A parent company guarantee in the form considered (requiring the guarantor to 'perform or cause to be performed those obligations or discharge those liabilities' upon the beneficiary forming a reasonable opinion of default) does not operate as a 'pay now, argue later' instrument. The guarantor is required to step in and perform the principal's actual obligations, not to provisionally pay disputed amounts. Such a clause does not extend to payment obligations where the guarantee separately addresses payment, and cannot be invoked after termination of the underlying contract where the clause expressly limits the guarantor's obligation to the period 'until the termination of the Subcontract'. The guarantor retains the right under clause 9.2 to assert any defence, set-off or counterclaim available to the principal.
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