There is a risk of changes in the tax law applicable to REITs.
The Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Treasury Department and Congress frequently review U.S. federal income tax legislation, regulations and other guidance. We cannot predict whether, when or to what extent new U.S. federal tax laws, regulations, interpretations or rulings will be adopted. Any legislative action may prospectively or retroactively modify our tax treatment and, therefore, may adversely affect taxation of us, our properties, or our shareholders.
Risks Related to Our Stock and Capital Structure
Our issuance of additional capital stock, warrants or debt securities, whether or not convertible, may reduce the market price for our outstanding securities, including our common stock, and dilute the ownership interests of existing stockholders, and we may issue securities with greater dividend, liquidation and other rights than our common stock.
We cannot predict the effect, if any, that future sales of our capital stock, warrants or debt securities, or the availability of our securities for future sale, will have on the market price of our securities, including our common stock. Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock or preferred shares, warrants or debt securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales might occur, could negatively impact the market price of our stock and the terms upon which we may obtain additional equity financing in the future. Our Board has the authority to designate and issue preferred stock that may have dividend, liquidation and other rights that are senior to those of our common stock.
Any debt securities, preferred shares, warrants or other rights to acquire shares or convertible or exchangeable securities that we issue in the future may have some rights, preferences and privileges more favorable than those of our common stock and may result in dilution to owners of our common stock. Holders of our common stock are not entitled to preemptive rights or other protections against dilution. Our preferred shares, if issued, could have a preference on liquidating distributions or a preference on dividend payments that could limit our ability pay dividends or other distributions to the holders of our common stock. Because our decision to issue securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or nature of our future offerings. Thus, our stockholders bear the risk that our future offerings could reduce the per share trading price of our common stock and dilute their interest in us.
General Risk Factors
Our success depends in part on our ability to retain key personnel and our ability to attract or retain other qualified personnel.
Our future performance depends to a significant degree upon the continued contributions of our executive management team and other key employees, the loss of whom could have an adverse impact on our operations. Although we have entered into employment agreements with the members of our executive management team, these agreements may not assure their continued service. In addition, our failure to successfully attract, hire, retain and train the people we need may impede our ability to implement our business strategy.
We rely on information technology in our operations, and any material failure, inadequacy, interruption or security failure of that technology could harm our business.
We rely on information technology networks and systems, including the Internet, to process, transmit and store electronic information, and to manage or support a variety of business processes, including financial transactions and records, personal identifying information, tenant and lease data. In addition, we may from time to time offer technology services to tenants, which may involve storage of customer or resident data. We purchase some of our information technology from vendors, on whom our systems depend. We generally rely on third-party systems, software, tools and monitoring to provide security for processing, transmission and storage of confidential tenant and other customer information, such as individually identifiable information, including information relating to financial accounts. It is possible that our safety and security measures will not be able to prevent the systems’ improper functioning or the improper access or disclosure of personally identifiable information such as in the event of cyber-attacks. Security breaches, including physical or electronic break-ins, computer viruses, attacks by hackers and similar breaches, can create system disruptions, shutdowns or unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. Any failure to maintain proper function, security and availability of our information systems, and the privacy of the data we store, or failure to comply with related regulations, could interrupt our operations, damage our reputation, subject us to liability claims or regulatory penalties and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The regulatory environment related to cyber and information security, data collection and privacy is increasingly rigorous, with new and constantly changing requirements applicable to our business or to which we may become subject, including E.U. data protection legislation, such as they General Data Protection Regulation, or the GDPR, and the U.K.’s Data Protection Act, which impose significant data protection requirements and penalties for noncompliance. Compliance with any of these requirements may result in additional costs and could impact how we conduct in business in new jurisdictions.