(a) Special rules for acquisitions, mergers, or reorganizations. In the event that a TARP recipient (target) is acquired by an entity that is not an affiliate of the target (acquirer) in an acquisition of any form, including a purchase of substantially all of the assets of the target, such that the acquirer after the transaction would have been treated as a TARP recipient if the target had received the TARP funds immediately after the transaction, acquirer will not become subject to section 111 of EESA merely as a result of the acquisition. If the acquirer is not subject to section 111 of EESA immediately after the transaction, then any employees of the acquirer immediately after the transaction (including target employees who were SEOs or most highly compensated employees immediately prior to the transaction and became acquirer employees as a result of the transaction) will not be subject to section 111 of EESA.

(b) Anti-abuse rule. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this section, if the primary purpose of a transaction involving the acquisition, in any form, of a TARP recipient is to avoid or evade the application of any of the requirements of section 111 of EESA, the acquirer will be treated as a TARP recipient immediately upon such acquisition. In such a case, the SEOs and the most highly compensated employees to whom any of the requirements of section 111 of EESA and this Interim Final Rule apply shall be redetermined as of the date of the acquisition. The redetermined SEOs and most highly compensated employees of the post-acquisition acquirer shall consist of the PEO and PFO of the post-acquisition acquirer, plus the applicable number of next most highly compensated employees determined by aggregating the post-acquisition employees of the acquirer (to include the pre-acquisition employees of the target employed by the acquirer, or anticipated to be employed by the acquirer), and ranking such employees in order of compensation for the immediately preceding fiscal year of the pre-acquisition target or pre-acquisition acquirer, as appropriate. In the case of an asset acquisition, the entity or entities to whom the target's assets are transferred shall be treated as the direct recipient of the financial assistance for purposes of determining which other related entities are treated, in the aggregate, as the TARP recipient under the definition of “TARP recipient” in § 30.1 (Q-1).