EXHIBIT 3.1
AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO
SIXTH AMENDED AND RESTATED
AGREEMENT OF LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
OF
CROSSTEX ENERGY, L.P.
This AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO SIXTH AMENDED AND RESTATED AGREEMENT OF LIMITED PARTNERSHIP OF
CROSSTEX ENERGY, L.P. (this Amendment), dated as of December 20, 2007, is entered into by
Crosstex Energy GP, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, the general partner of Crosstex
Energy GP, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership (the General Partner), as general partner of
Crosstex Energy, L.P. (the Partnership). Capitalized terms used but not defined herein are used
as defined in the Sixth Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of Crosstex Energy,
L.P., dated as of March 23, 2007 (the Partnership Agreement).
RECITALS:
WHEREAS, the NASDAQ Marketplace Rules require that issuer securities listed on Nasdaq be
eligible for a direct registration program such as the Direct Registration System (the DRS) on or
before January 1, 2008;
WHEREAS, to be eligible to participate in the DRS, an issuer must allow for the issuance of
uncertificated securities;
WHEREAS, Section 13.1(d)(i) of the Partnership Agreement provides that the General Partner
may amend any provision of the Partnership Agreement, without the approval of any Partner or
Assignee to reflect a change that, in the discretion of the General Partner, does not adversely
affect the Limited Partners (including any particular class of Partnership Interests as compared to
other classes of Partnership Interests) in any material respect;
WHEREAS, Section 13.1(d)(ii)(B) of the Partnership Agreement provides that the General Partner
may amend any provision of the Partnership Agreement, without the approval of any Partner or
Assignee to reflect a change that, in the discretion of the General Partner, is necessary or
advisable to facilitate the trading of the Units (including the division of any class or classes of
Outstanding Units into different classes to facilitate uniformity of tax consequences within such
classes of Units) or comply with any rule, regulation, guideline or requirement of any National
Securities Exchange on which the Units are or will be listed for trading, compliance with any of
which the General Partner determines in its discretion to be in the best interests of the
Partnership and the Limited Partners; and
WHEREAS, acting pursuant to the power and authority granted to it under Section 13.1(d)(i) and
Section 13.1(d)(ii)(B) of the Partnership Agreement, the General Partner has determined that (i)
this Amendment to the Partnership Agreement does not adversely affect the Limited Partners
(including any particular class of Partnership Interests as compared to other
classes of Partnership Interests) in any material respect and (ii) that this Amendment is
required to facilitate the trading of the Units and to comply with the rules, regulations,
guidelines and requirements of the NASDAQ Global Select Market on which the Units are listed for
trading and that such Amendment is in the best interests of the Partnership and the Limited
Partners.
NOW THEREFORE, the General Partner does hereby amend the Partnership Agreement as follows:
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The following sentence shall be added to the end of Section 4.1: |
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Notwithstanding the above provisions, Common Units may be uncertificated. |
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Section 4.2 shall be amended and restated in its entirety to read as follows: |
(a) If any mutilated Certificate is surrendered to the Transfer Agent, the appropriate
officers of the General Partner on behalf of the Partnership shall execute, and the Transfer
Agent shall countersign and deliver in exchange therefor, a new Certificate or issue
uncertificated Units evidencing the same number and type of Partnership Securities as the
Certificate so surrendered.
(b) The appropriate officers of the General Partner on behalf of the Partnership shall
execute and deliver, and the Transfer Agent shall countersign, a new Certificate in place of
any Certificate previously issued or issue uncertificated Units if the Record Holder of the
Certificate:
(i) makes proof by affidavit, in form and substance satisfactory to the General
Partner, that a previously issued Certificate has been lost, destroyed or stolen;
(ii) requests the issuance of a new Certificate or the issuance of
uncertificated Units before the General Partner has notice that the Certificate has
been acquired by a purchaser for value in good faith and without notice of an
adverse claim;
(iii) if requested by the General Partner, delivers to the General Partner a
bond, in form and substance satisfactory to the General Partner, with surety or
sureties and with fixed or open penalty as the General Partner may reasonably
direct, in its sole discretion, to indemnify the Partnership, the Partners, the
General Partner and the Transfer Agent, against any claim that may be made on
account of the alleged loss, destruction or theft of the Certificate; and
(iv) satisfies any other reasonable requirements imposed by the General
Partner.
If a Limited Partner or Assignee fails to notify the General Partner within a
reasonable time after he has notice of the loss, destruction or theft of a Certificate, and
a transfer of the Limited Partner Interests represented by the Certificate is registered
before the Partnership, the General Partner or the Transfer Agent receives such
notification, the
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Limited Partner or Assignee shall be precluded from making any claim against the
Partnership, the General Partner or the Transfer Agent for such transfer or for a new
Certificate or uncertificated Units.
(c) As a condition to the issuance of any new Certificate or uncertificated Units under
this Section 4.2, the General Partner may require the payment of a sum sufficient to cover
any tax or other governmental charge that may be imposed in relation thereto and any other
expenses (including the fees and expenses of the Transfer Agent) reasonably connected
therewith.
3. Section 4.5 shall be amended and restated in its entirety to read as follows:
Section 4.5 Registration and Transfer of Limited Partner Interests.
(a) The General Partner shall keep or cause to be kept on behalf of the Partnership a
register in which, subject to such reasonable regulations as it may prescribe and subject to
the provisions of Section 4.5(b), the Partnership will provide for the registration and
transfer of Limited Partner Interests. The Transfer Agent is hereby appointed registrar and
transfer agent for the purpose of registering Common Units and transfers of such Common
Units as herein provided. The Partnership shall not recognize transfers of Certificates
evidencing Limited Partner Interests or uncertificated Common Units unless such transfers
are effected in the manner described in this Section 4.5. Upon surrender of a Certificate
for registration of transfer of any Limited Partner Interests evidenced by a Certificate,
and subject to the provisions of Section 4.5(b), the appropriate officers of the General
Partner on behalf of the Partnership shall execute and deliver, and in the case of Common
Units, the Transfer Agent shall countersign and deliver, in the name of the holder or the
designated transferee or transferees, as required pursuant to the holders instructions, one
or more new Certificates, or evidence of the issuance of uncertificated Common Units,
evidencing the same aggregate number and type of Limited Partner Interests as was evidenced
by the Certificate so surrendered. Upon receipt of proper transfer instructions from the
registered owner of uncertificated Common Units, such uncertificated Common Units shall be
cancelled, issuance of new equivalent uncertificated Common Units or Certificates shall be
made to the holder of Common Units entitled thereto and the transaction shall be recorded
upon the books of the Partnership.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in Section 4.9, the Partnership shall not recognize
any transfer of Limited Partner Interests evidenced by a Certificate until the Certificates
evidencing such Limited Partner Interests are surrendered for registration of transfer, or
any evidence of uncertificated Common Units is surrendered together with proper transfer
instructions, as applicable, and such Certificates or transfer instructions are accompanied
by a Transfer Application duly executed by the transferee (or the transferees
attorney-in-fact duly authorized in writing). No charge shall be imposed by the General
Partner for such transfer; provided, that as a condition to the issuance of any new
Certificate, or issuance of uncertificated Common Units, under this Section 4.5, the General
Partner may require the payment of a sum sufficient to cover any tax or other governmental
charge that may be imposed with respect thereto.
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(c) Limited Partner Interests may be transferred only in the manner described in this
Section 4.5. The transfer of any Limited Partner Interests and the admission of any new
Limited Partner shall not constitute an amendment to this Agreement.
(d) Until admitted as a Substituted Limited Partner pursuant to Section 10.2, the
Record Holder of a Limited Partner Interest shall be an Assignee in respect of such Limited
Partner Interest. Limited Partners may include custodians, nominees or any other individual
or entity in its own or any representative capacity.
(e) A transferee of a Limited Partner Interest who has completed and delivered a
Transfer Application shall be deemed to have (i) requested admission as a Substituted
Limited Partner, (ii) agreed to comply with and be bound by and to have executed this
Agreement, (iii) represented and warranted that such transferee has the right, power and
authority and, if an individual, the capacity to enter into this Agreement, (iv) granted the
powers of attorney set forth in this Agreement and (v) given the consents and approvals and
made the waivers contained in this Agreement.
(f) The General Partner and its Affiliates shall have the right at any time to transfer
their Subordinated Units and Common Units (whether issued upon conversion of the
Subordinated Units or otherwise) to one or more Persons.
4. The last sentence of Section 4.10(a)(i) shall be amended to read as follows:
The notice shall specify the Redeemable Interests, the date fixed for redemption, the
place of payment, that (if applicable) payment of the redemption price will be made upon
surrender of the Certificate evidencing the Redeemable Interests or, if such Redeemable
Interests are uncertificated, upon receipt of evidence satisfactory to the General Partner
of the ownership of the Redeemable Interests, and that on and after the date fixed for
redemption no further allocations or distributions to which the Limited Partner or Assignee
would otherwise be entitled in respect of the Redeemable Interests will accrue or be made.
5. Section 4.10(a)(iii) shall be amended and restated in its entirety to read as
follows:
(iii) Upon surrender by or on behalf of the Limited Partner or Assignee, at the place
specified in the notice of redemption, of (x) if certificated, the Certificate evidencing
the Redeemable Interests, duly endorsed in blank or accompanied by an assignment duly
executed in blank, or (y) if uncertificated, upon receipt of evidence satisfactory to the
General Partner of the ownership of the Redeemable Interests, the Limited Partner or
Assignee or his duly authorized representative shall be entitled to receive the payment
therefor.
6. Section 5.13(c) shall be amended and restated in its entirety to read as follows:
(c) Promptly following any such distribution, subdivision or combination, the
Partnership may issue Certificates or uncertificated Partnership Securities to the Record
Holders of Partnership Securities as of the applicable Record Date representing the new
number of Partnership Securities held by such Record Holders, or the General Partner
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may adopt such other procedures as it may deem appropriate to reflect such changes. If
any such combination results in a smaller total number of Partnership Securities
Outstanding, the Partnership shall require, as a condition to the delivery to a Record
Holder of such new Certificate or uncertificated Partnership Securities, as applicable, the
surrender of any Certificate held by such Record Holder immediately prior to such Record
Date.
7. The first sentence of Section 6.9(c) shall be amended to read as follows:
A Unitholder holding a Senior Subordinated Series D Unit that has converted into a
Common Unit pursuant to Section 5.10 shall not be issued a Common Unit Certificate or
uncertificated Common Units pursuant to Section 4.1, and shall not be permitted to transfer
its converted Senior Subordinated Series D Units to a Person which is not an Affiliate of
the holder until such time as the General Partner determines, based on advice of counsel,
that a converted Senior Subordinated Series D Unit should have, as a substantive matter,
like intrinsic economic and federal income tax characteristics, in all material respects, to
the intrinsic economic and federal income tax characteristics of an Initial Common Unit;
provided, however, that the comparison of such federal income tax characteristics shall be
made by comparing the federal income tax characteristics of an Initial Common Unit and the
converted Senior Subordinated Series D Unit in the hands of a purchaser for cash of such
converted Senior Subordinated Series D Unit for its fair market value.
8. The first sentence of Section 6.10(b) shall be amended to read as follows:
The Unitholder holding a Subordinated Unit that has converted into a Common Unit
pursuant to Section 5.11 shall not be issued a Common Unit Certificate or uncertificated
Common Units pursuant to Section 4.1, and shall not be permitted to transfer its converted
Subordinated Units to a Person which is not an Affiliate of the holder until such time as
the General Partner determines, based on advice of counsel, that a converted Subordinated
Unit should have, as a substantive matter, like intrinsic economic and federal income tax
characteristics, in all material respects, to the intrinsic economic and federal income tax
characteristics of an Initial Common Unit; provided, however, that the comparison of such
federal income tax characteristics shall be made by comparing the federal income tax
characteristics of an Initial Common Unit and the converted Subordinated Unit in the hands
of a purchaser for cash of such converted Subordinated Unit for its fair market value.
9. The second sentence of Section 10.2 shall be amended to read as follows:
A transferor of a Certificate representing a Limited Partner Interest or of
uncertificated Limited Partner Interests shall, however, only have the authority to convey
to a purchaser or other transferee who does not execute and deliver a Transfer Application
(a) the right to negotiate such Certificate or uncertificated Limited Partner Interests to a
purchaser or other transferee and (b) the right to transfer the right to request admission
as a Substituted Limited Partner to such purchaser or other transferee in respect of the
transferred Limited Partner Interests.
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10. Section 15.1(b) shall be amended and restated in its entirety to read as follows:
(b) If the General Partner, any Affiliate of the General Partner or the Partnership
elects to exercise the right to purchase Limited Partner Interests granted pursuant to
Section 15.1(a), the General Partner shall deliver to the Transfer Agent notice of such
election to purchase (the Notice of Election to Purchase) and shall cause the Transfer
Agent to mail a copy of such Notice of Election to Purchase to the Record Holders of Limited
Partner Interests of such class (as of a Record Date selected by the General Partner) at
least 10, but not more than 60, days prior to the Purchase Date. Such Notice of Election to
Purchase shall also be published for a period of at least three consecutive days in at least
two daily newspapers of general circulation printed in the English language and published in
the Borough of Manhattan, New York. The Notice of Election to Purchase shall specify the
Purchase Date and the price (determined in accordance with Section 15.1(a)) at which Limited
Partner Interests will be purchased and state that the General Partner, its Affiliate or the
Partnership, as the case may be, elects to purchase such Limited Partner Interests, upon
surrender of Certificates representing such Limited Partner Interests or uncertificated
Limited Partner Interests, as applicable, in exchange for payment, at such office or offices
of the Transfer Agent as the Transfer Agent may specify, or as may be required by any
National Securities Exchange on which such Limited Partner Interests are listed or admitted
to trading. Any such Notice of Election to Purchase mailed to a Record Holder of Limited
Partner Interests at his address as reflected in the records of the Transfer Agent shall be
conclusively presumed to have been given regardless of whether the owner receives such
notice. On or prior to the Purchase Date, the General Partner, its Affiliate or the
Partnership, as the case may be, shall deposit with the Transfer Agent cash in an amount
sufficient to pay the aggregate purchase price of all of such Limited Partner Interests to
be purchased in accordance with this Section 15.1. If the Notice of Election to Purchase
shall have been duly given as aforesaid at least 10 days prior to the Purchase Date, and if
on or prior to the Purchase Date the deposit described in the preceding sentence has been
made for the benefit of the holders of Limited Partner Interests subject to purchase as
provided herein, then from and after the Purchase Date, notwithstanding that any Certificate
or uncertificated Limited Partner Interests shall not have been surrendered for purchase,
all rights of the holders of such Limited Partner Interests (including any rights pursuant
to Articles IV, V, VI, and XII) shall thereupon cease, except the right to receive the
purchase price (determined in accordance with Section 15.1(a)) for Limited Partner Interests
therefor, without interest, upon surrender to the Transfer Agent of the Certificates
representing such Limited Partner Interests or uncertificated Limited Partner Interests, as
applicable, and such Limited Partner Interests shall thereupon be deemed to be transferred
to the General Partner, its Affiliate or the Partnership, as the case may be, on the record
books of the Transfer Agent and the Partnership, and the General Partner or any Affiliate of
the General Partner, or the Partnership, as the case may be, shall be deemed to be the owner
of all such Limited Partner Interests from and after the Purchase Date and shall have all
rights as the owner of such Limited Partner Interests (including all rights as owner of such
Limited Partner Interests pursuant to Articles IV, V, VI and XII).
11. Section 15.1(c) shall be amended and restated in its entirety to read as follows:
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(c) At any time from and after the Purchase Date, a holder of an Outstanding Limited
Partner Interest subject to purchase as provided in this Section 15.1 may surrender his
Certificate evidencing such Limited Partner Interest or uncertificated Limited Partner
Interests, as applicable, to the Transfer Agent in exchange for payment of the amount
described in Section 15.1(a), therefor, without interest thereon.
12. General Authority. The appropriate officers of the General Partner are hereby
authorized to make such further clarifying and conforming changes they deem necessary or
appropriate, and to interpret the Partnership Agreement, to give effect to the intent and purpose
of this Amendment.
13. Ratification of Partnership Agreement. Except as expressly modified and amended
herein, all of the terms and conditions of the Partnership Agreement shall remain in full force and
effect.
14. Governing Law. This Amendment will be governed by and construed in accordance
with the laws of the State of Delaware.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the General Partner has executed this Amendment to be effective as of the
date first set forth above.
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GENERAL PARTNER: |
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Crosstex Energy GP, L.P. |
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By:
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Crosstex Energy GP, LLC |
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its general partner |
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By:
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/s/ William W. Davis
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Name:
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William W. Davis |
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Title:
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Executive Vice President and |
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Chief Financial Officer |
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Signature Page to Partnership Agreement Amendment