Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Loan Agreement
Loan Agreement
This example of a Loan Agreement is primarily meant to be used between companies of the same
group. For that reason the number of covenants is rather limited.
Careful attention has to be given to the tax aspects of these kinds of intra group agreements, to
avoid the possible taxation of abnormal or gratuitous advantages, especially in international
relationships. In this respect, the terms relating to the duration of the Loan Agreement and the
interest rate will be closely scrutinized by the tax authorities.
Before entering into a Loan Agreement, parties should examine the possible impediments that
may exist in relation to whether they can actually be granted, especially in the framework of intra-
group loans. A parent company must, for instance, have a separate corporate benefit in order to
grant a loan to its subsidiary. It is advisable to have such issues of validity examined by a lawyer
(and/or covered by a legal opinion).
between
__________, a company incorporated and existing under the laws of __________ with its
registered office at __________ [address] and registered with the ___________ in __________
under number __________ (the “Lender”)
and
__________, a company incorporated and existing under the laws of Belgium, with its registered
office at __________ [address] and registered with RPR/RPM in __________ [judicial district]
under number __________ (the “Borrower”).
The Lender and the Borrower are hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Parties”.
WHEREAS the Borrower desires to obtain from the Lender a loan in the principal amount of
__________ euro [amount in words] (€ __________) [amount in numbers] (the “Loan”);
WHEREAS the Lender and the Borrower belong to the same group of companies; and
WHEREAS the Parties hereby wish to set forth the terms and conditions agreed between them in
that respect;
Article 1 – Loan
1.1. Subject to the provisions of this Agreement, the Lender shall pay to the order of the
Borrower, on __________ [date] (the “Loan Date”), the principal sum of __________ euro
[amount in words] (€ __________) [amount in numbers] (the “Principal Amount”).
1.2. The Borrower shall use the proceeds of the Loan only for the purpose of its ordinary
business.
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Article 2 – Interest
2.1. Interest shall accrue on the outstanding Principal Amount at the rate of __________ per
cent (__________ %) per annum, compounded annually.
2.2. Interest shall be paid by the Borrower within 8 days following the interest payment date,
such date being each anniversary date of this Agreement. However, should the interest not
be at the Lender’s disposal by the 15th day following the interest payment date, a penalty
will be charged to the Borrower. The penalty will be calculated on the interest overdue at
the interest rate applicable to the loan enhanced by 2 percentage points, and applying from
the first day that followed the interest payment date.
2.3. The interest will be paid gross and without any deduction whatsoever.
2.4. All payments by the Borrower to the Lender hereunder shall be made into a bank account
to be specified by the Lender.
Article 3 – Security
The Loan shall be unsecured but is made with full recourse against the Borrower and his
successors.
Article 4 – Expenses
All legal and out-of-pocket expenses incurred by the Lender in the granting of this Loan and any
subsequent expenses incurred by the Lender thereto will be at the account of the Borrower.
Article 5 – Duration
5.1. The Loan is available to the Borrower for a period of __________ years (the “Term”).
5.2. It shall be renewed for consecutive periods of 2 years unless terminated by either Party by
providing to the other Party such notice of termination 3 months prior to the end of the first
or prior to the end of any consecutive periods, effective at the end of that period,
notwithstanding article 6 hereunder.
Article 6 – Termination
The Lender may cancel the Loan forthwith and without any prior written notice in case of any of the
following events, which constitute default by the Borrower:
(a) failure by the Borrower to pay to the Lender any interest due;
(b) failure by the Borrower to comply with any other term or condition of this Agreement, and if
such failure is capable of being remedied, the failure remains not remedied for more than thirty
days after the Lender gives notice thereof to the Borrower;
(c) the appointment of a receiver over any material part of the assets or undertakings of the
Borrower, which results in a suspension of payments, or an attachment (“uitvoerend
beslag/saisie exécutoire”) being made on a material part of the Borrower’s assets or
undertakings, or any bankruptcy, insolvency or similar legal action instituted by or against the
Borrower;
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(d) the occurrence of any other event which in the reasonable opinion of the Lender would have a
materially adverse effect on the Borrower’s ability to comply with any of its obligations under
this Agreement; or
(e) the transfer of the Borrower’s business (or any part thereof) to a third party outside the group of
companies the Lender and the Borrower originally are part of.
Article 7 – Repayment
The Borrower undertakes that at the end of the Term or at the time of such termination as detailed
in article 6, to repay to the Lender the total outstanding balance of the Principal Amount of the Loan
hereunder including all accrued interest without any further notification or formality.
Article 8 – Assignments
The rights and obligations of either party under this Agreement are not assignable to a third person,
without the prior written consent of the other party.
Article 9 – Covenants
9.1. The Borrower undertakes that, during the term of this Agreement, (i) all its obligations
hereunder will rank at least pari passu with all of its other present and future unsecured
obligations, except for obligations which are preferred by law, and (ii) it will not create or
permit to subsist or have outstanding any charge, pledge or lien whatsoever on or over the
whole or any part of its assets in favour of any other lender, without obtaining the prior
consent in writing of the Lender1.
9.2. The Borrower shall at all times (i) keep all licences, permits, and franchises necessary for
the operation of its business in order and (ii) keep all of its assets which are useful in and
necessary to its business in good working order and condition (ordinary wear and tear
excepted) and make all necessary repairs thereto and replacements thereof.
The Lender, at its own expense, has the right to have the Borrower’s books, accounts, invoices,
receipts and other administrative data inspected by such (objective) persons as the Lender shall
determine (preferably auditors), who shall be approved by the Borrower (and such approval cannot
be unreasonably withheld), so as to verify compliance by the Borrower with the terms and
conditions of this Agreement.
11.1. This Agreement contains the entire agreement and understanding between the Parties with
respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes and replaces all prior agreements or
understandings, whether written or oral, with respect to the same subject matter that are
still in force between the Parties.
11.2. Any amendments to this Agreement, as well as any additions or deletions, shall be agreed
in writing by both the Parties.
11.3. Whenever possible, the provisions of this Agreement shall be interpreted in such a manner
as to be valid and enforceable under the applicable law. However, if one or more provisions
1The clause under (ii) shall in practice only be agreed upon between parent companies and their subsidiaries
and between affiliated companies.
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of this Agreement are found to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, in whole or in part, the
remainder of that provision and of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect as if
such invalid, illegal or unenforceable provision had never been contained herein. Moreover,
in such an event, the Parties shall amend the invalid, illegal or unenforceable provision(s)
or any part thereof and/or agree on a new provision, in such a way as to reflect insofar as
possible the purpose of the invalid, illegal or unenforceable provision(s). Neither party shall
be liable for failure to perform under this Agreement (except for the payment of any
amounts due herein) if such failure is due to causes beyond its reasonable control, such as,
but not limited to, fire, flood, strikes, labour disputes or other industrial disturbances,
(declared or undeclared) war, embargoes, blockades, legal restrictions, riots, insurrections,
governmental regulations or the unavailability of means of transport.
11.4. Any failure or delay by a party in exercising any right under this Agreement, any single or
partial exercise of any right under this Agreement or any partial reaction or absence of
reaction by a party in the event of a violation by the other party of one or more provisions of
this Agreement, shall not operate or be interpreted as a waiver (either express or implied, in
whole or in part) of that party’s rights under this Agreement or under the said provision(s),
nor shall it preclude any further exercise of any such rights. Any waiver of a right must be
express and in writing. If there has been an express written waiver of a right following a
specific failure by a party, this waiver cannot be invoked by the other party in favour of a
new failure, similar to the prior one, or in favour of any other kind of failure.
11.5. All notices and other forms of communication required under this Agreement must be in
writing and delivered or sent to the receiving party (i) by hand through a reputable courier
service, (ii) by fax with a confirmation report, or (iii) by registered mail (return receipt
requested) to the address indicated below:
Any notice shall be considered to have been delivered to the receiving party’s address on
the date of delivery if delivered in person, upon confirmation if sent by fax and 3 working
days following the date of mailing if sent by registered mail.
11.6. Either party may change the address to which notices are to be delivered or sent by giving
the other party written notice to this effect in the manner set forth herein.
11.7. Each party shall bear its own costs (including lawyers’ fees, costs and expenses) for the
preparation and negotiation of this Agreement.
11.8. This Agreement is executed in separate copies, each of which is deemed an original and all
of which taken together constitute one and the same agreement. Translations into any
language other than English may be made but are for the sake of convenience only, even
when executed by one or both Parties.
12.1. All issues, questions and disputes concerning the validity, interpretation, enforcement,
performance and termination of this Agreement shall be governed by and construed in
accordance with Belgian law, and no effect shall be given to any other choice-of-law or
conflict-of-laws rules or provisions (Belgian, foreign or international), that would cause the
laws of any other jurisdiction to be applicable.
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12.2. All disputes concerning the validity, interpretation, enforcement, performance and
termination of this Agreement shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the
__________ [judicial district] courts.
Executed in __________ [place] on __________ [date] in two original copies, each party
acknowledging receipt of one.
______________________________ [name]
______________________________ [title]
______________________________ [date]
______________________________ [signature]
______________________________ [name]
______________________________ [title]
______________________________ [date]
______________________________ [signature]