| 25 Adjusted Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization, Net Operating Income, and Cash Net Operating Income. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA, which is defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization adjusted for acquisition, transaction and other costs, other non-cash items and including our pro-rata share from unconsolidated joint ventures, is an appropriate measure of our ability to incur and service debt. We also exclude revenue attributable to the reimbursement by third parties of financing costs that we originally incurred because these revenues are not, in our view, related to operating performance. All paid and accrued acquisition, transaction and other costs (including prepayment penalties for debt extinguishments) and certain other expenses, including general and administrative expenses incurred for the 2023 proxy contest and related Blackwells/Related Parties litigation, expenses related to our European tax restructuring and transition costs related to the Merger and Internalization, negatively impact our operating performance during the period in which expenses are incurred or properties are acquired and will also have negative effects on returns to investors, but are not reflective of on-going performance. Due to the increase in general and administrative expenses as a result of the 2023 proxy contest and related litigation as a portion of our total general and administrative expenses in the first quarter of 2023, we began including this adjustment to arrive at Adjusted EBITDA in order to better reflect our operating performance. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to cash flows from operating activities, as a measure of our liquidity or as an alternative to net income as an indicator of our operating activities. Other REITs may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently and our calculation should not be compared to that of other REITs. NOI is a non-GAAP financial measure equal to net income (loss), the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, less discontinued operations, interest, other income and income from preferred equity investments and investment securities, plus corporate general and administrative expense, acquisition, transaction and other costs, depreciation and amortization, other noncash expenses and interest expense. We use NOI internally as a performance measure and believe NOI provides useful information to investors regarding our financial condition and results of operations because it reflects only those income and expense items that are incurred at the property level. Therefore, we believe NOI is a useful measure for evaluating the operating performance of our real estate assets and to make decisions about resource allocations. Further, we believe NOI is useful to investors as a performance measure because, when compared across periods, NOI reflects the impact on operations from trends in occupancy rates, rental rates, operating costs and acquisition activity on an unlevered basis, providing perspective not immediately apparent from net income. NOI excludes certain components from net income in order to provide results that are more closely related to a property’s results of operations. For example, interest expense is not necessarily linked to the operating performance of a real estate asset and is often incurred at the corporate level as opposed to the property level. In addition, depreciation and amortization, because of historical cost accounting and useful life estimates, may distort operating performance at the property level. NOI presented by us may not be comparable to NOI reported by other REITs that define NOI differently. We believe that in order to facilitate a clear understanding of our operating results, NOI should be examined in conjunction with net income (loss) as presented in our consolidated financial statements. NOI should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss) as an indication of our performance or to cash flows as a measure of our liquidity. FINANCIAL DEFINITIONS |