Our Advisor and its affiliates, including our officers and two of our directors, face conflicts of interest caused by compensation arrangements with us and other entities sponsored or advised by affiliates of our Sponsor, which could result in actions that are not in our stockholders’ best interests.
Some of our executive officers, two of our directors and other key personnel are also officers, directors, managers, and key personnel in the Advisor, the Dealer Manager and/or other entities related to the Sponsor. The Advisor and its affiliates receive substantial fees from us in return for their services and these fees could influence their advice to us. Among other matters, the compensation arrangements could affect their judgment with respect to:
| ● | the continuation, renewal or enforcement of our agreements with the Advisor and its affiliates, including the Advisory Agreement and the agreement with the Dealer Manager; |
| ● | recommendations to our board of directors with respect to developing, overseeing, implementing and coordinating our NAV procedures, or the decision to adjust the value of certain of our assets or liabilities if the Advisor is responsible for valuing them; |
| ● | public offerings of equity by us, which may result in increased fees for the Advisor and other related parties; |
| ● | competition for customers from entities sponsored or advised by affiliates of the Sponsor that own properties in the same geographic area as us; and |
| ● | investments through joint ventures or other co-ownership arrangements, which may result in increased fees for the Advisor. |
We will be responsible for our proportionate share of certain fees and expenses, including due diligence costs, as determined by our Advisor, including legal, accounting and financial advisor fees and related costs, incurred in connection with evaluating and consummating investment opportunities, regardless of whether such transactions are ultimately consummated by the parties thereto.
In addition, we reimburse the Advisor and its affiliates for the salaries and other compensation of its personnel in accordance with the Advisory Agreement based on the percentage of such personnel’s time spent on our affairs. Pursuant to the terms of our Advisory Agreement, we reimburse our Advisor and its affiliates for personnel (and related employment) costs and overhead (including, but not limited to, allocated rent paid, equipment, utilities, insurance, travel and entertainment, and other costs) incurred by the Advisor or its affiliates in performing the services under the Advisory Agreement, including, but not limited to, total compensation, benefits and other overhead of all employees involved in the performance of such services; provided, that we will not reimburse the Advisor or its affiliates for services for which the Advisor or its affiliates are entitled to compensation in the form of a separate fee.
Considerations relating to compensation to the Advisor and its affiliates from us and other entities sponsored or advised by affiliates of the Sponsor could result in decisions that are not in our stockholders best interests, which could hurt our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders or result in a decline in the value of our stockholders’ investments. Conflicts of interest such as those described above have contributed to stockholder litigation against certain other externally managed REITs that are not affiliated with us or the Sponsor.
We may invest in, acquire, sell assets to or provide financing to investment vehicles managed by our Advisor or its affiliates.
We may invest in, acquire, sell assets to or provide financing to investment vehicles managed by our Advisor or its affiliates and their portfolio companies or purchase assets from, sell assets to, or arrange financing from any such investment vehicles and their portfolio companies. Any such transactions will require approval by a majority of our independent directors. There can be no assurance that any procedural protections will be sufficient to ensure that these transactions will be made on terms that will be at least as favorable to us as those that would have been obtained in an arm’s-length transaction.
We depend on the Advisor and its key personnel; if any of such key personnel were to cease employment with the Advisor or its affiliates, our business could suffer.
Our ability to make distributions and achieve our investment objectives is dependent upon the performance of the Advisor in the acquisition, disposition and management of our investments, the selection of customers for our properties, the determination of any financing arrangements and other factors. In addition, our success depends to a significant degree upon the continued contributions of certain of the Advisor’s key personnel, including, in alphabetical order, William Benjamin, Rajat Dhanda, David M. Fazekas, Andrea L. Karp, Brian R. Lange, Thomas G. McGonagle, Dwight L. Merriman III, Lainie P. Minnick, James R. Mulvihill, Taylor M. Paul, Scott W. Recknor, David Roth, Scott A. Seager, Jeffrey W. Taylor, J. R. Wetzel, Joshua J. Widoff and Evan H. Zucker, each of whom would be difficult to replace. We currently do not have, nor do we expect to obtain, key man life insurance on any of the Advisor’s