Joint Venture Agreement - Afinsa Bienes Tangibles SA and Greg Manning Auctions Inc.
JOINT VENTURE AGREEMENT
In Madrid, on October 25, 2001.
ASSEMBLED
For the first party: Juan Antonio Cano Cuevas, of legal age, with Tax
Identification Number 1,814,033-T, representing AFINSA BIENES TANGIBLES, S.A.
(ABT), with Tax Identification Code no. A-28/658177 with offices in Madrid,
calle Lagasca 88, for the purposes of this agreement and generically, AFINSA or
the acronym ABT.
And for the second party: Greg Manning, of legal age, representing GREG MANNING
AUCTIONS Inc., with Tax Identification Number 222,365,834 with offices at
Passaic Avenue 775, West Caldewell, New Jersey (USA), for the purposes of this
agreement and generically, GREG MANNING or the acronym GMAI.
Both parties mutually recognize sufficient legal powers to sign this
agreement and
DECLARE
I.- That the parties are interested in philatelic purchase-sale operations to
develop their businesses.
II.- That GMAI has complete knowledge of the philatelic supply and demand in the
United States and ,in regard to the acquisition of philatelic and numismatic
collections and other collections included in its corporate purpose, may require
financing to make advance payments to depositors in its auction business.
III.- That AFINSA, which is a shareholder of GMAI through a company in its
group, is interested in acquiring philatelic collections in the United States
and has the financial resources to cover the possible necessities that may be
arise for GMAI in regard to the advance payments mentioned in the previous
section, although all of this does not form part of its principal activity and
shall be done occasionally and within a defined period of time whose limits are
established in this document.
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IV.- That in order to regulate certain aspects regarding, among others, the
administration, management, control, information, and contracting of operations,
the participants have reached an agreement that is specified in the following:
STIPULATIONS
ONE.- OBJECT.
By virtue of this Agreement, the parties, respecting and not modifying their
respective legal characteristics, nor exchanging shares, nor creating any
commercial or civil entity apart from the parties themselves, agree to combine
their business efforts, during the period of time specified later in this
document, for the purpose of improving their respective operating accounts, and
their corporate images, without incurring in any case that could be deemed
obstruction of free competition.
TWO.- DURATION.
This agreement shall take effect on the day on which it is signed and shall be
valid for one year; it may be tacitly extended for a maximum period of six
additional months.
THREE.- MATERIAL SCOPE OF THE AGREEMENT.
This agreement shall be carried out by opening a current account in the United
States in the Bank and location that, at the proposal of GMAI, the parties
decide upon by mutual agreement and over which GMAI will have withdrawal rights,
which will contain funds, provided by AFINSA, to be used within the conditions
of this document to purchase philatelic collections for AFINSA and to make
advance payments to depositors as part of the auction business of GMAI.
FOUR.- OBLIGATIONS AND RIGHTS
OBLIGATIONS AND RIGHTS OF AFINSA
o Financial contributions.
In order to cover the financial needs arising as a result of this
agreement, AFINSA will provide a total amount of up to $2,000,000 (TWO
MILLION DOLLARS).
This contribution will be made in stages as required to carry out the
operations described in this agreement.
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AFINSA, at all times, shall know beforehand the purpose for which the
funds that it provides and which are available to GMAI are designated,
explicitly separating those corresponding to the acquisition philatelic
collections and those withdrawn by GMAI to make advance payments to its
auction depositors.
If GMAI withdraws funds to make advance payments to auction depositors,
AFINSA shall consider these amounts as loans granted to GMAI, and GMAI
must consider them as such for all pertinent effects.
If GMAI makes the withdrawals described in the previous point, AFINSA
shall receive annual interest of 8% on the amounts of these loans.
This interest shall be paid by calendar quarters on the total of the
average amounts provided during the period.
o Collection purchases
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Regarding both collections that may spontaneously become available on the
American market and the acquisition needs that AFINSA, or any other
company in its group, may propose motu proprio, the other party shall be
informed with sufficient prior notice in order to make decisions regarding
them.
GMAI, in regard to the purchasing actions that it carries out for AFINSA
or any company in its group with third parties, may figure as the
Purchasing Agent of the Group (non-exclusive).
OBLIGATIONS AND RIGHTS OF GMAI.
o Sales and auctions on the American Market.
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If AFINSA or any Company in its Group wishes to carry out activities that
are within the scope of those carried out by GMAI, GMAI shall be granted
exclusivity for these activities in the American Market, either directly
or through the Group Companies. No seller's commission will be payable on
any sales or auctions of these goods by GMAI on behalf of AFINSA.
o Acquisitions of general philately and collections.
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When philatelic collections become available on the market, or when AFINSA
or any Company in its Group requests goods of this nature, GMAI shall
devote all of its resources and its best knowledge to fulfill these
demands, carrying out these business operations within the price framework
specified for each occasion.
o Financing.
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If GMAI uses the financial resources provided by AFINSA to make advance
payments to auction depositors, it agrees to repay these advances to
AFINSA within the time period established in this agreement, all
regardless of the returns on the amounts provided.
If these amounts cannot be repaid within the aforementioned time period,
the stipulations indicated in the following section "AFINSA's option on
funds withdrawn" shall be applied.
o Administration and Accounting
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GMAI will issue a monthly report regarding the movements of the current
account, reporting the destination of the amounts withdrawn from it as
well as the balance that is considered to be a loan and which is still in
effect at the end of each period.
If GMAI has withdrawn funds from the account to make advance payments to
auction depositors, the aforementioned quarterly interest on them shall be
paid directly by bank transfer to the account specified by AFINSA in
Madrid, Spain for this purpose.
AFINSA will issue a receipt, duly dated and signed, for each of the
amounts withdrawn previously, in which it certifies the receipt of the
amounts, and will send the receipts at the end of the month along with the
aforementioned report.
FIVE.- AFINSA's OPTION ON FUNDS WITHDRAWN.
If, upon the expiration of the time period of this agreement, GMAI cannot
fully or partially repay the funds that it has withdrawn to cover its needs
to make advance payments to auction depositors, For the outstanding balance,
AFINSA shall have the option, to purchase shares of GMAI for the amount of
the unpaid balance preferentially in regard to the capital increase that is
agreed upon for this purpose (which will be bound to this agreement with
GMAI), and for an effective price corresponding to the average price of the
stock market listing (NASDAQ) that is quoted between the date of the signing
of this document and its date of expiration, or the date of its advance
cancellation.
The General Meeting of Shareholders that approves the capital increase that
must fulfill AFINSA's rights must be held within two months of the date on
which AFINSA exercises its option, and must be at least for the amount of the
balance owed to AFINSA in relation with the average market price of the
aforementioned shares unless such approval is determined by GMAI not to be
necessary.
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SIX.- CONFIDENTIALITY AND RATIFICATION
Both AFINSA and GMAI agree to keep this agreement confidential in relation with
third parties, with the exception of the Board of Directors and shareholders of
the latter, to whom full information must be given prior to and following its
signing, in accordance with applicable law and regulation.
SEVEN.- ADVANCE CANCELLATION
The parties may cancel this agreement by mutual agreement prior to the
expiration date of this document.
In the case of early cancellation, the clause regarding AFINSA's option, covered
in section 5 of this document, shall be applied if there is a balance in favor
of AFINSA as an unpaid loan.
EIGHT.- JURISDICTION
In the case of interpretations or litigation resulting from the application of
this agreement, the parties subject themselves explicitly to the Courts and
Tribunals of New York.
And as proof of acceptance of all that precedes, the parties sign this agreement
in duplicate in the place and on the date indicated above.
AFINSA BIENES TANGIBLES, S.A. GREG MANNING AUCTIONS Inc
Juan Antonio Cano Greg Manning