§ 15-902 — Merger or consolidation
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(a) As used in this section and in § 15-105 of this title, “other business entity” means a corporation, a statutory trust, a business trust, an association, a real estate investment trust, a common-law trust, or any other incorporated or unincorporated business or entity, including a limited liability company, a limited partnership (including a limited liability limited partnership) and a foreign partnership, but excluding a domestic partnership. As used in this section and in § 15-120 of this title, “plan of merger” means a writing approved by a domestic partnership, in the form of resolutions or otherwise, that states the terms and conditions of a merger under subsection (m) of this section.
(b) Pursuant to an agreement of merger or consolidation, 1 or more domestic partnerships may merge or consolidate with or into 1 or more domestic partnerships or 1 or more other business entities formed or organized under the laws of the State of Delaware or any other state or the United States or any foreign country or other foreign jurisdiction, or any combination thereof, with such domestic partnership or other business entity as the agreement shall provide being the surviving or resulting domestic partnership or other business entity. An agreement of merger or consolidation or a plan of merger shall be approved by each domestic partnership which is to merge or consolidate by all of its partners. In connection with a merger or consolidation hereunder, rights or securities of, or interests in, a domestic partnership or other business entity which is a constituent party to the merger or consolidation may be exchanged for or converted into cash, property, rights or securities of, or interests in, the surviving or resulting domestic partnership or other business entity or, in addition to or in lieu thereof, may be exchanged for or converted into cash, property, rights or securities of, or interests in a domestic partnership or other business entity which is not the surviving or resulting domestic partnership or other business entity in the merger or consolidation, may remain outstanding or may be canceled. Notwithstanding prior approval, an agreement of merger or consolidation or a plan of merger may be terminated or amended pursuant to a provision for such termination or amendment contained in the agreement of merger or consolidation or plan of merger.
(c) Except in the case of a merger under subsection (m) of this section, if a domestic partnership is merging or consolidating under this section, (i) if the domestic partnership has not filed a statement of partnership existence, then the domestic partnership shall file a statement of partnership existence and (ii) the domestic partnership or other business entity surviving or resulting in or from the merger or consolidation shall file a certificate of merger or consolidation executed by at least 1 partner or by 1 or more authorized persons on behalf of the domestic partnership when it is the surviving or resulting entity with the Secretary of State. The certificate of merger or consolidation shall state:
(1) The name, jurisdiction of formation or organization and type of entity of each of the domestic partnerships and other business entities which is to merge or consolidate;
(2) That an agreement of merger or consolidation has been approved and executed by each of the domestic partnerships and other business entities which is to merge or consolidate;
(3) The name of the surviving or resulting domestic partnership or other business entity;
(4) In the case of a merger in which a domestic partnership is the surviving entity, such amendments, if any, to the statement of partnership existence of the surviving domestic partnership (and in the case of a surviving domestic partnership that is a limited liability partnership, to the statement of qualification of such surviving domestic partnership) as are desired to be effected by the merger (which amendments may amend and restate the statement of partnership existence of the surviving domestic partnership in its entirety);
(5) In the case of a consolidation in which the resulting entity is a domestic partnership, that the statement of partnership existence of the resulting domestic partnership shall be as set forth in an attachment to the certificate of consolidation;
(6) The future effective date or time (which shall be a date or time certain) of the merger or consolidation if it is not to be effective upon the filing of the certificate of merger or consolidation;
(7) That the agreement of merger or consolidation is on file at a place of business of the surviving or resulting domestic partnership or other business entity, and shall state the address thereof;
(8) That a copy of the agreement of merger or consolidation will be furnished by the surviving or resulting domestic partnership or other business entity, on request and without cost, to any partner of any domestic partnership or any person holding an interest in any other business entity which is to merge or consolidate; and
(9) If the surviving or resulting entity is not formed, organized or created under the laws of the State of Delaware, a statement that such surviving or resulting entity agrees that it may be served with process in the State of Delaware in any action, suit or proceeding for the enforcement of any obligation of any domestic partnership which is to merge or consolidate, irrevocably appointing the Secretary of State as its agent to accept service of process in any such action, suit or proceeding and specifying the address to which a copy of such process shall be mailed to it by the Secretary of State. In the event of service hereunder upon the Secretary of State, the procedures set forth in § 15-113(b) of this title shall be applicable, except that the plaintiff in any such action, suit or proceeding shall furnish the Secretary of State with the address specified in the certificate of merger or consolidation provided for in this section and any other address which the plaintiff may elect to furnish, together with copies of each process as required by the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of State shall notify such surviving or resulting entity at all such addresses furnished by the plaintiff in accordance with the procedures set forth in § 15-113(b) of this title.
(d) Any failure to file a certificate of merger or consolidation in connection with a merger or consolidation which occurred prior to the effective date of this chapter shall not affect the validity or effectiveness of any such merger or consolidation.
(e) Unless a future effective date or time is provided in a certificate of merger or consolidation, or in the case of a merger under subsection (m) of this section in a certificate of ownership and merger, in which event a merger or consolidation shall be effective at any such future effective date or time, a merger or consolidation shall be effective upon the filing with the Secretary of State of a certificate of merger or consolidation or a certificate of ownership and merger.
(f) A certificate of merger or consolidation or a certificate of ownership and merger shall act as a statement of cancellation of the statement of partnership existence (and if applicable the statement of qualification) for a domestic partnership which is not the surviving or resulting entity in the merger or consolidation. A certificate of merger or a certificate of ownership and merger that sets forth any amendment in accordance with paragraph (c)(4) or subsection (m) of this section shall be deemed to be an amendment to the statement of partnership existence (and if applicable to the statement of qualification) of the domestic partnership, and the domestic partnership shall not be required to take any further action to amend its statement of partnership existence (or if applicable its statement of qualification) under § 15-105 or § 15-116 of this title with respect to such amendments set forth in the certificate of merger or certificate of ownership and merger. Whenever this section requires the filing of a certificate of merger or consolidation, such requirement shall be deemed satisfied by the filing of an agreement of merger or consolidation containing the information required by this section to be set forth in the certificate of merger or consolidation.
(g) An agreement of merger or consolidation or a plan of merger approved in accordance with subsection (b) of this section may (1) effect any amendment to the partnership agreement or (2) effect the adoption of a new partnership agreement, in either case, for a domestic partnership if it is the surviving or resulting partnership in the merger or consolidation. Any amendment to a partnership agreement or adoption of a new partnership agreement made pursuant to the foregoing sentence shall be effective at the effective time or date of the merger or consolidation and shall be effective notwithstanding any provision of the partnership agreement relating to amendment or adoption of a new partnership agreement, other than a provision that by its terms applies to an amendment to the partnership agreement or the adoption of a new partnership agreement, in either case, in connection with a merger or consolidation. The provisions of this subsection shall not be construed to limit the accomplishment of a merger or of any of the matters referred to herein by any other means provided for in a partnership agreement or other agreement or as otherwise permitted by law, including that the partnership agreement of any constituent domestic partnership to the merger or consolidation (including a domestic partnership formed for the purpose of consummating a merger or consolidation) shall be the partnership agreement of the surviving or resulting domestic partnership.
(h) When any merger or consolidation shall have become effective under this section, for all purposes of the laws of the State of Delaware, all of the rights, privileges and powers of each of the domestic partnerships and other business entities that have merged or consolidated, and all property, real, personal and mixed, and all debts due to any of said domestic partnerships and other business entities, as well as all other things and causes of action belonging to each of such domestic partnerships and other business entities, shall be vested in the surviving or resulting domestic partnership or other business entity, and shall thereafter be the property of the surviving or resulting domestic partnership or other business entity as they were of each of the domestic partnerships and other business entities that have merged or consolidated, and the title to any real property vested by deed or otherwise, under the laws of the State of Delaware, in any of such domestic partnerships and other business entities, shall not revert or be in any way impaired by reason of this chapter; but all rights of creditors and all liens upon any property of any of said domestic partnerships and other business entities shall be preserved unimpaired, and all debts, liabilities and duties of each of the said domestic partnerships and other business entities that have merged or consolidated shall thenceforth attach to the surviving or resulting domestic partnership or other business entity, and may be enforced against it to the same extent as if said debts, liabilities and duties had been incurred or contracted by it. Unless otherwise agreed, a merger or consolidation of a domestic partnership, including a domestic partnership which is not the surviving or resulting entity in the merger or consolidation, shall not require such domestic partnership to wind up its affairs under subchapter VIII of this chapter of this title or pay its liabilities and distribute its assets under subchapter VIII of this chapter of this title, and the merger or consolidation shall not constitute a dissolution of such partnership.
(i) Except as provided by agreement with a person to whom a partner of a domestic partnership is obligated, a merger or consolidation of a domestic partnership that has become effective shall not affect any obligation or liability existing at the time of such merger or consolidation of a partner of a domestic partnership which is merging or consolidating.
(j) If a domestic partnership is a constituent party to a merger or consolidation that shall have become effective, but the domestic partnership is not the surviving or resulting entity of the merger or consolidation, then a judgment creditor of a partner of such domestic partnership may not levy execution against the assets of the partner to satisfy a judgment based on a claim against the surviving entity of the merger or consolidation unless:
(1) The claim is for an obligation of the domestic partnership for which the partner is liable as provided in § 15-306 of this title and either:
(i) A judgment based on the same claim has been obtained against the surviving or resulting entity of the merger or consolidation and a writ of execution on the judgment has been returned unsatisfied in whole or in part;
(ii) The surviving or resulting entity of the merger or consolidation is a debtor in bankruptcy;
(iii) The partner has agreed that the creditor need not exhaust the assets of the domestic partnership that was not the surviving or resulting entity of the merger or consolidation;
(iv) The partner has agreed that the creditor need not exhaust the assets of the surviving or resulting entity of the merger or consolidation; or
(v) A court grants permission to the judgment creditor to levy execution against the assets of the partner based on a finding that the assets of the surviving or resulting entity of the merger or consolidation that are subject to execution are clearly insufficient to satisfy the judgment, that exhaustion of the assets of the surviving or resulting entity of the merger or consolidation is excessively burdensome, or that the grant of permission is an appropriate exercise of the court’s equitable powers; or
(2) Liability is imposed on the partner by law or contract independent of the existence of the surviving or resulting entity of the merger or consolidation.
(k) A person is admitted as a partner of a surviving or resulting domestic partnership pursuant to a merger or consolidation approved in accordance with subsection (b) of this section as provided in the partnership agreement of the surviving or resulting domestic partnership or in the agreement of merger or consolidation or the plan of merger, and in the event of any inconsistency, the terms of the agreement of merger or consolidation or the plan of merger shall control. A person is admitted as a partner of a domestic partnership pursuant to a merger or consolidation in which such domestic partnership is not the surviving or resulting domestic partnership in the merger or consolidation as provided in the partnership agreement of such domestic partnership.
(l) A partnership agreement may provide that a domestic partnership shall not have the power to merge or consolidate as set forth in this section.
(m) In any case in which (i) at least 90% of the outstanding shares of each class of the stock of a corporation or corporations (other than a corporation which has in its certificate of incorporation the provision required by § 251(g)(7)(A) and (B) of Title 8), of which class there are outstanding shares that, absent § 267(a) of Title 8, would be entitled to vote on such merger, is owned by a domestic partnership, (ii) 1 or more of such corporations is a corporation of the State of Delaware, and (iii) any corporation that is not a corporation of the State of Delaware is a corporation of any other state or the District of Columbia or another jurisdiction, the laws of which do not forbid such merger, the domestic partnership having such stock ownership may either merge the corporation or corporations into itself and assume all of its or their obligations, or merge itself, or itself and 1 or more of such corporations, into 1 of the other corporations, pursuant to a plan of merger. If a domestic partnership is causing a merger under this subsection, (i) if the domestic partnership has not filed a statement of partnership existence, then the domestic partnership shall file a statement of partnership existence, and (ii) the domestic partnership shall file a certificate of ownership and merger executed by at least 1 partner or by 1 or more authorized persons on behalf of the domestic partnership in the office of the Secretary of State. The certificate of ownership and merger shall certify that such merger was authorized in accordance with the domestic partnership’s partnership agreement and this chapter, and if the domestic partnership shall not own all the outstanding stock of all the corporations that are parties to the merger, shall state the terms and conditions of the merger, including the securities, cash, property, or rights to be issued, paid, delivered or granted by the surviving domestic partnership or corporation upon surrender of each share of the corporation or corporations not owned by the domestic partnership, or the cancellation of some or all of such shares. The terms and conditions of the merger may not result in a holder of stock in a corporation becoming a partner in a surviving domestic partnership (other than a limited liability partnership). In the case of a merger under this subsection in which a domestic partnership is the surviving entity, the certificate of ownership and merger may also state such amendments, if any, to the statement of partnership existence of the surviving domestic partnership (and in the case of a surviving domestic partnership that is a limited liability partnership, to the statement of qualification of such surviving domestic partnership) as are desired to be effected by the merger (which amendments may amend and restate the statement of partnership existence of the surviving domestic partnership in its entirety). If a corporation surviving a merger under this subsection is not a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware, then the terms and conditions of the merger shall obligate such corporation to agree that it may be served with process in the State of Delaware in any proceeding for enforcement of any obligation of the domestic partnership or any obligation of any constituent corporation of the State of Delaware, as well as for enforcement of any obligation of the surviving corporation, including any suit or other proceeding to enforce the right of any stockholders as determined in appraisal proceedings pursuant to § 262 of Title 8, and to irrevocably appoint the Secretary of State as its agent to accept service of process in any such suit or other proceedings, and to specify the address to which a copy of such process shall be mailed by the Secretary of State. Process may be served upon the Secretary of State under this subsection by means of electronic transmission but only as prescribed by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State is authorized to issue such rules and regulations with respect to such service as the Secretary of State deems necessary or appropriate. In the event of such service upon the Secretary of State in accordance with this subsection, the Secretary of State shall forthwith notify such surviving corporation thereof by letter, directed to such surviving corporation at its address so specified, unless such surviving corporation shall have designated in writing to the Secretary of State a different address for such purpose, in which case it shall be mailed to the last address so designated. Such letter shall be sent by a mail or courier service that includes a record of mailing or deposit with the courier and a record of delivery evidenced by the signature of the recipient. Such letter shall enclose a copy of the process and any other papers served on the Secretary of State pursuant to this subsection. It shall be the duty of the plaintiff in the event of such service to serve process and any other papers in duplicate, to notify the Secretary of State that service is being effected pursuant to this subsection and to pay the Secretary of State the sum of $50 for the use of the State of Delaware, which sum shall be taxed as part of the costs in the proceeding, if the plaintiff shall prevail therein. The Secretary of State shall maintain an alphabetical record of any such service setting forth the name of the plaintiff and the defendant, the title, docket number and nature of the proceeding in which process has been served, the fact that service has been effected pursuant to this subsection, the return date thereof, and the day and hour service was made. The Secretary of State shall not be required to retain such information longer than 5 years from receipt of the service of process.
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