Equity

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2022

Equity

Equity

8. Equity

During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, Simon issued 2,680 shares of common stock to two limited partners of the Operating Partnership in exchange for an equal number of units pursuant to the partnership agreement of the Operating Partnership. During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Operating Partnership redeemed 13,930 units from two limited partners for $1.8 million. These transactions increased Simon’s ownership interest in the Operating Partnership.

On May 9, 2022, Simon's Board of Directors authorized a common stock repurchase plan.  Under the plan, Simon may repurchase up to $2.0 billion of its common stock during the two-year period commencing on May 16, 2022 and ending on May 16, 2024 in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions as market conditions warrant.  During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, Simon purchased 1,830,022 shares at an average price of $98.57 per share.  As Simon repurchases shares under these programs, the Operating Partnership repurchases an equal number of units from Simon.

We paid a common stock dividend of $1.75 per share for the third quarter of 2022, and $5.10 per share for the nine months ended September 30, 2022.  We paid common stock dividends of $5.50 per share for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.  The Operating Partnership paid distributions per unit for the same amounts.  On November 1, 2022, Simon’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend for the fourth quarter of 2022 of $1.80 per share, payable on December 30, 2022 to shareholders of record on December 9, 2022.  The distribution rate on units is equal to the dividend rate on common stock.

Temporary Equity

Simon

Simon classifies as temporary equity those securities for which there is the possibility that Simon could be required to redeem the security for cash irrespective of the probability of such a possibility. As a result, Simon classifies one series of preferred units in the Operating Partnership and noncontrolling redeemable interests in properties in temporary equity.  Each of these securities is discussed further below.

Limited Partners’ Preferred Interest in the Operating Partnership and Noncontrolling Redeemable Interests in Properties.  The redemption features of the preferred units in the Operating Partnership contain provisions which could require the Operating Partnership to settle the redemption in cash. As a result, this series of preferred units in the Operating Partnership remains classified outside permanent equity.  The remaining interests in a property or portfolio of properties which are redeemable at the option of the holder or in circumstances that may be outside Simon’s control are accounted for as temporary equity. The carrying amount of the noncontrolling interest is adjusted to the redemption amount assuming the instrument is redeemable at the balance sheet date.  Changes in the redemption value of the underlying noncontrolling interest are recorded within accumulated deficit in the consolidated statements of equity in issuance of unit equivalents and other.  There were no noncontrolling interests

redeemable at amounts in excess of fair value as of September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021.  The following table summarizes the preferred units in the Operating Partnership and the amount of the noncontrolling redeemable interests in properties as follows:

	As of		As of
	September 30,		December 31,
	2022		2021
7.50% Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Units, 260,000 units authorized, 255,373 issued and outstanding	$	25,537	$	25,537
Other noncontrolling redeemable interests		533,945		522,203
Limited partners’ preferred interest in the Operating Partnership and noncontrolling redeemable interests in properties	$	559,482	$	547,740

The Operating Partnership

The Operating Partnership classifies as temporary equity those securities for which there is the possibility that the Operating Partnership could be required to redeem the security for cash, irrespective of the probability of such a possibility.  As a result, the Operating Partnership classifies one series of preferred units and noncontrolling redeemable interests in properties in temporary equity.  The following table summarizes the preferred units and the amount of the noncontrolling redeemable interests in properties as follows:

	As of		As of
	September 30,		December 31,
	2022		2021
7.50% Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Units, 260,000 units authorized, 255,373 issued and outstanding	$	25,537	$	25,537
Other noncontrolling redeemable interests		533,945		522,203
Total preferred units, at liquidation value, and noncontrolling redeemable interests in properties	$	559,482	$	547,740

Stock-Based Compensation

Our long-term incentive compensation awards under our stock-based compensation plans primarily take the form of LTIP units, restricted stock units, and restricted stock.  The substantial majority of these awards are market condition or performance-based, and are based on various market, corporate and business unit performance measures as further described below. The expense related to these programs, net of amounts capitalized, is included within home and regional office costs and general and administrative costs in the accompanying statements of operations and comprehensive income.  LTIP units are a form of limited partnership interest issued by the Operating Partnership, which are subject to the participant maintaining employment with us through certain dates and other conditions as described in the applicable award agreements. Awarded LTIP units not earned in accordance with the conditions set forth in the applicable award agreements are forfeited. Earned and fully vested LTIP units are equivalent to units of the Operating Partnership. Participants are entitled to receive distributions on the awarded LTIP units, as defined, equal to 10% of the regular quarterly distributions paid on a unit of the Operating Partnership. As a result, we account for these LTIP units as participating securities under the two class method of computing earnings per share. These are granted under The Simon Property Group, L.P. 2019 Stock Incentive Plan, or the 2019 Plan.

The grant date fair values of any LTIP units that are market-based awards are estimated using a Monte Carlo model, and the resulting fixed expense is recorded regardless of whether the market condition criteria are achieved if the participant performs the required service period. The grant date fair values of the market-based awards are being amortized into expense over the performance period, which is the grant date through the date at which the awards, if earned, become vested.  The expense of the performance-based award is recorded over the performance period, which is the grant date through the date at which the awards, if earned, become vested, based on our assessment as to whether it is probable that the performance criteria will be achieved during the applicable performance periods.  The grant date fair values of any restricted stock unit awards are recognized as expense over the vesting period.

2019 LTIP Program.  In 2019, the Compensation and Human Capital Committee established and granted awards under the 2019 LTIP Program.  Awards under the 2019 LTIP Program will be considered earned if the respective performance conditions (based upon Funds From Operations, or FFO, per share, and Objective Criteria Goals) and market condition (based on Relative TSR performance), as defined in the applicable award agreements, are achieved during the applicable three-year measurement period.  All of the earned LTIP units under the 2019 LTIP Program will vest on January 1, 2023.  The 2019 LTIP Program provides that the amount earned of the performance-based portion of the awards is dependent on Simon’s performance compared to certain criteria and in March 2022, the Compensation and Human Capital Committee determined 72,442 performance based LTIP units under this program were earned as noted in the table below.

2020 LTI Program.  In 2020, the Compensation and Human Capital Committee established and granted awards under the 2020 LTI Program, which consisted of a one-time grant of 312,263 time-based restricted stock units under the 2019 Plan at a grant date fair market value of $84.37 per share.  One-third of these awards vested on January 1, 2022 and the remaining awards will vest ratably on January 1, 2023 and January 1, 2024.  The grant date fair value of the awards of $26.3 million is being recognized as expense over the three-year vesting period.

2021 LTI Program.  In 2021, the Compensation and Human Capital Committee established and granted awards under  the 2021 LTI Program.  Awards under the 2021 LTI Program took the form of LTIP units and restricted stock units.  Awards of LTIP units under this program will be considered earned if the respective performance conditions (based on FFO and Objective Criteria Goals) and market conditions (based on Absolute TSR performance), as defined in the applicable award agreements, are achieved during the applicable three-year measurement period.  Any units determined to be earned LTIP units under the 2021 LTI Program will vest on January 1, 2025.  The 2021 LTI Program provides that the amount earned related to the performance-based portion of the awards is dependent on the Compensation and Human Capital Committee’s determination that Simon’s FFO performance and achievement of certain objective criteria goals and has a maximum potential fair value at grant date of $18.4 million.  As part of the 2021 LTI Program, the Compensation and Human Capital Committee also established a grant of 37,976 time-based restricted stock units under the 2019 Plan at a grant date fair market value of $112.92 per share.  These awards will vest, subject to the grantee's continued service, on March 1, 2024.  The $4.3 million grant date fair value of these awards is being recognized as expense over the three-year vesting period.  

2022 LTI Program.  In the first quarter of 2022, the Compensation and Human Capital Committee established and granted awards under a 2022 Long-Term Incentive Program, or 2022 LTI Program.  Awards under the 2022 LTI Program, took the form of LTIP units and restricted stock units.  Awards of LTIP units under this program will be considered earned if the respective performance conditions (based on FFO and Objective Criteria Goals), subject to adjustment based upon a TSR modifier, with respect to the FFO performance condition, as defined in the applicable award agreements, are achieved during the applicable three-year measurement period.  Any units determined to be earned LTIP units under the 2022 LTI Program will vest on January 1, 2026.  The 2022 LTI Program provides that the amount earned related to the performance-based portion of the awards is dependent on the Compensation and Human Capital Committee’s determination that Simon’s FFO performance and achievement of certain objective criteria goals and has a maximum potential fair value at grant date of $20.6 million.  As part of the 2022 LTI Program, on March 11, 2022 and March 18, 2022, the Compensation and Human Capital Committee also established grants of 52,673 time-based restricted stock units under the 2019 Plan at a grant date fair market value of $130.05 and $130.84 per share.  These awards will vest on March 11, 2025 and March 18, 2025.  The $6.9 million grant date fair value of these awards is being recognized as expense over the three-year vesting period.  

The Compensation and Human Capital Committee approved LTIP unit grants as shown in the table below. The extent to which LTIP units were determined by the Compensation and Human Capital Committee’s to have been earned, and the aggregate grant date fair value, are as follows:

LTIP Program	LTIP Units Earned	Grant Date Fair Value of TSR Award	Grant Date Target Value of Performance-Based Awards
2019 LTIP program	72,442	$9.5 million	$14.7 million
2021 LTIP program	To be determined in 2024	$5.7 million	$12.2 million
2022 LTIP program	To be determined in 2025	—	$13.7 million

We recorded compensation expense, net of capitalization, related to the aforementioned LTIP and LTI programs of approximately $16.2 million and $14.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Restricted Stock.  The Compensation and Human Capital Committee awarded 143,518 shares of restricted stock to employees on April 1, 2022 at a grant date fair market value of $131.56 per share related to 2021 compensation plans.  During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, our non-employee Directors were awarded 16,741 shares of restricted stock at a weighted-average fair market value of $113.01 per share.  These shares represent a portion of the compensation we pay our non-employee Directors, and all of the shares have been placed in a non-employee Director deferred compensation account maintained by us.  The grant date fair value of the employee restricted stock awards is being recognized as expense over the three-year vesting period. The grant date fair value of the non-employee Director restricted stock awards is being recognized as expense over the one-year vesting service period. In accordance with the Operating Partnership's partnership agreement, the Operating Partnership issued an equal number of units to Simon that are subject to the same vesting conditions as the restricted stock.  

We recorded compensation expense, net of capitalization, related to restricted stock of approximately $7.2 million and $5.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.