Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Related-Party Transactions

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Related-Party Transactions
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related-Party Transactions

2. Related-Party Transactions

Gladstone Management and Gladstone Administration

We are externally managed pursuant to contractual arrangements with our Adviser and our Administrator which collectively employ all of our personnel and pay their salaries, benefits, and general expenses directly. Both our Adviser and Administrator are affiliates of ours as their parent company is controlled by Mr. David Gladstone, our chairman and chief executive officer. We have an advisory agreement with our Adviser, or the Advisory Agreement, and an administration agreement with our Administrator, or the Administration Agreement. The management and administrative services and fees under the Advisory and Administration Agreements are described below. At December 31, 2014 and 2013, $0.9 million and $1.4 million, respectively, was collectively due to our Adviser and Administrator.

Advisory Agreement

The Advisory Agreement provides for an annual base management fee equal to 2% of our total stockholders’ equity, less the recorded value of any preferred stock and adjusted to exclude the effect of any unrealized gains, losses or other items that do not affect realized net income (including impairment charges), or common stockholders’ equity, and an incentive fee based on funds from operations, or FFO. For the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013, and 2012, we recorded a base management fee of $2.8 million, $2.0 million, and $1.5 million, respectively. The Adviser’s Board of Directors voted to give us a credit to the base management fee for the year ended December 31, 2014 of $0.2 million.

For purposes of calculating the incentive fee, FFO includes any realized capital gains and capital losses, less any distributions paid on preferred stock and Senior Common Stock, but FFO does not include any unrealized capital gains or losses (including impairment charges). The incentive fee rewards the Adviser if our quarterly FFO, before giving effect to any incentive fee, or pre-incentive fee FFO, exceeds 1.75%, or 7% annualized, or the hurdle rate, of total common stockholders’ equity. The Adviser receives 100% of the amount of the pre-incentive fee FFO that exceeds the hurdle rate, but is less than 2.1875% of our common stockholders’ equity. The Adviser also receives an incentive fee of 20% of the amount of our pre-incentive fee FFO that exceeds 2.1875% of common stockholders’ equity.

For the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013, and 2012, we recorded an incentive fee of $4.3 million, $4.2 million, and $3.6 million, respectively, offset by credits related to unconditional, voluntary and irrevocable waivers issued by the Adviser of $3.0 million, $3.5 million, and $2.2 million, respectively, resulting in a net incentive fee for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013, and 2012, of $1.3 million, $0.7 million, and $1.4 million, respectively. Our Board of Directors accepted the Adviser’s offer to waive, on a quarterly basis, a portion of the incentive fee for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013, and 2012, in order to support the current level of distributions to our stockholders. This waiver may not be recouped by the Adviser in the future.

Administration Agreement

Pursuant to the Administration Agreement, we pay for our allocable portion of the Administrator’s expenses in performing services to us, including, but not limited to, rent and the salaries and benefits of its personnel, including our chief financial officer, treasurer, chief compliance officer, general counsel and secretary (who also serves as our Administrator’s president), and their respective staffs. Prior to July 1, 2014, our allocable portion was generally derived by multiplying that portion of the Administrator’s expenses allocable to all funds managed by the Adviser by the percentage of our total assets at the beginning of each quarter in comparison to the total assets of all funds managed by the Adviser. As approved by our Board of Directors, effective July 1, 2014, our allocable portion of the Administrator’s expenses will generally be derived by multiplying our Administrator’s total expenses by the approximate percentage of time the Administrator’s employees perform services for us in relation to their time spent performing services for all companies serviced by our Administrator under contractual agreements. For the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013, and 2012, we recorded an administration fee of $1.5 million, $1.5 million, and $1.1 million, respectively.

 

Gladstone Securities

Gladstone Securities, LLC, or Gladstone Securities, is a privately held broker dealer registered with The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and insured by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Gladstone Securities is an affiliate of ours, as its parent company is controlled by Mr. David Gladstone, our chairman and chief executive officer. Mr. Gladstone also serves on the board of managers of Gladstone Securities.

Dealer Manager Agreement

In connection with the offering of our Senior Common Stock (see Note 10, “Stockholders’ Equity,” for further details) we entered into a Dealer Manager Agreement, dated March 25, 2011, or the Dealer Manager Agreement, with Gladstone Securities pursuant to which Gladstone Securities agreed to act as our exclusive dealer manager in connection with the offering. Pursuant to the terms of the Dealer Manager Agreement, Gladstone Securities is entitled to receive a sales commission in the amount of 7.0% of the gross proceeds of the shares of Senior Common Stock sold, plus a dealer manager fee in the amount of 3.0% of the gross proceeds of the shares of Senior Common Stock sold. Gladstone Securities, in its sole and absolute discretion, may re-allocate all of its selling commissions attributable to a participating broker-dealer and may also re-allocate a portion of its dealer manager fee earned in respect of the proceeds generated by the participating broker-dealer to any participating broker-dealer as a non-accountable marketing allowance. In addition, we have agreed to indemnify Gladstone Securities against various liabilities, including certain liabilities arising under the federal securities laws. We made approximately $0.6 million, $0.3 million, and $0.2 million of payments during the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013, and 2012 respectively, to Gladstone Securities pursuant to this agreement, which are reflected as a component of Senior Common Stock costs in the consolidated statement of stockholders’ equity. The Dealer Manager Agreement currently is scheduled to terminate on the earlier of (i) March 28, 2015 or (ii) the date on which 3,000,000 shares of Senior Common Stock are sold pursuant to the Dealer Manager Agreement. We have elected not to renew the program upon termination on March 28, 2015 and thus the Dealer Manager Agreement will also simultaneously terminate on March 28, 2015.

Mortgage Financing Arrangement Agreement

We also entered into an agreement with Gladstone Securities, effective June 18, 2013, for it to act as our non-exclusive agent to assist us with arranging mortgage financing for properties we own. In connection with this engagement, Gladstone Securities may from time to time solicit the interest of various commercial real estate lenders or recommend to us third party lenders offering credit products or packages that are responsive to our needs. We pay Gladstone Securities a financing fee in connection with the services it provides to us for securing mortgage financing on any of our properties. The amount of these financing fees, which are payable upon closing of the financing, are based on a percentage of the amount of the mortgage, generally ranging from 0.15% to a maximum of 1.0% of the mortgage obtained. The amount of the financing fees may be reduced or eliminated, as determined by us and Gladstone Securities, after taking into consideration various factors, including, but not limited to, the involvement of any third party brokers and market conditions. We paid financing fees to Gladstone Securities of $0.1 million during both the years ended December 31, 2014, and 2013, respectively, which are reflected as deferred financing costs in the consolidated balance sheets, on total mortgages secured of $52.1 million and $76.3 million, or 0.27% and 0.18%, respectively. The agreement is scheduled to terminate on August 31, 2015, unless renewed or earlier terminated pursuant to the provisions contained therein.