Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY AND NONCONTROLLING INTERESTS

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SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY AND NONCONTROLLING INTERESTS
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Equity [Abstract]  
SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY AND NONCONTROLLING INTERESTS SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY AND NONCONTROLLING INTERESTS
Shareholders' Equity
Forward Equity Offering
On September 22, 2020, the Company entered into an underwriting agreement, as well as certain forward sale agreements, with a syndicate of banks acting as underwriters, forward sellers, and/or forward purchasers in connection with an underwritten public offering of 4,500,000 common shares at a public offering price of $33.15 per share. The underwriters were granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 675,000 common shares at the same price, which they partially exercised for an additional 400,000 common shares on October 6, 2020. Therefore, the forward sellers or their affiliates, at the Company's request, borrowed from third parties and sold to the underwriters an aggregate of 4,900,000 common shares, which the underwriters sold at an offering price of $33.15 per share, for proceeds of approximately $162.4 million. As a result of this forward construct, the Company did not receive any proceeds from the sale of such shares at closing.
The Company expects to settle the forward sale agreements within six months of the offering date via the issuance and physical delivery of the Company's common shares in exchange for cash proceeds, although the Company may elect cash settlement or net share settlement for all or a portion of its obligations under the forward sale agreements, subject to certain conditions. The forward sale price that the Company will receive upon physical settlement of the agreements is subject to subsequent adjustments from time to time as provided in the forward sale agreements. As of September 30, 2020, none of these shares had been settled. The initial forward sale price is $32.832 per share and assuming full physical settlement at the initial forward sale price, the Company would receive proceeds of approximately $160 million.
The Company has determined that the forward sale agreements agreements are not considered to be derivative instruments under the guidance within ASC 815.
Internalization and Acquisition of PRO
As discussed in Note 1 and further below, on March 31, 2020, the Company closed on the previously announced mergers of SecurCare and DLAN with and into wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company. In connection with the mergers, the Company issued 8,105,192 common shares to the owners of SecurCare and DLAN, which represented a 1% discount to an aggregate of 8,187,052 OP units that each of SecurCare and DLAN owned or was entitled to receive immediately prior to the mergers (after rounding up to the next whole number of common shares). Of the total number of common shares issued to the owners of SecurCare, 4,063,571 common shares were issued to Arlen Nordhagen, the Company's executive chairman and former chief executive officer, who owned
approximately 53% of SecurCare's outstanding shares, and 1,858,737 common shares were issued to David Cramer, the Company's chief operating officer, who owned approximately 24% of SecurCare's outstanding shares. In connection with the mergers and the issuance of the Company's common shares to Mr. Nordhagen and Mr. Cramer, the Company formed a special committee of independent and disinterested trustees (the "Special Committee") to evaluate the merits and terms of the proposed transaction. In analyzing the proposed transaction, the Special Committee engaged an independent third party financial advisor to assist the Special Committee in analyzing and assessing the transaction, and to opine on the fairness to the Company of the consideration to be paid by the Company in the mergers. The Special Committee approved and recommended that the Company's board of trustees approve the proposed transaction. The transaction was approved unanimously by the disinterested trustees of the Company's board of trustees on February 19, 2020.
At the Market ("ATM") Program
On February 27, 2019, the Company entered into a sales agreement with certain sales agents, pursuant to which the Company may sell from time to time up to $250.0 million of the Company's common shares of beneficial interest, $0.01 par value per share ("common shares") and 6.000% Series A cumulative redeemable preferred shares of beneficial interest ("Series A preferred shares") in sales deemed to be "at the market" offerings. The sales agreement contemplates that, in addition to the issuance and sale by the Company of offered shares to or through the sale agents, the Company may enter into separate forward sale agreements with any forward purchaser. Forward sale agreements, if any, will include only the Company's common shares and will not include any Series A preferred shares. If the Company enters into a forward sale agreement with any forward purchaser, such forward purchaser will attempt to borrow from third parties and sell, through the related agent, acting as sales agent for such forward purchaser (each, a "forward seller"), offered shares, in an amount equal to the offered shares subject to such forward sale agreement, to hedge such forward purchaser’s exposure under such forward sale agreement. The Company may offer the common shares and Series A preferred shares through the agents, as the Company's sales agents, or, as applicable, as forward seller, or directly to the agents or forward sellers, acting as principals, by means of, among others, ordinary brokers’ transactions on the NYSE or otherwise at market prices prevailing at the time of sale or at negotiated prices.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, the Company sold 693,915 of its common shares through the ATM program at an average offering price of $32.92 per share, resulting in net proceeds to the Company of approximately $22.0 million, after deducting compensation payable by the Company to such agents and offering expenses.
Noncontrolling Interests
All of the OP equity in the Company's operating partnership not held by the Company are reflected as noncontrolling interests. Noncontrolling interests also include ownership interests in DownREIT partnerships held by entities other than the Company's operating partnership. NSA is the general partner of its operating partnership and is authorized to cause its operating partnership to issue additional partner interests, including OP units and subordinated performance units, at such prices and on such other terms as it determines in its sole discretion.
As of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, units reflecting noncontrolling interests consisted of the following:
September 30, 2020 December 31, 2019
Series A-1 preferred units 637,382  642,982 
OP units 29,443,460  30,188,305 
Subordinated performance units 8,770,744  11,014,195 
LTIP units 765,840  743,566 
DownREIT units
DownREIT OP units 1,924,918  1,848,261 
DownREIT subordinated performance units 4,337,111  4,371,622 
Total 45,879,455  48,808,931 
Series A-1 Preferred Units
The 6.000% Series A-1 Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Units ("Series A-1 preferred units") rank senior to OP units and subordinated performance units in the Company's operating partnership with respect to distributions and liquidation. The Series A-1 preferred units have a stated value of $25.00 per unit and receive distributions at an annual rate of 6.000%. These distributions are cumulative. The Series A-1 preferred units are redeemable at the option of the holder after the first anniversary of the date of issuance, which redemption obligations may be satisfied at the Company’s option in cash in an amount equal to the market value of an equivalent number of the Series A preferred shares or the issuance of Series A preferred shares on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustments. The Series A preferred shares are redeemable by the Company for a cash redemption price of $25.00 per share, plus accrued but unpaid dividends. The decrease in Series A-1 preferred units outstanding from December 31, 2019 to September 30, 2020 was due to the redemption of 5,600 Series A-1 preferred units for Series A preferred shares.
OP Units and DownREIT OP units
OP units in the Company's operating partnership are redeemable for cash or, at the Company's option, exchangeable for the Company's common shares on a one-for-one basis, and DownREIT OP units are redeemable for cash or, at the Company's option, exchangeable for OP units in its operating partnership on a one-for-one basis, subject to certain adjustments in each case. The holders of OP units are generally not entitled to elect redemption until one year after the issuance of the OP units. The holders of DownREIT OP units are generally not entitled to elect redemption until five years after the date of the contributor's initial contribution.
The decrease in OP units outstanding from December 31, 2019 to September 30, 2020 was due to the redemption of 704,335 OP units for common shares and the exchange of 368,500 DownREIT OP units in redemption of an equivalent number of outstanding OP units, which were subsequently retired by the operating partnership, offset by the following: 445,701 OP units issued upon the conversion of 332,738 subordinated performance units (as discussed further below), 378,239 OP units issued in connection with the acquisition of self storage properties and 214,512 LTIP units which were converted into an equivalent number of OP units. In addition, in connection with the completion of the SecurCare and DLAN mergers, the Company's operating partnership retired 710,462 OP Units.
The increase in DownREIT OP units outstanding from December 31, 2019 to September 30, 2020 was due to the exchange of 368,500 DownREIT OP units held by the operating partnership in redemption of an equivalent number of outstanding OP Units, which were subsequently retired by the operating partnership, and the issuance of 115,888 DownREIT OP units related to the conversion of 34,511 DownREIT subordinated performance units (as discussed further below) partially offset by the contribution of 407,731 DownREIT OP units (which were previously included in the above table because they were not held by the Company) to the operating partnership in connection with the SecurCare and DLAN mergers.
Subordinated Performance Units and DownREIT Subordinated Performance Units
Subordinated performance units may also, under certain circumstances, be convertible into OP units which are exchangeable for common shares as described above, and DownREIT subordinated performance units may, under certain circumstances, be exchangeable for subordinated performance units on a one-for-one basis. Subordinated performance units are only convertible into OP units after a two year lock-out period and then generally (i) at the holder’s election only upon the achievement of certain performance thresholds relating to the properties to which such subordinated performance units relate or (ii) at the Company's election upon a retirement event of a PRO that holds such subordinated performance units or upon certain qualifying terminations. The holders of DownREIT subordinated performance units are generally not entitled to elect redemption until at least five years after the date of the contributor's initial contribution.
Following such lock-out period, a holder of subordinated performance units in the Company's operating partnership may elect a voluntary conversion one time each year on or prior to December 1st to convert a pre-determined portion of such subordinated performance units into OP units in the Company's operating partnership, with such conversion effective January 1st of the following year, with each subordinated performance unit being converted into the number of OP units determined by dividing the average cash available for distribution, or CAD, per unit on the series of specific subordinated performance units over the one-year period prior to conversion by 110% of the CAD per unit on the OP units determined over the same period. CAD per unit on the series of specific subordinated performance units and OP units is determined by the Company based generally upon the
application of the provisions of the LP Agreement applicable to the distributions of operating cash flow and capital transactions proceeds.
The decrease in subordinated performance units outstanding from December 31, 2019 to September 30, 2020 was due to the retirement of 2,001,441 subordinated performance units in connection with the SecurCare merger and the voluntary conversion of 332,738 subordinated performance units into 445,701 OP units, partially offset by the issuance of 90,728 subordinated performance units for co-investment by the Company's PROs in connection with the acquisition of self storage properties.
The decrease in DownREIT subordinated performance units outstanding from December 31, 2019 to September 30, 2020 was due to the conversion of 34,511 DownREIT subordinated performance units into 115,888 DownREIT OP units.
LTIP Units
LTIP units are a special class of partnership interest in the Company's operating partnership that allow the holder to participate in the ordinary and liquidating distributions received by holders of the OP units (subject to the achievement of specified levels of profitability by the Company's operating partnership or the achievement of certain events). LTIP units may also, under certain circumstances, be convertible into OP units on a one-for-one basis, which are then exchangeable for common shares as described above.
The increase in LTIP units outstanding from December 31, 2019 to September 30, 2020 was due to the issuance of 236,786 compensatory LTIP units to employees, trustees and consultants, net of forfeitures partially offset by the conversion of 214,512 LTIP units into an equivalent number of OP units