Our charter provides that, to the maximum extent permitted from time to time by Maryland law, none of our Sponsor or any of its affiliates, or any director who is not employed by us or any of his, her or its affiliates, will have any duty to refrain from (1) engaging, directly or indirectly, in similar lines of business in which we or our affiliates now engage or propose to engage or (2) otherwise competing, directly or indirectly, with us or our affiliates, and our Sponsor and each of ournon-employee directors (including those designated by our Sponsor), and any of their respective affiliates, may (a) acquire, hold and dispose of shares of our stock or other equity interests, including OP Units, for his, her or its own account or for the account of others, and exercise all of the rights of a stockholder of us or a limited partner of our Operating Partnership, to the same extent and in the same manner as if he, she or it were not our director or stockholder, and (b) in his, her or its personal capacity, or in his or her capacity as a director, officer, trustee, stockholder, partner, member, equity owner, manager, advisor or employee of any other person, have business interests and engage, directly or indirectly, in business activities that are similar to ours or compete, directly or indirectly, with us, that we could seize and develop or that include the acquisition, syndication, holding, management, development, operation or disposition of interests in mortgages, real property or persons engaged in the real estate business. In addition, our charter provides that, to the maximum extent permitted from time to time by Maryland law, in the event that our Sponsor, anynon-employee director or any of their respective affiliates acquires knowledge of a potential transaction or other business opportunity, no such person will have any duty to communicate or offer such transaction or business opportunity to us or any of our affiliates and such person may take any such opportunity for himself, herself or itself or offer it to another person or entity unless the business opportunity is expressly offered to such person in his or her capacity as our director. Furthermore, our charter contains a provision intended to eliminate the liability of our Sponsor, any director who is not employed by us or any of their affiliates to us or our stockholders for money damages in connection with any benefit received, directly or indirectly, from any transaction or business opportunity that we have renounced in our charter or otherwise and permit our directors and officers to be indemnified and advanced expenses, notwithstanding his, her or its receipt, directly or indirectly, of a personal benefit from any such transaction or opportunity. Our charter provides that, for so long as the stockholders agreement remains in effect, this provision of our charter may not be amended without the consent of our Sponsor.
Advance Notice of Director Nomination and New Business
Our bylaws provide that nominations of individuals for election as directors and proposals of business to be considered by stockholders at any annual meeting may be made only (1) pursuant to our notice of the meeting, (2) by or at the direction of our board of directors or (3) by any stockholder who was a stockholder of record at the record date set by our board of directors for the purposes of determining stockholders entitled to vote at the annual meeting, at the time of provision of notice and at the time of the meeting (and any postponement or adjournment thereof), who is entitled to vote at the meeting in the election of each individual so nominated or on such other proposed business and who has complied with the advance notice procedures of our bylaws. Stockholders generally must provide notice to our secretary not earlier than the 150th day or later than 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time, on the 120th day before the first anniversary of the date of our proxy statement for the preceding year’s annual meeting.
Our bylaws provide that only the business specified in the notice of the meeting may be brought before a special meeting of our stockholders. Nominations of individuals for election as directors at a special meeting of stockholders at which directors are to be elected may be made only (1) by or at the direction of our board of directors or (2) if the special meeting has been called in accordance with our bylaws for the purpose of electing directors, by a stockholder who is a stockholder of record at the record date set by our board of directors for the purposes of determining stockholders entitled to vote at the special meeting, at the time of provision of notice and at the time of the special meeting (and any postponement or adjournment thereof), who is entitled to vote at the meeting in the election of each individual so nominated and who has complied with the advance notice procedures of our bylaws. Stockholders generally must provide notice to our secretary not earlier than the 120th day before such special meeting or later than 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time, on the later of the 90th day before the
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