Item 1. Business
The Company.
We are a real estate investment trust, or REIT, formed in 1995 under the laws of the State of Maryland. As of
December 31, 2018
, we owned
326
hotels with
50,543
rooms or suites, and
199
travel centers. Our properties are located in 45 states in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Our principal place of business is Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458-1634, and our telephone number is (617) 964-8389.
Our principal internal growth strategy is to apply asset management strategies to aid our hotel operators in improving performance and to participate through additional returns and percentage rents in increases in the operating income of our managed hotel properties and increases in the total sales at our leased hotels and travel centers, respectively. Our asset management team also works closely with our operators to ensure our hotels and travel centers are well maintained and that capital investments are well planned and executed efficiently in order to maximize the long term value of our properties.
Our external growth strategy is defined by our acquisition, disposition and financing policies as described below. Our investment, financing and disposition policies and business strategies are established by our Board of Trustees and may be changed by our Board of Trustees at any time without shareholder approval.
HOTEL PROPERTIES
As of
December 31, 2018
, we owned
326
hotels which were managed by or leased to separate subsidiaries of Marriott International, Inc., or Marriott, InterContinental Hotels Group, plc, or IHG, Sonesta International Hotels Corporation, or Sonesta, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc., or Wyndham, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, or Hyatt, and Radisson Hospitality, Inc., or Radisson, under
eight
of our operating agreements. Our hotel operating agreements have initial terms expiring between 2019 and 2038. Each of these agreements is for between
one
and
100
of our hotels. In general, the agreements contain renewal options for all, but not less than all, of the affected properties included in each agreement, and the renewal terms range between
20
to
60
years. Most of these agreements require the third party manager or tenant to: (1) make payments to us of minimum returns or minimum rents; (2) deposit a percentage of total hotel sales into reserves established for the regular refurbishment of our hotels, or FF&E reserves; and (3) for our managed hotels, make payments to our wholly owned "taxable REIT subsidiaries" as defined in Section 856(l) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or TRSs, of additional returns to the extent of available cash flows after payment of operating expenses, funding of the FF&E reserves, payment of our minimum returns, payment of management fees and, in certain instances, replenishment of security deposits or guarantees. Some of our managers or tenants or their affiliates have provided deposits or guarantees to secure their obligations to pay us. See "Principal Management Agreement or Lease Features" below for more information regarding our agreements. The following table summarizes the brand affiliations under which our hotels operate as of
December 31, 2018
:
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Number of
|
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Number of
|
|
|
Brand
|
|
Manager
|
|
Properties
|
|
Rooms or Suites
|
|
Investment
(1)
|
Courtyard by Marriott
®
|
|
Marriott
|
|
71
|
|
|
10,264
|
|
$
|
994,555
|
|
Royal Sonesta Hotels
®
|
|
Sonesta
|
|
6
|
|
|
2,332
|
|
703,124
|
|
Sonesta ES Suites
®
|
|
Sonesta
|
|
39
|
|
|
4,730
|
|
642,050
|
|
Crowne Plaza
®
|
|
IHG
|
|
10
|
|
|
3,941
|
|
587,488
|
|
Candlewood Suites
®
|
|
IHG
|
|
61
|
|
|
7,553
|
|
586,546
|
|
Residence Inn by Marriott
®
|
|
Marriott
|
|
35
|
|
|
4,488
|
|
545,029
|
|
Sonesta Hotels & Resorts
®
|
|
Sonesta
|
|
6
|
|
|
1,800
|
|
350,635
|
|
Staybridge Suites
®
|
|
IHG
|
|
20
|
|
|
2,481
|
|
347,592
|
|
Hyatt Place
®
|
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Hyatt
|
|
22
|
|
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2,724
|
|
301,942
|
|
Wyndham Hotels and Resorts
®
and Wyndham Grand
®
|
|
Wyndham
|
|
6
|
|
|
1,823
|
|
294,557
|
|
Kimpton
®
Hotels & Restaurants
|
|
IHG
|
|
3
|
|
|
825
|
|
282,586
|
|
InterContinental Hotels and Resorts
®
|
|
IHG
|
|
3
|
|
|
800
|
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218,469
|
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Radisson
®
Hotels & Resorts and Radisson Blu
®
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Radisson
|
|
5
|
|
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1,329
|
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196,703
|
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Marriott Hotels and Resorts
®
|
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Marriott
|
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2
|
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748
|
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131,303
|
|
TownePlace Suites by Marriott
®
|
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Marriott
|
|
12
|
|
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1,321
|
|
112,979
|
|
Hawthorn Suites
®
|
|
Wyndham
|
|
16
|
|
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1,756
|
|
102,125
|
|
Country Inns & Suites
®
by Radisson
|
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Radisson
|
|
4
|
|
|
610
|
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73,402
|
|
Holiday Inn
®
|
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IHG
|
|
3
|
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|
754
|
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73,331
|
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SpringHill Suites by Marriott
®
|
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Marriott
|
|
2
|
|
|
264
|
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24,914
|
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Total Hotels
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326
|
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50,543
|
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$
|
6,569,330
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(1)
|
Represents historical cost of our properties plus capital improvements funded by us less impairment write-downs, if any, and excludes capital improvements made from FF&E reserves, funded from hotel operations that do not result in increases in minimum returns or rents.
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The following table details the chain scale and service level of our hotels, as categorized by STR, Inc., a data benchmarking and analytic provider for the lodging industry, or STR, as of
December 31, 2018
:
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Service Level
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Chain Scale
(1)
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Full
Service
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Select
Service
|
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Extended
Stay
|
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Total
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Luxury
|
|
4
|
|
|
—
|
|
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—
|
|
|
4
|
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Upper Upscale
|
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7
|
|
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—
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—
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7
|
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Upscale
|
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30
|
|
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95
|
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55
|
|
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180
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Upper Midscale
|
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7
|
|
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—
|
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51
|
|
|
58
|
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Midscale
|
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—
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|
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—
|
|
|
77
|
|
|
77
|
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Totals
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48
|
|
|
95
|
|
|
183
|
|
|
326
|
|
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(1)
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Chain scales are defined by STR. Chain scale segments are grouped primarily according to average room rates.
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TRAVEL CENTER PROPERTIES
As of
December 31, 2018
, we owned
199
travel centers, all of which we lease to TravelCenters of America LLC or its subsidiaries, or TA, pursuant to long term leases;
149
of our travel centers are operated under the TravelCenters of America
®
, or TA
®
, brand name and
50
are operated under the Petro Stopping Centers
®
, or Petro
®
, brand name. As of
December 31, 2018
, we have invested
$2.5 billion
in
149
TA
®
branded properties with 3,544 land acres and
$1.1 billion
in
50
Petro
®
branded properties with 1,386 land acres. In
January 2019
, we sold
20
travel centers to TA that were included in the
199
travel centers that we leased to TA as of
December 31, 2018
, and we and TA amended our leases. For more information regarding those transactions and about our travel center portfolio and our lease agreements with TA, see Notes
5
,
6
and 10 to our consolidated financial statements included in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Substantially all our travel centers are full service sites located at or near an interstate highway exit and offer fuel and non-fuel products and services 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Our typical travel center includes: over 25 acres of land with parking for approximately 200 tractor trailers and approximately 100 cars; a full service restaurant and one or more quick service restaurants which are operated under nationally recognized brands; a truck repair facility and parts store; multiple diesel and gasoline fueling points, including diesel exhaust fluid at the diesel lanes; a travel store; a game room; a lounge and other amenities for professional truck drivers and motorists.
PRINCIPAL MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT OR LEASE FEATURES
As of
December 31, 2018
,
325
of our hotels (including one leased hotel) are included in
seven
portfolio agreements;
324
hotels are leased by us to our wholly owned TRSs and managed by hotel operating companies and
one
hotel is leased to a hotel operating company.
One
of our hotels is not included in a portfolio agreement and is leased to a hotel operating company. Our travel centers are leased to TA, a travel center and restaurant operating company, under
five
portfolio agreements. The principal features of the management agreements and leases for our hotel and travel center properties are as follows:
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Minimum Returns or Minimum Rent
. All of our agreements require our managers or tenants to pay to us annual minimum returns or minimum rent.
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•
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Additional Returns or Percentage Rent
. In addition, our hotel management agreements provide for payment of additional returns to us generally based on excess cash flows after payment of hotel operating expenses, funding the FF&E reserve, if any, payment of our minimum returns, payment of management fees and, in certain instances, replenishment of the security deposit or guarantee. Certain of our lease agreements require payment of percentage rent to us based on increases in certain gross property revenues over threshold amounts.
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•
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Long Terms
. Our management agreements and leases generally have initial terms of 15 years or more. The weighted average term remaining for our agreements (weighted by our investment) as of
December 31, 2018
is 13.4 years, without giving effect to any renewal options our managers or tenants may have.
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•
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Pooled Agreements
. All but one of our properties are included in one of 12 portfolio agreements. In all but one of our portfolio agreements, the manager’s or tenant’s obligations to us with respect to each property in a portfolio agreement are subject to cross default with the obligations with respect to all the other properties in the same portfolio agreement. The smallest portfolio agreement includes
nine
hotels in which we have invested
$270.1 million
; the largest portfolio agreement includes
100
hotels in which we have invested
$2.1 billion
.
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•
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Geographic Diversification
. The properties included in each portfolio agreement are geographically diversified.
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•
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Strategic Locations
. Our properties are located in the vicinity of major demand generators such as large suburban office parks, urban centers, airports, medical or educational facilities or major tourist attractions for hotels and typically at or near exits along interstate highways for travel centers.
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•
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All or None Renewals
. All manager or tenant renewal options for each portfolio agreement of our properties may only be exercised on an all or none basis and not for separate properties.
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•
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Property Maintenance
. Most of our hotel agreements require the deposit of 5% to 6% of annual gross hotel revenues into escrows to fund periodic renovations. Our travel center leases require the tenants to maintain the leased travel centers, including structural and non-structural components.
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•
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Security Features
. Most of our management agreements and leases include various terms intended to secure the payments to us, including some or all of the following: cash security deposits which we receive but do not escrow; subordination of management fees payable to the operator to some or all of our minimum return or rent; and full or limited guarantees from the manager’s or tenant’s parent company. As of
December 31, 2018
,
nine
of our
12
portfolio agreements and
one
hotel leased to a third party, a total of
200
hotels and
199
travel centers, have minimum returns or minimum rents payable to us which are subject to full or limited guarantees or are backed by security deposits. These properties represent
73.9%
of our total minimum returns and minimum rents at
December 31, 2018
. We do not have any security deposits or guarantees for
three
of our
seven
hotel portfolio agreements, a total of
126
hotels, representing
26.1%
of our total annual minimum returns and minimum rents as of
December 31, 2018
. Accordingly, the minimum returns we are paid under these agreements will depend exclusively upon the performance of the hotels.
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•
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Management Fees
. Management fees under most of our management agreements are subordinate to payment of our annual minimum returns. Our managers also have the ability to earn incentive management fees generally based on excess cash flows after payment of hotel operating expenses, funding of the required FF&E reserve, if any, payment of our minimum returns, payment of management fees and in certain instances, replenishment of the security deposit or guarantee.
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INVESTMENT AND OPERATING POLICIES
Our investment objectives include increasing cash flows from operations from dependable and diverse sources in order to increase per share distributions to our shareholders. To achieve these objectives, we seek to: maintain a strong capital base of shareholders’ equity; invest in high quality properties operated by qualified operating companies; use moderate debt leverage to fund additional investments which increase cash flows from operations because of positive spreads between our cost of investment capital and investment yields; structure investments which generate a minimum return and provide an opportunity to participate in operating growth at our properties; when market conditions permit, refinance debt with additional equity or long term debt; and pursue diversification so that our cash flows from operations come from diverse properties and operators.
Generally, we provide capital to owners and operators in hospitality related industries who wish to expand their businesses or divest their properties while remaining in the hospitality business. Many other public hospitality REITs seek to control the operations of properties in which they invest and generally design their management agreements or leases to capture substantially all net operating income from their hotels’ businesses. Most of our agreements with our managers and tenants are designed with the expectation that, over their terms, net operating income from our properties that accrues to the benefit of the operator will generally exceed the amount that would accrue to them under a typical hotel management agreement or lease. We believe that this difference in operating philosophy may afford us a competitive advantage over other hospitality REITs in identifying and obtaining high quality investment opportunities on attractive terms, obtaining qualified managers and tenants to operate our properties and increase the dependability of our cash flows used to pay distributions.
Our first investment in travel centers was structured differently than all our other investments. We acquired an operating travel centers business, reorganized the business to retain substantially all of the real estate and then distributed a tenant operating company to our shareholders. We may in the future make investments in this fashion or in a manner different from our other investments.
Because we are a REIT, we generally may not operate our properties. We or our tenants have entered into arrangements for operation of our properties. Under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the IRC, we may lease our hotels to one of our TRSs if the hotel is managed by a third party. As of
December 31, 2018
,
324
of our hotels were leased to our TRSs and managed by third parties. Any income realized by a TRS in excess of the rent paid to us by the subsidiary is subject to income tax at customary corporate rates. As, and if, the financial performance of the hotels operated for the account of our TRSs improves, these taxes may become material.
Acquisition Policies.
We intend to pursue growth through the acquisition of additional properties. Generally, we prefer to purchase multiple properties in one transaction or individual properties that can be added to a pre-existing portfolio agreement because we believe a single management or lease agreement, cross default covenants and all or none renewal rights for multiple properties in diverse locations enhance the credit characteristics and the security of our investments. In implementing our acquisition strategy, we consider a range of factors relating to proposed property purchases including:
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Historical and projected cash flows;
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•
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The competitive market environment and the current or potential market position of each property;
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•
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The tax and regulatory circumstances of the market area in which the property is located;
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•
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The availability of a qualified manager or lessee;
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•
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The financial strength of the proposed manager or lessee;
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•
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The amount and type of financial support available from the proposed manager or lessee;
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•
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The property’s design, construction quality, physical condition and age and expected capital expenditures that may be needed to maintain the property or to enhance its operation;
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•
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The size of the property;
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•
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The location and type of property;
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•
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The estimated replacement cost, capital improvement requirements and proposed acquisition price of the property;
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•
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Our weighted average long term cost of capital compared to projected returns we may realize by owning the property;
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•
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The reputation of any operator with which the property is or may become affiliated;
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•
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The level of services and amenities offered at the property;
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•
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The proposed management agreement or lease terms;
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•
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The brand under which the property operates or is expected to operate;
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•
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The strategic fit of the property or investment with the rest of our portfolio and our own plans; and
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•
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The existence of alternative sources, uses or needs for our capital and our debt leverage.
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In determining the competitive position of a property, we examine the proximity and convenience of the property to its expected customer base, the number and characteristics of competitive properties within the property’s market area and the existence of barriers to entry for competitive properties within that market, including site availability and zoning restrictions. While we have historically focused on the acquisition of upscale limited service, extended stay and full service hotel properties and full service travel centers, we consider acquisitions in all segments of the hospitality industry. An important part of our acquisition strategy is to identify and select or create qualified, experienced and financially stable operators.
We have no policies which specifically limit the percentage of our assets that may be invested in any individual property, in any one type of property, in properties managed by or leased to any one entity, in properties operated under any one brand, in properties managed by or leased to an affiliated group of entities or in securities of one or more persons.
Whenever we purchase an individual property or a small number of properties, we typically attempt to arrange for these properties to be added to agreements covering, and operated in combination with, properties we already own, but we may not always do so. We believe portfolios of diverse groups of properties may increase the security of our cash flows and likelihood our agreements will be renewed.
As stated above, our initial investment in travel center real estate was structured as the acquisition of an entire company, retention of the real estate and the distribution of an operating company tenant. In making that acquisition, we generally applied the same analysis described above to real estate we retained and would expect to generally do the same for any future similar type of transaction we might consider or complete.
Other Investments.
We prefer wholly owned investments in fee interests. However, we may invest in leaseholds, joint ventures, mortgages and other real estate interests. We may invest or enter into real estate joint ventures if we conclude that we may benefit from the participation of coventurers or that the opportunity to participate in the investment is contingent on the use of a joint venture structure. We may invest in participating, convertible or other types of mortgages if we conclude that we may benefit from the cash flows or appreciation in the value of the mortgaged property. Convertible mortgages are similar to equity participation because they permit lenders to either participate in increasing revenues from the property or convert some or all of that mortgage into equity ownership interests. At
December 31, 2018
, we owned no convertible mortgages or joint venture interests.
We have in the past considered, and may in the future consider, the possibility of entering into mergers or strategic combinations with other companies. Our principal goal of any such transactions will be to increase our cash flows from operations and to further diversify our revenue sources.
We own common shares of TA and The RMR Group Inc. (Nasdaq: RMR), a Maryland corporation, or RMR Inc. We may in the future acquire additional common shares of TA or RMR Inc. or securities of other entities, including entities engaged in real estate activities or we may sell these common shares. We may invest in the securities of other entities for the purpose of exercising control or otherwise, make loans to other persons or entities, engage in the sale of investments, offer securities in exchange for property or repurchase our securities.
We may not achieve some or all of our investment objectives.
Disposition Policies.
We generally consider ourselves to be a long term owner of properties and are more interested in the long term earnings potential of our properties than selling properties for short term gains. We have occasionally sold a property or exchanged properties which we own for different properties. As of
December 31, 2018
, we had
20
travel centers with a carrying value of
$144.0 million
classified as held for sale. We sold these
20
travel centers in
January 2019
. We may identify additional properties for sale in the future. We currently make decisions to dispose of properties based on factors including, but not limited to, the following:
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The property’s current and expected future performance;
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•
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The proposed or expected sale price;
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•
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The capital required to maintain the property;
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•
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The strategic fit of the property with the rest of our portfolio and with our plans;
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•
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The manager’s or tenant’s desire to operate the property;
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•
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The manager’s or tenant’s desire to cease operation of the property;
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•
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Our intended use of the proceeds we may realize from the sale of a property;
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•
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The existence of alternative sources, uses or needs for our capital and our debt leverage; and
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•
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The tax implications to us and our shareholders of any proposed disposition.
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Our Board of Trustees may change our investment and operating policies at any time without a vote of, or notice to, our shareholders.
FINANCING POLICIES
To maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, we must distribute at least 90% of our annual REIT taxable income (excluding net capital gains). Accordingly, we generally will not be able to retain sufficient cash to fund
our operations, repay our debts, invest in our properties and fund acquisitions and development or redevelopment efforts. Instead, we expect to repay our debts, invest in our properties and fund acquisitions and development or redevelopment efforts with borrowings under our revolving credit facility, proceeds from equity or debt securities we may issue (domestically or in foreign markets), including in subsidiaries, or retained cash from operations that may exceed distributions paid.
We may seek to obtain other lines of credit or to issue securities senior to our common shares, including preferred shares of beneficial interest and debt securities, either of which may be convertible into common shares or be accompanied by warrants to purchase common shares, or to engage in transactions which may involve a sale or other conveyance or contribution of hotels, travel centers or other properties or assets to subsidiaries or to other affiliates or unaffiliated entities. We may finance acquisitions, in whole or in part, by among other possible means, exchanging properties, issuing additional common shares or other securities or assuming outstanding mortgage debt on the acquired properties. We may also place new mortgages on our existing properties as a means of financing. The proceeds from any of our financings may be used to pay distributions, to provide working capital, to refinance existing indebtedness or to finance acquisitions and expansions of existing or new properties. For further information regarding our financing sources and activities, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Our Investment and Financing Liquidity and Capital Resources” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Although there are no limitations in our organizational documents on the amount of indebtedness we may incur, our
$1.0 billion
unsecured revolving credit facility, our unsecured term loan and our unsecured senior notes indentures and their supplements contain financial covenants which, among other things, restrict our ability to incur indebtedness and require us to maintain certain financial ratios. However, we may seek to amend these covenants or seek replacement financings with less restrictive covenants. In the future, we may decide to seek changes in the financial covenants which currently restrict our debt leverage based upon then current economic conditions, the relative availability and costs of debt versus equity capital and our need for capital to take advantage of acquisition opportunities or otherwise.
Generally, we intend to manage our leverage in a way that may allow us to maintain “investment grade” ratings from nationally recognized debt rating organizations; however, we cannot be sure that we will be able to maintain our investment grade ratings.
Our Board of Trustees may change our financing policies at any time without a vote of, or notice to, our shareholders.
OTHER INFORMATION
Our
Manager.
RMR Inc. is a holding company and substantially all of its business is conducted by its majority owned subsidiary, The RMR Group LLC, or RMR LLC, a Maryland limited liability company. One of our Managing Trustees, Adam D. Portnoy, is the sole trustee of ABP Trust, is the controlling shareholder of RMR Inc. and is a managing director and the president and chief executive officer of RMR Inc. and an officer and employee of RMR LLC. John G. Murray, our other Managing Trustee and our President and Chief Executive Officer, is also an officer and employee of RMR LLC. Our day to day operations are conducted by RMR LLC. RMR LLC originates and presents investment and divestment opportunities to our Board of Trustees and provides management and administrative services to us. RMR LLC has a principal place of business at Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458-1634, and its telephone number is (617) 796-8390. RMR LLC or its subsidiaries also acts as the manager to Industrial Logistics Properties Trust, or ILPT, Office Properties Income Trust, or OPI, Senior Housing Properties Trust, or SNH, and Tremont Mortgage Trust, or TRMT, and provides management and other services to other private and public companies, including Five Star Senior Living Inc., or Five Star, TA and Sonesta. As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the executive officers of RMR LLC are: Adam Portnoy, President and Chief Executive Officer; David M. Blackman, Executive Vice President; Jennifer B. Clark, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary; Matthew P. Jordan, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; John G. Murray, Executive Vice President; and Andrew J. Rebholz, Executive Vice President. Our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Brian E. Donley, is a Vice President of RMR LLC, and our Senior Vice President, Ethan S. Bornstein, is a Senior Vice President of RMR LLC. Messrs. Murray and Donley and other officers of RMR LLC also serve as officers of other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provides management services.
Employees.
We have no employees. Services which would otherwise be provided to us by employees are provided by RMR LLC and by our Managing Trustees and officers. As of
December 31, 2018
, RMR LLC had more than 600 full time employees in its headquarters and regional offices located throughout the United States.
Competition.
The hotel industry is highly competitive. Generally our hotels are located in areas that include other hotels. Our hotels compete for customers based on brand affiliation, reputation, location, pricing, amenities and the ability to earn reward program points and other competitive factors. Increases in the number of hotels in a particular area could have a
material adverse effect on the occupancy and daily room rates at our hotels located in that area. Agreements with the operators of our hotels sometimes restrict the right of each operator and its affiliates for periods of time to own, build, operate, franchise or manage other hotels of the same brand within various specified areas around our hotels. Under these agreements, neither the operators nor their affiliates are usually restricted from operating other brands of hotels in the market areas of any of our hotels, and after such period of time, the operators and their affiliates may also compete with our hotels by opening, managing or franchising additional hotels under the same brand name in direct competition with our hotels. We also face competition from alternative lodging options such as cruise ships, timeshares, vacation rentals or sharing services such as Airbnb, in our markets.
The travel center and truck stop industry is highly competitive. Although there are approximately 7,000 travel centers and truck stops in the U.S., we understand TA believes that large, long haul trucking fleets tend to purchase the large majority of their fuel at the travel centers and truck stops that are located at or near interstate highway exits and from TA and their largest competitors. Long haul truck drivers can obtain fuel and non-fuel products and services from a variety of sources, including regional full service travel centers and fuel only truck stop chains, independently owned and operated truck stops, some large gas stations and trucking company terminals that provide fuel and services to their own trucking fleets. In addition, our travel centers compete with other truck repair and maintenance facilities, full and quick service restaurants and travel stores, and could face additional competition from state owned interstate highway rest areas, if they are commercialized. The largest competitors of our travel centers are travel centers owned by Pilot Flying J Inc. and Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores, which we believe represent a majority of the market for fuel sales to long haul trucking fleets. Competitive pressure from Pilot Flying J Inc. and Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores, especially for large trucking fleets and long haul trucking fleets, could negatively impact TA’s ability to pay rents due to us.
We expect to compete for property acquisition and financing opportunities with entities which may have substantially greater financial resources than us, including, without limitation, other REITs, operating companies in the hospitality industry, banks, insurance companies, pension plans and public and private partnerships. These entities may be able to accept more risk than we can prudently manage, including risks with respect to the creditworthiness of property operators and the extent of leverage used in their capital structure. Such competition may reduce the number of suitable property acquisition or financing opportunities available to us or increase the bargaining power of property owners seeking to sell or finance their properties.
Environmental and Climate Change Matters.
Ownership of real estate is subject to risks associated with environmental hazards. Under various laws, owners as well as tenants and managers of real estate may be required to investigate and clean up or remove hazardous substances present at or migrating from properties they own, lease or manage and may be held liable for property damage or personal injuries that result from hazardous substances. These laws also expose us to the possibility that we may become liable to government agencies or third parties for costs and damages they incur in connection with hazardous substances. In addition, these laws also impose various requirements regarding the operation and maintenance of properties and recordkeeping and reporting requirements relating to environmental matters that require us or the operators of our properties to incur costs to comply with.
Our travel centers include fueling areas, truck repair and maintenance facilities and tanks for the storage of petroleum products and other hazardous substances, all of which create a potential for environmental contamination. We review environmental surveys of the properties we acquire prior to their purchase. Based upon those surveys, other studies we may have reviewed and our understanding of the operations of these properties by our managers and tenants, we do not believe that there are environmental conditions at any of our properties that have had or will have a material adverse effect on us. Under the terms of our management agreements and leases, our tenants and managers have agreed to indemnify us from all environmental liabilities we incur arising during the term of the agreements.
In addition, we believe that some of our properties may contain asbestos. We believe any asbestos on our properties is contained in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, and we have no current plans to remove it. If we remove the asbestos or renovate or demolish the affected properties, certain environmental regulations govern the manner in which the asbestos must be handled and removed, and we could incur substantial costs complying with such regulations.
We cannot be sure that conditions are not present at our properties or that costs we may be required to incur in the future to remediate contamination will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Moreover, our tenants and managers may not have sufficient resources to pay environmental liabilities.
When major weather or climate-related events, such as hurricanes, floods or wildfires, occur near our hotels or travel centers, our manager or tenant may need to suspend operations of the impacted property until the event has ended and the property is then ready for operation. We or the operators of our properties may incur significant costs and losses as result of these activities, both in terms of operating, preparing and repairing our hotels and travel centers in anticipation of, during and after a severe weather or climate-related event and in terms of potential lost business due to the interruption in operating our
properties. Our insurance and our managers’ and tenants’ insurance may not adequately compensate us or them for these costs and losses.
Concerns about climate change have resulted in various treaties, laws and regulations that are intended to limit carbon emissions and address other environmental concerns. These and other laws may cause energy or other costs at our hotel and travel center properties to increase. We do not expect the direct impact of these increases to be material to our results of operations, because the increased costs either would be the responsibility of our tenants or managers directly or in the longer term, passed through and paid by customers of our properties. Although we do not believe it is likely in the foreseeable future, laws enacted to mitigate climate change may make some of our buildings obsolete or cause us to make material investments in our properties, which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition or the financial condition of our tenants or managers and their ability to pay rent or returns to us. For more information regarding climate change and other environmental matters and their possible adverse impact on us, see “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—Ownership of real estate is subject to environmental risks and liabilities,” “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—Ownership of real estate is subject to risks from adverse weather and climate events” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Impact of Climate Change”.
We are environmentally conscious and aware of the impact our properties have on the environment. We and our tenants and managers have implemented numerous initiatives to encourage recycling of plastics, paper and metal or glass containers; our tenants and managers have programs to encourage reduced water and energy use at a guest’s option by not laundering towels and linens every day. When we renovate our hotels we generally use energy efficient products including but not limited to lighting, windows and HVAC equipment and many of the appliances in our extended stay hotels are Energy Star rated. We or our tenants or managers have also installed car battery charging stations at some hotels and travel centers in our portfolio to accommodate environmentally aware customers.
Insurance.
We generally have insurance coverage for our properties and the operations conducted on them, including for casualty, liability, fire, extended coverage and rental or business interruption losses. Either we purchase the insurance ourselves and our managers or tenants are required to reimburse us, or our managers or tenants buy the insurance directly and are required to list us as an insured party. We participate with RMR LLC and other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provides management services in a combined property insurance program through Affiliates Insurance Company, or AIC, and with respect to which AIC is an insurer or a reinsurer of certain coverage amounts. For more information, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Related Person Transactions” and Note 10 to our consolidated financial statements in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Internet Website.
Our internet website address is www.hptreit.com. Copies of our governance guidelines, our code of business conduct and ethics, or our Code of Conduct, and the charters of our audit, compensation and nominating and governance committees are posted on our website and also may be obtained free of charge by writing to our Secretary, Hospitality Properties Trust, Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, MA 02458-1634 or at our website. We also have a policy outlining procedures for handling concerns or complaints about accounting, internal accounting controls or auditing matters and a governance hotline accessible on our website that shareholders can use to report concerns or complaints about accounting, internal accounting controls or auditing matters or violations or possible violations of our Code of Conduct. We make available, free of charge, on our website, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after these forms are filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC. Security holders may send communications to our Board of Trustees or individual Trustees by writing to the party for whom the communication is intended at c/o Secretary, Hospitality Properties Trust, Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458-1634 or email secretary@hptreit.com. Our website address is included several times in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as a textual reference only and the information in our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Segment Information.
As of
December 31, 2018
, we had two operating segments: hotel investments and travel center investments. For more information, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements included in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
MATERIAL UNITED STATES FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS
The following summary of material United States federal income tax considerations is based on existing law, and is limited to investors who own our shares as investment assets rather than as inventory or as property used in a trade or business.
The summary does not discuss all of the particular tax considerations that might be relevant to you if you are subject to special rules under federal income tax law, for example if you are:
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a bank, insurance company or other financial institution;
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a regulated investment company or REIT;
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a subchapter S corporation;
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a broker, dealer or trader in securities or foreign currencies;
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a person who marks-to-market our shares for U.S. federal income tax purposes;
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a U.S. shareholder (as defined below) that has a functional currency other than the U.S. dollar;
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a person who acquires or owns our shares in connection with employment or other performance of services;
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a person subject to alternative minimum tax;
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a person who acquires or owns our shares as part of a straddle, hedging transaction, constructive sale transaction, constructive ownership transaction or conversion transaction, or as part of a “synthetic security” or other integrated financial transaction;
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a person who owns 10% or more (by vote or value, directly or constructively under the IRC) of any class of our shares;
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a non-U.S. shareholder (as defined below) whose investment in our shares is effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business in the United States;
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a nonresident alien individual present in the United States for 183 days or more during an applicable taxable year;
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a “qualified shareholder” (as defined in Section 897(k)(3)(A) of the IRC);
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a “qualified foreign pension fund” (as defined in Section 897(l)(2) of the IRC) or any entity wholly owned by one or more qualified foreign pension funds;
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a person subject to special tax accounting rules as a result of their use of applicable financial statements (within the meaning of Section 451(b)(3) of the IRC); or
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except as specifically described in the following summary, a trust, estate, tax-exempt entity or foreign person.
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The sections of the IRC that govern the federal income tax qualification and treatment of a REIT and its shareholders are complex. This presentation is a summary of applicable IRC provisions, related rules and regulations, and administrative and judicial interpretations, all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect. Future legislative, judicial or administrative actions or decisions could also affect the accuracy of statements made in this summary. We have not received a ruling from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, or the IRS, with respect to any matter described in this summary, and we cannot be sure that the IRS or a court will agree with all of the statements made in this summary. The IRS could, for example, take a different position from that described in this summary with respect to our acquisitions, operations, valuations, restructurings or other matters, which, if a court agreed, could result in significant tax liabilities for applicable parties. In addition, this summary is not exhaustive of all possible tax considerations, and does not discuss any estate, gift, state, local or foreign tax considerations. For all these reasons, we urge you and any holder of or prospective acquiror of our shares to consult with a tax advisor about the federal income tax and other tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our shares. Our intentions and beliefs described in this summary are based upon our understanding of applicable laws and regulations that are in effect as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. If new laws or regulations are enacted which impact us directly or indirectly, we may change our intentions or beliefs.
Your federal income tax consequences generally will differ depending on whether or not you are a “U.S. shareholder.” For purposes of this summary, a “U.S. shareholder” is a beneficial owner of our shares that is:
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an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States, including an alien individual who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States or meets the substantial presence residency test under the federal income tax laws;
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an entity treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes that is created or organized in or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia;
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an estate the income of which is subject to federal income taxation regardless of its source; or
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a trust if a court within the United States is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust and one or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust, or, to the extent provided in Treasury regulations, a trust in existence on August 20, 1996 that has elected to be treated as a domestic trust;
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whose status as a U.S. shareholder is not overridden by an applicable tax treaty. Conversely, a “non-U.S. shareholder” is a beneficial owner of our shares that is not an entity (or other arrangement) treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes and is not a U.S. shareholder.
If any entity (or other arrangement) treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes holds our shares, the tax treatment of a partner in the partnership generally will depend upon the tax status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. Any entity (or other arrangement) treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes that is a holder of our shares and the partners in such a partnership (as determined for federal income tax purposes) are urged to consult their own tax advisors about the federal income tax consequences and other tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our shares.
Taxation as a REIT
We have elected to be taxed as a REIT under Sections 856 through 860 of the IRC, commencing with our 1995 taxable year. Our REIT election, assuming continuing compliance with the then applicable qualification tests, has continued and will continue in effect for subsequent taxable years. Although we cannot be sure, we believe that from and after our 1995 taxable year we have been organized and have operated, and will continue to be organized and to operate, in a manner that qualified us and will continue to qualify us to be taxed as a REIT under the IRC.
As a REIT, we generally are not subject to federal income tax on our net income distributed as dividends to our shareholders. Distributions to our shareholders generally are included in our shareholders’ income as dividends to the extent of our available current or accumulated earnings and profits. Our dividends are not generally entitled to the preferential tax rates on qualified dividend income, but a portion of our dividends may be treated as capital gain dividends or as qualified dividend income, all as explained below. In addition, for taxable years beginning after 2017 and before 2026 and pursuant to the deduction-without-outlay mechanism of Section 199A of the IRC, our noncorporate U.S. shareholders are generally eligible for lower
effective tax rates on our dividends that are not treated as capital gain dividends or as qualified dividend income. No portion of any of our dividends is eligible for the dividends received deduction for corporate shareholders. Distributions in excess of our current or accumulated earnings and profits generally are treated for federal income tax purposes as returns of capital to the extent of a recipient shareholder’s basis in our shares, and will reduce this basis. Our current or accumulated earnings and profits are generally allocated first to distributions made on our preferred shares, of which there are none outstanding at this time, and thereafter to distributions made on our common shares. For all these purposes, our distributions
include cash distributions, any in kind distributions of property that we might make, and deemed or constructive distributions resulting from capital market activities (such as some redemptions), as described below.
Our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, is of the opinion that we have been organized and have qualified for taxation as a REIT under the IRC for our 1995 through 2018 taxable years, and that our current and anticipated investments and plan of operation will enable us to continue to meet the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the IRC. Our counsel’s opinions are conditioned upon the assumption that our leases, our declaration of trust,
and all other legal documents to which we have been or are a party have been and will be complied with by all parties to those documents, upon the accuracy and completeness of the factual matters described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and upon representations made by us to our counsel as to certain factual matters relating to our organization and operations and our expected manner of operation. If this assumption or a description or representation is inaccurate or incomplete, our counsel’s opinions may be adversely affected and may not be relied upon. The opinions of our counsel are based upon the law as it exists today, but the law may change in the future, possibly with retroactive effect. Given the highly complex nature of the rules governing REITs, the ongoing importance of factual determinations, and the possibility of future changes in our circumstances, neither Sullivan & Worcester LLP nor we can be sure that we will qualify as or be taxed as a REIT for any particular year. Any opinion of Sullivan & Worcester LLP as to our qualification or taxation as a REIT will be expressed as of the date issued. Our counsel will have no obligation to advise us or our shareholders of any subsequent change in the matters stated, represented or assumed, or of any subsequent change in the applicable law. Also, the opinions of our counsel are not binding on either the IRS or a court, and either could take a position different from that expressed by our counsel.
Our continued qualification and taxation as a REIT will depend upon our compliance with various qualification tests imposed under the IRC and summarized below. While we believe that we have satisfied and will satisfy these tests, our counsel does not review compliance with these tests on a continuing basis. If we fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT in any year, we
will be subject to federal income taxation as if we were a corporation taxed under subchapter C of the IRC, or a C corporation, and our shareholders will be taxed like shareholders of regular C corporations, meaning that federal income tax generally will be applied at both the corporate and shareholder levels. In this event, we could be subject to significant tax liabilities, and the amount of cash available for distribution to our shareholders could be reduced or eliminated.
If we continue to qualify for taxation as a REIT and meet the tests described below, we generally will not pay federal income tax on amounts we distribute to our shareholders. However, even if we continue to qualify for taxation as a REIT, we may still be subject to federal tax in the following circumstances, as described below:
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We will be taxed at regular corporate income tax rates on any undistributed “real estate investment trust taxable income,” determined by including our undistributed ordinary income and net capital gains, if any.
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If we have net income from the disposition of “foreclosure property,” as described in Section 856(e) of the IRC, that is held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business or other nonqualifying income from foreclosure property, we will be subject to tax on this income at the highest regular corporate income tax rate.
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If we have net income from “prohibited transactions”—that is, dispositions at a gain of inventory or property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business other than dispositions of foreclosure property and other than dispositions excepted by statutory safe harbors—we will be subject to tax on this income at a 100% rate.
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If we fail to satisfy the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test discussed below, due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect, but nonetheless maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT because of specified cure provisions, we will be subject to tax at a 100% rate on the greater of the amount by which we fail the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test, with adjustments, multiplied by a fraction intended to reflect our profitability for the taxable year.
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If we fail to satisfy any of the REIT asset tests described below (other than a de minimis failure of the 5% or 10% asset tests) due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect, but nonetheless maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT because of specified cure provisions, we will be subject to a tax equal to the greater of $50,000 or the highest regular corporate income tax rate multiplied by the net income generated by the nonqualifying assets that caused us to fail the test.
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If we fail to satisfy any provision of the IRC that would result in our failure to qualify for taxation as a REIT (other than violations of the REIT gross income tests or violations of the REIT asset tests described below) due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect, we may retain our qualification for taxation as a REIT but will be subject to a penalty of $50,000 for each failure.
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If we fail to distribute for any calendar year at least the sum of 85% of our REIT ordinary income for that year, 95% of our REIT capital gain net income for that year and any undistributed taxable income from prior periods, we will be subject to a 4% nondeductible excise tax on the excess of the required distribution over the amounts actually distributed.
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If we acquire a REIT asset where our adjusted tax basis in the asset is determined by reference to the adjusted tax basis of the asset in the hands of a C corporation, under specified circumstances we may be subject to federal income taxation on all or part of the built-in gain (calculated as of the date the property ceased being owned by the C corporation) on such asset. We generally have not sold and do not expect to sell assets if doing so would result in the imposition of a material built-in gains tax liability; but if and when we do sell assets that may have associated built-in gains tax exposure, then we expect to make appropriate provision for the associated tax liabilities on our financial statements.
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If we acquire a corporation in a transaction where we succeed to its tax attributes, to preserve our qualification for taxation as a REIT we must generally distribute all of the C corporation earnings and profits inherited in that acquisition, if any, no later than the end of our taxable year in which the acquisition occurs. However, if we fail to do so, relief provisions would allow us to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT provided we distribute any subsequently discovered C corporation earnings and profits and pay an interest charge in respect of the period of delayed distribution.
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Our subsidiaries that are C corporations, including our TRSs, generally will be required to pay federal corporate income tax on their earnings, and a 100% tax may be imposed on any transaction between us and one of our TRSs that does not reflect arm’s length terms.
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Other countries (and, for this purpose, Puerto Rico is best thought of as a separate country) may impose taxes on our and our subsidiaries’ assets and operations within their jurisdictions. As a REIT, neither we nor our shareholders are expected to benefit from foreign tax credits arising from those taxes.
If we fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT in any year, then we will be subject to federal income tax in the same manner as a regular C corporation. Further, as a regular C corporation, distributions to our shareholders will not be deductible by us, nor will distributions be required under the IRC. Also, to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits, all distributions to our shareholders will generally be taxable as ordinary dividends potentially eligible for the preferential tax rates discussed below under the heading “—Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders” and, subject to limitations in the IRC, will be potentially eligible for the dividends received deduction for corporate shareholders. Finally, we will generally be disqualified from taxation as a REIT for the four taxable years following the taxable year in which the termination of our REIT status is effective. Our failure to qualify for taxation as a REIT for even one year could result in us reducing or eliminating distributions to our shareholders, or in us incurring substantial indebtedness or liquidating substantial investments in order to pay the resulting corporate-level income taxes. Relief provisions under the IRC may allow us to continue to qualify for taxation as a REIT even if we fail to comply with various REIT requirements, all as discussed in more detail below. However, it is impossible to state whether in any particular circumstance we would be entitled to the benefit of these relief provisions.
REIT Qualification Requirements
General Requirements.
Section 856(a) of the IRC defines a REIT as a corporation, trust or association:
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that is managed by one or more trustees or directors;
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the beneficial ownership of which is evidenced by transferable shares or by transferable certificates of beneficial interest;
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that would be taxable, but for Sections 856 through 859 of the IRC, as a domestic C corporation;
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that is not a financial institution or an insurance company subject to special provisions of the IRC;
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the beneficial ownership of which is held by 100 or more persons;
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that is not “closely held,” meaning that during the last half of each taxable year, not more than 50% in value of the outstanding shares are owned, directly or indirectly, by five or fewer “individuals” (as defined in the IRC to include specified tax-exempt entities); and
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that meets other tests regarding the nature of its income and assets and the amount of its distributions, all as described below.
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Section 856(b) of the IRC provides that conditions (1) through (4) 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. Although we cannot be sure, we believe that we have met conditions (1) through (7) during each of the requisite periods ending on or before the close of our most recently completed taxable year, and that we will continue to meet these conditions in our current and future taxable years.
To help comply with condition (6), our declaration of trust and bylaws restrict transfers of our shares that would otherwise result in concentrated ownership positions. 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 condition (6). If we comply with applicable Treasury regulations to ascertain the ownership of our outstanding shares and do not know, or by exercising reasonable diligence would not have known, that we failed condition (6), then we will be treated as having met condition (6). Accordingly, we have complied and will continue to comply with these regulations, including by requesting annually from holders of significant percentages of our shares information regarding the ownership of our shares. Under our declaration of trust and bylaws, our shareholders are required to respond to these requests for information. A shareholder that fails or refuses to comply with the request is required by Treasury regulations to submit a statement with its federal income tax return disclosing its actual ownership of our shares and other information.
For purposes of condition (6), an “individual” generally includes a natural person, 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 does not include a qualified pension plan or profit-sharing trust. As a result, REIT shares owned by an entity that
is not an “individual” are considered to be owned by the direct and indirect owners of the entity that are individuals (as so defined), rather than to be owned by the entity itself. Similarly, REIT shares held by a qualified pension plan or profit-sharing trust are treated as held directly by the individual beneficiaries in proportion to their actuarial interests in such plan or trust. Consequently, five or fewer such trusts could own more than 50% of the interests in an entity without jeopardizing that entity’s qualification for taxation as a REIT.
The IRC provides that we will not automatically fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT if we do not meet conditions (1) through (6), provided we can establish that such failure was due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect. Each such excused failure will result in the imposition of a $50,000 penalty instead of REIT disqualification. This relief provision may apply to a failure of the applicable conditions even if the failure first occurred in a year prior to the taxable year in which the failure was discovered.
Our Wholly Owned Subsidiaries and Our Investments Through Partnerships.
Except in respect of a TRS as discussed below, Section 856(i) of the IRC provides that any corporation, 100% of whose stock is held by a REIT and its disregarded subsidiaries, is a qualified REIT subsidiary and shall not be treated as a separate corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The assets, liabilities and items of income, deduction and credit of a qualified REIT subsidiary are treated as the REIT’s. We believe that each of our direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, other than the TRSs discussed below (and entities owned in whole or in part by the TRSs), will be either a qualified REIT subsidiary within the meaning of Section 856(i)(2) of the IRC or a noncorporate entity that for federal income tax purposes is not treated as separate from its owner under Treasury regulations issued under Section 7701 of the IRC, each such entity referred to as a QRS. Thus, in applying all of the REIT qualification requirements described in this summary, all assets, liabilities and items of income, deduction and credit of our QRSs are treated as ours, and our investment in the stock and other securities of such QRSs will be disregarded.
We have invested and may in the future invest in real estate through one or more entities that are treated as partnerships for federal income tax purposes. In the case of a REIT that is a partner in a partnership, Treasury regulations under the IRC provide that, for purposes of the REIT qualification requirements regarding income and assets described below, the REIT is generally deemed to own its proportionate share, based on respective capital interests, of the income and assets of the partnership (except that for purposes of the 10% value test, described below, the REIT’s proportionate share of the partnership’s assets is based on its proportionate interest in the equity and specified debt securities issued by the partnership). In addition, for these purposes, the character of the assets and items of gross income of the partnership generally remains the same in the hands of the REIT. In contrast, for purposes of the distribution requirements discussed below, we must
take into account as a partner our share of the partnership’s income as determined under the general federal income tax rules governing partners and partnerships under Subchapter K of the IRC.
Subsidiary REITs.
We may in the future form or acquire an entity that is intended to qualify for taxation as a REIT, and we expect that any such subsidiary would so qualify at all times during which we intend for its REIT election to remain in effect. When a subsidiary qualifies for taxation as a REIT separate and apart from its REIT parent, the subsidiary’s shares are qualifying real estate assets for purposes of the REIT parent’s 75% asset test described below. However, failure of the subsidiary to separately satisfy the various REIT qualification requirements described in this summary or that are otherwise applicable (and failure to qualify for the applicable relief provisions) would generally result in (a) the subsidiary being subject to regular U.S. corporate income tax, as described above, and (b) the REIT parent’s ownership in the subsidiary (i) ceasing to be qualifying real estate assets for purposes of the 75% asset test, (ii) becoming subject to the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test and the 10% value test generally applicable to a REIT’s ownership in corporations other than REITs and TRSs, and (iii) thereby jeopardizing the REIT parent’s own REIT qualification and taxation on account of the subsidiary’s failure cascading up to the REIT parent, all as described under “—Asset Tests” below. We may make protective TRS elections with respect to any subsidiary REIT that we form or acquire and may implement other protective arrangements intended to avoid a cascading REIT failure if any of our subsidiary REITs were not to qualify for taxation as a REIT, but we cannot be sure that such protective elections and other arrangements will be effective to avoid or mitigate the resulting adverse consequences to us.
Taxable REIT Subsidiaries.
As a REIT, we are permitted to own any or all of the securities of a TRS, provided that no more than 20% of the total value of our assets, at the close of each quarter, is comprised of our investments in the stock or other securities of our TRSs. Very generally, a TRS is a subsidiary corporation other than a REIT in which a REIT directly or indirectly holds stock and that has made a joint election with its affiliated REIT to be treated as a TRS. Our ownership of stock and other securities in our TRSs is exempt from the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test and the 10% value test discussed below. Among other requirements, a TRS of ours must:
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(1)
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not directly or indirectly operate or manage a lodging facility or a health care facility; and
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(2)
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not directly or indirectly provide to any person, under a franchise, license or otherwise, rights to any brand name under which any lodging facility or health care facility is operated, except that in limited circumstances a subfranchise, sublicense or similar right can be granted to an independent contractor to operate or manage a lodging facility or a health care facility.
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In addition, any corporation (other than a REIT) in which a TRS directly or indirectly owns more than 35% of the voting power or value of the outstanding securities is automatically a TRS. Subject to the discussion below, we believe that we and each of our TRSs have complied with, and will continue to comply with, the requirements for TRS status at all times during which we intend for the subsidiary’s TRS election to be in effect, and we believe that the same will be true for any TRS that we later form or acquire.
We acquired in the second quarter of 2015, and currently own, an ownership position in RMR Inc. that is in excess of 10% of RMR Inc.’s outstanding securities by vote or value. Accordingly, we elected to treat RMR Inc. as a TRS effective as of June 5, 2015. RMR Inc., through its principal subsidiary, RMR LLC, has provided and continues to provide business and property management and other services to us and to other public and private companies, including other public REITs. Among these clients were and are operators of lodging facilities, operators of health care facilities, and owners of such facilities. Our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, has provided to us an opinion that the activities proscribed to TRSs under Section 856(l)(3) of the IRC relating to operating or managing lodging facilities or health care facilities should include only regular onsite services or day-to-day operational activities at or for lodging facilities or health care facilities. To the best of our knowledge, neither RMR Inc. nor RMR LLC has been or is involved in proscribed activities at or for lodging facilities or health care facilities. Thus, we do not believe that Section 856(l)(3) of the IRC precluded or precludes RMR Inc. from being treated as our TRS. If the IRS or a court determines, contrary to the opinion of our counsel, that RMR Inc. was or is precluded from being treated as our TRS, then our ownership position in RMR Inc. in excess of 10% of RMR Inc.’s outstanding securities by vote or value, except to the extent and for the period that such ownership qualified as a “temporary investment of new capital” under Section 856(c)(5)(B) of the IRC, would have been and would be in violation of the applicable REIT asset tests described below. Under those circumstances, however, we expect that we would qualify for the REIT asset tests’ relief provision described below, and thereby would preserve our qualification for taxation as a REIT. If the relief provision below were to apply to us, we would be subject to tax at the highest regular corporate income tax rate on the net income generated by our investment in RMR Inc. in excess of a 10% ownership position in that company.
As discussed below, TRSs can perform services for our tenants without disqualifying the rents we receive from those tenants under the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test discussed below. Moreover, because our TRSs are taxed as C corporations that are separate from us, their assets, liabilities and items of income, deduction and credit generally are not imputed to us for purposes of the REIT qualification requirements described in this summary. Therefore, our TRSs may generally conduct activities that would be treated as prohibited transactions or would give rise to nonqualified income if conducted by us directly. Additionally, while a REIT is generally limited in its ability to earn qualifying rental income from a TRS, a REIT can earn qualifying rental income from the lease of a qualified lodging facility to a TRS if an eligible independent contractor operates the facility, as discussed more fully below.
As regular C corporations, TRSs may generally utilize net operating losses and other tax attribute carryforwards to reduce or otherwise eliminate federal income tax liability in a given taxable year. Net operating losses and other carryforwards are subject to limitations, however, including limitations imposed under Section 382 of the IRC following an “ownership change” (as defined in applicable Treasury regulations) and a limitation providing that carryforwards of net operating losses arising in taxable years beginning after 2017 generally cannot offset more than 80% of the current year’s taxable income. Moreover, net operating losses arising in taxable years beginning after 2017 may not be carried back, but may be carried forward indefinitely. As a result, we cannot be sure that our TRSs will be able to utilize, in full or in part, any net operating losses or other carryforwards that they have generated or may generate in the future.
Restrictions and sanctions are imposed on TRSs and their affiliated REITs to ensure that the TRSs will be subject to an appropriate level of federal income taxation. For example, if a TRS pays interest, rent or other amounts to its affiliated REIT in an amount that exceeds what an unrelated third party would have paid in an arm’s length transaction, then the REIT generally will be subject to an excise tax equal to 100% of the excessive portion of the payment. Further, if in comparison to an arm’s length transaction, a third-party tenant has overpaid rent to the REIT in exchange for underpaying the TRS for services rendered, and if the REIT has not adequately compensated the TRS for services provided to or on behalf of the third-party tenant, then the REIT may be subject to an excise tax equal to 100% of the undercompensation to the TRS. A safe harbor exception to this excise tax applies if the TRS has been compensated at a rate at least equal to 150% of its direct cost in furnishing or rendering the service. Finally, beginning with our 2016 taxable year, the 100% excise tax also applies to the underpricing of services provided by one of our TRSs to us in contexts where the services are unrelated to services for our tenants. We cannot be sure that arrangements involving our TRSs will not result in the imposition of one or more of these restrictions or sanctions, but we do not believe that we or our TRSs are or will be subject to these impositions.
Income Tests.
We must satisfy two gross income tests annually to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT. First, at least 75% of our gross income for each taxable year must be derived from investments relating to real property, including “rents from real property” within the meaning of Section 856(d) of the IRC, interest and gain from mortgages on real property or on interests in real property, income and gain from foreclosure property, gain from the sale or other disposition of real property (including specified ancillary personal property treated as real property under the IRC), or dividends on and gain from the sale or disposition of shares in other REITs (but excluding in all cases any gains subject to the 100% tax on prohibited transactions). When we receive new capital in exchange for our shares or in a public offering of our five-year or longer debt instruments, income attributable to the temporary investment of this new capital in stock or a debt instrument, if received or accrued within one year of our receipt of the new capital, is generally also qualifying income under the 75% gross income test. Second, at least 95% of our gross income for each taxable year must consist of income that is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test, other types of interest and dividends, gain from the sale or disposition of shares or securities, or any combination of these. Gross income from our sale of property that we hold primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business, income and gain from specified “hedging transactions” that are clearly and timely identified as such, and income from the repurchase or discharge of indebtedness is excluded from both the numerator and the denominator in both gross income tests. In addition, specified foreign currency gains will be excluded from gross income for purposes of one or both of the gross income tests.
Although we will use our best efforts to ensure that the income generated by our investments will be of a type that satisfies both the 75% and 95% gross income tests, we cannot be sure that we will be successful in this regard.
In order to qualify as “rents from real property” within the meaning of Section 856(d) of the IRC, several requirements must be met:
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The amount of rent received generally must not be based on the income or profits of any person, but may be based on a fixed percentage or percentages of receipts or sales.
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Rents do not qualify if the REIT owns 10% or more by vote or value of stock of the tenant (or 10% or more of the interests in the assets or net profits of the tenant, if the tenant is not a corporation), whether directly or after application of attribution rules. We generally do not intend to lease property to any party if rents from that property would not qualify as “rents from real property,” but application of the 10% ownership rule is dependent upon complex attribution rules and circumstances that may be beyond our control. In this regard, we already own close to, but less than, 10% of the outstanding common shares of TA, and TA has undertaken to limit its redemptions and repurchases of outstanding common shares so that we do not come to own 10% or more of its outstanding common shares. Our declaration of trust and bylaws generally disallow transfers or purported acquisitions, directly or by attribution, of our shares to the extent necessary to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC. Nevertheless, we cannot be sure that these restrictions will be effective to prevent our qualification for taxation as a REIT from being jeopardized under the 10% affiliated tenant rule. Furthermore, we cannot be sure that we will be able to monitor and enforce these restrictions, nor will our shareholders necessarily be aware of ownership of our shares attributed to them under the IRC’s attribution rules.
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There is a limited exception to the above prohibition on earning “rents from real property” from a 10% affiliated tenant where the tenant is a TRS. If at least 90% of the leased space of a property is leased to tenants other than TRSs and 10% affiliated tenants, and if the TRS’s rent to the REIT for space at that property is substantially comparable to the rents paid by nonaffiliated tenants for comparable space at the property, then otherwise qualifying rents paid by the TRS to the REIT will not be disqualified on account of the rule prohibiting 10% affiliated tenants.
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There is an additional exception to the above prohibition on earning “rents from real property” from a 10% affiliated tenant. For this additional exception to apply, a real property interest in a “qualified lodging facility” must be leased by the REIT to its TRS, and the facility must be operated on behalf of the TRS by a person who is an “eligible independent contractor,” all as described in Sections 856(d)(8)-(9) of the IRC. As described below, we believe our leases with our TRSs have satisfied and will continue to satisfy these requirements.
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In order for rents to qualify, we generally must not manage the property or furnish or render services to the tenants of the property, except through an independent contractor from whom we derive no income or through one of our TRSs. There is an exception to this rule permitting a REIT to perform customary management and tenant services of the sort that a tax-exempt organization could perform without being considered in receipt of “unrelated business taxable income” as defined in Section 512(b)(3) of the IRC, or UBTI. In addition, a de minimis amount of noncustomary services will not disqualify income as “rents from real property” as long as the value of the impermissible tenant services does not exceed 1% of the gross income from the property.
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If rent attributable to personal property leased in connection with a lease of real property is 15% or less of the total rent received under the lease, then the rent attributable to personal property will qualify as “rents from real property”; if this 15% threshold is exceeded, the rent attributable to personal property will not so qualify. The portion of rental income treated as attributable to personal property is determined according to the ratio of the fair market value of the personal property to the total fair market value of the real and personal property that is rented.
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In addition, “rents from real property” includes both charges we receive for services customarily rendered in connection with the rental of comparable real property in the same geographic area, even if the charges are separately stated, as well as charges we receive for services provided by our TRSs when the charges are not separately stated. Whether separately stated charges received by a REIT for services that are not geographically customary and provided by a TRS are included in “rents from real property” has not been addressed clearly by the IRS in published authorities; however, our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, is of the opinion that, although the matter is not free from doubt, “rents from real property” also includes charges we receive for services provided by our TRSs when the charges are separately stated, even if the services are not geographically customary. Accordingly, we believe that our revenues from TRS-provided services, whether the charges are separately stated or not, qualify as “rents from real property” because the services satisfy the geographically customary standard, because the services have been provided by a TRS, or for both reasons.
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We believe that all or substantially all of our rents and related service charges have qualified and will continue to qualify as “rents from real property” for purposes of Section 856 of the IRC.
Absent the “foreclosure property” rules of Section 856(e) of the IRC, a REIT’s receipt of active, nonrental gross income from a property would not qualify under the 75% and 95% gross income tests. But as foreclosure property, the active, nonrental gross income from the property would so qualify. Foreclosure property is generally any real property, including interests in real property, and any personal property incident to such real property:
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that is acquired by a REIT as a result of the REIT having bid on such property at foreclosure, or having otherwise reduced such property to ownership or possession by agreement or process of law, after there was a default or when default was imminent on a lease of such property or on indebtedness that such property secured;
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for which any related loan acquired by the REIT was acquired at a time when the default was not imminent or anticipated; and
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for which the REIT makes a proper election to treat the property as foreclosure property.
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Any gain that a REIT recognizes on the sale of foreclosure property held as inventory or primarily for sale to customers, plus any income it receives from foreclosure property that would not otherwise qualify under the 75% gross income test in the absence of foreclosure property treatment, reduced by expenses directly connected with the production of those items of income, would be subject to income tax at the highest regular corporate income tax rate under the foreclosure property income tax rules of Section 857(b)(4) of the IRC. Thus, if a REIT should lease foreclosure property in exchange for rent that qualifies as “rents from real property” as described above, then that rental income is not subject to the foreclosure property income tax.
Property generally ceases to be foreclosure property at the end of the third taxable year following the taxable year in which the REIT acquired the property, or longer if an extension is obtained from the IRS. However, this grace period terminates and foreclosure property ceases to be foreclosure property on the first day:
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on which a lease is entered into for the property that, by its terms, will give rise to income that does not qualify for purposes of the 75% gross income test (disregarding income from foreclosure property), or any nonqualified income under the 75% gross income test is received or accrued by the REIT, directly or indirectly, pursuant to a lease entered into on or after such day;
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on which any construction takes place on the property, other than completion of a building or any other improvement where more than 10% of the construction was completed before default became imminent and other than specifically exempted forms of maintenance or deferred maintenance; or
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which is more than 90 days after the day on which the REIT acquired the property and the property is used in a trade or business which is conducted by the REIT, other than through an independent contractor from whom the REIT itself does not derive or receive any income or a TRS.
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Other than sales of foreclosure property, any gain that we realize on the sale of property held as inventory or other property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business, together known as dealer gains, may be treated as income from a prohibited transaction that is subject to a penalty tax at a 100% rate. The 100% tax does not apply to gains from the sale of property that is held through a TRS, but such income will be subject to tax in the hands of the TRS at regular corporate income tax rates; we may therefore utilize our TRSs in transactions in which we might otherwise recognize dealer gains. 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 each particular transaction. Sections 857(b)(6)(C) and (E) of the IRC provide safe harbors pursuant to which limited sales of real property held for at least two years and meeting specified additional requirements will not be treated as prohibited transactions. However, compliance with the safe harbors is not always achievable in practice. We attempt to structure our activities to avoid transactions that are prohibited transactions, or otherwise conduct such activities through TRSs; but, we cannot be sure whether or not the IRS might successfully assert that one or more of our dispositions is subject to the 100% penalty tax. Gains subject to the 100% penalty tax are excluded from the 75% and 95% gross income tests, whereas real property gains that are not dealer gains or that are exempted from the 100% penalty tax on account of the safe harbors are considered qualifying gross income for purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests.
We believe that any gain from dispositions of assets that we have made, or that we might make in the future, including through any partnerships, will generally qualify as income that satisfies the 75% and 95% gross income tests, and will not be dealer gains or subject to the 100% penalty tax. This is because our general intent has been and is to: (a) own our assets for investment with a view to long-term income production and capital appreciation; (b) engage in the business of developing, owning, leasing and managing our existing properties and acquiring, developing, owning, leasing and managing new properties; and (c) make occasional dispositions of our assets consistent with our long-term investment objectives.
If we fail to satisfy one or both of the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test in any taxable year, we may nevertheless qualify for taxation as a REIT for that year if we satisfy the following requirements: (a) our failure to meet the test is due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect; and (b) after we identify the failure, we file a schedule describing each item of our gross income included in the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test for that taxable year. Even if this relief provision does apply, a 100% tax is imposed upon the greater of the amount by which we failed the 75% gross income test or the amount by which we failed the 95% gross income test, with adjustments, multiplied by a fraction intended to reflect our profitability for the taxable year. This relief provision may apply to a failure of the applicable income tests even if the failure first occurred in a year prior to the taxable year in which the failure was discovered.
Based on the discussion above, we believe that we have satisfied, and will continue to satisfy, the 75% and 95% gross income tests outlined above on a continuing basis beginning with our first taxable year as a REIT.
Asset Tests
. At the close of each calendar quarter of each taxable year, we must also satisfy the following asset percentage tests in order to qualify for taxation as a REIT for federal income tax purposes:
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At least 75% of the value of our total assets must consist of “real estate assets,” defined as real property (including interests in real property and interests in mortgages on real property or on interests in real property), ancillary personal property to the extent that rents attributable to such personal property are treated as rents from real property in accordance with the rules described above, cash and cash items, shares in other REITs, debt instruments issued by “publicly offered REITs” as defined in Section 562(c)(2) of the IRC, government securities and temporary investments of new capital (that is, any stock or debt instrument that we hold that is attributable to any amount received by us (a) in exchange for our stock or (b) in a public offering of our five-year or longer debt instruments, but in each case only for the one-year period commencing with our receipt of the new capital).
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Not more than 25% of the value of our total assets may be represented by securities other than those securities that count favorably toward the preceding 75% asset test.
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Of the investments included in the preceding 25% asset class, the value of any one non-REIT issuer’s securities that we own may not exceed 5% of the value of our total assets. In addition, we may not own more than 10% of the vote or value of any one non-REIT issuer’s outstanding securities, unless the securities are “straight debt” securities or otherwise excepted as discussed below. Our stock and other securities in a TRS are exempted from these 5% and 10% asset tests.
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Not more than 20% of the value of our total assets may be represented by stock or other securities of our TRSs.
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Not more than 25% of the value of our total assets may be represented by “nonqualified publicly offered REIT debt instruments” as defined in Section 856(c)(5)(L)(ii) of the IRC.
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Our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, is of the opinion that, although the matter is not free from doubt, our investments in the equity or debt of a TRS, to the extent that and during the period in which they qualify as temporary investments of new capital, will be treated as real estate assets, and not as securities, for purposes of the above REIT asset tests.
The above REIT asset tests must be satisfied at the close of each calendar quarter of each taxable year as a REIT. After a REIT meets the asset tests at the close of any quarter, it will not lose its qualification for taxation as a REIT in any subsequent quarter solely because of fluctuations in the values of its assets, including if the fluctuations are caused by changes in the foreign currency exchange rate used to value any foreign assets. This grandfathering rule may be of limited benefit to a REIT such as us that makes periodic acquisitions of both qualifying and nonqualifying REIT assets. When a failure to satisfy the above asset tests results from an acquisition of securities or other property during a quarter, the failure can be cured by disposition of sufficient nonqualifying assets within thirty days after the close of that quarter.
In addition, if we fail the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test or the 10% value test at the close of any quarter and we do not cure such failure within thirty days after the close of that quarter, that failure will nevertheless be excused if (a) the failure is de minimis and (b) within six months after the last day of the quarter in which we identify the failure, we either dispose of the assets causing the failure or otherwise satisfy the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test and the 10% value test. For purposes of this relief provision, the failure will be de minimis if the value of the assets causing the failure does not exceed $10,000,000. If our failure is not de minimis, or if any of the other REIT asset tests have been violated, we may nevertheless qualify for taxation as a REIT if (a) we provide the IRS with a description of each asset causing the failure, (b) the failure was due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect, (c) we pay a tax equal to the greater of (1) $50,000 or (2) the highest regular corporate income tax rate imposed on the net income generated by the assets causing the failure during the period of the failure, and (d) within six months after the last day of the quarter in which we identify the failure, we either dispose of the assets causing the failure or otherwise satisfy all of the REIT asset tests. These relief provisions may apply to a failure of the applicable asset tests even if the failure first occurred in a year prior to the taxable year in which the failure was discovered.
The IRC also provides an excepted securities safe harbor to the 10% value test that includes among other items (a) “straight debt” securities, (b) specified rental agreements in which payment is to be made in subsequent years, (c) any obligation to pay “rents from real property,” (d) securities issued by governmental entities that are not dependent in whole or in part on the profits of or payments from a nongovernmental entity, and (e) any security issued by another REIT. In addition, any debt instrument issued by an entity classified as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, and not otherwise excepted from the definition of a security for purposes of the above safe harbor, will not be treated as a security for purposes of the 10% value test if at least 75% of the partnership’s gross income, excluding income from prohibited transactions, is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test.
We have maintained and will continue to maintain records of the value of our assets to document our compliance with the above asset tests and intend to take actions as may be required to cure any failure to satisfy the tests within thirty days after the close of any quarter or within the six month periods described above.
Based on the discussion above, we believe that we have satisfied, and will continue to satisfy, the REIT asset tests outlined above on a continuing basis beginning with our first taxable year as a REIT.
Our Relationship with TA
. As of
December 31, 2018
, we owned a significant percentage (but less than 10%) of the outstanding common shares of TA. Our leases with TA, TA’s limited liability company operating agreement, and other agreements collectively contain restrictions upon the ownership of TA common shares and require TA to refrain from taking any actions that may result in any affiliation with us that would jeopardize our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC. Accordingly, from and after January 31, 2007 we expect that the rental income we have received and will receive from TA and its subsidiaries has been and will be “rents from real property” under Section 856(d) of the IRC, and therefore qualifying income under the 75% and 95% gross income tests described above.
Our Relationship with Our Taxable REIT Subsidiaries
. We currently own hotels that we purchased to be leased to our TRSs or which are being leased to our TRSs as a result of modifications to, or expirations of, a prior lease, all as agreed to by applicable parties. For example, in connection with past lease defaults and expirations, we have terminated occupancy of some of our hotels by the defaulting or expiring tenants and immediately leased these hotels to our TRSs and entered into new, or continued with existing, third-party management agreements for these hotels. We may from time to time lease additional hotels to our TRSs.
In lease transactions involving our TRSs, our intent is for the rents paid to us by the TRS to qualify as “rents from real property” under the REIT gross income tests summarized above. In order for this to be the case, the manager operating the leased property on behalf of the applicable TRS must be an “eligible independent contractor” within the meaning of Section 856(d)(9)(A) of the IRC, and the hotels leased to the TRS must be “qualified lodging facilities” within the meaning of Section 856(d)(9)(D) of the IRC. Qualified lodging facilities are defined as hotels, motels or other establishments where more than half of the dwelling units are used on a transient basis, provided that legally authorized wagering or gambling activities are not conducted at or in connection with such facilities. Also included in the definition are the qualified lodging facility’s customary amenities and facilities.
For these purposes, a contractor qualifies as an “eligible independent contractor” if it is less than 35% affiliated with the REIT and, at the time the contractor enters into the agreement with the TRS to operate the qualified lodging facility, that contractor or any person related to that contractor is actively engaged in the trade or business of operating qualified lodging facilities for persons unrelated to the TRS or its affiliated REIT. For these purposes, an otherwise eligible independent contractor is not disqualified from that status on account of (a) the TRS bearing the expenses of the operation of the qualified lodging facility, (b) the TRS receiving the revenues from the operation of the qualified lodging facility, net of expenses for that operation and fees payable to the eligible independent contractor, or (c) the REIT receiving income from the eligible independent contractor pursuant to a preexisting or otherwise grandfathered lease of another property.
We have from time to time engaged, and at present engage, as an intended eligible independent contractor a manager that manages only a modest number of qualified lodging facilities for parties other than us and our TRSs, and we may in the future continue to engage such a manager as an intended eligible independent contractor. We have received, and in future instances would expect to receive, from our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, an opinion to the effect that the intended eligible independent contractor should in fact so qualify. But if the IRS or a court determines that the opinion is incorrect, then the rental income we receive from our TRSs in respect of properties managed by ineligible contractors would be nonqualifying income for purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests, possibly jeopardizing our compliance with one or both of these gross income tests. Under those circumstances, however, we expect we would qualify for the gross income tests’ relief provision described above, and thereby would preserve our qualification for taxation as a REIT. If the relief provision were to apply to us, we would be subject to tax at a 100% rate upon the greater of the amount by which we failed the 75% gross income test or the amount by which we failed the 95% gross income test, with adjustments, multiplied by a fraction intended to reflect our profitability for the taxable year; even though we have little or no nonqualifying income from other sources in a typical taxable year, imposition of this 100% tax in this circumstance could be material if a material number of the properties leased to our TRSs are managed for the TRSs by intended eligible independent contractors that are later deemed not to qualify as such under the IRC.
As explained above, we will be subject to a 100% tax on the rents paid to us by any of our TRSs if the IRS successfully asserts that those rents exceed an arm’s length rental rate. Although there is no clear precedent to distinguish for federal income tax purposes among leases, management contracts, partnerships, financings, and other contractual arrangements, we believe that our leases and our TRSs’ management agreements will be respected for purposes of the requirements of the IRC discussed above. Accordingly, we expect that the rental income from our current and future TRSs will qualify as “rents from real property,” and that the 100% tax on excessive rents from a TRS will not apply.
Annual Distribution Requirements
. In order to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, we are required to make annual distributions other than capital gain dividends to our shareholders in an amount at least equal to the excess of:
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the sum of 90% of our “real estate investment trust taxable income” and 90% of our net income after tax, if any, from property received in foreclosure, over
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the amount by which our noncash income (e.g., imputed rental income or income from transactions inadvertently failing to qualify as like-kind exchanges) exceeds 5% of our “real estate investment trust taxable income.”
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For these purposes, our “real estate investment trust taxable income” is as defined under Section 857 of the IRC and is computed without regard to the dividends paid deduction and our net capital gain and will generally be reduced by specified corporate-level income taxes that we pay (e.g., taxes on built-in gains or foreclosure property income).
The IRC generally limits the deductibility of net interest expense paid or accrued on debt properly allocable to a trade or business to 30% of “adjusted taxable income,” subject to specified exceptions. Any deduction in excess of the limitation is carried forward and may be used in a subsequent year, subject to that year’s 30% limitation. Provided a taxpayer makes an election (which is irrevocable), the 30% limitation does not apply to a trade or business involving real property development,
redevelopment, construction, reconstruction, acquisition, conversion, rental, operation, management, leasing, or brokerage, within the meaning of Section 469(c)(7)(C) of the IRC. We have not determined whether we or any of our subsidiaries will elect out of the new interest expense limitation or whether each of our subsidiaries is eligible to elect out.
Distributions must be paid in the taxable year to which they relate, or in the following taxable year if declared before we timely file our federal income tax return for the earlier taxable year and if paid on or before the first regular distribution payment after that declaration. If a dividend is declared in October, November or December to shareholders of record during one of those months and is paid during the following January, then for federal income tax purposes such dividend will be treated as having been both paid and received on December 31 of the prior taxable year.
The 90% distribution requirements may be waived by the IRS if a REIT establishes that it failed to meet them by reason of distributions previously made to meet the requirements of the 4% excise tax discussed below. To the extent that we do not distribute all of our net capital gain and all of our “real estate investment trust taxable income,” as adjusted, we will be subject to federal income tax at regular corporate income tax rates on undistributed amounts. In addition, we will be subject to a 4% nondeductible excise tax to the extent we fail within a calendar year to make required distributions to our shareholders of 85% of our ordinary income and 95% of our capital gain net income plus the excess, if any, of the “grossed up required distribution” for the preceding calendar year over the amount treated as distributed for that preceding calendar year. For this purpose, the term “grossed up required distribution” for any calendar year is the sum of our taxable income for the calendar year without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and all amounts from earlier years that are not treated as having been distributed under the provision. We will be treated as having sufficient earnings and profits to treat as a dividend any distribution by us up to the amount required to be distributed in order to avoid imposition of the 4% excise tax.
If we do not have enough cash or other liquid assets to meet the 90% distribution requirements, or if we so choose, we may find it necessary or desirable to arrange for new debt or equity financing to provide funds for required distributions in order to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT. We cannot be sure that financing would be available for these purposes on favorable terms, or at all.
We may be able to rectify a failure to pay sufficient dividends for any year by paying “deficiency dividends” to shareholders in a later year. These deficiency dividends may be included in our deduction for dividends paid for the earlier year, but an interest charge would be imposed upon us for the delay in distribution. While the payment of a deficiency dividend will apply to a prior year for purposes of our REIT distribution requirements and our dividends paid deduction, it will be treated as an additional distribution to the shareholders receiving it in the year such dividend is paid.
In addition to the other distribution requirements above, to preserve our qualification for taxation as a REIT we are required to timely distribute all C corporation earnings and profits that we inherit from acquired corporations, as described below.
Acquisitions of C Corporations
We have engaged and may in the future engage in transactions where we acquire all of the outstanding stock of a C corporation. Upon these acquisitions, except to the extent we have made or do make an applicable TRS election, each of our acquired entities and their various wholly-owned corporate and noncorporate subsidiaries generally became or will become our QRSs. Thus, after such acquisitions, all assets, liabilities and items of income, deduction and credit of the acquired and then disregarded entities have been and will be treated as ours for purposes of the various REIT qualification tests described above. In addition, we generally have been and will be treated as the successor to the acquired (and then disregarded) entities’ federal income tax attributes, such as those entities’ (a) adjusted tax bases in their assets and their depreciation schedules; and (b) earnings and profits for federal income tax purposes, if any. The carryover of these attributes creates REIT implications such as built-in gains tax exposure and additional distribution requirements, as described below. However, when we make an election under Section 338(g) of the IRC with respect to corporations that we acquire, as we have done from time to time in the past, we generally will not be subject to such attribute carryovers in respect of attributes existing prior to such election.
Built-in Gains from C Corporations.
Notwithstanding our qualification and taxation as a REIT, under specified circumstances we may be subject to corporate income taxation if we acquire a REIT asset where our adjusted tax basis in the asset is determined by reference to the adjusted tax basis of the asset as owned by a C corporation. For instance, we may be subject to federal income taxation on all or part of the built-in gain that was present on the last date an asset was owned by a C corporation, if we succeed to a carryover tax basis in that asset directly or indirectly from such C corporation and if we sell the asset during the five year period beginning on the day the asset ceased being owned by such C corporation. To the extent of our income and gains in a taxable year that are subject to the built-in gains tax, net of any taxes paid on such income and gains with respect to that taxable year, our taxable dividends paid in the following year will be potentially eligible for taxation to
noncorporate U.S. shareholders at the preferential tax rates for “qualified dividends” as described below under the heading “—Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders”. We generally have not sold and do not expect to sell assets if doing so would result in the imposition of a material built-in gains tax liability; but if and when we do sell assets that may have associated built-in gains tax exposure, then we expect to make appropriate provision for the associated tax liabilities on our financial statements.
Earnings and Profits.
Following a corporate acquisition, we must generally distribute all of the C corporation earnings and profits inherited in that transaction, if any, no later than the end of our taxable year in which the transaction occurs, in order to preserve our qualification for taxation as a REIT. However, if we fail to do so, relief provisions would allow us to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT provided we distribute any subsequently discovered C corporation earnings and profits and pay an interest charge in respect of the period of delayed distribution. C corporation earnings and profits that we inherit are, in general, specially allocated under a priority rule to the earliest possible distributions following the event causing the inheritance, and only then is the balance of our earnings and profits for the taxable year allocated among our distributions to the extent not already treated as a distribution of C corporation earnings and profits under the priority rule. The distribution of these C corporation earnings and profits is potentially eligible for taxation to noncorporate U.S. shareholders at the preferential tax rates for “qualified dividends” as described below under the heading “—Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders”.
Depreciation and Federal Income Tax Treatment of Leases
Our initial tax bases in our assets will generally be our acquisition cost. We will generally depreciate our depreciable real property on a straight-line basis over forty years and our personal property over the applicable shorter periods. These depreciation schedules, and our initial tax bases, may vary for properties that we acquire through tax-free or carryover basis acquisitions, or that are the subject of cost segregation analyses.
We are entitled to depreciation deductions from our facilities only if we are treated for federal income tax purposes as the owner of the facilities. This means that the leases of our facilities must be classified for U.S. federal income tax purposes as true leases, rather than as sales or financing arrangements, and we believe this to be the case.
Like-Kind Exchanges
In January 2019, we entered into three agreements to sell 20 travel centers to TA for an aggregate price of $308.2 million. Our and TA's obligations to complete the three transactions were subject to various conditions typical of commercial real estate purchases, and thus, on advice of counsel we believe that each of the three agreements is a separate transaction for federal income tax purposes. Our sales of the travel centers will result in significant tax gains and a current-year distribution requirement to the extent the gains are not deferred. In order to defer some of the gains on these sales, we have recycled a portion of the proceeds into replacement property pursuant to Section 1031 of the IRC, and we hope to recycle additional proceeds into other replacement property. While we intend to identify and complete the purchase of any additional replacement property within the time periods prescribed by Section 1031 of the IRC, we cannot be sure that we will timely identify or close the purchase of replacement property so as to defer all of the gains that we hope to defer. Any gains that are not deferred under Section 1031 of the IRC will be qualifying income for purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests, but would generally be distributed to our shareholders as described above under the heading "—Taxation as a REIT—Annual Distribution Requirements".
Distributions to our Shareholders
As described above, we expect to make distributions to our shareholders from time to time. These distributions may include cash distributions, in kind distributions of property, and deemed or constructive distributions resulting from capital market activities. The U.S. federal income tax treatment of our distributions will vary based on the status of the recipient shareholder as more fully described below under the headings “—Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders,” “—Taxation of Tax-Exempt U.S. Shareholders,” and “—Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders.”
Section 302 of the IRC treats a redemption of our shares for cash only as a distribution under Section 301 of the IRC, and hence taxable as a dividend to the extent of our available current or accumulated earnings and profits, unless the redemption satisfies one of the tests set forth in Section 302(b) of the IRC enabling the redemption to be treated as a sale or exchange of the shares. The redemption for cash only will be treated as a sale or exchange if it (a) is “substantially disproportionate” with respect to the surrendering shareholder’s ownership in us, (b) results in a “complete termination” of the surrendering shareholder’s entire share interest in us, or (c) is “not essentially equivalent to a dividend” with respect to the surrendering shareholder, all within the meaning of Section 302(b) of the IRC. In determining whether any of these tests have been met, a shareholder must generally take into account shares considered to be owned by such shareholder by reason of constructive ownership rules set forth in the IRC, as well as shares actually owned by such shareholder. In addition, if a
redemption is treated as a distribution under the preceding tests, then a shareholder’s tax basis in the redeemed shares generally will be transferred to the shareholder’s remaining shares in us, if any, and if such shareholder owns no other shares in us, such basis generally may be transferred to a related person or may be lost entirely. Because the determination as to whether a shareholder will satisfy any of the tests of Section 302(b) of the IRC depends upon the facts and circumstances at the time that our shares are redeemed, we urge you to consult your own tax advisor to determine the particular tax treatment of any redemption.
Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders
For noncorporate U.S. shareholders, to the extent that their total adjusted income does not exceed applicable thresholds, the maximum federal income tax rate for long-term capital gains and most corporate dividends is generally 15%. For those noncorporate U.S. shareholders whose total adjusted income exceeds the applicable thresholds, the maximum federal income tax rate for long-term capital gains and most corporate dividends is generally 20%. However, because we are not generally subject to federal income tax on the portion of our “real estate investment trust taxable income” distributed to our shareholders, dividends on our shares generally are not eligible for these preferential tax rates, except that any distribution of C corporation earnings and profits and taxed built-in gain items will potentially be eligible for these preferential tax rates. As a result, our ordinary dividends generally are
taxed at the higher federal income tax rates applicable to ordinary income (subject to the lower effective tax rates applicable to qualified REIT dividends via the deduction-without-outlay mechanism of Section 199A of the IRC, which is generally available to our noncorporate U.S. shareholders for taxable years after 2017 and before 2026). To summarize, the preferential federal income tax rates for long-term capital gains and for qualified dividends generally apply to:
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long-term capital gains, if any, recognized on the disposition of our shares;
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our distributions designated as long-term capital gain dividends (except to the extent attributable to real estate depreciation recapture, in which case the distributions are subject to a maximum 25% federal income tax rate);
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our dividends attributable to dividend income, if any, received by us from C corporations such as TRSs;
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our dividends attributable to earnings and profits that we inherit from C corporations; and
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our dividends to the extent attributable to income upon which we have paid federal corporate income tax (such as taxes on foreclosure property income or on built-in gains), net of the corporate income taxes thereon.
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As long as we qualify for taxation as a REIT, a distribution to our U.S. shareholders that we do not designate as a capital gain dividend generally will be treated as an ordinary income dividend to the extent of our available current or accumulated earnings and profits (subject to the lower effective tax rates applicable to qualified REIT dividends via the deduction-without-outlay mechanism of Section 199A of the IRC, which is available to our noncorporate U.S. shareholders for taxable years after 2017 and before 2026). Distributions made out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits that we properly designate as capital gain dividends generally will be taxed as long-term capital gains, as discussed below, to the extent they do not exceed our actual net capital gain for the taxable year. However, corporate shareholders may be required to treat up to 20% of any capital gain dividend as ordinary income under Section 291 of the IRC.
In addition, we may elect to retain net capital gain income and treat it as constructively distributed. In that case:
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we will be taxed at regular corporate capital gains tax rates on retained amounts;
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each of our U.S. shareholders will be taxed on its designated proportionate share of our retained net capital gains as though that amount were distributed and designated as a capital gain dividend;
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each of our U.S. shareholders will receive a credit or refund for its designated proportionate share of the tax that we pay;
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each of our U.S. shareholders will increase its adjusted basis in our shares by the excess of the amount of its proportionate share of these retained net capital gains over the U.S. shareholder’s proportionate share of the tax that we pay; and
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both we and our corporate shareholders will make commensurate adjustments in our respective earnings and profits for federal income tax purposes.
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If we elect to retain our net capital gains in this fashion, we will notify our U.S. shareholders of the relevant tax information within sixty days after the close of the affected taxable year.
If for any taxable year we designate capital gain dividends for our shareholders, then a portion of the capital gain dividends we designate will be allocated to the holders of a particular class of shares on a percentage basis equal to the ratio of the amount of the total dividends paid or made available for the year to the holders of that class of shares to the total dividends paid or made available for the year to holders of all outstanding classes of our shares. We will similarly designate the portion of any dividend that is to be taxed to noncorporate U.S. shareholders at preferential maximum rates (including any qualified dividend income and any capital gains attributable to real estate depreciation recapture that are subject to a maximum 25% federal income tax rate) so that the designations will be proportionate among all outstanding classes of our shares.
Distributions in excess of our current or accumulated earnings and profits will not be taxable to a U.S. shareholder to the extent that they do not exceed the shareholder’s adjusted tax basis in our shares, but will reduce the shareholder’s basis in such shares. To the extent that these excess distributions exceed a U.S. shareholder’s adjusted basis in such shares, they will be included in income as capital gain, with long-term gain generally taxed to noncorporate U.S. shareholders at preferential maximum rates. No U.S. shareholder may include on its federal income tax return any of our net operating losses or any of our capital losses. In addition, no portion of any of our dividends is eligible for the dividends received deduction for corporate shareholders.
If a dividend is declared in October, November or December to shareholders of record during one of those months and is paid during the following January, then for federal income tax purposes the dividend will be treated as having been both paid and received on December 31 of the prior taxable year.
A U.S. shareholder will generally recognize gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and the shareholder’s adjusted basis in our shares that are sold or exchanged. This gain or loss will be capital gain or loss, and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the shareholder’s holding period in our shares exceeds one year. In addition, any loss upon a sale or exchange of our shares held for six months or less will generally be treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any long-term capital gain dividends we paid on such shares during the holding period.
U.S. shareholders who are individuals, estates or trusts are generally required to pay a 3.8% Medicare tax on their net investment income (including dividends on our shares (without regard to any deduction allowed by Section 199A of the IRC) and gains from the sale or other disposition of our shares), or in the case of estates and trusts on their net investment income that is not distributed, in each case to the extent that their total adjusted income exceeds applicable thresholds. U.S. shareholders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the application of the 3.8% Medicare tax.
If a U.S. shareholder recognizes a loss upon a disposition of our shares in an amount that exceeds a prescribed threshold, it is possible that the provisions of Treasury regulations involving “reportable transactions” could apply, with a resulting requirement to separately disclose the loss-generating transaction to the IRS. These Treasury regulations are written quite broadly, and apply to many routine and simple transactions. A reportable transaction currently includes, among other things, a sale or exchange of our shares resulting in a tax loss in excess of (a) $10 million in any single year or $20 million in a prescribed combination of taxable years in the case of our shares held by a C corporation or by a partnership with only C corporation partners or (b) $2 million in any single year or $4 million in a prescribed combination of taxable years in the case of our shares held by any other partnership or an S corporation, trust or individual, including losses that flow through pass through entities to individuals. A taxpayer discloses a reportable transaction by filing IRS Form 8886 with its federal income tax return and, in the first year of filing, a copy of Form 8886 must be sent to the IRS’s Office of Tax Shelter Analysis. The annual maximum penalty for failing to disclose a reportable transaction is generally $10,000 in the case of a natural person and $50,000 in any other case.
Noncorporate U.S. shareholders who borrow funds to finance their acquisition of our shares could be limited in the amount of deductions allowed for the interest paid on the indebtedness incurred. Under Section 163(d) of the IRC, interest paid or accrued on indebtedness incurred or continued to purchase or carry property held for investment is generally deductible only to the extent of the investor’s net investment income. A U.S. shareholder’s net investment income will include, only if an appropriate election is made by the shareholder, capital gain dividend distributions and qualified dividends received from us. In addition, a U.S. shareholder that utilizes the deduction under Section 199A of the IRC with respect to qualified REIT dividends received from us may also be required to make a similar election in order to include such qualified REIT dividends in the
calculation of net investment income. Distributions treated as a nontaxable return of the shareholder’s basis will not enter into the computation of net investment income.
Taxation of Tax-Exempt U.S. Shareholders
The rules governing the federal income taxation of tax-exempt entities are complex, and the following discussion is intended only as a summary of material considerations of an investment in our shares relevant to such investors. If you are a tax-exempt shareholder, we urge you to consult your own tax advisor to determine the impact of federal, state, local and foreign tax laws, including any tax return filing and other reporting requirements, with respect to your acquisition of or investment in our shares.
Our distributions made to shareholders that are tax-exempt pension plans, individual retirement accounts or other qualifying tax-exempt entities should not constitute UBTI, provided that the shareholder has not financed its acquisition of our shares with “acquisition indebtedness” within the meaning of the IRC, that the shares are not otherwise used in an unrelated trade or business of the tax-exempt entity, and that, consistent with our present intent, we do not hold a residual interest in a real estate mortgage investment conduit or otherwise hold mortgage assets or conduct mortgage securitization activities that generate “excess inclusion” income.
Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders
The rules governing the U.S. federal income taxation of non-U.S. shareholders are complex, and the following discussion is intended only as a summary of material considerations of an investment in our shares relevant to such investors. If you are a non-U.S. shareholder, we urge you to consult your own tax advisor to determine the impact of U.S. federal, state, local and foreign tax laws, including any tax return filing and other reporting requirements, with respect to your acquisition of or investment in our shares.
We expect that a non-U.S. shareholder’s receipt of (a) distributions from us, and (b) proceeds from the sale of our shares, will not be treated as income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business and a non-U.S. shareholder will therefore not be subject to the often higher federal tax and withholding rates, branch profits taxes and increased reporting and filing requirements that apply to income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business. This expectation and a number of the determinations below are predicated on our shares being listed on a U.S. national securities exchange, such as The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, or Nasdaq. Each class of our shares has been listed on a U.S. national securities exchange; however, we cannot be sure that our shares will continue to be so listed in future taxable years or that any class of our shares that we may issue in the future will be so listed.
Distributions
. A distribution by us to a non-U.S. shareholder that is not designated as a capital gain dividend will be treated as an ordinary income dividend to the extent that it is made out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits. A distribution of this type will generally be subject to U.S. federal income tax and withholding at the rate of 30%, or at a lower rate if the non-U.S. shareholder has in the manner prescribed by the IRS demonstrated to the applicable withholding agent its entitlement to benefits under a tax treaty. Because we cannot determine our current and accumulated earnings and profits until the end of the taxable year, withholding at the statutory rate of 30% or applicable lower treaty rate will generally be imposed on the gross amount of any distribution to a non-U.S. shareholder that we make and do not designate as a capital gain dividend. Notwithstanding this potential withholding on distributions in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits, these excess portions of distributions are a nontaxable return of capital to the extent that they do not exceed the non-U.S. shareholder’s adjusted basis in our shares, and the nontaxable return of capital will reduce the adjusted basis in these shares. To the extent that distributions in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits exceed the non-U.S. shareholder’s adjusted basis in our shares, the distributions will give rise to U.S. federal income tax liability only in the unlikely event that the non-U.S. shareholder would otherwise be subject to tax on any gain from the sale or exchange of these shares, as discussed below under the heading “—Dispositions of Our Shares.” A non-U.S. shareholder may seek a refund from the IRS of amounts withheld on distributions to it in excess of such shareholder’s allocable share of our current and accumulated earnings and profits.
For so long as a class of our shares is listed on a U.S. national securities exchange, capital gain dividends that we declare and pay to a non-U.S. shareholder on those shares, as well as dividends to a non-U.S. shareholder on those shares attributable to our sale or exchange of “United States real property interests” within the meaning of Section 897 of the IRC, or USRPIs, will not be subject to withholding as though those amounts were effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business, and non-U.S. shareholders will not be required to file U.S. federal income tax returns or pay branch profits tax in respect of these dividends. Instead, these dividends will generally be treated as ordinary dividends and subject to withholding in the manner described above.
Tax treaties may reduce the withholding obligations on our distributions. Under some treaties, however, rates below 30% that are applicable to ordinary income dividends from U.S. corporations may not apply to ordinary income dividends from a REIT or may apply only if the REIT meets specified additional conditions. A non-U.S. shareholder must generally use an applicable IRS Form W-8, or substantially similar form, to claim tax treaty benefits. If the amount of tax withheld with respect to a distribution to a non-U.S. shareholder exceeds the shareholder’s U.S. federal income tax liability with respect to the distribution, the non-U.S. shareholder may file for a refund of the excess from the IRS. Treasury regulations also provide special rules to determine whether, for purposes of determining the applicability of a tax treaty, our distributions to a non-U.S. shareholder that is an entity should be treated as paid to the entity or to those owning an interest in that entity, and whether the entity or its owners are entitled to benefits under the tax treaty.
If, contrary to our expectation, a class of our shares was not listed on a U.S. national securities exchange and we made a distribution on those shares that was attributable to gain from the sale or exchange of a USRPI, then a non-U.S. shareholder holding those shares would be taxed as if the distribution was gain effectively connected with a trade or business in the United States conducted by the non-U.S. shareholder. In addition, the applicable withholding agent would be required to withhold from a distribution to such a non-U.S. shareholder, and remit to the IRS, up to 21% of the maximum amount of any distribution that was or could have been designated as a capital gain dividend. The non-U.S. shareholder also would generally be subject to the same treatment as a U.S. shareholder with respect to the distribution (subject to any applicable alternative minimum tax and a special alternative minimum tax in the case of a nonresident alien individual), would be subject to fulsome U.S. federal income tax return reporting requirements, and, in the case of a corporate non-U.S. shareholder, may owe the up to 30% branch profits tax under Section 884 of the IRC (or lower applicable tax treaty rate) in respect of these amounts.
Dispositions of Our Shares
. If as expected our shares are not USRPIs, then a non-U.S. shareholder’s gain on the sale of these shares generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income taxation or withholding. We expect that our shares will not be USRPIs because one or both of the following exemptions will be available at all times.
First, for so long as a class of our shares is listed on a U.S. national securities exchange, a non-U.S. shareholder’s gain on the sale of those shares will not be subject to U.S. federal income taxation as a sale of a USRPI. Second, our shares will not constitute USRPIs if we are a “domestically controlled” REIT. We will be a “domestically controlled” REIT if less than 50% of the value of our shares (including any future class of shares that we may issue) is held, directly or indirectly, by non-U.S. shareholders at all times during the preceding five years, after applying specified presumptions regarding the ownership of our shares as described in Section 897(h)(4)(E) of the IRC. For these purposes, we believe that the statutory ownership presumptions apply to validate our status as a “domestically controlled” REIT. Accordingly, we believe that we are and will remain a “domestically controlled” REIT.
If, contrary to our expectation, a gain on the sale of our shares is subject to U.S. federal income taxation (for example, because neither of the above exemptions were then available,
i.e.
, that class of our shares were not then listed on a U.S. national securities exchange and we were not a “domestically controlled” REIT), then (a) a non-U.S. shareholder would generally be subject to the same treatment as a U.S. shareholder with respect to its gain (subject to any applicable alternative minimum tax and a special alternative minimum tax in the case of nonresident alien individuals), (b) the non-U.S. shareholder would also be subject to fulsome U.S. federal income tax return reporting requirements, and (c) a purchaser of that class of our shares from the non-U.S. shareholder may be required to withhold 15% of the purchase price paid to the non-U.S. shareholder and to remit the withheld amount to the IRS.
Information Reporting, Backup Withholding, and Foreign Account Withholding
Information reporting, backup withholding, and foreign account withholding may apply to distributions or proceeds paid to our shareholders under the circumstances discussed below. If a shareholder is subject to backup or other U.S. federal income tax withholding, then the applicable withholding agent will be required to withhold the appropriate amount with respect to a deemed or constructive distribution or a distribution in kind even though there is insufficient cash from which to satisfy the withholding obligation. To satisfy this withholding obligation, the applicable withholding agent may collect the amount of U.S. federal income tax required to be withheld by reducing to cash for remittance to the IRS a sufficient portion of the property that the shareholder would otherwise receive or own, and the shareholder may bear brokerage or other costs for this withholding procedure.
Amounts withheld under backup withholding are generally not an additional tax and may be refunded by the IRS or credited against the shareholder’s federal income tax liability, provided that such shareholder timely files for a refund or credit with the IRS. A U.S. shareholder may be subject to backup withholding when it receives distributions on our shares or proceeds upon the sale, exchange, redemption, retirement or other disposition of our shares, unless the U.S. shareholder properly executes, or has previously properly executed, under penalties of perjury an IRS Form W-9 or substantially similar form that:
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provides the U.S. shareholder’s correct taxpayer identification number;
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certifies that the U.S. shareholder is exempt from backup withholding because (a) it comes within an enumerated exempt category, (b) it has not been notified by the IRS that it is subject to backup withholding, or (c) it has been notified by the IRS that it is no longer subject to backup withholding; and
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certifies that it is a U.S. citizen or other U.S. person.
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If the U.S. shareholder has not provided and does not provide its correct taxpayer identification number and appropriate certifications on an IRS Form W-9 or substantially similar form, it may be subject to penalties imposed by the IRS, and the applicable withholding agent may have to withhold a portion of any distributions or proceeds paid to such U.S. shareholder. Unless the U.S. shareholder has established on a properly executed IRS Form W-9 or substantially similar form that it comes within an enumerated exempt category, distributions or proceeds on our shares paid to it during the calendar year, and the amount of tax withheld, if any, will be reported to it and to the IRS.
Distributions on our shares to a non-U.S. shareholder during each calendar year and the amount of tax withheld, if any, will generally be reported to the non-U.S. shareholder and to the IRS. This information reporting requirement applies regardless of whether the non-U.S. shareholder is subject to withholding on distributions on our shares or whether the withholding was reduced or eliminated by an applicable tax treaty. Also, distributions paid to a non-U.S. shareholder on our shares will generally be subject to backup withholding, unless the non-U.S. shareholder properly certifies to the applicable withholding agent its non-U.S. shareholder status on an applicable IRS Form W-8 or substantially similar form. Information reporting and backup withholding will not apply to proceeds a non-U.S. shareholder receives upon the sale, exchange, redemption, retirement or other disposition of our shares, if the non-U.S. shareholder properly certifies to the applicable withholding agent its non-U.S. shareholder status on an applicable IRS Form W-8 or substantially similar form. Even without having executed an applicable IRS Form W-8 or substantially similar form, however, in some cases information reporting and backup withholding will not apply to proceeds that a non-U.S. shareholder receives upon the sale, exchange, redemption, retirement or other disposition of our shares if the non-U.S. shareholder receives those proceeds through a broker’s foreign office.
Non-U.S. financial institutions and other non-U.S. entities are subject to diligence and reporting requirements for purposes of identifying accounts and investments held directly or indirectly by U.S. persons. The failure to comply with these additional information reporting, certification and other requirements could result in a 30% U.S. withholding tax on applicable payments to non-U.S. persons, notwithstanding any otherwise applicable provisions of an income tax treaty. In particular, a payee that is a foreign financial institution that is subject to the diligence and reporting requirements described above 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 “specified United States persons” or “United States owned foreign entities” (each as defined in the IRC and administrative guidance thereunder), annually report information about such accounts, and withhold 30% on applicable payments to noncompliant foreign financial institutions and account holders. Foreign financial institutions located in jurisdictions that have an intergovernmental agreement with the United States with respect to these requirements may be subject to different rules. The foregoing withholding regime generally applies to payments of dividends on our shares. In general, to avoid withholding, any non-U.S. intermediary through which a shareholder owns our shares must establish its compliance with the foregoing regime, and a non-U.S. shareholder must provide specified documentation (usually an applicable IRS Form W-8) containing information about its identity, its status, and if required, its direct and indirect U.S. owners. Non-U.S. shareholders and shareholders who hold our shares through a non-U.S. intermediary are encouraged to consult their own tax advisors regarding foreign account tax compliance.
Other Tax Considerations
Our tax treatment and that of our shareholders may be modified by legislative, judicial or administrative actions at any time, which actions may have retroactive effect. The rules dealing with federal income taxation are constantly under review by the U.S. Congress, the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and statutory changes, new regulations, revisions to existing regulations and revised interpretations of established concepts are issued frequently; in fact, significant administrative guidance has been promulgated in response to the substantial December 2017 amendments to the IRC, additional amendments to the IRC have been enacted subsequent to the December 2017 amendments to the IRC, and additional guidance or subsequent amendments to the IRC could be promulgated or enacted in the future. Likewise, the rules regarding taxes other than U.S. federal income taxes may also be modified. No prediction can be made as to the likelihood of passage of new tax legislation or other provisions, or the direct or indirect effect on us and our shareholders. Revisions to tax laws and interpretations of these laws could adversely affect our ability to qualify and be taxed as a REIT, as well as the tax or other consequences of an investment in our shares. We and our shareholders may also be subject to taxation by state, local or other jurisdictions,
including those in which we or our shareholders transact business or reside. These tax consequences may not be comparable to the U.S. federal income tax consequences discussed above.
ERISA PLANS, KEOGH PLANS AND INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS
General Fiduciary Obligations
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, or ERISA, the IRC and similar provisions to those described below under applicable foreign or state law, individually and collectively, impose certain duties on persons who are fiduciaries of any employee benefit plan subject to Title I of ERISA, or an ERISA Plan, or an individual retirement account or annuity, or an IRA, a Roth IRA, a tax-favored account (such as an Archer MSA, Coverdell education savings account or health savings account), a Keogh plan or other qualified retirement plan not subject to Title I of ERISA, each a Non-ERISA Plan. Under ERISA and the IRC, any person who exercises any discretionary authority or control over the administration of, or the management or disposition of the assets of, an ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan, or who renders investment advice for a fee or other compensation to an ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan, is generally considered to be a fiduciary of the ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan.
Fiduciaries of an ERISA Plan must consider whether:
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their investment in our shares or other securities satisfies the diversification requirements of ERISA;
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the investment is prudent in light of possible limitations on the marketability of our shares;
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they have authority to acquire our shares or other securities under the applicable governing instrument and Title I of ERISA; and
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the investment is otherwise consistent with their fiduciary responsibilities.
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Fiduciaries of an ERISA Plan may incur personal liability for any loss suffered by the ERISA Plan on account of a violation of their fiduciary responsibilities. In addition, these fiduciaries may be subject to a civil penalty of up to 20% of any amount recovered by the ERISA Plan on account of a violation. Fiduciaries of any Non-ERISA Plan should consider that the Non-ERISA Plan may only make investments that are authorized by the appropriate governing instrument and applicable law.
Fiduciaries considering an investment in our securities should consult their own legal advisors if they have any concern as to whether the investment is consistent with the foregoing criteria or is otherwise appropriate. The sale of our securities to an ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan is in no respect a representation by us or any underwriter of the securities that the investment meets all relevant legal requirements with respect to investments by the arrangements generally or any particular arrangement, or that the investment is appropriate for arrangements generally or any particular arrangement.
Prohibited Transactions
Fiduciaries of ERISA Plans and persons making the investment decision for Non-ERISA Plans should consider the application of the prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA and the IRC in making their investment decision. Sales and other transactions between an ERISA Plan or a Non-ERISA Plan and disqualified persons or parties in interest, as applicable, are prohibited transactions and result in adverse consequences absent an exemption. The particular facts concerning the sponsorship, operations and other investments of an ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan may cause a wide range of persons to be treated as disqualified persons or parties in interest with respect to it. A non-exempt prohibited transaction, in addition to imposing potential personal liability upon ERISA Plan fiduciaries, may also result in the imposition of an excise tax under the IRC or a penalty under ERISA upon the disqualified person or party in interest. If the disqualified person who engages in the transaction is the individual on behalf of whom an IRA, Roth IRA or other tax-favored account is maintained (or his beneficiary), the IRA, Roth IRA or other tax-favored account may lose its tax-exempt status and its assets may be deemed to have been distributed to the individual in a taxable distribution on account of the non-exempt prohibited transaction, but no excise tax will be imposed. Fiduciaries considering an investment in our securities should consult their own legal advisors as to whether the ownership of our securities involves a non-exempt prohibited transaction.
“Plan Assets” Considerations
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a regulation defining “plan assets.” The regulation, as subsequently modified by ERISA, generally provides that when an ERISA Plan or a Non-ERISA Plan otherwise subject to Title I of ERISA
and/or Section 4975 of the IRC acquires an interest in an entity that is neither a “publicly offered security” nor a security issued by an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, the assets of the ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan include both the equity interest and an undivided interest in each of the underlying assets of the entity, unless it is established either that the entity is an operating company or that equity participation in the entity by benefit plan investors is not significant. We are not an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.
Each class of our equity (that is, our common shares and any other class of equity that we have issued or may issue) must be analyzed separately to ascertain whether it is a publicly offered security. The regulation defines a publicly offered security as a security that is “widely held,” “freely transferable” and either part of a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act,
or sold under an effective registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, provided the securities are registered under the Exchange Act within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year of the issuer during which the offering occurred. Each class of our outstanding shares has been registered under the Exchange Act within the necessary time frame to satisfy the foregoing condition.
The regulation provides that a security is “widely held” only if it is part of a class of securities that is owned by 100 or more investors independent of the issuer and of one another. However, a security will not fail to be “widely held” because the number of independent investors falls below 100 subsequent to the initial public offering as a result of events beyond the issuer’s control. Although we cannot be sure, we believe our common shares and our previously outstanding preferred shares have been and will remain widely held, and we expect the same to be true of any future class of equity that we may issue.
The regulation provides that whether a security is “freely transferable” is a factual question to be determined on the basis of all relevant facts and circumstances. The regulation further provides that, where a security is part of an offering in which the minimum investment is $10,000 or less, some restrictions on transfer ordinarily will not, alone or in combination, affect a finding that these securities are freely transferable. The restrictions on transfer enumerated in the regulation as not affecting that finding include:
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any restriction on or prohibition against any transfer or assignment that would result in a termination or reclassification for federal or state tax purposes, or would otherwise violate any state or federal law or court order;
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any requirement that advance notice of a transfer or assignment be given to the issuer and any requirement that either the transferor or transferee, or both, execute documentation setting forth representations as to compliance with any restrictions on transfer that are among those enumerated in the regulation as not affecting free transferability, including those described in the preceding clause of this sentence;
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any administrative procedure that establishes an effective date, or an event prior to which a transfer or assignment will not be effective; and
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any limitation or restriction on transfer or assignment that is not imposed by the issuer or a person acting on behalf of the issuer.
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We believe that the restrictions imposed under our declaration of trust and bylaws on the transfer of shares do not result in the failure of our shares to be “freely transferable.” Furthermore, we believe that there exist no other facts or circumstances limiting the transferability of our shares that are not included among those enumerated as not affecting their free transferability under the regulation, and we do not expect or intend to impose in the future, or to permit any person to impose on our behalf, any limitations or restrictions on transfer that would not be among the enumerated permissible limitations or restrictions.
Assuming that each class of our shares will be “widely held” and that no other facts and circumstances exist that restrict transferability of these shares, our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, is of the opinion that our shares will not fail to be “freely transferable” for purposes of the regulation due to the restrictions on transfer of our shares in our declaration of trust and bylaws and that under the regulation each class of our currently outstanding shares is publicly offered and our assets will not be deemed to be “plan assets” of any ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan that acquires our shares in a public offering. This opinion is conditioned upon certain assumptions and representations, as discussed above in “Material United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—Taxation as a REIT.”
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Our business is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Investors and prospective investors should carefully consider the risks described below, together with all of the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The risks
described below may not be the only risks we face but are risks we believe may be material at this time. Additional risks that we do not yet know of, or that we currently think are immaterial, also may impair our business operations or financial results. If any of the events or circumstances described below occurs, our business, financial condition, results of operations or ability to make distributions to our shareholders and the value of our securities could be adversely affected. Investors and prospective investors should consider the following risks, the information contained under the heading “Warning Concerning Forward Looking Statements” and the risks described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K before deciding whether to invest in our securities.
Risks Related to Our Business
Adverse general economic conditions in the United States would likely negatively impact our business.
Our properties are operated in two segments of the economy, the hotel industry and the travel center industry, which historically have been highly sensitive to general economic conditions in the United States and in the geographic areas where our properties are located.
The performance of the hotel industry has historically been closely linked to the performance of the general economy both nationally and within local markets in the United States. The hotel industry is sensitive to business and personal discretionary spending levels. Declines in corporate travel and consumer demand due to adverse general economic conditions, such as a decline in U.S. gross domestic product or lower consumer confidence or government budgetary constraints may reduce the revenues and profitability of our hotels. A slowing of the U.S. economy or a new U.S. recession may lead to a significant decline in demand for the products and services offered at our hotels or increase the cost of offering such products and services. We cannot predict the pace or duration of general U.S. economic cycles or cycles which may be experienced in the hotel industry. A period of general economic weakness in the United States would likely reduce the revenues and profitability of our hotels and negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations.
Our travel centers primarily provide goods and services to the trucking industry, and demand for trucking services in the United States generally reflects the amount of commercial activity in the U.S. economy. When the U.S. economy declines, demand for goods moved by trucks declines, and in turn demand for the products and services provided at our travel centers typically declines. Increases in global trade have historically mitigated the adverse impact of economic slowdowns upon the travel center business, but world trade was negatively impacted during the most recent U.S. recession. In addition, the Trump administration has taken certain actions, and indicated it may take additional actions, that significantly change U.S. trade policy, including imposing tariffs on certain goods imported into the United States. Changes in U.S. trade policy have triggered, and additional changes could further trigger, retaliatory actions by affected countries, resulting in “trade wars,” and in increased costs for goods imported into the United States, which may reduce customer demand for these products if the parties having to pay those tariffs increase their prices, or in trading partners limiting their trade with the United States. If these consequences are realized, the volume of economic activity in the United States, including trucking freight volume, may materially decline. Such a reduction may materially and adversely affect TA’s sales and its business and, consequently, its ability to pay us rent.
Changes in hotel supply or demand could adversely affect us.
In addition to general economic conditions affecting the hotel industry, new hotel room supply is an important factor that can affect the hotel industry's performance and overbuilding has the potential to further exacerbate the negative impact of an economic downturn. Room rates and occupancy, and thus revenue per available room, or RevPAR, tend to increase when demand growth exceeds supply growth. A reduction or slowing in the growth of hotel demand or increased growth in hotel supply without corresponding increased demand could result in returns that are substantially below expectations or result in losses which could materially and adversely affect our revenues and profitability as well as limit or slow our future growth.
Certain of our returns and rents are guaranteed by the parent companies of our managers and tenants, but these guarantees may not ensure that payments due to us will be made and some of these guarantees are limited in dollar amount and duration.
Certain of our returns and rents are guaranteed by the parent companies of our managers and tenants. However, most of these guarantees are limited in dollar amount and duration. For example, our guaranty from Marriott for
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hotels under our Marriott No. 234 agreement is limited to
$40.0 million
(of which
$30.7 million
remained available at
December 31, 2018
) and expires on December 31, 2019; our guaranty from Hyatt is limited to
$50.0 million
(of which
$21.9 million
remained available at
December 31, 2018
); and our guaranty from Radisson is limited to
$46.0 million
(of which
$42.6 million
remained available at
December 31, 2018
). If our Marriott, Hyatt and Radisson properties produce less net operating income than the guaranteed amounts of our minimum returns or rents for extended future periods, these guarantees may be exhausted. Our
$35.7 million
limited guarantee from Wyndham was depleted during 2017 and remained depleted as of
December 31, 2018
. The Wyndham agreement provides that if the hotel cash flows available after payment of hotel operating expenses are less than the minimum returns due to us, to avoid default Wyndham is required to pay us the greater of the available hotel cash flows and 85% of the contractual amount due. During the year ended
December 31, 2018
and the months of January and February 2019, Wyndham paid
85%
of the minimum returns due under the management agreement, which payments were an aggregate of
$4.1 million
and
$0.7 million
, respectively, less than the minimum returns due for the period. We cannot be sure that Wyndham will continue to pay at least the greater of available hotel cash flows after payment of hotel operating expenses and
85%
of the minimum returns due to us or if Wyndham will default on its payments. Also, because the large majority of TA’s business consists of operating travel centers that it leases from us, if TA does not earn sufficient income from those travel centers it may not have sufficient resources independent of these leaseholds to pay its guaranty obligations to us. Despite the existence of parent companies’ guarantees of our managers’ and tenants’ obligations to us, we cannot be sure that these obligations will be paid.
Certain of our returns and rents are secured with cash deposits that, if used to cover shortfalls in our minimum returns and rents, will not provide cash flows to us.
As of
December 31, 2018
, our Marriott No. 234 agreement requires annual minimum returns to us of
$107.4 million
. As of
December 31, 2018
, we have a security deposit balance of
$32.7 million
to cover future shortfalls.
As of
December 31, 2018
, our IHG agreement requires annual minimum returns and rents to us of
$193.7 million
. As of
December 31, 2018
, we have a security deposit balance of
$100.0 million
to cover future shortfalls.
When we reduce the amounts of the security deposits we hold under our management and lease agreements for future payment deficiencies, we record income equal to the amounts applied, but we do not receive additional cash flows.
When and if the IHG security deposit and the Marriott guaranty and security deposit are exhausted, we may not receive the contractually guaranteed amounts or minimum returns due to us from IHG and Marriott, respectively.
We have no security deposits or guarantees under our Marriott No. 1 or Sonesta agreement and the Wyndham guaranty has been depleted. Accordingly, the returns we receive from our hotels managed under those agreements are dependent upon the financial results of those hotel operations. For the year ended
December 31, 2018
, we had an aggregate of
$44.6 million
in unfunded shortfalls, which represents the unguaranteed portions of our minimum returns under our Sonesta and Wyndham agreements.
Inherent risks in the hotel industry could affect our business.
Approximately 67% of our historical real estate investments as of
February 26, 2019
, are in our hotel properties. Our hotels are subject to operating risks common to the hotel industry, many of which are beyond our control, including risks associated with:
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competition from other hotels in our markets, or an oversupply or over building of hotels in our markets;
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competition from alternative lodging options such as cruise ships, timeshares, vacation rentals or sharing services such as Airbnb, in our markets;
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changes in marketing and distribution for the industry including the ability of third party internet and other travel intermediaries to attract and retain customers;
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increased operating costs, including wages, benefits, insurance, property taxes and energy, due to inflation, increased minimum wages and other factors, which may not be offset in the future by increased room rates;
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competition from other hotel operators or others to attract and retain qualified employees;
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low unemployment in the U.S. and a lack of suitable employees for certain job classifications, especially those for less skilled positions, which may drive up costs or affect service levels;
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labor strikes, disruptions or lockouts that may impact operating performance;
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dependence on demand from business and leisure travelers, which may fluctuate and be seasonal;
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increases in energy costs, airline fares and other expenses related to travel, which may negatively affect traveling;
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decreases in demand for business and leisure travel due to terrorism, terrorism alerts and warnings, military actions, pandemics or other medical events;
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decreases in demand for business travel due to use of technologies that enhance interpersonal communication and interaction without the need to travel or meet in person; and
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changes in customer preferences for various types of hotels or hotel locations.
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These and other factors could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations and cause the value of our securities to decline.
TA’s business is subject to substantial risks, which could adversely affect us.
We lease all of our travel centers, which constituted approximately 33% of our historical real estate investments as of
February 26, 2019
, to TA. TA has not been consistently profitable since it became a public company in 2007, and it operates in highly competitive industries, including travel centers and restaurants. TA’s business is subject to a number of risks, including the following:
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Increasing truck fuel efficiency may adversely impact TA’s business. Government regulation and increasing and volatile fuel prices are causing truck manufacturers and TA’s trucking customers to remain focused on fuel efficiency. The largest part of TA’s revenue is derived from selling motor fuel. If TA’s trucking customers purchase less motor fuel because their trucks are operated more fuel efficiently, TA’s financial results will decline unless it is sufficiently able to offset those declines by selling substitute or other products or services, gaining market share, increasing its gross margins per gallon of fuel sold or reducing its operating costs.
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TA’s operating margins are narrow, and fuel sales comprise the majority of TA’s revenues. Historically, TA’s fuel margins per gallon have declined during periods of rising fuel prices, and during the most recent U.S. recession and the periods of historically high and volatile fuel prices, TA realized large operating losses.
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The trucking industry is the primary customer for TA’s goods and services. When the U.S. economy declines, demand for goods moved by trucks declines, and in turn demand for TA’s products and services typically declines.
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TA’s indebtedness and rent obligations are substantial. A decline in TA’s revenues or an increase in its expenses may make it difficult or impossible for TA to make payments of interest and principal on its debt or meet all of its rent obligations. TA’s substantial indebtedness and rent obligations may also place TA at a disadvantage in relation to competitors that have lower relative debt levels.
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Increasing fuel prices and fuel price volatility have various adverse impacts upon TA’s business. For example, high fuel prices result in higher truck shipping costs, which causes shippers to consider alternative means for transporting freight and therefore reduces trucking business and, in turn, TA’s business. Higher fuel prices may also result in less disposable income for TA’s customers to purchase TA’s non-fuel goods and services. Higher and more volatile fuel commodity prices increase the working capital needed to maintain TA’s fuel inventory and receivables, and this increases TA’s costs of doing business. Further, increases in fuel prices may place TA at a cost disadvantage to its competitors that may have larger fuel inventory or forward contracts executed during periods of lower fuel prices.
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The travel center industry is highly competitive and principally consists of a small number of large competitors. These competitive pressures could result in a reduction of TA's gross margins or an increase in TA's expenses or capital improvement costs, which could negatively affect TA's profitability and liquidity.
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If the trucking industry fails to satisfy market demands for transporting goods, other means for transporting goods may be chosen, which may result in reduced business for the trucking industry and may negatively impact TA’s business, results of operations and liquidity.
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TA's labor costs may increase due to increased demand for labor in the market and for higher skilled personnel, such as technicians, that TA requires. This increased demand may increase TA's labor costs and prevent TA from fully staffing its positions. Further, legislation that increases the minimum wage may further increase TA's labor
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costs. TA may not be able to successfully pass through its increased labor costs in the prices it charges its customers.
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To mitigate the risks arising from fuel price volatility, TA generally maintains limited fuel inventory. Accordingly, an interruption in TA’s fuel supplies, which may be caused by local conditions, such as a malfunction in a particular pipeline or terminal, by weather related events, such as hurricanes in the areas where petroleum or natural gas is extracted or refined, or by national or international conditions, such as government rationing, acts of terrorism, wars and the like, would materially adversely affect TA’s business.
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Increased use of efficient and alternative fuels and any widespread adoption of alternative transportation technologies may reduce demand for TA's products and services; for example, electronic or battery powered trucks may reduce the demand for petroleum based fuels which are TA's principal products or driverless trucks may reduce the number of people who are employed as professional drivers who are TA's principal customers.
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TA’s business is subject to laws relating to the protection of the environment. The travel centers TA operates include fueling areas, truck repair and maintenance facilities and tanks for the storage and dispensing of petroleum products, natural gas, waste and other hazardous substances, all of which create the potential for environmental damage. As a result, TA regularly incurs environmental clean up costs. TA cannot predict what environmental legislation or regulations may be enacted or how existing laws or regulations will be administered or interpreted; more stringent laws, more vigorous enforcement policies or stricter interpretation of existing laws in the future could cause TA to expend significant amounts or experience losses.
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Climate change and other environmental legislation and regulation, and market reaction to such legislation and regulation, may decrease demand for TA's major product, diesel fuel, and require TA to make significant changes to its business and to make capital or other expenditures, which may adversely affect its business.
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TA or franchisees of TA's travel centers may incur significant costs and losses as a result of severe weather, both in terms of operating, preparing and repairing the travel centers in anticipation of, during and after a severe weather event and in terms of lost business due to the interruption in operating TA's travel centers or decreased truck movements.
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For these reasons, among others, TA may be unable to pay us rent, including the
$70.5 million
of deferred rent obligations due to us in sixteen quarterly installments beginning in April 2019 under the terms of our amended lease agreements with TA. For more information about our amended lease agreements with TA, see Notes
5
and
6
to our consolidated financial statements in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We have debt and we may incur additional debt.
As of
December 31, 2018
, our consolidated indebtedness was
$4.2 billion
, our consolidated total debt to gross book value of real estate ratio was
44.2%
and we had
$823.0 million
available for borrowing under our
$1.0 billion
revolving credit facility. The agreement governing our revolving credit facility and our
$400.0 million
term loan, or our credit agreement, includes a feature under which the maximum aggregate borrowing availability may be increased to up to
$2.3 billion
on a combined basis in certain circumstances.
We are subject to numerous risks associated with our debt, including the risk that our cash flows could be insufficient for us to make required payments on our debt. There are no limits in our organizational documents on the amount of debt we may incur, and we may incur substantial debt. Our debt obligations could have important consequences to our securityholders. Our incurring debt may increase our vulnerability to adverse economic, market and industry conditions, limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business, and place us at a disadvantage in relation to competitors that have lower debt levels. Our incurring debt could also increase the costs to us of incurring additional debt, increase our exposure to floating interest rates or expose us to potential events of default (if not cured or waived) under covenants contained in debt instruments that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. Excessive debt could reduce the available cash flow to fund, or limit our ability to obtain financing for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, construction projects, refinancing, lease obligations or other purposes, and hinder our ability to maintain investment grade ratings from nationally recognized credit rating agencies or to make or sustain distributions to our shareholders.
If we default under any of our debt obligations, we may be in default under the agreements governing other debt obligations of ours which have cross default provisions, including our credit agreement and our senior unsecured notes
indentures and their supplements. In such case, our lenders may demand immediate payment of any outstanding indebtedness and we could be forced to liquidate our assets for less than the values we would receive in a more orderly process.
We may be unable to fund capital improvements and renovation costs at our properties and our capital projects may be disruptive to our operations and result in reduced revenues at the affected properties.
Some of our management agreements and lease arrangements require us to fund capital improvements at certain of our properties. We currently expect to invest approximately
$290.0 million
during
2019
and
$39.0 million
during
2020
for capital improvements and renovation costs under our agreements with Marriott, IHG, Sonesta, Wyndham, Radisson and TA. We may not have the funds necessary to make these investments, and such investments, if made, may not be sufficient to maintain or improve the financial results of our properties. Our management agreements and lease arrangements require us to maintain the applicable properties in a certain required condition. If we fail to maintain these properties in the required condition, the manager or tenant may terminate the applicable management or lease agreement and hold us liable for damages.
In addition, renovation projects at our properties may require taking rooms out of service or closing down properties during the renovations, which could reduce revenues at the affected properties. During
2018
, we had 55 comparable hotels under renovation for all or part of the year and these hotels experienced a 2.1% decrease in RevPAR compared to the prior year, compared to a 0.9% increase in RevPAR compared to the prior year for those of our comparable hotels that were not under renovation during
2018
.
We are limited in our ability to operate or manage our properties and are thus dependent on our managers and tenants.
Because federal income tax laws restrict REITs and their subsidiaries from operating or managing hotels or travel centers, we do not operate or manage our hotels or travel centers. Instead, we lease our travel centers to TA and its subsidiaries and lease our hotels to operating companies or to our subsidiaries that qualify as TRSs under the IRC. We have retained third party managers to operate and manage our hotels that are leased to our subsidiaries. Our income from our properties may be adversely affected if our managers or tenants fail to provide quality services and amenities to customers. While we monitor the performance of our managers and tenants and apply asset management strategies and discipline, we have limited recourse under our management agreements and leases if we believe that our managers or tenants are not performing adequately. Any failure by our managers or tenants to fully perform the duties agreed to in our management agreements and leases could adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, our managers and tenants operate, and in some cases own or have invested in, properties that compete with our properties, which may result in conflicts of interest and a reduction of our returns. As a result, our managers and tenants have made, and may in the future make, decisions regarding competing properties or our properties’ operations that may not be in our best interests.
We have a high concentration of properties with a limited number of operators.
TA leases all of our travel centers, which constituted approximately 33% of our total historical real estate investments as of
February 26, 2019
, and two of our hotel managers, IHG and Marriott, operate approximately 22% and 18%, respectively, of our total historical real estate investments as of
February 26, 2019
. If any of these operators were to fail to provide quality services and amenities or to maintain quality brands, our income from these properties may be adversely affected. Further, if we were required to replace any of our operators, we could experience significant disruptions in operations at the applicable properties, which could reduce our income and cash flows from, and the value of, those properties.
Increasing interest rates may adversely affect us.
Since the most recent U.S. recession, the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, or the U.S. Federal Reserve, has taken actions which have resulted in low interest rates prevailing in the marketplace for a historically long period of time. Recently, there have been some modest signs of inflationary price movements, and the U.S. Federal Reserve has been raising the federal funds rate since December 2016. Previously, the U.S. Federal Reserve had indicated that it expected to raise the federal funds rate further in 2019, although it recently indicated that it may delay making those increases. Market interest rates may continue to increase. In addition, as noted in Item 7A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, LIBOR is expected to be phased out in 2021. The interest rates under our revolving credit facility and term loans are based on LIBOR and future debt we may incur may also be based on LIBOR. An alternative interest rate index that may replace LIBOR may result in our paying increased interest. Interest rate increases may materially and negatively affect us in several ways, including:
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Investors may consider whether to buy or sell our common shares based upon the distribution rate on our common shares relative to the then prevailing market interest rates. If market interest rates go up, investors may expect a higher distribution rate than we are able to pay, which may increase our cost of capital, or they may sell our
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common shares and seek alternative investments that offer higher distribution rates. Sales of our common shares may cause a decline in the value of our common shares.
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Amounts outstanding under our revolving credit facility and term loans require interest to be paid at floating interest rates. When interest rates increase, our interest costs will increase, which could adversely affect our cash flows, our ability to pay principal and interest on our debt, our cost of refinancing our fixed rate debts when they become due and our ability to make or sustain distributions to our shareholders.
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Property values are often determined, in part, based upon a capitalization of rental income formula. When market interest rates increase, property investors often demand higher capitalization rates and that causes property values to decline. Increases in interest rates could lower the value of our properties and cause the value of our securities to decline.
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Certain of our management agreements and leases limit our ability to sell or finance our properties.
Under the terms of certain of our management agreements and leases, we generally may not sell, lease or otherwise transfer the applicable property unless the transferee is not a competitor of the applicable manager or tenant and the transferee assumes the related management agreement or lease and meets other specified conditions. Our ability to finance or sell our properties, depending upon the structure of such transactions, may require a manager’s or tenant’s consent under the applicable agreement. If, in these circumstances, the manager or tenant does not consent, we may be prevented from taking actions which might be beneficial to our shareholders.
We may be unable to grow our business by acquisitions of additional properties.
Our business plans involve the acquisition of additional properties. Our ability to make profitable acquisitions is subject to risks, including, but not limited to, risks associated with:
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competition from other investors, including publicly traded and private REITs, numerous financial institutions, individuals, foreign investors and other public and private companies;
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our long term cost of capital;
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contingencies in our acquisition agreements; and
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the availability and terms of financing.
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We might encounter unanticipated difficulties and expenditures relating to our acquired properties. For example:
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we do not believe that it is possible to understand fully a property before it is owned and operated for a reasonable period of time, and, notwithstanding pre-acquisition due diligence, we could acquire a property that contains undisclosed defects in design or construction or which was not properly staffed;
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the market in which an acquired property is located may experience unexpected changes that adversely affect the property’s value;
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the occupancy of and rents or returns from properties that we acquire may decline during our ownership;
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property operating costs for our acquired properties may be higher than anticipated and our acquired properties may not yield expected returns;
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we may acquire properties subject to unknown liabilities and without any recourse, or with limited recourse, such as liability for the clean up of undisclosed environmental contamination or for claims by tenants, vendors or other persons related to actions taken by former owners of the properties; and
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acquired properties might require significant management attention that would otherwise be devoted to our other business activities.
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For these reasons, among others, we might not realize the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, and our business plan to acquire additional properties may not succeed or may cause us to experience losses.
We face significant competition.
We face significant competition for acquisition opportunities from other investors, including publicly traded and private REITs, numerous financial institutions, operating companies in the hospitality industry, individuals, foreign investors and other public and private companies. Some of our competitors may have greater financial and other resources than us and may be able to accept more risk than we can prudently manage, including risks with respect to the creditworthiness of property operators and the extent of leverage used in their capital structure. Because of competition for acquisitions, we may be unable to acquire desirable properties or we may pay higher prices for, and realize lower net cash flows than we hope to achieve from, acquisitions.
REIT distribution requirements and limitations on our ability to access reasonably priced capital may adversely impact our ability to carry out our business plan.
To maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, we are required to distribute at least 90% of our annual REIT taxable income (excluding capital gains). Accordingly, we may not be able to retain sufficient cash to fund our operations, repay our debts, invest in our properties or fund our acquisitions or development or redevelopment efforts. Our business strategies therefore depend, in part, upon our ability to raise additional capital at reasonable costs. The volatility in the availability of capital to businesses on a global basis in most debt and equity markets generally may limit our ability to raise reasonably priced capital. We may also be unable to raise reasonably priced capital because of reasons related to our business, market perceptions of our prospects, the terms of our indebtedness, the extent of our leverage or for reasons beyond our control, such as market conditions. Because the earnings we are permitted to retain are limited by the rules governing REIT qualification and taxation, if we are unable to raise reasonably priced capital, we may not be able to carry out our business plan.
We may fail to comply with the terms of our credit agreement and our senior unsecured notes indentures and their supplements, which could adversely affect our business and may prevent our making distributions to our shareholders.
Our credit agreement and our senior unsecured notes indentures and their supplements include various conditions, covenants and events of default. We may not be able to satisfy all of these conditions or may default on some of these covenants for various reasons, including for reasons beyond our control. For example, our credit agreement and our senior unsecured notes indentures and their supplements require us to maintain certain debt service ratios. Our ability to comply with such covenants will depend upon the returns and rents we receive from our properties. If our returns and rents decline, we may be unable to borrow under our revolving credit facility. Complying with these covenants may limit our ability to take actions that may be beneficial to us and our securityholders.
If we are unable to borrow under our revolving credit facility, we may be unable to meet our obligations or grow our business by acquiring additional properties. If we default under our credit agreement, our lenders may demand immediate payment and may elect not to fund future borrowings. During the continuance of any event of default under our credit agreement, we may be limited or in some cases prohibited from making distributions to our shareholders. Any default under our credit agreement that results in acceleration of our obligations to repay outstanding indebtedness or in our no longer being permitted to borrow under our revolving credit facility would likely have serious adverse consequences to us and would likely cause the value of our securities to decline.
In the future, we may obtain additional debt financing, and the covenants and conditions which apply to any such additional debt may be more restrictive than the covenants and conditions that are contained in our credit agreement or our senior unsecured notes indentures and their supplements.
Ownership of real estate is subject to environmental risks and liabilities.
Ownership of real estate is subject to risks associated with environmental hazards. Under various laws, owners as well as tenants and managers of real estate may be required to investigate and clean up or remove hazardous substances present at or migrating from properties they own, lease or manage and may be held liable for property damage or personal injuries that result from hazardous substances. These laws also expose us to the possibility that we may become liable to government agencies or third parties for costs and damages they incur in connection with hazardous substances. The costs and damages that may arise from environmental hazards are difficult to assess and estimate for numerous reasons, including uncertainty about the extent of contamination, alternative treatment methods that may be applied, the location of the property which subjects it to differing local laws and regulations and their interpretations, as well as the time it may take to remediate contamination. In addition, these laws also impose various requirements regarding the operation and maintenance of properties and recordkeeping and reporting requirements relating to environmental matters that require us or the operators of our properties to incur costs to comply with.
In addition, we believe that some of our properties may contain asbestos. We believe any asbestos on our properties is contained in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, and we have no current plans to remove it. If we remove the asbestos or renovate or demolish the affected properties, certain environmental regulations govern the manner in which the asbestos must be handled and removed, and we could incur substantial costs complying with such regulations.
Our travel centers include fueling areas, truck repair and maintenance facilities and vehicles and tanks for the storage of petroleum products and other hazardous substances, all of which create the potential for environmental contamination. As a result, TA regularly incurs environmental clean up costs. Under the leases that we entered with TA, TA agreed to indemnify us from all environmental liabilities arising at any travel centers during the term of the leases. Despite this indemnity, various federal and state laws impose environmental liabilities upon property owners, such as us, for any environmental damages arising at, or migrating from, properties they own and we cannot be sure that we will not be liable for environmental investigation and clean up at, or near, our properties. Moreover, TA may not have sufficient resources to pay its environmental liabilities and environmental indemnity to us. The negative impact on TA from economic downturns, volatility in the petroleum markets, industry challenges facing the trucking industry and TA’s business and other factors may make it more likely that TA will be unable to fulfill its indemnification obligations to us in the event that environmental claims arise at our travel centers. Any environmental liabilities for which we are responsible and not indemnified could adversely affect our financial condition and result in losses.
We may incur substantial liabilities and costs for environmental matters.
Ownership of real estate is subject to risks from adverse weather and climate events.
Severe weather may have an adverse effect on certain properties we own. Flooding caused by rising sea levels and severe weather events, including hurricanes, tornadoes and widespread fires, may have an adverse effect on properties we own and result in significant losses to us and interruption of our business. When major weather or climate-related events, such as hurricanes, floods and wildfires, occur near our hotels or travel centers, our manager or tenant may need to suspend operations of the impacted hotel or travel center until the event has ended and the property is then ready for operation. We or the operators of our properties may incur significant costs and losses as a result of these activities, both in terms of operating, preparing and repairing our hotels and travel centers in anticipation of, during and after a severe weather or climate-related event and in terms of potential lost business due to the interruption in operating our properties. Our insurance and our managers' and tenants' insurance may not adequately compensate us or them for these costs and losses.
Also, concerns about climate change have resulted in various treaties, laws and regulations that are intended to limit carbon emissions and address other environmental concerns. These and other laws may cause energy or other costs at our hotel and travel center properties to increase. Laws enacted to mitigate climate change may make some of our buildings obsolete or cause us to make material investments in our properties, which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition or the financial condition of our tenants or managers and their ability to pay rent or returns to us and cause the value of our securities to decline.
Real estate ownership creates risks and liabilities.
In addition to the risks discussed above, our business is subject to other risks associated with real estate ownership, including:
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the illiquid nature of real estate markets, which limits our ability to sell our assets rapidly to respond to changing market conditions;
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the subjectivity of real estate valuations and changes in such valuations over time;
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costs that may be incurred relating to property maintenance and repair, and the need to make expenditures due to changes in government regulations; and
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liabilities and litigations arising from injuries on our properties or otherwise incidental to the ownership of our properties.
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Real estate construction and redevelopment creates risks.
Our business may involve the development of new properties or the redevelopment of some of our existing properties as the existing management agreements or leases expire, or as our managers’ or tenants’ needs change or to pursue any other
opportunities that we believe are desirable. The development and redevelopment of new and existing buildings involves significant risks in addition to those involved in the ownership and operation of properties, including the risks that construction may not be completed on schedule or within budget, resulting in increased construction costs and delays in such properties generating cash flows. Development activities are also subject to risks relating to the inability to obtain, or delays in obtaining, all necessary zoning, land use, building, occupancy, and other required government permits and authorizations. Once completed, any new properties may perform below anticipated financial results. The occurrence of one or more of these circumstances in connection with our development or redevelopment activities could have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the value of our securities.
RMR LLC and our hotel managers rely on information technology and systems in their operations, and any material failure, inadequacy, interruption or security failure of that technology or those systems could materially and adversely affect us.
RMR LLC and our hotel managers rely on information technology and systems, including the Internet, commercially available software and its internally developed applications, to process, transmit, store and safeguard information and to manage or support a variety of their business processes (including managing our building systems), including financial transactions and maintenance of records, which may include personal identifying information of employees, guests and tenants and lease data. If RMR LLC or any of our hotel managers experiences material security or other failures, inadequacies or interruptions of its information technology, it could incur material costs and losses and our operations could be disrupted as a result. Further, third party vendors could experience similar events with respect to their information technology and systems that impact the products and services they provide to RMR LLC, our hotel managers or us. RMR LLC and our hotel managers rely on commercially available systems, software, tools and monitoring, as well as their internally developed applications and internal procedures and personnel, to provide security for processing, transmitting, storing and safeguarding confidential guest, tenant, customer and vendor information, such as personally identifiable information related to their employees and others, including in our hotel managers’ case, guests, and information regarding their and our financial accounts. RMR LLC and each of our hotel managers takes various actions, and incurs significant costs, to maintain and protect the operation and security of its information technology and systems, including the data maintained in those systems. However, it is possible that these measures will not prevent the systems’ improper functioning or a compromise in security, such as in the event of a cyberattack or the improper disclosure of personally identifiable information.
Security breaches, computer viruses, attacks by hackers, online fraud schemes and similar breaches can create significant system disruptions, shutdowns, fraudulent transfer of assets or unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. For example, in June 2017, we and RMR LLC became aware that we and RMR LLC had been victim of criminal fraud in which a person pretending to be a representative of a seller in one of our property acquisition transactions provided fraudulent money wire instructions that caused money to be wire transferred to an account that was believed to be, but was not, the seller's account. Although RMR LLC reimbursed us and we did not incur any loss as a result, there may be a risk that similar fraudulent activities could be attempted against us, RMR LLC or others with respect to assets. The cybersecurity risks to RMR LLC, our hotel managers and third party vendors are heightened by, among other things, the evolving nature of the threats faced, advances in computer capabilities, new discoveries in the field of cryptography and new and increasingly sophisticated methods used to perpetrate illegal or fraudulent activities against RMR LLC or our hotel managers, including cyberattacks, email or wire fraud and other attacks exploiting security vulnerabilities in RMR LLC’s, our hotel managers’ or other third parties’ information technology networks and systems or operations. Any failure to maintain the security, proper function and availability of RMR LLC’s or our hotels managers’ information technology and systems, or certain third party vendors’ failure to similarly protect their information technology and systems that are relevant to RMR LLC’s, our hotel managers’ or our operations, or to safeguard RMR LLC’s, our hotel managers’ or our business processes, assets and information could result in financial losses, interrupt RMR LLC’s or our hotel managers’ operations, damage RMR LLC’s or our hotel managers’ reputation, cause RMR LLC or our hotel managers to be in default of material contracts and subject RMR LLC or our hotel managers to liability claims or regulatory penalties, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business and the value of our securities.
We currently own some properties located outside the United States and may consider additional investments outside this country in the future, and such investments create risks.
We currently own two hotels in Canada. If we make other investments in real estate outside the United States, we will face risks arising from those investments, including:
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Laws affecting the operations of hotels in foreign countries may require us to assume responsibility for payments due to employees of hotels we own or in which we invest.
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Foreign laws affecting real estate may restrict the ability of entities organized or controlled by persons outside those countries, like us, to own or make management decisions affecting the properties in which we invest.
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In most foreign countries, we will not have the same or similar tax status as we have in the United States, we will be subject to local taxes, and our net earnings may be less than we would realize by making investments in the United States.
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Most of the hotels located in foreign countries in which we would invest will conduct business in local currencies rather than in U.S. dollars. We may be able to mitigate some of the risk of changing comparative currency valuations by funding our foreign investments in local currencies; however, it is unlikely we will be able to completely mitigate such foreign currency exchange rate risk.
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Some foreign countries do not have judicial dispute resolution processes which are as efficient or impartial as the U.S. judicial system generally. We may mitigate this risk by making the resolution of disputes which may arise from our foreign investments subject to arbitration; however, the enforcement of arbitration awards will remain subject to local judicial processes and there may be no way for us to mitigate the risks of our dealings in a foreign legal system.
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Investments by U.S. entities like us in foreign countries may be particularly subject to terrorism risks as it relates to the ownership of prominently identified properties such as hotels.
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The political systems in certain foreign countries are less stable than in the United States, and certain foreign governments have in the past expropriated properties owned by U.S. entities like us without paying fair compensation.
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Although we will attempt to balance the potential rewards of future investments in foreign countries against these and other risks, we may not be successful in doing so and investments we make in real estate located in foreign countries may result in material losses.
Insurance may not adequately cover our losses.
We or our managers and tenants are responsible for the costs of insurance coverage for our properties, including for casualty, liability, fire, extended coverage and rental or business interruption loss insurance. In the future, we may acquire additional properties for which we are responsible for the costs of insurance. Losses of a catastrophic nature, such as those caused by hurricanes, flooding, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, among other things, may be covered by insurance policies with limitations such as large deductibles or co-payments that we, our managers or a responsible tenant may not be able to pay. Insurance proceeds may not be adequate to restore an affected property to its condition prior to a loss or to compensate us for our losses, including the loss of future revenues from an affected property. Similarly, our other insurance, including our general liability insurance, may not provide adequate insurance to cover our losses. In addition, we do not have any insurance to limit losses that we may incur as a result of known or unknown environmental conditions.
We may incur significant costs complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act and similar laws.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and certain similar state statutes, many commercial properties must meet specified requirements related to access and use by disabled persons. We may be required to make substantial capital expenditures at our properties to comply with these laws. In addition, non-compliance could result in the imposition of fines or an award of damages and costs to private litigants. These expenditures may have an adverse impact on our financial results and the value of our securities.
We are subject to risks associated with our hotel managers’ employment of personnel.
Our hotel managers are responsible for hiring and maintaining the labor force at each of our hotel properties. Although we do not directly employ or manage employees at our hotel properties, we are subject to many of the costs and risks associated with the hotel labor force. From time to time, hotel operations may be disrupted as a result of strikes, lockouts, public demonstrations or other negative actions and publicity. We may also incur increased legal costs and indirect labor costs as a result of contract disputes and other events. The resolution of labor disputes or renegotiated labor contracts could lead to increased labor costs, either by increases in wages or benefits or by changes in work rules.
Consolidation of hotel managers through merger and acquisition transactions may adversely affect our hotel properties.
Consolidation of third party managers could adversely affect our hotel properties due to the undefined and unknown costs associated with the integrations of property-level point of sale and back-of-house computer systems and other technology related processes, the training and other labor costs associated with merging of labor forces, and the impact of hotel reward point program consolidation. Additionally, the consolidation of third party managers may negatively impact the terms we are able to obtain in future hotel operating agreements.
Our business could be adversely impacted if there are deficiencies in our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting.
The design and effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and our internal control over financial reporting may not prevent all errors, misstatements or misrepresentations. While management will continue to review the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and our internal control over financial reporting, there can be no guarantee that our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting will be effective in accomplishing all control objectives all of the time. Deficiencies, including any material weaknesses, in our disclosure controls and procedures or internal control over financial reporting could result in misstatements of our results of operations or our financial statements or could otherwise materially and adversely affect our business, reputation, results of operations, financial condition or liquidity.
Changes in lease accounting standards may materially and adversely affect us.
The Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, adopted new accounting rules that are effective for fiscal years ending after December 2018, which require companies to capitalize substantially all leases on their balance sheets by recognizing a lessee’s rights and obligations. Many companies that account for certain leases on an “off balance sheet” basis are now required to account for such leases “on balance sheet.” This change removes many of the differences in the way companies account for owned property and leased property and could have a material effect on various aspects of our tenants’ businesses, including the appearance of their credit quality and other factors they consider in deciding whether to own or lease properties. These rules could cause companies that lease properties to prefer shorter lease terms in an effort to reduce the leasing liability required to be recorded on their balance sheets or some companies may decide to prefer property ownership to leasing. Such decisions by our current or prospective tenants may adversely impact our business and the value of our securities.
Risks Related to Our Relationships with RMR Inc., RMR LLC, Sonesta and TA.
We are dependent upon RMR LLC to manage our business and implement our growth strategy.
We have no employees. Personnel and services that we require are provided to us by RMR LLC pursuant to our management agreements with RMR LLC. Our ability to achieve our business objectives depends on RMR LLC and its ability to effectively manage our properties, to appropriately identify and complete our acquisitions and dispositions and to execute our growth strategy. Accordingly, our business is dependent upon RMR LLC’s business contacts, its ability to successfully hire, train, supervise and manage its personnel and its ability to maintain its operating systems. If we lose the services provided by RMR LLC or its key personnel, our business and growth prospects may decline. We may be unable to duplicate the quality and depth of management available to us by becoming internally managed or by hiring another manager. In the event RMR LLC is unwilling or unable to continue to provide management services to us, our cost of obtaining substitute services may be greater than the fees we pay RMR LLC under our management agreements, and as a result our expenses may increase.
RMR LLC has broad discretion in operating our day to day business.
Our manager, RMR LLC, is authorized to follow broad operating and investment guidelines and, therefore, has discretion in identifying the properties that will be appropriate investments for us, as well as our individual operating and investment decisions. Our Board of Trustees periodically reviews our operating and investment guidelines and our operating activities and investments but it does not review or approve each decision made by RMR LLC on our behalf. In addition, in conducting periodic reviews, our Board of Trustees relies primarily on information provided to it by RMR LLC. RMR LLC may exercise its discretion in a manner that results in investment returns that are substantially below expectations or that results in losses.
Our management structure and agreements and relationships with RMR LLC and RMR LLC’s and its controlling shareholder's relationships with others may create conflicts of interest, or the perception of such conflicts, and may restrict our investment activities.
RMR LLC is a subsidiary of RMR Inc. One of our Managing Trustees, Adam D. Portnoy, is the sole trustee of ABP Trust, is the controlling shareholder of RMR Inc. and is a managing director and the president and chief executive officer of RMR Inc. and an officer and employee of RMR LLC. Ethan Bornstein, our Senior Vice President, is the brother-in-law of Adam Portnoy. RMR LLC or its subsidiary also acts as the manager for four other Nasdaq listed REITs: OPI, which primarily owns office properties leased to single tenants and high credit quality tenants, including government tenants; ILPT, which owns industrial and logistics properties; SNH, which primarily owns healthcare, senior living properties and medical office buildings; and TRMT, which primarily originates and invests in first mortgage loans secured by middle market and transitional commercial real estate. RMR LLC also provides services to other publicly and privately owned companies, including: Five Star, which operates senior living communities; TA, our largest tenant, which operates and franchises travel centers and restaurants; and Sonesta, which managed
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of our hotels as of December 31, 2018 and operates, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and cruise ships. A subsidiary of RMR LLC is an investment adviser to the RMR Real Estate Income Fund, or RIF, a closed end investment company listed on the NYSE American, which invests in securities of real estate companies that are not managed by RMR LLC.
John G. Murray, our other Managing Trustee and our President and Chief Executive Officer, Brian E. Donley, our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and Ethan Bornstein, our Senior Vice President, are also officers and employees of RMR LLC. Mr. Murray is also the president and chief executive officer of ILPT and Mr. Donley is also the chief financial officer and treasurer of RIF. Messrs. Murray, Donley and Bornstein have duties to RMR LLC, and Mr. Murray has duties to ILPT and Mr. Donley has duties to RIF, as well as to us, and we do not have their undivided attention. They and other RMR LLC personnel may have conflicts in allocating their time and resources between us and RMR LLC and other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide services. Our Independent Trustees also serve as independent directors or independent trustees of other public companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services.
In addition, we may in the future enter into additional transactions with RMR LLC, its affiliates, or entities managed by it or its subsidiaries. In addition to his investments in RMR Inc. and RMR LLC, Adam Portnoy holds equity investments in other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services and some of these companies have significant cross ownership interests, including, for example: as of
December 31, 2018
, Adam Portnoy beneficially owned, in aggregate, 1.1% of our outstanding common shares, 35.7% of Five Star’s outstanding common stock, 1.2% of ILPT's outstanding common shares, 1.5% of OPI’s outstanding common shares, 1.1% of SNH’s outstanding common shares, 2.2% of RIF’s outstanding common shares; and, through RMR LLC and its subsidiaries, 4.1% of TA’s outstanding common shares and 19.0% of TRMT’s outstanding common shares; and we owned 8.5% of TA’s outstanding common shares. Our executive officers may also own equity investments in other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services. These multiple responsibilities, relationships and cross ownerships could give rise to conflicts of interest or the perception of such conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving us, RMR Inc., RMR LLC, our Managing Trustees, the other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services and their related parties. Conflicts of interest or the perception of conflicts of interest could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, business and the market price of our common shares and other securities and we may be subject to increased risk of litigation as a result.
In our management agreements with RMR LLC, we acknowledge that RMR LLC may engage in other activities or businesses and act as the manager to any other person or entity (including other REITs) even though such person or entity has investment policies and objectives similar to our policies and objectives and we are not entitled to preferential treatment in receiving information, recommendations and other services from RMR LLC. Accordingly, we may lose investment opportunities to, and may compete for tenants with, other businesses managed by RMR LLC or its subsidiaries. We cannot be sure that our Code of Conduct or our Governance Guidelines, or other procedural protections we adopt will be sufficient to enable us to identify, adequately address or mitigate actual or alleged conflicts of interest or ensure that our transactions with related persons are made on terms that are at least as favorable to us as those that would have been obtained with an unrelated person.
Our management agreements were not negotiated on an arm’s length basis and their fee and expense structure may not create proper incentives for RMR LLC, which may increase the risk of an investment in our common shares.
As a result of our relationships with RMR LLC and its current and former controlling shareholder(s), our management agreements were not negotiated on an arm’s length basis between unrelated parties, and therefore the terms, including the fees payable to RMR LLC, may not be as favorable to us as they would have been if they were negotiated on an arm’s length basis between unrelated parties. Our property management fees are calculated based on rents we receive and construction supervision fees for construction at our properties overseen and managed by RMR LLC, and our base business management fee is calculated based upon the lower of the historical costs of our real estate investments and our market capitalization. We pay RMR LLC substantial base management fees regardless of our financial results. These fee arrangements could incentivize RMR LLC to pursue acquisitions, capital transactions, tenancies and construction projects or to avoid disposing of our assets in
order to increase or maintain its management fees and might reduce RMR LLC’s incentive to devote its time and effort to seeking investments that provide attractive returns for us. If we do not effectively manage our investment, disposition and capital transactions and leasing, construction and other property management activities, we may pay increased management fees without proportional benefits to us. In addition, we are obligated under our management agreements to reimburse RMR LLC for employment and related expenses of RMR LLC’s employees assigned to work exclusively or partly at our properties, our share of the wages, benefits and other related costs of RMR LLC’s centralized accounting personnel and our share of RMR LLC’s costs for providing our internal audit function. We are also required to pay for third party costs incurred with respect to us. Our obligation to reimburse RMR LLC for certain of its costs and to pay third party costs may reduce RMR LLC’s incentive to efficiently manage those costs, which may increase our costs.
The termination of our management agreements may require us to pay a substantial termination fee, including in the case of a termination for unsatisfactory performance, which may limit our ability to end our relationship with RMR LLC.
The terms of our management agreements with RMR LLC automatically extend on December 31st of each year so that such terms thereafter end on the 20th anniversary of the date of the extension. We have the right to terminate these agreements: (1) at any time on 60 days’ written notice for convenience, (2) immediately upon written notice for cause, as defined in the agreements, (3) on written notice given within 60 days after the end of any applicable calendar year for a performance reason, as defined in the agreements, and (4) by written notice during the 12 months following a manager change of control, as defined in the agreements. However, if we terminate a management agreement for convenience, or if RMR LLC terminates a management agreement with us for good reason, as defined in such agreement, we are obligated to pay RMR LLC a termination fee in an amount equal to the sum of the present values of the monthly future fees, as defined in the applicable agreement, payable to RMR LLC for the term that was remaining before such termination, which, depending on the time of termination, would be between 19 and 20 years. Additionally, if we terminate a management agreement for a performance reason, as defined in the agreement, we are obligated to pay RMR LLC the termination fee calculated as described above, but assuming a remaining term of 10 years. These provisions substantially increase the cost to us of terminating the management agreements without cause, which may limit our ability to end our relationship with RMR LLC as our manager. The payment of the termination fee could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, including our ability to pay dividends to our shareholders.
Our management arrangements with RMR LLC may discourage a change of control of us.
Our management agreements with RMR LLC have continuing 20 year terms that renew annually. As noted in the preceding risk factor, if we terminate either of these management agreements other than for cause or upon a change of control of our manager, we are obligated to pay RMR LLC a substantial termination fee. For these reasons, our management agreements with RMR LLC may discourage a change of control of us, including a change of control which might result in payment of a premium for our common shares.
Our business dealings with TA and Sonesta comprise a significant part of our business and operations and they may create conflicts of interest or the perception of such conflicts of interest.
TA is our former 100% owned subsidiary and our largest tenant, and we are TA’s largest shareholder and landlord. TA was created as a separate public company in 2007 as a result of its spin-off from us. Adam Portnoy, one of our Managing Trustees, serves as a managing director of TA and, through RMR LLC, beneficially owns 4.1% of TA’s outstanding common shares. Adam Portnoy is the controlling shareholder, managing director and chief executive officer of RMR Inc., the parent of RMR LLC, which provides management services to both us and TA. We recognized rental income of
$302.3 million
for the year ended
December 31, 2018
under our TA leases.
Sonesta managed
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of our hotels as of
December 31, 2018
. Sonesta is majority owned by Adam Portnoy. Sonesta’s chief executive officer and chief financial officer are officers of RMR LLC, and other officers and employees of Sonesta are former employees of RMR LLC. We realized returns of
$78.1 million
under our Sonesta agreement and incurred management, system and reservation fees payable to Sonesta of
$34.8 million
and procurement and construction supervision fees of
$2.4 million
for the year ended
December 31, 2018
.
The historical and continuing relationships which we, RMR LLC and Adam Portnoy have with TA and Sonesta could create, or appear to create, conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving us, the other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services and their related parties. As a result of these relationships, our agreements with TA and Sonesta were not negotiated on an arm’s length basis between unrelated parties, and therefore may not be as favorable to us as they would have been if they were negotiated on an arm’s length basis between unrelated parties.
Conflicts of interest or the perception of conflicts of interest could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, business and the market price of our common shares and other securities and we may be subject to increased risk of litigation as a result.
We may not realize the expected benefits of our acquisition of an interest in RMR Inc.
In June 2015, we participated in a transaction with RMR Inc., RMR LLC, ABP Trust and three other REITs to which RMR LLC then provided management services in which, among other things, we acquired 5,019,121 shares of RMR Inc.’s class A common stock, ABP Trust acquired 1,490,000 of our common shares and we amended our management agreements with RMR LLC and extended them for continuing 20 year terms, or the Up-C Transaction. In December 2015, we distributed 2,515,344 of the shares of RMR Inc.’s class A common stock that we received in the Up-C Transaction pro rata to our shareholders. We believe the Up-C Transaction provided several benefits to us, including an attractive investment in the equity securities of RMR Inc., the further alignment of the interests of RMR LLC and Adam Portnoy with our interests and greater transparency for us and our shareholders into the compensation practices and financial and operating results of RMR LLC. However, our investment in RMR Inc. is subject to various risks, including the highly competitive nature of RMR LLC’s business, the limited public market for RMR Inc.’s securities and the super-voting common shares of RMR Inc. that provide Adam Portnoy with the ability to determine the outcome of all matters requiring RMR Inc. shareholder approval, among others, which may result in us not realizing the benefits we expect from the Up-C Transaction.
We are party to transactions with related parties that may increase the risk of allegations of conflicts of interest, and such allegations may impair our ability to realize the benefits we expect from these transactions.
We are party to transactions with related parties, including with entities controlled by Adam Portnoy or to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services. Our agreements with related parties or in respect of transactions among related parties may not be on terms as favorable to us as they would have been if they had been negotiated among unrelated parties. We are subject to the risk that our shareholders or the shareholders of TA, RMR Inc. or other related parties may challenge any such related party transactions and the agreements entered into as part of them. If such a challenge were to be successful, we might not realize the benefits expected from the transactions being challenged. Moreover, any such challenge could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention, could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business and growth and could adversely affect our ability to realize the benefits expected from the transactions, whether or not the allegations have merit or are substantiated.
We may be at an increased risk for dissident shareholder activities due to perceived conflicts of interest arising from our management structure and relationships.
Companies with business dealings with related persons and entities may more often be the target of dissident shareholder trustee nominations, dissident shareholder proposals and shareholder litigation alleging conflicts of interest in their business dealings. Our relationships with RMR Inc., RMR LLC, TA, Sonesta, AIC, the other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services, Adam Portnoy and other related persons of RMR LLC may precipitate such activities. Certain proxy advisory firms which have significant influence over the voting by shareholders of public companies have, in the past, recommended, and in the future may recommend, that shareholders vote against the election of our incumbent Trustees, vote against our say on pay vote or other management proposals or vote for shareholder proposals that we oppose. These recommendations by proxy advisory firms have affected the outcomes of past Board of Trustees elections and votes on our say on pay, and similar recommendations in the future would likely affect the outcome of future Board of Trustees elections and votes on our say on pay, which may increase shareholder activism and litigation. These activities, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs, and diversion of our management’s attention and could have a material adverse impact on our reputation and business.
We may experience losses from our business dealings with AIC.
We, ABP Trust, TA and four other companies to which RMR LLC provides management services each own 14.3% of AIC, and we have invested approximately $6.0 million in AIC. We and those other AIC shareholders participate in a combined property insurance program arranged and insured or reinsured in part by AIC and we periodically consider the possibilities for expanding our relationship with AIC to other types of insurance. Our principal reason for investing in AIC and for purchasing insurance in these programs is to seek to improve our financial results by obtaining improved insurance coverages at lower costs than may be otherwise available to us or by participating in any profits which we may realize as an owner of AIC. While we believe we have in the past benefitted from these arrangements, these beneficial financial results may not occur in the future, and we may need to invest additional capital in order to continue to pursue these results. AIC’s business involves the risks typical of an insurance business, including the risk that it may not operate profitably. Accordingly,
financial benefits from our business dealings with AIC may not be achieved in the future, and we may experience losses from these dealings.
Risks Related to Our Organization and Structure
Ownership limitations and certain provisions in our declaration of trust, bylaws and agreements, as well as certain provisions of Maryland law, may deter, delay or prevent a change in our control or unsolicited acquisition proposals.
Our declaration of trust and bylaws prohibit any shareholder other than RMR LLC and its affiliates (as defined under Maryland law) and certain persons who have been exempted by our Board of Trustees from owning, directly and by attribution, more than 9.8% of the number or value of shares (whichever is more restrictive) of any class or series of our outstanding shares of beneficial interest, including our common shares. These provisions are intended to, among other purposes, assist with our REIT compliance under the IRC and otherwise promote our orderly governance. However, these provisions may also inhibit acquisitions of a significant stake in us and may deter, delay or prevent a change in control of us or unsolicited acquisition proposals that a shareholder may consider favorable. Additionally, provisions contained in our declaration of trust and bylaws or under Maryland law may have a similar impact, including, for example, provisions relating to:
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the division of our Trustees into three classes, with the term of one class expiring each year, which could delay a change of control of us;
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the authority of our Board of Trustees, and not our shareholders, to adopt, amend or repeal our bylaws and to fill vacancies on our Board of Trustees;
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shareholder voting standards which require a supermajority for approval of certain actions;
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the fact that only our Board of Trustees, or, if there are no Trustees, our officers, may call shareholder meetings and that shareholders are not entitled to act without a meeting;
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required qualifications for an individual to serve as a Trustee and a requirement that certain of our Trustees be “Managing Trustees” and other Trustees be “Independent Trustees,” as defined in our governing documents;
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limitations on the ability of our shareholders to propose nominees for election as Trustees and propose other business to be considered at a meeting of our shareholders;
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limitations on the ability of our shareholders to remove our Trustees;
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requirements that shareholders comply with regulatory requirements (including Nevada and Louisiana gaming and Indiana insurance licensing requirements) affecting us which could effectively limit share ownership of us, including in some cases, to 5% of our outstanding shares;
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the authority of our Board of Trustees to create and issue new classes or series of shares (including shares with voting rights and other rights and privileges that may deter a change in control) and issue additional common shares;
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restrictions on business combinations between us and an interested shareholder that have not first been approved by our Board of Trustees (including a majority of Trustees not related to the interested shareholder); and
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the authority of our Board of Trustees, without shareholder approval, to implement certain takeover defenses.
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In addition, our shareholders agreement with respect to AIC provides that AIC and the other shareholders of AIC may have rights to acquire our interests in AIC in the event that anyone acquires more than 9.8% of our shares or we experience some other change in control.
Certain aspects of our business may prevent shareholders from accumulating a large stake in us, from nominating or serving as our Trustees, or from taking actions to otherwise control our business.
Certain of our properties include gambling operations. Applicable state laws require that any shareholder who owns or controls 5% or more of our securities or anyone who wishes to serve as one of our Trustees must be licensed or approved by the
state regulators responsible for gambling operations. Similarly, as an owner of AIC, we are licensed and approved as an insurance holding company, and any shareholder who owns or controls 10% or more of our securities or anyone who wishes to solicit proxies for election of, or to serve as, one of our Trustees or for another proposal of business not approved by our Board of Trustees may be required to receive pre-clearance from the concerned insurance regulators. These approval and pre-approval procedures may discourage or prevent investors from purchasing our securities, from nominating persons to serve as our Trustees or from taking other actions.
Our rights and the rights of our shareholders to take action against our Trustees and officers are limited.
Our declaration of trust limits the liability of our Trustees and officers to us and our shareholders for money damages to the maximum extent permitted under Maryland law. Under current Maryland law, our Trustees and officers will not have any liability to us and our shareholders for money damages other than liability resulting from:
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actual receipt of an improper benefit or profit in money, property or services; or
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active and deliberate dishonesty by the Trustee or officer that was established by a final judgment as being material to the cause of action adjudicated.
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Our declaration of trust and indemnification agreements require us to indemnify, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law, any present or former Trustee or officer who is made or threatened to be made a party to a proceeding by reason of his or her service in these and certain other capacities. In addition, we may be obligated to pay or reimburse the expenses incurred by our present and former Trustees and officers without requiring a preliminary determination of their ultimate entitlement to indemnification. As a result, we and our shareholders may have more limited rights against our present and former Trustees and officers than might otherwise exist absent the provisions in our declaration of trust and indemnification agreements or that might exist with other companies, which could limit our shareholders' recourse in the event of actions not in their best interest.
Shareholder litigation against us or our Trustees, officers, manager, other agents or employees may be referred to mandatory arbitration proceedings, which follow different procedures than in-court litigation and may be more restrictive to shareholders asserting claims than in-court litigation.
Our shareholders agree, by virtue of becoming shareholders, that they are bound by our governing documents, including the arbitration provisions of our bylaws, as they may be amended from time to time. Our bylaws provide that certain actions by one or more of our shareholders against us or any of our Trustees, officers, manager, other agents or employees, other than disputes, or any portion thereof, regarding the meaning, interpretation or validity of any provision of our declaration of trust or bylaws, will be referred to mandatory, binding and final arbitration proceedings if we, or any other party to such dispute, including any of our Trustees, officers, manager, other agents or employees, unilaterally so demands. As a result, we and our shareholders would not be able to pursue litigation in state or federal court against us or our Trustees, officers, manager, other agents or employees, including, for example, claims alleging violations of federal securities laws or breach of fiduciary duties or similar director or officer duties under Maryland law, if we or any of our Trustees, officers, manager, other parties or employees against whom the claim is made unilaterally demands the matter be resolved by arbitration. Instead, our shareholders would be required to pursue such claims through binding and final arbitration.
Our bylaws provide that such arbitration proceedings would be conducted in accordance with the procedures of the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association, as modified in our bylaws. These procedures may provide materially more limited rights to our shareholders than litigation in a federal or state court. For example, arbitration in accordance with these procedures does not include the opportunity for a jury trial, document discovery is limited, arbitration hearings generally are not open to the public, there are no witness depositions in advance of arbitration hearings and arbitrators may have different qualifications or experiences than judges. In addition, although our bylaws’ arbitration provisions contemplate that arbitration may be brought in a representative capacity or on behalf of a class of our shareholders, the rules governing such representation or class arbitration may be different from, and less favorable to shareholders than, the rules governing representative or class action litigation in courts. Our bylaws also generally provide that each party to such an arbitration is required to bear its own costs in the arbitration, including attorneys’ fees, and that the arbitrators may not render an award that includes shifting of such costs or, in a derivative or class proceeding, award any portion of our award to any shareholder or such shareholder’s attorneys. The arbitration provisions of our bylaws may discourage our shareholders from bringing, and attorneys from agreeing to represent our shareholders wishing to bring, litigation against us or our Trustees, officers, manager, other agents or employees. Our agreements with TA, RMR LLC and Sonesta have similar arbitration provisions to those in our bylaws.
We believe that the arbitration provisions in our bylaws are enforceable under both state and federal law, including with respect to federal securities laws claims. We are a Maryland real estate investment trust and Maryland courts have upheld the enforceability of arbitration bylaws. In addition, the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld agreements to arbitrate other federal statutory claims, including those that implicate important federal policies. However, some academics, legal practitioners and others are of the view that charter or bylaw provisions mandating arbitration are not enforceable with respect to federal securities laws claims. It is possible that the arbitration provisions of our bylaws may ultimately be determined to be unenforceable.
By agreeing to the arbitration provisions of our bylaws, shareholders will not be deemed to have waived compliance by us with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
Our bylaws designate the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland as the sole and exclusive forum for certain actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our shareholders, which could limit our shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our Trustees, officers, manager, agents or employees.
Our bylaws currently provide that, unless the dispute has been referred to binding arbitration, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland will be the sole and exclusive forum for: (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (2) any action asserting a claim for breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee of ours to us or our shareholders; (3) any action asserting a claim against us or any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee of ours arising pursuant to Maryland law, our declaration of trust or bylaws brought by or on behalf of a shareholder, either on his, her or its own behalf, on behalf of the Trust or on behalf of any series or class of shares of beneficial interest of the Trust or shareholders against the Trust or any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee of the Trust, including any disputes, claims or controversies relating to the meaning, interpretation, effect, validity, performance or enforcement of our declaration of trust or bylaws; or (4) any action asserting a claim against us or any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee of ours that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Our bylaws currently also provide that the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland will be the sole and exclusive forum for any dispute, or portion thereof, regarding the meaning, interpretation or validity of any provision of our declaration of trust or bylaws. The exclusive forum provision of our bylaws does not apply to any action for which the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland does not have jurisdiction or to a dispute that has been referred to binding arbitration in accordance with our bylaws. The exclusive forum provision of our bylaws does not establish exclusive jurisdiction in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland for claims that arise under the Securities Act, the Exchange Act or other federal securities laws if there is exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction in the federal courts. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in our shares of beneficial interest shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to these provisions of our bylaws, as they may be amended from time to time. The arbitration and exclusive forum provisions of our bylaws may limit a shareholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that the shareholder believes is favorable for disputes with us or our Trustees, officers, manager, agents or employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our Trustees, officers, manager, agents or employees.
We may change our operational, financing and investment policies without shareholder approval and we may become more highly leveraged, which may increase our risk of default under our debt obligations.
Our Board of Trustees determines our operational, financing and investment policies and may amend or revise our policies, including our policies with respect to our intention to qualify for taxation as a REIT, acquisitions, dispositions, growth, operations, indebtedness, capitalization and distributions, or approve transactions that deviate from these policies, without a vote of, or notice to, our shareholders. Policy changes could adversely affect the market price of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders. Further, our organizational documents do not limit the amount or percentage of indebtedness, funded or otherwise, that we may incur. Our Board of Trustees may alter or eliminate our current policy on borrowing at any time without shareholder approval. If this policy changes, we could become more highly leveraged, which could result in an increase in our debt service costs. Higher leverage also increases the risk of default on our obligations. In addition, a change in our investment policies, including the manner in which we allocate our resources across our portfolio or the types of assets in which we seek to invest, may increase our exposure to interest rate risk, real estate market fluctuations and liquidity risk.
Risks Related to Our Taxation
Our failure to remain qualified for taxation as a REIT under the IRC or the loss of our other special tax statuses could have significant adverse consequences.
As a REIT, we generally do not pay federal or most state income taxes as long as we distribute all of our REIT taxable income and meet other qualifications set forth in the IRC. However, actual qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC depends
on our satisfying complex statutory requirements, for which there are only limited judicial and administrative interpretations. We believe that we have been organized and have operated, and will continue to be organized and to operate, in a manner that qualified and will continue to qualify us to be taxed as a REIT under the IRC. However, we cannot be sure that the IRS, upon review or audit, will agree with this conclusion. Furthermore, we cannot be sure that the federal government, or any state or other taxation authority, will continue to afford favorable income tax treatment to REITs and their shareholders.
Maintaining our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC will require us to continue to satisfy tests concerning, among other things, the nature of our assets, the sources of our income and the amounts we distribute to our shareholders. In order to meet these requirements, it may be necessary for us to sell or forgo attractive investments.
If we cease to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, then our ability to raise capital might be adversely affected, we will be in breach under our credit agreement, we may be subject to material amounts of federal and state income taxes and the market price of our common shares could decline. In addition, if we lose or revoke our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC for a taxable year, we will generally be prevented from requalifying for taxation as a REIT for the next four taxable years.
Similarly, under existing law and through available tax concessions, we have minimized the Canadian and Puerto Rican income taxes that we must pay. We believe that we have operated, and are operating, in compliance with the requirements of these laws and tax concessions. However, we cannot be sure that, upon review or audit, the local tax authority will agree. If the existing laws or concessions are unavailable to us in the future, then we may be subject to material amounts of income taxes and the market price of our common shares could decline.
Distributions to shareholders generally will not qualify for reduced tax rates applicable to “qualified dividends.”
Dividends payable by U.S. corporations to noncorporate shareholders, such as individuals, trusts and estates, are generally eligible for reduced federal income tax rates applicable to “qualified dividends.” Distributions paid by REITs generally are not treated as “qualified dividends” under the IRC and the reduced rates applicable to such dividends do not generally apply. However, for tax years beginning after 2017 and before 2026, REIT dividends paid to noncorporate shareholders are generally taxed at an effective tax rate lower than applicable ordinary income tax rates due to the availability of a deduction under the IRC for specified forms of income from passthrough entities. More favorable rates will nevertheless continue to apply to regular corporate “qualified” dividends, which may cause some investors to perceive that an investment in a REIT is less attractive than an investment in a non-REIT entity that pays dividends, thereby reducing the demand and market price of our common shares.
REIT distribution requirements could adversely affect our ability to execute our business plan.
We generally must distribute annually at least 90% of our REIT taxable income, subject to specified adjustments and excluding any net capital gain, in order to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC. To the extent that we satisfy this distribution requirement, federal corporate income tax will not apply to the earnings that we distribute, but if we distribute less than 100% of our REIT taxable income, then we will be subject to federal corporate income tax on our undistributed taxable income. We intend to make distributions to our shareholders to comply with the REIT requirements of the IRC. In addition, we will be subject to a 4% nondeductible excise tax if the actual amount that we pay out to our shareholders in a calendar year is less than a minimum amount specified under federal tax laws.
From time to time, we may generate taxable income greater than our income for financial reporting purposes prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, or differences in timing between the recognition of taxable income and the actual receipt of cash may occur. If we do not have other funds available in these situations, among other things, we may borrow funds on unfavorable terms, sell investments at disadvantageous prices or distribute amounts that would otherwise be invested in future acquisitions in order to make distributions sufficient to enable us to pay out enough of our taxable income to satisfy the REIT distribution requirement and to avoid corporate income tax and the 4% excise tax in a particular year. These alternatives could increase our costs or reduce our shareholders’ equity. Thus, compliance with the REIT distribution requirements may hinder our ability to grow, which could cause the market price of our common shares to decline.
Even if we remain qualified for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, we may face other tax liabilities that reduce our cash flow.
Even if we remain qualified for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, we may be subject to federal, state and local taxes on our income and assets, including taxes on any undistributed income, excise taxes, state or local income, property and transfer taxes, and other taxes. Also, some jurisdictions may in the future limit or eliminate favorable income tax deductions, including the
dividends paid deduction, which could increase our income tax expense. In addition, in order to meet the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the IRC, prevent the recognition of particular types of non-cash income, or avert the imposition of a 100% tax that applies to specified gains derived by a REIT from dealer property or inventory, we may hold or dispose of some of our assets and conduct some of our operations through our TRSs or other subsidiary corporations that will be subject to corporate level income tax at regular rates. In addition, while we intend that our transactions with our TRSs will be conducted on arm’s length bases, we may be subject to a 100% excise tax on a transaction that the IRS or a court determines was not conducted at arm’s length. Any of these taxes would decrease cash available for distribution to our shareholders.
If arrangements involving our TRSs fail to comply as intended with the REIT qualification and taxation rules, we may fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the IRC or be subject to significant penalty taxes.
We lease most of our hotel properties to our TRSs pursuant to arrangements that, under the IRC, are intended to qualify the rents we receive from our TRSs as income that satisfies the REIT gross income tests. We also intend that our transactions with our TRSs be conducted on arm’s length bases so that we and our TRSs will not be subject to penalty taxes under the IRC applicable to mispriced transactions. While relief provisions can sometimes excuse REIT gross income test failures, significant penalty taxes may still be imposed.
For our TRS arrangements to comply as intended with the REIT qualification and taxation rules under the IRC, a number of requirements must be satisfied, including:
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our TRSs may not directly or indirectly operate or manage a lodging facility, as defined by the IRC;
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the leases to our TRSs must be respected as true leases for federal income tax purposes and not as service contracts, partnerships, joint ventures, financings or other types of arrangements;
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the leased properties must constitute qualified lodging facilities (including customary amenities and facilities) under the IRC;
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our leased properties must be managed and operated on behalf of the TRSs by independent contractors who are less than 35% affiliated with us and who are actively engaged (or have affiliates so engaged) in the trade or business of managing and operating qualified lodging facilities for persons unrelated to us; and
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the rental and other terms of the leases must be arm’s length.
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We cannot be sure that the IRS or a court will agree with our assessment that our TRS arrangements comply as intended with REIT qualification and taxation rules. If arrangements involving our TRSs fail to comply as we intended, we may fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the IRC or be subject to significant penalty taxes.
Legislative or other actions affecting REITs could materially and adversely affect us and our shareholders.
The rules dealing with U.S. federal, state, and local taxation are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process and by the IRS, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and other taxation authorities. Changes to the tax laws, with or without retroactive application, could materially and adversely affect us and our shareholders. We cannot predict how changes in the tax laws might affect us or our shareholders. New legislation, Treasury regulations, administrative interpretations or court decisions could significantly and negatively affect our ability to qualify or to remain qualified for taxation as a REIT or the tax consequences of such qualification.
In addition, December 2017 legislation made substantial changes to the IRC. Among those changes are a significant permanent reduction in the generally applicable corporate income tax rate and the modification of tax policies, credits and deductions for businesses and individuals. This legislation also imposes additional limitations on the deduction of net operating losses, which may in the future cause us to make additional distributions that will be taxable to our shareholders to the extent of our current or accumulated earnings and profits in order to comply with the REIT distribution requirements. The effect of these and other changes made in this legislation is still uncertain in many respects, both in terms of their direct effect on the taxation of an investment in our common shares and their indirect effect on the value of properties owned by us. Furthermore, many of the provisions of the new law will require additional guidance in order to assess their effect. It is also possible that there will be technical corrections legislation proposed with respect to the new law, the effect of which cannot be predicted and may be adverse to us or our shareholders.
Risks Related to our Securities
Our distributions to our shareholders may decline.
We intend to continue to make regular quarterly distributions to our shareholders. However:
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our ability to make or sustain the rate of distributions will be adversely affected if any of the risks described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K occur;
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our making of distributions is subject to compliance with restrictions contained in our credit agreement and may be subject to restrictions in future debt obligations we may incur; and
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the timing and amount of any distributions will be determined at the discretion of our Board of Trustees and will depend on various factors that our Board of Trustees deems relevant, including our financial condition, our results of operations, our liquidity, our capital requirements, our funds from operations, or FFO, our Normalized FFO, restrictive covenants in our financial or other contractual arrangements, general economic conditions in the United States, requirements under the IRC to remain qualified for taxation as a REIT and restrictions under the laws of Maryland.
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For these reasons, among others, our distribution rate may decline or we may cease making distributions to our shareholders.
Changes in market conditions could adversely affect the value of our securities.
As with other publicly traded equity securities and REIT securities, the value of our common shares and other securities depends on various market conditions that are subject to change from time to time, including:
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the extent of investor interest in our securities;
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the general reputation of REITs and externally managed companies and the attractiveness of our equity securities in comparison to other equity securities, including securities issued by other real estate based companies or by other issuers less sensitive to rises in interest rates;
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our underlying asset value;
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investor confidence in the stock and bond markets, generally;
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national economic conditions;
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changes in our credit ratings; and
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general market conditions.
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We believe that one of the factors that investors consider important in deciding whether to buy or sell equity securities of a REIT is the distribution rate, considered as a percentage of the price of the equity securities, relative to market interest rates. Interest rates have been at historically low levels for an extended period of time. There is a general market perception that REIT shares outperform in low interest rate environments and underperform in rising interest rate environments when compared to the broader market. Recently, there have been some modest signs of inflationary price movements, and the U.S. Federal Reserve has been raising the federal funds rate since December 2016. Previously, the U.S. Federal Reserve had indicated that it expected to raise the federal funds rate further in 2019, although it recently indicated that it may delay making those increases. If market interest rates continue to increase, or if there continues to be market expectation of such increases, prospective purchasers of REIT equity securities may want to achieve a higher distribution rate. Thus, higher market interest rates, or the expectation of higher interest rates, could cause the value of our securities to decline.
Further issuances of equity securities may be dilutive to current shareholders.
The interests of our existing shareholders could be diluted if we issue additional equity securities to finance future acquisitions or to repay indebtedness. Our ability to execute our business strategy depends on our access to an appropriate blend of debt financing, which may include secured and unsecured debt, and equity financing, which may include common and preferred shares.
The Notes are structurally subordinated to the payment of all indebtedness and other liabilities and any preferred equity of our subsidiaries.
We are the sole obligor on our outstanding senior unsecured notes, and our outstanding senior unsecured notes and any notes or other debt securities we may issue in the future, or, together with our outstanding senior unsecured notes, the Notes, and such Notes are not, and any Notes we may issue in the future may not be guaranteed by any of our subsidiaries. Our subsidiaries are separate and distinct legal entities and have no obligation, contingent or otherwise, to pay any amounts due on the Notes, or to make any funds available therefor, whether by dividend, distribution, loan or other payments. The rights of holders of Notes to benefit from any of the assets of our subsidiaries are subject to the prior satisfaction of claims of our subsidiaries’ creditors and any preferred equity holders. As a result, the Notes are, and, except to the extent that future Notes are guaranteed by our subsidiaries, will be, structurally subordinated to all of the debt and other liabilities and obligations of our subsidiaries, including guarantees of other indebtedness of ours, payment obligations under lease agreements, trade payables and preferred equity. As of
December 31, 2018
, our subsidiaries had total indebtedness and other liabilities (excluding security and other deposits and guaranties) of less than $10.0 million.
The Notes are unsecured and effectively subordinated to all of our existing and future secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness.
The outstanding Notes are not secured and any Notes we may issue in the future may not be secured. Upon any distribution to our creditors in a bankruptcy, liquidation, reorganization or similar proceeding relating to us or our property, the holders of our secured debt will be entitled to exercise the remedies available to a secured lender under applicable law and pursuant to the instruments governing such debt and to be paid in full from the assets securing that secured debt before any payment may be made with respect to Notes that are not secured by those assets. In that event, because such Notes will not be secured by any of our assets, it is possible that there will be no assets from which claims of holders of such Notes can be satisfied or, if any assets remain, that the remaining assets will be insufficient to satisfy those claims in full. If the value of such remaining assets is less than the aggregate outstanding principal amount of such Notes and accrued interest and all future debt ranking equally with such Notes, we will be unable to fully satisfy our obligations under such Notes. In addition, if we fail to meet our payment or other obligations under our secured debt, the holders of that secured debt would be entitled to foreclose on our assets securing that secured debt and liquidate those assets. Accordingly, we may not have sufficient funds to pay amounts due on such Notes. As a result, noteholders may lose a portion or the entire value of their investment in such Notes. Further, the terms of the outstanding Notes permit, and the terms of any Notes we may issue in the future may permit us to incur additional secured indebtedness subject to compliance with certain debt ratios. The Notes that are not secured will be effectively subordinated to any such additional secured indebtedness. As of
December 31, 2018
, we had no secured mortgage debt.
There is no public market for the Notes, and one may not develop, be maintained or be liquid.
We have not applied for listing of the Notes on any securities exchange or for quotation on any automatic dealer quotation system, and we may not do so for Notes issued in the future. We can give no assurances concerning the liquidity of any market that may develop for the Notes, the ability of any holder to sell the Notes or the price at which holders would be able to sell the Notes. If a market for the Notes does not develop, holders may be unable to resell the Notes for an extended period of time, if at all. If a market for the Notes does develop, it may not continue or it may not be sufficiently liquid to allow holders to resell any of the Notes. Consequently, holders of the Notes may not be able to liquidate their investment readily, and lenders may not readily accept the Notes as collateral for loans.
The Notes may trade at a discount from their initial issue price or principal amount, depending upon many factors, including prevailing interest rates, the ratings assigned by rating agencies, the market for similar securities and other factors, including general economic conditions and our financial condition, performance and prospects. Any decline in market prices, regardless of cause, may adversely affect the liquidity and trading markets for the Notes.
A downgrade in credit ratings could materially adversely affect the market price of the Notes and may increase our cost of capital.
The outstanding Notes are rated by two rating agencies and any Notes we may issue in the future may be rated by one or more rating agencies. These credit ratings are continually reviewed by rating agencies and may change at any time based upon, among other things, our results of operations and financial condition. Negative changes in the ratings assigned to our debt securities could have an adverse effect on the market price of the Notes and our cost and availability of capital, which could in turn have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and our ability to satisfy our debt service obligations.
Redemption may adversely affect noteholders’ return on the Notes.
We have the right to redeem some or all of the outstanding Notes prior to maturity and may have such a right with respect to any Notes we issue in the future. We may redeem such Notes at times when prevailing interest rates may be relatively low compared to the interest rate of such Notes. Accordingly, noteholders may not be able to reinvest the redemption proceeds in a comparable security at an effective interest rate as high as that of the Notes.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.