Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Related-Party Transactions

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Related-Party Transactions
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related-Party Transactions
Related-Party Transactions

Gladstone Management Corporation and Gladstone Administration, LLC

We are externally managed pursuant to contractual arrangements with our Adviser and our Administrator, which collectively employ all of our personnel and pay their salaries, benefits, and general expenses directly. Both our Adviser and Administrator are affiliates of ours, as their parent company is owned and controlled by Mr. David Gladstone, our chairman and chief executive officer. Two of our executive officers, Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Terry Brubaker (our vice chairman and chief operating officer) serve as directors and executive officers of our Adviser and our Administrator. Our president, Mr. Robert Cutlip, is an executive managing director of our Adviser. Mr. Michael LiCalsi, our general counsel and secretary, also serves as our Administrator’s president, general counsel and secretary. We have entered into an advisory agreement with our Adviser, as amended from time to time (the “Advisory Agreement”), and an administration agreement with our Administrator (the “Administration Agreement”). The services and fees under the Advisory Agreement and Administration Agreement are described below. At December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, $2.9 million and $2.5 million, respectively, was collectively due to our Adviser and Administrator.

Base Management Fee

On January 8, 2019, we entered into a Fifth Amended and Restated Investment Advisory Agreement with the Adviser, effective as of October 1, 2018 to clarify that the agreement’s definition of Total Equity includes outstanding OP Units issued to Non-controlling OP Unitholders. Our entrance into the Advisory Agreement and each amendment thereto has been approved unanimously by our Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors reviews and considers renewing the agreement with our Adviser each July. During its July 2019 meeting, our Board of Directors reviewed and renewed the Advisory Agreement for an additional year, through August 31, 2020.

Under the Advisory Agreement, the calculation of the annual base management fee equals 1.5% of our Total Equity, which is our total stockholders’ equity plus total mezzanine equity (before giving effect to the base management fee and incentive fee), adjusted to exclude the effect of any unrealized gains or losses that do not affect realized net income (including impairment charges), adjusted for any one-time events and certain non-cash items (the later to occur for a given quarter only upon the approval of our Compensation Committee), and adjusted to include OP Units held by Non-controlling OP Unitholders. The fee is calculated and accrued quarterly as 0.375% per quarter of such Total Equity figure. Our Adviser does not charge acquisition or disposition fees when we acquire or dispose of properties as is common in other externally managed REITs; however, our Adviser may earn fee income from our borrowers, tenants or other sources.

For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017, we recorded a base management fee of $5.2 million, $5.1 million, and $5.0 million, respectively.

Incentive Fee

Pursuant to the Advisory Agreement, the calculation of the incentive fee rewards the Adviser in circumstances where our quarterly Core FFO (defined at the end of this paragraph), before giving effect to any incentive fee, or pre-incentive fee Core FFO, exceeds 2.0% quarterly, or 8.0% annualized, of adjusted total stockholders’ equity (after giving effect to the base management fee but before giving effect to the incentive fee). We refer to this as the new hurdle rate. The Adviser will receive 15.0% of the amount of our pre-incentive fee Core FFO that exceeds the new hurdle rate. However, in no event shall the incentive fee for a particular quarter exceed by 15.0% (the cap) the average quarterly incentive fee paid by us for the previous four quarters (excluding quarters for which no incentive fee was paid). Core FFO (as defined in the Advisory Agreement) is GAAP net income (loss) available to common stockholders, excluding the incentive fee, depreciation and amortization, any realized and unrealized gains, losses or other non-cash items recorded in net income (loss) available to common stockholders for the period, and one-time events pursuant to changes in GAAP.

For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017, we recorded an incentive fee of $3.7 million, $3.0 million, and $2.4 million, respectively. The Adviser did not waive any portion of the incentive fee for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017. Waivers cannot be recouped by the Adviser in the future.

Capital Gain Fee

Under the Advisory Agreement, we will pay to the Adviser a capital gains-based incentive fee that will be calculated and payable in arrears as of the end of each fiscal year (or upon termination of the Advisory Agreement). In determining the capital gain fee, we will calculate aggregate realized capital gains and aggregate realized capital losses for the applicable time period. For this purpose, aggregate realized capital gains and losses, if any, equals the realized gain or loss calculated by the difference between the sales price of the property, less any costs to sell the property and the all-in acquisition cost of the disposed property. At the end of the fiscal year, if this number is positive, then the capital gain fee payable for such time period shall equal 15.0% of such amount. No capital gain fee was recognized during the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017.

Termination Fee

The Advisory Agreement includes a termination fee whereby, in the event of our termination of the agreement without cause (with 120 days’ prior written notice and the vote of at least two-thirds of our independent directors), a termination fee would be payable to the Adviser equal to two times the sum of the average annual base management fee and incentive fee earned by the Adviser during the 24-month period prior to such termination. A termination fee is also payable if the Adviser terminates the Advisory Agreement after we have defaulted and applicable cure periods have expired. The Advisory Agreement may also be terminated for cause by us (with 30 days’ prior written notice and the vote of at least two-thirds of our independent directors), with no termination fee payable. Cause is defined in the agreement to include if the Adviser breaches any material provisions thereof, the bankruptcy or insolvency of the Adviser, dissolution of the Adviser and fraud or misappropriation of funds.

Administration Agreement

Under the terms of the Administration Agreement, we pay separately for our allocable portion of our Administrator’s overhead expenses in performing its obligations to us including, but not limited to, rent and our allocable portion of the salaries and benefits expenses of our Administrator’s employees, including, but not limited to, our chief financial officer, treasurer, chief compliance officer, general counsel and secretary (who also serves as our Administrator’s president, general counsel and secretary), and their respective staffs. Our allocable portion of the Administrator’s expenses are generally derived by multiplying our Administrator’s total expenses by the approximate percentage of time the Administrator’s employees perform services for us in relation to their time spent performing services for all companies serviced by our Administrator under contractual agreements. We believe that the methodology of allocating the Administrator’s total expenses by approximate percentage of time services were performed among all companies serviced by our Administrator more closely approximates fees paid to actual services performed. For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017, we recorded an administration fee of $1.7 million, $1.6 million, and $1.3 million, respectively. Our Board of Directors reviews and considers approving or renewing the Administration Agreement each July.

Gladstone Securities, LLC

Gladstone Securities, LLC (“Gladstone Securities”), is a privately held broker dealer registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and insured by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Gladstone Securities is an affiliate of ours, as its parent company is owned and controlled by David Gladstone, our chairman and chief executive officer. Mr. Gladstone also serves on the board of managers of Gladstone Securities.

Mortgage Financing Arrangement Agreement

We entered into an agreement with Gladstone Securities, effective June 18, 2013, for it to act as our non-exclusive agent to assist us with arranging mortgage financing for properties we own. In connection with this engagement, Gladstone Securities will, from time to time, continue to solicit the interest of various commercial real estate lenders or recommend to us third party lenders offering credit products or packages that are responsive to our needs. We pay Gladstone Securities a financing fee in connection with the services it provides to us for securing mortgage financing on any of our properties. The amount of these financing fees, which are payable upon closing of the financing, are based on a percentage of the amount of the mortgage, generally ranging from 0.15% to a maximum of 1.0% of the mortgage obtained. The amount of the financing fees may be reduced or eliminated, as determined by us and Gladstone Securities, after taking into consideration various factors, including, but not limited to, the involvement of any third party brokers and market conditions. We paid financing fees to Gladstone Securities of $0.2 million, $0.1 million, and $0.2 million during the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017, respectively, which are included in mortgage notes payable, net, in the consolidated balance sheets, or 0.20%, 0.11%, and 0.24% of total mortgage principal secured or extended during the respective periods. Our Board of Directors renewed the agreement for an additional year, through August 31, 2020, at its July 2019 meeting.