Attached files
| file | filename |
|---|---|
| EX-10.8 - EXHIBIT 10.8 - Viper Energy Partners LP | viper201910-kxex108.htm |
| EX-99.1 - EXHIBIT 99.1 - Viper Energy Partners LP | viper201910-kxex991.htm |
| EX-32.1 - EXHIBIT 32.1 - Viper Energy Partners LP | viper201910-kxex321.htm |
| EX-31.2 - EXHIBIT 31.2 - Viper Energy Partners LP | viper201910-kxex312.htm |
| EX-31.1 - EXHIBIT 31.1 - Viper Energy Partners LP | viper201910-kxex311.htm |
| EX-23.2 - EXHIBIT 23.2 - Viper Energy Partners LP | viper201910-kxex232.htm |
| EX-23.1 - EXHIBIT 23.1 - Viper Energy Partners LP | viper201910-kxex231.htm |
| EX-21.1 - EXHIBIT 21.1 - Viper Energy Partners LP | viper201910-kxex211.htm |
| 10-K - 10-K - Viper Energy Partners LP | viper201910-k.htm |
Exhibit 4.1
DESCRIPTION OF THE REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
The following is a summary of the common units of Viper Energy Partners LP (the “Partnership,” “we,” “us,” and “our”), which is the only class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The following summary is not complete. You should refer to the applicable provisions of our certificate of limited partnership, or any supplement or amendment thereto (the “Certificate”), our second amended and restated agreement of limited partnership, as amended (collectively, “our partnership agreement”), and the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act (the “Delaware Act”), for a complete statement of the terms and rights of the common units. Copies of the Certificate, our second amended and restated partnership agreement and the first amendment to the second amended and restated partnership agreement have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as exhibits 3.1, 3.3 and 3.4, respectively, to our Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Common Units and Class B Units
Common Units and Class B Units
Our common units and Class B Units represent limited partner interests in us. The holders of our common units and Class B Units are entitled to exercise the rights and privileges provided to limited partners under our partnership agreement, but only holders of our common units are entitled to participate in partnership distributions (except to the extent of the cash preferred distributions equal to 8% per annum payable quarterly on the aggregate capital contributions made to us by Diamondback Energy, Inc. (“Diamondback”) and Viper Energy Partners GP, LLC, our general partner. Unitholders are not obligated to make additional capital contributions, except as described below under “—Limited Liability.”
As of February 7, 2020, there were 67,805,707 common units and 90,709,946 Class B Units outstanding.
Voting Rights
The following is a summary of the unitholder vote required for approval of the matters specified below. Matters that call for the approval of a “unit majority” require the approval of a majority of the outstanding common units and the Class B Units, voting together as a single class.
Diamondback has the ability to ensure passage of, as well as the ability to ensure the defeat of, any amendment which requires a unit majority by virtue of its approximately 58% ownership of our units as of February 7, 2020.
In voting their common units or Class B Units, our general partner and its affiliates will have no duty or obligation whatsoever to us or the limited partners, including any duty to act in the best interests of us or the limited partners. The holders of a majority of the common units and Class B Units (including common units or Class B Units deemed owned by our general partner) represented in person or by proxy shall constitute a quorum at a meeting of such unitholders, unless any such action requires approval by holders of a greater percentage of such units in which case the quorum shall be such greater percentage.
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The following is a summary of the vote requirements specified for certain matters under our partnership agreement.
Issuance of additional units | No approval right. | |
Amendment of the partnership agreement | Certain amendments may be made by our general partner without the approval of the unitholders. Other amendments generally require the approval of a unit majority. | |
Merger of our partnership or the sale of all or substantially all of our assets | Unit majority in certain circumstances. | |
Dissolution of our partnership | Unit majority. | |
Continuation of our business upon dissolution | Unit majority. | |
Withdrawal of our general partner | Under most circumstances, the approval of a unit majority, excluding units held by our general partner and its affiliates, if any, is required for the withdrawal of our general partner prior to June 30, 2024 in a manner that would cause a dissolution of our partnership. | |
Removal of our general partner | Not less than 66 2/3% of the outstanding units, including units held by our general partner and its affiliates. | |
Transfer of our general partner interest | No approval right. | |
Transfer of ownership interests in our general partner | No approval right. | |
Class B Units
Diamondback, either directly or through one of its subsidiaries, holds the same number of Class B Units and the units (the “OpCo Units”) in our operating subsidiary, Viper Energy Partners LLC. Each Class B Unit is entitled to one vote on matters that are submitted to our holders of Class B Units for a vote. If at any time Diamondback or any other record holder of one or more Class B Units does not hold an equal number of Class B Units and OpCo Units, we will issue additional Class B Units to such holder or cancel Class B Units held by such holder, as applicable, such that the number of Class B Units held by such holder is equal to the number of OpCo Units held by such holder. The OpCo Units and Class B Units owned by Diamondback are exchangeable from time to time for common units (that is, one OpCo Unit and one Class B Unit, together, are exchangeable for one Common Unit). Our common units and the Class B Units are treated as a single class on all matters submitted for a vote of our unitholders. Additional limited partner interests having special voting rights could also be issued.
Registration Rights
Under our partnership agreement, we have agreed to register for resale under the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws any common units proposed to be sold by our general partner or any of its affiliates (including common units issued upon conversion of Class B Units) or their assignees if an exemption from the registration requirements is not otherwise available. These registration rights continue for two years following any withdrawal or removal of our general partner. We are obligated to pay all expenses incidental to the registration, excluding underwriting discounts.
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Meetings; Voting
Except as described below regarding a person or group owning 20% or more of any class of units then outstanding, record holders of units on the record date will be entitled to notice of, and to vote at, meetings of our limited partners and to act upon matters for which approvals may be solicited.
Our general partner does not anticipate that any meeting of our unitholders will be called in the foreseeable future. Any action that is required or permitted to be taken by the unitholders may be taken either at a meeting of the unitholders or without a meeting if consents in writing describing the action so taken are signed by holders of the number of units necessary to authorize or take that action at a meeting. Meetings of the unitholders may be called by our general partner or by unitholders owning at least 20% of the outstanding units of the class for which a meeting is proposed.
Unitholders may vote either in person or by proxy at meetings. The holders of a majority of the outstanding units of the class or classes for which a meeting has been called, represented in person or by proxy, will constitute a quorum, unless any action by the unitholders requires approval by holders of a greater percentage of the units, in which case the quorum will be the greater percentage. Our general partner may postpone any meeting of unitholders one or more times for any reason by giving notice to the unitholders entitled to vote at such meeting. Our general partner may also adjourn any meeting of unitholders one or more times for any reason, including the absence of a quorum, without a vote of the unitholders.
Each record holder of a unit has a vote according to his percentage interest in us, although additional limited partner interests having special voting rights could be issued. However, if at any time any person or group, other than our general partner and its affiliates, or a direct or subsequently approved transferee of our general partner or its affiliates and purchasers specifically approved by our general partner, acquires, in the aggregate, beneficial ownership of 20% or more of any class of units then outstanding, that person or group will lose voting rights on all of its units and the units may not be voted on any matter and will not be considered to be outstanding when sending notices of a meeting of unitholders, calculating required votes, determining the presence of a quorum or for other similar purposes. Units held in nominee or street name account will be voted by the broker or other nominee in accordance with the instruction of the beneficial owner unless the arrangement between the beneficial owner and his nominee provides otherwise. Any notice, demand, request, report or proxy material required or permitted to be given or made to record unitholders under our partnership agreement will be delivered to the record holder by us or by the transfer agent.
Amendment of Our Partnership Agreement
General
Amendments to our partnership agreement may be proposed only by our general partner. However, our general partner has no duty or obligation to propose any amendment and may decline to do so free of any duty or obligation whatsoever to us or the limited partners, including any duty to act in a manner not adverse to us or the limited partners. In order to adopt a proposed amendment, other than the amendments discussed below, our general partner is required to seek written approval of the holders of the number of units required to approve the amendment or to call a meeting of the limited partners to consider and vote upon the proposed amendment. Except as described below, an amendment must be approved by a unit majority.
Prohibited Amendments
No amendment may be made that would:
• | enlarge the obligations of any limited partner without such limited partner's consent, unless approved by at least a majority of the type or class of limited partner interests so affected; or | ||
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• | enlarge the obligations of, restrict in any way any action by or rights of, or reduce in any way the amounts distributable, reimbursable or otherwise payable by us to our general partner or any of its affiliates without the consent of our general partner, which consent may be given or withheld in its sole discretion. | ||
The provision of our partnership agreement preventing the amendments having the effects described in the clauses above can be amended upon the approval of the holders of at least 90% of the outstanding units, voting as a single class (including units owned by our general partner and its affiliates).
No Unitholder Approval
Our general partner may generally make amendments to our partnership agreement without the approval of any limited partner to reflect:
• | a change in our name, the location of our principal place of business, our registered agent or our registered office; | ||
• | the admission, substitution, withdrawal or removal of partners in accordance with our partnership agreement; | ||
• | a change that our general partner determines to be necessary or appropriate to qualify or continue our qualification as a limited partnership or other entity in which the limited partners have limited liability under the laws of any state; | ||
• | an amendment that is necessary, in the opinion of our counsel, to prevent us or our general partner or its directors, officers, agents or trustees from in any manner being subjected to the provisions of the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 or “plan asset” regulations adopted under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA, whether or not substantially similar to plan asset regulations currently applied or proposed; | ||
• | an amendment that our general partner determines to be necessary or appropriate in connection with the creation, authorization or issuance of additional partnership interests or the right to acquire partnership interests; | ||
• | any amendment expressly permitted in our partnership agreement to be made by our general partner acting alone; | ||
• | an amendment effected, necessitated or contemplated by a merger agreement that has been approved under the terms of our partnership agreement; | ||
• | any amendment that our general partner determines to be necessary or appropriate for the formation by us of, or our investment in, any corporation, partnership or other entity, as otherwise permitted by our partnership agreement; | ||
• | a change in our fiscal year or taxable year and related changes; | ||
• | conversions into, mergers with or conveyances to another limited liability entity that is newly formed and has no assets, liabilities or operations at the time of the conversion, merger or conveyance other than those it receives by way of the conversion, merger or conveyance; or | ||
• | any other amendments substantially similar to any of the matters described in the clauses above. | ||
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In addition, our general partner may make amendments to our partnership agreement, without the approval of any limited partner, if our general partner determines that those amendments:
• | do 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; | ||
• | are necessary or appropriate to satisfy any requirements, conditions or guidelines contained in any opinion, directive, order, ruling or regulation of any federal or state agency or judicial authority or contained in any federal or state statute; | ||
• | are necessary or appropriate to facilitate the trading of limited partner interests or to comply with any rule, regulation, guideline or requirement of any securities exchange on which the limited partner interests are or will be listed for trading; | ||
• | are necessary or appropriate for any action taken by our general partner relating to splits or combinations of units under the provisions of our partnership agreement; or | ||
• | are required to effect the intent expressed in this prospectus or the intent of the provisions of our partnership agreement or are otherwise contemplated by our partnership agreement. | ||
Limited Liability
Assuming that a limited partner does not participate in the control of our business within the meaning of the Delaware Act and otherwise acts in conformity with the provisions of the partnership agreement, such limited partner’s liability under the Delaware Act will be limited, subject to possible exceptions, to the amount of capital such limited partner is obligated to contribute to us for its common units plus its share of any undistributed profits and assets. However, if it were determined that the right, or exercise of the right, by the limited partners as a group:
• | to remove or replace our general partner; | ||
• | to approve some amendments to our partnership agreement; or | ||
• | to take other action under our partnership agreement | ||
constituted “participation in the control” of our business for the purposes of the Delaware Act, then the limited partners could be held personally liable for our obligations under the laws of Delaware, to the same extent as our general partner. This liability would extend to persons who transact business with us under the reasonable belief that the limited partner is a general partner. Neither our partnership agreement nor the Delaware Act specifically provides for legal recourse against our general partner if a limited partner were to lose limited liability through any fault of our general partner. While this does not mean that a limited partner could not seek legal recourse, we know of no precedent for this type of a claim in Delaware case law.
Under the Delaware Act, a limited partnership may not make a distribution to a partner if, after the distribution, all liabilities of the limited partnership, other than liabilities to partners on account of their partnership interests and liabilities for which the recourse of creditors is limited to specific property of the partnership, would exceed the fair value of the assets of the limited partnership. For the purpose of determining the fair value of the assets of a limited partnership, the Delaware Act provides that the fair value of property subject to liability for which recourse of creditors is limited shall be included in the assets of the limited partnership only to the extent that the fair value of that property exceeds the nonrecourse liability. The Delaware Act provides that a limited partner who receives a distribution and
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knew at the time of the distribution that the distribution was in violation of the Delaware Act shall be liable to the limited partnership for the amount of the distribution for three years.
We may have subsidiaries that conduct business in other states or countries in the future. Maintenance of our limited liability as owner of our operating subsidiaries may require compliance with legal requirements in the jurisdictions in which the operating subsidiaries conduct business, including qualifying our subsidiaries to do business there.
Limitations on the liability of members or limited partners for the obligations of a limited liability company or limited partnership have not been clearly established in many jurisdictions. If, by virtue of our ownership interest in our subsidiaries or otherwise, it were determined that we were conducting business in any jurisdiction without compliance with the applicable limited partnership or limited liability company statute, or that the right or exercise of the right by the limited partners as a group to remove or replace our general partner, to approve some amendments to our partnership agreement, or to take other action under our partnership agreement constituted “participation in the control” of our business for purposes of the statutes of any relevant jurisdiction, then the limited partners could be held personally liable for our obligations under the law of that jurisdiction to the same extent as our general partner under the circumstances. We will operate in a manner that our general partner considers reasonable and necessary or appropriate to preserve the limited liability of the limited partners.
Dissolution
We will continue as a limited partnership until dissolved under our partnership agreement. We will dissolve upon:
• | the election of our general partner to dissolve us, if approved by the holders of units representing a unit majority; | ||
• | there being no limited partners, unless we are continued without dissolution in accordance with applicable Delaware law; | ||
• | the entry of a decree of judicial dissolution of our partnership; or | ||
• | the withdrawal or removal of our general partner or any other event that results in its ceasing to be our general partner other than by reason of a transfer of its general partner interest in accordance with our partnership agreement or its withdrawal or removal following the approval and admission of a successor. | ||
Upon a dissolution under the last clause above, the holders of a unit majority may also elect, within specific time limitations, to continue our business on the same terms and conditions described in our partnership agreement by appointing as a successor general partner an entity approved by the holders of units representing a unit majority, subject to our receipt of an opinion of counsel to the effect that the action would not result in the loss of limited liability under Delaware law of any limited partner.
Liquidation and Distribution of Proceeds
Upon our dissolution, unless our business is continued, the liquidator authorized to wind up our affairs will, acting with all of the powers of our general partner that are necessary or appropriate, liquidate our assets and apply the proceeds of the liquidation as set forth in our partnership agreement. The liquidator may defer liquidation or distribution of our assets for a reasonable period of time or distribute assets to partners in kind if it determines that a sale would be impractical or would cause undue loss to our partners.
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Jury Trial Waiver
Our Partnership Agreement provides that, to the extent permitted by law, unitholders waive the right to a jury trial of any claim they may have against us arising out of or relating to the common units or our partnership agreement, including any claim under the U.S. federal securities laws. If we opposed a jury trial demand based on the waiver, the court would determine whether the waiver was enforceable under the facts and circumstances of that case in accordance with applicable case law. Unitholders may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to claims arising under our partnership agreement, which could result in less favorable outcomes to the plaintiffs in any such action.
Anti-Takeover Provisions of our Partnership Agreement
Our partnership agreement contains certain provisions that may be deemed to have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, deter or prevent a tender offer or takeover attempt that a holder of common units might consider in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the common units held by such unitholder.
Loss of Voting Rights Above Certain Threshold
If any person or group other than our General Partner and its affiliates acquires beneficial ownership of 20% or more of any class of units, that person or group loses voting rights on all of its units. This loss of voting rights does not apply to any person or group that acquires the units from our General Partner or its affiliates and any transferees of that person or group approved by our General Partner or to any person or group who acquires the units with the specific prior approval of our General Partner.
Issuance of Additional Partnership Interests
Our partnership agreement authorizes us to issue an unlimited number of additional partnership interests for the consideration and on the terms and conditions determined by our general partner without the approval of the unitholders. However, subject to certain limited exceptions, we will not issue any additional common units unless we contribute the net cash proceeds or other consideration received from the issuance of such additional common units to the Operating Company in exchange for an equivalent number of OpCo Units.
It is likely that we will fund acquisitions through the issuance of additional common units or other partnership interests. Holders of any additional common units we issue will be entitled to share equally with the then-existing common unitholders in our distributions. In addition, the issuance of additional common units or other partnership interests may dilute the value of the interests of the then-existing common unitholders in our net assets.
In accordance with Delaware law and the provisions of our partnership agreement, we may also issue additional partnership interests that, as determined by our general partner, may have rights to distributions or special voting rights to which the common units are not entitled. In addition, our partnership agreement does not prohibit our subsidiaries from issuing equity interests, which may effectively rank senior to the common units.
Our general partner has the right, which it may from time to time assign in whole or in part to any of its affiliates, to purchase common units, whenever, and on the same terms that, we issue those interests to persons other than our general partner and its affiliates, to the extent necessary to maintain the percentage interest of our general partner and its affiliates, including such interest represented by common units, that existed immediately prior to each issuance.
No Preemptive Rights
The common unitholders do not have preemptive rights under our partnership agreement to acquire additional common units or other partnership interests.
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Merger, Consolidation, Conversion, Sale or Other Disposition of Assets
A merger, consolidation or conversion of us requires the prior consent of our general partner. However, our general partner has no duty or obligation to consent to any merger, consolidation or conversion and may decline to do so free of any duty or obligation whatsoever to us or the limited partners, including any duty to act in the best interest of us or the limited partners.
In addition, our partnership agreement generally prohibits our general partner, without the prior approval of the holders of a unit majority, from causing us to sell, exchange or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets in a single transaction or a series of related transactions, including by way of merger, consolidation or other combination. Our general partner may, however, mortgage, pledge, hypothecate or grant a security interest in all or substantially all of our assets without such approval. Our general partner may also sell all or substantially all of our assets under a foreclosure or other realization upon those encumbrances without such approval. Finally, our general partner may consummate any merger without the prior approval of our unitholders if we are the surviving entity in the transaction, our general partner has received an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability, the transaction would not result in a material amendment to the partnership agreement (other than an amendment that the general partner could adopt without the consent of other partners), each of our units will be an identical unit of our partnership following the transaction and the partnership interests to be issued do not exceed 20% of our outstanding partnership interests immediately prior to the transaction.
If the conditions specified in our partnership agreement are satisfied, our general partner may convert us or any of our subsidiaries into a new limited liability entity or merge us or any of our subsidiaries into, or convey all of our assets to, a newly formed entity, if the sole purpose of that conversion, merger or conveyance is to effect a mere change in our legal form into another limited liability entity, we have received an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters and the governing instruments of the new entity provide the limited partners and our general partner with the same rights and obligations as contained in our partnership agreement. Our unitholders are not entitled to dissenters’ rights of appraisal under our partnership agreement or applicable Delaware law in the event of a conversion, merger or consolidation, a sale of substantially all of our assets or any other similar transaction or event.
Applicable Law; Forum, Venue and Jurisdiction
Our partnership agreement is governed by Delaware law. Our partnership agreement requires that any claims, suits, actions or proceedings:
• | arising out of or relating in any way to the partnership agreement (including any claims, suits or actions to interpret, apply or enforce the provisions of the partnership agreement or the duties, obligations or liabilities among limited partners or of limited partners to us, or the rights or powers of, or restrictions on, the limited partners or us); | ||
• | brought in a derivative manner on our behalf; | ||
• | asserting a claim of breach of a duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of us or our general partner, or owed by our general partner, to us or the limited partners; | ||
• | asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware Act; or | ||
• | asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine | ||
shall be exclusively brought in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if such court does not have subject matter jurisdiction thereof, any other court located in the State of Delaware with subject matter jurisdiction), regardless of whether such claims, suits, actions or proceedings sound in contract, tort, fraud or otherwise, are based
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on common law, statutory, equitable, legal or other grounds, or are derivative or direct claims and irrevocably waives the right to trial by jury.
If any person brings any of the aforementioned claims, suits, actions or proceedings and such person does not obtain a judgment on the merits that substantially achieves, in substance and amount, the full remedy sought, then such person shall be obligated to reimburse us and our affiliates for all fees, costs and expenses of every kind and description, including but not limited to all reasonable attorneys’ fees and other litigation expenses, that the parties may incur in connection with such claim, suit, action or proceeding.
By purchasing a unit, a holder of units is irrevocably consenting to these limitations and provisions regarding claims, suits, actions or proceedings and submitting to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or such other court) in connection with any such claims, suits, actions or proceedings.
Limited Call Right
Limited Call Right
Our partnership agreement provides that at any time our general partner and its affiliates own more than 97% of the limited partner interests of any class, our general partner will have the right, which it may assign in whole or in part to any of its affiliates or to us, to acquire all, but not less than all, of the limited partner interests of the class held by unaffiliated persons, as of a record date to be selected by our general partner, on at least 10, but not more than 60, days’ notice; provided, however, our general partner and its affiliates (including Diamondback) reduce their ownership to below 75% of the outstanding units, the ownership threshold to exercise the call right will be permanently reduced to 80%. The ownership of our general partner and its affiliates (including Diamondback) is currently less than 75% of the outstanding units. Accordingly, the ownership threshold to exercise the call right has been permanently reduced to 80%. The common units and Class B Units are considered limited partner interests of a single class for these provisions. The purchase price in the event of this purchase is the greater of:
• | the highest price paid by our general partner or any of its affiliates for any limited partner interests of the class purchased within the 90 days preceding the date on which our general partner first mails notice of its election to purchase those limited partner interests; and | ||
• | the average of the daily closing prices of the partnership securities of such class over the 20 trading days preceding the date that is three days before the date the notice is mailed. | ||
As a result of our general partner’s right to purchase outstanding limited partner interests, a holder of limited partner interests may have its limited partner interests purchased at an undesirable time or at a price that may be lower than market prices at various times prior to such purchase or lower than a unitholder may anticipate the market price to be in the future.
Right to Inspect Our Books and Records
Our partnership agreement provides that a limited partner can, for a purpose reasonably related to his interest as a limited partner, upon reasonable written demand stating the purpose of such demand and at his own expense, have furnished to him:
• | a current list of the name and last known address of each record holder; | ||
• | copies of our partnership agreement, our certificate of limited partnership, related amendments and powers of attorney under which they have been executed; and | ||
• | such other information regarding our affairs as our general partner determines is just and reasonable. | ||
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Under our partnership agreement, however, each of our limited partners and other persons who acquire interests in our partnership interests, do not have rights to receive information from us or any of the persons we indemnify for the purpose of determining whether to pursue litigation or assist in pending litigation against us or those indemnified persons relating to our affairs, except pursuant to the applicable rules of discovery relating to the litigation commenced by the person seeking information.
Our general partner may, and intends to, keep confidential from the limited partners trade secrets or other information the disclosure of which our general partner determines is not in our best interests or that we are required by law or by agreements with third parties to keep confidential.
Our partnership agreement limits the rights to information that a limited partner would otherwise have under Delaware law.
Listing
Our common units are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “VNOM.” Our Class B Units are not, and will not be, listed on any securities exchange.
Transfer Agent and Registrar
Computershare Trust Company, N.A. serves as registrar and transfer agent for the common units and Class B Units. We pay all fees charged by the transfer agent for transfers of common units and Class B Units, except the following, which must be paid by unitholders:
• | surety bond premiums to replace lost or stolen certificates, taxes and other governmental charges; | ||
• | special charges for services requested by a holder of a common unit or Class B Unit; and | ||
• | other similar fees or charges. | ||
There is no charge to our common unitholders for disbursements of our quarterly cash distributions. We will indemnify the transfer agent, its agents and each of their stockholders, directors, officers and employees against all claims and losses that may arise out of acts performed or omitted for its activities in that capacity, except for any liability due to any gross negligence or intentional misconduct of the indemnified person or entity.
The transfer agent may resign, by notice to us, or be removed by us. The resignation or removal of the transfer agent will become effective upon our appointment of a successor transfer agent and registrar and its acceptance of the appointment. If a successor has not been appointed or has not accepted its appointment within 30 days after notice of the resignation or removal, our general partner may act as the transfer agent and registrar until a successor is appointed.
Transfer of Common Units and Class B Units
By transfer of our units in accordance with our partnership agreement, each transferee of our common units and Class B Units shall be admitted as a limited partner with respect to the class of units transferred when such transfer and admission are reflected in our books and records. Each transferee:
• | represents that the transferee has the capacity, power and authority to become bound by our partnership agreement; | ||
• | automatically agrees to be bound by the terms and conditions of, and is deemed to have executed, our partnership agreement; and | ||
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• | gives the consents and approvals contained in our partnership agreement, such as the approval of all transactions and agreements entered into in connection with our formation. | ||
Notwithstanding the foregoing, Class B Units, together with an equal number of OpCo Units, can only be transferred to affiliates of Diamondback.
A transferee will become a substituted limited partner of our partnership for the transferred units automatically upon the recording of the transfer on our books and records. Our general partner will cause any transfers to be recorded on our books and records from time to time as necessary to accurately reflect the transfers.
We may, at our discretion, treat the nominee holder of a common unit or Class B Unit, as applicable, as the absolute owner. In that case, the beneficial holder’s rights are limited solely to those that it has against the nominee holder as a result of any agreement between the beneficial owner and the nominee holder.
Common units and Class B Units are securities and are transferable according to the laws governing transfer of securities. In addition to other rights acquired upon transfer, the transferor gives the transferee the right to become a limited partner in our partnership for the transferred common units or Class B Units.
Until a common unit or Class B Unit has been transferred on our books, we and the transfer agent may treat the record holder of the unit as the absolute owner for all purposes, except as otherwise required by law or stock exchange regulations.
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