Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Related-Party Transactions

v3.8.0.1
Related-Party Transactions
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
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, 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, 2017 and December 31, 2016, $2.3 million and $2.1 million, respectively, was collectively due to our Adviser and Administrator.

Base Management Fee

On January 10, 2017, we entered into a Fourth Amended and Restated Investment Advisory Agreement with the Adviser, effective as of October 1, 2016. Our entrance into the Advisory Agreement and each amendment was 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 2017 meeting, our Board of Directors reviewed and renewed the Advisory Agreement for an additional year, through August 31, 2018.

Under the Advisory Agreement, the calculation of the annual base management fee equals 1.5% of our adjusted total stockholders’ 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) and 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). The fee is calculated and accrued quarterly as 0.375% per quarter of such adjusted total stockholders’ 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. Prior to July 2015, our Advisory Agreement provided for an annual base management fee equal to 2.0% of our common stockholders’ equity, which was our total stockholders’ equity, less the recorded value of any preferred stock and adjusted to exclude the effect of any unrealized gains, losses, or other items that did not affect realized net income (including impairment charges).

For the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015, we recorded a base management fee of $5.0 million, $3.9 million, and $3.5 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.

The incentive fee prior to July 2015 rewarded the Adviser in circumstances where our quarterly funds from operations, or FFO, before giving effect to any incentive fee, or pre-incentive fee FFO, exceeded 1.75%, or 7.0% annualized, or the hurdle rate, of common stockholders’ equity. FFO included any realized capital gains and capital losses, less any distributions paid on preferred stock and Senior Common Stock (defined herein), but FFO did not include any unrealized capital gains or losses (including impairment charges). The Adviser received 100.0% of the amount of the pre-incentive fee FFO that exceeded the hurdle rate, but was less than 2.1875% of our common stockholders’ equity. The Adviser also received an incentive fee of 20.0% of the amount of our pre-incentive fee FFO that exceeded 2.1875% of common stockholders’ equity.

For the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015, we recorded an incentive fee of $2.4 million, $2.4 million, and $4.7 million, respectively, offset by credits related to unconditional, voluntary and irrevocable waivers issued by the Adviser of $0.0 million, $0.0 million, and $2.5 million, respectively, resulting in a net incentive fee for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015, of $2.4 million, $2.4 million, and $2.2 million, respectively. Our Board of Directors accepted the Adviser’s offer to waive, on a quarterly basis, a portion of the incentive fee for the six months covering January 1, 2015 through June 30, 2015 in order to support the current level of distributions to our stockholders. The Adviser did not waive any portion of the incentive fee for the year ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, nor the six months ended December 31, 2015. 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 current gross value of the property (which is calculated as the original acquisition price plus any subsequent non-reimbursed capital improvements). 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, 2017, 2016, and 2015. As a result of the January 2017 amendment to the Advisory Agreement, the calculation of the capital gains fee is based on the all-in acquisition cost of disposed of properties. The impact of this amendment would not have resulted in a capital gains fee for previously reported periods.

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 agreement after the Company has defaulted and applicable cure periods have expired. The 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 of the agreement, 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. As approved by our Board of Directors, effective July 1, 2014, 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, 2017, 2016, and 2015, we recorded an administration fee of $1.3 million, $1.5 million, and $1.4 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 Mr. David Gladstone, our chairman and chief executive officer. Mr. Gladstone also serves on the board of managers of Gladstone Securities.

Dealer Manager Agreement

In connection with the offering of our Senior Common Stock (see Note 10, “Stockholders’ and Mezzanine Equity,” for further details) we entered into a Dealer Manager Agreement, dated March 25, 2011 (the "Dealer Manager Agreement"), with Gladstone Securities pursuant to which Gladstone Securities agreed to act as our exclusive dealer manager in connection with the offering. The Dealer Manager Agreement terminated according to its terms on March 28, 2015, requiring us to write-off $0.1 million of deferred offering costs to general and administrative expense. Pursuant to the terms of the Dealer Manager Agreement, Gladstone Securities was entitled to receive a sales commission in the amount of 7.0% of the gross proceeds of the shares of Senior Common Stock sold, plus a dealer manager fee in the amount of 3.0% of the gross proceeds of the shares of Senior Common Stock sold. In addition, we agreed to indemnify Gladstone Securities against various liabilities, including certain liabilities arising under the federal securities laws. We did not make any payments during the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 to Gladstone Securities pursuant to this agreement. We made approximately $0.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2015 to Gladstone Securities pursuant to this agreement. All such payments are reflected as a component of Senior Common Stock costs as reflected in Note 10.

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, $0.3 million, and $0.2 million during the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015, respectively, which are included in mortgage notes payable, net, in the consolidated balance sheets, or 0.24%, 0.32%, and 0.29% of total mortgages secured during the respective periods. Our Board of Directors renewed the agreement for an additional year, through August 31, 2018, at its July 2017 meeting.