ALLAN L. GROPPER, Bankruptcy Judge.
Before the Court is the motion (the "Motion") of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (the "Committee") for a declaration that the prepetition senior noteholders (the "Secured Noteholders") were not granted a lien on certain assets of Debtor K-V Discovery Solutions, Inc.
K-V Discovery Solutions, Inc. and several affiliates (the "Debtors") filed for Chapter 11 relief on August 4, 2012. As of the Petition Date and since then, their principal business has been the manufacture and distribution of a drug called Makena used to prevent premature births — a product previously known as Gestiva or, chemically, as 17 α-hydroxyprogesterone caproate. The Debtors' rights in Makena derive from a contract with the original developer of the drug, Hologic, Inc. and a Hologic affiliate (collectively, "Hologic"). The history of this contract, as detailed by the Secured Noteholders in their Objection to the Motion, is useful in understanding the parties' respective interests.
The effect on the Hologic Contract was as dramatic as the Debtors' financial collapse. The Debtors were unable to make payment of the purchase price due under the Contract, and in an agreement dated January 8, 2010,
(Id.) New definitions were agreed to, including definitions for "Gestiva Inventory" and "Receivables." (Id. at ¶ 4, amending § 1.1.)
On February 10, 2011, the Hologic Contract was again amended pursuant to the Third Amendment. (See Docket No. 563 at Exh. D.) The Third Amendment confirmed Hologic's security interest and lien in and to the Purchased Assets, again excluding the Gestiva Inventory, the Receivables, and the proceeds of the Gestiva Inventory and the Receivables. (Id. at ¶ 17, amending § 8.12.) The Amendment provided that Hologic could protect its security interest with a UCC-1 filing and that the UCC-1 would be released on the Lien Release Date when the Final Payment was made. (Id.) It was agreed that if the Debtors breached their payment obligations prior to the Final Payment Date, then Hologic could elect either (i) to sell the Purchased Assets pursuant to its rights as a secured party under the Contract and the Uniform Commercial Code or (ii) to require the Debtors to retransfer the assets to Hologic. (Id. at ¶ 18, amending § 12.4(a)-(b).) Under that latter election, the Debtors would be required to "convey and assign to the Seller . . . all of the Acquiror's and its Affiliates' right, title and interest in and to the following assets . . .
The Debtors' financial condition and prospects improved by early 2011, when the FDA approved Makena and granted the drug an orphan drug marketing designation for a period of seven years.
The Senior Notes were secured pursuant to a Pledge and Security Agreement dated March 17, 2011 (the "PSA"). The PSA details a broad and comprehensive list of the Debtors' assets that were secured, but for purposes of this dispute the question is the construction of the exclusions specified in the PSA in two subparagraphs. Section 2.2(a) of the PSA provided that:
"Excluded Assets" are defined in the Indenture under which the Notes were issued, also dated March 17, 2012, as any "lease, license, contract or other property as to which the grant of a security interest is (A) prohibited by the applicable governing agreement, or would give any other party thereto a right to consent or terminate its obligations thereunder, or would otherwise result in a default, breach or violation thereof, [or] (B) would constitute or result in the abandonment, invalidation or unenforceability of any rights, title or interest of any obligor thereunder. . . ." (Indenture, Docket No. 563 at Exh. I, § 1.01.) The definition of Excluded Assets goes on to state, "For the avoidance of doubt, Makena and the Company's rights therein shall not be Collateral until such time as the Lien on such assets in favor of Hologic, Inc. granted pursuant to the Makena Agreement is terminated." (Id.) "Makena" in turn is defined in the Indenture as "Makena™ (hydroxyprogesterone caproate injection)." (Id.) "Makena Agreement" is defined as that certain asset purchase agreement, dated as of January 16, 2008, as amended, "providing for the Company's acquisition of Makena." (Id.)
The identification of the exclusions from the security interest granted in the PSA then has a second subparagraph that does not incorporate the definition of "Excluded Assets" from the Indenture. Section 2.2(b) of the PSA provides:
(PSA, Docket No. 514 at Exh. 4, § 2.2.) Section 9.04(C) of the Indenture, in turn, provides that once Hologic has been fully paid, the Secured Note Holders will receive a security interest in "all of the Company's interests in Makena." It reads:
(Indenture, Docket No. 563 at Exh. I, § 9.04(C).)
In order to decide this dispute involving the extent of the Secured Noteholders' security interest, we need only apply the plain and unambiguous language of the PSA, the document that granted them the security interest that they assert. See N.Y. U.C.C. 9-203(b)(3)(A);
In their objection to the Creditors Committee's motion, the Secured Noteholders contend nevertheless that the exclusion in the PSA was limited and that the exclusion in the PSA excludes "only K-V's executory rights as of the petition date arising under the Hologic Agreement, as amended, and the Makena trademark or trade name for the pharmaceutical product hydroxyprogesterone caproate injection." (Objection, Docket No. at 562, ¶ 79.) The first of these two propositions, that the exclusion relating to the Hologic Agreement extends only to the Debtors' "executory rights as of the petition date arising under the Hologic Agreement, as amended," makes no sense whatsoever. Sections 2.2(b) of the PSA and 9.04(C) of the Indenture provide that once Hologic is fully paid, the Noteholders will receive a lien on the "Excluded Assets." Once Hologic was paid off, the Hologic Agreement would be fully performed and no longer executory, and there would be no "executory rights in the Agreement" available to transfer to the Noteholders. Limitation of the security interest to executory rights conflicts with and renders ineffectual the provision of the PSA requiring the transfer of rights after Hologic has been paid in full, contrary to the well-established rule that the provisions of a contract must be read so as to give effect to all of them. As the Second Circuit said just last week:
Weeks Marine, Inc. v. American S.S. Steamship Owners Mut. Protection and Indem. Assoc., Inc., No. 12-1752-cv, 2013 WL 466271, *2 (2d Cir. Feb. 8, 2013) (summary order).
The second contention of the Secured Noteholders is that the reference to Makena in the Indenture is limited in all respects to the trademark or trade name Makena because the word is defined as Makena™ in the Indenture. They cite no support for the proposition that the insertion of a "trademark" sign next to a word somehow limits construction of that word to its trademark and not to its ordinary meaning. Nor can the proposition be sustained. If a cautious supplier offers to sell a customer a Coca Cola™, the customer can reasonably expect to receive a Coca Cola and not a trademark. A court must "ascertain [the intent of the parties] from the plain meaning of the language employed in the agreements. . . ." Crane Co. v. Coltec Indus., Inc., 171 F.3d 733, 737 (2d Cir. 1999) (quotation and citation omitted) (applying New York law).
In any event, the definition of Makena™ in the Indenture cannot be imported into the PSA and reconciled with the plain and unambiguous statement in § 2.2(b) that the Company does not grant a security interest in "any of its right, title or interest in Makena or the Makena Agreement until such time as specified in § 9.04(c) of the Indenture. . . ." Section 2.2(b) applies "[n]otwithstanding anything herein or in the Indenture to the contrary. . . ." Even if the Noteholders' implausible contention that the use of the™ sign in the definition of Makena somehow limited the use of the term "Makena" in the Indenture to the trademark, it cannot be imported into the plain exclusion of "Makena" in the PSA that prevails "notwithstanding anything in the Indenture to the contrary."
The Noteholders observe that the assets pledged to them were described in 27 categories and that when Hologic sold Gestiva to the Debtors, they used 24 categories of property to describe every possible aspect of the drug. There is no rule, however, that documents have to be drafted with 24 or 27 subdivisions, categories, or repetitive provisions. The exclusion of "any of its right, title or interest in Makena or the Makena Agreement" adequately describes the parties' intent. The Secured Noteholders also argue that the heading of § 2.2(b) of the PSA describes the exclusion as "limited." It was limited; it would last only until Hologic was paid off, which at the time the Notes were issued was only about 16 to 28 months in the future. (See Second Amendment, Docket No. 22 at Exh. C, ¶ 2, amending § 4.2(b).)
Indeed, the limited nature of the exclusion confirms that the exclusion of Makena from the Noteholders' lien should be read as coextensive with the security interest granted to Hologic. It will be recalled that the definition of "Excluded Assets" was not limited to Makena but included any "contract or other property" as to which the grant of a security interest would "result in the abandonment, invalidation, or unenforceability of any rights, title or interest of any obligor thereunder." The sentence that mentioned "Makena and the Company's rights therein" followed this more general language and was included "for the avoidance of doubt." (Indenture, Docket No. 563 at Exh. I, § 1.01.) It will also be recalled that the Hologic Agreement not only gave Hologic a security interest on the entire panoply of rights and interests in Gestiva/Makena that it had sold to the Debtors, except for Gestiva Inventory and Receivables. It also provided that if the Debtors defaulted under the contract, Hologic could demand that the Debtors retransfer all of the interests in Makena free and clear of all Encumbrances. Obviously, the Debtors could not grant liens in the Purchased Assets — which would include Makena and the assets relating thereto — to the Noteholders while the Hologic Contract was outstanding without risking a claim by Hologic that the Debtors had breached the agreement by impeding its obligation to retransfer the assets, if Hologic demanded it, free and clear of Encumbrances. On the other hand, once Hologic had been paid off, and its lien terminated, the impediment to a grant of a lien to the Noteholders would be removed, and the Indenture and Pledge and Security Agreement thus provide explicitly that then "Makena and the Company's rights therein" shall be considered Collateral. (See id.; see also id. at § 9.04(C).) The existence of the Hologic Lien and Hologic's rights under the Hologic Agreement to have assets retransferred without Encumbrances also explain why the Secured Noteholders did not receive a second lien on Makena or the Makena Agreement, which would have put them in a better position because it would have been valid once Hologic was repaid even in the event of an intervening bankruptcy filing by the Debtors.
Notably, the provisions in the Hologic Agreement on Encumbrances do not appear to extend to the Gestiva Inventory, providing additional support for the proposition that the liens of Hologic and the Secured Creditors were intended to be complementary. Section 12.4(d) of the First Amendment to the Hologic Contract states that Hologic could purchase the Gestiva Inventory as part of a retransfer, and recognizes that the Debtors may have granted a security interest in the Gestiva Inventory: "Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, the Seller will take all actions necessary to assure that any Lien on the Gestiva Inventory arising on or after the Transfer Date will not prohibit the Acquiror's compliance with the provisions of this Section [providing Hologic with the opportunity to purchase the Gestiva Inventory]." (See Docket No. 22 at Exh. B, ¶ 30, providing for a new § 12.4(d).)
In conclusion, it is evident that the documents did not provide the Secured Noteholders with a prepetition lien on the Debtors' right, title, or interest in Makena and the Makena Agreement, other than the Makena Inventory and Receivables. The documents contain no ambiguities that either require or permit the consideration of parole evidence. See W.W.W. Assocs. v. Giancontieri, 77 N.Y.2d 157, 163, 565 N.Y.S.2d 440, 443 (1990) ("[E]xtrinsic and parol evidence is not admissible to create an ambiguity in a written agreement which is complete and clear and unambiguous on its face.") (citation and quotation omitted). The Unsecured Creditors Committee is directed to settle an order on three business days' notice to counsel for the Secured Noteholders, the Indenture Trustee, and the Debtors.