Presidio Property Trust, Inc S-3, filed Apr 26, 2024
Presidio Property Trust, Inc. (SQFT)
As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 26, 2024
Registration No. 333-
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM S-3
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
PRESIDIO PROPERTY TRUST, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
|
Maryland |
33-0841255 | |
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) |
4995 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 300
San Diego, California 92123
(760) 471-8536
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)
Jack K. Heilbron
Chief Executive Officer and President
4995 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 300
San Diego, CA 92123
(760) 471-8536
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
Copies to:
Darrin M. Ocasio, Esq.
Avital Perlman, Esq.
Sichenzia Ross Ference Carmel LLP
1185 Avenue of the Americas, 31st Floor
New York, New York 10036
Tel: (212) 930-9700
Fax: (212) 930-9725
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: From time to time after the effective date of this Registration Statement.
If the only securities being registered on this Form are being offered pursuant to dividend or interest reinvestment plans, please check the following box: ☐
If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, other than securities offered only in connection with dividend or interest reinvestment plans, check the following box: ☒
If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering: ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a registration statement pursuant to General Instruction I.D. or a post-effective amendment thereto that shall become effective upon filing with the Commission pursuant to Rule 462(e) under the Securities Act, check the following box. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment to a registration statement filed pursuant to General Instruction I.D. filed to register additional securities or additional classes of securities pursuant to Rule 413(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ |
| Non-accelerated filer | ☒ | Smaller reporting company | ☒ |
| Emerging growth company | ☐ |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐
The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until this Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.
Pursuant to Rule 415(a)(6), the securities being registered hereunder include $185,601,000 of unsold securities which remain unsold as of the date hereof (collectively, the “Unsold Securities”) previously registered by the registrant’s registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-251779), which was originally filed with the Commission on December 29, 2020, and declared effective by the Commission on April 27, 2021 (the “Prior Registration Statement”). The aggregate filing fee paid in connection with such Unsold Securities was $20,249.07. Pursuant to Rule 415(a)(6) under the Securities Act, (i) the registration fee applicable to the Unsold Securities is being carried forward to this registration statement and will continue to be applied to the Unsold Securities, and (ii) the offering of the Unsold Securities registered on the Prior Registration Statement will be deemed terminated as of the date of effectiveness of this registration statement. If the registrant sells any of the Unsold Securities pursuant to the Prior Registration Statement after the date of the initial filing, and prior to the date of effectiveness, of this registration statement, the registrant will file a pre-effective amendment to this registration statement, which will reduce the number of Unsold Securities included on this registration statement.
The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell the securities until the Registration Statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, of which this prospectus is a part, is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.
SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED APRIL 26, 2024
Preliminary Prospectus
PRESIDIO PROPERTY TRUST, INC.
$50,000,000
SERIES A COMMON STOCK
PREFERRED STOCK
WARRANTS
UNITS
We may offer and sell from time to time, in one or more series, any one of the following securities of Presidio Property Trust, Inc. (“Presidio” or the “Company”), for total gross proceeds of up to $50,000,000:
| ● | Series A Common Stock; |
| ● | preferred stock; |
| ● | warrants to purchase our securities; and |
| ● | units comprised of the foregoing securities. |
We may offer and sell these securities separately or together, in one or more series or classes and in amounts, at prices and on terms described in one or more offerings. We may offer securities through underwriting syndicates managed or co-managed by one or more underwriters or dealers, through agents or directly to purchasers. The prospectus supplement for each offering of securities will describe in detail the plan of distribution for that offering. For general information about the distribution of securities offered, please see “Plan of Distribution” in this prospectus.
Presidio’s Series A Common Stock, 9.375% Series D Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock (the “Series D Preferred Stock”) and Series A Common Stock Purchase Warrants are traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “SQFT,” “SQFTP,” and “SQFTW,” respectively. If we decide to seek a listing of any other class or series of common stock, any preferred stock, warrants or units offered by this prospectus, the related prospectus supplement will disclose the exchange or market on which the securities will be listed, if any, or where we have made an application for listing, if any.
As of April 23, 2024, the aggregate market value of our outstanding voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates was approximately $16.4 million, based on an aggregate of 14,463,802 shares of Series A Common Stock outstanding, of which 12,247,561 shares were held by non-affiliates, and a per share price of $1.34 for the Series A Common Stock, the closing price of our Series A Common Stock on March 20, 2024, as reported on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Pursuant to General Instruction I.B.6 of Form S-3, in no event will we sell securities in a public primary offering with a value exceeding more than one-third of our public float in any 12-month period so long as our public float remains below $75.0 million. We have not sold any securities pursuant to General Instruction I.B.6 of Form S-3 during the 12 calendar months prior to and including the date of this prospectus.
Investing in our securities involves certain risks. You should carefully read and consider the section entitled “Risk Factors” on page 11 and the risk factors included in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and, if any, in the relevant prospectus supplement. We urge you to carefully read this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement, together with the documents we incorporate by reference, before making your investment decision.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The date of this prospectus is , 2024.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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This prospectus is part of a registration statement on Form S-3 that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, utilizing a “shelf” registration process. Under this shelf registration process, we may offer and sell, either individually or in combination, in one or more offerings, any of the securities described in this prospectus, for total gross proceeds of up to $50,000,000. This prospectus provides you with a general description of the securities we may offer. Each time we offer securities under this prospectus, we will provide a prospectus supplement to this prospectus that will contain more specific information about the terms of that offering. We may also authorize one or more free writing prospectuses to be provided to you that may contain material information relating to these offerings. The prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you may also add, update or change any of the information contained in this prospectus or in the documents that we have incorporated by reference into this prospectus. In this prospectus, unless the context indicates otherwise, the terms “Presidio,” “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Presidio Property Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation.
We urge you to read carefully this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectuses we have authorized for use in connection with a specific offering, together with the information incorporated herein by reference as described under the heading “Incorporation of Certain Information by Reference,” before investing in any of the securities being offered. You should rely only on the information contained in, or incorporated by reference into, this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement, along with the information contained in any free writing prospectuses we have authorized for use in connection with a specific offering. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different or additional information. This prospectus is an offer to sell only the securities offered hereby, but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so.
The information appearing in this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus is accurate only as of the date on the front of the document and any information we have incorporated by reference is accurate only as of the date of the document incorporated by reference, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement or any related free writing prospectus, or any sale of a security.
This prospectus contains summaries of certain provisions contained in some of the documents described herein, but reference is made to the actual documents for complete information. All of the summaries are qualified in their entirety by the actual documents. Copies of some of the documents referred to herein have been filed, will be filed or will be incorporated by reference as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and you may obtain copies of those documents as described below under the section entitled “Where You Can Find More Information.”
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement and the documents incorporated by reference herein include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and Section 21B of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus are forward-looking statements. The words “believe,” “may” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, business prospectus, growth strategy and liquidity. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions and our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements for many reasons, including the factors described in the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC.
The forward-looking statements speak as of the date made and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results or developments may differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, and we undertake no obligation to update any such statements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
You should carefully read the factors described in the “Risk Factors” section of any prospectus supplement or other offering material, as well as any risks described in the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus for a description of certain risks that could, among other things, cause our actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements. You should understand that it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors and that this list should not be considered a complete statement of all potential risks and uncertainties. You should also realize that if the assumptions we have made prove inaccurate or if unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the views and estimates included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus.
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ABOUT PRESIDIO PROPERTY TRUST, INC.
Overview and Corporate Structure
Presidio Property Trust, Inc. (“we”, “our”, “us” or the “Company”) is an internally-managed real estate investment trust (“REIT”). We were incorporated in the State of California on September 28, 1999, and in August 2010, we reincorporated as a Maryland corporation. In October 2017, we changed our name from “NetREIT, Inc.” to “Presidio Property Trust, Inc.” We are a publicly traded company on Nasdaq, and registered under the Exchange Act. Through the Company, its subsidiaries and its partnerships, we own 12 commercial properties in fee interest and have partial interests in two commercial properties through our interests in various affiliates in which we serve as general partner, member and/or manager. Each of the limited partnerships is referred to as a “DownREIT.” In each DownREIT, we have the right, through put and call options, to require our co-investors to exchange their interests for shares of our Series A Common Stock, or our common stock, at a stated price after a defined period (generally five years from the date they first invested in the entity’s real property), the occurrence of a specified event or a combination thereof. The Company is a limited partner in five partnerships and sole shareholder in one corporation, which entities purchase and leaseback model homes to and from homebuilders.
Market and Business Strategy
The Company invests in a diverse multi-tenant portfolio of real estate assets. Beginning in 2015, we began to focus our commercial portfolio primarily on office and industrial properties (“Office/Industrial Properties”) and model homes (“Model Home Properties”), and have been managing the portfolio to transition out of retail properties. Our commercial properties are currently located in Colorado, North Dakota, California, Maryland and Texas. Our commercial property tenant base is highly diversified and consists of approximately 155 individual commercial tenants with an average remaining lease term of approximately 3.1 years as of December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2023, one commercial tenant represented 6.43% of our annualized based rent, while our ten largest tenants represented approximately 34.48% of our annualized base rent. On December 31, 2022, the lease for our former largest tenant at that time, Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. (“Halliburton”), expired. Halliburton was located in our Shea Center II property in Colorado, and made up approximately 8.57% of our annual base rent as of December 31, 2022. Halliburton did not renew the lease, which expired on December 31, 2022, and we placed approximately $1.1 million in a reserve account with our lender to cover future mortgage payments, if necessary, none of which has been utilized as of December 31, 2023. Our management team is working to fill the 45,535 square foot space as quickly as possible, and has leased approximately 20% of the space to a tenant during 2023 and has reviewed various third party proposals for the remaining 80%. As of December 31, 2023, none of the third-party proposals have fit into our long-term plans. We will continue to work on filling the space during 2024. In addition, our commercial property tenant base has limited exposure to any single industry. For more information, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our main objective is to maximize long-term stockholder value through the management, leasing and selective redevelopment of our existing commercial property portfolio, and selectively acquiring future properties which are anticipated to provide accretive economic returns. We focus on regionally dominant markets across the United States which we believe have attractive growth dynamics driven in part by important economic factors such as strong employment growth; net in-migration of a highly educated workforce; a large student population; the stability provided by major healthcare systems; government or other large institutional employer presence; low rates of unemployment; and lower cost of living versus gateway markets. We seek to maximize returns through investments in markets with limited supply, high barriers to entry, and stable and growing employment drivers. Our model home portfolio supports the objective of maximizing stockholder value by focusing on purchasing new single-family model homes and leasing them back to experienced homebuilders. We operate the model home portfolio in markets where we can diversify by geography, builder size, and model home purchase price.
Recent Developments
Significant Transactions in 2023 and 2022
Acquisitions during the year ended December 31, 2023:
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We acquired 40 Model Home Properties and leased them back to the homebuilders under triple net leases during the year ended December 31, 2023. The purchase price for these properties was $21.9 million. The purchase price consisted of cash payments of $6.6 million and mortgage notes of $15.3 million. |
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Acquisitions during the year ended December 31, 2022:
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We acquired 31 Model Home Properties and leased them back to the homebuilders under triple net leases during the year ended December 31, 2022. The purchase price for the properties was $15.6 million. The purchase price consisted of cash payments of $4.8 million and mortgage notes of $10.8 million. |
We review our portfolio of investment properties for value appreciation potential on an ongoing basis, and dispose of any properties that no longer satisfy our requirements in this regard, taking into account tax and other considerations. The proceeds from any such property sale, after repayment of any associated mortgage or repayment of secured or unsecured indebtedness, are available for investing in properties that we believe will have a greater likelihood of future price appreciation.
Dispositions during the year ended December 31, 2023:
During year ended December 31, 2023, we disposed of the following properties:
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22 model homes for approximately $11.7 million and the Company recognized a gain of approximately $3.2 million. |
Dispositions during the year ended December 31, 2022:
During year ended December 31, 2022, we disposed of the following properties:
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World Plaza, which was sold on March 11, 2022, for approximately $10.0 million and the Company recognized a loss of approximately $0.3 million. |
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31 model homes for approximately $17.5 million and the Company recognized a gain of approximately $5.4 million. |
Model Home Properties
Our Model Home properties are located in five states throughout the United States. As of December 31, 2023, we owned 110 model homes with a net book value of approximately $50.8 million.
Our Model Home business was started in March 2010 through the acquisition of certain assets and rights from Dubose Model Homes USA. Our model home business (“NetREIT Dubose”) is engaged in the business of acquiring model homes from third party homebuilders in sale-leaseback transactions whereby a homebuilder sells the Model Home to NetREIT Dubose and leases back the Model Home under a triple net lease (“NNN”) for use in marketing its residential development.
We currently operate six limited partnerships in connection with NetREIT Dubose: Dubose Model Home Investors #202, LP (“DMHI #202”), Dubose Model Home Investors #203, LP (“DMHI #203”), Dubose Model Home Investors #204, LP (“DMHI #204”), Dubose Model Home Investors #205, LP (“DMHI #205”), Dubose Model Home Investors #206, LP (“DMHI #206”), and Dubose Model Home Investors #207, LP (“DMHI #207”). The limited partnerships typically raise private equity to invest in Model Home Properties and lease them back to the homebuilders. When the model homes’ lease ends, these properties are sold to independent third parties as residential homes. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned:
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10.3% of DMHI #202, which raised $2.9 million, and was formed to raise up to $5.0 million through the sale of partnership units. |
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2.3% of DMHI #203, which raised $4.4 million, and was formed to raise up to $5.0 million through the sale of partnership units. |
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3.6% of DMHI #204, which raised $2.8 million, and was formed to raise up to $5.0 million through the sale of partnership units. |
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4.0% of DMHI #205, which has raised $2.5 million, and was formed in 2019 to raise up to $5.0 million through the sale of partnership units. |
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8.5% of DMHI #206, which has raised $1.2 million, and was formed in 2020 to raise up to $5.0 million through the sale of partnership units. This partnership continues to raise capital through the sale of additional limited partnership units. |
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3.8% of DMHI #207, which has raised $2.6 million, and was formed in 2023 to raise up to $5.0 million through the sale of partnership units. This partnership continues to raise capital through the sale of additional limited partnership units. |
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100% of NetREIT Model Homes, Inc. |
We provide management services to our limited partnerships through our wholly-owned subsidiaries, NetREIT Advisors, LLC (“NetREIT Advisors”) and Dubose Advisors LLC (“Dubose Advisors”), which we refer to collectively as the Advisors. For their services, each of the Advisors receives ongoing management fees, acquisition fees and has the right to receive certain other fees when a partnership sells or otherwise disposes of a model home. NetREIT Advisors manages NetREIT Dubose and NetREIT Model Homes, Inc. and Dubose Advisors manages DMHI #202, DMHI #203, DMHI #204, DMHI #205, DMHI #206, and DMHI #207.
Share Repurchase Program
While we will continue to pursue value-creating investments, the Board of Directors believes there is significant embedded value in our assets that is yet to be realized by the market. Therefore, returning capital to stockholders through a repurchase program is an attractive use of capital currently. On September 17, 2021, the Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program of up to $10 million of outstanding shares of our Series A Common Stock, which expired in September 2022. On September 15, 2022, the Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program of up to $6.0 million of outstanding shares of our Series A Common Stock and up to $4.0 million of our Series D Preferred Stock, which expired in September 2023. During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company repurchased 196,631 shares of our Series A Common Stock at an average price of approximately $1.59 per share, including a commission of $0.035 per share, and 6,013 shares of our Series D Preferred Stock at an average price of approximately $20.31 per share, including a commission of $0.035 per share, for a total cost of $313,578 for the Series A Common Stock and $122,141 for the Series D Preferred Stock. In November 2023, the Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program of up to $6.0 million of outstanding shares of our Series A Common Stock and up to $4.0 million of our Series D Preferred Stock which shall expire in November 2024. During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company repurchased 23,041 shares of our Series D Preferred Stock at an average price of approximately $15.97 per share, including a commission of $0.035 per share, and no shares of our Series A Common Stock, for a total cost of $0.2 million for the Series D Preferred Stock. The repurchased shares will be treated as authorized but unissued shares of stock in accordance with Maryland law and shown as a reduction of stockholders’ equity at cost.
At-the-Market Offering
On November 8, 2021, we entered into an At-the-Market Offering Agreement (the “Sales Agreement”) with The Benchmark Company, LLC (the “Manager”) pursuant to which the Manager will act as the Company’s sales agent with respect to the issuance and sale of up to $4,399,000 of our Series A Common Stock from time to time in an at-the-market public offering. Sales of our common stock, if any, through the Manager, will be by any method that is deemed to be an “at-the-market” equity offering as defined in Rule 415 under the Securities Act, as amended, including sales made directly on or through Nasdaq or any other existing trading market for the common stock in the U.S. or to or through a market maker. The Manager may also sell the common stock in privately negotiated transactions, subject to our prior approval. The price per share will be at prevailing market prices. The Company will pay the Manager a commission equal to 3.5% of the gross proceeds from the sale of the Series A Common Stock pursuant to the Sales Agreement. As of December 31, 2023, there have been no sales under the Sales Agreement.
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Sponsorship of Special Purpose Acquisition Company
The Company served as the sponsor of Murphy Canyon Acquisition Corp., a former special purpose acquisition company (“Murphy Canyon” or the “SPAC”), since the SPAC’s creation in October 2021 until its initial business combination in September 2023. Certain officers and directors of the Company also served as officers and directors of the SPAC during this period. On September 22, 2023, Murphy Canyon completed its business combination with Conduit Pharmaceuticals Limited (“Conduit Pharma”) and changed its name to Conduit Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“Conduit”). Immediately prior to the business combination, the Company owned approximately 65% of the SPAC’s outstanding shares of common stock. Upon consummation of the business combination, the SPAC’s shares of Class B common stock were converted into shares of its Class A common stock and the shares of Class A common stock were then reclassified as a single class of Conduit common stock. As a result of the business combination, the Company was issued (i) 3,306,250 shares of Conduit’s common stock due to the conversion of the shares of the SPAC’s Class B common stock into shares of the SPAC’s Class A common stock and then reclassification into shares of Conduit common stock, (ii) 754,000 shares of Conduit common stock, which prior to the business combination were shares of the SPAC’s Class A common stock and (iii) private warrants to purchase 754,000 shares of Conduit common stock, which prior to the business combination were warrants to purchase 754,000 shares of the SPAC’s Class A common stock. Also in the business combination, shareholders and debtholders of Conduit Pharma were issued 65,000,000 shares of Conduit common stock. Immediately following the consummation of the business combination, the Company transferred 45,000 shares of Conduit common stock and warrants to purchase 45,000 shares of Conduit common stock to the SPAC’s independent directors as compensation for their services. As a result, the Company owned approximately 6.5% of Conduit’s common stock immediately following the business combination and currently owns approximately 6.3% of Conduit’s common stock. In connection with the business combination, the Company’s officers and directors who also served as officers and directors of the SPAC resigned from the SPAC, with the exception of the Company’s former Chief Financial Officer who resigned from the Company.
Warrant Dividend
In January 2022, we distributed the Series A Warrants to holders of our Series A Common Stock as of the record date of January 14, 2022. The Series A Warrants and the shares of Series A Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of the Series A Warrants were registered on a registration statement that was filed with the SEC and was declared effective January 21, 2022. The Series A Warrants commenced trading on Nasdaq under the symbol “SQFTW” on January 24, 2022 and were distributed on that date to persons who held shares of common stock and existing outstanding warrants as of the January 14, 2022 record date, or who acquired shares of Series A Common Stock in the market following the record date, and who continued to hold such shares at the close of trading on January 21, 2022. The Series A Warrants give the holder the right to purchase one share of Series A Common Stock at $7.00 per share, for a period of five years. Should warrant holders not exercise the Series A Warrants during that holding period, the Series A Warrants will automatically convert to 1/10 of a share of Series A Common Stock at expiration, rounded down to the nearest number of whole shares.
Preferred Stock Series D
On June 15, 2021, we completed an offering of 800,000 shares of our 9.375% Series D Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock (“Series D Preferred Stock”) for cash consideration of $25.00 per share to a syndicate of underwriters led by The Benchmark Company, LLC, as representative, resulting in approximately $18.1 million in net proceeds, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and the offering expenses. We granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 120,000 shares of Series D Preferred Stock to cover over-allotments, which they exercised on June 17, 2021, resulting in approximately $2.7 million in net proceeds, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and the offering expenses. In total, we issued 920,000 shares of Series D Preferred Stock with net proceeds of approximately $20.5 million, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and the offering expenses.
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Holders of shares of the Series D Preferred Stock are entitled to receive cumulative cash dividends at a rate of 9.375% per annum of the $25.00 per share liquidation preference (equivalent to $2.34375 per annum per share). Dividends are payable monthly on the 15th day of each month (each, a “dividend payment date”), provided that if any dividend payment date is not a business day, then the dividend that would otherwise have been payable on that dividend payment date may be paid on the next succeeding business day without adjustment in the amount of the dividend. Holders of shares of the Series D Preferred Stock will generally have no voting rights. However, if the Company does not pay dividends on the Series D Preferred Stock for eighteen or more monthly dividend periods (whether or not consecutive), the holders of the Series D Preferred Stock (voting separately as a class with the holders of all other classes or series of the Company’s preferred stock it may issue upon which like voting rights have been conferred and are exercisable and which are entitled to vote as a class with the Series D Preferred Stock in the election referred to below) will be entitled to vote for the election of two additional directors to serve on the Company’s Board of Directors until the Company pays, or declares and sets apart funds for the payment of, all dividends that it owes on the Series D Preferred Stock, subject to certain limitations. In addition, the affirmative vote of the holders of at least two-thirds of the outstanding shares of Series D Preferred Stock (voting together as a class with all other series of parity preferred stock the Company may issue upon which like voting rights have been conferred and are exercisable) is required at any time for the Company to (i) authorize or issue any class or series of its stock ranking senior to the Series D Preferred Stock with respect to the payment of dividends or the distribution of assets on liquidation, dissolution or winding up or (ii) to amend any provision of the Company charter so as to materially and adversely affect any rights of the Series D Preferred Stock or to take certain other actions.
In the event of our voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution or winding up, the holders of shares of Series D Preferred Stock will be entitled to be paid out of the assets we have legally available for distribution to our stockholders, subject to the preferential rights of the holders of any class or series of stock we may issue ranking senior to the Series D Preferred Stock with respect to the distribution of assets upon liquidation, dissolution or winding up, a liquidation preference of $25.00 per share, plus any accumulated and unpaid dividends to, but not including, the date of payment, before any distribution of assets is made to holders of our common stock or any other class or series of our stock we may issue that ranks junior to the Series D Preferred Stock as to liquidation rights. Commencing on or after June 15, 2026, we may redeem, at our option, the Series D Preferred Stock, in whole or in part, at a cash redemption price equal to $25.00 per share, plus any accumulated and unpaid dividends to, but not including the redemption date. Prior to June 15, 2026, upon a Change of Control (as defined in the Articles Supplementary classifying and designating the Series D Preferred Stock), we may redeem, at our option, the Series D Preferred Stock, in whole or part, at a cash redemption price of $25.00 per share, plus any accumulated and unpaid dividends to, but not including the redemption date. The Series D Preferred Stock has no stated maturity, will not be subject to any sinking fund or other mandatory redemption, and will not be convertible into or exchangeable for any of our other securities.
Use of Leverage
We use mortgage loans secured by our individual properties in order to maximize the return for our stockholders. Typically, these loans are for terms ranging from five to ten years. Currently, the majority of our mortgage loans are structured as non-recourse to us with limited exceptions that would cause a recourse event only upon occurrence of certain fraud, misconduct, environmental, or bankruptcy events. Non-recourse financing limits our exposure to the amount of equity invested in each property pledged as collateral thereby protecting the equity in our other assets. We can provide no assurance that the non-recourse financing will be available to us in the future on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all and there may be circumstances where lenders have recourse to our other assets. To a lesser extent, we use recourse financing. At December 31, 2023, $11.2 million of our total debt contained recourse to the Company, of which $5.9 million was related to the model homes properties.
We have used both fixed and variable interest rate debt to finance our properties. Wherever possible, we prefer to obtain fixed rate mortgage financing as it provides better cost predictability. As of December 31, 2023, none of our mortgage loans included variable interest rate provisions. On August 5, 2023, the lender for our West Fargo Industries property increased the interest rate to 6.70%. The loan agreement states that the lender may, upon not less than sixty (60) days prior, give written notice to the Company to increase the interest rates effective on August 5, 2023, and August 5, 2026, to the rate then being quoted by the lender for new three-year commercial mortgage loans of similar size and quality with like terms and security (provided that in no event shall the new rate be less than the initial rate).
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In 2024, we have $13.1 million of principal payments on mortgage notes payable related to the model home properties, including $12.5 million payments related to mortgage notes payable that mature in 2024. We plan to refinance a significant portion of the mortgage notes payable or sell the model home properties to repay the mortgage notes payable. We have $10.4 million of principal payments on mortgage notes payable relating to commercial properties in 2024, one of which is maturing in 2024. The loan on Dakota Center matures in July 2024 and management has reached out to the lender seeking an extension and additional provision to change the terms of the loan and maturity date. We have also inquired with other lenders to refinance the property. If we are unsuccessful in refinancing the property or changing the terms of the original loan, management would consider selling the property and paying the loan in full or surrendering the property to the current lender.
Our short-term liquidity needs include satisfying the debt service requirements of our existing mortgages. Overall the commercial properties and Model Homes adequately covered their debt servicing needs during the year ended December 31, 2023, and management expect this to continue during the next twelve months. If our cash flow from operating activities is not sufficient to fund our short-term liquidity needs, we will fund a portion of these needs from additional borrowings of secured or unsecured indebtedness, from real estate sales, from sales of equity or debt securities, or we will reduce the rate of distribution to the stockholders.
Property Management
The Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, NTR Property Management, Inc., is the primary property manager for all of its properties. The Company subcontracts with third party property management companies in California and North Dakota to render on-site management services, and internally manages our properties in Colorado, Maryland, and Texas.
Competition
We compete with a number of other real estate investors, many of whom own similar properties in the same geographical markets. Competitors include other REITs, pension funds, insurance companies, investment funds and companies, partnerships and developers. Many of these competitors have substantially greater financial resources than we do and may be able to accept more risk than we can prudently manage, including risks with respect to the creditworthiness of a tenant or the geographic location of its investments. In addition, many of these competitors have capital structures that allow them to make investments at higher prices than what we can prudently offer while still generating a return to their investors that is commensurate with the returns we are seeking to provide our investors. If our competitors offer space at rental rates below current market rates, or below the rental rates we currently charge our tenants, we may lose potential tenants and we may be pressured to reduce our rental rates below those we currently charge or to offer more substantial rent abatements, tenant improvements, early termination rights or below-market renewal options in order to retain tenants when our leases expire. The concentration of our commercial properties in Colorado and North Dakota makes us susceptible to local market conditions in these areas.
To be successful, we must be able to continue to respond quickly and effectively to changes in local and regional economic conditions by adjusting rental rates of our properties as appropriate. If we are unable to respond quickly and effectively, our financial condition, results of operations, cash flow, and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations and pay dividends may be adversely affected.
Regulation
Our management continually reviews our investment activity and monitors the proportion of our portfolio that is placed in various investments in order to prevent us from coming within the application of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). If at any time the character of our investments could cause us to be deemed an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we would be required to comply with the operating restrictions of the Investment Company Act, which are generally inconsistent with our normal operations. As such, we work to ensure that we are not deemed to be an “investment company.”
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Various environmental laws govern certain aspects of the ongoing operation of our properties. Such environmental laws include those regulating the existence of asbestos-containing materials in buildings, management of surfaces with lead-based paint (and notices to tenants about the lead-based paint) and waste-management activities. Our failure to comply with such requirements could subject us to government enforcement action and/or claims for damages by a private party.
To date, we have not experienced a noticeable effect on our capital expenditures, earnings, or competitive position as a result of a lack of compliance with federal, state and local environmental protection regulations. All of our proposed acquisitions are inspected prior to such acquisition. These inspections are conducted by qualified environmental consultants, and we review in detail their reports prior to our acquisition of any property. Nevertheless, it is possible that our environmental assessments will not reveal all environmental liabilities, or that some material environmental liabilities exist of which we are unaware. In some cases, we may be required to abandon otherwise economically attractive acquisitions because the costs of removal or control of hazardous materials are considered to be prohibitive or we are unwilling to accept the potential risks involved. We do not believe we will be required to engage in any large-scale abatement at any of our current properties. We believe that through professional environmental inspections and testing for asbestos, lead paint and other hazardous materials, coupled with a relatively conservative posture toward accepting known environmental risk, we minimize our exposure to potential liability associated with environmental hazards.
We are unaware of any environmental hazards at any of our current properties that, individually or in the aggregate, may have a material adverse impact on our operations or financial position. We have not been notified by any governmental authority, and we are not otherwise aware of any material non-compliance, liability, or claim relating to environmental liabilities in connection with any of our properties. We do not believe that the cost of continued compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations will have a material adverse effect on us, our financial condition or our results of operations. Future environmental laws, regulations, or ordinances, however, may require additional remediation of existing conditions that are not currently actionable. Also, if more stringent requirements are imposed on us in the future, the costs of compliance could have a material adverse effect on us and our financial condition.
Our Management
We refer to our executive officers and any directors who are affiliated with them as our “Management”. Our Management is currently comprised of:
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Jack K. Heilbron, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company, President and Director of NetREIT Dubose, and President of NetREIT Advisors; |
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Ed Bentzen, Chief Financial Officer of the Company; |
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Gary M. Katz, Chief Investment Officer of the Company; and |
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Steve Hightower, President of NetREIT Dubose and member of the Board of Directors. |
Mr. Heilbron has overall responsibility for the day-to-day activities of the Company. Mr. Benten oversees financial matters, including financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, funding activities, tax and insurance. Mr. Hightower is responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of Dubose Advisors, NetREIT Advisors and the Model Homes division. Mr. Heilbron and Mr. Katz are responsible for recommending all Company property acquisitions and dispositions.
Our Board of Directors
Our Management is subject to the direction and supervision of our Board of Directors. Among other things, our Board of Directors must approve each real property acquisition our Management proposes. As of December 31, 2023, there were six directors comprising our Board of Directors, four of whom are independent directors (“Independent Directors”). Two of our directors, Mr. Heilbron and Mr. Hightower, are not independent.
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Our REIT Status
We elected to be taxed as a REIT for federal income tax purposes commencing with our taxable year ended December 31, 2000. To continue to be taxed as a REIT, we must satisfy numerous organizational and operational requirements, including a requirement that we distribute at least 90% of our REIT taxable income to our stockholders, as defined in the Code and calculated on an annual basis. As a REIT, we are generally not subject to federal income tax on income that we distribute to our stockholders. If we fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT in any year, our income will be taxed at regular corporate rates, and we may be precluded from qualifying for treatment as a REIT for the four-year period following our failure to qualify. Even though we qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, we may still be subject to state and local taxes on our income and property and to federal income and excise taxes on our undistributed income. For more information, please see “Risk Factors - Risks Related to our Status as a REIT and Related Federal Income Tax Matters” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K. We qualified as a REIT for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023.
Human Capital Resources
Due to the nature of our business, our performance depends on identifying, attracting, developing, motivating, and retaining a highly skilled workforce in multiple areas, including property management, asset management and strategy, accounting, business development and management. Our human capital management strategy, which we refer to as our people strategy, is tightly aligned with our business needs. During 2023, our human capital efforts were focused on retaining top talent and continuing to increase our agility to meet the quickly changing needs of the business. We use a variety of human capital measures in managing our business, including: workforce demographics; diversity metrics with respect to representation, attrition, hiring, promotions and leadership; and talent management metrics including retention rates of top talent and hiring metrics.
Office and Employees
Our office is approximately 9,224 square feet and is located in San Diego, California.
As of December 31, 2023, we had a total of 15 full-time employees.
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Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Before deciding whether to invest in our securities, you should carefully consider the risk factors we describe in any prospectus supplement and in any related free writing prospectus for a specific offering of securities, as well as those incorporated by reference into this prospectus or such prospectus supplement. You should also carefully consider other information contained and incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement, including our financial statements and the related notes thereto incorporated by reference in this prospectus, especially the information in the section titled “Risk Factors” from our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, which was filed with the SEC on April 16, 2024. The risks and uncertainties described in the applicable prospectus supplement and our other filings with the SEC incorporated by reference herein are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently consider immaterial may also adversely affect us. If any of the described risks occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially harmed. In such case, the value of our securities could decline and you may lose all or part of your investment.
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Unless otherwise indicated in a prospectus supplement, we expect the net proceeds from the sale of the securities will be used for the working capital and for other general corporate purposes, potentially including the pay down of corporate debt. We may also use a portion of the net proceeds to acquire or invest in real estate assets, businesses, products and technologies that are complementary to our business, but we currently have no commitments or agreements relating to any of these types of transactions.
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We may sell the securities from time to time to or through underwriters or dealers, through agents, or directly to one or more purchasers. A distribution of the securities offered by this prospectus may also be effected through the issuance of derivative securities, including without limitation, preferred stock, warrants or units. In addition, the manner in which we may sell some or all of the securities covered by this prospectus includes, without limitation, through:
| ● | a block trade in which a broker-dealer will attempt to sell as agent, but may position or resell a portion of the block, as principal, in order to facilitate the transaction; |
| ● | purchases by a broker-dealer, as principal, and resale by the broker-dealer for its account; or |
| ● | ordinary brokerage transactions and transactions in which a broker solicits purchasers. |
A prospectus supplement or supplements with respect to each series of securities will describe the terms of the offering, including, to the extent applicable:
| ● | the terms of the offering; |
| ● | the name or names of the underwriters or agents and the amounts of securities underwritten or purchased by each of them, if any; |
| ● | the public offering price or purchase price of the securities or other consideration therefor, and the proceeds to be received by us from the sale; |
| ● | any delayed delivery requirements; |
| ● | any over-allotment options under which underwriters may purchase additional securities from us; |
| ● | any underwriting discounts or agency fees and other items constituting underwriters’ or agents’ compensation; |
| ● | any discounts or concessions allowed or re-allowed or paid to dealers; and |
| ● | any securities exchange or market on which the securities may be listed. |
The offer and sale of the securities described in this prospectus by us, the underwriters or the third parties described above may be effected from time to time in one or more transactions, including privately negotiated transactions, either:
| ● | at a fixed price or prices, which may be changed; |
| ● | in an “at the market” offering within the meaning of Rule 415(a)(4) of the Securities Act; |
| ● | at prices related to such prevailing market prices; or |
| ● | at negotiated prices. |
Only underwriters named in the prospectus supplement will be underwriters of the securities offered by the prospectus supplement.
Underwriters and Agents; Direct Sales
If underwriters are used in a sale, they will acquire the offered securities for their own account and may resell the offered securities from time to time in one or more transactions, including negotiated transactions, at a fixed public offering price or at varying prices determined at the time of sale. We may offer the securities to the public through underwriting syndicates represented by managing underwriters or by underwriters without a syndicate.
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Unless the prospectus supplement states otherwise, the obligations of the underwriters to purchase the securities will be subject to the conditions set forth in the applicable underwriting agreement. Subject to certain conditions, the underwriters will be obligated to purchase all of the securities offered by the prospectus supplement, other than securities covered by any over-allotment option. Any public offering price and any discounts or concessions allowed or re-allowed or paid to dealers may change from time to time. We may use underwriters with whom we have a material relationship. We will describe in the prospectus supplement, naming the underwriter, the nature of any such relationship.
We may sell securities directly or through agents we designate from time to time. We will name any agent involved in the offering and sale of securities, and we will describe any commissions we will pay the agent in the prospectus supplement. Unless the prospectus supplement states otherwise, our agent will act on a best-efforts basis for the period of its appointment.
We may authorize agents or underwriters to solicit offers by certain types of institutional investors to purchase securities from us at the public offering price set forth in the prospectus supplement pursuant to delayed delivery contracts providing for payment and delivery on a specified date in the future. We will describe the conditions to these contracts and the commissions we must pay for solicitation of these contracts in the prospectus supplement.
Dealers
We may sell the offered securities to dealers as principals. The dealer may then resell such securities to the public either at varying prices to be determined by the dealer or at a fixed offering price agreed to with us at the time of resale.
Institutional Purchasers
We may authorize agents, dealers or underwriters to solicit certain institutional investors to purchase offered securities on a delayed delivery basis pursuant to delayed delivery contracts providing for payment and delivery on a specified future date. The applicable prospectus supplement or other offering materials, as the case may be, will provide the details of any such arrangement, including the offering price and commissions payable on the solicitations.
We will enter into such delayed contracts only with institutional purchasers that we approve. These institutions may include commercial and savings banks, insurance companies, pension funds, investment companies and educational and charitable institutions.
Indemnification; Other Relationships
We may provide agents, underwriters, dealers and remarketing firms with indemnification against certain civil liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, or contribution with respect to payments that the agents or underwriters may make with respect to these liabilities. Agents, underwriters, dealers and remarketing firms, and their affiliates, may engage in transactions with, or perform services for, us in the ordinary course of business. This includes commercial banking and investment banking transactions.
Market-Making; Stabilization and Other Transactions
There is currently no market for any of the offered securities, other than the Series A Common Stock, which is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market. If the offered securities are traded after their initial issuance, they may trade at a discount from their initial offering price, depending upon prevailing interest rates, the market for similar securities and other factors. While it is possible that an underwriter could inform us that it intends to make a market in the offered securities, such underwriter would not be obligated to do so, and any such market-making could be discontinued at any time without notice. Therefore, no assurance can be given as to whether an active trading market will develop for the offered securities. We have no current plans for listing of the preferred stock, warrants or units on any securities exchange or quotation system; any such listing with respect to any particular securities will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement or other offering materials, as the case may be.
Any underwriter may engage in over-allotment, stabilizing transactions, short-covering transactions and penalty bids in accordance with Regulation M under the Exchange Act. Over-allotment involves sales in excess of the offering size, which create a short position. Stabilizing transactions permit bids to purchase the underlying security so long as the stabilizing bids do not exceed a specified maximum price. Syndicate-covering or other short-covering transactions involve purchases of the securities, either through exercise of the over-allotment option or in the open market after the distribution is completed, to cover short positions. Penalty bids permit the underwriters to reclaim a selling concession from a dealer when the securities originally sold by the dealer are purchased in a stabilizing or covering transaction to cover short positions. Those activities may cause the price of the securities to be higher than it would otherwise be. If commenced, the underwriters may discontinue any of the activities at any time.
Any underwriters or agents that are qualified market makers on the Nasdaq Capital Market may engage in passive market making transactions in our Series A Common Stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market in accordance with Regulation M under the Exchange Act, during the business day prior to the pricing of the offering, before the commencement of offers or sales of our Series A Common Stock. Passive market makers must comply with applicable volume and price limitations and must be identified as passive market makers. In general, a passive market maker must display its bid at a price not in excess of the highest independent bid for such security; if all independent bids are lowered below the passive market maker’s bid, however, the passive market maker’s bid must then be lowered when certain purchase limits are exceeded. Passive market making may stabilize the market price of the securities at a level above that which might otherwise prevail in the open market and, if commenced, may be discontinued at any time.
Fees and Commissions
We will disclose the fees to be paid to any underwriter, dealer or agent in the prospectus supplement for any takedown. If any conflict of interest exists between the issuer and an underwriter, dealer or agent participating in an offering of securities under this prospectus, the offering will be conducted in compliance with FINRA Rule 5121.
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DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES WE MAY OFFER
General
This prospectus describes the general terms of our stock and other securities we may offer. The following description is not complete and may not contain all the information you should consider before investing in our stock or other securities. For a more detailed description of these securities, you should read the applicable provisions of the Maryland General Corporation Law (the “MGCL”), our charter and our bylaws. Copies of our charter and bylaws have been filed with the SEC and are incorporated by reference as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. See “Where You Can Find More Information” and “Incorporation of Certain Information by Reference.” When we offer to sell a particular series of these securities, we will describe the specific terms of the series in a supplement to this prospectus. Accordingly, for a description of the terms of any series of securities, you must refer to both the prospectus supplement relating to that series and the description of the securities described in this prospectus. To the extent the information contained in the prospectus supplement differs from this summary description, you should rely on the information in the prospectus supplement.
Our charter authorizes us to issue up to 110,001,000 shares of stock, consisting of (i) 109,001,000 shares of common stock, $0.01 par value per share, of which 100,000,000 are classified as shares of Series A Common Stock, 1,000 are classified as shares of Series B Common Stock and 9,000,000 are classified as shares of Series C Common Stock, and (ii) 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.01 par value per share, of which 920,000 are classified and designated as Series D Preferred Stock. As of April 19, 2024, there were approximately 14,463,802 shares of Series A Common Stock and 890,946 shares of Series D Preferred Stock issued and outstanding and no shares of any other class or series of stock issued and outstanding.
Common Stock
The shares of Series B Common Stock and Series C Common Stock have identical preferences, rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to dividends and other distributions, qualifications and terms and conditions of redemption to the shares of Series A Common Stock, except that the holders of Series B Common Stock are not entitled to receive any portion of Company assets in the event of the Company’s liquidation. As of April 19, 2024, no shares of Series B Common Stock or Series C Common Stock were issued and outstanding.
All shares of our Series A Common Stock offered hereby will be duly authorized, validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable. Subject to the restrictions on ownership and transfer of our stock discussed below under the caption “-Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer” and the voting rights of holders of outstanding shares of any other class or series of our stock, holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each share held of record on all matters on which stockholders are entitled to vote generally, including the election or removal of directors, and, except as provided with respect to any other class or series of our stock, the holders of shares of our common stock possess exclusive voting power. Directors are elected by a plurality of the votes cast at the meeting in which directors are being elected. Under our charter, voting for the election of directors will be cumulative if, prior to commencement of the voting, a stockholder gives us notice of his, her or its intention to cumulate votes. If any stockholder gives such a notice, then every stockholder will be entitled to such rights, in which case, each stockholder may cumulate his, her or its total votes and cast all of his, her or its votes for any one or a combination of director nominees. In cumulative voting, the total votes entitled to be cast by a stockholder equals the number of director nominees multiplied by the number of shares of common stock that such stockholder is entitled to vote.
Holders of our common stock are entitled to receive dividends or other distributions as and when authorized by our Board of Directors and declared by us out of assets legally available for the payment of dividends. Upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding up and after payment in full of all amounts required to be paid to creditors and to the holders of outstanding shares of any other class or series of our stock having liquidation preferences senior to our common stock, if any, the holders of our common stock will be entitled to share ratably in our remaining assets legally available for distribution. Holders of our common stock do not have preemptive, subscription, redemption or conversion rights. There are no sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock. Holders of our Series A Common Stock generally have no appraisal rights under the MGCL as long as the shares are listed on a national securities exchange. All shares of our common stock have equal dividend and liquidation rights, except that the holders of Series B Common Stock are not entitled to receive any portion of Company assets in the event of the Company’s liquidation. The rights, powers, preferences and privileges of holders of our common stock are subject to those of the holders of any shares of our preferred stock or any other class or series of stock that we may authorize and issue in the future and to the restrictions on ownership and transfer of our stock described below under the caption “-Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer.”
Under the MGCL, a Maryland corporation generally cannot amend its charter, consolidate, merge, convert, sell all or substantially all of its assets, engage in a share exchange or dissolve unless the action is advised by its Board of Directors and approved by the affirmative vote of stockholders entitled to cast at least two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter unless a lesser percentage (but not less than a majority of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter) is set forth in the corporation’s charter. As permitted by Maryland law, our charter provides that a merger, consolidation, share exchange, dissolution or sale of substantially all of our assets may be approved by the affirmative vote of stockholders entitled to cast a majority of all of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter. In addition, because many of our operating assets are held by our subsidiaries, these subsidiaries may be able to merge or sell all or substantially all of their assets without the approval of our stockholders.
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Preferred Stock
Our charter authorizes our Board of Directors to classify and reclassify any unissued shares of preferred stock into one or more classes or series of preferred stock. Prior to the issuance of shares of each class or series, our Board of Directors is required by the MGCL and our charter to determine the number of shares of such class or series and to set, subject to the provisions of our charter regarding the restrictions on ownership and transfer of stock, the terms, preferences, conversion or other rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to dividends or other distributions, qualifications and terms or conditions of redemption for each such class or series. Thus, the board of directors could authorize the issuance of shares of preferred stock with dividend rights, rights to distributions in the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, voting rights or other rights that could adversely affect the rights of holders of our common stock, our Series D Preferred Stock or any other class or series of our preferred stock or which could have the effect of delaying or preventing a tender offer or a change of control of our Company that might involve a premium price for holders of our stock or otherwise be in their best interests, any of which could adversely affect the market price of our common stock, our Series D Preferred Stock or any other class or series of our preferred stock. For additional information, see “Certain Provisions of Maryland Law and of our Charter and Bylaws — Effect of Certain Provisions of Maryland Law and our Charter and Bylaws.”
You should refer to the prospectus supplement or other offering materials relating to any class or series of our preferred stock offered thereby for specific terms of and other information concerning such class or series of preferred stock, including:
| ● | the title of such class or series of preferred stock; |
| ● | the number of shares of such class or series of preferred stock offered, the liquidation preference per share and the offering price of such class or series of preferred stock; |
| ● | the dividend rate(s), period(s) and/or payment date(s), or method(s) of calculation thereof, applicable to such class or series of preferred stock; |
| ● | whether the dividends will be cumulative or not and, if cumulative, the date from which dividends on such class or series of preferred stock shall accumulate; |
| ● | the procedures for any auction and remarketing, if any, for such class or series of preferred stock; |
| ● | the provision for a sinking fund, if any, for such class or series of preferred stock; |
| ● | any voting rights of such class or series of preferred stock, which may include, among other things, the right to elect one or more directors; |
| ● | the provision for redemption, if applicable, of such class or series of preferred stock; |
| ● | any listing of such class or series of preferred stock on any securities exchange; |
| ● | the terms and conditions, if applicable, upon which such class or series of preferred stock will be convertible into common stock or other securities, including the conversion price or rate (or manner of calculation thereof); |
| ● | a discussion of federal income tax considerations applicable to such class or series of preferred stock; |
| ● | any limitations on actual, beneficial or constructive ownership of, and restrictions on transfer of, such class or series of preferred stock, in each case as may be appropriate to preserve our REIT status; |
| ● | the relative ranking and preferences of such class or series of preferred stock as to dividend rights and rights upon liquidation, dissolution or winding up of our affairs; |
| ● | whether liquidation preferences on such class or series of preferred stock will be counted as liabilities of ours in determining whether distributions to stockholders can be made under the MGCL; |
| ● | any limitations on issuance of any class or series of preferred stock ranking senior to or on a parity with such class or series of preferred stock as to dividend rights or rights upon liquidation, dissolution or winding up of our affairs; and |
| ● | any other specific terms, preferences, conversion or other rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to dividends or other distributions, qualifications and terms or conditions of redemption of such class or series of preferred stock. |
Rank
Unless otherwise specified in the applicable prospectus supplement or other offering materials, the preferred stock of any class or series offered by this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement will rank, with respect to the payment of dividends and the distribution of assets in the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up:
| ● | senior to all classes or series of our common stock and to all other equity securities issued by us other than equity securities referred to in the two immediately following bullet points; |
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| ● | on a parity with our outstanding Series D Preferred stock and all other equity securities issued by us the terms of which specifically provide that such equity securities rank on a parity with the preferred stock of such class or series with respect to rights to the payment of dividends and the distribution of assets in the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up; and |
| ● | junior to all equity securities issued by us the terms of which specifically provide that such equity securities rank senior to the preferred stock of such class or series with respect to rights to the payment of dividends and the distribution of assets in the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up. |
For these purposes, the term “equity securities” does not include convertible debt securities.
Power to Reclassify and Issue Stock
Our charter authorizes our Board of Directors to classify and reclassify any unissued shares of our preferred stock into other classes or series of stock, including one or more classes or series of stock that have priority over our common stock with respect to dividends or upon liquidation, or have voting rights and other rights that differ from the rights of the common stock, and authorizes us to issue the newly classified shares. Before authorizing the issuance of shares of any new class or series, our Board of Directors must set, subject to the provisions in our charter relating to the restrictions on ownership and transfer of our stock, the preferences, conversion or other rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to dividends or other distributions, qualifications and terms or conditions of redemption for each class or series of stock. These actions may be taken without the approval of holders of our common stock unless such approval is required by applicable law, the terms of any other class or series of our stock or the rules of any stock exchange or automated quotation system on which any of our stock is listed or traded.
We believe that the power of our Board of Directors to authorize us to issue additional authorized but unissued shares of common stock or preferred stock and to classify or reclassify unissued shares of preferred stock and thereafter to authorize us to issue such classified or reclassified shares of stock will provide us with increased flexibility in structuring possible future financings and acquisitions and in meeting other needs that might arise.
Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer
In order for us to qualify as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes, our stock must be beneficially owned by 100 or more persons during at least 335 days of a taxable year of 12 months (other than the first year for which an election to be a REIT has been made) or during a proportionate part of a shorter taxable year. Also, not more than 50% of the value of the outstanding shares of our stock may be owned, directly or indirectly, by five or fewer individuals (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), to include certain entities such as private foundations) during the last half of a taxable year (other than the first year for which an election to be a REIT has been made).
Our charter contains restrictions on the ownership and transfer of our stock that are intended to, among other purposes, assist us in complying with these requirements and qualifying as a REIT. Subject to the exceptions described below, no person or entity may beneficially own, or be deemed to own by virtue of the applicable constructive ownership provisions of the Code, more than 9.8% (in value or by number of shares, whichever is more restrictive) of our aggregate outstanding shares of common stock, which we refer to as the “common stock ownership limit,” or 9.8% in value of our aggregate outstanding shares of stock, which we refer to as the “aggregate stock ownership limit.” We refer to the common stock ownership limit and the aggregate stock ownership limit, collectively, as the “ownership limit.”
The constructive ownership rules under the Code are complex and may cause stock owned actually or constructively by a group of related individuals and/or entities to be owned constructively by one individual or entity. As a result, the acquisition of less than 9.8% of our aggregate outstanding shares of common stock or 9.8% of our aggregate outstanding shares of stock, or the acquisition of an interest in an entity that owns our stock, could, nevertheless, cause the acquirer or another individual or entity to own our stock in excess of the ownership limit.
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Our Board of Directors may, upon receipt of such representations and undertakings reasonably necessary to make such a determination, and in its sole discretion, prospectively or retroactively, establish a different limit on ownership, or an excepted holder limit, for a particular stockholder if the stockholder’s ownership in excess of the ownership limit would not result in our being “closely held” under Section 856(h) of the Code (without regard to whether the ownership interest is held during the last half of a taxable year) or otherwise failing to qualify as a REIT. As a condition of granting a waiver of the ownership limit or creating an excepted holder limit, our Board of Directors may, but is not required to, require an opinion of counsel or a ruling from the IRS, in either case in form and substance satisfactory to our Board of Directors in its sole discretion, as it may deem necessary or advisable to determine or ensure our status as a REIT and may impose such other conditions or restrictions as it deems appropriate.
Our Board of Directors may increase the ownership limit from time to time.
Our charter also prohibits:
| ● | any person from beneficially or constructively owning shares of our stock that would result in our being “closely held” under Section 856(h) of the Code (without regard to whether the ownership interest is held during the last half of a taxable year) or otherwise cause us to fail to qualify as a REIT; and |
| ● | subject to certain exceptions relating to transactions through the facilities of the NYSE or any other national securities exchange or automated inter-dealer quotation system, any person from transferring shares of our stock if the transfer would result in shares of our stock being beneficially owned by fewer than 100 persons. |
Any person who acquires or attempts or intends to acquire beneficial or constructive ownership of shares of our stock that will or may violate the ownership limit or any of the other restrictions on ownership and transfer of our stock, and any person who is the intended transferee of shares of our stock that are transferred to a trust for the benefit of one or more charitable beneficiaries described below, must give immediate written notice of such an event or, in the case of a proposed or attempted transfer, give at least 15 days’ prior written notice to us and provide us with such other information as we may request in order to determine the effect of the transfer on our status as a REIT. The provisions of our charter relating to the restrictions on ownership and transfer of our stock will not apply if the Board of Directors determines that it is no longer in our best interests to continue to qualify as a REIT and, upon receipt of a recommendation to that effect from the Board of Directors, the holders of shares of common stock, by a vote of a majority of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter, determine that we shall revoke or otherwise terminate our REIT election. The holders of shares of common stock, upon receipt of a recommendation from the Board of Directors, may also determine that compliance with any of the restrictions set forth above is no longer required in order for us to qualify as a REIT and cause us to amend the charter to remove any such restriction or limitation.
Any attempted transfer of our stock that, if effective, would result in our stock being beneficially owned by fewer than 100 persons will be null and void. Any attempted transfer of our stock that, if effective, would result in a violation of the ownership limit (or other limit established by our charter or our Board of Directors), our being “closely held” under Section 856(h) of the Code (without regard to whether the ownership interest is held during the last half of a taxable year) or our otherwise failing to qualify as a REIT will cause the number of shares causing the violation (rounded to the nearest whole share) to be transferred automatically to a trust for the benefit of a charitable beneficiary, and the proposed transferee will not acquire any rights in the shares. The automatic transfer will be effective as of the close of business on the business day before the date of the attempted transfer or other event that resulted in a transfer to the trust. If the transfer to the trust as described above would not be effective, for any reason, to prevent a violation of the applicable restrictions on ownership and transfer of our stock, then the attempted transfer that, if effective, would have resulted in a violation of the ownership limit (or other limit established by our charter or our Board of Directors), our being “closely held” under Section 856(h) of the Code (without regard to whether the ownership interest is held during the last half of a taxable year) or our otherwise failing to qualify as a REIT will be null and void.
Shares of our stock held in the trust will be issued and outstanding shares. The proposed transferee will not benefit economically from ownership of any shares of our stock held in the trust and will have no rights to dividends or other distributions and no rights to vote or other rights attributable to the shares of our stock held in the trust. The trustee of the trust will exercise all voting rights and receive all dividends and other distributions with respect to shares held in the trust for the exclusive benefit of the charitable beneficiary of the trust. Any dividend or other distribution paid before we discover that the shares have been transferred to a trustee as described above must be repaid by the recipient to the trustee upon demand and any dividend or other distribution authorized but unpaid must be paid when due to the trustee. Subject to Maryland law, effective as of the date that the shares have been transferred to the trustee, the trustee will have the authority, at the trustee’s sole discretion, (i) to rescind as void any vote cast by a proposed transferee before our discovery that the shares have been transferred to the trustee and (ii) to recast the vote in accordance with the desires of the trustee acting for the benefit of the charitable beneficiary. However, if we have already taken irreversible corporate action, then the trustee may not rescind or recast the vote.
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Within 20 days of receiving notice from us of a transfer of shares to the trust, the trustee must sell the shares to a person, designated by the trustee who would be permitted to own the shares without violating the ownership limit or the other restrictions on ownership and transfer of our stock in our charter. Upon such sale of the shares, the interest of the charitable beneficiary in the shares transferred to the trust will terminate and the trustee must distribute to the proposed transferee an amount equal to the lesser of:
| ● | the price paid by the proposed transferee for the shares (or, if the proposed transferee did not give value in connection with the transfer or other event that resulted in the transfer to the trust (e.g., a gift, devise or other such transaction), the market price (as such term is defined in the charter) of the shares on the day of the event that resulted in the transfer of such shares to the trust); and |
| ● | the price per share received by the trustee from the sale or other disposition of the shares held in the trust. |
Any net proceeds in excess of the amount payable to the proposed transferee must be immediately paid to the charitable beneficiary. If the shares are sold by the proposed transferee before we discover that they have been transferred to the trust, the shares will be deemed to have been sold on behalf of the trust and the proposed transferee must pay to the trustee, upon demand, the amount, if any, that the proposed transferee received in excess of the amount that the proposed transferee would have received had the shares been sold by the trustee.
Shares of our stock held in the trust will be deemed to be offered for sale to us, or our designee, at a price per share equal to the lesser of:
| ● | the price per share in the transaction that resulted in the transfer to the trust (or, in the case of a devise or gift, the market price at the time of such devise or gift); and |
| ● | the market price on the date we accept, or our designee accepts, such offer. |
We may accept the offer until the trustee has otherwise sold the shares of our stock held in the trust. Upon a sale to us, the interest of the charitable beneficiary in the shares sold will terminate and the trustee must distribute the net proceeds of the sale to the proposed transferee and distribute any dividends or other distributions held by the trustee with respect to the shares to the charitable beneficiary.
Every person who beneficially owns more than 5% (or such lower percentage as required by the Code or the regulations promulgated thereunder) of our stock, within 30 days after the end of each taxable year, must give us written notice stating the person’s name and address, the number of shares of each class and series of our stock that the person beneficially owns and a description of the manner in which the shares are held. Each such owner also must provide us with any additional information that we request in order to determine the effect, if any, of the person’s beneficial ownership on our status as a REIT and to ensure compliance with the aggregate stock ownership limit. In addition, any person or entity that is a beneficial owner or constructive owner of shares of our stock and any person or entity (including the stockholder of record) who is holding shares of our stock for a beneficial owner or constructive owner must disclose to us in writing such information as we may request, in good faith, in order to determine our status as a REIT or to comply, or determine our compliance, with the requirements of any governmental or taxing authority and to ensure compliance with the aggregate stock ownership limit.
If our Board of Directors authorizes any of our shares to be represented by certificates, the certificates will bear a legend referring to the restrictions described above.
These restrictions on ownership and transfer of our stock could delay, defer or prevent a transaction or a change of control of us that might involve a premium price for our common stock or otherwise be in the best interests of our stockholders.
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Transfer Agent and Registrar; Warrant Agent
The transfer agent and registrar for our common and preferred stock and warrant agent for our Series A Warrants is Direct Transfer, LLC.
Warrants
We may issue additional warrants to purchase our securities or other rights, including rights to receive payment in cash or securities based on the value, rate or price of one or more specified commodities, currencies, securities or indices, or any combination of the foregoing. Warrants may be issued independently or together with any other securities and may be attached to, or separate from, such securities. To the extent warrants that we issue are to be publicly-traded, each series of such warrants will be issued under a separate warrant agreement to be entered into between us and a warrant agent.
We will file as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, or will incorporate by reference from a current report on Form 8-K that we file with the SEC, forms of the warrant and warrant agreement, if any. The prospectus supplement relating to any warrants that we may offer will contain the specific terms of the warrants and a description of the material provisions of the applicable warrant agreement, if any. These terms may include the following:
| ● | the title of the warrants; |
| ● | the price or prices at which the warrants will be issued; |
| ● | the designation, amount and terms of the securities or other rights for which the warrants are exercisable; |
| ● | the designation and terms of the other securities, if any, with which the warrants are to be issued and the number of warrants issued with each other security; |
| ● | the aggregate number of warrants; |
| ● | any provisions for adjustment of the number or amount of securities receivable upon exercise of the warrants or the exercise price of the warrants; |
| ● | the price or prices at which the securities or other rights purchasable upon exercise of the warrants may be purchased; |
| ● | if applicable, the date on and after which the warrants and the securities or other rights purchasable upon exercise of the warrants will be separately transferable; |
| ● | a discussion of any material U.S. federal income tax considerations applicable to the exercise of the warrants; |
| ● | the date on which the right to exercise the warrants will commence, and the date on which the right will expire; |
| ● | the maximum or minimum number of warrants that may be exercised at any time; |
| ● | information with respect to book-entry procedures, if any; and |
| ● | any other terms of the warrants, including terms, procedures and limitations relating to the exchange and exercise of the warrants. |
Exercise of Warrants.
Each warrant will entitle the holder of warrants to purchase the amount of securities or other rights, at the exercise price stated or determinable in the prospectus supplement for the warrants. Warrants may be exercised at any time up to the close of business on the expiration date shown in the applicable prospectus supplement, unless otherwise specified in such prospectus supplement. After the close of business on the expiration date, if applicable, unexercised warrants will become void. Warrants may be exercised in the manner described in the applicable prospectus supplement. When the warrant holder makes the payment and properly completes and signs the warrant certificate at the corporate trust office of the warrant agent, if any, or any other office indicated in the prospectus supplement, we will, as soon as possible, forward the securities or other rights that the warrant holder has purchased. If the warrant holder exercises less than all of the warrants represented by the warrant certificate, we will issue a new warrant certificate for the remaining warrants.
Units
We may issue units consisting of any combination of the other types of securities offered under this prospectus in one or more series. We may evidence each series of units by unit certificates that we may issue under a separate agreement. We may enter into unit agreements with a unit agent. Each unit agent, if any, may be a bank or trust company that we select. We will indicate the name and address of the unit agent, if any, in the applicable prospectus supplement relating to a particular series of units. Specific unit agreements, if any, will contain additional important terms and provisions. We will file as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, or will incorporate by reference from a current report that we file with the SEC, the form of unit and the form of each unit agreement, if any, relating to units offered under this prospectus.
If we offer any units, certain terms of that series of units will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement, including, without limitation, the following, as applicable:
| ● | the title of the series of units; |
| ● | identification and description of the separate constituent securities comprising the units; |
| ● | the price or prices at which the units will be issued; |
| ● | the date, if any, on and after which the constituent securities comprising the units will be separately transferable; |
| ● | a discussion of certain United States federal income tax considerations applicable to the units; and |
| ● | any other material terms of the units and their constituent securities. |
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CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF MARYLAND LAW AND OUR CHARTER AND BYLAWS
The following summary of certain provisions of the MGCL and of our charter and bylaws does not purport to be complete and is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by reference to, our charter and bylaws, copies of which are incorporated by reference as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and to the MGCL. See “Where You Can Find More Information.”
Election and Removal of Directors
Our charter and bylaws provide that the number of our directors may be established by a majority of our entire Board of Directors but may not be fewer than six nor more than eleven, unless approved by stockholders entitled to cast a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast on the matter. Directors are elected by a plurality of all the votes cast in the election of directors. Under our charter, voting for the election of directors will be cumulative if, prior to commencement of the voting, a stockholder gives us notice of his, her or its intention to cumulate votes. If any stockholder gives such a notice, then every stockholder will be entitled to such rights, in which case, each stockholder may cumulate his, her or its total votes and cast all of his, her or its votes for any one or a combination of director nominees. In cumulative voting, the total votes entitled to be cast by a stockholder equals the number of director nominees multiplied by the number of shares of common stock that such stockholder is entitled to vote.
Our charter provides that any vacancy on our Board of Directors may be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the Board of Directors, even if the remaining directors do not constitute a quorum of the Board of Directors, and any vacancy created by the removal of a director may be filled only by the vote of the holders of a majority of our shares of common stock. Any director elected by the Board of Directors to fill a vacancy will serve until the next annual meeting of the stockholders and until his or her successor is elected and qualifies. A director elected by the stockholders to fill a vacancy which results from the removal of a director serves for the balance of the term of the removed director.
Our charter provides that any director or the entire Board of Directors may be removed at any time, with or without cause, by the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of our shares of common stock, except that, no director may be removed when the votes cast against the removal would be sufficient to elect the director if voted cumulatively in accordance with the provisions of our bylaws.
Amendment to Charter and Bylaws
Except as described herein and as provided in the MGCL, amendments to our charter must be advised by our Board of Directors and approved by the affirmative vote of our stockholders entitled to cast a majority of all of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter.
Our bylaws may be amended by our Board of Directors or by the affirmative vote of our stockholders entitled to cast a majority of all of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter by stockholders entitled to vote generally in the election of directors. Our Board of Directors may not amend provisions of bylaws that would change any rights with respect to any outstanding class of common stock by reducing the amount payable thereon upon our liquidation, or diminishing or eliminating any voting rights pertaining thereto, unless such amendment was also approved by two-thirds of the outstanding shares of such class. In addition, our Board of Directors may adopt a bylaw or an amendment to a bylaw changing the authorized number of directors only for the purpose of fixing our exact number of directors. Any change to the bylaws made by the stockholders may not be altered by the directors prior to the next annual meeting of stockholders.
Business Combinations
Under the MGCL, certain “business combinations” between a Maryland corporation and an interested stockholder or an affiliate of an interested stockholder are prohibited for five years after the most recent date on which the interested stockholder becomes an interested stockholder. These business combinations include a merger, consolidation, share exchange, and, in circumstances specified in the statute, an asset transfer or issuance or reclassification of equity securities. An interested stockholder is defined as:
| ● | any person who beneficially owns 10% or more of the voting power of the corporation’s outstanding voting stock; or |
| ● | an affiliate or associate of the corporation who, at any time within the two-year period immediately prior to the date in question, was the beneficial owner of 10% or more of the voting power of the then outstanding stock of the corporation. |
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A person is not an interested stockholder under the MGCL if the corporation’s Board of Directors approved in advance the transaction by which the person otherwise would have become an interested stockholder. In approving the transaction, the Board of Directors may provide that its approval is subject to compliance, at or after the time of approval, with any terms and conditions determined by the Board of Directors.
After the five-year prohibition, any business combination between the Maryland corporation and an interested stockholder generally must be recommended by the corporation’s Board of Directors and approved by the affirmative vote of at least:
| ● | 80% of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of outstanding shares of voting stock of the corporation; and |
| ● | two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of outstanding shares of voting stock of the corporation other than shares held by the interested stockholder with whom or with whose affiliate the business combination is to be effected or held by an affiliate or associate of the interested stockholder. |
These super-majority vote requirements do not apply if the corporation’s common stockholders receive a minimum price, as defined under the MGCL, for their shares in the form of cash or other consideration in the same form as previously paid by the interested stockholder for its shares.
The MGCL permits various exemptions from its provisions, including business combinations that are exempted by the Board of Directors before the time that the interested stockholder becomes an interested stockholder. Pursuant to the statute, our Board of Directors has by resolution exempted business combinations between us and any other person, provided that the business combination is first approved by our Board of Directors (including a majority of our directors who are not affiliates or associates of such person). Consequently, the five-year prohibition and the supermajority vote requirements will not apply to a business combination between us and any other person if the Board of Directors has first approved the combination. As a result, any person described in the preceding sentence may be able to enter into business combinations with us that may not be in the best interests of our stockholders, without compliance with the supermajority vote requirements and other provisions of the statute. We cannot assure you that our Board of Directors will not amend or repeal this resolution in the future.
Control Share Acquisitions
The MGCL provides that a holder of control shares of a Maryland corporation acquired in a control share acquisition has no voting rights with respect to the control shares except to the extent approved by a vote of two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter. Shares owned by the acquirer, by officers or by employees who are directors of the corporation are excluded from shares entitled to vote on the matter. Control shares are voting shares of stock that, if aggregated with all other shares of stock owned by the acquirer or in respect of which the acquirer is able to exercise or direct the exercise of voting power (except solely by virtue of a revocable proxy), would entitle the acquirer to exercise voting power in electing directors within one of the following ranges of voting power:
| ● | one-tenth or more but less than one-third; |
| ● | one-third or more but less than a majority; or |
| ● | a majority or more of all voting power. |
Control shares do not include shares the acquirer is then entitled to vote as a result of having previously obtained stockholder approval. A control share acquisition means the acquisition of control shares, subject to certain exceptions.
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A person who has made or proposes to make a control share acquisition may compel the Board of Directors of the corporation to call a special meeting of stockholders to be held within 50 days of demand to consider the voting rights of the shares. The right to compel the calling of a special meeting is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including an undertaking to pay the expenses of the meeting. If no request for a meeting is made, the corporation may itself present the question at any stockholders meeting.
If voting rights are not approved at the meeting or if the acquirer does not deliver an acquiring person statement as required by the statute, then the corporation may, subject to certain limitations and conditions, redeem for fair value any or all of the control shares, except those for which voting rights have previously been approved. Fair value is determined, without regard to the absence of voting rights for the control shares, as of the date of the last control share acquisition by the acquirer or, if a meeting of stockholders is held at which the voting rights of the shares are considered and not approved, as of the date of the meeting. If voting rights for control shares are approved at a stockholders meeting and the acquirer becomes entitled to exercise or direct the exercise of a majority of the voting power, all other stockholders may exercise appraisal rights. The fair value of the shares as determined for purposes of appraisal rights may not be less than the highest price per share paid by the acquirer in the control share acquisition.
The control share acquisition statute does not apply (a) to shares acquired in a merger, consolidation or share exchange if the corporation is a party to the transaction or (b) to acquisitions approved or exempted by the charter or bylaws of the corporation.
Our bylaws contain a provision exempting from the control share acquisition statute any acquisition by any person of shares of our stock.
Subtitle 8
Subtitle 8 of Title 3 of the MGCL permits a Maryland corporation with a class of equity securities registered under the Exchange Act and at least three independent directors to elect, by provision in its charter or bylaws or a resolution of its Board of Directors and notwithstanding any contrary provision in the charter or bylaws, to be subject to any or all of five provisions, including:
| ● | a classified Board of Directors; |
| ● | a two-thirds vote requirement for removing a director; |
| ● | a requirement that the number of directors be fixed only by vote of the Board of Directors; |
| ● | a requirement that a vacancy on the Board of Directors be filled only by a vote of the remaining directors in office and for the remainder of the full term of the class of directors in which the vacancy occurred and until a successor is elected and qualifies; and |
| ● | a majority requirement for the calling of a stockholder-requested special meeting of stockholders. |
In accordance with Maryland law, the Company filed Articles Supplementary effecting the Company’s election to be subject to the classified board provisions of Section 3-803 of the MGCL with the State Department of Assessments and Taxation of Maryland on March 18, 2024. Through provisions in our charter and bylaws unrelated to Subtitle 8, we (1) vest in our Board of Directors the exclusive power to fix the number of directors and (2) require, unless called by our Chairman, our Chief Executive Officer, our President or our Board of Directors, the request of stockholders entitled to cast not less than a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast at the meeting to call a special meeting of stockholders.
Special Meetings of Stockholders
Pursuant to our bylaws, our Chairman, our Chief Executive Officer, our President or our Board of Directors may call a special meeting of our stockholders. Subject to the provisions of our bylaws, a special meeting of our stockholders to act on any matter that may properly be considered by our stockholders will also be called by our secretary upon the written request of stockholders entitled to cast a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast at the meeting on such matter, accompanied by the information required by our bylaws. Our secretary will inform the requesting stockholders of the reasonably estimated cost of preparing and delivering the notice of meeting (including our proxy materials), and the requesting stockholder must pay such estimated cost before our secretary may prepare and deliver the notice of the special meeting.
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Stockholder Action by Written Consent
The MGCL generally provides that, unless the charter of the corporation authorizes stockholder action by less than unanimous consent, stockholder action may be taken by consent in lieu of a meeting only if it is given by all stockholders entitled to vote on the matter. Our charter and our bylaws provide that stockholder action may be taken without a meeting if a consent, setting forth the action so taken, is given by stockholders entitled to cast not less than the minimum number of votes that would be necessary to authorize or take the action at a stockholders meeting.
Advance Notice of Director Nomination and New Business
Our bylaws provide that nominations of individuals for election as directors and proposals of business to be considered by stockholders at any annual meeting may be made only (1) pursuant to our notice of the meeting, (2) by or at the direction of our Board of Directors or (3) by any stockholder who was a stockholder of record at the record date set by the Board of Directors for determining stockholders entitled to vote at the meeting, at the time of giving the notice required by our bylaws and at the time of the meeting, who is entitled to vote at the meeting in the election of each individual so nominated or on such other proposed business and who has complied with the advance notice procedures of our bylaws. Stockholders generally must provide notice to our secretary not earlier than the 150th day or later than the close of business on the 120th day before the first anniversary of the date the proxy statement for the preceding year’s annual meeting.
Only the business specified in the notice of the meeting may be brought before a special meeting of our stockholders. Nominations of individuals for election as directors at a special meeting of stockholders may be made only (1) by or at the direction of our Board of Directors, (2) by a stockholder that has requested that a special meeting be called for the purpose of electing directors in compliance with our bylaws or (3) if the special meeting has been called in accordance with our bylaws for the purpose of electing directors, by a stockholder who is a stockholder of record at the record date set by the Board of Directors for determining stockholders entitled to vote at the meeting, at the time of giving the notice required by our bylaws and at the time of the special meeting, who is entitled to vote at the meeting in the election of each individual so nominated and who has complied with the advance notice procedures of our bylaws. Stockholders generally must provide notice to our secretary not earlier than the 120th day before such special meeting and not later than the later of the close of business on the 90th day before the special meeting or the tenth day after the first public announcement of the date of the special meeting and the nominees of our Board of Directors to be elected at the meeting.
A stockholder’s notice must contain certain information specified by our bylaws.
Effect of Certain Provisions of Maryland Law and our Charter and Bylaws
The restrictions on ownership and transfer of our stock discussed under the caption “Description of Securities We May Offer - Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer” prevent any person from acquiring more than 9.8% (in value or by number of shares, whichever is more restrictive) of our outstanding shares of common stock or 9.8% in value of our outstanding shares of stock without the approval of our Board of Directors. These provisions as well as the business combination provisions of the MGCL may delay, defer or prevent a change in control of us.
Further, our Board of Directors has the power to classify and reclassify any unissued shares of our preferred stock into other classes or series of stock, and to authorize us to issue the newly classified shares, as discussed under the captions “Description of Securities We May Offer - Preferred Stock” and “-Power to Reclassify and Issue Stock,” and could authorize the issuance of shares of a class or series of stock, including a class or series of preferred stock, that could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of us. These actions may be taken without the approval of holders of our common stock unless such approval is required by applicable law, the terms of any other class or series of our stock or the rules of any stock exchange or automated quotation system on which any of our stock is listed or traded. We believe that the power of our Board of Directors to classify or reclassify unissued shares of our preferred stock and thereafter to cause us to issue such shares of stock will provide us with increased flexibility in structuring possible future financings and acquisitions and in meeting other needs which might arise.
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Our charter and bylaws also provide that the number of directors may be established only by a majority of our entire Board of Directors, which prevents our stockholders from increasing the number of our directors and filling any vacancies created by such increase with their own nominees. The provisions of our bylaws discussed above under the captions “-Special Meetings of Stockholders” and “-Advance Notice of Director Nomination and New Business” require stockholders seeking to call a special meeting, nominate an individual for election as a director or propose other business at an annual or special meeting to comply with certain notice and information requirements. We believe that these provisions will help to assure the continuity and stability of our business strategies and policies as determined by our Board of Directors and promote good corporate governance by providing us with clear procedures for calling special meetings, information about a stockholder proponent’s interest in us and adequate time to consider stockholder nominees and other business proposals. However, these provisions, alone or in combination, could make it more difficult for our stockholders to remove incumbent directors or fill vacancies on our Board of Directors with their own nominees and could delay, defer or prevent a change in control, including a proxy contest or tender offer that might involve a premium price for our common stockholders or otherwise be in the best interest of our stockholders.
Exclusive Forum
Our bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland, or, if that court does not have jurisdiction, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Baltimore Division, will be the sole and exclusive forum for (a) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (b) any action asserting a claim of breach of any duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us or to our stockholders, (c) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors, officers or other employees arising pursuant to any provision of the MGCL or our charter or bylaws or (d) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors, officers or other employees that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine.
Limitation of Liability and Indemnification of Directors and Officers
Maryland law permits us to include a provision in our charter limiting the liability of our directors and officers to us and our stockholders for money damages, except for liability resulting from (a) actual receipt of an improper benefit or profit in money, property or services or (b) active and deliberate dishonesty that is established by a final judgment and which is material to the cause of action. Our charter contains a provision that eliminates our directors’ and officers’ liability to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law.
The MGCL requires us (unless our charter provides otherwise, which our charter does not) to indemnify a director or officer who has been successful, on the merits or otherwise, in the defense of any proceeding to which he or she is made a party by reason of his or her service in that capacity. The MGCL permits us to indemnify our present and former directors and officers, among others, against judgments, penalties, fines, settlements and reasonable expenses actually incurred by them in connection with any proceeding to which they may be made or threatened to be made a party by reason of their service in those or certain other capacities unless it is established that:
| ● | the act or omission of the director or officer was material to the matter giving rise to the proceeding and (a) was committed in bad faith or (b) was the result of active and deliberate dishonesty; |
| ● | the director or officer actually received an improper personal benefit in money, property or services; or |
| ● | in the case of any criminal proceeding, the director or officer had reasonable cause to believe that the act or omission was unlawful. |
Under the MGCL, we may not indemnify a director or officer in a suit by us or in our right in which the director or officer was adjudged liable to us or in a suit in which the director or officer was adjudged liable on the basis that personal benefit was improperly received. A court may order indemnification if it determines that the director or officer is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnification, even though the director or officer did not meet the prescribed standard of conduct or was adjudged liable on the basis that personal benefit was improperly received. However, indemnification for an adverse judgment in a suit by us or in our right, or for a judgment of liability on the basis that personal benefit was improperly received, is limited to expenses.
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In addition, the MGCL permits us to advance reasonable expenses to a director or officer upon our receipt of (a) a written affirmation by the director or officer of his or her good faith belief that he or she has met the standard of conduct necessary for indemnification and (b) a written undertaking by him or her or on his or her behalf to repay the amount paid or reimbursed if it is ultimately determined that the standard of conduct was not met.
Our charter authorizes us to obligate ourselves, and our bylaws obligate us, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law in effect from time to time, to indemnify and, without requiring a preliminary determination of the ultimate entitlement to indemnification, pay or reimburse reasonable expenses in advance of final disposition of a proceeding to:
| ● | any present or former director or officer who is made or threatened to be made a party to, or witness in, a proceeding by reason of his or her service in that capacity; or |
| ● | any individual who, while a director or officer of our Company and at our request, serves or has served as a director, officer, partner, trustee, member or manager of another corporation, real estate investment trust, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or any other enterprise and who is made or threatened to be made a party to, or witness in, the proceeding by reason of his or her service in that capacity. |
Our charter and bylaws also permit us to indemnify and advance expenses to any individual who served any of our predecessors in any of the capacities described above and any employee or agent of us or any of our predecessors.
We have entered into an indemnification agreement with each of our directors and executive officers that provides for indemnification to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law. Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors or executive officers, we have been informed that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy and is therefore unenforceable.
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U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS
The following is a general summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations regarding our election to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) and this offering of our Series A Common Stock, which we refer to in this discussion as our “capital stock”. For purposes of this discussion, references to “we,” “our” and “us” mean only Presidio Property Trust, Inc. and do not include any of its subsidiaries, except as otherwise indicated. This summary is for general information only and is not intended to nor should it be construed as tax advice. It may not address all of the U.S. federal income tax consequences that may be relevant to a prospective investor’s specific circumstances. Accordingly, this section is not a substitute for careful tax analysis and prospective investors are urged to consult with their tax advisors. The information in this summary is based on:
| ● | the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended from time-to-time (the “Code”); |
| ● | current, temporary and proposed Treasury regulations promulgated under the Code (the “Treasury Regulations”); |
| ● | the legislative history of the Code; |
| ● | administrative interpretations and practices of the U.S. Internal Revenue Services (the “IRS”); and |
| ● | court decisions; |
in each case, as of the date of this prospectus. In addition, the administrative interpretations and practices of the IRS include its practices and policies as expressed in private letter rulings that are not binding on the IRS except with respect to the particular taxpayers who requested and received those rulings. The sections of the Code and the corresponding Treasury Regulations that relate to qualification and taxation as a REIT are highly technical and complex. The following discussion sets forth certain material aspects of the sections of the Code that govern the U.S. federal income tax treatment of a REIT and its stockholders. This summary is qualified in its entirety by the applicable Code provisions, Treasury Regulations promulgated under the Code, and administrative and judicial interpretations thereof. Future legislation, Treasury Regulations, administrative interpretations and practices and/or court decisions may adversely affect the tax considerations contained in this discussion. Any such change could apply retroactively to transactions preceding the date of the change. We have not requested, and do not plan to request, any rulings from the IRS that we qualify as a REIT, and the statements in this prospectus are not binding on the IRS or any court. Thus, we can provide no assurance that the tax considerations contained in this discussion will not be challenged by the IRS or will be sustained by a court if challenged by the IRS. This summary does not discuss any state, local or non-U.S. tax consequences, or any tax consequences arising under any U.S. federal tax laws other than U.S. federal income tax laws, associated with the purchase, ownership or disposition of our capital stock, or our election to be taxed as a REIT.
You are urged to consult your tax advisor regarding the tax consequences to you of:
| ● | the purchase, ownership or disposition of our capital stock, including the U.S. federal, state, local, non-U.S. and other tax consequences; |
| ● | our election to be taxed as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes; |
| ● | potential changes in applicable tax laws; and |
| ● | sunsetting of certain existing provisions of the Code, including certain tax rates which are to revert to prior rates under the Code. |
Taxation of Our Company
General.
We elected to be taxed as a REIT under Sections 856 through 860 of the Code commencing with our taxable year ended December 31, 2001. We believe that we have been organized and have operated in a manner that has allowed us to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the Code commencing with such taxable year, and we intend to continue to be organized and operate in this manner. However, qualification and taxation as a REIT depend upon our ability to meet the various qualification tests imposed under the Code, including through actual operating results, asset composition, distribution levels and diversity of stock ownership. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that we have been organized and have operated, or will continue to be organized and operate, in a manner so as to qualify or remain qualified as a REIT. See “— Failure to Qualify” for potential tax consequences if we fail to qualify as a REIT.
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Whiteford, Taylor & Preston L.L.P. (“Whiteford”) has acted as our special tax counsel in connection with this registration statement. Whiteford will render an opinion to us to the effect that, for the years we have elected to be taxed as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, commencing with our taxable year ended December 31, 2001, we have been organized and have operated in conformity with the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the Code, and our proposed method of operation will enable us to continue to meet the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the Code. It must be emphasized that this opinion will be based on various assumptions and representations as to factual matters, including representations made by us in a factual certificate provided by one or more of our officers. In addition, this opinion will be based upon our factual representations set forth in this prospectus. Moreover, our qualification and taxation as a REIT depend upon our ability to meet the various qualification tests imposed under the Code, which are discussed below, including through actual operating results, asset composition, distribution levels and diversity of stock ownership, the results of which have not been and will not be reviewed by Whiteford. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that our actual results of operation for any particular taxable year have satisfied or will satisfy those requirements. Further, the anticipated U.S. federal income tax treatment described herein may be changed, perhaps retroactively, by legislative, administrative or judicial action at any time. Whiteford has no obligation to update its opinion subsequent to the date of such opinion.
Provided we qualify for taxation as a REIT, we generally will not be required to pay U.S. federal corporate income taxes on our REIT taxable income that is currently distributed to our stockholders. This treatment substantially eliminates the “double taxation” that ordinarily results from investment in a C corporation. A C corporation is a corporation that generally is required to pay tax at the corporate level. Double taxation means taxation once at the corporate level when taxable income is earned and once again at the stockholder level when the income is distributed. We will, however, be required to pay U.S. federal income tax as follows:
| ● | First, we will be required to pay regular U.S. federal corporate income tax on any undistributed REIT taxable income, including undistributed net capital gains. |
| ● | Second, if we have (1) net income from the sale or other disposition of “foreclosure property” held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business or (2) other nonqualifying income from foreclosure property, we will be required to pay tax at the highest corporate rate on this income. To the extent that income from foreclosure property is otherwise qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test, this tax is not applicable. Subject to certain other requirements, foreclosure property generally is defined as property we acquired through foreclosure or after a default on a loan secured by the property or a lease of the property. |
| ● | Third, we will be required to pay a 100% tax on any net income from prohibited transactions. Prohibited transactions are, in general, sales or other taxable dispositions of property, other than foreclosure property, held as inventory or primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business. |
| ● | Fourth, if we fail to satisfy the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test, as described below, but have otherwise maintained our qualification as a REIT because certain other requirements are met, we will be required to pay a tax equal to (1) the greater of (A) the amount by which we fail to satisfy the 75% gross income test and (B) the amount by which we fail to satisfy the 95% gross income test, multiplied by (2) a fraction intended to reflect our profitability. |
| ● | Fifth, if we fail to satisfy any of the asset tests (other than a de minimis failure of the 5% or 10% asset tests), as described below, due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect, and we nonetheless maintain our REIT qualification because of specified cure provisions, we will be required to pay a tax equal to the greater of $50,000 or the highest U.S. federal corporate income tax rate multiplied by the net income generated by the nonqualifying assets that caused us to fail such test. |
| ● | Sixth, if we fail to satisfy any provision of the Code that would result in our failure to qualify as a REIT (other than a violation of the gross income tests or certain violations of the asset tests, as described below) and the violation is due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect, we may retain our REIT qualification but we will be required to pay a penalty of $50,000 for each such failure. |
| ● | Seventh, we will be required to pay a 4% excise tax to the extent we fail to distribute during each calendar year at least the sum of (1) 85% of our ordinary income for the year, (2) 95% of our capital gain net income for the year, and (3) any undistributed taxable income from prior periods. |
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| ● | Eighth, if we acquire any asset from a corporation that is or has been a C corporation in a transaction in which our tax basis in the asset is less than the fair market value of the asset, in each case determined as of the date on which we acquired the asset, and we subsequently recognize gain on the disposition of the asset during a period that is generally five years beginning on the date on which we acquired the asset, then we generally will be required to pay tax at the highest regular corporate tax rate on this gain to the extent of the excess of (1) the fair market value of the asset over (2) our adjusted tax basis in the asset, in each case determined as of the date on which we acquired the asset. The results described in this paragraph with respect to the recognition of gain assume that the C corporation will refrain from making an election to receive different treatment under applicable Treasury Regulations on its tax return for the year in which we acquire the asset from the C corporation. Under applicable Treasury Regulations, any gain from the sale of property we acquired in an exchange under Section 1031 (a like-kind exchange) or Section 1033 (an involuntary conversion) of the Code generally is excluded from the application of this built-in gains tax. |
| ● | Ninth, we will be required to pay a 100% tax on any “redetermined rents,” “redetermined deductions,” “excess interest” or “redetermined TRS service income,” as described below under “— Penalty Tax.” In general, redetermined rents are rents from real property that are overstated as a result of services furnished to any of our tenants by a taxable REIT subsidiary of ours. Redetermined deductions and excess interest generally represent amounts that are deducted by a taxable REIT subsidiary of ours for amounts paid to us that are in excess of the amounts that would have been deducted based on arm’s length negotiations. Redetermined TRS service income generally represents income of a taxable REIT subsidiary that is understated as a result of services provided to us or on our behalf. |
| ● | Tenth, we may elect to retain and pay income tax on our net capital gain. In that case, a stockholder would include its proportionate share of our undistributed net capital gain (to the extent we make a timely designation of such gain to the stockholder) in its income, would be deemed to have paid the tax that we paid on such gain, and would be allowed a credit for its proportionate share of the tax deemed to have been paid, and an adjustment would be made to increase the tax basis of the stockholder in our capital stock. |
| ● | Eleventh, if we fail to comply with the requirement to send annual letters to our stockholders requesting information regarding the actual ownership of our stock, and the failure is not due to reasonable cause or due to willful neglect, we will be subject to a $25,000 penalty, or if the failure is intentional, a $50,000 penalty. |
We and our subsidiaries may be subject to a variety of taxes other than U.S. federal income tax, including payroll taxes and state and local income, property and other taxes on our assets and operations.
Requirements for Qualification as a REIT.
The Code defines a REIT as a corporation, trust or association:
| (1) | that is managed by one or more trustees or directors; |
| (2) | that issues transferable shares or transferable certificates to evidence its beneficial ownership; |
| (3) | that would be taxable as a domestic corporation, but for Sections 856 through 860 of the Code; |
| (4) | that is not a financial institution or an insurance company within the meaning of certain provisions of the Code; |
| (5) | that is beneficially owned by 100 or more persons; |
| (6) | not more than 50% in value of the outstanding stock of which is owned, actually or constructively, by five or fewer individuals, including certain specified entities, during the last half of each taxable year; and |
| (7) | that meets other tests, described below, regarding the nature of its income and assets and the amount of its distributions. |
The Code provides that conditions (1) to (4), inclusive, must be met during the entire taxable year and that condition (5) must be met during at least 335 days of a taxable year of 12 months, or during a proportionate part of a taxable year of less than 12 months. For purposes of condition (6), the term “individual” includes a supplemental unemployment compensation benefit plan, a private foundation or a portion of a trust permanently set aside or used exclusively for charitable purposes, but generally does not include a qualified pension plan or profit-sharing trust.
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We believe that we have been organized and have operated in a manner that has allowed us, and will continue to allow us, and we believe we will issue sufficient shares of our capital stock with sufficient diversity of ownership pursuant to this offering of our capital stock to allow us, to satisfy conditions (1) through (7), inclusive, during the relevant time periods. In addition, our charter provides for restrictions regarding ownership and transfer of our shares that are intended to assist us in continuing to satisfy the share ownership requirements described in conditions (5) and (6) above. A description of the share ownership and transfer restrictions relating to our capital stock is contained in the discussion in this prospectus under the heading “Description of Securities We May Offer — Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer.” These restrictions, however, do not ensure that we have previously satisfied, and may not ensure that we will, in all cases, be able to continue to satisfy, the share ownership requirements described in conditions (5) and (6) above. If we fail to satisfy these share ownership requirements, except as provided in the next sentence, our status as a REIT will terminate. If, however, we comply with the rules contained in applicable Treasury Regulations that require us to ascertain the actual ownership of our shares and we do not know, or would not have known through the exercise of reasonable diligence, that we failed to meet the requirement described in condition (6) above, we will be treated as having met this requirement. See “— Failure to Qualify.”
In addition, we may not maintain our status as a REIT unless our taxable year is the calendar year. We have and will continue to have a calendar taxable year.
Ownership of Interests in Partnerships, Limited Liability Companies and Qualified REIT Subsidiaries.
In the case of a REIT that is a partner in a partnership or a member in a limited liability company (unless otherwise stated, as used throughout this discussion of U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences, “limited liability company” shall mean “a limited liability company treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes), Treasury Regulations provide that the REIT will be deemed to own its proportionate share of the assets of the partnership or limited liability company, as the case may be, based on its interest in partnership capital, subject to special rules relating to the 10% asset test described below. Also, the REIT will be deemed to be entitled to its proportionate share of the income of that entity. The assets and gross income of the partnership or limited liability company retain the same character in the hands of the REIT for purposes of Section 856 of the Code, including satisfying the gross income tests and the asset tests. Thus, our pro rata share of the assets and items of income of any partnership or limited liability company treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, including such partnership’s or limited liability company’s share of these items of any partnership or limited liability company treated as a partnership or disregarded entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes in which it owns an interest, would be treated as our assets and items of income for purposes of applying the requirements described in this discussion, including the gross income and asset tests described below. For purposes of the REIT qualification tests, the treatment of our ownership of partnerships or limited liability companies treated as disregarded entities for U.S. federal income tax purposes is generally the same as described below with respect to qualified REIT subsidiaries. A brief summary of the rules governing the U.S. federal income taxation of partnerships and limited liability companies is set forth below in “—Tax Aspects of the Subsidiary Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies.”
We have control of certain subsidiary partnerships and limited liability companies and intend to operate them in a manner consistent with the requirements for our qualification as a REIT. If we are or become a limited partner or non-managing member in any partnership or limited liability company and such entity takes or expects to take actions that could jeopardize our status as a REIT or require us to pay tax, we may be forced to dispose of our interest in such entity. In addition, it is possible that a partnership or limited liability company could take an action which could cause us to fail a gross income or asset test, and that we would not become aware of such action in time to dispose of our interest in the partnership or limited liability company or take other corrective action on a timely basis. In that case, we could fail to qualify as a REIT unless we were entitled to relief, as described below.
We may from time to time own and operate certain properties through wholly-owned subsidiaries that we intend to be treated as “qualified REIT subsidiaries” under the Code. A corporation (including an entity treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes) will qualify as our qualified REIT subsidiary if we own 100% of the corporation’s outstanding stock and do not elect with the subsidiary to treat it as a “taxable REIT subsidiary,” as described below. A qualified REIT subsidiary is not treated as a separate corporation, and all assets, liabilities and items of income, gain, loss, deduction and credit of a qualified REIT subsidiary are treated as assets, liabilities and items of income, gain, loss, deduction and credit of the parent REIT for all purposes under the Code, including all REIT qualification tests. Thus, in applying the U.S. federal income tax requirements described in this discussion, any qualified REIT subsidiaries we own are ignored, and all assets, liabilities and items of income, gain, loss, deduction and credit of such corporations are treated as our assets, liabilities and items of income, gain, loss, deduction and credit. A qualified REIT subsidiary is not subject to U.S. federal income tax, and our ownership of the stock of a qualified REIT subsidiary will not violate the restrictions on ownership of securities, as described below under “— Asset Tests.”
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Ownership of Interests in Taxable REIT Subsidiaries.
We own an interest in an entity that has elected, together with us, to be treated as our taxable REIT subsidiary, and we may acquire securities in additional taxable REIT subsidiaries in the future. A taxable REIT subsidiary is a corporation (or other entity treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes) other than a REIT in which a REIT directly or indirectly holds stock, and that has made a joint election with such REIT to be treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary. If a taxable REIT subsidiary owns more than 35% of the total voting power or value of the outstanding securities of another corporation, such other corporation will also be treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary. Other than some activities relating to lodging and health care facilities, a taxable REIT subsidiary may generally engage in any business, including the provision of customary or non-customary services to tenants of its parent REIT. A taxable REIT subsidiary is subject to U.S. federal income tax as a regular C corporation. A REIT’s ownership of securities of a taxable REIT subsidiary is not subject to the 5% or 10% asset test described below. See “— Asset Tests.”
Income Tests.
We must satisfy two gross income requirements annually to maintain our qualification as a REIT. First, in each taxable year we must derive directly or indirectly at least 75% of our gross income (excluding gross income from prohibited transactions, certain hedging transactions and certain foreign currency gains) from investments relating to real property or mortgages on real property, including “rents from real property,” dividends from other REITs and, in certain circumstances, interest, or certain types of temporary investments. Second, in each taxable year we must derive at least 95% of our gross income (excluding gross income from prohibited transactions, certain hedging transactions and certain foreign currency gains) from the real property investments described above or dividends, interest and gain from the sale or disposition of stock or securities, or from any combination of the foregoing. For these purposes, the term “interest” generally does not include any amount received or accrued, directly or indirectly, if the determination of all or some of the amount depends in any way on the income or profits of any person. However, an amount received or accrued generally will not be excluded from the term “interest” solely by reason of being based on a fixed percentage or percentages of receipts or sales.
Rents we receive from a tenant will qualify as “rents from real property” for the purpose of satisfying the gross income requirements for a REIT described above only if all of the following conditions are met:
| ● | The amount of rent is not based in whole or in part on the income or profits of any person. However, an amount we receive or accrue generally will not be excluded from the term “rents from real property” solely because it is based on a fixed percentage or percentages of receipts or sales or, if it is based on the net income of a tenant that derives substantially all of its income with respect to such property from subleasing of substantially all of such property, to the extent that the rents paid by the subtenants would qualify as rents from real property if we earned such amounts directly; |
| ● | Neither we nor an actual or constructive owner of 10% or more of our capital stock actually or constructively owns 10% or more of the interests in the assets or net profits of a non-corporate tenant, or, if the tenant is a corporation, 10% or more of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock entitled to vote or 10% or more of the total value of all classes of stock of the tenant. Rents we receive from such a tenant that is a taxable REIT subsidiary of ours, however, will not be excluded from the definition of “rents from real property” as a result of this condition if at least 90% of the space at the property to which the rents relate is leased to third parties, and the rents paid by the taxable REIT subsidiary are substantially comparable to rents paid by our other tenants for comparable space. Whether rents paid by a taxable REIT subsidiary are substantially comparable to rents paid by other tenants is determined at the time the lease with the taxable REIT subsidiary is entered into, extended, and modified, if such modification increases the rents due under such lease. Notwithstanding the foregoing, however, if a lease with a “controlled taxable REIT subsidiary” is modified and such modification results in an increase in the rents payable by such taxable REIT subsidiary, any such increase will not qualify as “rents from real property.” For purposes of this rule, a “controlled taxable REIT subsidiary” is a taxable REIT subsidiary in which the parent REIT owns stock possessing more than 50% of the voting power or more than 50% of the total value of the outstanding stock of such taxable REIT subsidiary; |
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| ● | Rent attributable to personal property, leased in connection with a lease of real property, is not greater than 15% of the total rent received under the lease. If this condition is not met, then the portion of the rent attributable to personal property will not qualify as “rents from real property.” To the extent that rent attributable to personal property, leased in connection with a lease of real property, exceeds 15% of the total rent received under the lease, we may transfer a portion of such personal property to a taxable REIT subsidiary; and |
| ● | We generally may not operate or manage the property or furnish or render services to our tenants, subject to a 1% de minimis exception and except as provided below. We may, however, perform services that are “usually or customarily rendered” in connection with the rental of space for occupancy only and are not otherwise considered “rendered to the occupant” of the property. Examples of these services include the provision of light, heat, or other utilities, trash removal and general maintenance of common areas. In addition, we may employ an independent contractor from whom we derive no revenue to provide customary services to our tenants, or a taxable REIT subsidiary (which may be wholly or partially owned by us) to provide both customary and non-customary services to our tenants without causing the rent we receive from those tenants to fail to qualify as “rents from real property.” |
We generally do not intend to take actions we believe will cause us to fail to satisfy the rental conditions described above. However, we may intentionally fail to satisfy some of these conditions to the extent we determine, based on the advice of our tax counsel, that the failure will not jeopardize our tax status as a REIT. In addition, with respect to the limitation on the rental of personal property, we generally have not obtained appraisals of the real property and personal property leased to tenants. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the IRS will not disagree with our determinations of value.
Income we receive that is attributable to the rental of parking spaces at the properties generally will constitute rents from real property for purposes of the gross income tests if certain services provided with respect to the parking spaces are performed by independent contractors from whom we derive no revenue, either directly or indirectly, or by a taxable REIT subsidiary, and certain other conditions are met. We believe that the income we receive that is attributable to parking spaces will meet these tests and, accordingly, will constitute rents from real property for purposes of the gross income tests.
From time to time, we may enter into hedging transactions with respect to one or more of our assets or liabilities. Our hedging activities may include entering into interest rate swaps, caps, and floors, options to purchase these items, and futures and forward contracts. Income from a hedging transaction, including gain from the sale or disposition of such a transaction, that is clearly identified as a hedging transaction as specified in the Code will not constitute gross income under, and thus will be exempt from, the 75% and 95% gross income tests. The term “hedging transaction,” as used above, generally means (A) any transaction we enter into in the normal course of our business primarily to manage risk of (1) interest rate changes or fluctuations with respect to borrowings made or to be made by us to acquire or carry real estate assets, or (2) currency fluctuations with respect to an item of qualifying income under the 75% or 95% gross income test or any property which generates such income and (B) new transactions entered into to hedge the income or loss from prior hedging transactions, where the property or indebtedness which was the subject of the prior hedging transaction was extinguished or disposed of. To the extent that we do not properly identify such transactions as hedges or we hedge with other types of financial instruments, the income from those transactions will not be treated as qualifying income for purposes of the gross income tests. We intend to structure any hedging transactions in a manner that does not jeopardize our status as a REIT.
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To the extent our taxable REIT subsidiaries pay dividends or interest, our allocable share of such dividend or interest income will qualify under the 95%, but not the 75%, gross income test (except to the extent the interest is paid on a loan that is adequately secured by real property).
We will monitor the amount of the dividend and other income from our taxable REIT subsidiaries and will take actions intended to keep this income, and any other nonqualifying income, within the limitations of the gross income tests. Although we expect these actions will be sufficient to prevent a violation of the gross income tests, we cannot guarantee that such actions will in all cases prevent such a violation.
If we fail to satisfy one or both of the 75% or 95% gross income tests for any taxable year, we may nevertheless qualify as a REIT for the year if we are entitled to relief under certain provisions of the Code. We generally may make use of the relief provisions if:
| ● | following our identification of the failure to meet the 75% or 95% gross income tests for any taxable year, we file a schedule with the IRS setting forth each item of our gross income for purposes of the 75% or 95% gross income tests for such taxable year in accordance with Treasury Regulations to be issued; and |
| ● | our failure to meet these tests was due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect. |
It is not possible, however, to state whether in all circumstances we would be entitled to the benefit of these relief provisions. For example, if we fail to satisfy the gross income tests because nonqualifying income that we intentionally accrue or receive exceeds the limits on nonqualifying income, the IRS could conclude that our failure to satisfy the tests was not due to reasonable cause. If these relief provisions do not apply to a particular set of circumstances, we will not qualify as a REIT. See “— Failure to Qualify” for potential tax consequences if we fail to qualify as a REIT. As discussed above in “— Taxation of Our Company — General,” even if these relief provisions apply, and we retain our status as a REIT, a tax would be imposed with respect to our nonqualifying income. We may not always be able to comply with the gross income tests for REIT qualification despite periodic monitoring of our income. Further, the IRS may challenge positions we take in computing our REIT taxable income, which, if successful, could result in our disqualification as a REIT unless we were permitted to pay a deficiency dividend.
Prohibited Transaction Income.
Any gain that we realize on the sale of property (other than any foreclosure property) held as inventory or otherwise held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business, either directly or through any qualified REIT subsidiaries, subsidiary partnerships or limited liability companies, will be treated as income from a prohibited transaction that is subject to a 100% penalty tax, unless certain safe harbor exceptions apply. This prohibited transaction income may also adversely affect our ability to satisfy the gross income tests for qualification as a REIT. Under existing law, whether property is held as inventory or primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business is a question of fact that depends on all the facts and circumstances surrounding the particular transaction. We do not intend, and we do not intend to permit our qualified REIT subsidiaries or subsidiary partnerships or limited liability companies, to enter into any sales that are prohibited transactions. However, the IRS may successfully contend that some or all of the sales made by us, our qualified REIT subsidiaries or our subsidiary partnerships or limited liability companies are prohibited transactions. We would be required to pay the 100% penalty tax on our allocable share of the gains resulting from any such sales. The 100% penalty tax will not apply to gains from the sale of assets that are held through a taxable REIT subsidiary, but such income will be subject to regular U.S. federal corporate income tax.
Penalty Tax.
Any redetermined rents, redetermined deductions, excess interest or redetermined TRS service income we generate will be subject to a 100% penalty tax. In general, redetermined rents are rents from real property that are overstated as a result of any services furnished to any of our tenants by a taxable REIT subsidiary of ours, redetermined deductions and excess interest represent any amounts that are deducted by a taxable REIT subsidiary of ours for amounts paid to us that are in excess of the amounts that would have been deducted based on arm’s length negotiations, and redetermined TRS service income is income of a taxable REIT subsidiary that is understated as a result of services provided to us or on our behalf. Rents we receive will not constitute redetermined rents if they qualify for certain safe harbor provisions contained in the Code.
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We do not believe we have been, and do not expect to be, subject to this penalty tax, although any rental or service arrangements we enter into from time to time may not satisfy the safe-harbor provisions described above. These determinations are inherently factual, and the IRS has broad discretion to assert that amounts paid between related parties should be reallocated to clearly reflect their respective incomes. If the IRS successfully made such an assertion, we would be required to pay a 100% penalty tax on any overstated rents paid to us, or any excess deductions or understated income of our taxable REIT subsidiaries.
Asset Tests.
At the close of each calendar quarter of our taxable year, we must also satisfy certain tests relating to the nature and diversification of our assets. First, at least 75% of the value of our total assets must be represented by real estate assets, cash, cash items and U.S. government securities. For purposes of this test, the term “real estate assets” generally means real property (including interests in real property and interests in mortgages on real property and, to a limited extent, personal property), shares (or transferable certificates of beneficial interest) in other REITs, any stock or debt instrument attributable to the investment of the proceeds of a stock offering or a public offering of debt with a term of at least five years (but only for the one-year period beginning on the date the REIT receives such proceeds), debt instruments of publicly offered REITs, and personal property leased in connection with a lease of real property for which the rent attributable to personal property is not greater than 15% of the total rent received under the lease.
Second, not more than 25% of the value of our total assets may be represented by securities (including securities of taxable REIT subsidiaries), other than those securities includable in the 75% asset test.
Third, of the investments included in the 25% asset class, and except for certain investments in other REITs, our qualified REIT subsidiaries and taxable REIT subsidiaries, the value of any one issuer’s securities may not exceed 5% of the value of our total assets, and we may not own more than 10% of the total vote or value of the outstanding securities of any one issuer except, in the case of the 10% value test, securities satisfying the “straight debt” safe-harbor or securities issued by a partnership that itself would satisfy the 75% income test if it were a REIT. Certain types of securities we may own are disregarded as securities solely for purposes of the 10% value test, including, but not limited to, any loan to an individual or an estate, any obligation to pay rents from real property and any security issued by a REIT. In addition, solely for purposes of the 10% value test, the determination of our interest in the assets of a partnership or limited liability company in which we own an interest will be based on our proportionate interest in any securities issued by the partnership or limited liability company, excluding for this purpose certain securities described in the Code. From time to time we may own securities (including debt securities) of issuers that do not qualify as a REIT, a qualified REIT subsidiary or a taxable REIT subsidiary. We intend that our ownership of any such securities will be structured in a manner that allows us to comply with the asset tests described above.
Fourth, not more than 20% of the value of our total assets may be represented by the securities of one or more taxable REIT subsidiaries. We own an interest in an entity that has elected, together with us, to be treated as our taxable REIT subsidiary, and we may acquire securities in additional taxable REIT subsidiaries in the future. So long as each of these companies qualifies as a taxable REIT subsidiary of ours, we will not be subject to the 5% asset test, the 10% voting securities limitation or the 10% value limitation with respect to our ownership of the securities of such companies. We believe that the aggregate value of our taxable REIT subsidiaries has not exceeded, and in the future will not exceed, 20% of the aggregate value of our gross assets. We generally do not obtain independent appraisals to support these conclusions. In addition, there can be no assurance that the IRS will not disagree with our determinations of value.
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Fifth, not more than 25% of the value of our total assets may be represented by debt instruments of publicly offered REITs to the extent those debt instruments would not be real estate assets but for the inclusion of debt instruments of publicly offered REITs in the meaning of real estate assets, as described above (e.g., a debt instrument issued by a publicly offered REIT that is not secured by a mortgage on real property).
The asset tests must be satisfied at the close of each calendar quarter of our taxable year in which we (directly or through any qualified REIT subsidiary, partnership or limited liability company) acquire securities in the applicable issuer, and also at the close of each calendar quarter in which we increase our ownership of securities of such issuer (including as a result of an increase in our interest in any partnership or limited liability company that owns such securities). For example, our indirect ownership of securities of each issuer may increase as a result of our capital contributions to, or the redemption of other partners’ or members’ interests in, a partnership or limited liability company in which we have an ownership interest. Also, after initially meeting the asset tests at the close of any quarter, we will not lose our status as a REIT for failure to satisfy the asset tests at the end of a later quarter solely by reason of changes in asset values. If we fail to satisfy an asset test because we acquire securities or other property during a quarter (including as a result of an increase in our interest in any partnership or limited liability company), we may cure this failure by disposing of sufficient nonqualifying assets within 30 days after the close of that quarter. We believe that we have maintained, and we intend to maintain, adequate records of the value of our assets to ensure compliance with the asset tests. If we fail to cure any noncompliance with the asset tests within the 30-day cure period, we would cease to qualify as a REIT unless we are eligible for certain relief provisions discussed below.
Certain relief provisions may be available to us if we discover a failure to satisfy the asset tests described above after the 30-day cure period. Under these provisions, we will be deemed to have met the 5% and 10% asset tests if the value of our nonqualifying assets (i) does not exceed the lesser of (a) 1% of the total value of our assets at the end of the applicable quarter or (b) $10,000,000, and (ii) we dispose of the nonqualifying assets or otherwise satisfy such tests within (a) six months after the last day of the quarter in which the failure to satisfy the asset tests is discovered or (b) the period of time prescribed by Treasury Regulations to be issued. For violations of any of the asset tests due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect and that are, in the case of the 5% and 10% asset tests, in excess of the de minimis exception described above, we may avoid disqualification as a REIT after the 30-day cure period by taking steps including (i) the disposition of sufficient nonqualifying assets, or the taking of other actions, which allow us to meet the asset tests within (a) six months after the last day of the quarter in which the failure to satisfy the asset tests is discovered or (b) the period of time prescribed by Treasury Regulations to be issued, (ii) paying a tax equal to the greater of (a) $50,000 or (b) the highest U.S. federal corporate income tax rate multiplied by the net income generated by the nonqualifying assets, and (iii) disclosing certain information to the IRS.
Although we believe we have satisfied the asset tests described above and plan to take steps to ensure that we satisfy such tests for any quarter with respect to which retesting is to occur, there can be no assurance that we will always be successful, or will not require a reduction in our overall interest in an issuer (including in a taxable REIT subsidiary). If we fail to cure any noncompliance with the asset tests in a timely manner, and the relief provisions described above are not available, we would cease to qualify as a REIT.
Annual Distribution Requirements.
To maintain our qualification as a REIT, we are required to distribute dividends, other than capital gain dividends, to our stockholders in an amount at least equal to the sum of:
| ● | 90% of our REIT taxable income; and |
| ● | 90% of our after-tax net income, if any, from foreclosure property; minus |
| ● | the excess of the sum of certain items of non-cash income over 5% of our REIT taxable income. |
For these purposes, our REIT taxable income is computed without regard to the dividends paid deduction and our net capital gain. In addition, for purposes of this test, non-cash income generally means income attributable to leveled stepped rents, original issue discount, cancellation of indebtedness, or a like-kind exchange that is later determined to be taxable.
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In addition, our REIT taxable income will be reduced by any taxes we are required to pay on any gain we recognize from the disposition of any asset we acquired from a corporation that is or has been a C corporation in a transaction in which our tax basis in the asset is less than the fair market value of the asset, in each case determined as of the date on which we acquired the asset, within a period that is generally five years following our acquisition of such asset, as described above under “—General.”
Under the 2017 Tax Legislation, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, our deduction for net business interest expense will generally be limited to 30% of our taxable income, as adjusted for certain items of income, gain, deduction or loss. Any business interest deduction that is disallowed due to this limitation may be carried forward to future taxable years. If we are subject to this interest expense limitation, our REIT taxable income for a taxable year may be increased. Taxpayers that conduct certain real estate businesses may elect not to have this interest expense limitation apply to them, provided that they use an alternative depreciation system to depreciate certain property. We believe that we will be eligible to make this election. If we make this election, although we would not be subject to the interest expense limitation described above, our depreciation deductions may be reduced and, as a result, our REIT taxable income for a taxable year may be increased.
We generally must pay, or be treated as paying, the distributions described above in the taxable year to which they relate. At our election, a distribution will be treated as paid in a taxable year if it is declared before we timely file our tax return for such year and paid on or before the first regular dividend payment after such declaration, provided such payment is made during the 12-month period following the close of such year. These distributions are treated as received by our stockholders in the year in which they are paid. This is so even though these distributions relate to the prior year for purposes of the 90% distribution requirement. In order to be taken into account for purposes of our distribution requirement, except as provided below, the amount distributed must not be preferential—i.e., every stockholder of the class of stock to which a distribution is made must be treated the same as every other stockholder of that class, and no class of stock may be treated other than according to its dividend rights as a class. This preferential limitation will not apply to distributions made by us, provided we qualify as a “publicly offered REIT.” We believe that we are, and expect we will continue to be, a publicly offered REIT. To the extent that we do not distribute all of our net capital gain, or distribute at least 90%, but less than 100%, of our REIT taxable income, as adjusted, we will be required to pay tax on the undistributed amount at regular corporate tax rates.
We believe that we have made, and we intend to continue to make, timely distributions sufficient to satisfy these annual distribution requirements and to minimize our federal corporate income tax obligations. However, from time to time, we may not have sufficient cash or other liquid assets to meet these distribution requirements due to timing differences between the actual receipt of income and actual payment of deductible expenses, and the inclusion of income and deduction of expenses in determining our taxable income. In addition, we may decide to retain our cash, rather than distribute it, in order to repay debt or for other reasons. If these timing differences occur, we may borrow funds to pay dividends or pay dividends in the form of taxable stock distributions in order to meet the distribution requirements, while preserving our cash.
Under some circumstances, we may be able to rectify an inadvertent failure to meet the 90% distribution requirement for a year by paying “deficiency dividends” to our stockholders in a later year, which may be included in our deduction for dividends paid for the earlier year. In that case, we may be able to avoid being taxed on amounts distributed as deficiency dividends, subject to the 4% excise tax described below. However, we will be required to pay interest to the IRS based upon the amount of any deduction claimed for deficiency dividends. While the payment of a deficiency dividend will apply to a prior year for purposes of our REIT distribution requirements, it will be treated as an additional distribution to our stockholders in the year such dividend is paid. In addition, if a dividend we have paid is treated as a preferential dividend, in lieu of treating the dividend as not counting toward satisfying the 90% distribution requirement, the IRS may provide a remedy to cure such failure if the IRS determines that such failure is (or is of a type that is) inadvertent or due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect.
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Furthermore, we will be required to pay a 4% excise tax to the extent we fail to distribute during each calendar year at least the sum of 85% of our ordinary income for such year, 95% of our capital gain net income for the year and any undistributed taxable income from prior periods. Any ordinary income and net capital gain on which corporate income tax is imposed for any year is treated as an amount distributed during that year for purposes of calculating this excise tax.
For purposes of the 90% distribution requirement and excise tax described above, dividends declared during the last three months of the taxable year, payable to stockholders of record on a specified date during such period and paid during January of the following year, will be treated as paid by us and received by our stockholders on December 31 of the year in which they are declared.
Like-Kind Exchanges.
We may dispose of real property that is not held primarily for sale in transactions intended to qualify as like-kind exchanges under the Code. Such like-kind exchanges are intended to result in the deferral of gain for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The failure of any such transaction to qualify as a like-kind exchange could require us to pay U.S. federal income tax, possibly including the 100% prohibited transaction tax, depending on the facts and circumstances surrounding the particular transaction.
Tax Liabilities and Attributes Inherited in Connection with Acquisitions.
From time to time, we may acquire other corporations or entities and, in connection with such acquisitions, we may succeed to the historical tax attributes and liabilities of such corporations or entities. For example, if we acquire a C corporation and subsequently dispose of its assets within five years of the acquisition, we could be required to pay the built-in gain tax described above under “— General.” In addition, in order to qualify as a REIT, at the end of any taxable year, we must not have any earnings and profits accumulated in a non-REIT year. As a result, if we acquire a C corporation, we must distribute the corporation’s earnings and profits accumulated prior to the acquisition before the end of the taxable year in which we acquire the corporation. We also could be required to pay the acquired entity’s unpaid taxes even though such liabilities arose prior to the time we acquired the entity.
Moreover, we may from time to time acquire other REITs through a merger or acquisition. If any such REIT failed to qualify as a REIT for any of its taxable years, such REIT would be liable for (and we, as the surviving corporation in the merger or acquisition, would be obligated to pay) U.S. federal income tax on its taxable income at regular rates, and if the merger or acquisition is a transaction in which our tax basis in the assets of such REIT is less than the fair market value of the assets determined at the time of the merger or acquisition, we would be subject to tax on the built-in gain on each asset of such REIT as described above if we were to dispose of the asset in a taxable transaction during the five-year period following the merger or acquisition. Moreover, even if such REIT qualified as a REIT at all relevant times, we would similarly be liable for other unpaid taxes (if any) of such REIT (such as the 100% tax on gains from any sales treated as “prohibited transactions” as described above under “— Prohibited Transaction Income”).
Furthermore, after our acquisition of another corporation or entity, the asset and income tests will apply to all of our assets, including the assets we acquire from such corporation or entity, and to all of our income, including the income derived from the assets we acquire from such corporation or entity. As a result, the nature of the assets that we acquire from such corporation or entity and the income we derive from those assets may have an effect on our tax status as a REIT.
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Foreclosure Property.
The foreclosure property rules permit us (by our election) to foreclose or repossess properties without being disqualified as a REIT as a result of receiving income that does not qualify under the gross income tests. However, in such a case, we would be subject to the U.S. federal corporate income tax on the net non-qualifying income from “foreclosure property,” and the after-tax amount would increase the dividends we would be required to distribute to stockholders. See “— Annual Distribution Requirements.” This corporate tax would not apply to income that qualifies under the REIT 75% income test.
Failure to Qualify.
If we discover a violation of a provision of the Code that would result in our failure to qualify as a REIT, certain specified cure provisions may be available to us. Except with respect to violations of the gross income tests and asset tests (for which the cure provisions are described above), and provided the violation is due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect, these cure provisions generally impose a $50,000 penalty for each violation in lieu of a loss of REIT status. If we fail to satisfy the requirements for taxation as a REIT in any taxable year, and the relief provisions do not apply, we will be required to pay tax on our taxable income at regular corporate rates. Distributions to stockholders in any year in which we fail to qualify as a REIT will not be deductible by us. As a result, we anticipate that our failure to qualify as a REIT would reduce the cash available for distribution by us to our stockholders. In addition, if we fail to qualify as a REIT, we will not be required to distribute any amounts to our stockholders, and all distributions to stockholders will be taxable as regular corporate dividends to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits. In such event, corporate distributees may be eligible for the dividends-received deduction. In addition, non-corporate stockholders, including individuals, may be eligible for the preferential tax rates on qualified dividend income. Under the 2017 Tax Legislation, non-corporate stockholders, including individuals, generally may deduct up to 20% of dividends from a REIT, other than capital gain dividends and dividends treated as qualified dividend income, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2026. If we fail to qualify as a REIT, such stockholders may not claim this deduction with respect to dividends paid by us. Unless entitled to relief under specific statutory provisions, we would also be ineligible to elect to be treated as a REIT for the four taxable years following the year for which we lose our qualification. It is not possible to state whether in all circumstances we would be entitled to this statutory relief.
Tax Aspects of the Subsidiary Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies
General.
We hold investments indirectly through subsidiary partnerships and limited liability companies that we believe are and will continue to be treated as partnerships or disregarded entities for U.S. federal income tax purposes. In general, entities that are treated as partnerships or disregarded entities for U.S. federal income tax purposes are “pass-through” entities which are not required to pay U.S. federal income tax. Rather, partners or members of such entities are allocated their shares of (or, in the case of a sole member of a limited liability company that is a disregarded entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes, all of) the items of income, gain, loss, deduction and credit of the partnership or limited liability company, and are potentially required to pay tax on this income, without regard to whether they receive a distribution from the partnership or limited liability company. We will include in our income our share of these partnership and limited liability company items for purposes of the various gross income tests, the computation of our REIT taxable income, and the REIT distribution requirements. Moreover, for purposes of the asset tests, we will include our pro rata share of assets held by our subsidiary partnerships and limited liability companies based on our capital interests in each such entity. See “— Taxation of Our Company.”
Entity Classification.
Our interests in our subsidiary partnerships and limited liability companies involve special tax considerations, including the possibility that the IRS might challenge the status of these entities as partnerships or disregarded entities. For example, an entity that would otherwise be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes may nonetheless be taxable as a corporation if it is a “publicly traded partnership” and certain other requirements are met. A partnership or limited liability company would be treated as a publicly traded partnership if its interests are traded on an established securities market or are readily tradable on a secondary market or a substantial equivalent thereof, within the meaning of applicable Treasury Regulations. We do not anticipate that any subsidiary partnership or limited liability company will be treated as a publicly traded partnership that is taxable as a corporation. However, if any such entity were treated as a corporation, it would be required to pay an entity-level tax on its income. In this situation, the character of our assets and items of gross income would change and could prevent us from satisfying the REIT asset tests and possibly the REIT income tests. See “— Taxation of Our Company — Asset Tests” and “— Income Tests.” This, in turn, could prevent us from qualifying as a REIT. See “— Failure to Qualify” for a discussion of the effect of our failure to meet these tests. In addition, a change in the tax status of a subsidiary partnership or limited liability company to a corporation might be treated as a taxable event. If so, we might incur a tax liability without any related cash payment. We believe each of the subsidiary partnerships and limited liability companies are and will continue to be treated as partnerships or disregarded entities for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
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Allocations of Income, Gain, Loss and Deduction.
A partnership agreement (or, in the case of a limited liability company treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the limited liability company agreement) generally will determine the allocation of income and loss among partners. These allocations, however, will be disregarded for tax purposes if they do not comply with the provisions of Section 704(b) of the Code and the Treasury Regulations thereunder. Generally, Section 704(b) of the Code and the Treasury Regulations thereunder require that partnership allocations respect the economic arrangement of the partners. If an allocation of partnership income or loss does not comply with the requirements of Section 704 (b) of the Code and the Treasury Regulations thereunder, the item subject to the allocation will be reallocated in accordance with the partners’ interests in the partnership. This reallocation will be determined by taking into account all of the facts and circumstances relating to the economic arrangement of the partners with respect to such item. The allocations of taxable income and loss of our subsidiaries that are treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes are intended to comply with the requirements of Section 704(b) of the Code and the Treasury Regulations thereunder.
Tax Allocations with Respect to the Properties.
Under Section 704(c) of the Code, income, gain, loss and deduction attributable to appreciated or depreciated property that is contributed to a partnership (including a limited liability company treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) in exchange for an interest in the partnership, must be allocated in a manner so that the contributing partner is charged with the unrealized gain or benefits from the unrealized loss associated with the property at the time of the contribution. The amount of the unrealized gain or unrealized loss generally is equal to the difference between the fair market value or book value and the adjusted tax basis of the contributed property at the time of contribution (this difference is referred to as a book-tax difference), as adjusted from time to time. These allocations are solely for U.S. federal income tax purposes and do not affect the book capital accounts or other economic or legal arrangements among the partners.
If a subsidiary of ours that is treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes acquires interests in property in exchange for interests in such partnership, the tax basis of these property interests generally will carry over to such partnership, notwithstanding their different book (i.e., fair market) value. Treasury Regulations issued under Section 704(c) of the Code provide partnerships (including limited liability companies treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes) with a choice of several methods of accounting for book-tax differences. Depending on the method chosen in connection with any particular contribution, the carryover basis of each of the contributed interests in the properties in the hands of the partnership (1) could cause us to be allocated lower amounts of depreciation deductions for tax purposes than would be allocated to us if any of the contributed properties were to have a tax basis equal to its respective fair market value at the time of the contribution and (2) could cause us to be allocated taxable gain in the event of a sale of such contributed interests or properties in excess of the economic or book income allocated to us as a result of such sale, with a corresponding benefit to the other partners in the partnership. An allocation described in clause (2) above might cause us or the other partners to recognize taxable income in excess of cash proceeds in the event of a sale or other disposition of property, which might adversely affect our ability to comply with the REIT distribution requirements. See “— Taxation of Our Company — Requirements for Qualification as a REIT” and “— Annual Distribution Requirements.”
Any property acquired by the partnership in a taxable transaction will initially have a tax basis equal to its fair market value, and Section 704(c) of the Code generally will not apply.
Partnership Audit Rules.
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 changes the rules applicable to U.S. federal income tax audits of partnerships. Under the new rules (which are generally effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017), among other changes and subject to certain exceptions, any audit adjustment to items of income, gain, loss, deduction, or credit of a partnership (and any partner’s distributive share thereof) is determined, and taxes, interest, or penalties attributable thereto are assessed and collected, at the partnership level. Although it is uncertain how certain aspects of these rules will be implemented, it is possible that they could result in partnerships in which we directly or indirectly invest being required to pay additional taxes, interest and penalties as a result of an audit adjustment, and we, as a direct or indirect partner of these partnerships, could be required to bear the economic burden of those taxes, interest, and penalties even though we, as a REIT, may not otherwise have been required to pay additional corporate-level taxes as a result of the related audit adjustment. Final Regulations were issued in December 2022, which largely tracked the Proposed Regulations issued in December 2017 and provides further guidance on certain partnership-related items that may be excepted from the centralized audit regime. Investors are urged to consult their tax advisors with respect to these audit procedures and their potential impact on their investment in our capital stock.
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Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences to Holders of Our Capital Stock
The following discussion is a summary of the material U.S. federal income tax consequences to you of purchasing, owning and disposing of our capital stock. This discussion is limited to holders who hold our capital stock as a “capital asset” within the meaning of Section 1221 of the Code (generally, property held for investment). This discussion does not address all U.S. federal income tax consequences relevant to a holder’s particular circumstances. In addition, except where specifically noted, it does not address consequences relevant to holders subject to special rules, including, without limitation:
| ● | U.S. expatriates and former citizens (“covered expatriates under Section 877A”) or long-term residents of the United States; |
| ● | persons subject to the alternative minimum tax; |
| ● | U.S. holders (as defined below) whose functional currency is not the U.S. dollar; |
| ● | persons holding our capital stock as part of a hedge, straddle or other risk reduction strategy or as part of a conversion transaction or other integrated investment; |
| ● | banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions; |
| ● | REITs or regulated investment companies; |
| ● | brokers, dealers or traders in securities; |
| ● | “controlled foreign corporations,” “passive foreign investment companies,” and certain corporations that accumulate earnings to avoid U.S. federal income tax; |
| ● | S corporations, partnerships or other entities or arrangements treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes (and investors therein); |
| ● | tax-exempt organizations or governmental organizations; |
| ● | persons subject to special tax accounting rules as a result of any item of gross income with respect to our capital stock being taken into account in an applicable financial statement; |
| ● | persons deemed to sell our capital stock under the constructive sale provisions of the Code; and |
| ● | persons who hold or receive our capital stock pursuant to the exercise of any employee stock option or otherwise as compensation. |
THIS DISCUSSION IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT INTENDED AS TAX ADVICE. INVESTORS SHOULD CONSULT THEIR TAX ADVISORS WITH RESPECT TO THE APPLICATION OF THE U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX LAWS TO THEIR PARTICULAR SITUATIONS AS WELL AS ANY TAX CONSEQUENCES OF THE PURCHASE, OWNERSHIP AND DISPOSITION OF OUR CAPITAL STOCK ARISING UNDER OTHER U.S. FEDERAL TAX LAWS (INCLUDING ESTATE AND GIFT TAX LAWS), UNDER THE LAWS OF ANY STATE, LOCAL OR NON-U.S. TAXING JURISDICTION OR UNDER ANY APPLICABLE TAX TREATY.
For purposes of this discussion, a “U.S. holder” is a beneficial owner of our capital stock that, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, is or is treated as:
| ● | an individual who is a citizen or tax resident of the United States and who owns our capital stock directly or through an entity that is disregarded for U.S. federal income tax purposes; |
| ● | a corporation created or organized under the laws of the United States, any state thereof, or the District of Columbia that is not an “S corporation” as defined in Section 1361 of the Code; |
| ● | an estate, the income of which is subject to U.S. federal income tax regardless of its source; or |
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| ● | a trust that (1) is subject to the primary supervision of a U.S. court with respect to its administration and under the control of one or more “United States persons” (within the meaning of Section 7701(a)(30) of the Code) or (2) has a valid election in effect to be treated as a United States person for U.S. federal income tax purposes. |
For purposes of this discussion, a “non-U.S. holder” is any beneficial owner of our capital stock that is neither a U.S. holder, an entity treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, or a corporation created or organized under the laws of the United States, any state thereof, or the District of Columbia, that is an “S corporation” as defined in Section 1361 of the Code.
If an entity treated as a partnership or an S corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes holds our capital stock, the tax treatment of a partner in the partnership or shareholder in the S corporation will depend on the status of the partner or shareholder, the activities of the partnership or S corporation and certain determinations made at the partner or shareholder level. Accordingly, partnerships or S corporations holding our capital stock and the partners in such partnerships or shareholders in such S corporation should consult their tax advisors regarding the U.S. federal income tax consequences to them.
Taxation of Taxable U.S. Holders of Our Capital Stock
Distributions Generally.
Distributions out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits will be treated as dividends and, other than with respect to capital gain dividends and certain amounts which have previously been subject to corporate level tax, as discussed below, will be taxable to our taxable U.S. holders as ordinary income when actually or constructively received. See “— Tax Rates” below. As long as we qualify as a REIT, these distributions will not be eligible for the dividends-received deduction in the case of U.S. holders that are corporations or, except to the extent described in “— Tax Rates” below, the preferential rates on qualified dividend income applicable to non-corporate U.S. holders, including individuals. Under the 2017 Tax Legislation, non-corporate U.S. holders, including individuals, generally may deduct 20% of dividends from a REIT, other than capital gain dividends and dividends treated as qualified dividend income, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2026. For purposes of determining whether distributions to holders of our capital stock are out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits, our earnings and profits will be allocated first to our outstanding preferred stock, if any, and then to our outstanding common stock.
To the extent that we make distributions on our capital stock in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits allocable to such stock, these distributions will be treated first as a tax-free return of capital to a U.S. holder. This treatment will reduce the U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in such shares of stock by the amount of the distribution, but not below zero. Distributions in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits and in excess of a U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in its shares will be taxable as capital gain. Such gain will be taxable as long-term capital gain if the shares have been held for more than one year. Dividends we declare in October, November, or December of any year and which are payable to a holder of record on a specified date in any of these months will be treated as both paid by us and received by the holder on December 31 of that year, provided we actually pay the dividend on or before January 31 of the following year. U.S. holders may not include in their own income tax returns any of our net operating losses or capital losses.
U.S. holders that receive taxable stock distributions, including distributions partially payable in our capital stock and partially payable in cash, would be required to include the full amount of the distribution (i.e., the cash and the stock portion) as a dividend (subject to limited exceptions) to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as described above. The amount of any distribution payable in our capital stock generally is equal to the amount of cash that could have been received instead of the capital stock. Depending on the circumstances of a U.S. holder, the tax on the distribution may exceed the amount of the distribution received in cash, in which case such U.S. holder would have to pay the tax using cash from other sources. If a U.S. holder sells the capital stock it received in connection with a taxable stock distribution in order to pay this tax and the proceeds of such sale are less than the amount required to be included in income with respect to the stock portion of the distribution, such U.S. holder could have a capital loss with respect to the stock sale that could not be used to offset such income. A U.S. holder that receives capital stock pursuant to such distribution generally has a tax basis in such capital stock equal to the amount of cash that could have been received instead of such capital stock as described above, and has a holding period in such capital stock that begins on the day immediately following the payment date for the distribution.
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Capital Gain Dividends.
Dividends that we properly designate as “qualified” capital gain dividends will be taxable to our taxable U.S. holders as a gain from the sale or disposition of a capital asset held for more than one year, to the extent that such gain does not exceed our actual net capital gain for the taxable year and may not exceed our dividends paid for the taxable year, including dividends paid the following year that are treated as paid in the current year. U.S. holders that are corporations (other than S corporations, for which dividends are passed through to its shareholders) may, however, be required to treat up to 20% of certain capital gain dividends as ordinary income. If we properly designate any portion of a dividend as a capital gain dividend, then, except as otherwise required by law, we presently intend to allocate a portion of the total capital gain dividends paid or made available to holders of all classes of our capital stock for the year to the holders of each class of our capital stock in proportion to the amount that our total dividends, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes, paid or made available to the holders of each such class of our capital stock for the year bears to the total dividends, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes, paid or made available to holders of all classes of our capital stock for the year. In addition, except as otherwise required by law, we will make a similar allocation with respect to any undistributed long-term capital gains which are to be included in our stockholders’ long-term capital gains, based on the allocation of the capital gain amount which would have resulted if those undistributed long-term capital gains had been distributed as “capital gain dividends” by us to our stockholders.
Retention of Net Capital Gains.
We may elect to retain, rather than distribute as a capital gain dividend, all or a portion of our net capital gains. If we make this election, we would pay tax on our retained net capital gains. In addition, to the extent we so elect, our earnings and profits (determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes) would be adjusted accordingly, and a U.S. holder generally would:
| ● | include its pro rata share of our undistributed net capital gains in computing its long-term capital gains in its return for its taxable year in which the last day of our taxable year falls, subject to certain limitations as to the amount that is includable; |
| ● | be deemed to have paid its share of the capital gains tax imposed on us on the designated amounts included in the U.S. holder’s income as long-term capital gain; |
| ● | receive a credit or refund for the amount of tax deemed paid by it; |
| ● | increase the adjusted tax basis of its capital stock by the difference between the amount of includable gains and the tax deemed to have been paid by it; and |
| ● | in the case of a U.S. holder that is a corporation, appropriately adjust its earnings and profits for the retained capital gains in accordance with Treasury Regulations to be promulgated by the IRS. |
Passive Activity Losses and Investment Interest Limitations.
Distributions we make and gain arising from the sale or exchange by a U.S. holder of our capital stock will not be treated as passive activity income. As a result, U.S. holders generally will not be able to apply any “passive losses” against this income or gain. A U.S. holder generally may elect to treat capital gain dividends, capital gains from the disposition of our capital stock and income designated as qualified dividend income, as described in “— Tax Rates” below, as investment income for purposes of computing the investment interest limitation, but in such case, the holder will be taxed at ordinary income rates on such amount. Other distributions made by us, to the extent they do not constitute a return of capital, generally will be treated as investment income for purposes of computing the investment interest limitation.
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Participation in the Dividend Reinvestment Plan.
U.S. holders who elect to participate in the Dividend Reinvestment Plan generally will be treated as having received a distribution equal to the fair market value of the capital stock acquired (without reduction for any withholding taxes). The distribution will be taxed to such U.S. holder as described above in this discussion. In addition, there is a risk that some or all of the 5% discount from the price per share paid for the capital stock so acquired will be taxable as income to such U.S. holder. A U.S. holder’s tax basis in the capital stock so acquired will equal the fair market value of the capital stock on the date of acquisition, and the holding period for such capital stock will begin on the day following the date of such acquisition. Participants in the Dividend Reinvestment Plan should consult their tax advisers concerning the particular tax consequences to them of participating in the Dividend Reinvestment Plan.
Dispositions of Our Capital Stock.
If a U.S. holder sells or disposes of shares of our capital stock, it will recognize gain or loss for U.S. federal income tax purposes in an amount equal to the difference between the amount of cash and the fair market value of any property received on the sale or other disposition and the holder’s adjusted tax basis in the shares. This gain or loss, except as provided below, will be long-term capital gain or loss if the holder has held such capital stock for more than one year. However, if a U.S. holder recognizes a loss upon the sale or other disposition of capital stock that it has held for nine months or less, after applying certain holding period rules, the loss recognized will be treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent the U.S. holder received distributions from us which were required to be treated as long-term capital gains.
Redemption or Repurchase by Us.
A redemption or repurchase of shares of our capital stock will be treated under Section 302 of the Code as a distribution (and taxable as a dividend to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits as described above under “— Distributions Generally”) unless the redemption or repurchase satisfies one of the tests set forth in Section 302(b) of the Code and is therefore treated as a sale or exchange of the redeemed or repurchased shares. The redemption or repurchase generally will be treated as a sale or exchange if it: (i) is “substantially disproportionate” with respect to the U.S. holder results in a “complete redemption” of the U.S. holder’s stock interest in us; or (ii) is “not essentially equivalent to a dividend” with respect to the U.S. holder, all within the meaning of Section 302(b) of the Code.
In determining whether any of these tests has been met, shares of our capital stock, considered to be owned by the U.S. holder by reason of certain constructive ownership rules set forth in the Code, as well as shares of our capital stock actually owned by the U.S. holder, generally must be taken into account. Because the determination as to whether any of the alternative tests of Section 302(b) of the Code will be satisfied with respect to the U.S. holder depends upon the facts and circumstances at the time that the determination must be made, U.S. holders are advised to consult their tax advisors to determine such tax treatment.
If a redemption or repurchase of shares of our capital stock is treated as a distribution, the amount of the distribution will be measured by the amount of cash and the fair market value of any property received. See “— Distributions Generally.” Prospective investors should consult their tax advisors regarding the U.S. federal income tax consequences of a redemption or repurchase of our capital stock. If a redemption or repurchase of shares of our capital stock is not treated as a distribution, it will be treated as a taxable sale or exchange in the manner described under “— Dispositions of Our Capital Stock.”
Tax Rates.
The maximum tax rate for non-corporate taxpayers for (1) long-term capital gains, including certain “capital gain dividends,” generally is 20% (although depending on the characteristics of the assets which produced these gains and on designations which we may make, certain capital gain dividends may be taxed at a 25% rate) and (2) “qualified dividend income” generally is 20%. In general, dividends payable by REITs are not eligible for the reduced tax rate on qualified dividend income, except to the extent that certain holding period requirements have been met and the REIT’s dividends are attributable to dividends received from taxable corporations (such as its taxable REIT subsidiaries) or to income that was subject to tax at the corporate/REIT level (for example, if the REIT distributed taxable income that it retained and paid tax on in the prior taxable year). Capital gain dividends will only be eligible for the rates described above to the extent that they are properly designated by the REIT as “capital gain dividends.” In addition, U.S. holders that are corporations may be required to treat up to 20% of some capital gain dividends as ordinary income. In addition, investment income of certain U.S. shareholders that are individuals, estates, and trusts, including REIT dividends, as well as gains from the sale of our capital stock, are generally subject to the 3.8% net investment income tax in addition to capital gains tax.
Taxation of Tax-Exempt Holders of Our Capital Stock
Dividend income from us and gain arising upon a sale of shares of our capital stock generally should not be unrelated business taxable income, or UBTI, to a tax-exempt holder, except as described below. This income or gain will be UBTI, however, to the extent a tax-exempt holder holds its shares as “debt-financed property” within the meaning of the Code. Generally, “debt-financed property” is property the acquisition or holding of which was financed through a borrowing by the tax-exempt holder.
For tax-exempt holders that are social clubs, voluntary employee benefit associations, supplemental unemployment benefit trusts, or qualified group legal services plans exempt from U.S. federal income taxation under Sections 501(c)(7), (c)(9), (c)(17) or (c)(20) of the Code, respectively, income from an investment in our shares will constitute UBTI unless the organization is able to properly claim a deduction for amounts set aside or placed in reserve for specific purposes so as to offset the income generated by its investment in our shares. These prospective investors should consult their tax advisors concerning these “set aside” and reserve requirements.
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Notwithstanding the above, however, a portion of the dividends paid by a “pension-held REIT” may be treated as UBTI as to certain trusts that hold more than 10%, by value, of the interests in the REIT. A REIT will not be a “pension-held REIT” if it is able to satisfy the “not closely held” requirement without relying on the “look-through” exception with respect to certain trusts or if such REIT is not “predominantly held” by “qualified trusts.” As a result of restrictions on ownership and transfer of our stock contained in our charter, we do not expect to be classified as a “pension-held REIT,” and as a result, the tax treatment described above should be inapplicable to our holders. However, because our capital stock will be publicly traded upon completion of this offering of our capital stock (and, we anticipate, will continue to be publicly traded), we cannot guarantee that this will always be the case.
Taxation of Non-U.S. Holders of Our Capital Stock
The following discussion addresses the rules governing U.S. federal income taxation of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our capital stock by non-U.S. holders. These rules are complex and constantly evolving from a regulatory and IRS guidance perspective, and no attempt is made herein to provide more than a brief summary of such rules. Accordingly, the discussion does not address all aspects of U.S. federal income taxation and does not address other federal, state, local or non-U.S. tax consequences that may be relevant to a non-U.S. holder in light of its particular circumstances. We urge non-U.S. holders to consult their tax advisors to determine the impact of U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. income and other tax laws and the applicability of available income tax or related treaties on the purchase, ownership and disposition of shares of our capital stock, including any information reporting requirements.
Distributions Generally.
Distributions (including any taxable stock distributions) that are neither attributable to gains from sales or exchanges by us of United States real property interests (“USRPIs”), nor designated by us as capital gain dividends (except as described below) will be treated as dividends of ordinary income to the extent that they are made out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits. Such distributions ordinarily will be subject to withholding of U.S. federal income tax at a 30% rate or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty for which an applicable non-U.S. holder qualifies, unless the distributions are treated as effectively connected income with the conduct by the non-U.S. holder of a trade or business within the United States (or, if pursuant to an applicable income tax treaty, the non-U.S. holder maintains a permanent establishment in the United States to which such dividends are attributable). Under certain treaties, however, lower withholding rates generally applicable to dividends do not apply to dividends paid from a REIT. Certain certification and disclosure requirements must be satisfied for a non-U.S. holder to be exempt from withholding under the effectively connected income exemption. Dividends that are treated as effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business generally will not be subject to withholding but will be subject to U.S. federal income tax on a net basis at the regular graduated ordinary federal income tax rates, or current 21% federal corporate income tax rate, in the same manner as dividends paid to U.S. holders are subject to U.S. federal income tax. Any such dividends received by a non-U.S. holder that is a corporation may also be subject to an additional branch profits tax at a 30% rate (applicable after deducting U.S. federal income taxes paid on such effectively connected income) or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty for which an applicable non-U.S. holder qualifies.
Except as otherwise provided below, we expect to withhold U.S. federal income tax at the rate of 30% on any distributions made to a non-U.S. holder unless:
| (1) | a lower treaty withholding tax rate applies and the non-U.S. holder furnishes a timely completed IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E (or other applicable documentation) evidencing eligibility for that reduced treaty rate; or |
| (2) | the non-U.S. holder furnishes an IRS Form W-8ECI (or other applicable documentation) claiming that the distribution is income effectively connected with the non-U.S. holder’s trade or business; or |
| (3) | the non-U.S. holder, if acting as an intermediary, furnishes a completed IRS Form W- 8 IMY (or other applicable documentation), with accompanying timely completed IRS Form W-8BENs or W-8BEN-Es (or other applicable documentation) for ultimate beneficial owners of such distributions evidencing eligibility for reduced treaty rates. |
Distributions in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits will not be taxable to a non-U.S. holder to the extent that such distributions do not exceed the adjusted tax basis of the holder’s capital stock, but rather will reduce the adjusted tax basis of such stock. To the extent that such distributions exceed the non-U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in such capital stock, they generally will give rise to gain from the sale or exchange of such stock, the tax treatment of which is described below. However, under current U.S. tax law such excess distributions may be treated as dividend income for certain non-U.S. holders. For withholding purposes, we expect to treat all distributions as made out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits. However, amounts withheld may be refundable if it is subsequently determined that the distribution was, in fact, in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits, provided that certain conditions are met.
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Capital Gain Dividends and Distributions Attributable to a Sale or Exchange of United States Real Property Interests.
Distributions paid to a non-U.S. holder that we properly designate as capital gain dividends, other than those arising from the disposition of a USRPI, generally should not be subject to U.S. federal income taxation, unless:
| (1) | the investment in our capital stock is treated as effectively connected income with the conduct by the non-U.S. holder of a trade or business within the United States (and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, the non-U.S. holder maintains a permanent establishment in the United States to which such dividends are attributable), in which case the non-U.S. holder will be subject to the same treatment as U.S. holders with respect to such gain, except that a non-U.S. holder that is a corporation may also be subject to a branch profits tax of up to 30%, as discussed above; or |
| (2) | the non-U.S. holder is a nonresident alien individual who is present in the United States for 183 days or more during the taxable year and certain other conditions are met, in which case the non-U.S. holder will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at a rate of 30% on the non-U.S. holder’s capital gains (or such lower rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty), which may be offset by U.S. source capital losses of such non-U.S. holder (even though the individual is not considered a resident of the United States), provided the non-U.S. holder has timely filed U.S. federal income tax returns with respect to such losses. |
Pursuant to the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (“FIRPTA”), distributions to a non-U.S. holder that are attributable to gain from sales, dispositions, or exchanges by us of USRPIs, whether or not designated as capital gain dividends, may cause the non-U.S. holder to be treated as recognizing such gain as income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business. As a result of FIRPTA, non-U.S. holders generally would either be taxed at (i) the regular graduated federal income tax rates in the case of individuals or (ii) the flat 21% federal corporate income tax rate applicable to U.S. holders, subject to any applicable alternative minimum tax and a special alternative minimum tax in the case of nonresident alien individuals. Additionally, distributions made to non-U.S. holders that are foreign corporations may also be subject to a 30% branch profits tax. In this context, under current law, we may be required to withhold and to remit to the IRS 21% (or 20% to the extent provided in applicable Treasury Regulations) of any distribution to non-U.S. holders attributable to any gain from sales, dispositions, or exchanges by us of USRPIs. The amount withheld would be creditable against the non-U.S. holder’s ultimate U.S. federal income tax liability. However, any distribution with respect to any class of stock that is “regularly traded,” as defined by applicable Treasury Regulations, on an established securities market located in the United States is not subject to FIRPTA withholding or underlying taxation, and therefore, not subject to the 21% U.S. withholding tax described above, provided the non-U.S. holder did not own more than 10% of such class of stock at any time during the one-year period ending on the date of the distribution. Instead, such distributions generally would be treated as ordinary dividend distributions and subject to withholding in the manner described above with respect to ordinary dividends. In addition, distributions to certain non-U.S. publicly traded stockholders that meet certain record-keeping and other requirements (“qualified shareholders”) are exempt from FIRPTA, except to the extent owners of such qualified shareholders that are not also qualified shareholders own, actually or constructively, more than 10% of our capital stock. Furthermore, distributions to “qualified foreign pension funds” or entities all of the interests of which are held by “qualified foreign pension funds” are exempt from FIRPTA. Non-U.S. holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the application of these rules.
Retention of Net Capital Gains.
Although the law is not clear on the matter, it would appear that amounts we designate as retained net capital gains in respect of our capital stock should be treated with respect to non-U.S. holders as actual distributions of capital gain dividends. Under this approach, the non-U.S. holders may be able to offset as a credit against their U.S. federal income tax liability their proportionate share of the tax paid by us on such retained net capital gains and to receive from the IRS a refund to the extent their proportionate share of such tax paid by us exceeds their actual U.S. federal income tax liability. If we were to designate any portion of our net capital gain as retained net capital gain, non-U.S. holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the taxation of such retained net capital gain.
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Participation in the Dividend Reinvestment Plan.
Non-U.S. holders who elect to participate in the Dividend Reinvestment Plan will generally have the tax consequences described above under “— Taxation of Taxable U.S. Holders of Our Capital Stock – Participation in the Dividend Reinvestment Plan,” except that the tax consequences of the resulting distribution will be as described above under this section entitled “— Taxation of Non-U.S. Holders of Our Capital Stock.”
Sale of Our Capital Stock.
Except as described below under “— Redemption of Repurchase by Us,” gain realized by a non-U.S. holder upon the sale, disposition, exchange or other taxable disposition of our capital stock generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax unless such stock constitutes a USRPI. In general, stock of a domestic corporation that constitutes a “United States real property holding corporation” (“USRPHC”) will constitute a USRPI. We believe that we are a USRPHC. Our capital stock will not, however, constitute a USRPI so long as we are a “domestically controlled qualified investment entity.” A “domestically controlled qualified investment entity” includes a REIT in which at all times during a five-year testing period less than 50% in value of its stock is held directly or indirectly by non-United States persons, subject to certain rules. For purposes of determining whether a REIT is a “domestically controlled qualified investment entity,” a person who at all applicable times holds less than 5% of a class of stock that is “regularly traded” is treated as a United States person unless the REIT has actual knowledge that such person is not a United States person. Recently finalized Treasury Regulations provide additional guidance for determining whether a REIT is a domestically controlled qualified investment entity and clarify, among other things, that ownership by non-U.S. persons (other than persons treated as United States persons as described in the preceding sentence) will be determined by looking through pass-through entities and certain U.S. corporations. We believe, but cannot guarantee, that we are a “domestically controlled qualified investment entity.” Because our capital stock will be publicly traded upon completion of this offering of our capital stock (and, we anticipate, will continue to be publicly traded), no assurance can be given that we will continue to be a “domestically controlled qualified investment entity.”
Even if we do not qualify as a “domestically controlled qualified investment entity” at the time a non-U.S. holder sells our capital stock, gain realized from the sale or other taxable disposition by a non-U.S. holder of such capital stock would not be subject to U.S. federal income tax under FIRPTA as a sale of a USRPI if:
| (1) | our capital stock is “regularly traded,” as defined by applicable Treasury Regulations, on an established securities market such as Nasdaq; and |
| (2) | such non-U.S. holder owned, actually and constructively, 10% or less of our capital stock throughout the shorter of the five-year period ending on the date of the sale or other taxable disposition or the non-U.S. holder’s holding period. |
In addition, dispositions of our capital stock by qualified shareholders are exempt from FIRPTA, except to the extent owners of such qualified shareholders that are not also qualified shareholders own, actually or constructively, more than 10% of our capital stock. Furthermore, dispositions of our capital stock by “qualified foreign pension funds” or entities all of the interests of which are held by “qualified foreign pension funds” are exempt from FIRPTA. Non-U.S. holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the application of these rules.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, gain from the sale, disposition, exchange or other taxable disposition of our capital stock not otherwise subject to FIRPTA will be taxable to a non-U.S. holder if either (a) the investment in our capital stock is treated as effectively connected income with the conduct by the non-U.S. holder of a trade or business within the United States (and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, the non-U.S. holder maintains a permanent establishment in the United States to which such gain is attributable), in which case the non-U.S. holder will be subject to the same treatment as U.S. holders with respect to such gain, except that a non-U.S. holder that is a corporation may also be subject to the 30% branch profits tax (or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty) on such gain, as adjusted for certain items, or (b) the non-U.S. holder is a nonresident alien individual who is present in the United States for 183 days or more during the taxable year and certain other conditions are met, in which case the non-U.S. holder would be subject to a 30% tax on the non-U.S. holder’s capital gains (or such lower rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty), which may be offset by U.S. source capital losses of the non-U.S. holder (even though the individual is not considered a resident of the United States), provided the non-U.S. holder has timely filed U.S. federal income tax returns with respect to such losses. In addition, even if we are a domestically controlled qualified investment entity, upon disposition of our capital stock, a non-U.S. holder may be treated as having gain from the sale or other taxable disposition of a USRPI if the non-U.S. holder (1) disposes of such stock within a 30-day period preceding the ex-dividend date of a distribution, any portion of which, but for the disposition, would have been treated as gain from the sale or exchange of a USRPI and (2) acquires, or enters into a contract or option to acquire, or is deemed to acquire, other shares of that stock during the 61-day period beginning with the first day of the 30-day period described in clause (1), unless such stock is “regularly traded” and the non-U.S. holder did not own more than 10% of the stock at any time during the one-year period ending on the date of the distribution described in clause (1).
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If gain on the sale, disposition, exchange or other taxable disposition of our capital stock were subject to taxation under FIRPTA, the non-U.S. holder would be required to file a U.S. federal income tax return and would be subject to regular U.S. federal income tax with respect to such gain in the same manner as a taxable U.S. holder (subject to any applicable alternative minimum tax and a special alternative minimum tax in the case of nonresident alien individuals). In addition, if the sale, disposition, exchange or other taxable disposition of our capital stock were subject to taxation under FIRPTA, and if shares of our capital stock were not “regularly traded” on an established securities market, the purchaser of such capital stock generally would likely be required to withhold and remit to the IRS 15% of the purchase price.
Redemption or Repurchase by Us.
A redemption or repurchase of shares of our capital stock will be treated under Section 302 of the Code as a distribution (and taxable as a dividend to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits) unless the redemption or repurchase satisfies one of the tests set forth in Section 302(b) of the Code and is therefore treated as a sale, disposition, or exchange of the redeemed or repurchased shares. See “— Taxation of Taxable U.S. Holders of Our Capital Stock — Redemption or Repurchase by Us.” Qualified shareholders and their owners may be subject to different rules, and should consult their tax advisors regarding the application of such rules. If the redemption or repurchase of shares is treated as a distribution, the amount of the distribution will be measured by the amount of cash and the fair market value of any property received. See “— Taxation of Non-U.S. Holders of Our Capital Stock — Distributions Generally” above. If the redemption or repurchase of shares is not treated as a distribution, it will be treated as a taxable sale or exchange in the manner described above under “— Sale of Our Capital Stock.”
Information Reporting and Backup Withholding
U.S. Holders.
A U.S. holder may be subject to information reporting and backup withholding when such holder receives payments on our capital stock or proceeds from the sale or other taxable disposition of such stock. Certain U.S. holders are exempt from backup withholding, including corporations and certain tax-exempt organizations. A U.S. holder will be subject to backup withholding if such holder is not otherwise exempt and:
| ● | the holder fails to furnish the holder’s taxpayer identification number, which for an individual is ordinarily his or her social security number; |
| ● | the holder furnishes an incorrect taxpayer identification number; |
| ● | the applicable withholding agent is notified by the IRS that the holder previously failed to properly report payments of interest or dividends; or |
| ● | the holder fails to certify under penalties of perjury that the holder has furnished a correct taxpayer identification number and that the IRS has not notified the holder that the holder is subject to backup withholding. |
Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Any amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules may be allowed as a refund or a credit against a U.S. holder’s U.S. federal income tax liability, provided the required information is timely furnished to the IRS. U.S. holders should consult their tax advisors regarding their qualification for an exemption from backup withholding and the procedures for obtaining such an exemption.
Non-U.S. Holders.
Payments of dividends on our capital stock generally will not be subject to backup withholding, provided the applicable withholding agent does not have actual knowledge or reason to know the holder is a United States person and the holder either certifies its non-U.S. status, such as by furnishing a valid IRS Form W-8BEN, W-8BEN-E or W-8ECI, or W-8IMY (with appropriate supporting W-8s for corresponding beneficial owners) or otherwise establishes an exemption. However, information withholding returns are required to be filed with the IRS in connection with any U.S. source dividends on our capital stock paid to the non-U.S. holder, regardless of whether any tax was actually withheld. In addition, proceeds from the sale or other taxable disposition of such stock within the United States or conducted through certain U.S.-related brokers generally will not be subject to backup withholding or information reporting, if the applicable withholding agent receives the certification described above and does not have actual knowledge or reason to know that such holder is a United States person, or the holder otherwise establishes an exemption. Proceeds of a disposition of such stock conducted through a non-U.S. office of a non-U.S. broker generally will not be subject to backup withholding or information reporting.
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Copies of information returns that are filed with the IRS may also be made available under the provisions of an applicable treaty or agreement to the tax authorities of the country in which the non-U.S. holder resides or is established.
Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Any amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules may be allowed as a refund or a credit against a non-U.S. holder’s U.S. federal income tax liability, provided the required information is timely furnished to the IRS.
Medicare Contribution Tax on Unearned Income
Certain U.S. holders that are individuals, estates or trusts are required to pay an additional 3.8% tax on, among other things, dividends on stock and capital gains from the sale or other disposition of stock. U.S. holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the effect, if any, of these rules on their ownership and disposition of our capital stock.
Additional Withholding Tax on Payments Made to Foreign Accounts
Withholding taxes may be imposed under Sections 1471 to 1474 of the Code (such sections commonly referred to as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) on certain types of payments made to non-U.S. financial institutions and certain other non-U.S. entities. Specifically, a 30% withholding tax may be imposed on dividends on our capital stock paid to a “foreign financial institution” or a “non-financial foreign entity” (each as defined in the Code), unless (1) the foreign financial institution undertakes certain diligence and reporting obligations, (2) the non-financial foreign entity either certifies it does not have any “substantial United States owners” (as defined in the Code) or furnishes identifying information regarding each substantial United States owner, or (3) the foreign financial institution or non-financial foreign entity otherwise qualifies for an exemption from these rules. If the payee is a foreign financial institution and is subject to the diligence and reporting requirements in clause (1) above, it must enter into an agreement with the U.S. Department of the Treasury requiring, among other things, that it undertake to identify accounts held by certain “specified United States persons” or “United States owned foreign entities” (each as defined in the Code), annually report certain information about such accounts, and withhold 30% on certain payments to non-compliant foreign financial institutions and certain other account holders. Foreign financial institutions located in jurisdictions that have an intergovernmental agreement with the United States governing FATCA may be subject to different rules.
Under the applicable Treasury Regulations and administrative guidance, withholding under FATCA generally applies to payments of dividends on our capital stock. Because we may not know the extent to which a distribution is a dividend for U.S. federal income tax purposes at the time it is made, for purposes of these withholding rules we may treat the entire distribution as a dividend.
Prospective investors should consult their tax advisors regarding the potential application of withholding under FATCA to their investment in our capital stock.
Other Tax Consequences
State, local and non-U.S. income tax laws may differ substantially from the corresponding U.S. federal income tax laws, and this discussion does not purport to describe any aspect of the tax laws of any state, local or non-U.S. jurisdiction, or any U.S. federal tax other than the income tax. You should consult your tax advisor regarding the effect of state, local and non-U.S. tax laws with respect to our tax treatment as a REIT and on an investment in our capital stock.
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Certain legal matters relating to this offering will be passed upon for us by Sichenzia Ross Ference Carmel LLP, New York, New York and certain legal matters regarding U.S. federal income tax matters will be passed upon for us by Whiteford, Taylor & Preston L.L.P., Baltimore, Maryland. Certain matters of Maryland law will be passed upon for us by Venable LLP, Baltimore, Maryland. If legal matters in connection with offerings made by this prospectus are passed on by counsel for the underwriters, dealers or agents, if any, that counsel will be named in the applicable prospectus supplement.
The consolidated financial statements of Presidio Property Trust, Inc. as of December 31, 2023 and 2022 and for each of the years in the two-year period ended December 31, 2023 are incorporated in this prospectus by reference from the Presidio Property Trust, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2023 and have been audited by Baker Tilly US, LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report thereon, incorporated herein by reference, and have been incorporated by reference in this prospectus and registration statement in reliance upon such report and upon the authority of such firm as experts in accounting and auditing.
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION
We file annual, reports quarterly and special reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You can read our SEC filings, including this registration statement, over the internet at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. We also make this information available on the investors’ relations section of our website at www.presidiopt.com. Information on, or accessible through, our website is not part of, and is not incorporated into, this prospectus or the registration statement of which it forms a part.
INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION BY REFERENCE
We are “incorporating by reference” in this prospectus certain documents we file with the SEC, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those documents. The information in the documents incorporated by reference is considered to be part of this prospectus. Statements contained in documents that we file with the SEC and that are incorporated by reference in this prospectus will automatically update and supersede information contained in this prospectus, including information in previously filed documents or reports that have been incorporated by reference in this prospectus, to the extent the new information differs from or is inconsistent with the old information. We have filed or may file the following documents with the SEC and they are incorporated herein by reference as of their respective dates of filing.
| ● | our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on April 16, 2024, as amended by our Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on April 17, 2024 as further amended by our Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on April 26, 2024; |
| ● | our Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on January 5, 2024, February 9, 2024, March 22, 2024, April 8, 2024, and April 11, 2024; and |
| ● | the description of our Series A Common Stock set forth in the registration statement on Form 8-A registering our Series A Common Stock under Section 12 of the Exchange Act, which was filed with the SEC on October 2, 2020, including any amendments or reports filed for purposes of updating such description. |
All documents filed by us pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act after the date of this prospectus and before the termination or completion of this offering of our securities shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus and to be a part of it from the filing dates of such documents, except in each case for information contained in any such filing where we indicate that such information is being furnished and is not to be considered “filed” under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus shall be deemed modified, superseded or replaced for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in this prospectus, or in any subsequently filed document that also is deemed to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus, modifies, supersedes or replaces such statement. Any statement so modified, superseded or replaced shall not be deemed, except as so modified, superseded or replaced, to constitute a part of this prospectus. None of the information that we disclose under Items 2.02 or 7.01 of any Current Report on Form 8-K or any corresponding information, either furnished under Item 9.01 or included as an exhibit therein, that we may from time to time furnish to the SEC will be incorporated by reference into, or otherwise included in, this prospectus, except as otherwise expressly set forth in the relevant document. Subject to the foregoing, all information appearing in this prospectus is qualified in its entirety by the information appearing in the documents incorporated by reference.
Documents incorporated by reference are available from us without charge, excluding all exhibits unless we have specifically incorporated by reference the exhibit in this prospectus. You may obtain documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus by requesting them in writing or by telephone from:
Presidio Property Trust, Inc.
4995 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 300
San
Diego, CA 92123
Attention: Secretary
Telephone: (760) 471-8536
| 49 |
PART II
INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN THE PROSPECTUS
Item 14. Other Expenses of Issuance and Distribution.
The following table sets forth all expenses to be paid by the registrant. All amounts shown are estimates except for the registration fee.
| SEC registration fee | $ | 0 | (1) | |
| Printing | * | |||
| Legal fees and expenses | * | |||
| Accounting fees and expenses | * | |||
| Trustees’ Fees and Expenses | * | |||
| Warrant Agent Fees and Expenses | * | |||
| Miscellaneous | * | |||
| Total |
(1)
* |
Excludes the registration fee previously paid in connection with unsold securities pursuant to Rule 415(a)(6) (see Exhibit 107 to this registration statement). These fees are calculated based on the securities offered and the number of issuances and accordingly cannot be estimated at this time. The applicable prospectus supplement will set forth the estimated amount of expenses of any offering of securities. |
Item 15. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
Maryland law permits us to include a provision in our charter limiting the liability of our directors and officers to us and our stockholders for money damages, except for liability resulting from (a) actual receipt of an improper benefit or profit in money, property or services or (b) active and deliberate dishonesty that is established by a final judgment and which is material to the cause of action. Our charter contains a provision that eliminates our directors’ and officers’ liability to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law.
The MGCL requires us (unless our charter provides otherwise, which our charter does not) to indemnify a director or officer who has been successful, on the merits or otherwise, in the defense of any proceeding to which he or she is made a party by reason of his or her service in that capacity. The MGCL permits us to indemnify our present and former directors and officers, among others, against judgments, penalties, fines, settlements and reasonable expenses actually incurred by them in connection with any proceeding to which they may be made or threatened to be made a party by reason of their service in those or certain other capacities unless it is established that:
| ● | the act or omission of the director or officer was material to the matter giving rise to the proceeding and (a) was committed in bad faith or (b) was the result of active and deliberate dishonesty; |
| ● | the director or officer actually received an improper personal benefit in money, property or services; or |
| ● | in the case of any criminal proceeding, the director or officer had reasonable cause to believe that the act or omission was unlawful. |
Under the MGCL, we may not indemnify a director or officer in a suit by us or in our right in which the director or officer was adjudged liable to us or in a suit in which the director or officer was adjudged liable on the basis that personal benefit was improperly received. A court may order indemnification if it determines that the director or officer is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnification, even though the director or officer did not meet the prescribed standard of conduct or was adjudged liable on the basis that personal benefit was improperly received. However, indemnification for an adverse judgment in a suit by us or in our right, or for a judgment of liability on the basis that personal benefit was improperly received, is limited to expenses.
In addition, the MGCL permits us to advance reasonable expenses to a director or officer upon our receipt of (a) a written affirmation by the director or officer of his or her good faith belief that he or she has met the standard of conduct necessary for indemnification and (b) a written undertaking by him or her or on his or her behalf to repay the amount paid or reimbursed if it is ultimately determined that the standard of conduct was not met.
Our charter authorizes us to obligate ourselves, and our bylaws obligate us, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law in effect from time to time, to indemnify and, without requiring a preliminary determination of the ultimate entitlement to indemnification, pay or reimburse reasonable expenses in advance of final disposition of a proceeding to:
| ● | any present or former director or officer who is made or threatened to be made a party to, or witness in, a proceeding by reason of his or her service in that capacity; or |
| ● | any individual who, while a director or officer of our Company and at our request, serves or has served as a director, officer, partner, trustee, member or manager of another corporation, real estate investment trust, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or any other enterprise and who is made or threatened to be made a party to, or witness in, the proceeding by reason of his or her service in that capacity. |
Our charter and bylaws also permit us to indemnify and advance expenses to any individual who served any of our predecessors in any of the capacities described above and any employee or agent of us or any of our predecessors.
We have entered into indemnification agreements with each of our executive officers and directors whereby we agree to indemnify such executive officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by Maryland law against all expenses and liabilities. These indemnification agreements also provide that upon an application for indemnity by an executive officer or director to a court of appropriate jurisdiction, such court may order us to indemnify such executive officer or director. Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors or executive officers, we have been informed that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy and is therefore unenforceable.
| II-1 |
Item 16. Exhibits
The agreements included or incorporated by reference as exhibits to this registration statement contain representations and warranties by each of the parties to the applicable agreement. These representations and warranties were made solely for the benefit of the other parties to the applicable agreement and (i) were not intended to be treated as categorical statements of fact, but rather as a way of allocating the risk to one of the parties if those statements prove to be inaccurate; (ii) may have been qualified in such agreement by disclosures that were made to the other party in connection with the negotiation of the applicable agreement; (iii) may apply contract standards of “materiality” that are different from “materiality” under the applicable securities laws; and (iv) were made only as of the date of the applicable agreement or such other date or dates as may be specified in the agreement.
The undersigned registrant acknowledges that, notwithstanding the inclusion of the foregoing cautionary statements, it is responsible for considering whether additional specific disclosures of material information regarding material contractual provisions are required to make the statements in this registration statement not misleading.
Number |
|
Description |
1.1 |
|
Form of Underwriting Agreement * |
3.1 |
|
|
3.2 |
|
|
3.3 |
|
|
3.4 |
|
|
3.5 |
|
|
3.6 |
|
|
3.7 |
|
|
3.8 |
|
|
3.9 |
||
3.10 |
|
|
4.1 |
|
|
4.2 |
|
|
4.3 |
|
|
4.4 |
|
|
4.5 |
|
|
4.6 |
|
| II-2 |
4.7 |
Form of Preferred Stock Certificate and Form of Articles Supplementary of Preferred Stock * | |
4.8 |
Form of Warrant Agreement and Form of Warrant Certificate * | |
4.9 |
Form of Unit Agreement * | |
5.1 |
Opinion of Venable LLP regarding validity of certain securities being registered ** | |
5.2 |
||
8.1 |
Opinion of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston L.L.P. regarding tax matters ** | |
23.1 |
||
23.2 |
||
23.3 |
Consent of Sichenzia Ross Ference Carmel LLP (included as part of Exhibit 5.2) ** | |
23.4 |
Consent of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston L.L.P. (included as part of Exhibit 8.1) ** | |
24.1 |
||
25.1 |
Statement of Eligibility of trustee on Form T-1 *+ | |
107 |
| * | If applicable, to be filed by an amendment or as an exhibit to a report pursuant to section 13(a) or section 15(d) of the Exchange Act and incorporated by reference |
| ** | Filed herewith. |
| + | To be filed pursuant to Rule 305(b)(2) of the Trust Indenture Act. |
Item 17. Undertakings
(a) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:
(1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:
(i) to include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933;
(ii) to reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than a 20% change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Filing Fee Table” in the effective registration statement; and
(iii) to include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to such information in the registration statement;
provided, however, that paragraphs (1)(i), (1)(ii) and (1)(iii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement, or is contained in a form of prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) that is part of the registration statement.
(2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
| II-3 |
(3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.
(4) That, for the purpose of determining liability under the Securities Act of 1933 to any purchaser:
(i) Each prospectus filed by the registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3) shall be deemed to be part of the registration statement as of the date the filed prospectus was deemed part of and included in the registration statement; and
(ii) Each prospectus required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(2), (b)(5), or (b)(7) as part of a registration statement in reliance on Rule 430B relating to an offering made pursuant to Rule 415(a)(1)(i), (vii), or (x) for the purpose of providing the information required by Section 10(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 shall be deemed to be part of and included in the registration statement as of the earlier of the date such form of prospectus is first used after effectiveness or the date of the first contract of sale of securities in the offering described in the prospectus. As provided in Rule 430B, for liability purposes of the issuer and any person that is at that date an underwriter, such date shall be deemed to be a new effective date of the registration statement relating to the securities in the registration statement to which that prospectus relates, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof. Provided, however, that no statement made in a registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement or made in a document incorporated or deemed incorporated by reference into the registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement will, as to a purchaser with a time of contract of sale prior to such effective date, supersede or modify any statement that was made in the registration statement or prospectus that was part of the registration statement or made in any such document immediately prior to such effective date.
(iii) Each prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) as part of a registration statement relating to an offering, other than registration statements relying on Rule 430B or other than prospectuses filed in reliance on Rule 430A, shall be deemed to be part of and included in the registration statement as of the date it is first used after effectiveness. Provided, however, that no statement made in a registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement or made in a document incorporated or deemed incorporated by reference into the registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement will, as to a purchaser with a time of contract of sale prior to such first use, supersede or modify any statement that was made in the registration statement or prospectus that was part of the registration statement or made in any such document immediately prior to such date of first use.
(5) That, for the purpose of determining liability of the registrant under the Securities Act of 1933 to any purchaser in the initial distribution of the securities, the undersigned registrant undertakes that in a primary offering of securities of the undersigned registrant pursuant to this registration statement, regardless of the underwriting method used to sell the securities to the purchaser, if the securities are offered or sold to such purchaser by means of any of the following communications, the undersigned registrant will be a seller to the purchaser and will be considered to offer or sell such securities to such purchaser:
(i) Any preliminary prospectus or prospectus of the undersigned registrant relating to the offering required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424;
(ii) Any free writing prospectus relating to the offering prepared by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant or used or referred to by the undersigned registrant;
| II-4 |
(iii) The portion of any other free writing prospectus relating to the offering containing material information about the undersigned registrant or its securities provided by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant; and
(iv) Any other communication that is an offer in the offering made by the undersigned registrant to the purchaser.
(b) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability of the registrant under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) that is incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
(c) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act of 1933 and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.
(d) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes to file an application for the purpose of determining the eligibility of the trustee to act under subsection (a) of Section 310 of the Trust Indenture Act in accordance with the rules and regulations prescribed by the Commission under Section 305(b)(2) of the Trust Indenture Act.
(e) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that:
(i) For purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, the information omitted from the form of prospectus filed as part of this registration statement in reliance upon Rule 430A and contained in a form of prospectus filed by the registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b) (1) or (4) or 497(h) under the Securities Act shall be deemed to be part of this registration statement as of the time it was declared effective; and
(ii) For the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each post-effective amendment that contains a form of prospectus shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
| II-5 |
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-3 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of San Diego, California on April 26, 2024.
| PRESIDIO PROPERTY TRUST, INC. | ||
| By: | /s/ Jack K. Heilbron | |
| Name: | Jack K. Heilbron | |
| Title: | Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board | |
Know all persons by these presents, that each person whose signature appears below does hereby constitute and appoint Jack K. Heilbron and Ed Bentzen, with full power of substitution and full power to act without the other, such person’s true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent to act for such person in such person’s name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign this registration statement and any or all amendments, including post-effective amendments to this registration statement, including a prospectus or an amended prospectus therein and any related registration statement filed pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, and all other documents in connection therewith, including all exhibits thereto, to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in order to effectuate the same as fully, to all intents and purposes, as such person might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this registration statement and power of attorney has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
Signature |
|
Title |
|
Date |
|
|
|
|
|
/s/ Jack K. Heilbron |
|
Director, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer |
|
April 26, 2024 |
Jack K. Heilbron |
|
(Principal Executive Officer) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
/s/ Ed Bentzen |
|
Chief Financial Officer |
|
April 26, 2024 |
Ed Bentzen |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
/s/ Steve Hightower |
|
Director |
|
April 26, 2024 |
Steven Hightower |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
/s/ Jennifer A. Barnes |
|
Director |
|
April 26, 2024 |
Jennifer A. Barnes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
/s/ David T. Bruen |
|
Director |
|
April 26, 2024 |
David T. Bruen |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
/s/ James R. Durfey |
|
Director |
|
April 26, 2024 |
James R. Durfey |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
/s/ Tracie Hager |
|
Director |
|
April 26, 2024 |
Tracie Hager |
|
|
|
|
| II-6 |
Exhibit 5.1
April 26, 2024
Presidio Property Trust, Inc.
4995 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 300
San Diego, California 92123
| Re: | Registration Statement on Form S-3 |
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We have served as Maryland counsel to Presidio Property Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation (the “Company”), in connection with certain matters of Maryland law arising out of the registration of the following securities having an aggregate initial offering price of up to $50,000,000 (collectively, the “Securities”): (a) shares of Series A Common Stock, $0.01 par value per share, of the Company (“Series A Common Stock”); (b) shares of Preferred Stock, $0.01 par value per share, of the Company (“Preferred Stock”); (c) warrants of the Company to purchase other Securities (“Warrants”); and (d) units representing an interest in two or more of the foregoing classes of Securities (“Units”), covered by the above-referenced Registration Statement, and all amendments thereto (the “Registration Statement”), filed by the Company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”).
In connection with our representation of the Company, and as a basis for the opinion hereinafter set forth, we have examined originals, or copies certified or otherwise identified to our satisfaction, of the following documents (collectively, the “Documents”):
1. The Registration Statement and the related form of prospectus included therein in the form in which it was transmitted to the Commission under the 1933 Act;
2. The charter of the Company (the “Charter”), certified by the State Department of Assessments and Taxation of Maryland (the “SDAT”);
3. The Second Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Company (the “Bylaws”), certified as of the date hereof by an officer of the Company;
4. A certificate of the SDAT as to the good standing of the Company, dated as of a recent date;
5. Resolutions adopted by the Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”), or a duly authorized committee of the Board (collectively, the “Resolutions”), relating to, among other matters, the registration of the Securities, certified as of the date hereof by an officer of the Company;
6. A certificate executed by an officer of the Company, dated as of the date hereof; and
7. Such other documents and matters as we have deemed necessary or appropriate to express the opinion set forth below, subject to the assumptions, limitations and qualifications stated herein.
Presidio Property Trust, Inc.
April 26, 2024
Page 2
In expressing the opinion set forth below, we have assumed the following:
1. Each individual executing any of the Documents, whether on behalf of such individual or another person, is legally competent to do so.
2. Each individual executing any of the Documents on behalf of a party (other than the Company) is duly authorized to do so.
3. Each of the parties (other than the Company) executing any of the Documents has duly and validly executed and delivered each of the Documents to which such party is a signatory, and such party’s obligations set forth therein are legal, valid and binding and are enforceable in accordance with all stated terms.
4. All Documents submitted to us as originals are authentic. The form and content of all Documents submitted to us as unexecuted drafts do not differ in any respect relevant to this opinion from the form and content of such Documents as executed and delivered. All Documents submitted to us as certified or photostatic copies conform to the original documents. All signatures on all Documents are genuine. All public records reviewed or relied upon by us or on our behalf are true and complete. All representations, warranties, statements and information contained in the Documents are true and complete. There has been no oral or written modification of or amendment to any of the Documents, and there has been no waiver of any provision of any of the Documents, by action or omission of the parties or otherwise.
5. The issuance of, and certain terms of, the Securities to be issued by the Company from time to time will be authorized and approved by the Board, or a duly authorized committee thereof, in accordance with and not in violation of the Maryland General Corporation Law, the Charter, the Bylaws and the Resolutions (such approval referred to herein as the “Corporate Proceedings”).
6. Articles Supplementary creating and designating the number of shares and the terms of any class or series of Preferred Stock to be issued by the Company will be filed with and accepted for record by the SDAT prior to the issuance of such shares of Preferred Stock.
7. Upon the issuance of any Securities that are shares of Series A Common Stock (“Common Securities”), including Common Securities which may be issued upon conversion or exercise of any other Securities convertible into or exercisable for Common Securities, the total number of shares of Series A Common Stock issued and outstanding will not exceed the total number of shares of Series A Common Stock that the Company is then authorized to issue under the Charter.
8. Upon the issuance of any Securities that are shares of Preferred Stock (“Preferred Securities”), including Preferred Securities which may be issued upon conversion or exercise of any other Securities convertible into or exercisable for Preferred Securities, the total number of shares of Preferred Stock issued and outstanding, and the total number of issued and outstanding shares of the applicable class or series of Preferred Stock designated pursuant to the Charter, will not exceed the total number of shares of Preferred Stock or the number of shares of such class or series of Preferred Stock that the Company is then authorized to issue under the Charter.
Presidio Property Trust, Inc.
April 26, 2024
Page 3
9. None of the Securities will be issued, sold or transferred in violation of the restrictions on ownership and transfer set forth in Article VII of the Charter or any comparable provision in the Articles Supplementary creating any class or series of Preferred Stock.
Based upon the foregoing, and subject to the assumptions, limitations and qualifications stated herein, it is our opinion that:
1. The Company is a corporation duly incorporated and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Maryland and is in good standing with the SDAT.
2. Upon the completion of all Corporate Proceedings relating to Common Securities, the issuance of the Common Securities will be duly authorized and, when and if issued and delivered against payment therefor in accordance with the Registration Statement, the Resolutions and the Corporate Proceedings, the Common Securities will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.
3. Upon the completion of all Corporate Proceedings relating to Preferred Securities, the issuance of the Preferred Securities will be duly authorized and, when and if issued and delivered against payment therefor in accordance with the Registration Statement, the Resolutions and the Corporate Proceedings, the Preferred Securities will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.
4. Upon the completion of all Corporate Proceedings relating to Securities that are Warrants, the issuance of the Warrants will be duly authorized.
5. Upon the completion of all Corporate Proceedings relating to Securities that are Units, the issuance of the Units will be duly authorized.
The foregoing opinion is limited to the laws of the State of Maryland and we do not express any opinion herein concerning any other law. We express no opinion as to the applicability or effect of federal or state securities laws, including the securities laws of the State of Maryland, or as to federal or state laws regarding fraudulent transfers. To the extent that any matter as to which our opinion is expressed herein would be governed by the laws of any jurisdiction other than the State of Maryland, we do not express any opinion on such matter. The opinion expressed herein is subject to the effect of any judicial decision which may permit the introduction of parol evidence to modify the terms or the interpretation of agreements.
The opinion expressed herein is limited to the matters specifically set forth herein and no other opinion shall be inferred beyond the matters expressly stated. We assume no obligation to supplement this opinion if any applicable law changes after the date hereof or if we become aware of any fact that might change the opinion expressed herein after the date hereof.
This opinion is being furnished to you for submission to the Commission as an exhibit to the Registration Statement. We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the Registration Statement and to the use of the name of our firm therein. In giving this consent, we do not admit that we are within the category of persons whose consent is required by Section 7 of the 1933 Act.
| Very truly yours, | |
| /s/ Venable LLP |
Exhibit 5.2
April 26, 2024
Presidio Property Trust, Inc.
4995 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 300
San Diego, California 92123
| Re: | Registration Statement on Form S-3 |
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We have acted as counsel to Presidio Property Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation (the “Company”), in connection with the preparation of a registration statement on Form S-3 (the “Registration Statement”), filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), relating to the offer and sale from time to time by the Company of up to a maximum of $50,000,000 aggregate initial offering price of a presently indeterminate amount of the following securities (each a “Company Security” and collectively, or in any combination, the “Company Securities”):
| (i) | shares of the Company’s Series A common stock, $0.01 par value per share (the “Series A Common Stock”); |
| (ii) | one or more classes or series of shares of the Company’s preferred stock, $0.01 par value per share (the “Preferred Stock”); |
| (iii) | warrants to purchase common stock, preferred stock, other securities or any combination of those securities; and |
| (iv) | units consisting of any combination of the foregoing securities. |
The Company Securities may be issued and sold by the Company pursuant to applicable provisions of Rule 415 under the Securities Act, in amounts, at prices and on terms to be determined in light of market conditions at the time of sale, and as set forth in the Registration Statement, any amendment thereto, the prospectus contained therein (the “Prospectus”) and any supplements to the Prospectus (each, a “Prospectus Supplement”). The Company Securities may be issued from time to time on a delayed or continuous basis, and this opinion is limited to the laws, including the rules and regulations, as in effect on the date hereof, which laws are subject to change with possible retroactive effect.
You have requested our opinion as to the matters set forth below in connection with the Registration Statement. For purposes of rendering the opinions set forth below, we have examined such documents and reviewed such questions of law as we have considered necessary and appropriate for the purposes of our opinion including (i) the Registration Statement, including the exhibits filed therewith, (ii) the Prospectus, (iii) the Company’s articles of amendment and restatements of the articles of incorporation, as amended (the “Articles of Incorporation”), (iv) the Company’s amended and restated bylaws, as amended (the “Bylaws”), (v) the corporate resolutions and other actions of the Company that authorize and provide for the filing of the Registration Statement, and we have made such other investigation as we have deemed appropriate. We have not independently established any of the facts so relied on.
For purposes of this opinion letter, we have assumed the accuracy and completeness of each document submitted to us, the genuineness of all signatures on original documents, the authenticity of all documents submitted to us as originals, the conformity to original documents of all documents submitted to us as facsimile, electronic, certified, conformed or photostatic copies thereof, and the due execution and delivery of all documents where due execution and delivery are prerequisites to the effectiveness thereof. We have further assumed the legal capacity of natural persons, that persons identified to us as officers of the Company are actually serving in such capacity, that the representations of officers and employees of the Company are correct as to questions of fact, that the board of directors will have taken all action necessary to set the issuance price of the Company Securities to be offered and sold and that each party to the documents we have examined or relied on (other than the Company) has the power, corporate or other, to enter into and perform all obligations thereunder and also have assumed the due authorization by all requisite action, corporate or other, the execution and delivery by such parties of such documents, and the validity and binding effect thereof on such parties. We have not independently verified any of these assumptions.
1185 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS | 31ST FLOOR | NEW YORK, NY | 10036
T (212) 930-9700 | F (212) 930-9725 | WWW.SRFC.LAW
Based on the foregoing and in reliance thereon, and subject to the assumptions, qualifications, limitations and exceptions set forth below, we are of the opinion that:
| 1. | With respect to the issuance of any warrants, when (a) the board of directors of the Company has taken all necessary corporate action to approve the warrant agreement to be entered into in connection with the issuance of any warrants and such warrant agreement has been validly executed and delivered by the warrant agent and Company, (b) the board of directors of the Company has taken all necessary corporate action to approve the specific issuance and terms of any warrants duly established in accordance with the applicable warrant agreement and (c) such warrants have been duly executed, countersigned, registered, issued and delivered in accordance with the warrant agreement and the applicable definitive purchase, underwriting or similar agreement, as applicable, for the consideration therefor set forth in the applicable agreement and approved by the board of directors of the Company (assuming the securities issuable upon exercise of the warrants have been duly authorized and reserved for issuance by all necessary corporate action and in accordance with applicable law), such warrants will constitute valid and binding obligations of the Company, enforceable against the Company in accordance with their terms, subject to applicable bankruptcy, insolvency and similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally, concepts of reasonableness and equitable principles of general applicability. |
| 2. | With respect to the issuance of any units, when (a) the board of directors of the Company has taken all necessary corporate action to approve the unit agreement, if any, to be entered into in connection with the issuance of any units and such unit agreement, if any, has been validly executed and delivered by the unit agent, if any, and Company, (b) the board of directors of the Company has taken all necessary corporate action to approve the specific issuance and terms of any units duly established in accordance with the applicable unit agreement, if any, and (c) such units have been duly executed, countersigned, registered, issued and delivered in accordance with the unit agreement, if any, and the applicable definitive purchase, underwriting or similar agreement, as applicable, for the consideration therefor set forth in the applicable agreement and approved by the board of directors of the Company, such units will constitute valid and binding obligations of the Company, enforceable against the Company in accordance with their terms, subject to applicable bankruptcy, insolvency and similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally, concepts of reasonableness and equitable principles of general applicability. |
The opinions set forth above are subject to the following additional assumptions:
| (i) | the Registration Statement, any amendments thereto (including post-effective amendments), will have been declared effective under the Securities Act and such effectiveness shall not have been terminated, suspended or rescinded; |
| (ii) | all Company Securities will be issued and sold in compliance with applicable federal and state securities laws, rules and regulations and solely in the manner provided in the Registration Statement and the appropriate Prospectus Supplement and there will not have occurred any change in law or fact affecting the validity of any of the opinions rendered herein; |
| (iii) | a definitive purchase, underwriting or similar agreement and any other necessary agreements with respect to any Company Securities offered or issued will have been duly authorized and duly executed and delivered by the Company and the other parties thereto; |
| (iv) | the final terms of any of the Company Securities (including any Company Securities comprising the same or subject thereto), and when issued, the issuance, sale and delivery thereof by the Company, and the incurrence and performance of the Company’s obligations thereunder or respect thereof in accordance with the terms thereof, and any consideration received by the Company for any such issuance, sale and delivery, will comply with, and will not violate, the Articles of Incorporation or Bylaws or any applicable law, rule or regulation, or result in a default under or breach of any agreement or instrument binding upon the Company and will comply with any requirement or restriction imposed by any court or governmental body having jurisdiction over the Company or to which the issuance, sale and delivery of such Company Securities or the incurrence and performance of such obligations may be subject or violate any applicable public policy, or be subject to any defense in law or equity; |
| (v) | the Company shall have taken any action required to be taken by the Company, based on the type of Company Security being offered, to authorize the offer and issuance thereof, and such authorization shall remain in effect and unchanged at all times during which the Company Securities are offered and issued and shall not have been modified or rescinded (subject to the further assumption that the sale of any Company Security takes place in accordance with such authorization), the board of directors of the Company shall have duly established the terms of such Company Security and duly authorized and taken any other necessary corporate action to approve the issuance and sale of such Company Security in conformity with the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws (subject to the further assumption that neither the Articles of Incorporation nor Bylaws have been amended from the date hereof in a manner that would affect the validity of any of the opinions rendered herein), and such authorization shall remain in effect and unchanged at all times during which the Company Securities are offered and issued and shall not have been modified or rescinded (subject to the further assumption that the sale of any Company Security takes place in accordance with such authorization); |
| (vi) | to the extent they purport to relate to liabilities resulting from or based upon gross negligence, recklessness or other conduct committed or omitted willfully or in bad faith or any violation of federal or state securities or blue sky laws, we express no opinions concerning the enforceability of indemnification provisions. |
The opinions above are subject to the effects of (i) bankruptcy, insolvency, fraudulent conveyance, fraudulent transfer, reorganization, receivership, moratorium and other similar laws relating to or affecting enforcement of creditors’ rights or remedies generally, (ii) general principles of equity, whether such principles are considered in a proceeding of law or at equity, and (iii) an implied covenant of good faith, reasonableness and fair dealing and standards of materiality.
We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the Registration Statement and to the use of our name under the caption “Legal Matters” in the Prospectus. In giving our consent, we do not thereby admit that we are experts with respect to any part of the Registration Statement, the Prospectus, or any Prospectus Supplement within the meaning of the term “expert,” as used in Section 11 of the Securities Act or the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder by the Commission, nor do we admit that we are in the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.
| Very truly yours, | |
| /s/ Sichenzia Ross Ference Carmel LLP | |
| Sichenzia Ross Ference Carmel LLP |
Exhibit 8.1
Whiteford, Taylor & Preston L.L.P.
Delaware* District of Columbia | ||
| Seven Saint Paul Street | Kentucky | |
| Baltimore, Maryland 21202-1636 | Maryland | |
| Main Telephone (410) 347-8700 | NEW YORK | |
| Facsimile (410) 752-7092 | pennsylvania | |
| virginia | ||
www.wHITEFORDlaw.com | ||
(800) 987-8705 |
April 25, 2024
Presidio Property Trust, Inc.
4995 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 300
San Diego, California 92123
| Re: | Registration Statement on Form S-3 |
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We have acted as special tax counsel to Presidio Property Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation (the “Company”), in connection with its filing on the date hereof with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) of a registration statement on Form S-3 (as the same may be amended from time to time, the “Registration Statement”), under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Act”).
You have requested our opinion concerning certain of the federal income tax considerations relating to the Company, including with respect to its election to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (a “REIT”) under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). This opinion is based on certain assumptions and factual representations, including the facts set forth in the Registration Statement, concerning the business, assets and governing documents of the Company and its subsidiaries. We have also been furnished with, and with your consent have relied upon, certain representations made by the Company and its subsidiaries with respect to certain factual matters through a certificate of an officer of the Company, dated as of the date hereof (the “Officer’s Certificate”).
In our capacity as special tax counsel to the Company, we have made such legal and factual examinations and inquiries, including an examination of originals or copies of such documents certified or otherwise identified to our satisfaction, corporate records and other instruments, as we have deemed necessary or appropriate for purposes of this opinion. We have not made an independent investigation or audit of the facts set forth in the documents furnished to us or in the Officer’s Certificate. In addition, in rendering this opinion we have assumed the truth and accuracy of all representations and statements made to us that are qualified as to knowledge or belief, without regard to such qualification.
*Whiteford, Taylor & Preston L.L.P. is a limited liability partnership. Our Delaware offices are operated under a separate Delaware limited liability company, Whiteford, Taylor & Preston L.L.C.
Presidio REIT
April 25, 2024
Page 2
In our review, we have assumed, with your consent, that all of the representations and statements of a factual nature set forth in the documents we reviewed are true and correct, and all of the obligations imposed by any such documents on the parties thereto have been and will be performed or satisfied in accordance with their terms. We have also, with respect to documents we did not prepare ourselves (or did not supervise the execution of), assumed the genuineness of all signatures, the proper execution of all documents, the authenticity of all documents submitted to us as originals, the conformity to originals of documents submitted to us as copies, and the authenticity of the originals from which any copies were made.
We are opining herein only with respect to the federal income tax laws of the United States, and we express no opinion with respect to the applicability thereto, or the effect thereon, of other federal laws, the laws of any state or other jurisdiction, or as to any matters of municipal law, the laws of any other local agencies within any state, or the laws of any jurisdiction whatsoever outside of the United States.
Based on such facts, and subject to the qualifications, assumptions, representations, and limitations referenced herein, it is our opinion that:
| 1. | Commencing with its taxable year ended December 31, 2001, the Company has been organized in conformity with the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the Code, and its proposed method of operation will enable it to meet the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the Code; and |
| 2. | The statements set forth in the Registration Statement under the heading “U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations,” insofar as they purport to describe or summarize certain provisions of the statutes or regulations referred to therein, are accurate descriptions or summaries in all material respects. |
No opinion is expressed as to any matter not discussed herein.
This opinion is rendered to you as of the date of this letter, and we undertake no obligation to update this opinion subsequent to the date hereof. A material change that is made after the date hereof in any of the foregoing bases for our opinions could affect our conclusions This opinion is based on various statutory provisions, regulations promulgated thereunder, and interpretations thereof by the Internal Revenue Service and the courts having jurisdiction over such matters, all of which are subject to change prospectively or retroactively. Any such change may affect the conclusions stated herein. Also, any variation or difference in the facts from those set forth in the Registration Statement or the Officer’s Certificate may affect the conclusions stated herein. As described in the Registration Statement, the Company’s qualification and taxation as a REIT depend upon the Company’s ability to meet the various requirements imposed under the Code, including through actual annual operating results, asset composition, distribution levels, and diversity of stock ownership. The results of these tests have not been and will not be reviewed by the undersigned. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that the actual results of the Company’s operation for any particular taxable year will satisfy such requirements. In addition, the opinion set forth above does not foreclose the possibility that the Company may have to pay a deficiency dividend, or an excise or penalty tax, which could be significant in amount, in order to maintain its REIT qualification.
Presidio REIT
April 25, 2024
Page 3
We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the Registration Statement, and to the reference to our firm under the heading “Legal Matters” in the Registration Statement. In giving our consent, we do not thereby admit that we are in the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Act or the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder, nor do we thereby admit that we are experts with respect to any part of the Registration Statement within the meaning of the term “experts” as used in Securities Act or the rules and regulations of the SEC thereunder.
| Sincerely, | |
| /s/ Whiteford, Taylor & Preston L.L.P. | |
| WHITEFORD, TAYLOR & PRESTON L.L.P. |
Exhibit 23.1
CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
We consent to the incorporation by reference in this Registration Statement (No. 333- ) on Form S-3 and related Prospectus of Presidio Property Trust, Inc. of our report dated April 15, 2024, relating to the consolidated financial statements and the financial statement schedule of Presidio Property Trust, Inc., appearing in the Annual Report on Form 10-K/A of Presidio Property Trust, Inc. for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 17, 2024.
We also consent to the reference to our firm under the heading “Experts” in such Prospectus.
/s/ Baker Tilly US, LLP
New York, New York
April 25, 2024