Item 1A. Risk Factors
You should carefully consider the following risks and other information in this Form 10-Q in evaluating us and our shares. Any of the following risks, as well as additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial, could materially and adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. The risk factors generally have been separated into the following categories: risks related to our business, risks related to our Manager, risks related to taxation, risks related to our common shares and general risks. However, these categories do overlap and should not be considered exclusive.
Risks Related to Our Business
A pandemic, including COVID-19, could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
In recent years, the outbreaks of certain highly contagious diseases have increased the risk of a pandemic resulting in economic disruptions. In particular, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to severe disruptions in the market and the global, U.S. and regional economies that may continue for a prolonged duration and trigger a recession or a period of economic slowdown. In response, various governmental bodies and private enterprises have implemented, and may in the future implement, numerous measures intended to mitigate the outbreak, such as travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, shutdowns and testing or vaccination mandates. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be dynamic and evolving, including a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in certain geographies, and its ultimate scope, duration and impact, including the efficacy and availability of vaccines, remain uncertain.
We expect that this pandemic, and any future epidemic or pandemic crises, could result in direct and indirect adverse effects on our industries and customers, which in turn may impact our business, results of operations and financial condition. Effects of the current pandemic have included, or may in the future include, among others:
•deterioration of worldwide, regional or national economic conditions and activity, which could adversely affect global demand for crude oil and petroleum products, demand for our services, and time charter and spot rates;
•disruptions to our operations as a result of the potential health impact, such as the availability and efficacy of vaccines, on our employees and crew, and on the workforces of our customers and business partners;
•disruptions to our business from, or additional costs related to, new regulations, directives or practices implemented in response to the pandemic, such as travel restrictions, increased inspection regimes, hygiene measures (such as quarantining and physical distancing) or increased implementation of remote working arrangements;
•asset impairment charges and a decline in revenues;
•a lack of air travel demand or an inability of airlines to operate to or from certain regions could impact demand for air travel and the financial health of certain airlines, including increasing the financial stress of our lessees;
•any related off hire due to global supply chain disruptions resulting from quarantines, worker health, regulations or other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which in turn could disrupt our operations and result in a reduction of revenue;
•potential shortages or a lack of access to required spare parts for our vessels, or potential delays in any repairs to, scheduled or unscheduled maintenance or modifications;
•potential delays in vessel inspections and related certifications by class societies, customers or government agencies;
•potential reduced cash flows and financial condition, including potential liquidity constraints;
•reduced access to or increased cost of capital, including the ability to refinance any existing obligations, as a result of any credit tightening generally or due to continued declines in global financial markets, including potential interest rate increases and declines in the prices of publicly-traded securities of us, our peers and of listed companies generally; and
•potential deterioration in the financial condition and prospects of our customers, joint venture partners or business partners, or attempts by customers or third parties to invoke force majeure contractual clauses as a result of delays or other disruptions.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, the extent to which COVID-19 impacts our operations will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, including the duration and severity of the outbreak, and the actions that may be required to try and contain COVID-19 or treat its impact. We continue to monitor the
pandemic and, the extent to which the continued spread of the virus adversely affects our customer base and therefore revenue. As the COVID-19 pandemic is complex and rapidly evolving, our plans as described above may change. At this point, we cannot reasonably estimate the duration and severity of this pandemic, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows.
Uncertainty relating to macroeconomic conditions may reduce the demand for our assets, result in non-performance of contracts by our lessees or charterers, limit our ability to obtain additional capital to finance new investments, or have other unforeseen negative effects.
Uncertainty and negative trends in general economic conditions in the United States and abroad, including significant tightening of credit markets and commodity price volatility, historically have created difficult operating environments for owners and operators in the aviation and offshore equipment industries. Many factors, including factors that are beyond our control, may impact our operating results or financial condition and/or affect the lessees and charterers that form our customer base. For some years, the world has experienced weakened economic conditions and volatility following adverse changes in global capital markets. Excess supply in oil and gas markets can put significant downward pressure on prices for these commodities, and may affect demand for assets used in production, refining and transportation of oil and gas. In the past, a significant decline in oil prices has led to lower offshore exploration and production budgets worldwide. These conditions have resulted in significant contraction, deleveraging and reduced liquidity in the credit markets. Several governments have implemented, or are considering implementing, a broad variety of governmental actions or new regulations for the financial markets. In addition, limitations on the availability of capital, higher costs of capital for financing expenditures or the desire to preserve liquidity, may cause our current or prospective customers to make reductions in future capital budgets and spending.
Further, demand for our assets is related to passenger and cargo traffic growth, which in turn is dependent on general business and economic conditions. Global economic downturns could have an adverse impact on passenger and cargo traffic levels and consequently our lessees’ and charterers’ business, which may in turn result in a significant reduction in revenues, earnings and cash flows, difficulties accessing capital and a deterioration in the value of our assets. We have in the past been exposed to increased credit risk from our customers and third parties who have obligations to us, which resulted in non-performance of contracts by our lessees and adversely impacted our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We cannot assure you that similar loss events may not occur in the future.
Instability in geographies where we have assets or where we derive revenue could have a material adverse effect on our business, customers, operations and financial results.
Economic, civil, military and political uncertainty exists and may increase in regions where we operate and derive our revenue. Various countries in which we operate are experiencing and may continue to experience military action and civil and political unrest. We have assets in the emerging market economies of Eastern Europe, including some assets in Russia and Ukraine. In late February 2022, Russian military forces launched significant military action against Ukraine. Sustained conflict and disruption in the region is likely. The impact to Russia and Ukraine, as well as actions taken by other countries, including new and stricter export controls and sanctions by Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the U.S. and other countries and organizations against officials, individuals, regions, and industries in Russia and Ukraine, and each country’s potential response to such sanctions, tensions and military actions, could have a material adverse effect on our business and delay or prevent us from accessing certain of our assets. We are actively monitoring the security of our remaining assets in the region.
The aviation and offshore industries have experienced periods of oversupply during which lease rates and asset values have declined, particularly during the most recent economic downturn, and any future oversupply could materially adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows.
The oversupply of a specific asset is likely to depress the lease or charter rates for and the value of that type of asset and result in decreased utilization of our assets, and the industries in which we operate have experienced periods of oversupply during which rates and asset values have declined, particularly during the most recent economic downturn. Factors that could lead to such oversupply include, without limitation:
•general demand for the type of assets that we purchase;
•general macroeconomic conditions, including market prices for commodities that our assets may serve;
•geopolitical events, including war, prolonged armed conflict and acts of terrorism;
•outbreaks of communicable diseases and natural disasters;
•governmental regulation;
•interest rates;
•the availability of credit;
•potential reduced cash flows and financial condition, including potential liquidity restraints;
•restructurings and bankruptcies of companies in the industries in which we operate, including our customers;
•manufacturer production levels and technological innovation;
•manufacturers merging or exiting the industry or ceasing to produce certain asset types;
•retirement and obsolescence of the assets that we own;
•increases in supply levels of assets in the market due to the sale or merging of operating lessors; and
•reintroduction of previously unused or dormant assets into the industries in which we operate.
These and other related factors are generally outside of our control and could lead to persistence of, or increase in, the oversupply of the types of assets that we acquire or decreased utilization of our assets, either of which could materially adversely affect our results of operations and cash flow. In addition, aviation lessees may redeliver our assets to locations where there is oversupply, which may lead to additional repositioning costs for us if we move them to areas with higher demand. Positioning expenses vary depending on geographic location, distance, rates and other factors, and may not be fully covered by drop-off charges collected from the last lessees of the equipment or pick-up charges paid by the new lessees. Positioning expenses can be significant if a large portion of our assets are returned to locations with weak demand, which could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
The airline industry is heavily regulated, and if we fail to comply with applicable requirements, our results of operations could suffer.
The Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) and equivalent regulatory agencies have increasingly focused on the need to assure that airline industry products are designed with sufficient cybersecurity controls to protect against unauthorized access or other unwanted compromise. A failure to meet these evolving expectations could negatively impact sales into the industry and expose us to legal or contractual liability.
Governmental agencies throughout the world, including the FAA, prescribe standards and qualification requirements for aircraft components, including virtually all commercial airline and general aviation products. Specific regulations vary from country to country, although compliance with FAA requirements generally satisfies regulatory requirements in other countries. If any material authorization or approval qualifying us to supply our products is revoked or suspended, then sale of the product would be prohibited by law, which would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
From time to time, the FAA or equivalent regulatory agencies in other countries propose new regulations or changes to existing regulations, which often are more stringent than existing regulations. If such proposals are adopted and enacted, we may incur significant additional costs to achieve compliance, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Recent trends by China’s aviation authority to relax restrictions on airspace may be reversed, and anticipated new regulations loosening airspace restrictions may not materialize, which could impact sales prospects in China for our commercial aerospace businesses.
The retirement or prolonged grounding of commercial aircraft could reduce our revenues and the value of any related inventory.
We sell aircraft components and replacement parts. If aircraft or engines for which we offer aircraft components and replacement parts are retired or grounded for prolonged periods of time and there are fewer aircraft that require these components or parts, our revenues may decline as well as the value of any related inventory.
Contractual defaults may adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows by decreasing revenues and increasing storage, positioning, collection, recovery and lost equipment expenses.
The success of our business depends in large part on the success of the operators in the sectors in which we participate. Cash flows from our assets are substantially impacted by our ability to collect compensation and other amounts to be paid in respect of such assets from the customers with whom we enter into leases, charters or other contractual arrangements. Inherent in the nature of the leases, charters and other arrangements for the use of such assets is the risk that we may not receive, or may experience delay in realizing, such amounts to be paid. While we target the entry into contracts with credit-worthy counterparties, no assurance can be given that such counterparties will perform their obligations during the term of the leases, charters or other contractual arrangements. In addition, when counterparties default, we may fail to recover all of our assets, and the assets we do recover may be returned in damaged condition or to locations where we will not be able to efficiently lease, charter or sell them. In most cases, we maintain, or require our lessees to maintain, certain insurances to cover the risk of damages or loss of our assets. However, these insurance policies may not be sufficient to protect us against a loss.
Depending on the specific sector, the risk of contractual defaults may be elevated due to excess capacity as a result of oversupply during the most recent economic downturn. We lease assets to our customers pursuant to fixed-price contracts, and our customers then seek to utilize those assets to transport goods and provide services. If the price at which our customers receive for their transportation services decreases as a result of an oversupply in the marketplace, then our customers may be forced to reduce their prices in order to attract business (which may have an adverse effect on their ability to meet their contractual lease obligations to us), or may seek to renegotiate or terminate their contractual lease arrangements with us to pursue a lower-priced opportunity with another lessor, which may have a direct, adverse effect on us. See “-The industries in which we operate have experienced periods of oversupply during which lease rates and asset values have declined, particularly during the most recent economic downturn, and any future oversupply could materially adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows.” Any default by a material customer would have a significant impact on our profitability at the time the customer defaulted, which could materially adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects. In addition, some of our counterparties may reside in jurisdictions with legal and regulatory regimes that make it difficult and costly to enforce such counterparties’ obligations.
If we acquire a high concentration of a particular type of asset, or concentrate our investments in a particular sector, our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected by changes in market demand or problems specific to that asset or sector.
If we acquire a high concentration of a particular asset, or concentrate our investments in a particular sector, our business and financial results could be adversely affected by sector-specific or asset-specific factors. If we acquire a high concentration of a particular asset and the market demand for a particular asset declines, it is redesigned or replaced by its manufacturer or it experiences design or technical problems, the value and rates relating to such asset may decline, and we may be unable to lease or charter such asset on favorable terms, if at all. Any decrease in the value and rates of our assets may have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We operate in highly competitive markets.
The business of acquiring aviation and offshore energy equipment assets is highly competitive. Market competition for opportunities includes traditional transportation and infrastructure companies, commercial and investment banks, as well as a growing number of non-traditional participants, such as hedge funds, private equity funds and other private investors, including Fortress-related entities. Some of these competitors may have access to greater amounts of capital and/or to capital that may be committed for longer periods of time or may have different return thresholds than us, and thus these competitors may have certain advantages not shared by us. In addition, competitors may have incurred, or may in the future incur, leverage to finance their debt investments at levels or on terms more favorable than those available to us. Strong competition for investment opportunities could result in fewer such opportunities for us, as certain of these competitors have established and are establishing investment vehicles that target the same types of assets that we intend to purchase.
In addition, some of our competitors may have longer operating histories, greater financial resources and lower costs of capital than us, and consequently, may be able to compete more effectively in one or more of our target markets. We likely will not always be able to compete successfully with our competitors and competitive pressures or other factors may also result in significant price competition, particularly during industry downturns, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Certain liens may arise on our assets.
Certain of our assets are currently subject to liens under separate financing arrangements entered into by certain subsidiaries in connection with acquisitions of assets. In the event of a default under such arrangements by the applicable subsidiary, the lenders thereunder would be permitted to take possession of or sell such assets. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Liquidity and Capital Resources.” In addition, our currently owned assets and assets that we purchase in the future may be subject to other liens based on the industry practices relating to such assets. Until they are discharged, these liens could impair our ability to repossess, re-lease or sell our assets, and to the extent our lessees or charterers do not comply with their obligations to discharge any liens on the applicable assets, we may find it necessary to pay the claims secured by such liens in order to repossess such assets. Such payments could materially adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects.
The values of our assets may fluctuate due to various factors.
The fair market values of our assets may decrease or increase depending on a number of factors, including the prevailing level of charter or lease rates from time to time, general economic and market conditions affecting our target markets, type and age of assets, supply and demand for assets, competition, new governmental or other regulations and technological advances, all of which could impact our profitability and our ability to lease, charter, develop, operate, or sell such assets. In addition, our assets depreciate as they age and may generate lower revenues and cash flows. We must be able to replace such older, depreciated assets with newer assets, or our ability to maintain or increase our revenues and cash flows will decline. In addition, if we dispose of an asset for a price that is less than the depreciated book value of the asset on our balance sheet or if we determine that an asset’s value has been impaired, we will recognize a related charge in our consolidated statement of operations and such charge could be material.
We may not generate a sufficient amount of cash or generate sufficient free cash flow to fund our operations or repay our indebtedness.
Our ability to make payments on our indebtedness as required depends on our ability to generate cash flow in the future. This ability, to a certain extent, is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control. If we do not generate sufficient free cash flow to satisfy our debt obligations, including interest payments and the payment of principal at maturity, we may have to undertake alternative financing plans, such as refinancing or restructuring our debt, selling assets, reducing or delaying capital investments or seeking to raise additional capital. We cannot provide assurance that any refinancing would be possible, that any assets could be sold, or, if sold, of the timeliness and amount of proceeds realized from those sales, that additional financing could be obtained on acceptable terms, if at all, or that additional financing would be permitted under the terms of our various debt instruments then in effect. Furthermore, our ability to refinance would depend upon the condition of the finance and credit markets. Our inability to generate sufficient free cash flow to satisfy our debt obligations, or to refinance our obligations on commercially reasonable terms or on a timely basis, would materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our use of joint ventures or partnerships, and our Manager’s outsourcing of certain functions, may present unforeseen obstacles or costs.
We have acquired and may in the future acquire interests in certain assets in cooperation with third-party partners or co-investors through jointly-owned acquisition vehicles, joint ventures or other structures. In these co-investment situations, our ability to control the management of such assets depends upon the nature and terms of the joint arrangements with such partners and our relative ownership stake in the asset, each of which will be determined by negotiation at the time of the investment and the determination of which is subject to the discretion of our Manager. Depending on our Manager’s perception of the relative risks and rewards of a particular asset, our Manager may elect to acquire interests in structures that afford relatively little or no operational and/or management control to us. Such arrangements present risks not present with wholly-owned assets, such as the possibility that a co-investor becomes bankrupt, develops business interests or goals that conflict with our interests and goals in respect of the assets, all of which could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
In addition, our Manager expects to utilize third-party contractors to perform services and functions related to the operation and leasing of our assets. These functions may include billing, collections, recovery and asset monitoring. Because we and our Manager do not directly control these third parties, there can be no assurance that the services they provide will be delivered at a level commensurate with our expectations, or at all. The failure of any such third-party contractors to perform in accordance with our expectations could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We are subject to the risks and costs of obsolescence of our assets.
Technological and other improvements expose us to the risk that certain of our assets may become technologically or commercially obsolete. For example, as manufacturers introduce technological innovations and new types of aircraft, some of our assets could become less desirable to potential lessees. Such technological innovations may increase the rate of obsolescence of existing aircraft faster than currently anticipated by us. In addition, the imposition of increased regulation regarding stringent noise or emissions restrictions may make some of our aircraft less desirable and less valuable in the marketplace. In our offshore energy business, development and construction of new, sophisticated, high-specification assets could cause our assets to become less desirable to potential charterers, and insurance rates may also increase with the age of a vessel, making older vessels less desirable to potential charterers. Any of these risks may adversely affect our ability to lease, charter or sell our assets on favorable terms, if at all, which could materially adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects.
The inability to obtain certain components from suppliers could harm our business.
Our business is affected by the availability and price of the component parts that we use to manufacture our products. Our ability to manage inventory and meet delivery requirements may be constrained by our suppliers’ ability to adjust delivery of long-lead time products during times of volatile demand. The supply chains for our business could also be disrupted by external events such as natural disasters, extreme weather events, pandemics, labor disputes, governmental actions and legislative or regulatory changes. As a result, our suppliers may fail to perform according to specifications when required and we may be unable to identify alternate suppliers or to otherwise mitigate the consequences of their non-performance.
Transitions to new suppliers may result in significant costs and delays, including those related to the required recertification of parts obtained from new suppliers with our customers and/or regulatory agencies. Our inability to fill our supply needs could jeopardize our ability to fulfill obligations under customer contracts, which could result in reduced revenues and profits, contract penalties or terminations, and damage to customer relationships. Further, increased costs of such components could reduce our profits if we were unable to pass along such price in-creases to our customers.
We could be negatively impacted by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and sustainability-related matters.
Governments, investors, customers, employees and other stakeholders are increasingly focusing on corporate ESG practices and disclosures, and expectations in this area are rapidly evolving. We have announced, and may in the future announce, sustainability-focused investments, partnerships and other initiatives and goals. These initiatives, aspirations, targets or objectives reflect our current plans and aspirations and are not guarantees that we will be able to achieve them. Our efforts to accomplish and accurately report on these initiatives and goals present numerous operational, regulatory, reputational, financial, legal, and other risks, any of which could have a material negative impact, including on our reputation and stock price.
In addition, the standards for tracking and reporting on ESG matters are relatively new, have not been harmonized and continue to evolve. Our selection of disclosure frameworks that seek to align with various voluntary reporting standards may change from time to time and may result in a lack of comparative data from period to period. Moreover, our processes and controls may not always align with evolving voluntary standards for identifying, measuring, and reporting ESG metrics, our interpretation of reporting standards may differ from those of others, and such standards may change over time, any of which could result in significant revisions to our goals or reported progress in achieving such goals. In this regard, the criteria by which our ESG practices and disclosures are assessed may change due to the quickly evolving landscape, which could result in greater expectations of us and cause us to undertake costly initiatives to satisfy such new criteria. The increasing attention to corporate ESG initiatives could also result in increased investigations and litigation or threats thereof. If we are unable to satisfy such new criteria, investors may conclude that our ESG and sustainability practices are inadequate. If we fail or are perceived to have failed to achieve previously announced initiatives or goals or to accurately disclose our progress on such initiatives or goals, our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely impacted.
We may be affected by fluctuating prices for fuel and energy.
Volatility in energy prices could have a significant effect on a variety of items including, but not limited to: the economy; demand for transportation services; business related to the energy sector including the fuel prices and fuel surcharges.
International, political, and economic factors, events and conditions, including current sanctions against Russia related to its invasion of Ukraine, affect the volatility of fuel prices and supplies. Weather can also affect fuel supplies and limit domestic refining capacity. A severe shortage of, or disruption to, domestic fuel supplies could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity. In addition, lower fuel prices could have a negative impact on commodities we process and transport, such as crude oil and petroleum products, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity.
Our assets generally require routine maintenance, and we may be exposed to unforeseen maintenance costs.
We may be exposed to unforeseen maintenance costs for our assets associated with a lessee’s or charterer’s failure to properly maintain the asset. We enter into leases and charters with respect to some of our assets pursuant to which the lessees are primarily responsible for many obligations, which generally include complying with all governmental requirements applicable to the lessee or charterer, including operational, maintenance, government agency oversight, registration requirements and other applicable directives. Failure of a lessee or charterer to perform required maintenance during the term of a lease or charter could result in a decrease in value of an asset, an inability to re-lease or charter an asset at favorable rates, if at all, or a potential inability to utilize an asset. Maintenance failures would also likely require us to incur maintenance and modification costs upon the termination of the applicable lease or charter; such costs to restore the asset to an acceptable condition prior to re-leasing, charter or sale could be substantial. Any failure by our lessees or charterers to meet their obligations to perform required scheduled maintenance or our inability to maintain our assets could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Some of our customers operate in highly regulated industries and changes in laws or regulations, including laws with respect to international trade, may adversely affect our ability to lease, charter or sell our assets.
Some of our customers operate in highly regulated industries. A number of our contractual arrangements-for example, our leasing aircraft engines to third-party operators-require the operator (our customer) to obtain specific governmental or regulatory licenses, consents or approvals. These include consents for certain payments under such arrangements and for the export, import or re-export of the related assets. Failure by our customers or, in certain circumstances, by us, to obtain certain licenses and approvals could negatively affect our ability to conduct our business. In addition, the shipment of goods, services and technology across international borders subjects the operation of our assets to international trade laws and regulations. Moreover, many countries, including the United States, control the export and re-export of certain goods, services and technology and impose related export recordkeeping and reporting obligations. Governments also may impose economic sanctions against certain countries, persons and other entities that may restrict or prohibit transactions involving such countries, persons and entities. If any such regulations or sanctions affect the asset operators that are our customers, our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be materially adversely affected.
Certain of our assets are subject to purchase options held by the charterer or lessee of the asset which, if exercised, could reduce the size of our asset base and our future revenues.
We have granted purchase options to the charterers and lessees of certain of our assets. The market values of these assets may change from time to time depending on a number of factors, such as general economic and market conditions affecting the industries in which we operate, competition, cost of construction, governmental or other regulations, technological changes and prevailing levels of charter or lease rates from time to time. The purchase price under a purchase option may be less than the asset’s market value at the time the option may be exercised. In addition, we may not be able to obtain a replacement asset for the price at which the asset is sold. In such cases, our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be materially adversely affected.
The profitability of our offshore energy assets may be impacted by the profitability of the offshore oil and gas industry generally, which is significantly affected by, among other things, volatile oil and gas prices.
Demand for assets in the offshore energy business and our ability to secure charter contracts for our assets at favorable charter rates following expiry or termination of existing charters will depend, among other things, on the level of activity in the offshore oil and gas industry. The offshore oil and gas industry is cyclical and volatile, and demand for oil-service assets depends on, among other things, the level of development and activity in oil and gas exploration, as well as the identification and development of oil and gas reserves and production in offshore areas worldwide. The availability of high quality oil and gas prospects, exploration success, relative production costs, the stage of reservoir development, political concerns and regulatory requirements all affect the level of activity for charterers of oil-service vessels. Accordingly, oil and gas prices and market expectations of potential changes in these prices significantly affect the level of activity and demand for oil-service assets. Oil and gas prices can be extremely volatile and are affected by numerous factors beyond our control, such as: worldwide demand for oil and gas; costs of exploring, developing, producing and delivering oil and gas; expectations regarding future energy prices; the ability of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (“OPEC”) to set and maintain production levels and impact pricing; the level of production in non-OPEC countries; governmental regulations and policies regarding development of oil and gas reserves; local and international political, economic and weather conditions; domestic and foreign tax or trade policies; political and military conflicts in oil-producing and other countries; and the development and exploration of alternative fuels. Any reduction in the demand for our assets due to these or other factors could materially adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects.
We may not be able to renew or obtain new or favorable charters or leases, which could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Our operating leases are subject to greater residual risk than direct finance leases because we will own the assets at the expiration of an operating lease term and we may be unable to renew existing charters or leases at favorable rates, or at all, or sell the leased or chartered assets, and the residual value of the asset may be lower than anticipated. In addition, our ability to renew existing charters or leases or obtain new charters or leases will also depend on prevailing market conditions, and upon expiration of the contracts governing the leasing or charter of the applicable assets, we may be exposed to increased volatility in terms of rates and contract provisions. For example, we do not currently have long-term charters for our construction support vessel and our ROV support vessel. Likewise, our customers may reduce their activity levels or seek to terminate or renegotiate their charters or leases with us. If we are not able to renew or obtain new charters or leases in direct continuation, or if new charters or leases are entered into at rates substantially below the existing rates or on terms otherwise less favorable compared to existing contractual terms, or if we are unable to sell assets for which we are unable to obtain new contracts or leases, our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.
Litigation to enforce our contracts and recover our assets has inherent uncertainties that are increased by the location of our assets in jurisdictions that have less developed legal systems.
While some of our contractual arrangements are governed by New York law and provide for the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in the state of New York, our ability to enforce our counterparties’ obligations under such contractual arrangements is subject to applicable laws in the jurisdiction in which enforcement is sought. While some of our existing assets are used in specific jurisdictions, aviation and offshore assets by their nature generally move throughout multiple jurisdictions in the ordinary course of business. As a result, it is not possible to predict, with any degree of certainty, the jurisdictions in which enforcement proceedings may be commenced. Litigation and enforcement proceedings have inherent uncertainties in any jurisdiction and are expensive. These uncertainties are enhanced in countries that have less developed legal systems where the interpretation of laws and regulations is not consistent, may be influenced by factors other than legal merits and may be cumbersome, time-consuming and even more expensive. For example, repossession from defaulting lessees may be difficult and more expensive in jurisdictions whose laws do not confer the same security interests and rights to creditors and lessors as those in the United States and where the legal system is not as well developed. As a result, the remedies available and the relative success and expedience of collection and enforcement proceedings with respect to the owned assets in various jurisdictions cannot be predicted. To the extent more of our business shifts to areas outside of the United States and Europe, such as Asia and the Middle East, it may become more difficult and expensive to enforce our rights and recover our assets.
Our international operations involve additional risks, which could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We and our customers operate in various regions throughout the world. As a result, we may, directly or indirectly, be exposed to political and other uncertainties, including risks of:
•terrorist acts, armed hostilities, war and civil disturbances;
•acts of piracy;
•potential cybersecurity attacks;
•significant governmental influence over many aspects of local economies;
•seizure, nationalization or expropriation of property or equipment;
•repudiation, nullification, modification or renegotiation of contracts;
•limitations on insurance coverage, such as war risk coverage, in certain areas;
•political unrest;
•foreign and U.S. monetary policy and foreign currency fluctuations and devaluations;
•the inability to repatriate income or capital;
•complications associated with repairing and replacing equipment in remote locations;
•import-export quotas, wage and price controls, imposition of trade barriers;
•U.S. and foreign sanctions or trade embargoes;
•restrictions on the transfer of funds into or out of countries in which we operate;
•compliance with U.S. Treasury sanctions regulations restricting doing business with certain nations or specially designated nationals;
•regulatory or financial requirements to comply with foreign bureaucratic actions;
•compliance with applicable anti-corruption laws and regulations;
•changing taxation policies, including confiscatory taxation;
•other forms of government regulation and economic conditions that are beyond our control; and
•governmental corruption.
Any of these or other risks could adversely impact our customers’ international operations which could materially adversely impact our operating results and growth opportunities.
We may make acquisitions in emerging markets throughout the world, and investments in emerging markets are subject to greater risks than developed markets and could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
To the extent that we acquire assets in emerging markets-which we may do throughout the world-additional risks may be encountered that could adversely affect our business. Emerging market countries have less developed economies and infrastructure and are often more vulnerable to economic and geopolitical challenges and may experience significant fluctuations in gross domestic product, interest rates and currency exchange rates, as well as civil disturbances, government instability, nationalization and expropriation of private assets and the imposition of taxes or other charges by government authorities. In addition, the currencies in which investments are denominated may be unstable, may be subject to significant depreciation and may not be freely convertible or may be subject to the imposition of other monetary or fiscal controls and restrictions.
Emerging markets are still in relatively early stages of their development and accordingly may not be highly or efficiently regulated. Moreover, emerging markets tend to be shallower and less liquid than more established markets which may adversely affect our ability to realize profits from our assets in emerging markets when we desire to do so or receive what we perceive to be their fair value in the event of a realization. In some cases, a market for realizing profits from an investment may not exist locally. In addition, issuers based in emerging markets are not generally subject to uniform accounting and financial reporting standards, practices and requirements comparable to those applicable to issuers based in more developed countries, thereby potentially increasing the risk of fraud and other deceptive practices. Settlement of transactions may be subject to greater delay and administrative uncertainties than in developed markets and less complete and reliable financial and other information may be available to investors in emerging markets than in developed markets. In addition, economic instability in emerging markets could adversely affect the value of our assets subject to leases or charters in such countries, or the ability of our lessees or charters, which operate in these markets, to meet their contractual obligations. As a result, lessees or charterers that operate in emerging market countries may be more likely to default under their contractual obligations than those that operate in developed countries. Liquidity and volatility limitations in these markets may also adversely affect our ability to dispose of our assets at the best price available or in a timely manner.
As we have and may continue to acquire assets located in emerging markets throughout the world, we may be exposed to any one or a combination of these risks, which could adversely affect our operating results.
We are actively evaluating potential acquisitions of assets and operating companies in other aviation and offshore energy sectors which could result in additional risks and uncertainties for our business and unexpected regulatory compliance costs.
While our existing portfolio consists of assets in the aviation and offshore sectors, we are actively evaluating potential acquisitions of assets and operating companies in other sectors of the aviation and offshore markets and we plan to be flexible as other attractive opportunities arise over time. To the extent we make acquisitions in other sectors, we will face numerous risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with the required investment of capital and other resources and with combining or integrating operational and management systems and controls. Entry into certain lines of business may subject us to new laws and regulations and may lead to increased litigation and regulatory risk. Many types of transportation assets, including certain airport and seaport assets, are subject to registration requirements by U.S. governmental agencies, as well as foreign governments if such assets are to be used outside of the United States. Failing to register the assets, or losing such registration, could result in substantial penalties, forced liquidation of the assets and/or the inability to operate and, if applicable, lease the assets. We may need to incur significant costs to comply with the laws and regulations applicable to any such new acquisition. The failure to comply with these laws and regulations could cause us to incur significant costs, fines or penalties or require the assets to be removed from service for a period of time resulting in reduced income from these assets. In addition, if our acquisitions in other sectors produce insufficient revenues, or produce investment losses, or if we are unable to efficiently manage our expanded operations, our results of operations will be adversely affected, and our reputation and business may be harmed.
The agreements governing our indebtedness place restrictions on us and our subsidiaries, reducing operational flexibility and creating default risks.
The agreements governing our indebtedness, including, but not limited to, the indenture governing our Senior Notes and the amended and restated revolving credit facility entered into on December 2, 2021 (as amended by Amendment No. 1 dated as of April 28, 2022 and Amendment No. 2 dated as of September 20, 2022, the “Revolving Credit Facility”), contain covenants that place restrictions on us and our subsidiaries. The indentures governing our Senior Notes and the Revolving Credit Facility restrict among other things, our and certain of our subsidiaries’ ability to:
•merge, consolidate or transfer all, or substantially all, of our assets;
•incur additional debt or issue preferred shares;
•make certain investments or acquisitions;
•create liens on our or our subsidiaries’ assets;
•sell assets;
•make distributions on or repurchase our shares;
•enter into transactions with affiliates; and
•create dividend restrictions and other payment restrictions that affect our subsidiaries.
These covenants could impair our ability to grow our business, take advantage of attractive business opportunities, pay dividends on our common and preferred shares or successfully compete. A breach of any of these covenants could result in an event of default. Cross-default provisions in our debt agreements could cause an event of default under one debt agreement to trigger an event of default under our other debt agreements. Upon the occurrence of an event of default under any of our debt agreements, the lenders or holders thereof could elect to declare all outstanding debt under such agreements to be immediately due and payable.
Terrorist attacks or other hostilities could negatively impact our operations and our profitability and may expose us to liability and reputational damage.
Terrorist attacks may negatively affect our operations. Such attacks have contributed to economic instability in the United States and elsewhere, and further acts of terrorism, violence or war could similarly affect world trade and the industries in which we and our customers operate. In addition, terrorist attacks or hostilities may directly impact airports or aircraft, or our physical facilities or those of our customers. In addition, it is also possible that our assets could be involved in a terrorist attack or other hostilities. The consequences of any terrorist attacks or hostilities are unpredictable, and we may not be able to foresee events that could have a material adverse effect on our operations. Although our lease and charter agreements generally require the counterparties to indemnify us against all damages arising out of the use of our assets, and we carry insurance to potentially offset any costs in the event that our customer indemnifications prove to be insufficient, our insurance does not cover certain types of terrorist attacks, and we may not be fully protected from liability or the reputational damage that could arise from a terrorist attack which utilizes our assets.
Our leases and charters require payments in U.S. dollars, but many of our customers operate in other currencies; if foreign currencies devalue against the U.S. dollar, our lessees or charterers may be unable to meet their payment obligations to us in a timely manner.
Our current leases and charters typically require that payments be made in U.S. dollars. If the currency that our lessees or charterers typically use in operating their businesses devalues against the U.S. dollar, our lessees or charterers could encounter difficulties in making payments to us in U.S. dollars. Furthermore, many foreign countries have currency and exchange laws regulating international payments that may impede or prevent payments from being paid to us in U.S. dollars. Future leases or charters may provide for payments to be made in euros or other foreign currencies. Any change in the currency exchange rate that reduces the amount of U.S. dollars obtained by us upon conversion of future lease payments denominated in euros or other foreign currencies, may, if not appropriately hedged by us, have a material adverse effect on us and increase the volatility of our earnings.
Our inability to obtain sufficient capital would constrain our ability to grow our portfolio and to increase our revenues.
Our business is capital intensive, and we have used and may continue to employ leverage to finance our operations. Accordingly, our ability to successfully execute our business strategy and maintain our operations depends on the availability and cost of debt and equity capital. Additionally, our ability to borrow against our assets is dependent, in part, on the appraised value of such assets. If the appraised value of such assets declines, we may be required to reduce the principal outstanding under our debt facilities or otherwise be unable to incur new borrowings.
We can give no assurance that the capital we need will be available to us on favorable terms, or at all. Our inability to obtain sufficient capital, or to renew or expand our credit facilities, could result in increased funding costs and would limit our ability to:
•meet the terms and maturities of our existing and future debt facilities;
•purchase new assets or refinance existing assets;
•fund our working capital needs and maintain adequate liquidity; and
•finance other growth initiatives.
In addition, we conduct our operations so that neither we nor any of our subsidiaries are required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “Investment Company Act”). As such, certain forms of financing such as finance leases may not be available to us. Please see “- If we are deemed an investment company under the Investment Company Act, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.”
The effects of various environmental regulations may negatively affect the industries in which we operate which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We are subject to federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment, including those governing the discharge of pollutants to air and water, the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, the cleanup of contaminated sites and noise and emission levels and greenhouse gas emissions. Legislative and regulatory measures currently under consideration or being implemented by government authorities to address climate change could require reductions in our greenhouse gas or other emissions, establish a carbon tax or increase fuel or energy taxes. These legal requirements are expected to result in increased capital expenditures and compliance costs, and could result in higher costs and may require us to acquire emission credits or carbon offsets. These costs and restrictions could harm our business and results of operations by increasing our expenses or requiring us to alter our operations. The inconsistent
international, regional and/or national requirements associated with climate change regulations also create economic and regulatory uncertainty.
Under some environmental laws in the United States and certain other countries, strict liability may be imposed on the owners or operators of assets, which could render us liable for environmental and natural resource damages without regard to negligence or fault on our part. We could incur substantial costs, including cleanup costs, fines and third-party claims for property damage and personal injury, as a result of violations of or liabilities under environmental laws and regulations in connection with our or our lessee’s or charterer’s current or historical operations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. In addition, a variety of new legislation is being enacted, or considered for enactment, at the federal, state and local levels relating to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. While there has historically been a lack of consistent climate change legislation, as climate change concerns continue to grow, further legislation and regulations are expected to continue in areas such as greenhouse gas emissions control, emission disclosure requirements and building codes or other infrastructure requirements that impose energy efficiency standards. Government mandates, standards or regulations intended to mitigate or reduce greenhouse gas emissions or projected climate change impacts could result in increased energy and transportation costs, and increased compliance expenses and other financial obligations to meet permitting or development requirements that we may be unable to fully recover (due to market conditions or other factors), any of which could result in reduced profits and adversely affect our results of operations. While we typically maintain liability insurance coverage and typically require our lessees to provide us with indemnity against certain losses, the insurance coverage is subject to large deductibles, limits on maximum coverage and significant exclusions and may not be sufficient or available to protect against any or all liabilities and such indemnities may not cover or be sufficient to protect us against losses arising from environmental damage. In addition, changes to environmental standards or regulations in the industries in which we operate could limit the economic life of the assets we acquire or reduce their value, and also require us to make significant additional investments in order to maintain compliance, which would negatively impact our cash flows and results of operations.
The discontinuation of the LIBOR benchmark interest rate may have an impact on our business.
On July 27, 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (the "FCA"), which regulates LIBOR, announced that it will no longer persuade or compel banks to submit rates for the calculation of LIBOR rates after 2021. On November 30, 2020, ICE Benchmark Administration, or the IBA, the administrator of LIBOR, with the support of the United States Federal Reserve and the FCA, announced plans to consult on ceasing publication of LIBOR on December 31, 2021, for only the one-week and two-month LIBOR tenors, and on June 30, 2023, for all other LIBOR tenors. The U.S. Federal Reserve concurrently issued a statement advising banks to stop new LIBOR issuances by the end of 2021. The IBA ceased publication of one-week and two-month USD LIBOR settings after December 31, 2021, and intends to cease publishing the remaining USD LIBOR settings after June 30, 2023.
In the United States, the Alternative Reference Rate Committee (“ARRC”), a group of diverse private-market participants assembled by the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, was tasked with identifying alternative reference rates to replace LIBOR. The Secured Overnight Finance Rate (“SOFR”) has emerged as the ARRC's preferred alternative rate for LIBOR. SOFR is a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by Treasury securities in the repurchase agreement market. At this time, it is not possible to predict how markets will respond to SOFR or other alternative reference rates.
As of September 30, 2022, we had $0.0 million of total debt outstanding under facilities with interest rates based on floating-rate indices. As a result of LIBOR’s phase out, our revolving credit facility was amended to incorporate SOFR as the successor rate to LIBOR, and our December 2021 bridge loan bears interest based on SOFR. There are significant differences between how LIBOR and SOFR are calculated, which could result in increased borrowing costs. We cannot predict to what extent the withdrawal and replacement of LIBOR will impact us. However, the implementation of alternative underlying floating-rate indices and reference rates may have an adverse impact on our business, results of operations or financial condition.
A cyberattack that bypasses our information technology (“IT”), security systems or the IT security systems of our third-party providers, causing an IT security breach, may lead to a disruption of our IT systems and the loss of business information which may hinder our ability to conduct our business effectively and may result in lost revenues and additional costs.
Parts of our business depend on the secure operation of our IT systems and the IT systems of our third-party providers to manage, process, store, and transmit information associated with aircraft leasing. We have, from time to time, experienced threats to our data and systems, including malware and computer virus attacks. A cyberattack that bypasses our IT security systems or the IT security systems of our third-party providers, causing an IT security breach, could adversely impact our daily operations and lead to the loss of sensitive information, including our own proprietary information and that of our customers, suppliers and employees. Such losses could harm our reputation and result in competitive disadvantages, litigation, regulatory enforcement actions, lost revenues, additional costs and liabilities. While we devote substantial resources to maintaining adequate levels of cyber-security, our resources and technical sophistication may not be adequate to prevent all types of cyberattacks.
If we are deemed an “investment company” under the Investment Company Act, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We conduct our operations so that neither we nor any of our subsidiaries are required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act defines an investment company as any
issuer that is or holds itself out as being engaged primarily, or proposes to engage primarily, in the business of investing, reinvesting or trading in securities. Section 3(a)(1)(C) of the Investment Company Act defines an investment company as any issuer that is engaged or proposes to engage in the business of investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading in securities and owns or proposes to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of the issuer’s total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Excluded from the term “investment securities,” among other things, are U.S. government securities and securities issued by majority-owned subsidiaries that are not themselves investment companies and are not relying on the exception from the definition of investment company for certain privately-offered investment vehicles set forth in Section 3(c)(1) or Section 3(c)(7) of the Investment Company Act.
We are a holding company that is not an investment company because we are engaged in the business of holding securities of our wholly-owned and majority-owned subsidiaries, which are engaged in transportation and related businesses which lease assets pursuant to operating leases and finance leases. The Investment Company Act may limit our and our subsidiaries’ ability to enter into financing leases and engage in other types of financial activity because less than 40% of the value of our and our subsidiaries’ total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis can consist of “investment securities.”
If we or any of our subsidiaries were required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, the registered entity would become subject to substantial regulation that would significantly change our operations, and we would not be able to conduct our business as described in this report. We have not obtained a formal determination from the SEC as to our status under the Investment Company Act and, consequently, any violation of the Investment Company Act would subject us to material adverse consequences.
Our assets are exposed to unplanned interruptions caused by events outside of our control which may disrupt our business and cause damage or losses that may not be adequately covered by insurance.
Aviation and offshore projects are exposed to unplanned interruptions caused by breakdown or failure of equipment, aging infrastructure, employee error or contractor or subcontractor failure, problems that delay or increase the cost of returning facilities to service after outages, limitations that may be imposed by equipment conditions or environmental, safety or other regulatory requirements, fuel supply or fuel transportation reductions or interruptions, labor disputes, difficulties with the implementation or operation of information systems, derailments, power outages, pipeline or electricity line ruptures, catastrophic events, such as hurricanes, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, floods, explosions, fires, or other disasters. Any equipment or system outage or constraint can, among other things, reduce sales, increase costs and affect the ability to meet regulatory service metrics, customer expectations and regulatory reliability and security requirements. We have in the past experienced power outages at plants which disrupted their operations and negatively impacted our revenues. We cannot assure you that similar events may not occur in the future. Operational disruption, as well as supply disruption, and increased government oversight could adversely impact the cash flows available from these assets. In addition, the cost of repairing or replacing damaged assets could be considerable. Repeated or prolonged interruption may result in temporary or permanent loss of customers, substantial litigation or penalties for regulatory or contractual non-compliance, and any loss from such events may not be recoverable under relevant insurance policies. Although we believe that we are adequately insured against these types of events, either indirectly through our lessees or charterers or through our own insurance policies, no assurance can be given that the occurrence of any such event will not materially adversely affect us. In addition, if a lessee or charterer is not obligated to maintain sufficient insurance, we may incur the costs of additional insurance coverage during the related lease or charter. We can give no assurance that such insurance will be available at commercially reasonable rates, if at all.
Risks Related to Our Manager
We are dependent on our Manager and other key personnel at Fortress and may not find suitable replacements if our Manager terminates the Management Agreement or if other key personnel depart.
Our officers and other individuals who perform services for us are employees of our Manager or other Fortress entities. We are completely reliant on our Manager, which has significant discretion as to the implementation of our operating policies and strategies to conduct our business as a holding and operating company in the transportation section. We are subject to the risk that our Manager will terminate the Management Agreement and that we will not be able to find a suitable replacement for our Manager in a timely manner, at a reasonable cost, or at all. Furthermore, we are dependent on the services of certain key employees of our Manager and certain key employees of Fortress entities whose compensation is partially or entirely dependent upon the amount of management fees earned by our Manager or the incentive payments distributed to the Master GP and whose continued service is not guaranteed, and the loss of such personnel or services could materially adversely affect our operations. We do not have key man insurance for any of the personnel of the Manager or other Fortress entities that are key to us. An inability to find a suitable replacement for any departing employee of our Manager or Fortress entities on a timely basis could materially adversely affect our ability to operate and grow our business.
In addition, our Manager may assign our Management Agreement to an entity whose business and operations are managed or supervised by Mr. Wesley R. Edens, who is a principal, Co-Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Fortress, an affiliate of our Manager, and a member of the management committee of Fortress since co-founding Fortress in May 1998. In the event of any such assignment to a non-affiliate of Fortress, the functions currently performed by our Manager’s current personnel may be performed by others. We can give you no assurance that such personnel would manage our operations in the same manner as our Manager currently does, and the failure by the personnel of any such entity to acquire
assets generating attractive risk-adjusted returns could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
In connection with the SoftBank Merger, Fortress operates within SoftBank as an independent business headquartered in New York.
There are conflicts of interest in our relationship with our Manager.
Our Management Agreement, the Services and Profit Sharing Agreement and our operating agreement were negotiated among affiliated parties, and their terms, including fees and other amounts payable, may not be as favorable to us as if they had been negotiated with an unaffiliated third-party.
There are conflicts of interest inherent in our relationship with our Manager insofar as our Manager and its affiliates invest in aviation and offshore assets and whose investment objectives overlap with our asset acquisition objectives. Certain opportunities appropriate for us may also be appropriate for one or more of these other investment vehicles. Certain members of our board of directors and employees of our Manager who are our officers also serve as officers and/or directors of these other entities. For example, some of our directors and officers are also directors or officers of FTAI Infrastructure. Although we have the same Manager, we may compete with entities affiliated with our Manager or Fortress for certain target assets. From time to time, entities affiliated with or managed by our Manager or Fortress may focus on investments in assets with a similar profile as our target assets that we may seek to acquire. These affiliates may have meaningful purchasing capacity, which may change over time depending upon a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, available equity capital and debt financing, market conditions and cash on hand. Fortress has multiple existing and planned funds focused on investing in one or more of our target sectors, each with significant current or expected capital commitments. We have previously purchased and may in the future purchase assets from these funds, and have previously co-invested and may in the future co-invest with these funds in aviation and offshore assets. Fortress funds generally have a fee structure similar to ours, but the fees actually paid will vary depending on the size, terms and performance of each fund.
Our Management Agreement generally does not limit or restrict our Manager or its affiliates from engaging in any business or managing other operating companies similar to us or pooled investment vehicles that invest in assets that meet our asset acquisition objectives. Our Manager has also engaged in additional transportation and infrastructure related management with FTAI Infrastructure in our recent spin-off of our infrastructure assets, and may be involved in other investment opportunities in the future, any of which may compete with us for investments or result in a change in our current investment strategy. In addition, our operating agreement provides that if Fortress or an affiliate or any of their officers, directors or employees acquire knowledge of a potential transaction that could be a corporate opportunity, they have no duty, to the fullest extent permitted by law, to offer such corporate opportunity to us, our shareholders or our affiliates. In the event that any of our directors and officers who is also a director, officer or employee of Fortress or its affiliates acquires knowledge of a corporate opportunity or is offered a corporate opportunity, provided that this knowledge was not acquired solely in such person’s capacity as a director or officer of FTAI and such person acts in good faith, then to the fullest extent permitted by law such person is deemed to have fully satisfied such person’s fiduciary duties owed to us and is not liable to us if Fortress or its affiliates pursues or acquires the corporate opportunity or if such person did not present the corporate opportunity to us.
The ability of our Manager and its officers and employees to engage in other business activities, subject to the terms of our Management Agreement, may reduce the amount of time our Manager, its officers or other employees spend managing us. In addition, we may engage (subject to our strategy) in material transactions with our Manager or another entity managed by our Manager or one of its affiliates, which may include, but are not limited to, certain acquisitions, financing arrangements, purchases of debt, co-investments, consumer loans, servicing advances and other assets that present an actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest. Our board of directors adopted a policy regarding the approval of any “related person transactions” pursuant to which certain of the material transactions described above may require disclosure to, and approval by, the independent members of our board of directors. Actual, potential or perceived conflicts have given, and may in the future give, rise to investor dissatisfaction, litigation or regulatory inquiries or enforcement actions. Appropriately dealing with conflicts of interest is complex and difficult, and our reputation could be damaged if we fail, or appear to fail, to deal appropriately with one or more potential, actual or perceived conflicts of interest. Regulatory scrutiny of, or litigation in connection with, conflicts of interest could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, which could materially adversely affect our business in a number of ways, including causing an inability to raise additional funds, a reluctance of counterparties to do business with us, a decrease in the prices of our equity securities and a resulting increased risk of litigation and regulatory enforcement actions.
The structure of our Manager’s and Master GP’s compensation arrangements may have unintended consequences for us. We have agreed to pay our Manager a management fee and Master GP is entitled to receive incentive payments from the Company or its subsidiaries that are each based on different measures of performance. Consequently, there may be conflicts in the incentives of our Manager to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for us. In addition, because Master GP and our Manager are both affiliates of Fortress, the Income Incentive Payment paid to Master GP may cause our Manager to place undue emphasis on the maximization of earnings, including through the use of leverage, at the expense of other objectives, such as preservation of capital, to achieve higher incentive payments. Investments with higher yield potential are generally riskier or more speculative than investments with lower yield potential. This could result in increased risk to the value of our portfolio of assets and our common shares.
In connection with the spin-off, we entered into a new Management Agreement with our Manager, the terms of which are substantially similar to our previous management agreement.
The Management Agreement will remain in effect following the merger. In addition, prior to the merger, Master GP was entitled to certain incentive allocations (comprised of income incentive allocations and capital gains incentive allocations) pursuant to the partnership agreement for the Partnership which will be terminated in connection with the transaction. Following the closing of the merger, Master GP will be entitled to the same incentive allocations pursuant to the Services and Profit Sharing Agreement on substantially similar terms as the existing arrangements.
Our directors have approved a broad asset acquisition strategy for our Manager and will not approve each acquisition we make at the direction of our Manager. In addition, we may change our strategy without a shareholder vote, which may result in our acquiring assets that are different, riskier or less profitable than our current assets.
Our Manager is authorized to follow a broad asset acquisition strategy. We may pursue other types of acquisitions as market conditions evolve. Our Manager makes decisions about our investments in accordance with broad investment guidelines adopted by our board of directors. Accordingly, we may, without a shareholder vote, change our target sectors and acquire a variety of assets that differ from, and are possibly riskier than, our current asset portfolio. Consequently, our Manager has great latitude in determining the types and categories of assets it may decide are proper investments for us, including the latitude to invest in types and categories of assets that may differ from those in our existing portfolio. Our directors will periodically review our strategy and our portfolio of assets. However, our board will not review or pre-approve each proposed acquisition or our related financing arrangements. In addition, in conducting periodic reviews, the directors will rely primarily on information provided to them by our Manager. Furthermore, transactions entered into by our Manager may be difficult or impossible to reverse by the time they are reviewed by the directors even if the transactions contravene the terms of the Management Agreement. In addition, we may change our asset acquisition strategy, including our target asset classes, without a shareholder vote.
Our asset acquisition strategy may evolve in light of existing market conditions and investment opportunities, and this evolution may involve additional risks depending upon the nature of the assets we target and our ability to finance such assets on a short or long-term basis. Opportunities that present unattractive risk-return profiles relative to other available opportunities under particular market conditions may become relatively attractive under changed market conditions and changes in market conditions may therefore result in changes in the assets we target. Decisions to make acquisitions in new asset categories present risks that may be difficult for us to adequately assess and could therefore reduce or eliminate our ability to pay dividends on our common shares or have adverse effects on our liquidity or financial condition. A change in our asset acquisition strategy may also increase our exposure to interest rate, foreign currency or credit market fluctuations. In addition, a change in our asset acquisition strategy may increase our use of non-match-funded financing, increase the guarantee obligations we agree to incur or increase the number of transactions we enter into with affiliates. Our failure to accurately assess the risks inherent in new asset categories or the financing risks associated with such assets could adversely affect our results of operations and our financial condition.
Our Manager will not be liable to us for any acts or omissions performed in accordance with the Management Agreement, including with respect to the performance of our assets.
Pursuant to our Management Agreement, our Manager will not assume any responsibility other than to render the services called for thereunder in good faith and will not be responsible for any action of our board of directors in following or declining to follow its advice or recommendations. Our Manager, its members, managers, officers, employees, sub-advisers and any other person controlling or Manager, will not be liable to us or any of our subsidiaries, to our board of directors, or our or any subsidiary’s shareholders or partners for any acts or omissions by our Manager, its members, managers, officers, employees, sub-advisers and any other person controlling or Manager, except liability to us, our shareholders, directors, officers and employees and persons controlling us, by reason of acts constituting bad faith, willful misconduct, gross negligence or reckless disregard of our Manager’s duties under our Management Agreement. We will, to the full extent lawful, reimburse, indemnify and hold our Manager, its members, managers, officers and employees, sub-advisers and each other person, if any, controlling our Manager harmless of and from any and all expenses, losses, damages, liabilities, demands, charges and claims of any nature whatsoever (including attorneys’ fees) in respect of or arising from any acts or omissions of an indemnified party made in good faith in the performance of our Manager’s duties under our Management Agreement and not constituting such indemnified party’s bad faith, willful misconduct, gross negligence or reckless disregard of our Manager’s duties under our Management Agreement.
Our Manager’s due diligence of potential asset acquisitions or other transactions may not identify all pertinent risks, which could materially affect our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations.
Our Manager intends to conduct due diligence with respect to each asset acquisition opportunity or other transaction it pursues. It is possible, however, that our Manager’s due diligence processes will not uncover all relevant facts, particularly with respect to any assets we acquire from third parties. In these cases, our Manager may be given limited access to information about the asset and will rely on information provided by the seller of the asset. In addition, if asset acquisition opportunities are scarce, the process for selecting bidders is competitive, or the timeframe in which we are required to complete diligence is short, our ability to conduct a due diligence investigation may be limited, and we would be required to make decisions based upon a less thorough diligence process than would otherwise be the case. Accordingly, transactions that initially appear to be viable may prove not to be over time, due to the limitations of the due diligence process or other factors.
Risks Related to Taxation
Shareholders may be subject to U.S. federal income tax on their share of our taxable income, regardless of whether they receive any cash distributions from us.
So long as we would not be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 if we were a U.S. Corporation and 90% of our gross income for each taxable year constitutes “qualifying income” within the meaning of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), on a continuing basis, FTAI will be treated, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as a partnership and not as an association or publicly traded partnership taxable as a corporation. Holders of our common shares may be subject to U.S. federal, state, local and, in some cases, non-U.S. income taxation on their allocable share of our items of income, gain, loss, deduction and credit (including our allocable share of those items of Holdco or any other entity in which we invest that is treated as a partnership or is otherwise subject to tax on a flow through basis) for each of our taxable years ending with or within their taxable year, regardless of whether they receive cash distributions from us. Such shareholders may not receive cash distributions equal to their allocable share of our net taxable income or even the tax liability that results from that income.
We may hold or acquire certain investments through entities classified as CFCs or PFICs for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
Many of our investments are in non-U.S. corporations or are held through non-U.S. subsidiaries that are classified as corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Some of these foreign entities may be classified as controlled foreign corporations (“CFCs”) or passive foreign investment companies (“PFICs”) (each as defined in the Code). Shareholders subject to U.S. federal income tax may experience adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences related to the indirect ownership of CFC or PFIC shares. For example, such shareholders may be required to take into account U.S. taxable income with respect to such CFCs or PFICs without a corresponding receipt of cash from us. In addition, under the CFC rules, certain capital gains are treated as ordinary dividend income and certain shareholders could be subject to income inclusions in respect of the “subpart F income” and "global intangible low-taxed income" (“GILTI”) of the CFC. Treasury regulations, which are already effective with respect to GILTI and that will generally be effective beginning in 2023 with respect to subpart F income, generally have the effect of limiting certain adverse consequences of the CFC rules to shareholders treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as owning indirectly or constructively (including through other partnerships) stock possessing less than 10% of the voting power or value of such CFCs through their ownership in FTAI.
Under the PFIC rules, indirect ownership of PFIC shares by U.S. persons generally gives rise to materially adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences, which may be mitigated by electing to treat the PFIC as a qualified electing fund (“QEF”). We currently anticipate using commercially reasonable efforts to make such an election (a “QEF Election”) with respect to each PFIC in which we hold a material interest, directly or indirectly, in the first year during which we hold shares in such entity, provided such PFIC is not also a CFC. As a result, U.S. holders of our common shares will generally be subject to tax on a current basis on their respective shares of each such PFIC’s undistributed ordinary earnings and net capital gains for each year in which the entity is a PFIC, regardless of whether such holders receive a corresponding distribution of cash from us. In certain cases, however, we may be unable to make a QEF Election with respect to a PFIC because, for example, we are unable to obtain the necessary information. In such event, U.S. holders of our common shares will be subject to imputed interest charges and other disadvantageous tax treatment with respect to certain “excess distributions” from the PFIC and gain realized upon the direct or indirect sale of the PFIC (including through the sale our common shares). Treasury Regulations have been proposed that would require partners in a partnership – rather than the partnership itself – to make a QEF election with respect to stock of a PFIC held indirectly through a partnership, if a partner so chooses. A partner that makes such an election generally would be subject to tax on a current basis on its share of such PFIC’s undistributed ordinary earnings and net capital gains for each year in which the entity is a PFIC, regardless of whether such holders receive a corresponding distribution of cash from the PFIC or from us. In addition, under the proposed regulations, the PFIC rules would apply with respect to a partner’s indirect interest in a PFIC that is held through a partnership even if such entity is also a CFC with respect to the partnership. As a result, if finalized in substantially their current form, these regulations would generally result in the PFIC rules applying to FTAI investors with respect to foreign corporations that are majority- or wholly-owned by us.
Prospective investors should consult their tax advisors regarding the potential impact of the rules regarding CFCs and PFICs before investing in our shares.
Certain tax consequences of the ownership of our preferred shares, including treatment of distributions as guaranteed payments for the use of capital, are uncertain.
The tax treatment of distributions on our preferred shares is uncertain. We intend to treat the holders of our preferred shares as partners for tax purposes and we intend to treat distributions on the shares as guaranteed payments for the use of capital that will generally be taxable to the holders of our preferred shares as ordinary income. Although a holder of our preferred shares will recognize taxable income from the accrual of such a guaranteed payment (even in the absence of a contemporaneous cash distribution), we anticipate accruing and making the guaranteed payment distributions quarterly. Except in the case of any loss recognized in connection with our liquidation, we do not anticipate allocating any items of our income, gain, loss or deduction to holders of our preferred shares, nor do we anticipate allocating them any share of our nonrecourse liabilities. If our preferred shares were treated as indebtedness for tax purposes, rather than as guaranteed payments for the use of capital, distributions in respect of the preferred coupon likely would be treated as payments of interest by us to the holders of our preferred shares.
Finally, if holders of our preferred shares were entitled to an allocation of income from FTAI, the risk factors applicable to holders of common shares would generally apply.
Shareholders that are not U.S. persons could be subject to U.S. federal income tax, including a 10% withholding tax, on the disposition of our shares.
If the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) were to determine that we, Holdco, or any other entity in which we invest that is subject to tax on a flow-through basis, is engaged in a U.S. trade or business for U.S. federal income tax purposes, any gain recognized by a foreign transferor on the sale, exchange or other disposition of our shares would generally be treated as “effectively connected” with such trade or business to the extent it does not exceed the effectively connected gain that would be allocable to the transferor if we sold all of our assets at their fair market value as of the date of the transferor’s disposition. Under current law, any such gain that is treated as effectively connected will generally be subject to U.S. federal income tax. In addition, after December 31, 2022, certain brokers effecting transfers of our shares are required to deduct and withhold a tax equal to 10% of the amount realized by the transferor on the disposition, which would include an allocable portion of our liabilities and would therefore generally exceed the amount of transferred cash received by transferor in the disposition, unless the transferor provides an IRS Form W-9 or an affidavit stating the transferor’s taxpayer identification number and that the transferor is not a foreign person or certain exceptions apply. Additionally, we (or certain qualified intermediaries) may be required to deduct and withhold certain amounts with respect to distributions to the transferees of our shares. Although we do not believe that we are currently engaged in a U.S. trade or business (directly or indirectly through pass-through subsidiaries), we are not required to manage our operations in a manner that is intended to avoid the conduct of a U.S. trade or business.
Tax gain or loss on a sale or other disposition of our common shares could be more or less than expected.
If a sale of our common shares by a shareholder is taxable in the United States, the shareholder will generally recognize gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized by such shareholder in the sale and such shareholder’s adjusted tax basis in those shares. A shareholder’s adjusted tax basis in the shares at the time of sale will generally be lower than the shareholder’s original tax basis in the shares to the extent that prior distributions to such shareholder exceed the total taxable income allocated to such shareholder or in certain other instances. A shareholder may therefore recognize a gain in a sale of our common shares even if the shares are sold at a price that is less than their original cost. A portion of the amount realized, whether or not representing gain, may be treated as ordinary income to such shareholder.
Our ability to make distributions depends on our receiving sufficient cash distributions from our subsidiaries, and we cannot assure our shareholders that we will be able to make cash distributions to them in amounts that are sufficient to fund their tax liabilities.
Our subsidiaries may be subject to local taxes in each of the relevant territories and jurisdictions in which they operate, including taxes on income, profits or gains and withholding taxes. As a result, our funds available for distribution are indirectly reduced by such taxes, and the post-tax return to our shareholders is similarly reduced by such taxes.
In general, a shareholder that is subject to U.S. federal income tax must include in income its allocable share of FTAI’s items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit (including, so long as Holdco is treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, FTAI’s allocable share of those items of Holdco and any pass-through subsidiaries of Holdco) for each of our taxable years ending with or within such shareholder’s taxable year. However, the cash distributed by FTAI to a shareholder may not be sufficient to pay the full amount of such shareholder’s tax liability in respect of its investment in us.
If we are treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the value of the shares could be adversely affected.
We have not requested, and do not plan to request, a ruling from the IRS on our treatment as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, or on any other matter affecting us. As of the date of the consummation of our initial public offering, under then current law and assuming full compliance with the terms of our operating agreement (and other relevant documents) and based upon factual statements and representations made by us, our outside counsel opined that we will be treated as a partnership, and not as an association or a publicly traded partnership taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes. However, opinions of counsel are not binding upon the IRS or any court, and the IRS may challenge this conclusion and a court may sustain such a challenge. The factual representations made by us upon which our outside counsel relied relate to our organization, operation, assets, activities, income, and present and future conduct of our operations. In general, if an entity that would otherwise be classified as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes is a “publicly traded partnership” (as defined in the Code) it will be nonetheless treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, unless the exception described below, and upon which we intend to rely, applies. A publicly traded partnership will, however, be treated as a partnership, and not as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, so long as 90% or more of its gross income for each taxable year constitutes “qualifying income” within the meaning of the Code and it is not required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. We refer to this exception as the “Qualifying Income Exception.”
Qualifying income generally includes dividends, interest, capital gains from the sale or other disposition of stocks and securities and certain other forms of investment income. We believe that our return from investments will include interest, dividends, capital gains and other types of qualifying income, but no assurance can be given as to the types of income that will be earned in any given year.
If we fail to satisfy the Qualifying Income Exception, we would be required to pay U.S. federal income tax at regular corporate rates on our income, which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. In addition, we would
likely be liable for state and local income and/or franchise taxes on our income. Finally, distributions of cash to shareholders would constitute qualified dividend income taxable to such shareholders to the extent of our earnings and profits and would not be deductible by us. Taxation of us as a publicly traded partnership taxable as a corporation could result in a material adverse effect on our cash flow and the after-tax returns for shareholders and thus could result in a substantial reduction in the value of our shares.
Shareholders that are not U.S. persons should also anticipate being required to file U.S. tax returns and may be required to pay U.S. tax solely on account of owning our shares.
We may be, or may become, engaged in a U.S. trade or business for U.S. federal income tax purposes (directly or indirectly through pass-through subsidiaries), in which case some portion of our income would be treated as effectively connected income with respect to non-U.S. persons. Moreover, we may, in the future, sell interests in U.S. real holding property corporations (each a “USRPHC”) and therefore be deemed to be engaged in a U.S. trade or business at such time. If we were to realize gain from the sale or other disposition of a U.S. real property interest (including a USRPHC) or were otherwise engaged in a U.S. trade or business, non-U.S. persons holding our common shares generally would be required to file U.S. federal income tax returns and would be subject to U.S. federal withholding tax on their allocable share of the effectively connected income or gain at the regular U.S. federal income tax rates. Likewise, non-U.S. persons holding our preferred shares, by virtue of receiving guaranteed payments, may be required to file U.S. federal income tax returns and may be subject to U.S. federal withholding tax on their guaranteed payments, irrespective of our operations or investments. In both cases, non-U.S. persons that are corporations may also be subject to a branch profits tax on their allocable share of such income. Non-U.S. persons should anticipate being required to file U.S. tax returns and may be required to pay U.S. tax solely on account of owning our shares. Non-U.S. shareholders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the tax consequences of an investment in our shares.
Non-U.S. persons that hold (or are deemed to hold) more than 5% of any class of our shares (or held, or were deemed to hold, more than 5% of any class of our shares) may be subject to U.S. federal income tax upon the disposition of some or all their shares.
If a non-U.S. person held more than 5% of any class of our shares at any time during the 5-year period preceding such non-U.S. person’s disposition of such shares, and we were considered a USRPHC (determined as if we were a U.S. corporation) at any time during such 5-year period because of our current or previous ownership of U.S. real property interests above a certain threshold, such non-U.S. person may be subject to U.S. tax on such disposition of such shares (and may have a U.S. tax return filing obligation).
Tax-exempt shareholders may face certain adverse U.S. tax consequences from owning our shares.
We are not required to manage our operations in a manner that would minimize the likelihood of generating income that would constitute “unrelated business taxable income” (“UBTI”) to the extent allocated to a tax-exempt shareholder. Although we expect to invest through subsidiaries that are treated as corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes and such corporate investments would generally not result in an allocation of UBTI to a shareholder on account of the activities of those subsidiaries, we may not invest through corporate subsidiaries in all cases. Moreover, UBTI also includes income attributable to debt-financed property and we are not prohibited from incurring debt to finance our investments, including investments in subsidiaries. Furthermore, we are not prohibited from being (or causing a subsidiary to be) a guarantor of loans made to a subsidiary. If we (or certain of our subsidiaries) were treated as the borrower for U.S. tax purposes on account of those guarantees, some or all of our investments could be considered debt-financed property. In addition, the treatment of guaranteed payments for the use of capital to tax-exempt investors is not certain, and so distributions on our preferred shares may be treated as UBTI for federal income tax purposes, irrespective of our operations or the structure of our investments. The potential for income to be characterized as UBTI could make our shares an unsuitable investment for a tax-exempt entity. Tax-exempt shareholders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the tax consequences of an investment in our shares.
If substantially all of the U.S. source rental income derived from aircraft or ships used to transport passengers or cargo in international traffic (“U.S. source international transport rental income”) of any of our non-U.S. corporate subsidiaries is attributable to activities of personnel based in the United States, such subsidiary could be subject to U.S. federal income tax on a net income basis at regular tax rates, rather than at a rate of 4% on gross income, which would adversely affect our business and result in decreased funds available for distribution to our shareholders.
We believe that the U.S. source international transport rental income of our non-U.S. subsidiaries generally will be subject to U.S. federal income tax, on a gross-income basis at a rate not in excess of 4%. If any of our non-U.S. subsidiaries that is treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes did not comply with certain administrative guidelines of the IRS, such that 90% or more of such subsidiary’s U.S. source international transport rental income were attributable to the activities of personnel based in the United States (in the case of bareboat leases) or from “regularly scheduled transportation” as defined in such administrative guidelines (in the case of time-charter leases), such subsidiary’s U.S. source rental income would be treated as income effectively connected with a trade or business in the United States. In such case, such subsidiary’s U.S. source international transport rental income would be subject to U.S. federal income tax at a maximum corporate tax rate, currently 21%. In addition, such subsidiary would be subject to the U.S. federal branch profits tax on its effectively connected earnings and profits at a rate of 30%. The imposition of such taxes could adversely affect our business and result in decreased funds available for distribution to our shareholders.
The ability of our corporate subsidiaries to utilize net operating losses (“NOLs”) to offset their future taxable income may become limited.
Certain of our corporate subsidiaries have significant NOLs, and any limitation on their use could materially affect our profitability. Such a limitation could occur if our corporate subsidiaries were to experience an “ownership change” as defined under Section 382 of the Code. The rules for determining ownership changes are complex, and changes in the ownership of our shares could cause an ownership change in one or more of our corporate subsidiaries. Sales of our shares by our shareholders, as well as future issuances of our shares, could contribute to a potential ownership change in our corporate subsidiaries.
Our subsidiaries may become subject to unanticipated tax liabilities that may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.
Some of our subsidiaries are subject to income, withholding or other taxes in certain non-U.S. jurisdictions by reason of their jurisdiction of incorporation, activities and operations, where their assets are used or where the lessees of their assets (or others in possession of their assets) are located, and it is also possible that taxing authorities in any such jurisdictions could assert that our subsidiaries are subject to greater taxation than we currently anticipate. Further, the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”) recently entered into force among the jurisdictions that ratified it. The implementation of BEPS prevention measures could result in a higher effective tax rate on our worldwide earnings by, for example, reducing the tax deductions or otherwise increasing the taxable income of our subsidiaries. In addition, a portion of certain of our non-U.S. corporate subsidiaries’ income is treated as effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business and is accordingly subject to U.S. federal income tax. It is possible that the IRS could assert that a greater portion of any such non-U.S. subsidiaries’ income is effectively connected income that should be subject to U.S. federal income tax, which could adversely affect our business and result in decreased funds available for distribution to our shareholders.
Our structure involves complex provisions of U.S. federal income tax law for which no clear precedent or authority may be available. Our structure also is subject to potential legislative, judicial or administrative change and differing interpretations, possibly on a retroactive basis.
The U.S. federal income tax treatment of our shareholders depends in some instances on determinations of fact and interpretations of complex provisions of U.S. federal income tax law for which no clear precedent or authority may be available. The U.S. federal income tax treatment of our shareholders may also be modified by administrative, legislative or judicial interpretation at any time, possibly on a retroactive basis, and any such action may affect our investments and commitments that were previously made, and could adversely affect the value of our shares or cause us to change the way we conduct our business.
Our organizational documents and agreements permit the board of directors to modify our operating agreement from time to time, without the consent of shareholders, in order to address certain changes in Treasury regulations, legislation or interpretation. In some circumstances, such revisions could have a material adverse impact on some or all shareholders. Moreover, we will apply certain assumptions and conventions in an attempt to comply with applicable rules and to report income, gain, deduction, loss and credit to shareholders in a manner that reflects such shareholders’ beneficial ownership of partnership items, taking into account variation in ownership interests during each taxable year because of trading activity. However, these assumptions and conventions may not be in compliance with all aspects of applicable tax requirements. It is possible that the IRS will assert successfully that the conventions and assumptions used by us do not satisfy the technical requirements of the Code and/or Treasury regulations and could require that items of income, gain, deduction, loss or credit, including interest deductions, be adjusted, reallocated, or disallowed, in a manner that adversely affects shareholders.
We could incur a significant tax liability if the IRS successfully asserts that the “anti-stapling” rules apply to our investments in our non-U.S. and U.S. subsidiaries, which would adversely affect our business and result in decreased funds available for distribution to our shareholders.
If we were subject to the “anti-stapling” rules of Section 269B of the Code, we would incur a significant tax liability as a result of owning more than 50% of the value of both U.S. and non-U.S. corporate subsidiaries, whose equity interests constitute “stapled interests” that may only be transferred together. If the “anti-stapling” rules applied, our non-U.S. corporate subsidiaries that are treated as corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes would be treated as U.S. corporations, which would cause those entities to be subject to U.S. federal corporate income tax on their worldwide income. Because we intend to separately manage and operate our non-U.S. and U.S. corporate subsidiaries and structure their business activities in a manner that would allow us to dispose of such subsidiaries separately, we do not expect that the “anti-stapling” rules will apply. However, there can be no assurance that the IRS would not successfully assert a contrary position, which would adversely affect our business and result in decreased funds available for distribution to our shareholders.
Because we cannot match transferors and transferees of our shares, we have therefore adopted certain income tax accounting positions that may not conform with all aspects of applicable tax requirements. The IRS may challenge this treatment, which could adversely affect the value of our shares.
Because we cannot match transferors and transferees of our shares, we have adopted depreciation, amortization and other tax accounting positions that may not conform with all aspects of existing Treasury regulations. A successful IRS challenge to those positions could adversely affect the amount of tax benefits available to our shareholders. It also could affect the timing of these tax benefits or the amount of gain on the sale of our common shares and could have a negative impact on the value of our common shares or result in audits of and adjustments to our shareholders’ tax returns.
We generally allocate items of income, gain, loss and deduction using a monthly or other convention, whereby any such items we recognize in a given month are allocated to our shareholders as of a specified date of such month. As a result, if a
shareholder transfers its common shares, it might be allocated income, gain, loss and deduction realized by us after the date of the transfer. Similarly, if a shareholder acquires additional common shares, it might be allocated income, gain, loss, and deduction realized by us prior to its ownership of such common shares. Consequently, our shareholders may recognize income in excess of cash distributions received from us, and any income so included by a shareholder would increase the basis such shareholder has in its common shares and would offset any gain (or increase the amount of loss) realized by such shareholder on a subsequent disposition of its common shares.
Rules regarding U.S. federal income tax liability arising from IRS audits could adversely affect our shareholders.
For taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, we will be liable for U.S. federal income tax liability arising from an IRS audit, unless certain alternative methods are available and we elect to use them. It is possible that certain shareholders or we may be liable for taxes attributable to adjustments to our taxable income with respect to tax years that closed before such shareholders owned our shares. Accordingly, these rules may adversely affect certain shareholders in certain cases. The manner in which these rules apply is uncertain and in many respects depends on the promulgation of future regulations or other guidance by the U.S. Treasury Department or the IRS. Investors should consult their own tax advisors regarding the potential U.S. federal, state, foreign, local and any other tax considerations of the ownership and disposition of our shares.
Risks Related to Our Shares
The market price and trading volume of our common and preferred shares may be volatile, which could result in rapid and substantial losses for our shareholders.
The market price of our common and preferred shares may be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations. In addition, the trading volume in our common and preferred shares may fluctuate and cause significant price variations to occur. If the market price of our common or preferred shares declines significantly, you may be unable to resell your shares at or above your purchase price, if at all. The market price of our common and preferred shares may fluctuate or decline significantly in the future. Some of the factors that could negatively affect our share price or result in fluctuations in the price or trading volume of our shares include:
•a shift in our investor base;
•our quarterly or annual earnings, or those of other comparable companies;
•actual or anticipated fluctuations in our operating results;
•changes in accounting standards, policies, guidance, interpretations or principles;
•announcements by us or our competitors of significant investments, acquisitions or dispositions;
•the failure of securities analysts to cover our common shares;
•changes in earnings estimates by securities analysts or our ability to meet those estimates;
•the operating and share price performance of other comparable companies;
•prevailing interest rates or rates of return being paid by other comparable companies and the market for securities similar to our preferred shares;
•additional issuances of preferred shares;
•whether we declare distributions on our preferred shares;
•overall market fluctuations;
•general economic conditions; and
•developments in the markets and market sectors in which we participate.
Stock markets in the United States have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. Market fluctuations, as well as general political and economic conditions, such as acts of terrorism, prolonged economic uncertainty, a recession or interest rate or currency rate fluctuations, could adversely affect the market price of our common and preferred shares.
An increase in market interest rates may have an adverse effect on the market price of our shares.
One of the factors that investors may consider in deciding whether to buy or sell our shares is our distribution rate as a percentage of our share price relative to market interest rates. If the market price of our shares is based primarily on the earnings and return that we derive from our investments and income with respect to our investments and our related distributions to shareholders, and not from the market value of the investments themselves, then interest rate fluctuations and capital market conditions will likely affect the market price of our shares. For instance, if market interest rates rise without an increase in our distribution rate, the market price of our shares could decrease, as potential investors may require a higher distribution yield on our shares or seek other securities paying higher distributions or interest. In addition, rising interest rates would result in increased interest expense on our outstanding and future (variable and fixed) rate debt, thereby adversely affecting cash flows and our ability to service our indebtedness and pay distributions.
We are required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal controls, and the outcome of that effort may adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. Because we are no longer an emerging growth company, we are subject to heightened disclosure obligations, which may impact our share price.
As a public company, we are required to comply with Section 404 (“Section 404”) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Section 404 requires that we evaluate the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting at the end of each fiscal year and to include a management report assessing the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for that fiscal year. Section 404 also requires an independent registered public accounting firm to attest to, and report on, management’s assessment of our internal controls over financial reporting. The outcome of our review and the report of our independent registered public accounting firm may adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. During the course of our review, we may identify control deficiencies of varying degrees of severity, and we may incur significant costs to remediate those deficiencies or otherwise improve our internal controls. As a public company, we are required to report control deficiencies that constitute a “material weakness” in our internal control over financial reporting. If we discover a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, our share price could decline and our ability to raise capital could be impaired.
Your percentage ownership in us may be diluted in the future.
Your percentage ownership in FTAI may be diluted in the future because of equity awards granted and may be granted to our Manager pursuant to the Management Agreement and the Incentive Plan. Since 2015, we granted our Manager an option to acquire 3,903,010 common shares in connection with equity offerings. In the future, upon the successful completion of additional offerings of our common shares or other equity securities (including securities issued as consideration in an acquisition), we will grant to our Manager options to purchase common shares in an amount equal to 10% of the number of common shares being sold in such offerings (or if the issuance relates to equity securities other than our common shares, options to purchase a number of common shares equal to 10% of the gross capital raised in the equity issuance divided by the fair market value of a common share as of the date of the issuance), with an exercise price equal to the offering price per share paid by the public or other ultimate purchaser or attributed to such securities in connection with an acquisition (or the fair market value of a common share as of the date of the equity issuance if it relates to equity securities other than our common shares), and any such offering or the exercise of the option in connection with such offering would cause dilution.
Our board of directors has adopted the Incentive Plan, which provides for the grant of equity-based awards, including restricted shares, stock options, stock appreciation rights, performance awards, restricted share units, tandem awards and other equity-based and non-equity based awards, in each case to our Manager, to the directors, officers, employees, service providers, consultants and advisors of our Manager who perform services for us, and to our directors, officers, employees, service providers, consultants and advisors. We have initially reserved 30,000,000 common shares for issuance under the Incentive Plan. As of September 30, 2022, rights relating to 3,737,742 of our common shares were outstanding under the Incentive Plan. In the future on the date of any equity issuance by us during the remaining portion of the ten-year term of the Incentive Plan (including in respect of securities issued as consideration in an acquisition), the maximum number of shares available for issuance under the Plan will be increased to include an additional number of common shares equal to ten percent (10%) of either (i) the total number of common shares newly issued by us in such equity issuance or (ii) if such equity issuance relates to equity securities other than our common shares, a number of our common shares equal to 10% of (A) the gross capital raised in an equity issuance of equity securities other than common shares during the remaining portion of the ten-year term of the Incentive Plan, divided by (B) the fair market value of a common share as of the date of such equity issuance.
Sales or issuances of our common shares could adversely affect the market price of our common shares.
Sales of substantial amounts of our common shares in the public market, or the perception that such sales might occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common shares. The issuance of our common shares in connection with property, portfolio or business acquisitions or the exercise of outstanding options or otherwise could also have an adverse effect on the market price of our common shares.
The incurrence or issuance of debt, which ranks senior to our common shares upon our liquidation, and future issuances of equity or equity-related securities, which would dilute the holdings of our existing common shareholders and may be senior to our common shares for the purposes of making distributions, periodically or upon liquidation, may negatively affect the market price of our common shares.
We have incurred and may in the future incur or issue debt or issue equity or equity-related securities to finance our operations, acquisitions or investments. Upon our liquidation, lenders and holders of our debt and holders of our preferred shares (if any) would receive a distribution of our available assets before common shareholders. Any future incurrence or issuance of debt would increase our interest cost and could adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows. We are not required to offer any additional equity securities to existing common shareholders on a preemptive basis. Therefore, additional issuances of common shares, directly or through convertible or exchangeable securities (including limited partnership interests in our operating partnership), warrants or options, will dilute the holdings of our existing common shareholders and such issuances, or the perception of such issuances, may reduce the market price of our common shares. Any preferred shares issued by us would likely have a preference on distribution payments, periodically or upon liquidation, which could eliminate or otherwise limit our ability to make distributions to common shareholders. Because our decision to incur or issue debt or issue equity or equity-related securities in the future will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing, nature or success of our future capital raising efforts. Thus, common shareholders bear the risk that our future incurrence or issuance of debt or issuance of equity or equity-related securities will adversely affect the market price of our common shares.
Our determination of how much leverage to use to finance our acquisitions may adversely affect our return on our assets and may reduce funds available for distribution.
We utilize leverage to finance many of our asset acquisitions, which entitles certain lenders to cash flows prior to retaining a return on our assets. While our Manager targets using only what we believe to be reasonable leverage, our strategy does not limit the amount of leverage we may incur with respect to any specific asset. The return we are able to earn on our assets and funds available for distribution to our shareholders may be significantly reduced due to changes in market conditions, which may cause the cost of our financing to increase relative to the income that can be derived from our assets.
While we currently intend to pay regular quarterly dividends to our shareholders, we may change our dividend policy at any time.
Although we currently intend to pay regular quarterly dividends to holders of our common shares, we may change our dividend policy at any time. Furthermore, in light of the recent spin-off of FTAI Infrastructure, we expect that the amount of our quarterly dividends will be reduced to give effect to the spin-off. Our net cash provided by operating activities has been less than the amount of distributions to our shareholders. The declaration and payment of dividends to holders of our common shares will be at the discretion of our board of directors in accordance with applicable law after taking into account various factors, including actual results of operations, liquidity and financial condition, net cash provided by operating activities, restrictions imposed by applicable law, our taxable income, our operating expenses and other factors our board of directors deem relevant. Our long term goal is to maintain a payout ratio of between 50-60% of funds available for distribution, with remaining amounts used primarily to fund our future acquisitions and opportunities. There can be no assurance that we will continue to pay dividends in amounts or on a basis consistent with prior distributions to our investors, if at all. Because we are a holding company and have no direct operations, we will only be able to pay dividends from our available cash on hand and any funds we receive from our subsidiaries and our ability to receive distributions from our subsidiaries may be limited by the financing agreements to which they are subject. In addition, our existing indebtedness does, and our future indebtedness may, limit our ability to pay dividends on our common and preferred shares. Moreover, pursuant to the Services and Profit Sharing Agreement, the Master GP will be entitled to receive incentive payments before any amounts are distributed by us based both on our consolidated net income and capital gains income in each fiscal quarter and for each fiscal year, respectively. Furthermore, the terms of our Series A preferred shares generally prevent us from declaring or paying dividends on or repurchasing our common shares or other junior capital unless all accrued distributions on such preferred shares have been paid in full.
Anti-takeover provisions in our operating agreement and Delaware law could delay or prevent a change in control.
Provisions in our operating agreement may make it more difficult and expensive for a third party to acquire control of us even if a change of control would be beneficial to the interests of our shareholders. For example, our operating agreement provides for a staggered board, requires advance notice for proposals by shareholders and nominations, places limitations on convening shareholder meetings, and authorizes the issuance of preferred shares that could be issued by our board of directors to thwart a takeover attempt. In addition, certain provisions of Delaware law may delay or prevent a transaction that could cause a change in our control. The market price of our shares could be adversely affected to the extent that provisions of our operating agreement discourage potential takeover attempts that our shareholders may favor.
There are certain provisions in our operating agreement regarding exculpation and indemnification of our officers and directors that differ from the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) in a manner that may be less protective of the interests of our shareholders.
Our operating agreement provides that to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law our directors or officers will not be liable to us. Under the DGCL, a director or officer would be liable to us for (i) breach of duty of loyalty to us or our shareholders, (ii) intentional misconduct or knowing violations of the law that are not done in good faith, (iii) improper redemption of shares or declaration of dividend, or (iv) a transaction from which the director derived an improper personal benefit. In addition, our operating agreement provides that we indemnify our directors and officers for acts or omissions to the fullest extent provided by law. Under the DGCL, a corporation can only indemnify directors and officers for acts or omissions if the director or officer acted in good faith, in a manner he reasonably believed to be in the best interests of the corporation, and, in criminal action, if the officer or director had no reasonable cause to believe his conduct was unlawful. Accordingly, our operating agreement may be less protective of the interests of our shareholders, when compared to the DGCL, insofar as it relates to the exculpation and indemnification of our officers and directors.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they downgrade their recommendations regarding our common shares, our share price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our common shares are influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. If any of the analysts who cover us downgrades our common units or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our common share price may decline. If analysts cease coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our common share price or trading volume to decline and our common shares to be less liquid.