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Related Person Transactions
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2014
Related Person Transactions  
Related Person Transactions

Note 15.  Related Person Transactions

 

The following discussion includes a description of our related person transactions for the three and six months ended June 30, 2013 and June 30, 2014. Certain of these related person transactions, and their approvals, occurred prior to the election of our New Board of Trustees at the Special Meeting and the appointment of our current executive officers following the Special Meeting. The disclosure below under “—Related Person Transactions Prior to the Special Meeting” describes our related person transactions and approvals that occurred before the Special Meeting.

 

Related Person Transactions Following the Special Meeting:

 

Equity Group Investments and associated entities: Effective June 1, 2014, we entered into a one-year license agreement with Equity Group Investments, a private investment firm, or Equity Group, to use office space on the sixth floor at Two North Riverside Plaza in Chicago, Illinois. The license fee is $0.2 million for the year. The license fee includes the non-exclusive use of additional areas on the sixth floor (such as conference rooms and common areas), certain administrative services (such as mail room services and reception desk staffing), office equipment, office furniture, supplies, licensee’s share of building operating expenses and real estate taxes and access to one parking space. The license expires on May 31, 2015, unless terminated earlier in accordance with the terms of the license. Mr. Zell, our Chairman, is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Equity Group Investments, and Mr. Helfand, our President and Chief Executive Officer, is the Co-President of Equity Group Investments.

 

Additionally, effective June 1, 2014, we entered into a one-year lease with one 3-month renewal option with Two North Riverside Plaza Joint Venture Limited Partnership, an entity associated with Mr. Zell, our Chairman, to occupy office space on the fourteenth floor at Two North Riverside Plaza in Chicago, Illinois. The initial term of the lease expires on May 31, 2015. The lease payment is $0.2 million for the initial term.

 

Related/Corvex: On June 10, 2014, our Audit Committee and the New Board of Trustees recommended to shareholders the reimbursement of approximately $33.5 million of expenses incurred by Related/Corvex since February 2013 in connection with their consent solicitations to remove our Prior Trustees and elect the New Board of Trustees and to engage in related litigation, subject to the conditions that our shareholders approve the reimbursement of such expenses at our 2014 annual meeting of shareholders and that our Audit Committee receives a satisfactory report from an independent firm verifying the expenses for which reimbursement is sought. According to Related/Corvex’s Schedule 13D, as amended, Related/Corvex each owned approximately 2.8%, or approximately 5.7% in the aggregate, of our common shares as of July 11, 2014.  All of our current trustees were nominated by Related/Corvex for election at our Special Meeting to fill the vacancies on our Board of Trustees created by the removal of our Prior Trustees as a result of Related/Corvex’s consent solicitation. In addition, Sam Zell and David Helfand, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, respectively, are associated with EGI-CW Holdings, L.L.C., which entered into certain arrangements with Related/Corvex in connection with the agreement of Messrs. Zell and Helfand to become nominees of Related/Corvex. Also, James Lozier, one of our new trustees, is party to an agreement with Related pursuant to which certain amounts have been paid or are payable to him for consulting and other services provided to Related. In addition, James Corl, one of our new trustees, is entitled to receive payments based on the performance of funds managed by Siguler Guff, which funds invest in an entity associated with Related.

 

Related Person Transactions Prior to the Special Meeting:

 

RMR: We have three primary agreements with RMR and its affiliates to provide management and administrative services to us: (i) a business management agreement, which relates to our business generally, (ii) a property management agreement, which relates to our property level operations, and (iii) an Australia business and property management agreement, which relates to our Australian properties.

 

One of our former Managing Trustees, Mr. Barry Portnoy, is Chairman, majority owner and an employee of RMR. Our other former Managing Trustee and our former President, Mr. Adam Portnoy, is the son of Mr. Barry Portnoy, and an owner, President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of RMR. Mr. John Popeo, our former Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer, and Mr. David Lepore, our former Chief Operating Officer, are also officers of RMR. Two of our former Independent Trustees serve as independent directors or independent trustees of other public companies to which RMR provides management services. Mr. Barry Portnoy serves as a managing director or managing trustee of a majority of the public companies to which RMR or its affiliate provides management services and Mr. Adam Portnoy serves as a managing trustee of a majority of those companies. In addition, officers of RMR serve as officers of those companies. As a result of the removal, effective March 25, 2014, of Mr. Barry Portnoy and Mr. Adam Portnoy as Trustees of the Company and the resignation on May 23, 2014, of Mr. Adam D. Portnoy, Mr. John C. Popeo, Mr. David M. Lepore and other officers of RMR from their respective positions as officers of the Company, they, RMR, RMR Australia Asset Management Pty Limited, or RMR Australia, GOV, SIR and AIC have ceased to be related persons of the Company.

 

Pursuant to our business management agreement with RMR, we recognized business management fees of $16.3 million and $12.1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively, and $31.7 million and $24.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively. The fees for the three and six months ended June 30, 2014, include estimated 2014 incentive fees payable in common shares based on our common share total return. These amounts are included in general and administrative expenses and income from discontinued operations, as appropriate, in our condensed consolidated financial statements. In accordance with the terms of our business management agreement, as amended in December 2013, we issued 68,206 of our common shares to RMR for the six months ended June 30, 2014 as payment for 10% of the base business management fee we recognized for such period. In connection with our property management agreement with RMR, the aggregate property management and construction supervision fees we recognized were $6.8 million and $8.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively, and $13.8 million and $17.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively. These amounts are included in operating expenses or have been capitalized, as appropriate, in our condensed consolidated financial statements. The business management fees, property management fees and construction supervision fees that we incurred during the three and six months ended June 30, 2013 include fees incurred by SIR, as SIR was a consolidated subsidiary of ours during those periods.

 

MacarthurCook Fund Management Limited, or MacarthurCook, previously provided us with business and property management services related to our Australian properties. Our contract with MacarthurCook terminated on January 31, 2013, and on that date we entered into a business and property management agreement, or the Australia Management Agreement, with RMR Australia for the benefit of CWH Australia Trust (formerly the MacarthurCook Industrial Property Fund), a subsidiary of ours. The terms of the Australia Management Agreement are substantially similar to the terms of the management agreement we had with MacarthurCook. RMR Australia is owned by our former Managing Trustees and our former President and it has been granted an Australian financial services license by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission. Similar to our prior arrangement with respect to fees we paid to MacarthurCook, RMR has agreed to waive half of the fees payable by us under our property management agreement with RMR and half of the business management fees otherwise payable by us under our business management agreement with RMR related to real estate investments that are subject to the Australia Management Agreement for so long as the Australia Management Agreement is in effect and we or any of our subsidiaries are paying the fees under that agreement. Pursuant to the Australia Management Agreement, we recognized aggregate business and property management fees of $0.4 million for the three months ended June 30, 2014, and $0.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2014, which amounts are equal to the fees waived by RMR and excluded from the amount that was payable to RMR during the three months ended June 30, 2014 and the six months ended June 30, 2014, respectively.  Pursuant to the Australia Management Agreement, we recognized aggregate business and property management fees of $0.4 million and $0.8 million for the three months ended June 30, 2013 and for the period from February 1, 2013 to June 30, 2013, respectively, which amounts are equal to the fees waived by RMR and excluded from the amounts that were payable to RMR during such period.

 

For January 2013, RMR agreed to waive half of the fees payable by us under our property management agreement and half of the business management fees related to real estate investments located outside of the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada, so long as our business and property management agreement with MacarthurCook with respect to those investments was in effect and we or any of our subsidiaries were paying fees under that agreement. MacarthurCook earned $0.2 million in January 2013 with respect to our Australian properties, which amount is equal to the fees waived by RMR and excluded from the amount that was payable to RMR during that month.

 

The removal of our Prior Trustees constituted a “change of control” under our property management agreement with RMR, triggering a termination right for RMR.  In addition, either we or RMR may terminate our business management agreement with RMR upon 60 days’ prior written notice for any reason.

 

GOV:  GOV was formerly our 100% owned subsidiary. In 2009, GOV completed an initial public offering pursuant to which GOV ceased to be a majority owned subsidiary of ours. To facilitate this offering, we and GOV entered into a transaction agreement that governs our separation from and relationship with GOV. Pursuant to this transaction agreement and subject to certain conditions, among other things, we granted GOV the right of first purchase to acquire any property owned by us that we determine to divest (including sale, mortgage or other financing), if the property is then, or is reasonably expected within twelve (12) months to be, majority leased to a government tenant, which right of first purchase will also apply in the event of an indirect sale of any such properties as a result of a change of control of us. On July 23, 2014, we and GOV entered into a letter agreement whereby GOV irrevocably waived and released us from the right of first purchase described above. Additionally, pursuant to the letter agreement we and GOV each agreed to waive certain consent rights over the other party’s investments in certain categories of properties.

 

RMR provides management services to both us and GOV, our former Managing Trustees and our former President are managing trustees of GOV and GOV’s executive officers are officers of RMR. On March 15, 2013, we sold all of our 9,950,000 common shares of GOV in a public offering for net proceeds (after deducting underwriters’ discounts and commissions and expenses) of $239.6 million and we realized a gain of $66.3 million. In connection with this public offering, on March 11, 2013, we entered into a registration agreement with GOV under which we agreed to pay all expenses incurred by GOV relating to the registration and sale of our GOV common shares. We incurred and paid $0.3 million of reimbursements to GOV pursuant to this agreement during 2013. In addition, under the registration agreement, GOV agreed to indemnify us and our officers, Trustees and controlling persons, and we agreed to indemnify GOV and its officers, trustees and controlling persons, against certain liabilities related to the public offering, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act.

 

SIR:  SIR was formerly our 100% owned subsidiary. In March 2012, SIR completed an initial public offering, or the SIR IPO. Until July 9, 2014, we were SIR’s largest shareholder and, until July 2, 2013, SIR was one of our consolidated subsidiaries. As of June 30, 2014, we owned 22,000,000 common shares of SIR, which represented approximately 36.7% of SIR’s outstanding common shares. RMR provides management services to both us and SIR. Our former Managing Trustees and our former President are managing trustees of SIR and our former Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer serves as the treasurer and chief financial officer of SIR and SIR’s executive officers are officers of RMR. In addition, one of our former Independent Trustees is an independent trustee of SIR. In March 2013, we entered into a registration agreement with SIR, pursuant to which SIR agreed to, among other things, file a registration statement with respect to an offering of up to all of the 22,000,000 common shares of SIR that we owned, and SIR filed a registration statement on Form S-3 to permit the resale by us of some or all of the common shares of SIR we owned. Under the registration agreement, we agreed to pay all expenses incurred by SIR relating to the registration and sale of the shares in an offering. We incurred and paid $0.6 million of reimbursements to SIR pursuant to this agreement. By letter dated March 31, 2014, SIR notified us that, effective that same day, SIR had elected to terminate the registration agreement with us as a result of the removal of all the Prior Trustees effective March 25, 2014, which constitutes a change of control of us as provided in that agreement. The letter also noted that SIR would welcome the opportunity to meet with our New Board of Trustees to discuss mutually beneficial arrangements regarding the registration of the shares of SIR owned by EQC.  On July 9, 2014, we sold our entire stake of 22,000,000 common shares of SIR, for $32.04 per share, raising aggregate gross proceeds of $704.8 million.  As a result of this sale, we no longer hold any interest in SIR.

 

AIC:  We previously owned 12.5% of AIC, an Indiana insurance company, and, as of May 9, 2014, had invested $5.2 million in AIC since we became an equity owner of AIC in 2009. RMR, GOV, SIR and four other companies to which RMR provides management services also own shares of AIC. RMR provides management and administrative services to AIC pursuant to a management and administrative services agreement with AIC and a majority of the Prior Trustees, our former President and most of the trustees and directors of the other AIC shareholders serve on the board of directors of AIC. On March 25, 2014, as a result of the removal of the Prior Trustees, we underwent a change in control, as defined in the shareholders’ agreement among us, the other shareholders of AIC and AIC. As a result of that change in control and in accordance with the terms of the shareholders agreement, the other shareholders of AIC, on May 9, 2014, exercised their right to purchase the 20,000 shares of AIC we then owned. We received $5.8 million in aggregate proceeds from this sale and we no longer own any interest in AIC.

 

We previously purchased property insurance providing $500.0 million of coverage pursuant to an insurance program arranged by AIC and with respect to which AIC was a reinsurer of certain coverage amounts. This program expired in June 2014. We recognized income of $0.04 million and $0.2 million related to our investment in AIC for the three months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively, and a loss of $0.1 million and income of $0.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2013, during which time SIR was both a shareholder of AIC and our consolidated subsidiary, our consolidated financial statements include SIR’s equity investment interest in AIC.

 

Indemnification:  Pursuant to our declaration of trust and separate indemnification agreements, we have advanced amounts incurred for legal fees and costs on behalf of certain of the Prior Trustees and officers with respect to the legal proceedings described in Part II, Item 1, “Legal Proceedings” in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Pursuant to indemnification provisions in our business and property management agreements with RMR, we have also incurred legal fees and costs on behalf of RMR for claims brought against RMR in its capacity as our business and property manager with respect to certain legal proceedings described in Part II, Item 1, “Legal Proceedings” in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. For the three months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, we incurred approximately $1.5 million and $7.0 million, respectively, in such legal fees and costs, including our costs, and for the six months ended June 30, 2014 and 2013, we incurred approximately $5.4 million and $10.1 million, respectively, in such legal fees and costs, including our costs.

 

Settlement of Certain Tenant Litigation: On March 1, 2014, pursuant to mediation, we and an affiliate of RMR agreed to terms of a settlement of a long running litigation with an unrelated third party that was a tenant, or the Tenant, of two separate properties: one property owned by us and one property owned by the RMR affiliate. This litigation arose as a result of flooding in 1999 and 2001 at both of these properties. After the flooding, the Tenant filed a complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief providing that Tenant was no longer obligated to pay rent at the two properties in question and brought claims against EQC and the RMR affiliate, as landlords, for, among other things, breach of the covenants of quiet enjoyment and habitability. We and RMR counterclaimed, seeking damages based in part upon Tenant’s failure to pay rent and make repairs. The settlement agreement regarding this litigation provides for a payment by Tenant of $12.0 million to EQC and the RMR affiliate, payable in three installments ($6.0 million on June 30, 2014 and $3.0 million on each of September 30, 2014 and December 31, 2014), split pro-rata between EQC and the RMR affiliate based upon the balance of the rent due under each lease. The total rent due under the EQC lease was approximately $9.2 million; the total rent due under the lease with the RMR affiliate was approximately $1.1 million. This settlement was approved by the court on May 6, 2014.