Our bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland shall be the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders with respect to our company, our directors, our officers or our employees (we note we currently have no employees). This choice of forum provision does not apply to claims under the Securities Act, the Exchange Act, any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction or any action or proceeding against us arising out of, or in connection with, the sale of securities or out of violation of state securities laws. This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that the stockholder believes is favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees, which may discourage meritorious claims from being asserted against us and our directors, officers and employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our bylaws inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. We adopted this provision because we believe it makes it less likely that we will be forced to incur the expense of defending duplicative actions in multiple forums and less likely that plaintiffs’ attorneys will be able to employ such litigation to coerce us into otherwise unjustified settlements, and we believe the risk of a court declining to enforce this provision is remote, as the General Assembly of Maryland has specifically amended the Maryland General Corporation Law to authorize the adoption of such provisions.
Inflation, increased interest rates or deflation may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Although neither inflation nor deflation has materially impacted our operations in the recent past, inflation is at a 40-year high and beginning in March of 2022, the Federal Reserve began raising the federal funds rate in an effort to curb inflation. The Federal Reserve’s action, coupled with other macroeconomic factors, may trigger a recession in the United States, globally, or both. Increased inflation and interest rates could have an adverse impact on our floating rate mortgages, our ability to borrow money, and general and administrative expenses, as these costs could increase at a rate higher than our rental and other revenue. Increases in the costs of owning and operating our properties due to inflation could reduce our net operating income and our NAV to the extent such increases are not reimbursed or paid by our customers. If we are materially impacted by increasing inflation because, for example, inflationary increases in costs are not sufficiently offset by the contractual rent increases and operating expense reimbursement provisions or escalations in the leases with our customers, we may implement measures to conserve cash or preserve liquidity. Such measures could include deferring investments, reducing or suspending the number of shares redeemed under our share redemption program and reducing or suspending distributions we make to our stockholders, which may adversely and materially affect our net operating income and NAV. Because our residential portfolio assets typically have lease terms of one year or less and do not have pass through expenses, these adverse impacts may be heightened for our residential properties if we are unable to increase rent and/or maintain occupancy. In addition, due to rising interest rates, we may experience restrictions in our liquidity based on certain financial covenant requirements as well as our inability to refinance maturing debt in part or in full as it comes due depending on rates at such time and experience higher debt service costs and reduced yields relative to cost of debt. If we are unable to find alternative credit arrangements or other funding in a high interest environment, our business needs may not be adequately met.
In addition, customers and potential customers of our properties may be adversely impacted by inflation and rising interest rates, which could negatively impact our customers’ ability to pay rent and demand for our properties. Such adverse impacts on our customers may cause increased vacancies, which may add pressure to lower rents and increase our expenditures for re-leasing. Inflation could also have an adverse effect on consumer spending which could impact our customers’ operations and, in turn, demand for our properties. Conversely, deflation could lead to downward pressure on rents and other sources of income.
We are dependent on our customers for revenue, and our inability to lease our properties or to collect rent from our customers will adversely affect our results of operations, NAV and returns to our stockholders.
Our revenues from our property investments are dependent on our ability to lease our properties and the creditworthiness of our customers and would be adversely affected by the loss of or default by one or more significant lessees. Furthermore, certain of our assets may utilize leases with payments directly related to customer sales, where some or all of the amount of rent that we charge a customer is calculated as a percentage of such customer’s revenues over a fixed period of time, and a reduction in sales can reduce the amount of the lease payments required to be made to us by customers leasing space in such assets. Much of our
customer base is comprised of non-rated and non-investment grade customers. The success of our properties depends on the financial stability of such customers. The financial results of our customers can depend on several factors, including but not limited to the general business environment, interest rates, inflation, the availability of credit, taxation and overall consumer confidence.
In addition, our ability to increase our revenues and operating income partially depends on steady growth of demand for the products and services offered by the customers located in the assets that we own and manage. A drop in demand, as a result of a slowdown in the U.S. and global economy or otherwise, could result in a reduction in performance of our customers and consequently, adversely affect our results of operations, NAV and returns to our stockholders.