Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Related-Party Transactions

v3.24.0.1
Related-Party Transactions
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related-Party Transactions RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS
Our Adviser and Administrator
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 David Gladstone, our chairman, chief executive officer, and president. In addition, two of our executive officers, Mr. Gladstone and Terry Brubaker (our chief operating officer), serve as directors and executive officers of each of our Adviser and Administrator. Michael LiCalsi, our general counsel and secretary (who also serves as our Administrator’s president, general counsel, and secretary) is also executive vice president of administration of our Adviser.
We have entered into an investment advisory agreement with our Adviser and an administration agreement with our Administrator (the “Administration Agreement”). The advisory agreement with our Advisor that was in effect through June 30, 2021 (the “Prior Advisory Agreement”), was amended and restated effective July 1, 2021 (as amended, the “Current Advisory Agreement,” and together with the Prior Advisory Agreement, the “Advisory Agreements”). Each of the Advisory Agreements and the Administration Agreement were approved unanimously by our Board of Directors, including our independent directors.
Our Board of Directors reviews and considers renewing the agreement with our Adviser each July. During its July 2023 meeting, our Board of Directors reviewed and renewed each of the Current Advisory Agreement and the Administration Agreement for an additional year, through August 31, 2024.
A summary of the compensation terms for each of the Advisory Agreements and a summary of the Administration Agreement is below.
Advisory Agreements
Pursuant to each of the Prior Advisory Agreement (which was in effect from January 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021) and the Current Advisory Agreement (which has been in effect since July 1, 2021), our Adviser is compensated in the form of a base management fee and, each as applicable, an incentive fee, a capital gains fee, and a termination fee. Our Adviser does not charge acquisition or disposition fees when we acquire or dispose of properties, as is common in other externally-managed REITs. Each of the base management, incentive, capital gains, and termination fees is described below.
Base Management Fee
Pursuant to the Prior Advisory Agreement, a base management fee was paid quarterly and was calculated at an annual rate of 0.50% (0.125% per quarter) of the prior calendar quarter’s “Gross Tangible Real Estate,” defined as the gross cost of tangible real estate owned by us (including land and land improvements, permanent plantings, irrigation and drainage systems, farm-related facilities, and other tangible site improvements), prior to any accumulated depreciation, and as shown on our balance sheet or the notes thereto for the applicable quarter.
Pursuant to the Current Advisory Agreement, a base management fee is paid quarterly and is calculated at an annual rate of 0.60% (0.15% per quarter) of the prior calendar quarter’s Gross Tangible Real Estate.
Incentive Fee
Pursuant to each of the Advisory Agreements, an incentive fee is calculated and payable quarterly in arrears if the Pre-Incentive Fee FFO for a particular quarter exceeded a hurdle rate of 1.75% (7.0% annualized) of the prior calendar quarter’s Total Adjusted Common Equity.
For purposes of this calculation, Pre-Incentive Fee FFO is defined in each of the Advisory Agreements as FFO (also as defined in each of the Advisory Agreements) accrued by the Company during the current calendar quarter (prior to any incentive fee calculation for the current calendar quarter), less any dividends declared on preferred stock securities that were not treated as a liability for GAAP purposes. In addition, Total Adjusted Common Equity is defined as common stockholders’ equity plus non-controlling common interests in the Operating Partnership, if any (each as reported on our balance sheet), adjusted to exclude unrealized gains and losses and certain other one-time events and non-cash items.
Our Adviser receives: (i) no Incentive Fee in any calendar quarter in which the Pre-Incentive Fee FFO does not exceed the hurdle rate; (ii) 100% of the Pre-Incentive Fee FFO with respect to that portion of such Pre-Incentive Fee FFO, if any, that exceeds the hurdle rate but was less than 2.1875% in any calendar quarter (8.75% annualized); and (iii) 20% of the amount of the Pre-Incentive Fee FFO, if any, that exceeds 2.1875% in any calendar quarter (8.75% annualized).
Capital Gains Fee
Pursuant to each of the Advisory Agreements, a capital gains-based incentive fee is calculated and payable in arrears at the end of each fiscal year (or upon termination of the agreement with our Adviser). The capital gains fee shall equal: (i) 15% of the cumulative aggregate realized capital gains minus the cumulative aggregate realized capital losses, minus (ii) any aggregate capital gains fees paid in prior periods. For purposes of this calculation, realized capital gains and losses will be calculated as (x) the sales price of the property, minus (y) any costs to sell the property and the then-current gross value of the property (which includes the property’s original acquisition price plus any subsequent, non-reimbursed capital improvements). At the end of each fiscal year, if this figure is negative, no capital gains fee shall be paid.
Termination Fee
Pursuant to each of the Advisory Agreements, in the event of our termination of the agreement with our Adviser for any reason (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 three 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.
Administration Agreement
Pursuant to the Administration Agreement, we pay for our allocable portion of the Administrator’s expenses incurred while performing its obligations to us, including, but not limited to, rent and the salaries and benefits expenses of our Administrator’s
employees, including 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, our allocable portion of the Administrator’s expenses is 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 similar contractual agreements.
Gladstone Securities
We have entered into an agreement with Gladstone Securities, LLC (“Gladstone Securities”), for it to act as our non-exclusive agent to assist us with arranging financing for our properties (the “Financing Arrangement Agreement”). Gladstone Securities is a privately-held broker-dealer and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Gladstone Securities is an affiliate of ours, as its parent company is owned and controlled by Mr. Gladstone, who also serves on the board of managers of Gladstone Securities. In addition, Michael LiCalsi, our General Counsel and Secretary, serves in several capacities for Gladstone Securities, including as chief legal officer, secretary, a member of its board of managers, and a managing principal.
Financing Arrangement Agreement
We pay Gladstone Securities a financing fee in connection with the services it provides to us for securing financing on our properties. Depending on the size of the financing obtained, the maximum amount of the financing fee, which will be payable upon closing of the respective financing, will range from 0.5% to 1.0% of the amount of financing obtained. The amount of the financing fee 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 unrelated third-party brokers and general market conditions.
We did not pay any financing fees to Gladstone Securities during the year ended December 31, 2023. During the years ended December 31, 2022, and 2021, we paid total financing fees to Gladstone Securities of approximately $154,000 and $166,000, respectively. Through December 31, 2023, the total amount of financing fees paid to Gladstone Securities represented approximately 0.14% of the total financings secured since the Financing Arrangement Agreement has been in place.
Dealer-Manager Agreements
We have entered into dealer-manager agreements with Gladstone Securities (collectively, the “Dealer-Manager Agreements”), pursuant to which Gladstone Securities served or serves as our exclusive dealer-manager in connection with the offering of our Series C Preferred Stock and Series E Preferred Stock (each as defined in Note 8, “Equity—Equity Issuances”).
Pursuant to the Dealer-Manager Agreements, Gladstone Securities provided or provides certain sales, promotional, and marketing services to us in connection with the offering of the Series C Preferred Stock and Series E Preferred Stock, and we generally paid or pay Gladstone Securities for the following:
•With regard to the Series C Preferred Stock:
iselling commissions of up to 6.0% of the gross proceeds from sales in the offering (the “Series C Selling Commissions”), and
iia dealer-manager fee of 3.0% of the gross proceeds from sales in the offering (the “Series C Dealer-Manager Fee”).
•With regard to the Series E Preferred Stock:
iselling commissions of up to 7.0% of the gross proceeds from sales in the offering (the “Series E Selling Commissions,” and together with the Series C Selling Commissions, the “Selling Commissions”), and
iia dealer-manager fee of 3.0% of the gross proceeds from sales in the offering (the “Series E Dealer-Manager Fee,” and together with the Series C Dealer-Manager Fee, the “Dealer-Manager Fees”).
No Selling Commissions or Dealer-Manager Fees shall be paid with respect to shares of the Series C Preferred Stock sold pursuant to our dividend reinvestment plan (the “DRIP”) for the Series C Preferred Stock. Gladstone Securities may, in its sole discretion, remit all or a portion of the Selling Commissions and also reallow all or a portion of the Dealer-Manager Fees to participating broker-dealers and wholesalers in support of the offerings. The terms of each of the Dealer-Manager Agreements were approved by our Board of Directors, including all of our independent directors.
The following tables summarizes the total Selling Commissions and Dealer-Manager Fees paid to Gladstone Securities during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021 (dollars in thousands):
For the Years Ended December 31,
2023 2022 2021
Series C Preferred Stock $ —  $ 13,471  $ 4,961 
Series E Preferred Stock 583  —  — 
Total Selling Commissions and Dealer-Manager Fees $ 583  $ 13,471  $ 4,961 
Selling Commissions and Dealer-Manager Fees paid to Gladstone Securities are netted against the gross proceeds received from sales of the respective securities and are included within Additional paid-in capital on the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets.
Related Party Fees
The following table summarizes related-party fees paid or accrued for and reflected in our accompanying consolidated financial statements (dollars in thousands):
  For the Years Ended December 31,
  2023 2022 2021
Base management fee(1)(2)
$ 8,603  $ 8,307  $ 6,329 
Incentive fee(1)(2)
1,771  3,225  3,901 
Total fees to our Adviser $ 10,374  $ 11,532  $ 10,230 
Administration fee(1)(2)
$ 2,255  $ 2,005  $ 1,526 
Selling Commissions and Dealer-Manager Fees(1)(3)
$ 583  $ 13,471  $ 4,961 
Financing fees(1)(4)
—  154  166 
Total fees to Gladstone Securities $ 583  $ 13,625  $ 5,127 
(1)Pursuant to the agreements with the respective related-party entities, as discussed above.
(2)Reflected as a line item on our accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income.
(3)Included within Additional paid-in capital on the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets.
(4)Included within Notes and bonds payable, net on the Consolidated Balance Sheets and amortized into Interest expense on the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income.
Related-Party Fees Due
Amounts due to related parties on our accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2023 and 2022 were as follows (dollars in thousands):
December 31, 2023 December 31, 2022
Base management fee $ 2,156  $ 2,141 
Incentive fee 982  1,589 
Other, net(1)
49  80 
Total due to Adviser 3,187  3,810 
Administration fee 546  536 
Cumulative accrued but unpaid portions of prior Administration Fees(2)
141  — 
Total due to Administrator 687  536 
Total due to Gladstone Securities(3)
—  24 
Total due to related parties(4)
$ 3,874  $ 4,370 
(1)Other amounts due to or from our Adviser primarily relate to miscellaneous general and administrative expenses either paid by our Adviser on our behalf or by us on our Adviser’s behalf.
(2)Represents the cumulative accrued but unpaid portion of prior Administration fees that are scheduled to be paid during the three months ending September 30 of each year, which is the quarter following our Administrator’s fiscal year end.
(3)Represents certain costs related to sales of preferred stock paid by Gladstone Securities on our behalf.
(4)Reflected as a line item on our accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets.