed or quoted to the effect that the Company is not in compliance with the listing or maintenance requirements of such Trading Market. The Company is, and has no reason to believe that it will not in the foreseeable future continue to be, in compliance with all such listing and maintenance requirements.

 

(w)          RESERVED.

 

(x)           Disclosure.  Except with respect to the material terms and conditions of the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents, the Company confirms that neither it nor any other Person acting on its behalf has provided any of the Purchasers or their agents or counsel with any information that it believes constitutes or might constitute material, non-public information which is not otherwise disclosed in the Prospectus Supplement.   The Company understands and confirms that the Purchasers will rely on the foregoing representation in effecting transactions in securities of the Company.  All of the disclosure furnished by or on behalf of the Company to the Purchasers regarding the Company, its business and the transactions contemplated hereby, including the Disclosure Schedules to this Agreement, is true and correct and does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material fact necessary in order to make the statements made therein, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading. The press releases disseminated by the Company during the twelve months preceding the date of this Agreement taken as a whole do not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary in order to make the statements therein, in light of the circumstances under which they were made and when made, not misleading.  The Company acknowledges and agrees that no Purchaser makes or has made any representations or warranties with respect to the transactions contemplated hereby other than those specifically set forth in Section 3.2 hereof.

 

(y)           No Integrated Offering. Assuming the accuracy of the Purchasers’ representations and warranties set forth in Section 3.2 and except as set forth on Schedule 3.1(y), neither the Company, nor any of its Affiliates, nor any Person acting on its or their behalf has, directly or indirectly, made any offers or sales of any security or solicited any offers to buy any security, under circumstances that would cause this offering of the Securities to be integrated with prior offerings by the Company for purposes of any applicable shareholder approval provisions of any Trading Market on which any of the securities of the Company are listed or designated.

 

(z)           Solvency.  Based on the consolidated financial condition of the Company as of the Closing Date, after giving effect to the receipt by the Company of the proceeds from the sale of the Securities hereunder, (i) the fair saleable value of the Company’s assets exceeds the amount that will be required to be paid on or in respect of the Company’s existing debts and other liabilities (including known contingent liabilities) as they mature, (ii) the Company’s assets do not constitute unreasonably small capital to carry on its business as now conducted and as proposed to be conducted including its capital needs taking into account the particular capital requirements of the business conducted by the Company, and projected capital requirements and capital availability thereof, and (iii) the current cash flow of the Company, together with the proceeds the Company would receive, were it to liquidate all of its assets, after taking into account all anticipated uses of the cash, would be sufficient to pay all amounts on or in respect of its liabilities when such amounts are required to be paid.  The Company does not intend to incur debts beyond its ability to pay such debts as they mature (taking into account the timing and amounts of cash to be payable on or in respect of its debt).  The Company has no knowledge of any facts or circumstances which lead it to believe that it will file for reorganization or liquidation under the bankruptcy or reorganization laws of any jurisdiction within one year from the Closing Date.

 

(aa)          Tax Status.  Except for matters that would not, individually or in the aggregate, have or reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect, the Company and each Subsidiary (i) has made or filed all United States federal and state income and all foreign income and franchise tax returns, reports and declarations required by any jurisdiction to which it is subject, (ii) has paid all taxes and other governmental assessments and charges that are material in amount, shown or determined to be due on such returns, reports and declarations and (iii) has set aside on its books provision reasonably adequate for the payment of all material taxes for periods subsequent to the periods to which such returns, reports or declarations apply.  There are no unpaid taxes in any material amount claimed to be due by the taxing authority of any jurisdiction, and the officers of the Company or of any Subsidiary know of no basis for any such claim.

 

(bb)         Foreign Corrupt Practices.  Neither the Company, nor to the knowledge of the Company, any agent or other person acting on behalf of the Company, has (i) directly or indirectly, used any funds for unlawful contributions, gifts, entertainment or other unlawful expenses related to foreign or domestic political activity, (ii) made any unlawful payment to foreign or domestic government officials or employees or to any foreign or domestic political parties or campaigns from corporate funds, (iii) failed to disclose fully any contribution made by the Company (or made by any person acting on its behalf of which the Company is aware) which is in violation of law, or (iv) violated in any material respect any provision of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended.

 

(cc)         Accountants.  The Company’s accounting firm is set forth in the Prospectus.  To the knowledge and belief of the Company, such accounting firm (i) is a registered public accounting firm as required by the Exchange Act and (ii) shall express its opinion with respect to the financial statements to be included in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ending December 31, 2009.

 

(dd)         Acknowledgment Regarding Purchasers’ Purchase of Securities.  The Company acknowledges and agrees that each of the Purchasers is acting solely in the capacity of an arm’s length purchaser with respect to the Transaction Documents and the transactions contemplated thereby.  The Company further acknowledges that no Purchaser is acting as a financial advisor or fiduciary of the Company (or in any similar capacity) with respect to the Transaction Documents and the transactions contemplated thereby and any advice given by any Purchaser or any of their respective representatives or agents in connection with the Transaction Documents and the transactions contemplated thereby is merely incidental to the Purchasers’ purchase of the Securities.  The Company further represents to each Purchaser that the Company’s decision to enter into this Agreement and the other Transaction Documents has been based solely on the independent evaluation of the transactions contemplated hereby by the Company and its representatives.

 

(ee)          Acknowledgement Regarding Purchaser’s Trading Activity.  Anything in this Agreement or elsewhere herein to the contrary notwithstanding (except for Sections 3.2(b) and 4.14 hereof), it is understood and acknowledged by the Company that: (i) none of the Purchasers have been asked by the Company to agree, nor has any Purchaser agreed, to desist from purchasing or selling, long and/or short, securities of the Company, or “derivative” securities based on securities issued by the Company or to hold the Securities for any specified term; (ii) past or future open market or other transactions by any Purchaser, specifically including, without limitation, Short Sales or “derivative” transactions, before or after the closing of this or future private placement transactions, may negatively impact the market price of the Company’s publicly-traded securities; (iii) any Purchaser, and counter-parties in “derivative” transactions to which any such Purchaser is a party, directly or indirectly, presently may have a “short” position in the Common Stock, and (iv) each Purchaser shall not be deemed to have any affiliation with or control over any arm’s length counter-party in any “derivative” transaction.  The Company further understands and acknowledges that (y) one or more Purchasers may engage in hedging activities at various times during the period that the Securities are outstanding, including, without limitation, during the periods that the value of the Warrant Shares deliverable with respect to Securities are being determined, and (z) such hedging activities (if any) could reduce the value of the existing stockholders' equity interests in the Company at and after the time that the hedging activities are being conducted.  The Company acknowledges that such aforementioned hedging activities do not constitute a breach of any of the Transaction Documents.

 

(ff)           Regulation M Compliance.  The Company has not, and to its knowledge no one acting on its behalf has, (i) taken, directly or indirectly, any action designed to cause or to result in the stabilization or manipulation of the price of any security of the Company to facilitate the sale or resale of any of these Securities, (ii) sold, bid for, purchased, or, paid any compensation for soliciting purchases of, any of the Securities, or (iii) paid or agreed to pay to any Person any compensation for soliciting another to purchase any other securities of the Company, other than, in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii), compensation paid to the Company’s placement agent in connection with the placement of the Securities.

 

(gg)         Office of Foreign Assets Control.  Neither the Company nor, to the Company's knowledge, any director, officer, agent, employee or affiliate of the Company is currently subject to any U.S. sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department (“OFAC”).

 

(hh)         U.S. Real Property Holding Corporation.  The Company is not and has never been a U.S. real property holding corporation within the meaning of Section 897 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and the Company shall so certify upon Purchaser’s request.

 

(ii)           Bank Holding Company Act.  Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries or Affiliates is subject to the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended (the “BHCA”) and to regulation by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”).  Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries or Affiliates owns or controls, directly or indirectly, five percent (5%) or more of the outstanding shares of any class of voting securities or twenty-five percent or more of the total equity of a bank or any entity that is subject to the BHCA and to regulation by the Federal Reserve.  Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries or Affiliates exercises a controlling influence over the management or policies of a bank or any entity that is subject to the BHCA and to regulation by the Federal Reserve.

 

(jj)           Money Laundering.  The operations of the Company are and have been conducted at all times in compliance with applicable financial record-keeping and reporting requirements of the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act of 1970, as amended, applicable money laundering statutes and applicable rules and regulations thereunder (collectively, the “Money Laundering Laws”), and no action, suit or proceeding by or before any court or governmental agency, authority or body or any arbitrator involving the Company with respect to the Money Laundering Laws is pending or, to the knowledge of the Company, threatened.

 

(kk)         Placement Agent Agreement. The Company has entered into a Placement Agent Agreement, dated as of December 24, 2009, with Rodman & Renshaw, LLC and FT Global Capital, Inc. as co-placement agents that contains certain representations, warranties, covenants and agreements of the Company that, may be relied upon by the Purchasers, each of which shall be a third party beneficiary thereof.

 

3.2            Representations and Warranties of the Purchasers.  Each Purchaser, for itself and for no other Purchaser, hereby represents and warrants as of the date hereof and as of the Closing Date to the Company as follows (unless as of a specific date therein):

 

(a)       Organization; Authority.  Such Purchaser is either an individual or an entity duly organized, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the jurisdiction of its organization with full right, corporate or partnership power and authority to enter into and to consummate the transactions contemplated by this Agreement and otherwise to carry out its obligations hereunder and thereunder. The execution and delivery of this Agreement and performance by such Purchaser of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement have been duly authorized by all necessary corporate, partnership, limited liability company or similar action, as applicable, on the part of such Purchaser.  Each Transaction Document to which it is a party has been duly executed by such Purchaser, and when delivered by such Purchaser in accordance with the terms hereof, will constitute the valid and legally binding obligation of such Purchaser, enforceable against it in accordance with its terms, except: (i) as limited by general equitable principles and applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium and other laws of general application affecting enforcement of creditors’ rights generally, (ii) as limited by laws relating to the availability of specific performance, injunctive relief or other equitable remedies and (iii) insofar as indemnification and contribution provisions may be limited by applicable law.

 

(b)       Certain Transactions and Confidentiality.  Other than consummating the transactions contemplated hereunder, such Purchaser has not, nor has any Person acting on behalf of or pursuant to any understanding with such Purchaser, directly or indirectly executed any purchases or sales, including Short Sales, of the securities of the Company during the period commencing as of the time that such Purchaser first received a term sheet (written or oral) as of the Company or any other Person representing the Company setting forth the material terms of the transactions contemplated hereunder and ending immediately prior to the execution hereof. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the case of a Purchaser that is a multi-managed investment vehicle whereby separate portfolio managers manage separate portions of such Purchaser’s assets and the portfolio managers have no direct knowledge of the investment decisions made by the portfolio managers managing other portions of such Purchaser’s assets, the representation set forth above shall only apply with respect to the portion of assets managed by the portfolio manager that made the investment decision to purchase the Securities covered by this Agreement.  Other than to other Persons party to this Agreement, such Purchaser has maintained the confidentiality of all disclosures made to it in connection with this transaction (including the existence and terms of this transaction). Notwithstanding the foregoing, for avoidance of doubt, nothing contained herein shall constitute a representation or warranty, or preclude any actions, with respect to the identification of the availability of, or securing of, available shares to borrow in order to effect Short Sales or similar transactions in the future.

 

The Company acknowledges and agrees that the representations contained in Section 3.2 shall not modify, amend or affect such Purchaser’s right to rely on the Company’s representations and warranties contained in this Agreement or any representations and warranties contained in any other Transaction Document or any other document or instrument executed and/or delivered in connection with this Agreement or the consummation of the transaction contemplated hereby.

 

OTHER AGREEMENTS OF THE PARTIES

 

4.1          Warrant Shares.  If all or any portion of a Warrant is exercised at a time when there is an effective registration statement to cover the issuance of the Warrant Shares or if the Warrant is exercised via cashless exercise, the Warrant Shares issued pursuant to any such exercise shall be issued free of all legends.  If at any time following the date hereof the Registration Statement (or any subsequent registration statement registering the sale or resale of the Warrant Shares) is not effective or is not otherwise available for the issuance of the Warrant Shares by the Company, the Company shall promptly notify the holders of the Warrants in writing that such registration statement is not then effective and thereafter shall promptly notify such holders when the registration statement is effective again and available for the issuance of the Warrant Shares (it being understood and agreed that the foregoing shall not limit the ability of the Company to issue, or any Purchaser to sell, any of the Warrant Shares in compliance with applicable federal and state securities laws).  The Company shall use best efforts to keep a registration statement (including the Registration Statement) registering the issuance of the Warrant Shares effective during the term of the Warrants.

 

4.2         Furnishing of Information.  Until the earlier of the time that (i) no Purchaser owns Securities or (ii) the Warrants have expired, the Company covenants to timely file (or obtain extensions in respect thereof and file within the applicable grace period) all reports required to be filed by the Company after the date hereof pursuant to the Exchange Act.  As long as any Purchaser owns Securities, if the Company is not required to file reports pursuant to the Exchange Act, it will prepare and furnish to the Purchasers and make publicly available in accordance with Rule 144(c) such information as is required for the Purchasers to sell the Securities, including without limitation, under Rule 144. The Company further covenants that it will take such further action as any holder of Securities may reasonably request, to the extent required from time to time to enable such Person to sell such Securities without registration under the Securities Act, including without limitation, within the requirements of the exemption provided by Rule 144.

 

4.3         Integration.  The Company shall not sell, offer for sale or solicit offers to buy or otherwise negotiate in respect of any security (as defined in Section 2 of the Securities Act) that would be integrated with the offer or sale of the Securities for purposes of the rules and regulations of any Trading Market such that it would require shareholder approval prior to the closing of such other transaction unless shareholder approval is obtained before the closing of such subsequent transaction.

 

4.4         Securities Laws Disclosure; Publicity.  The Company shall, by 9:00 a.m. (New York City time) on (a) the date hereof, issue a press release disclosing the material terms of the transactions contemplated hereby and (b) the fourth (4th) Trading Day immediately following the date hereof, file a Current Report on Form 8-K with the Commission, disclosing the material terms of the transactions contemplated hereby, and including the Transaction Documents as exhibits thereto.  From and after the issuance of such press release, the Company shall have publicly disclosed all material, non-public information delivered to any of the Purchasers by the Company or any of its subsidiaries, or any of their respective officers, directors, employees or agents in connection with the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents.  The Company and each Purchaser shall consult with each other in issuing any other press releases with respect to the transactions contemplated hereby, and neither the Company nor any Purchaser shall issue any such press release nor otherwise make any such public statement without the prior consent of the Company, with respect to any press release of any Purchaser, or without the prior consent of each Purchaser, with respect to any press release of the Company, which consent shall not unreasonably be withheld or delayed, except if such disclosure is required by law, in which case the disclosing party shall promptly provide the other party with prior notice of such public statement or communication.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company shall not publicly disclose the name of any Purchaser, or include the name of any Purchaser in any filing with the Commission or any regulatory agency or Trading Market, without the prior written consent of such Purchaser, except (a) as required by federal securities law in connection with the filing of final Transaction Documents (including signature pages thereto) with the Commission and (b) to the extent such disclosure is required by law or Trading Market regulations, in which case the Company shall provide the Purchasers with prior notice of such disclosure permitted under this clause (b).  On or prior to 8:30 am on the Business Day following the Closing Date, the Company shall file the Prospectus Supplement with the Commission in accordance with Rule 424 under the Securities Act.

 

4.5         Shareholder Rights Plan.  No claim will be made or enforced by the Company or, with the consent of the Company, any other Person, that any Purchaser is an “Acquiring Person” under any control share acquisition, business combination, poison pill (including any distribution under a rights agreement) or similar anti-takeover plan or arrangement in effect or hereafter adopted by the Company, or that any Purchaser could be deemed to trigger the provisions of any such plan or arrangement, by virtue of receiving Securities under the Transaction Documents or under any other agreement between the Company and the Purchasers.

 

4.6         Non-Public Information.  Except with respect to the material terms and conditions of the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents, so long as any Purchaser owns Securities, the Company covenants and agrees that neither it, nor any other Person acting on its behalf will provide any Purchaser or its agents or counsel with any information that the Company believes constitutes material non-public information, unless prior thereto such Purchaser shall have executed a written agreement with the Company regarding the confidentiality and use of such information.  The Company understands and confirms that each Purchaser shall be relying on the foregoing covenant in effecting transactions in securities of the Company.

 

4.7         Use of Proceeds.  The Company shall use the net proceeds from the sale of the Securities hereunder as set forth in the Prospectus Supplement.

4.8         Indemnification of Purchasers.   Subject to the provisions of this Section 4.8, the Company will indemnify and hold each Purchaser and its directors, officers, shareholders, members, partners, employees and agents (and any other Persons with a functionally equivalent role of a Person holding such titles notwithstanding a lack of such title or any other title), each Person who controls such Purchaser (within the meaning of Section 15 of the Securities Act and Section 20 of the Exchange Act), and the directors, officers, shareholders, agents, members, partners or employees (and any other Persons with a functionally equivalent role of a Person holding such titles notwithstanding a lack of such title or any other title) of such controlling persons (each, a “Purchaser Party”) harmless from any and all losses, liabilities, obligations, claims, contingencies, damages, costs and expenses, including all judgments, amounts paid in settlements, court costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs of investigation that any such Purchaser Party may suffer or incur as a result of or relating to (a) any breach of any of the representations, warranties, covenants or agreements made by the Company in this Agreement or in the other Transaction Documents or (b) any action instituted against a Purchaser in any capacity, or any of them or their respective Affiliates, by any stockholder of the Company who is not an Affiliate of such Purchaser, with respect to any of the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents (unless such action is based upon a breach of such Purchaser’s representations, warranties or covenants under the Transaction Documents or any agreements or understandings such Purchaser may have with any such stockholder or any violations by such Purchaser of state or federal securities laws or any conduct by such Purchaser which constitutes fraud, gross negligence, willful misconduct or malfeasance).  If any action shall be brought against any Purchaser Party in respect of which indemnity may be sought pursuant to this Agreement, such Purchaser Party shall promptly notify the Company in writing, and the Company shall have the right to assume the defense thereof with counsel of its own choosing reasonably acceptable to the Purchaser Party.  Any Purchaser Party shall have the right to employ separate counsel in any such action and participate in the defense thereof, but the fees and expenses of such counsel shall be at the expense of such Purchaser Party except to the extent that (i) the employment thereof has been specifically authorized by the Company in writing, (ii) the Company has failed after a reasonable period of time to assume such defense and to employ counsel or (iii) in such action there is, in the reasonable written opinion of counsel to the Purchasers furnished to the Company a material conflict on any material issue between the position of the Company and the position of such Purchaser Party, in which case the Company shall be responsible for the reasonable fees and expenses of no more than one such separate counsel.  The Company will not be liable to any Purchaser Party under this Agreement (y) for any settlement by a Purchaser Party effected without the Company’s prior written consent, which shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed; or (z) to the extent, but only to the extent that a loss, claim, damage or liability is attributable to any Purchaser Party’s breach of any of the representations, warranties, covenants or agreements made by such Purchaser Party in this Agreement or in the other Transaction Documents. The indemnification required by this Section 4.8 shall be made by periodic payments of the amount thereof during the course of the investigation or defense, as and when bills are received or are incurred, but if the Purchaser Party is later determined not to be entitled to indemnification under this Section 4.8 or otherwise, the Purchaser Party will promptly return any moneys paid pursuant to this sentence. The indemnity agreements contained herein shall be in addition to any cause of action or similar right of any Purchaser Party against the Company or others, and (y) any liabilities the Company may be subject to pursuant to law.

 

4.9         Reservation of Common Stock. As of the date hereof, the Company has reserved and the Company shall continue to reserve and keep available at all times, free of preemptive rights, a sufficient number of shares of Common Stock for the purpose of enabling the Company to issue Shares pursuant to this Agreement and Warrant Shares pursuant to any exercise of the Warrants.

 

4.10       Listing of Common Stock. The Company hereby agrees to use commercially reasonable efforts to maintain the listing or quotation of the Common Stock on the Trading Market on which it is currently listed, and concurrently with the Closing, the Company shall apply to list or quote all of the Shares and Warrant Shares on such Trading Market and promptly secure the listing of all of the Shares and Warrant Shares on such Trading Market. The Company further agrees, if the Company applies to have the Common Stock traded on any other Trading Market, it will then include in such application all of the Shares and Warrant Shares, and will take such other action as is necessary to cause all of the Shares and Warrant Shares to be listed or quoted on such other Trading Market as promptly as possible.  The Company will then take all action reasonably necessary to continue the listing and trading of its Common Stock on a Trading Market and will comply in all respects with the Company’s reporting, filing and other obligations under the bylaws or rules of the Trading Market.

 

4.11        Participation in Future Financing.

 

(a)           From the date hereof until the date that is the 12 month anniversary of the Closing Date, upon any issuance by the Company or any of its Subsidiaries of Common Stock, Common Stock Equivalents or Indebtedness (or a combination of units hereof) (a “Subsequent Financing”), each Purchaser shall have the right to participate in up to an amount of the Subsequent Financing equal to 100% of the Subsequent Financing (the “Participation Maximum”) on the same terms, conditions and price provided for in the Subsequent Financing; provided, that the Participation Maximum shall be reduced to the extent required, if any, by the principal Trading Market in order for the Company to comply with the listing agreement for such Trading Market.

(b)           At least five (5) Trading Days prior to the closing of the Subsequent Financing, the Company shall deliver to each Purchaser a written notice of its intention to effect a Subsequent Financing (“Pre-Notice”), which Pre-Notice shall ask such Purchaser if it wants to review the details of such financing (such additional notice, a “Subsequent Financing Notice”).  Upon the request of a Purchaser, and only upon a request by such Purchaser, for a Subsequent Financing Notice, the Company shall promptly, but no later than 1 Trading Day after such request, deliver a Subsequent Financing Notice to such Purchaser.  The Subsequent Financing Notice shall describe in reasonable detail the proposed terms of such Subsequent Financing, the amount of proceeds intended to be raised thereunder and the Person or Persons through or with whom such Subsequent Financing is proposed to be effected and shall include a term sheet or similar document relating thereto as an attachment.   

(c)           Any Purchaser desiring to participate in such Subsequent Financing must provide written notice to the Company by not later than 5:30 p.m. (New York City time) on the fifth (5th) Trading Day after all of the Purchasers have received the Pre-Notice that the Purchaser is willing to participate in the Subsequent Financing, the amount of the Purchaser’s participation, and that the Purchaser has such funds ready, willing, and available for investment on the terms set forth in the Subsequent Financing Notice.  If the Company receives no notice from a Purchaser as of such fifth (5th) Trading Day, such Purchaser shall be deemed to have notified the Company that it does not elect to participate. 

(d)           If by 5:30 p.m. (New York City time) on the fifth (5th) Trading Day after all of the Purchasers have received the Pre-Notice, notifications by the Purchasers of their willingness to participate in the Subsequent Financing (or to cause their designees to participate) is, in the aggregate, less than the total amount of the Subsequent Financing, then the Company may effect the remaining portion of such Subsequent Financing on the terms and with the Persons set forth in the Subsequent Financing Notice. 

(e)           If by 5:30 p.m. (New York City time) on the fifth (5th) Trading Day after all of the Purchasers have received the Pre-Notice, the Company receives responses to a Subsequent Financing Notice from Purchasers seeking to purchase more than the aggregate amount of the Participation Maximum, each such Purchaser shall have the right to purchase its Pro Rata Portion (as defined below) of the Participation Maximum.  “Pro Rata Portion” means the ratio of (x) the Subscription Amount of Securities purchased on the Closing Date by a Purchaser participating under this Section 4.11 and (y) the sum of the aggregate Subscription Amounts of Securities purchased on the Closing Date by all Purchasers participating under this Section 4.11 plus the aggregate subscription amounts of investors party to securities purchase agreement(s) contemplated by clause (d) in the definition of Exempt Issuance that are participating in such Subsequent Financing pursuant to participation rights granted to such investors under such agreements that are substantially similar to this Section 4.11.

(f)           Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Section 4.11 and unless otherwise agreed to by the Purchasers, the Company shall either confirm in writing to the Purchasers that the transaction with respect to the Subsequent Financing has been abandoned or shall publicly disclose its intention to issue the securities offered in such Subsequent Financing (“Offered Securities”), in either case in such a manner such that the Purchasers will not be in possession of material non-public information, by the twenty-fifth (25th) Business Day following delivery of the Subsequent Financing Notice.  If by the twenty-fifth (25th) Business Day following delivery of the Subsequent Financing Notice no public disclosure regarding a transaction with respect to the Offered Securities has been made, and no notice regarding the abandonment of such transaction has been received by the Purchasers, such transaction shall be deemed to have been abandoned and the Purchasers shall not be deemed to be in possession of any material, non-public information with respect to the Company.  Should the Company decide to pursue such transaction with respect to the Offered Securities, the Company shall provide each Purchaser with another Subsequent Financing Notice and each Purchaser will again have the right of participation set forth in this Section 4.11.  The Company shall not be permitted to deliver more than one such Subsequent Financing Notice to the Purchasers in any 60 day period.

(g)           Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, in the event the Company shall propose to reduce the size of the Subsequent Financing, then each Purchaser may, at its sole option and in its sole discretion, reduce the number or amount of its elected participation in the Subsequent Financing to an amount that shall be not less than the number or amount of the amount of such Subsequent Financing that such Purchaser elected to purchase pursuant to Section 4.11(c) above multiplied by a fraction, (i) the numerator of which shall be the number or amount of the Subsequent Financing that the Company actually proposes to issue, sell or exchange (including securities to be issued or sold to Purchasers pursuant to Section 4.11(a) above prior to such reduction) and (ii) the denominator of which shall be the original amount of the Subsequent Financing.  In the event that any Purchaser so elects to reduce the number or amount of its elected participation in the Subsequent Financing, the Company may not issue, sell or exchange more than the reduced number or amount of the Subsequent Financing unless and until such securities have again been offered to the Purchasers in accordance with Section 4.11(c) above.

(h)           Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Section 4.11 shall not apply in respect of (i) an Exempt Issuance, or (ii) an underwritten public offering of Common Stock pursuant to a bona fide firm commitment underwritten public offering with a nationally recognized underwriter which generates gross proceeds to the Company in excess of $30 million and where no investors are contacted privately prior to the public announcement of such offering.

4.12        Subsequent Equity Sales.

 

(a)           From the date hereof until March 1, 2010, neither the Company nor any Subsidiary shall issue, enter into any agreement to issue or announce the issuance or proposed issuance of any shares of Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents.

 

(b)           From the date hereof until twelve (12) months after the Closing Date, the Company shall be prohibited from effecting or entering into an agreement to effect any issuance by the Company or any of its Subsidiaries of Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents for cash consideration (or a combination of units hereof) involving a Variable Rate Transaction.  “Variable Rate Transaction” means a transaction in which the Company (i) issues or sells any debt or equity securities that are convertible into, exchangeable or exercisable for, or include the right to receive additional shares of Common Stock either (A) at a conversion price, exercise price or exchange rate or other price that is based upon and/or varies with the trading prices of or quotations for the shares of Common Stock at any time after the initial issuance of such debt or equity securities, or (B) with a conversion, exercise or exchange price that is subject to being reset at some future date after the initial issuance of such debt or equity security or upon the occurrence of specified or contingent events directly or indirectly related to the business of the Company or the market for the Common Stock or (ii) enters into any agreement, including, but not limited to, an equity line of credit, whereby the Company may sell securities at a future determined price.  Any Purchaser shall be entitled to obtain injunctive relief against the Company to preclude any such issuance, which remedy shall be in addition to any right to collect damages.

 

(c)           Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Section 4.12 shall not apply in respect of an Exempt Issuance and no Variable Rate Transaction shall be an Exempt Issuance.

 

(d)           The Company shall not issue any securities pursuant to clause (c) of the definition of Exempt Issuance from the date hereof until the date that is the thirty (30) day anniversary of the Closing Date.

 

4.13        Equal Treatment of Purchasers.  No consideration (including any modification of this Agreement) shall be offered or paid to any Purchaser to amend or consent to a waiver or modification of any provision of this Agreement unless the same consideration is also offered to all of the parties to the Transaction Documents.  For clarification purposes, this provision constitutes a separate right granted to each Purchaser by the Company and negotiated separately by each Purchaser, and is intended for the Company to treat the Purchasers as a class and shall not in any way be construed as the Purchasers acting in concert or as a group with respect to the purchase, disposition or voting of Securities or otherwise.  The provisions of this Section 4.13 notwithstanding, nothing in this Agreement shall prohibit the Company from negotiating and entering into separate settlements with any one or more Purchasers in the event of litigation or any other dispute arising out of the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents without triggering the obligation to make a similar payment to any other Purchaser.

 

4.14        Certain Transactions and Confidentiality. Each Purchaser, severally and not jointly with the other Purchasers, covenants that neither it nor any Affiliate acting on its behalf or pursuant to any understanding with it will execute any purchases or sales, including Short Sales of any of the Company’s securities during the period commencing with the execution of this Agreement and ending at such time that the transactions contemplated by this Agreement are first publicly announced pursuant to the initial press release as described in Section 4.4.  Each Purchaser, severally and not jointly with the other Purchasers, covenants that until such time as the transactions contemplated by this Agreement are publicly disclosed by the Company pursuant to the initial press release as described in Section 4.4, such Purchaser will maintain the confidentiality of the existence and terms of this transaction and the information included in the Prospectus Supplement.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, and notwithstanding anything contained in this Agreement to the contrary, the Company expressly acknowledges and agrees that (i) no Purchaser makes any representation, warranty or covenant hereby that it will not engage in effecting transactions in any securities of the Company after the time that the transactions contemplated by this Agreement are first publicly announced pursuant to the initial press release as described in Section 4.4, (ii) no Purchaser shall be restricted or prohibited from effecting any transactions in any securities of the Company in accordance with applicable securities laws from and after the time that the transactions contemplated by this Agreement are first publicly announced pursuant to the initial press release as described in Section 4.4 and (iii) no Purchaser shall have any duty of confidentiality to the Company or its Subsidiaries after the issuance of the initial press release as described in Section 4.4.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the case of a Purchaser that is a multi-managed investment vehicle whereby separate portfolio managers manage separate portions of such Purchaser’s assets and the portfolio managers have no direct knowledge of the investment decisions made by the portfolio managers managing other portions of such Purchaser’s assets, the covenant set forth above shall only apply with respect to the portion of assets managed by the portfolio manager that made the investment decision to purchase the Securities covered by this Agreement.

 

4.15       Enforcement of Voting Agreement. The Company shall use its reasonable best efforts to effectuate the transactions contemplated by the Voting Agreements.  The Company shall not amend or waive any provision of the Voting Agreement and shall enforce the provisions of the Voting Agreement in accordance with its terms. If the Principal Shareholders breach any provisions of the Voting Agreement, the Company shall promptly use its reasonable best efforts to seek specific performance of the terms of the Voting Agreement in accordance with Section 4.02 thereof.  In addition, if the Company receives any notice from the Principal Shareholders pursuant to the Voting Agreement, the Company shall promptly, but in no event later than two (2) Business Days, deliver a copy of such notice to each Purchaser.

 

4.16       Shareholder Approval. The Company shall provide each shareholder entitled to vote at a special or annual meeting of shareholders of the Company (the "Shareholder Meeting"), which shall be called as promptly as practicable after the date hereof, but in no event later than six (6) months from the Closing Date (the "Shareholder Meeting Deadline"), a proxy statement, in a form reasonably acceptable to the Purchasers after review by Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP at the expense of the Company, soliciting each such shareholder's affirmative vote at the Shareholder Meeting for approval of resolutions (the "Resolutions") providing for Shareholder Approval, and the Company shall use its reasonable best efforts to solicit its shareholders' approval of such Resolutions and to cause the Board of Directors of the Company to recommend to the shareholders that they approve the Resolutions.  The Company shall be obligated to seek to obtain the Shareholder Approval by the Shareholder Meeting Deadline.  If, despite the Company's reasonable best efforts, the Shareholder Approval is not obtained at the Shareholder Meeting, the Company shall cause an additional Shareholder Meeting to be held each calendar quarter thereafter until Shareholder Approval is obtained.

 

MISCELLANEOUS

 

5.1         Termination.  This Agreement may be terminated by any Purchaser or by the Company with respect to any Purchaser, as to such Purchaser’s obligations hereunder only and without any effect whatsoever on the obligations between the Company and the other Purchasers, by written notice to the other parties, if the Closing has not been consummated on or before December 31, 2009; provided, however, that no such termination will affect the right of any party to sue for any breach by the other party (or parties).

 

5.2         Fees and Expenses. Except as expressly set forth in the Transaction Documents to the contrary, each party shall pay the fees and expenses of its advisers, counsel, accountants and other experts, if any, and all other expenses incurred by such party incident to the negotiation, preparation, execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement.  The Company shall pay all Transfer Agent fees, stamp taxes and other taxes and duties levied in connection with the delivery of any Securities to the Purchasers.  The Company shall reimburse Empery Asset Master Ltd. (a Purchaser) or its designee(s) for all reasonable costs and expenses, incurred in connection with the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents (including all reasonable legal fees and disbursements in connection therewith, documentation and implementation of the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents and due diligence in connection therewith) up to a maximum reimbursement of $25,000, which amount may be withheld by such Purchaser from its Subscription Amount at the Closing.

 

5.3         Entire Agreement.  The Transaction Documents, together with the exhibits and schedules thereto, the Prospectus and the Prospectus Supplement, contain the entire understanding of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersede all prior agreements and understandings, oral or written, with respect to such matters, which the parties acknowledge have been merged into such documents, exhibits and schedules.

 

5.4         Notices.  Any and all notices or other communications or deliveries required or permitted to be provided hereunder shall be in writing and shall be deemed given and effective on the earliest of: (a) the date of transmission, if such notice or communication is delivered via facsimile at the facsimile number set forth on the signature pages attached hereto prior to 5:30 p.m. (New York City time) on a Trading Day, (b) the next Trading Day after the date of transmission, if such notice or communication is delivered via facsimile at the facsimile number set forth on the signature pages attached hereto on a day that is not a Trading Day or later than 5:30 p.m. (New York City time) on any Trading Day, (c) the second (2nd)Trading Day following the date of mailing, if sent by U.S. nationally recognized overnight courier service or (d) upon actual receipt by the party to whom such notice is required to be given.  The address for such notices and communications shall be as set forth on the signature pages attached hereto.

 

5.5         Amendments; Waivers.  No provision of this Agreement may be waived, modified, supplemented or amended except in a written instrument signed, in the case of an amendment, by the Company and the Purchasers holding at least 67% in interest of the Shares based on the initial Subscription Amounts hereunder or, in the case of a waiver, by the party against whom enforcement of any such waived provision is sought.  No waiver of any default with respect to any provision, condition or requirement of this Agreement shall be deemed to be a continuing waiver in the future or a waiver of any subsequent default or a waiver of any other provision, condition or requirement hereof, nor shall any delay or omission of any party to exercise any right hereunder in any manner impair the exercise of any such right.

 

5.6         Headings.  The headings herein are for convenience only, do not constitute a part of this Agreement and shall not be deemed to limit or affect any of the provisions hereof.

 

5.7         Successors and Assigns.  This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties and their successors and permitted assigns.  The Company may not assign this Agreement or any rights or obligations hereunder without the prior written consent of each Purchaser (other than by merger).  Any Purchaser may assign any or all of its rights under this Agreement to any Person to whom such Purchaser assigns or transfers any Securities, in which event such assignee shall be deemed to be a Purchaser hereunder with respect to such assigned rights.

 

5.8         No Third-Party Beneficiaries.  This Agreement is intended for the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective successors and permitted assigns and is not for the benefit of, nor may any provision hereof be enforced by, any other Person, except as otherwise set forth in Section 4.8.

 

5.9         Governing Law.  All questions concerning the construction, validity, enforcement and interpretation of the Transaction Documents shall be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York, without regard to the principles of conflicts of law thereof.  Each party agrees that all legal proceedings concerning the interpretations, enforcement and defense of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement and any other Transaction Documents (whether brought against a party hereto or its respective affiliates, directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents) shall be commenced exclusively in the state and federal courts sitting in the City of New York. Each party hereby irrevocably submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts sitting in the City of New York, borough of Manhattan for the adjudication of any dispute hereunder or in connection herewith or with any transaction contemplated hereby or discussed herein (including with respect to the enforcement of any of the Transaction Documents), and hereby irrevocably waives, and agrees not to assert in any suit, action or proceeding, any claim that it is not personally subject to the jurisdiction of any such court, that such suit, action or proceeding is improper or is an inconvenient venue for such proceeding.  Each party hereby irrevocably waives personal service of process and consents to process being served in any such suit, action or proceeding by mailing a copy thereof via registered or certified mail or overnight delivery (with evidence of delivery) to such party at the address in effect for notices to it under this Agreement and agrees that such service shall constitute good and sufficient service of process and notice thereof.  Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to limit in any way any right to serve process in any other manner permitted by law.  If either party shall commence an action or proceeding to enforce any provisions of the Transaction Documents, then, in addition to the obligations of the Company under Section 4.8, the prevailing party in such action or proceeding shall be reimbursed by the other party for its reasonable attorneys’ fees and other costs and expenses incurred with the investigation, preparation and prosecution of such action or proceeding.

 

5.10       Survival.  The representations and warranties contained herein shall survive the Closing and the delivery of the Securities.

 

5.11       Execution.  This Agreement may be executed in two or more counterparts, all of which when taken together shall be considered one and the same agreement and shall become effective when counterparts have been signed by each party and delivered to the other party, it being understood that both parties need not sign the same counterpart.  In the event that any signature is delivered by facsimile transmission or by e-mail delivery of a “.pdf” format data file, such signature shall create a valid and binding obligation of the party executing (or on whose behalf such signature is executed) with the same force and effect as if such facsimile or “.pdf” signature page were an original thereof.

 

5.12       Severability.  If any term, provision, covenant or restriction of this Agreement is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, void or unenforceable, the remainder of the terms, provisions, covenants and restrictions set forth herein shall remain in full force and effect and shall in no way be affected, impaired or invalidated, and the parties hereto shall use their commercially reasonable efforts to find and employ an alternative means to achieve the same or substantially the same result as that contemplated by such term, provision, covenant or restriction. It is hereby stipulated and declared to be the intention of the parties that they would have executed the remaining terms, provisions, covenants and restrictions without including any of such that may be hereafter declared invalid, illegal, void or unenforceable.

 

5.13       Rescission and Withdrawal Right.  Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in (and without limiting any similar provisions of) any of the other Transaction Documents, whenever any Purchaser exercises a right, election, demand or option under a Transaction Document and the Company does not perform within a commercially reasonable time its related obligations, then such Purchaser may rescind or withdraw, in its sole discretion from time to time upon written notice to the Company, any relevant notice, demand or election in whole or in part without prejudice to its future actions and rights; provided, however, that in the case of a rescission of an exercise of a Warrant, the applicable Purchaser shall be required to return any shares of Common Stock subject to any such rescinded exercise notice concurrently with the return to such Purchaser of the aggregate exercise price paid to the Company for such shares and the restoration of such Purchaser’s right to acquire such shares pursuant to such Purchaser’s Warrant (including, issuance of a replacement warrant certificate evidencing such restored right).

5.14       Replacement of Securities.  If any certificate or instrument evidencing any Securities is mutilated, lost, stolen or destroyed, the Company shall issue or cause to be issued in exchange and substitution for and upon cancellation thereof (in the case of mutilation), or in lieu of and substitution therefor, a new certificate or instrument, but only upon receipt of evidence reasonably satisfactory to the Company of such loss, theft or destruction.  The applicant for a new certificate or instrument under such circumstances shall also pay any reasonable third-party costs (including customary indemnity) associated with the issuance of such replacement Securities.

 

5.15       Remedies.  In addition to being entitled to exercise all rights provided herein or granted by law, including recovery of damages, each of the Purchasers and the Company will be entitled to specific performance under the Transaction Documents.  The parties agree that monetary damages may not be adequate compensation for any loss incurred by reason of any breach of obligations contained in the Transaction Documents and hereby agree to waive and not to assert in any action for specific performance of any such obligation the defense that a remedy at law would be adequate.

 

5.16       Payment Set Aside.  To the extent that the Company makes a payment or payments to any Purchaser pursuant to any Transaction Document or a Purchaser enforces or exercises its rights thereunder, and such payment or payments or the proceeds of such enforcement or exercise or any part thereof are subsequently invalidated, declared to be fraudulent or preferential, set aside, recovered from, disgorged by or are required to be refunded, repaid or otherwise restored to the Company, a trustee, receiver or any other person under any law (including, without limitation, any bankruptcy law, state or federal law, common law or equitable cause of action), then to the extent of any such restoration the obligation or part thereof originally intended to be satisfied shall be revived and continued in full force and effect as if such payment had not been made or such enforcement or setoff had not occurred.

 

5.17       Independent Nature of Purchasers’ Obligations and Rights.  The obligations of each Purchaser under any Transaction Document are several and not joint with the obligations of any other Purchaser, and no Purchaser shall be responsible in any way for the performance or non-performance of the obligations of any other Purchaser under any Transaction Document.  Nothing contained herein or in any other Transaction Document, and no action taken by any Purchaser pursuant thereto, shall be deemed to constitute the Purchasers as a partnership, an association, a joint venture or any other kind of entity, or create a presumption that the Purchasers are in any way acting in concert or as a group with respect to such obligations or the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents.  Each Purchaser shall be entitled to independently protect and enforce its rights including, without limitation, the rights arising out of this Agreement or out of the other Transaction Documents, and it shall not be necessary for any other Purchaser to be joined as an additional party in any proceeding for such purpose.  Each Purchaser has been represented by its own separate legal counsel in their review and negotiation of the Transaction Documents.  For reasons of administrative convenience only, each Purchaser and its respective counsel have chosen to communicate with the Company through WS.  WS does not represent any of the Purchasers and only represents Rodman & Renshaw, LLC and FT Global, Inc., the placement agents for the transactions contemplated hereby.  The Company has elected to provide all Purchasers with the same terms and Transaction Documents for the convenience of the Company and not because it was required or requested to do so by any of the Purchasers.

 

5.18       Liquidated Damages.  The Company’s obligations to pay any partial liquidated damages or other amounts owing under the Transaction Documents is a continuing obligation of the Company and shall not terminate until all unpaid partial liquidated damages and other amounts have been paid notwithstanding the fact that the instrument or security pursuant to which such partial liquidated damages or other amounts are due and payable shall have been canceled.

 

5.19       Saturdays, Sundays, Holidays, etc.   If the last or appointed day for the taking of any action or the expiration of any right required or granted herein shall not be a Business Day, then such action may be taken or such right may be exercised on the next succeeding Business Day.

 

5.20       Construction. The parties agree that each of them and/or their respective counsel has reviewed and had an opportunity to revise the Transaction Documents and, therefore, the normal rule of construction to the effect that any ambiguities are to be resolved against the drafting party shall not be employed in the interpretation of the Transaction Documents or any amendments hereto. In addition, each and every reference to share prices and shares of Common Stock in any Transaction Document shall be subject to adjustment for reverse and forward stock splits, stock dividends, stock combinations and other similar transactions of the Common Stock that occur after the date of this Agreement.

 

5.21       WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL.  IN ANY ACTION, SUIT, OR PROCEEDING IN ANY JURISDICTION BROUGHT BY ANY PARTY AGAINST ANY OTHER PARTY, THE PARTIES EACH KNOWINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY, TO THE GREATEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, HEREBY ABSOLUTELY, UNCONDITIONALLY, IRREVOCABLY AND EXPRESSLY WAIVES FOREVER TRIAL BY JURY.

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this Securities Purchase Agreement to be duly executed by their respective authorized signatories as of the date first indicated above.

[REMAINDER OF PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

SIGNATURE PAGE FOR PURCHASER FOLLOWS]

[PURCHASER SIGNATURE PAGES TO GSI SECURITIES PURCHASE AGREEMENT]

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned have caused this Securities Purchase Agreement to be duly executed by their respective authorized signatories as of the date first indicated above.

 

Name of Purchaser:                       Empery Asset Master, Ltd.                                                            

 

Signature of Authorized Signatory of Purchaser:    /s/ Ryan M. Lane                                           

 

Name of Authorized Signatory:         Empery Asset Management, LP                                             

 

Title of Authorized Signatory:          Managing Member of the General Partnership                     

 

Email Address of Authorized Signatory:         ***@***                                       

 

Facsimile Number of Authorized Signatory:        212 ###-###-####                                                          

 

Address for Notice of Purchaser:

 

 

Address for Delivery of Securities for Purchaser (if not same as address for notice):

 

Subscription Amount: $1,125,000                

Shares: 250,000                

Warrants: 125,000           

EIN Number:  [PROVIDE THIS UNDER SEPARATE COVER]

[SIGNATURE PAGES CONTINUE]

 

[PURCHASER SIGNATURE PAGES TO GSI SECURITIES PURCHASE AGREEMENT]

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned have caused this Securities Purchase Agreement to be duly executed by their respective authorized signatories as of the date first indicated above.

 

Name of Purchaser:                       Hartz Capital Investments, LLC                                                     

 

Signature of Authorized Signatory of Purchaser:    /s/ Ryan M. Lane                                           

 

Name of Authorized Signatory:         Empery Asset Management, LP                                             

 

Title of Authorized Signatory:          Managing Member of the General Partnership                     

 

Email Address of Authorized Signatory:         ***@***                                       

 

Facsimile Number of Authorized Signatory:        212 ###-###-####                                                          

 

Address for Notice of Purchaser:

 

 

Address for Delivery of Securities for Purchaser (if not same as address for notice):

 

Subscription Amount: $4,874,998.50               

Shares: 1,083,333                

Warrants: 541,667           

EIN Number:  [PROVIDE THIS UNDER SEPARATE COVER]

[SIGNATURE PAGES CONTINUE]

 

 

[PURCHASER SIGNATURE PAGES TO GSI SECURITIES PURCHASE AGREEMENT]

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned have caused this Securities Purchase Agreement to be duly executed by their respective authorized signatories as of the date first indicated above.

 

Name of Purchaser:                      Capital Ventures International                                                               

 

Signature of Authorized Signatory of Purchaser:    /s/ Michael L. Spolan                                           

 

Name of Authorized Signatory:         Heights Capital Management, Inc.                                               

 

Title of Authorized Signatory:          authorized agent                                                                              

 

Email Address of Authorized Signatory:                                                                                                    

 

Facsimile Number of Authorized Signatory:        415 ###-###-####                                                               

 

Address for Notice of Purchaser:

 

 

Address for Delivery of Securities for Purchaser (if not same as address for notice):

 

Subscription Amount: $9,499,999.50               

Shares: 2,111,111                

Warrants: 1,055,556           

EIN Number:  [PROVIDE THIS UNDER SEPARATE COVER]

[SIGNATURE PAGES CONTINUE]

 

 

[PURCHASER SIGNATURE PAGES TO GSI SECURITIES PURCHASE AGREEMENT]

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned have caused this Securities Purchase Agreement to be duly executed by their respective authorized signatories as of the date first indicated above.

 

Name of Purchaser:                      HUDSON BAY FUND                                                              

 

Signature of Authorized Signatory of Purchaser:   /s/ Yoav Roth                                          

 

Name of Authorized Signatory: HUDSON BAY FUND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LP BY Y. ROTH 

 

Title of Authorized Signatory:   INVESTMENT MANAGER / AUTHORIZED SIGNATORY 

 

Email Address of Authorized Signatory:          ***@*** 

 

Facsimile Number of Authorized Signatory:        +1 ###-###-####                                              

 

Address for Notice of Purchaser:

 

 

Address for Delivery of Securities for Purchaser (if not same as address for notice):

[SAME AS ABOVE]

 

Subscription Amount: $3,420,000.00              

Shares: 760,000                

Warrants: 380,000          

EIN Number:  [PROVIDE THIS UNDER SEPARATE COVER]

[SIGNATURE PAGES CONTINUE]

 

[PURCHASER SIGNATURE PAGES TO GSI SECURITIES PURCHASE AGREEMENT]

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned have caused this Securities Purchase Agreement to be duly executed by their respective authorized signatories as of the date first indicated above.

 

Name of Purchaser:                      HUDSON BAY OVERSEAS FUND, LTD.                            

 

Signature of Authorized Signatory of Purchaser:   /s/ Yoav Roth                                          

 

Name of Authorized Signatory: HUDSON BAY FUND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LP BY Y. ROTH 

 

Title of Authorized Signatory:   INVESTMENT MANAGER / AUTHORIZED SIGNATORY 

 

Email Address of Authorized Signatory:          ***@*** 

 

Facsimile Number of Authorized Signatory:        +1 ###-###-####                                              

 

Address for Notice of Purchaser:

 

 

Address for Delivery of Securities for Purchaser (if not same as address for notice):

[SAME AS ABOVE]

 

Subscription Amount: $6,079,999,.50             

Shares: 1,351,111               

Warrants: 675,555          

EIN Number:  [PROVIDE THIS UNDER SEPARATE COVER]

 

The Company received an email on December 15, 2009 from the New York Stock Exchange Corporate Governance Group informing the Company that it needs to file its Annual Affirmation with the New York Stock Exchange as soon as possible.  The Company is currently preparing the Annual Affirmation.

 

 

Not applicable.

 

 

 

 

Warrant Shares: _______

Initial Exercise Date:  June __, 2010

 

THIS SERIES COMMON STOCK PURCHASE WARRANT (the “Warrant”) certifies that, for value received, _____________ (the “Holder”) is entitled, upon the terms and subject to the limitations on exercise and the conditions hereinafter set forth, at any time on or after June __, 2010 (the “Initial Exercise Date”) and on or prior to the close of business on the June __, 2012 (the “Termination Date”) but not thereafter, to subscribe for and purchase from General Steel Holdings, Inc., a Nevada corporation (the “Company”), up to ______ shares (the “Warrant Shares”) of Common Stock.

 

Section 1.             Definitions.  Capitalized terms used and not otherwise defined herein shall have the meanings set forth in that certain Securities Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”), dated December ___, 2009, among the Company and the purchasers signatory thereto.

 

Section 2.             Exercise.

 

a)           Exercise of Warrant.  Exercise of the purchase rights represented by this Warrant may be made, in whole or in part, at any time or times on or after the Initial Exercise Date and on or before the Termination Date by delivery to the Company (or such other office or agency of the Company as it may designate by notice in writing to the registered Holder at the address of the Holder appearing on the books of the Company) of a duly executed facsimile copy of the Notice of Exercise Form annexed hereto; and, within three (3) Trading Days of the date said Notice of Exercise is delivered to the Company, the Company shall have received payment of the aggregate Exercise Price of the shares thereby purchased by wire transfer or cashier’s check drawn on a United States bank or, if available, pursuant to the cashless exercise procedure specified in Section 2(c) below.  Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, the Holder shall not be required to physically surrender this Warrant to the Company until the Holder has purchased all of the Warrant Shares available hereunder and the Warrant has been exercised in full, in which case, the Holder shall surrender this Warrant to the Company for cancellation within three (3) Trading Days of the date the final Notice of Exercise is delivered to the Company.  Partial exercises of this Warrant resulting in purchases of a portion of the total number of Warrant Shares available hereunder shall have the effect of lowering the outstanding number of Warrant Shares purchasable hereunder in an amount equal to the applicable number of Warrant Shares purchased.  The Holder and the Company shall maintain records showing the number of Warrant Shares purchased and the date of such purchases.  The Company shall confirm receipt of the Notice of Exercise Form and deliver any objection to any Notice of Exercise Form within 1 Business Day of receipt of such notice.  The Holder and any assignee, by acceptance of this Warrant, acknowledge and agree that, by reason of the provisions of this paragraph, following the purchase of a portion of the Warrant Shares hereunder, the number of Warrant Shares available for purchase hereunder at any given time may be less than the amount stated on the face hereof.

 

b)           Exercise Price.  The exercise price per share of the Common Stock under this Warrant shall be $5.00, subject to adjustment hereunder (the “Exercise Price”).

 

c)           Cashless Exercise.  If at the time of exercise hereof there is no effective registration statement registering, or the prospectus contained therein is not available for, the issuance of the Warrant Shares to the Holder, then this Warrant may also be exercised, in whole or in part, at such time by means of a “cashless exercise” in which the Holder shall be entitled to receive a certificate for the number of Warrant Shares equal to the quotient obtained by dividing [(A-B) (X)] by (A), where:

 

(A) =

the VWAP on the Trading Day immediately preceding the date on which Holder elects to exercise this Warrant by means of a “cashless exercise,” as set forth in the applicable Notice of Exercise;

 

(B) =

the Exercise Price of this Warrant, as adjusted hereunder; and

(X) =

the number of Warrant Shares that would be issuable upon exercise of this Warrant in accordance with the terms of this Warrant if such exercise were by means of a cash exercise rather than a cashless exercise.

“VWAP” means, for any date, the price determined by the first of the following clauses that applies: (a) if the Common Stock is then listed or quoted on a Trading Market, the daily volume weighted average price of the Common Stock for such date (or the nearest preceding date) on the Trading Market on which the Common Stock is then listed or quoted as reported by Bloomberg L.P. (based on a Trading Day from 9:30 a.m. (New York City time) to 4:02 p.m. (New York City time), (b)  if the OTC Bulletin Board is not a Trading Market, the volume weighted average price of the Common Stock for such date (or the nearest preceding date) on the OTC Bulletin Board, (c) if the Common Stock is not then listed or quoted for trading on the OTC Bulletin Board and if prices for the Common Stock are then reported in the “Pink Sheets” published by Pink OTC Markets, Inc. (or a similar organization or agency succeeding to its functions of reporting prices), the most recent bid price per share of the Common Stock so reported, or (d) in all other cases, the fair market value of a share of Common Stock as determined by an independent appraiser selected in good faith by the Company and reasonably acceptable to the Holders of a majority in interest of the Securities then outstanding, the fees and expenses of which shall be paid by the Company.

 

Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary and subject to Section 2(e), on the Termination Date, this Warrant, to the extent not exercised prior thereto, shall be automatically exercised via cashless exercise pursuant to this Section 2(c).

d)           Mechanics of Exercise.

 

i.        Delivery of Certificates Upon Exercise.  Certificates for shares purchased hereunder shall be transmitted by the Transfer Agent to the Holder by crediting the account of the Holder’s prime broker with the Depository Trust Company through its Deposit Withdrawal Agent Commission (“DWAC”) system if the Company is then a participant in such system and either (A) there is an effective Registration Statement permitting the issuance of the Warrant Shares to or resale of the Warrant Shares by Holder or (B) this Warrant is being exercised via cashless exercise, and otherwise by physical delivery to the address specified by the Holder in the Notice of Exercise by the date that is three (3) Trading Days after the latest of (A) the delivery to the Company of the Notice of Exercise Form, (B) surrender of this Warrant (if required) and (C) payment of the aggregate Exercise Price as set forth above (including by cashless exercise, if permitted) (such date, the “Warrant Share Delivery Date”).  This Warrant shall be deemed to have been exercised on the first date on which all of the foregoing have been delivered to the Company.  The Warrant Shares shall be deemed to have been issued, and Holder or any other person so designated to be named therein shall be deemed to have become a holder of record of such shares for all purposes, as of the date the Warrant has been exercised, with payment to the Company of the Exercise Price (or by cashless exercise, if permitted) and all taxes required to be paid by the Holder, if any, pursuant to Section 2(d)(vi) prior to the issuance of such shares, having been paid.

 

ii.       Delivery of New Warrants Upon Exercise.  If this Warrant shall have been exercised in part, the Company shall, at the request of a Holder and upon surrender of this Warrant certificate, at the time of delivery of the certificate or certificates representing Warrant Shares, deliver to Holder a new Warrant evidencing the rights of Holder to purchase the unpurchased Warrant Shares called for by this Warrant, which new Warrant shall in all other respects be identical with this Warrant.

 

iii.      Rescission Rights.  If the Company fails to cause the Transfer Agent to transmit to the Holder a certificate or the certificates representing the Warrant Shares pursuant to Section 2(d)(i) by the Warrant Share Delivery Date, then, the Holder will have the right to rescind such exercise as provided in the Purchase Agreement.

 

 

iv.      Compensation for Buy-In on Failure to Timely Deliver Certificates Upon Exercise.  In addition to any other rights available to the Holder, if the Company fails to cause the Transfer Agent to transmit to the Holder a certificate or the certificates representing the Warrant Shares pursuant to an exercise on or before the Warrant Share Delivery Date, and if after such date the Holder is required by its broker to purchase (in an open market transaction or otherwise) or the Holder’s brokerage firm otherwise purchases, shares of Common Stock to deliver in satisfaction of a sale by the Holder of the Warrant Shares which the Holder anticipated receiving upon such exercise (a “Buy-In”), then the Company shall within three (3) Trading Days after the Holder’s request and in the Holder’s discretion, either (i) pay cash to the Holder in an amount equal to the Holder’s total purchase price (including brokerage commissions, if any) for the shares of Common Stock so purchased (the “Buy-In Price”), at which point the Company’s obligation to deliver such certificate (and to issue such Warrant Shares or credit such Holder’s balance account with The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”)) shall terminate, or (ii) promptly honor its obligation to deliver to the Holder a certificate or certificates representing such Warrant Shares or credit such Holder’s balance account with DTC and pay cash to the Holder in an amount equal to the excess (if any) of the Buy-In Price over the product of (A) such number of shares of Common Stock, times (B) the VWAP on the date of exercise.  The Holder shall provide the Company written notice indicating the amounts payable to the Holder in respect of the Buy-In and, upon request of the Company, evidence of the amount of such loss.  Nothing herein shall limit a Holder’s right to pursue any other remedies available to it hereunder, at law or in equity including, without limitation, a decree of specific performance and/or injunctive relief with respect to the Company’s failure to timely deliver certificates representing shares of Common Stock upon exercise of the Warrant as required pursuant to the terms hereof.

 

v.       No Fractional Shares or Scrip.  No fractional shares or scrip representing fractional shares shall be issued upon the exercise of this Warrant.  As to any fraction of a share which the Holder would otherwise be entitled to purchase upon such exercise, the Company shall, at its election, either pay a cash adjustment in respect of such final fraction in an amount equal to such fraction multiplied by the Exercise Price or round up to the next whole share.

 

vi.      Charges, Taxes and Expenses.  Issuance of certificates for Warrant Shares shall be made without charge to the Holder for any issue or transfer tax or other incidental expense in respect of the issuance of such certificate, all of which taxes and expenses shall be paid by the Company, and such certificates shall be issued in the name of the Holder or in such name or names as may be directed by the Holder; provided, however, that in the event certificates for Warrant Shares are to be issued in a name other than the name of the Holder, this Warrant when surrendered for exercise shall be accompanied by the Assignment Form attached hereto duly executed by the Holder and the Company may require, as a condition thereto, the payment of a sum sufficient to reimburse it for any transfer tax incidental thereto.

 

vii.     Closing of Books.  The Company will not close its stockholder books or records in any manner which prevents the timely exercise of this Warrant, pursuant to the terms hereof.

 

e)           Holder’s Exercise Limitations.  The Company shall not effect any exercise of this Warrant, and a Holder shall not have the right to exercise any portion of this Warrant, pursuant to Section 2 or otherwise, to the extent that after giving effect to such issuance after exercise as set forth on the applicable Notice of Exercise, the Holder (together with the Holder’s Affiliates, and any other Persons acting as a group together with the Holder or any of the Holder’s Affiliates), would beneficially own in excess of the Beneficial Ownership Limitation (as defined below).  For purposes of the foregoing sentence, the number of shares of Common Stock beneficially owned by the Holder and its Affiliates shall include the number of shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of this Warrant with respect to which such determination is being made, but shall exclude the number of shares of Common Stock which would be issuable upon (i) exercise of the remaining, nonexercised portion of this Warrant beneficially owned by the Holder or any of its Affiliates and (ii) exercise or conversion of the unexercised or nonconverted portion of any other securities of the Company (including, without limitation, any other  Common Stock Equivalents) subject to a limitation on conversion or exercise analogous to the limitation contained herein beneficially owned by the Holder or any of its Affiliates.  Except as set forth in the preceding sentence, for purposes of this Section 2(e), beneficial ownership shall be calculated in accordance with Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, it being acknowledged by the Holder that the Company is not representing to the Holder that such calculation is in compliance with Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act and the Holder is solely responsible for any schedules required to be filed in accordance therewith.   To the extent that the limitation contained in this Section 2(e) applies, the determination of whether this Warrant is exercisable (in relation to other securities owned by the Holder together with any Affiliates) and of which portion of this Warrant is exercisable shall be in the sole discretion of the Holder, and the submission of a Notice of Exercise shall be deemed to be the Holder’s determination of whether this Warrant is exercisable (in relation to other securities owned by the Holder together with any Affiliates) and of which portion of this Warrant is exercisable, in each case subject to the Beneficial Ownership Limitation, and the Company shall have no obligation to verify or confirm the accuracy of such determination.   In addition, a determination as to any group status as contemplated above shall be determined in accordance with Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.  For purposes of this Section 2(e), in determining the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock, a Holder may rely on the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock as reflected in (A) the Company’s most recent periodic or annual report filed with the Commission, as the case may be, (B) a more recent public announcement by the Company or (C) a more recent written notice by the Company or the Transfer Agent setting forth the number of shares of Common Stock outstanding.  Upon the written or oral request of a Holder, the Company shall within two Trading Days confirm orally and in writing to the Holder the number of shares of Common Stock then outstanding.  In any case, the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock shall be determined after giving effect to the conversion or exercise of securities of the Company, including this Warrant, by the Holder or its Affiliates since the date as of which such number of outstanding shares of Common Stock was reported.  The “Beneficial Ownership Limitation” shall be 4.9% of the number of shares of the Common Stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the issuance of shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of this Warrant.  The Holder may decrease or, upon not less than 61 days’ prior notice to the Company, may increase the Beneficial Ownership Limitation provisions of this Section 2(e), provided that the Beneficial Ownership Limitation in no event exceeds 9.99% of the number of shares of the Common Stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the issuance of shares of Common Stock upon exercise of this Warrant held by the Holder and the provisions of this Section 2(e) shall continue to apply.  Any such increase will not be effective until the 61st day after such notice is delivered to the Company.  The provisions of this paragraph shall be construed and implemented in a manner otherwise than in strict conformity with the terms of this Section 2(e) to correct this paragraph (or any portion hereof) which may be defective or inconsistent with the intended Beneficial Ownership Limitation herein contained or to make changes or supplements necessary or desirable to properly give effect to such limitation. The limitations contained in this paragraph shall apply to a successor holder of this Warrant.

 

 

f)           Call Provision.  Subject to the provisions of Section 2(e) and this Section 2(f), on or after the one year anniversary of the Initial Exercise Date, if (i) the VWAP of the Common Stock for each of 30 consecutive Trading Days during which the Registration Statement is effective and available(the “Measurement Period”) exceeds $13.00 (subject to adjustment for forward and reverse stock splits, recapitalizations, stock dividends and the like after the Initial Exercise Date), (ii) the average daily volume for such Measurement Period exceeds 250,000 shares of Common Stock per Trading Day (subject to adjustment for forward and reverse stock splits, recapitalizations, stock dividends and the like after the Initial Exercise Date) and (iii) the Holder is not in possession of any information that constitutes, or might constitute, material non-public information which was provided by the Company, then the Company may, within 1 Trading Day of the end of such Measurement Period, call for cancellation of all or any portion of this Warrant for which a Notice of Exercise has not yet been delivered (such right, a “Call”).  To exercise this right, the Company must deliver to the Holder an irrevocable written notice (a “Call Notice”), indicating therein the portion of unexercised portion of this Warrant to which such notice applies.  If the conditions set forth below for such Call are satisfied from the period from the date of the Call Notice through and including the Call Date (as defined below), then any portion of this Warrant subject to such Call Notice for which a Notice of Exercise shall not have been received by the Call Date will be cancelled at 6:30 p.m. (New York City time) on the tenth Trading Day after the date the Call Notice is received by the Holder (such date and time, the “Call Date”).  Any unexercised portion of this Warrant to which the Call Notice does not pertain will be unaffected by such Call Notice.  In furtherance thereof, the Company covenants and agrees that it will honor all Notices of Exercise with respect to Warrant Shares subject to a Call Notice that are tendered through 6:30 p.m. (New York City time) on the Call Date.  The parties agree that any Notice of Exercise delivered following a Call Notice which calls less than all the Warrants shall first reduce to zero the number of Warrant Shares subject to such Call Notice prior to reducing the remaining Warrant Shares available for purchase under this Warrant.  For example, if (A) this Warrant then permits the Holder to acquire 100 Warrant Shares, (B) a Call Notice pertains to 75 Warrant Shares, and (C) prior to 6:30 p.m. (New York City time) on the Call Date the Holder tenders a Notice of Exercise in respect of 50 Warrant Shares, then (x) on the Call Date the right under this Warrant to acquire 25 Warrant Shares will be automatically cancelled, (y) the Company, in the time and manner required under this Warrant, will have issued and delivered to the Holder 50 Warrant Shares in respect of the exercises following receipt of the Call Notice, and (z) the Holder may, until the Termination Date, exercise this Warrant for 25 Warrant Shares (subject to adjustment as herein provided and subject to subsequent Call Notices).  Subject again to the provisions of this Section 2(g), the Company may deliver subsequent Call Notices for any portion of this Warrant for which the Holder shall not have delivered a Notice of Exercise.  Notwithstanding anything to the contrary set forth in this Warrant, the Company may not deliver a Call Notice or require the “cashless exercise” of this Warrant (and any such Call Notice shall be void), unless, from the beginning of the Measurement Period through the Call Date, (1) the Company shall have honored in accordance with the terms of this Warrant all Notices of Exercise delivered by  6:30 p.m. (New York City time) on the Call Date, and (2) the Registration Statement shall be effective as to all Warrant Shares and the prospectus thereunder available for the sale of all such Warrant Shares to the Holder (and the Company has no reason to believe that the use of such prospectus will be suspended or otherwise unavailable for a period of thirty (30) days from such Call Date), and (3) the Common Stock shall be listed or quoted for trading on the Trading Market, and (4) there is a sufficient number of authorized shares of Common Stock for issuance of all Securities under the Transaction Documents, and (5) the issuance of the shares shall not cause a breach of any provision of Section 2(e) herein and (6) the Company otherwise is in compliance with each covenant of any Transaction Document.  The Company’s right to call the Warrants under this Section 2(g) shall be exercised ratably among the Holders based on each Holder’s initial purchase of Warrants.

 

Section 3.             Certain Adjustments.

 

a)           Stock Dividends and Splits. If the Company, at any time while this Warrant is outstanding: (i) pays a stock dividend or otherwise makes a distribution or distributions on shares of its Common Stock or any other equity or equity equivalent securities payable in shares of Common Stock (which, for avoidance of doubt, shall not include any shares of Common Stock issued by the Company upon exercise of this Warrant), (ii) subdivides outstanding shares of Common Stock into a larger number of shares, (iii) combines (including by way of reverse stock split) outstanding shares of Common Stock into a smaller number of shares, or (iv) issues by reclassification of shares of the Common Stock any shares of capital stock of the Company, then in each case the Exercise Price shall be multiplied by a fraction of which the numerator shall be the number of shares of Common Stock (excluding treasury shares, if any) outstanding immediately before such event and of which the denominator shall be the number of shares of Common Stock outstanding immediately after such event, and the number of shares issuable upon exercise of this Warrant shall be proportionately adjusted such that the aggregate Exercise Price of this Warrant shall remain unchanged.  Any adjustment made pursuant to this Section 3(a) shall become effective immediately after the record date for the determination of stockholders entitled to receive such dividend or distribution and shall become effective immediately after the effective date in the case of a subdivision, combination or re-classification.

b)           [RESERVED]

 

c)           Subsequent Rights Offerings.  If the Company, at any time while the Warrant is outstanding, shall issue rights, options or warrants to all holders of Common Stock (and not to the Holders) entitling them to subscribe for or purchase shares of Common Stock at a price per share less than the VWAP on the record date mentioned below, then, the Exercise Price shall be multiplied by a fraction, of which the denominator shall be the number of shares of the Common Stock outstanding on the date of issuance of such rights, options or warrants plus the number of additional shares of Common Stock offered for subscription or purchase, and of which the numerator shall be the number of shares of the Common Stock outstanding on the date of issuance of such rights, options or warrants plus the number of shares which the aggregate offering price of the total number of shares so offered (assuming receipt by the Company in full of all consideration payable upon exercise of such rights, options or warrants) would purchase at such VWAP.  Such adjustment shall be made whenever such rights, options or warrants are issued, and shall become effective immediately after the record date for the determination of stockholders entitled to receive such rights, options or warrants.

 

d)           Pro Rata Distributions.  If the Company, at any time while this Warrant is outstanding, shall distribute to all holders of Common Stock (and not to the Holders) evidences of its indebtedness or assets (including cash and cash dividends) or rights or warrants to subscribe for or purchase any security other than the Common Stock), then in each such case the Exercise Price shall be adjusted by multiplying the Exercise Price in effect immediately prior to the record date fixed for determination of stockholders entitled to receive such distribution by a fraction of which the denominator shall be the VWAP determined as of the record date mentioned above, and of which the numerator shall be such VWAP on such record date less the then per share fair market value at such record date of the portion of such assets or evidence of indebtedness so distributed applicable to one outstanding share of the Common Stock as determined by the Board of Directors in good faith.  In either case the adjustments shall be described in a statement provided to the Holder of the portion of assets or evidences of indebtedness so distributed or such subscription rights applicable to one share of Common Stock.  Such adjustment shall be made whenever any such distribution is made and shall become effective immediately after the record date mentioned above.

 

e)           Fundamental Transaction. If, at any time while this Warrant is outstanding, (i) the Company, directly or indirectly, in one or more related transactions effects any merger or consolidation of the Company with or into another Person, (ii) the Company, directly or indirectly, effects any sale, lease, license, assignment, transfer, conveyance or other disposition of all or substantially all of its assets in one or a series of related transactions, (iii) any, direct or indirect, purchase offer, tender offer or exchange offer (whether by the Company or another Person) is completed pursuant to which holders of Common Stock are permitted to sell, tender or exchange their shares for other securities, cash or property and has been accepted by the holders of 50% or more of the outstanding Common Stock, (iv) the Company, directly or indirectly, in one or more related transactions effects any reclassification, reorganization or recapitalization of the Common Stock or any compulsory share exchange pursuant to which the Common Stock is effectively converted into or exchanged for other securities, cash or property, (v) the Company, directly or indirectly, in one or more related transactions consummates a stock or share purchase agreement or other business combination (including, without limitation, a reorganization, recapitalization, spin-off or scheme of arrangement) with another Person whereby such other Person acquires more than 50% of the outstanding shares of Common Stock (not including any shares of Common Stock held by the other Person or other Persons making or party to, or associated or affiliated with the other Persons making or party to, such stock or share purchase agreement or other business combination) (each a “Fundamental Transaction”), then, upon any subsequent exercise of this Warrant, the Holder shall have the right to receive, for each Warrant Share that would have been issuable upon such exercise immediately prior to the occurrence of such Fundamental Transaction, at the option of the Holder (without regard to any limitation in Section 2(e) on the exercise of this Warrant), the number of shares of Common Stock of the successor or acquiring corporation or of the Company, if it is the surviving corporation, and any additional consideration (the “Alternate Consideration”) receivable as a result of such Fundamental Transaction by a holder of the number of shares of Common Stock for which this Warrant is exercisable immediately prior to such Fundamental Transaction (without regard to any limitation in Section 2(e) on the exercise of this Warrant).  For purposes of any such exercise, the determination of the Exercise Price shall be appropriately adjusted to apply to such Alternate Consideration based on the amount of Alternate Consideration issuable in respect of one share of Common Stock in such Fundamental Transaction, and the Company shall apportion the Exercise Price among the Alternate Consideration in a reasonable manner reflecting the relative value of any different components of the Alternate Consideration.  If holders of Common Stock are given any choice as to the securities, cash or property to be received in a Fundamental Transaction, then the Holder shall be given the same choice as to the Alternate Consideration it receives upon any exercise of this Warrant following such Fundamental Transaction.

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event of a Fundamental Transaction, at the request of the Holder delivered before the 90th day after such Fundamental Transaction, the Company (or the Successor Entity) shall purchase this Warrant from the Holder by paying to the Holder, within five Business Days after such request (or, if later, on the effective date of the Fundamental Transaction), cash in an amount equal to the Black Scholes Value of the remaining unexercised portion of this Warrant on the date of such Fundamental Transaction.  "Black Scholes Value" means the value of this Warrant based on the Black and Scholes Option Pricing Model obtained from the "OV" function on Bloomberg determined as of the day immediately following the public announcement of the applicable Fundamental Transaction and reflecting (i) a risk-free interest rate corresponding to the U.S. Treasury rate for a period equal to the remaining term of this Warrant as of such date of request and (ii) an expected volatility equal to the greater of 100% and the 100 day volatility obtained from the HVT function on Bloomberg as of the day immediately following the public announcement of the applicable Fundamental Transaction and (iii) the underlying price per share used in such calculation shall be the sum of the price per share being offered in cash, if any, plus the value of any non cash consideration, if any, being offered in the Fundamental Transaction.

 

f)            Calculations. All calculations under this Section 3 shall be made to the nearest cent or the nearest 1/100th of a share, as the case may be. For purposes of this Section 3, the number of shares of Common Stock deemed to be issued and outstanding as of a given date shall be the sum of the number of shares of Common Stock (excluding treasury shares, if any) issued and outstanding.

 

 

g)           Notice to Holder.

 

i.        Adjustment to Exercise Price. Whenever the Exercise Price is adjusted pursuant to any provision of this Section 3, the Company shall promptly mail to the Holder a notice setting forth the Exercise Price after such adjustment and setting forth a brief statement of the facts requiring such adjustment.

 

ii.       Notice to Allow Exercise by Holder. If (A) the Company shall declare a dividend (or any other distribution in whatever form) on the Common Stock, (B) the Company shall declare a special nonrecurring cash dividend on or a redemption of the Common Stock, (C) the Company shall authorize the granting to all holders of the Common Stock rights or warrants to subscribe for or purchase any shares of capital stock of any class or of any rights, (D) the approval of any stockholders of the Company shall be required in connection with any reclassification of the Common Stock, any consolidation or merger to which the Company is a party, any sale or transfer of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company, or any compulsory share exchange whereby the Common Stock is converted into other securities, cash or property, or (E) the Company shall authorize the voluntary or involuntary dissolution, liquidation or winding up of the affairs of the Company, then, in each case, the Company shall cause to be mailed to the Holder at its last address as it shall appear upon the Warrant Register of the Company, at least 20 calendar days prior to the applicable record or effective date hereinafter specified, a notice stating (x) the date on which a record is to be taken for the purpose of such dividend, distribution, redemption, rights or warrants, or if a record is not to be taken, the date as of which the holders of the Common Stock of record to be entitled to such dividend, distributions, redemption, rights or warrants are to be determined or (y) the date on which such reclassification, consolidation, merger, sale, transfer or share exchange is expected to become effective or close, and the date as of which it is expected that holders of the Common Stock of record shall be entitled to exchange their shares of the Common Stock for securities, cash or other property deliverable upon such reclassification, consolidation, merger, sale, transfer or share exchange; provided that the failure to mail such notice or any defect therein or in the mailing thereof shall not affect the validity of the corporate action required to be specified in such notice.  The Holder shall remain entitled to exercise this Warrant during the period commencing on the date of such notice to the effective date of the event triggering such notice except as may otherwise be expressly set forth herein.

 

Section 4.             Transfer of Warrant.

 

a)           Transferability.  This Warrant and all rights hereunder (including, without limitation, any registration rights) are transferable, in whole or in part, upon surrender of this Warrant at the principal office of the Company or its designated agent, together with a written assignment of this Warrant substantially in the form attached hereto duly executed by the Holder or its agent or attorney and funds sufficient to pay any transfer taxes payable upon the making of such transfer.  Upon such surrender and, if required, such payment, the Company shall execute and deliver a new Warrant or Warrants in the name of the assignee or assignees, as applicable, and in the denomination or denominations specified in such instrument of assignment, and shall issue to the assignor a new Warrant evidencing the portion of this Warrant not so assigned, and this Warrant shall promptly be cancelled.  The Warrant, if properly assigned in accordance herewith, may be exercised by a new holder for the purchase of Warrant Shares without having a new Warrant issued.

 

b)           New Warrants. This Warrant may be divided or combined with other Warrants upon presentation hereof at the aforesaid office of the Company, together with a written notice specifying the names and denominations in which new Warrants are to be issued, signed by the Holder or its agent or attorney.  Subject to compliance with Section 4(a), as to any transfer which may be involved in such division or combination, the Company shall execute and deliver a new Warrant or Warrants in exchange for the Warrant or Warrants to be divided or combined in accordance with such notice. All Warrants issued on transfers or exchanges shall be dated the initial issuance date set forth on the first page of this Warrant and shall be identical with this Warrant except as to the number of Warrant Shares issuable pursuant thereto.

 

c)           Warrant Register. The Company shall register this Warrant, upon records to be maintained by the Company for that purpose (the “Warrant Register”), in the name of the record Holder hereof from time to time.  The Company may deem and treat the registered Holder of this Warrant as the absolute owner hereof for the purpose of any exercise hereof or any distribution to the Holder, and for all other purposes, absent actual notice to the contrary.

 

 

d)           [RESERVED].

 

Section 5.             Miscellaneous.

 

a)           No Rights as Stockholder Until Exercise.  This Warrant does not entitle the Holder to any voting rights, dividends or other rights as a stockholder of the Company prior to the exercise hereof as set forth in Section 2(d)(i).

 

b)           Loss, Theft, Destruction or Mutilation of Warrant. The Company covenants that upon receipt by the Company of evidence reasonably satisfactory to it of the loss, theft, destruction or mutilation of this Warrant or any stock certificate relating to the Warrant Shares, and in case of loss, theft or destruction, of indemnity or security reasonably satisfactory to it (which, in the case of the Warrant, shall not include the posting of any bond), and upon surrender and cancellation of such Warrant or stock certificate, if mutilated, the Company will make and deliver a new Warrant or stock certificate of like tenor and dated as of such cancellation, in lieu of such Warrant or stock certificate.

 

c)           Saturdays, Sundays, Holidays, etc.  If the last or appointed day for the taking of any action or the expiration of any right required or granted herein shall not be a Business Day, then, such action may be taken or such right may be exercised on the next succeeding Business Day.

 

d)           Authorized Shares.

 

The Company covenants that, during the period the Warrant is outstanding, it will reserve from its authorized and unissued Common Stock a sufficient number of shares to provide for the issuance of the Warrant Shares upon the exercise of any purchase rights under this Warrant.  The Company further covenants that its issuance of this Warrant shall constitute full authority to its officers who are charged with the duty of executing stock certificates to execute and issue the necessary certificates for the Warrant Shares upon the exercise of the purchase rights under this Warrant.  The Company will take all such reasonable action as may be necessary to assure that such Warrant Shares may be issued as provided herein without violation of any applicable law or regulation, or of any requirements of the Trading Market upon which the Common Stock may be listed.  The Company covenants that all Warrant Shares which may be issued upon the exercise of the purchase rights represented by this Warrant will, upon exercise of the purchase rights represented by this Warrant and payment for such Warrant Shares in accordance herewith, be duly authorized, validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable and free from all taxes, liens and charges created by the Company in respect of the issue thereof (other than taxes in respect of any transfer occurring contemporaneously with such issue).

Except and to the extent as waived or consented to by the Holder, the Company shall not by any action, including, without limitation, amending its certificate of incorporation or through any reorganization, transfer of assets, consolidation, merger, dissolution, issue or sale of securities or any other voluntary action, avoid or seek to avoid the observance or performance of any of the terms of this Warrant, but will at all times in good faith assist in the carrying out of all such terms and in the taking of all such actions as may be necessary or appropriate to protect the rights of Holder as set forth in this Warrant against impairment.  Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Company will (i) not increase the par value of any Warrant Shares above the amount payable therefor upon such exercise immediately prior to such increase in par value, (ii) take all such action as may be necessary or appropriate in order that the Company may validly and legally issue fully paid and nonassessable Warrant Shares upon the exercise of this Warrant and (iii) use commercially reasonable efforts to obtain all such authorizations, exemptions or consents from any public regulatory body having jurisdiction thereof, as may be, necessary to enable the Company to perform its obligations under this Warrant.

 

Before taking any action which would result in an adjustment in the number of Warrant Shares for which this Warrant is exercisable or in the Exercise Price, the Company shall obtain all such authorizations or exemptions thereof, or consents thereto, as may be necessary from any public regulatory body or bodies having jurisdiction thereof.

 

 

e)           Jurisdiction. All questions concerning the construction, validity, enforcement and interpretation of this Warrant shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of the Purchase Agreement.

 

f)           Restrictions.  The Holder acknowledges that the Warrant Shares acquired upon the exercise of this Warrant, if not registered, and the Holder does not utilize cashless exercise, will have restrictions upon resale imposed by state and federal securities laws.

 

g)           Nonwaiver and Expenses.  No course of dealing or any delay or failure to exercise any right hereunder on the part of Holder shall operate as a waiver of such right or otherwise prejudice Holder’s rights, powers or remedies.  Without limiting any other provision of this Warrant or the Purchase Agreement, if the Company willfully and knowingly fails to comply with any provision of this Warrant, which results in any material damages to the Holder, the Company shall pay to Holder such amounts as shall be sufficient to cover any costs and expenses including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees, including those of appellate proceedings, incurred by Holder in collecting any amounts due pursuant hereto or in otherwise enforcing any of its rights, powers or remedies hereunder.

 

h)           Notices.  Any notice, request or other document required or permitted to be given or delivered to the Holder by the Company shall be delivered in accordance with the notice provisions of the Purchase Agreement.

 

i)            Limitation of Liability.  No provision hereof, in the absence of any affirmative action by Holder to exercise this Warrant to purchase Warrant Shares, and no enumeration herein of the rights or privileges of Holder, shall give rise to any liability of Holder for the purchase price of any Common Stock or as a stockholder of the Company, whether such liability is asserted by the Company or by creditors of the Company.

 

j)            Remedies.  The Holder, in addition to being entitled to exercise all rights granted by law, including recovery of damages, will be entitled to specific performance of its rights under this Warrant.  The Company agrees that monetary damages would not be adequate compensation for any loss incurred by reason of a breach by it of the provisions of this Warrant and hereby agrees to waive and not to assert the defense in any action for specific performance that a remedy at law would be adequate.

 

k)           Successors and Assigns.  Subject to applicable securities laws, this Warrant and the rights and obligations evidenced hereby shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the successors and permitted assigns of the Company and the successors and permitted assigns of Holder.  The provisions of this Warrant are intended to be for the benefit of any Holder from time to time of this Warrant and shall be enforceable by the Holder or holder of Warrant Shares.

 

l)            Amendment.  This Warrant may be modified or amended or the provisions hereof waived with the written consent of the Company and the Holder.

 

m)           Severability.  Wherever possible, each provision of this Warrant shall be interpreted in such manner as to be effective and valid under applicable law, but if any provision of this Warrant shall be prohibited by or invalid under applicable law, such provision shall be ineffective to the extent of such prohibition or invalidity, without invalidating the remainder of such provisions or the remaining provisions of this Warrant.

 

n)           Headings.  The headings used in this Warrant are for the convenience of reference only and shall not, for any purpose, be deemed a part of this Warrant.

********************

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Company has caused this Warrant to be executed by its officer thereunto duly authorized as of the date first above indicated.

 

 

 

TO:         GENERAL STEEL HOLDINGS, INC.

(1) The undersigned hereby elects to purchase ________ Warrant Shares of the Company pursuant to the terms of the attached Warrant (only if exercised in full), and tenders herewith payment of the exercise price in full, together with all applicable transfer taxes, if any.

 

(2) Payment shall take the form of (check applicable box):

 

o in lawful money of the United States; or

 

o [if permitted] the cancellation of such number of Warrant Shares as is necessary, in accordance with the formula set forth in subsection 2(c), to exercise this Warrant with respect to the maximum number of Warrant Shares purchasable pursuant to the cashless exercise procedure set forth in subsection 2(c).

 

(3) Please issue a certificate or certificates representing said Warrant Shares in the name of the undersigned or in such other name as is specified below:

 

The Warrant Shares shall be delivered to the following DWAC Account Number or by physical delivery of a certificate to:

[SIGNATURE OF HOLDER]

 

 

 

(To assign the foregoing warrant, execute

this form and supply required information.

Do not use this form to exercise the warrant.)

FOR VALUE RECEIVED, [____] all of or [_______] shares of the foregoing Warrant and all rights evidenced thereby are hereby assigned to

Dated:  ______________, _______

NOTE:  The signature to this Assignment Form must correspond with the name as it appears on the face of the Warrant, without alteration or enlargement or any change whatsoever, and must be guaranteed by a bank or trust company.  Officers of corporations and those acting in a fiduciary or other representative capacity should file proper evidence of authority to assign the foregoing Warrant.

 

 

____________ __, 2009

[List of Purchasers]

 

FT Global Capital, Inc.

 

Rodman & Renshaw, LLC

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We have acted as special counsel to General Steel Holdings, Inc., a Nevada corporation (the "Company"), in connection with the execution and delivery by the Company of the Securities Purchase Agreement dated as of _________, 2009 (the "Agreement"), by and among the Company and the purchasers identified on the signature pages thereto (the “Purchasers”).  This opinion is given to you pursuant to Section 2.2(a)(ii) of the Agreement.  (Capitalized terms not otherwise defined herein are defined as set forth in the Agreement.)

A.           SCOPE OF REVIEW

In rendering this opinion, we have examined and relied upon:

1.           Executed counterpart copies of:  (a) the Agreement, including Exhibits, Schedules and any Annexes thereto; and (b) each document, agreement or certificate executed or delivered by or on behalf of the Company in connection with the transactions contemplated by the Agreement including any Exhibits, Schedules and Annexes thereto (collectively referred to as the "Transaction Documents");

2.           A copy of the Articles of Incorporation of the Company (the “Articles of Incorporation”), certified by the Secretary of the Company;

3.           A certificate of an officer of the Company certifying, among other things, as to the approval of the Transaction Documents and the By-laws of the Company as presently in effect and as to certain factual matters dated the date hereof (the “Officer’s Certificate”); and

4.           A Certificate of the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada dated _________, 2009 attesting that the Company is duly organized, existing and in good standing in the State of Nevada (the “Good Standing Certificate”).

B.           ASSUMPTIONS

For purposes of the opinions set forth below, we have assumed (with your permission and without any independent investigation on our part) and relied upon:

1.           The genuineness of all signatures, the authenticity of all certificates and other documents submitted to us as originals and the completeness and conformity to original documents of all documents submitted to us as photostatic or certified copies;

2.           The accuracy and completeness of (i) all representations and warranties as to factual matters made by each of the parties in the Transaction Documents, and (ii) the Officer’s Certificate;

3.           That all natural persons executing the Transaction Documents, either individually or on behalf of a corporation or other business entity, are legally competent;

4.           That each of the Purchasers has full legal capacity, competency, power and authority to execute, enter into, perform their obligations under and receive the benefits of each of the Transaction Documents to which it is a party;

5.           That the execution, delivery and performance of the Transaction Documents by each of the Purchasers has been duly authorized by all necessary corporate or other action, and each of the Purchasers has duly executed and delivered each of the Transaction Documents; and

6.           That the Transaction Documents to which each of them is a party are the legal and binding obligations of each of the Purchasers, enforceable in accordance with their respective terms.

C.           QUALIFICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS

Our opinions set forth below are further qualified to the extent that:

1.           We express no opinion as to:

(i)           the enforceability of any of the provisions of the Transaction Documents or any rights granted to any party pursuant thereto to the extent that the same are affected or limited by or subject to (1) applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium, fraudulent conveyance or similar laws affecting the rights of creditors generally, or (2) the availability of the remedy of specific performance or injunctive or other equitable relief (whether enforcement is sought in equity or law) being subject to the discretion of the court before which any proceeding for such remedy may be brought, or (3) equitable principles or standards of reasonableness or to the discretion of the court before which any proceeding for enforcement thereof may be brought (whether enforcement is sought in law or equity), or (4) an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing;

(ii)                      the enforceability of any provisions of the Transaction Documents relating to indemnification or contribution; or

(iii)           the enforceability of any provisions relating to waivers or to delay or omission of enforcement of rights or remedies.

2.           We express no opinion herein as to the effect of the law of any state or jurisdiction other than the law of the United States of America or the law of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  We’ve assumed with your permission that the laws of the State of New York and the State of Nevada are identical to the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

3.           To the extent that our opinion relates to matters as to which governmental agencies have issued certificates, those opinions speak as of the respective dates of such certificates.

4.           This opinion is being given as of its date based upon the facts and assumptions set forth herein and upon existing law and interpretations thereof in effect on the date hereof.  No assurance can be given that there will not be subsequent changes in such facts and assumptions, or in such law and interpretations thereof, which may affect the conclusions set forth herein, and we assume no obligation to supplement, amend or update this opinion in the event of such changes.

5.           This opinion is issued solely for the benefit of the addressees hereof in connection with the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents, and may not be furnished to or used or relied on by any other person, firm or corporation for any other purpose.

6.           The opinions set forth below in D.1 are based solely on the Good Standing Certificate; the opinions set forth below in D.6(b) and D.6(c) are based solely on the Officer’s Certificate (and attachments thereto) and we have not conducted a record, judgment or docket search of any courts or agencies.

D.           OPINIONS

Based upon and subject to the limitations and qualifications herein set forth, we are of the opinion that:

1.

The Company is a corporation duly organized, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of Nevada.  The Company has all requisite power and authority that are required to own and operate its properties and assets and to carry on its business as now conducted (all as described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for its fiscal year ended December 31, 2008).  The Company is duly qualified to transact business and is in good standing in each jurisdiction in which the failure to qualify could have a Material Adverse Effect on the Company.

2.

The Company has all requisite power and authority to (i) execute, deliver and perform the Transaction Documents, (ii) to issue, sell and deliver the Shares, the Warrants, and, upon exercise of the Warrants, the Warrant Shares pursuant to the Transaction Documents and (iii) to carry out and perform its obligations under, and to consummate the transactions contemplated by, the Transaction Documents.

 

3.	The Transaction Documents have been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Company.

4.	The Shares, the Warrants, and upon exercise of the Warrants, the Warrant Shares, have been duly authorized, and when paid for and issued in accordance with the terms of the Agreement, shall have been validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable.

5.

The Registration Statement No. 333-156730 was declared effective under the Securities Act of 1933 as of 10:00 a.m. on January 29, 2009 and the Registration Statement No. 333-161585 was declared effective under the Securities Act of 1933 as of 12:00 p.m. on October 22, 2009 and, to our knowledge, no stop order proceedings with respect thereto are pending or threatened under the Securities Act.

6.

The execution, delivery and performance by the Company of, and the compliance by the Company with the terms of, the Transaction Documents and the issuance, sale and delivery of the Shares, the Warrants and the Warrant Shares pursuant to the Agreement do not (a) conflict with or result in a violation of any provision of any federal laws, the laws of the State of New York or the Nevada corporation law, or of the Articles of Incorporation or by-laws of the Company, (b) conflict with, result in a breach of or constitute a default (or an event which with notice or lapse of time or both would become a default) under, or result in or permit the termination of, any agreement referenced or filed as an exhibit to the Company’s 10-K filed with the SEC on March 10, 2009 or any other agreement of the Company filed with the SEC since then, instrument, order, writ, judgment or decree known to us to which the Company is a party, or (c) to our knowledge, result in the creation or imposition of any lien, claim or encumbrance on any of the assets or properties of the Company.

7.

To our knowledge, in connection with the valid execution, delivery and performance by the Company of the Transaction Documents, or the offer, sale, issuance or delivery of the Shares, the Warrants and the Warrant Shares or the consummation of the transactions contemplated thereby, no consent, license, permit, waiver, approval or authorization of, or designation, declaration, registration or filing with, any court, governmental or regulatory authority, or self-regulatory organization, is required (except that we express no opinion as to any necessary qualification under the state securities or blue sky laws of the various jurisdictions in which the Shares are being offered and we express no opinion with respect to the Conduct Rules of the NASD, the requirements of FINRA or the requirements of the New York Stock Exchange).

8.	The Company is not, and after the consummation of the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents shall not be, an Investment Company within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.

We assume no obligation to update or supplement this opinion to reflect any facts or circumstances, which may hereafter come to our attention or any change in laws, which may hereafter occur.

 

This opinion letter is rendered solely for your information and is not to be quoted in whole or in part or otherwise referred to (except in a list of closing documents) nor is this opinion to be filed with any government agency or other person without our prior written consent.  This opinion is being provided to you for your exclusive use solely in connection with the subject transactions and may not be relied upon by any other person without our written consent.

Very truly yours,

______________________