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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION |
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Washington, D.C. 20549 |
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AMENDMENT NO. 1 |
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TO |
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FORM S-11 |
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FOR REGISTRATION UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 |
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OF CERTAIN REAL ESTATE COMPANIES |
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CHIMERA INVESTMENT CORPORATION |
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(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Governing Instruments) |
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1211 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2902 |
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New York, New York 10036 |
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(212) 696-0100 |
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(Address, including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, including Area Code, of Registrant’s Principal Executive Offices) |
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R. Nicholas Singh, Esq. |
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Executive Vice President and General Counsel |
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c/o Fixed Income Discount Advisory Company |
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1211 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2902 |
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New York, New York 10036 |
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(212) 696-0100 |
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(Name, Address, including Zip Code, and Telephone Number, including Area Code, of Agent for Service) |
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Copies to: |
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Phillip J. Kardis, II, Esq. |
Valerie Ford Jacob, Esq. |
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Anthony C. Green, Esq. |
Paul D. Tropp, Esq. |
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K&L Gates LLP |
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP |
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1601 K Street, N.W. |
One New York Plaza |
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Washington, DC 20006 |
New York, NY 10004 |
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(202) 778-9401 |
(212) 859-8000 |
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Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Registration Statement.
If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. o
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. o
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. o
If delivery of the prospectus is expected to be made pursuant to Rule 434, check the following box. o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check One):
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Large accelerated filer o |
Accelerated filer o |
Non-accelerated filer x |
Smaller reporting company o |
CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
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Title of Securities |
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Proposed Maximum |
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Amount of Registration Fee(2) |
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Common Stock |
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$1,017,750,000 |
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$39,997.58(3) |
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(1) |
Estimated solely for the purpose of determining the registration fee in accordance with Rule 457(o) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. |
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(2) |
Calculated in accordance with Rule 457(c) and Rule 457(o) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. |
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(3) |
Includes $13,558.50 previously paid in connection with Registration No. 333-151403. |
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The registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this registration statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.
Subject to Completion
Preliminary Prospectus dated October 14, 2008
PROSPECTUS
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Common Stock |
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Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CIM”. The closing price on the New York Stock Exchange on October 13, 2008 was $4.18 per share.
Concurrent with this offering, we will sell to Annaly 26,548,672 shares of our common stock in a private offering at the same price per share as the price per share of this public offering. Upon completion of this offering and the concurrent private offering, Annaly will own approximately 9.6% of our outstanding common stock (which percentage excludes shares to be sold pursuant to the exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option and unvested shares of our restricted common stock granted to our executive officers and employees of our Manager or its affiliates).
We have elected and intend to qualify to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for federal income tax purposes commencing with our taxable year ending on December 31, 2007. To assist us in qualifying as a REIT, ownership of our common stock by any person is generally limited to 9.8% in value or in number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of any class or series of the outstanding shares of our capital stock. In addition, our charter contains various other restrictions on the ownership and transfer of our common stock, see “Description of Capital Stock—Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer.”
Investing in our common stock involves risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 19 of this prospectus.
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Per Share |
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Total |
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Public offering price |
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$ |
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Underwriting discount |
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$ |
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Proceeds, before expenses, to us |
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$ |
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$ |
The
underwriters may also purchase up to an additional 37,500,000 shares at the
public offering price, less the underwriting discount, within 30 days from the
date of this prospectus to cover overallotments, if any.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The
shares will be ready for delivery on or about
, 2008.
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Merrill Lynch & Co. |
Credit Suisse |
Deutsche Bank Securities |
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Citi |
J.P. Morgan |
UBS Investment Bank |
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JMP Securities |
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Keefe, Bruyette & Woods |
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The date of this prospectus is , 2008. |
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Page |
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1 |
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15 |
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17 |
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19 |
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49 |
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50 |
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51 |
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52 |
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53 |
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Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
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74 |
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79 |
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94 |
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103 |
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111 |
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114 |
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116 |
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Certain Provisions of the Maryland General Corporation Law and Our Charter and Bylaws |
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124 |
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126 |
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142 |
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146 |
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146 |
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F-1 |
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Our objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns to our investors over the long-term, primarily through dividends and secondarily through capital appreciation. We intend to achieve this objective by investing in a broad class of financial assets to construct an investment portfolio that is designed to achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns and that is structured to comply with the various federal income tax requirements for REIT status and to maintain our exemption from registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, or 1940 Act.
We recognize that investing in our targeted asset classes is highly competitive, and that our Manager competes with many other investment managers for profitable investment opportunities in these areas. Annaly and our Manager have close relationships with a diverse group of financial intermediaries, ranging from primary dealers, major investment banks and brokerage firms to leading mortgage originators, specialty investment dealers and financial sponsors. In addition, we have benefited and expect to continue to benefit from our Manager’s analytical and portfolio management expertise and technology. We believe that the combined and complementary strengths of Annaly and our Manager give us a competitive advantage over REITs with a similar focus to ours.
Our Manager
1
sub-adviser for funds with approximately $2.7 billion in net assets and $11.8 billion in gross assets, and which consisted predominantly of Agency RMBS.
Our Manager is responsible for administering our business activities and day-to-day operations. We have no employees other than our officers. Pursuant to the terms of the management agreement, our Manager provides us with our management team, including our officers, along with appropriate support personnel. Our Manager is at all times subject to the supervision and oversight of our board of directors and has only such functions and authority as we delegate to it.
Our Manager has well-respected and established portfolio management resources for each of our targeted asset classes and a sophisticated infrastructure supporting those resources, including investment professionals focusing on residential mortgage loans, Agency and non-Agency RMBS and other asset-backed securities. Additionally, we have benefited and expect to continue to benefit from our Manager’s finance and administration functions, which address legal, compliance, investor relations and operational matters, including portfolio management, trade allocation and execution, securities valuation, risk management and information technologies in connection with the performance of its duties.
Annaly is primarily engaged in the business of investing, on a leveraged basis, in Agency RMBS. Annaly also invests in Federal Home Loan Bank, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae debentures. Annaly’s principal business objective is to generate net income for distribution to investors from the spread between the interest income on its securities and the cost of borrowing to finance their acquisition and from dividends it receives from FIDAC.
Our Investment Strategy
We rely on our Manager’s expertise in identifying assets within our target asset classes. Our Manager makes investment decisions based on various factors, including expected cash yield, relative value, risk-adjusted returns, current and projected credit fundamentals, current and projected macroeconomic considerations, current and projected supply and demand, credit and market risk concentration limits, liquidity, cost of financing and financing availability, as well as maintaining our REIT qualification and our exemption from registration under the 1940 Act.
Over time, we will modify our investment allocation strategy as market conditions change to seek to maximize the returns from our investment portfolio. We believe this strategy, combined with our Manager’s experience, will enable us to pay dividends and achieve capital appreciation throughout changing interest rate and credit cycles and provide attractive long-term returns to investors.
2
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Asset Class |
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Principal Investments |
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Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities, or RMBS |
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Non-Agency RMBS, including investment-grade and non-investment grade classes, including the BB-rated, B-rated and non-rated classes. |
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Agency RMBS. |
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Residential Mortgage Loans |
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Prime mortgage loans, which are mortgage loans that conform to the underwriting guidelines of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which we refer to as Agency Guidelines; and jumbo prime mortgage loans, which are mortgage loans that conform to the Agency Guidelines except as to loan size. |
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Alt-A mortgage loans, which are mortgage loans that may have been originated using documentation standards that are less stringent than the documentation standards applied by certain other first lien mortgage loan purchase programs, such as the Agency Guidelines, but have one or more compensating factors such as a borrower with a strong credit or mortgage history or significant assets. |
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Other Asset-Backed Securities, or ABS |
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Commercial mortgage-backed securities, or CMBS. |
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Debt and equity tranches of collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs. |
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Consumer and non-consumer ABS, including investment-grade and non-investment grade classes, including the BB-rated, B-rated and non-rated classes. |
Since we commenced operations in November 2007, we have focused our investment activities on acquiring non-Agency RMBS and on purchasing residential mortgage loans that have been originated by select high-quality originators, including the retail lending operations of leading commercial banks. This is in contrast to Annaly’s strategy which concentrates on Agency RMBS. Our investment portfolio at June 30, 2008 was weighted toward non-Agency RMBS. After the consummation of this offering, we expect that over the near term our investment portfolio will continue to be weighted toward RMBS, subject to maintaining our REIT qualification and our 1940 Act exemption. In addition, we have engaged in and anticipate continuing to engage in transactions with residential mortgage lending operations of leading commercial banks and other high-quality originators in which we identify and re-underwrite residential mortgage loans owned by such entities, and rather than purchasing and securitizing such residential mortgage loans ourselves, we and the originator would structure the securitization and we would purchase the resulting mezzanine and subordinate non-Agency RMBS. We may also engage in similar transactions with non-Agency RMBS in which we would acquire AAA-rated non-Agency RMBS and immediately re-securitize those securities. We would sell the resulting AAA-rated super senior RMBS and retain the AAA-rated mezzanine RMBS. Our investment decisions, however, will depend on prevailing market conditions and will change over time. As a result, we cannot predict the percentage of our assets that will be invested in each asset class or whether we will invest in other classes of investments. We may change our investment strategy and policies without a vote of our stockholders.
We
have elected and intend to qualify to be taxed as a REIT commencing with our
taxable year ending December 31, 2007 and to operate our business so as to be
exempt from registration under the 1940 Act, and therefore we will be required
to invest a substantial majority of our assets in loans secured by mortgages on
real
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estate
and real estate-related assets. Subject to maintaining our REIT qualification
and our 1940 Act exemption, we do not have any limitations on the amounts we
may invest in any of our targeted asset classes.
Our Investment Portfolio
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Amortized Cost |
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Estimated
Fair |
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Percent of
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Weighted
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RMBS |
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$ |
1,221,567 |
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1,116,586 |
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59.4 |
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6.27 |
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Residential Mortgage Loans(2) |
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$ |
150,629 |
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150,083 |
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8.0 |
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5.77 |
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Securitized Loans |
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$ |
614,278 |
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$ |
613,580 |
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32.6 |
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5.96 |
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Total |
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1,986,474 |
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1,880,249 |
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100.0 |
% |
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(1) Based on estimated fair value.
Our Financing and Hedging Strategy
We use leverage to increase potential returns to our stockholders. We generate income principally from the spread between yields on our investments and our cost of borrowing and hedging activities. Subject to our maintaining our qualification as a REIT, we have used and expect to continue to use a number of sources to finance our investments, including repurchase agreements, warehouse facilities, securitizations, commercial paper and term financing CDOs. We are not required to maintain any specific debt-to-equity ratio as we believe the appropriate leverage for the particular assets we are financing depends on the credit quality and risk of those assets. Our leverage ratio has fluctuated and we expect it to continue to fluctuate from time to time based upon, among other things, our assets, market conditions and conditions and availability of financings. As of September 30, 2008, we had outstanding indebtedness of approximately $1.119 billion, which consists of recourse leverage of approximately $620.0 million and non-recourse securitized financing of approximately $499.0 million.
We have utilized and, subject to maintaining our qualification as a REIT, may from time to time utilize derivative financial instruments, including, among others, interest rate swaps, interest rate caps, and interest rate floors to hedge all or a portion of the interest rate risk associated with the financing of our portfolio. Specifically, we have and expect to continue to seek to hedge our exposure to potential interest rate mismatches between the interest we earn on our investments and our borrowing costs caused by fluctuations in short-term interest rates. In utilizing leverage and interest rate hedges, our objectives are to improve risk-adjusted returns and, where possible, to lock in, on a long-term basis, a spread between the yield on our assets and the cost of our financing.
The table below summarizes our financings as of June 30, 2008 (dollars in thousands):
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Outstanding |
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Weighted Average |
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Estimated Fair |
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Repurchase Agreements: |
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$ |
909,089 |
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4.85 |
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23 days |
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$ |
961,400 |
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Mortgage Loans(2) |
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Securitizations(3) |
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504,397 |
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5.96 |
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30 years |
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terminate on
January 29, 2010. As of June 30, 2008 and December 31, 2007, we did not have
any amounts borrowed against these facilities. On July 29, 2008, we terminated
both of these repurchase facilities.
(3) On April 24, 2008, we sponsored a $619.7 million securitization, which was structured as a long-term financing transaction. See “—Recent Developments.” Securitizations structured as financings will result in the outstanding principal balance of the securitized mortgage loans remaining on our books as an asset and the outstanding principal balance of the notes issued by the trust will be recorded on our books as a liability. On July 25, 2008, we sponsored a $151.2 million securitization, which was structured as a sale. Securitizations structured as sales will result in the fair value of any notes and equity we retain remaining on our books as an asset.
The table below summarizes our interest rate swaps outstanding at June 30, 2008 (dollars in thousands):
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Notional Amount |
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Weighted
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Weighted
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Net
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$1,008,914 |
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4.10% |
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2.48% |
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($10,065) |
All of our repurchase agreements and interest rate swap agreements are subject to bilateral margin calls in the event that the collateral securing our obligations under those facilities exceeds or does not meet our collateralization requirements. We analyze the sufficiency of our collateralization daily, and as of June 30, 2008, on a net basis, the fair value of the collateral, including restricted cash, securing our obligations under repurchase agreements and interest rate swaps, exceeded the amount of such obligations by approximately $71.8 million. During the six months ended June 30, 2008, due to the deterioration in the market value of our assets, we received and met margin calls under our repurchase agreements, which resulted in our obtaining additional funding from third parties, including from Annaly (see “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions”), and taking other steps to increase our liquidity. Additionally, the disruptions during the six months ended June 30, 2008 resulted in us not being in compliance with the net income covenant in one of our whole loan repurchase agreements and the liquidity covenants in our other whole loan repurchase agreement at a time during which we had no amounts outstanding under those facilities. We amended these covenants, and on July 29, 2008, we terminated both those facilities to avoid paying non-usage fees. Should we receive additional margin calls, we may not be able to amend the restrictive covenants or obtain other funding. If we were unable to post additional collateral, we would have to sell the assets at a time when we might not otherwise choose to do so and such sales may be at a loss. A reduction in credit available may reduce our earnings and, in turn, cash available to us for distribution to stockholders.
In March 2008, we entered into a RMBS repurchase agreement with Annaly. This agreement contains customary representations, warranties and covenants contained in such agreements. As of June 30, 2008, we had $50.0 million outstanding under this agreement with a weighted average borrowing rate of 3.96%. As of September 30, 2008, we had approximately $620.0 million outstanding under this agreement, which constitutes approximately 56% of our total financing. As of October 13, 2008, the weighted average borrowing rate on amounts outstanding under this agreement was 3.97%. Our RMBS repurchase agreement with Annaly is rolled daily at market rates, bears interest at LIBOR plus 80 basis points, and is secured by the RMBS pledged under the agreement. We do not expect to increase significantly the amount of securities pledged to Annaly or significantly increase or decrease the funds we borrow from Annaly as a result of this offering.
In
March 2008, we entered into a receivables sales agreement with Annaly. This
agreement provided for the sale of approximately $127 million of receivables by
us to Annaly of the proceeds that we were due to receive under a mortgage loan
purchase and sale agreement with a third party. Annaly paid us a discounted
amount of such receivables due from the third party equal to less than one
percent of such receivables due from the third party in exchange for us
receiving the purchase price under the receivables sales agreement in
immediately available funds from Annaly. The agreement contained
representations, warranties and covenants by both parties. As of March 31,
2008, each party had performed their outstanding obligations under the
agreement, the third party purchaser under the mortgage loan purchase and sale
agreement had paid the purchase price under the mortgage loan purchase and sale
agreement, and we have remitted such amounts to Annaly pursuant to the
receivables sales agreement. We have not entered into any similar arrangement
with Annaly subsequent to March 31, 2008.
Our Competitive Advantages
We believe that our competitive advantages include the following:
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Investment Strategy Designed to Perform in a Variety of Interest Rate and Credit Environments
We
seek to manage our investment strategy to balance both interest rate risk and
credit risk. We believe this strategy is designed to generate attractive,
risk-adjusted returns in a variety of market conditions because operating
conditions in which either of these risks are increased, or decreased, may
occur at different points in the economic cycle. For example, there may be
periods when interest-rate sensitive strategies outperform credit-sensitive
strategies whereby we would receive increased income over our cost of
financing, in which case our portfolio’s increased exposure to this risk would
be beneficial. There may be other periods when credit-sensitive strategies
outperform interest-rate sensitive strategies. Although we face interest rate
risk and credit risk, we believe that with appropriate hedging strategies, as
well as our ability to evaluate the quality of targeted asset investment opportunities,
we can reduce these risks and provide attractive risk-adjusted returns.
Credit-Oriented Investment Approach
We seek to minimize principal loss while maximizing risk-adjusted returns through our Manager’s credit-based investment approach, which is based on rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis.
Experienced Investment Advisor
Access to Annaly’s and Our Manager’s Relationships
Access to Our Manager’s Systems and Infrastructure
Our Manager has created a proprietary portfolio management system, which we believe provides us with a competitive advantage. Our Manager’s personnel have created a comprehensive finance and administrative infrastructure, an important component of a complex investment vehicle such as a REIT. In addition, most of our Manager’s personnel are also Annaly’s personnel; therefore, they have had extensive experience managing Annaly, which is a REIT.
Alignment of Interests between Annaly, Our Manager and Our Investors
Summary Risk Factors
An investment in shares of our common stock involves various risks. You should consider carefully the risks discussed below and under “Risk Factors” before purchasing our common stock.
6
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Difficult conditions in the financial markets and the economy generally, have caused us and may continue to cause us market losses related to our holdings, and we do not expect these conditions to improve in the near future. |
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A significant portion of our financing is from Annaly, which is a significant shareholder of ours and which owns our Manager. |
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The lack of liquidity in our investments may adversely affect our business, including our ability to value and sell our assets. |
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There can be no assurance that the actions of the U.S. government, Federal Reserve and other governmental and regulatory bodies for the purpose of stabilizing the financial markets, or market response to those actions, will achieve the intended effect, our business may not benefit from these actions and further government or market developments could adversely impact us. |
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We are dependent on our Manager and its key personnel for our success and such personnel may leave the employment of our Manager or otherwise become no longer available to us. |
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There are various conflicts of interest in our relationship with our Manager and Annaly, which could result in decisions that are not in your best interests, including those created by our financing arrangements with Annaly and by our Manager’s compensation whereby it is entitled to receive a base management fee, which is not tied to the performance of our portfolio, and incentive fees based on our portfolio’s performance, which may lead it to place emphasis on the short-term maximization of net income, and that several of our executive officers and our directors are also employees of Annaly which may result in conflicts between their duties to us and to Annaly. |
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The management agreement with our Manager was not negotiated on an arm’s-length basis and may not be as favorable to us as if it had been negotiated with an unaffiliated third party and may be difficult and costly to terminate. |
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Our board of directors has approved very broad investment guidelines for our Manager and will not approve each investment decision made by our Manager. We may change our investment strategy, asset allocation or financing plans without stockholder consent, which may result in riskier investments. |
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Failure to procure adequate capital and funding on favorable terms, or at all, would adversely affect our results and may, in turn, negatively affect the market price of shares of our common stock and our ability to distribute dividends to our stockholders. |
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We have limited operating history and may not operate successfully. We operate in a highly competitive market for investment opportunities. Our financial condition and results of operation will depend on our ability to manage future growth effectively. |
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Loss of our 1940 Act exemption would adversely affect us and negatively affect our stock price and our ability to distribute dividends to our stockholders and could result in the termination of the management agreement with our Manager. In addition, the assets we may acquire are limited by the provisions of the 1940 Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder which may, in some cases, preclude us from pursuing the most economically beneficial investment alternatives. |
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• |
We may use leverage to fund the acquisition of our assets, which may adversely affect our return on our investments and may reduce cash available for distribution to our stockholders. |
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• |
An increase in our borrowing costs relative to the interest we receive on our assets may adversely affect our profitability, and thus our cash available for distribution to our stockholders. |
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• |
Increases in interest rates could negatively affect the value of our investments, which could result in reduced earnings or losses and negatively affect the cash available for distribution to our stockholders. |
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• |
Our hedging transactions may not completely insulate us from interest rate risk. Hedging against interest rate exposure may adversely affect our earnings, which could reduce our cash available for distribution to our stockholders. |
7
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• |
Prepayment rates could negatively affect the value of our residential mortgage loans and our RMBS, which could result in reduced earnings or losses and negatively affect the cash available for distribution to our stockholders. |
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• |
Our investments in subordinated RMBS are generally in the “first loss” position and our investments in the mezzanine RMBS are generally in the “second loss” position and therefore subject to losses. |
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• |
The mortgage loans we invest in and the mortgage loans underlying the mortgage and asset-backed securities we invest in are subject to delinquency, foreclosure and loss, which could result in losses to us. We may be required to repurchase mortgage loans or indemnify investors if we breach representations and warranties, which could harm our earnings. |
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• |
Failure to qualify as a REIT would subject us to federal income tax, which would reduce the cash available for distribution to our stockholders. |
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• |
The REIT qualification rules impose limitations on the types of investments and hedging, financing, and other activities which we may undertake, and these limitations may, in some cases, preclude us from pursuing the most economically beneficial investment, hedging, financing and other alternatives. |
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• |
Continued adverse developments in the residential mortgage market could make it difficult for us to borrow money to acquire investments on a leveraged basis, which could adversely affect our profitability. |
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• |
Interest rate mismatches between our investments and our borrowings used to fund our purchases of these assets may reduce our income during periods of changing interest rates. |
Our Structure
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* |
Less than 1%. |
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(1) |
Includes shares of restricted common stock approved as grants under our equity incentive plan to our executive officers and other employees of our Manager or its affiliates, which have vested as of October 13, 2008 and to our independent directors, which fully vested on January 2, 2008. |
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Our Relationship with Our Manager
We are externally managed and advised by our Manager. We benefit from the personnel, infrastructure, relationships, and experience of our Manager to enhance the growth of our business. Each of our officers is also an employee of our Manager or its affiliates. We have no employees other than our officers. Our Manager is not
8
obligated to dedicate certain of its employees exclusively to us, nor is it or its employees obligated to dedicate any specific portion of its time to our business. We expect, however, that Christian J. Woschenko, our Head of Investments and our Manager’s Executive Vice President, and William B. Dyer, our Head of Underwriting and our Manager’s Executive Vice President, will continue to devote a substantial portion of their time to our business.
We have entered into a management agreement with our Manager with an initial term ending on December 31, 2010, with automatic, one-year renewals at the end of each calendar year following the initial term, subject to termination by us, in connection with the annual reviews of our Manager’s performance and management fees by the vote of two-thirds of the independent directors or a majority of our stockholders. Under the management agreement, our Manager implements our business strategy and performs certain services for us, subject to oversight by our board of directors. Our Manager is responsible for, among other things, performing all of our day-to-day functions; determining investment criteria in conjunction with our board of directors; sourcing, analyzing and executing investments; asset sales and financings; and performing asset management duties.
The following table summarizes the fees and expense reimbursements and other amounts that we will pay to our Manager:
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Type |
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Description |
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Payment |
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Base management fee: |
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1.50% per annum, calculated quarterly, of our stockholders’ equity. For purposes of calculating the base management fee, our stockholders’ equity means the sum of the net proceeds from any issuances of our equity securities since inception (allocated on a pro rata daily basis for such issuances during the fiscal quarter of any such issuance), plus our retained earnings at the end of such quarter (without taking into account any non-cash equity compensation expense incurred in current or prior periods), less any amount that we pay for repurchases of our common stock, and less any unrealized gains, losses or other items that do not affect realized net income (regardless of whether such items are included in other comprehensive income or loss, or in net income). This amount will be adjusted to exclude one-time events pursuant to changes in accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP, and certain non-cash charges after discussions between our Manager and our independent directors and approved by a majority of our independent directors. The base management fee will be reduced, but not below zero, |
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Quarterly in cash. |
9
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by our proportionate share of any CDO base management fees FIDAC receives in connection with the CDOs in which we invest, based on the percentage of equity we hold in such CDOs. |
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Incentive fee: |
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Quarterly fee equal to 20% of the dollar amount by which Core Earnings, on a rolling four-quarter basis and before the incentive fee, exceeds the product of (1) the weighted average of the issue price per share of all of our public offerings multiplied by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding in such quarter and (2) 0.50% plus one-fourth of the average of the one month LIBOR rate for such quarter and the previous three quarters. For the initial four quarters following our initial public offering, Core Earnings and the LIBOR rate will be calculated on the basis of each of the previously completed quarters on an annualized basis. Core Earnings is a non-GAAP measure and is defined as GAAP net income (loss) excluding non-cash equity compensation expense, excluding any unrealized gains, losses or other items that do not affect realized net income (regardless of whether such items are included in other comprehensive income or loss, or in net income). The amount will be adjusted to exclude one-time events pursuant to changes in GAAP and certain non-cash charges after discussions between our Manager and our independent directors and approved by a majority of our independent directors. The incentive fee will be reduced, but not below zero, by our proportionate share of any CDO incentive fees FIDAC receives in connection with the CDOs in which we invest, based on the percentage of equity we hold in such CDOs. |
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Quarterly in cash or shares of common stock at the election of our board of directors, subject to certain limitations. |
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Expense reimbursement: |
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Reimbursement of expenses related to Chimera incurred by our Manager, including legal, accounting, due diligence and other services, but excluding the salaries and other compensation of our Manager’s employees. |
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Quarterly in cash. |
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Termination fee: |
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Termination fee equal to three times the sum of (a) the average annual base management fee and (b) the average annual incentive fee earned by our Manager during the prior 24-month period prior to such termination, calculated as of the end of the most recently completed fiscal quarter. |
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Upon termination of the management agreement by us without cause or by our Manager if we materially breach the management agreement. |
10
Conflicts of Interest
We are dependent on our Manager for our day-to-day management and do not have any independent officers or employees. Our officers, and our non-independent directors, also serve as employees of our Manager and its affiliates. Our management agreement with our Manager was negotiated between related parties and its terms, including fees payable, may not be as favorable to us as if it had been negotiated at arm’s length with an unaffiliated third party. In addition, the ability of our Manager and its officers and employees to engage in other business activities may reduce the time our Manager and its officers and employees spend managing us.
It is difficult and costly to terminate the management agreement without cause. We may only terminate the management agreement without cause after the initial term in connection with the annual review of our Manager’s performance and the management fees and only with the approval of two-thirds of our independent directors or a majority of our stockholders (other than those shares held by Annaly or its affiliates), and upon the payment of a substantial termination fee. These conditions may adversely affect our ability to terminate our Manager without cause. For more information, please see “Business—Conflicts of Interest” and “Our Manager and the Management Agreement—Management Agreement.” In addition, we have entered into a repurchase agreement with Annaly, our Manager’s parent, to finance our RMBS. This financing arrangement may make us less likely to terminate our Manager. It could also give rise to further conflicts because Annaly is a creditor of ours. As one of our creditors, Annaly’s interests may diverge from the interests of our stockholders.
Distribution Policy
11
Federal income tax law requires that a REIT distribute with respect to each year at least 90% of its REIT taxable income, determined without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and excluding any net capital gain. If our cash available for distribution is less than 90% of our REIT taxable income, we could be required to sell assets or borrow funds to make cash distributions or we may make a portion of the required distribution in the form of a taxable stock distribution or distribution of debt securities. To the extent we distribute less than 90% of our REIT taxable income in 2007, we will rectify this shortfall through throwback dividends. We anticipate that our distributions generally will be taxable as ordinary income to you, although a portion of the distributions may be designated by us as qualified dividend income or capital gain or may constitute a return of capital.
Operating and Regulatory Structure
REIT Qualification
As a REIT, we generally will not be subject to federal income tax on our REIT taxable income we distribute to our stockholders. If we fail to qualify as a REIT in any taxable year and do not qualify for certain statutory relief provisions, we will be subject to federal income tax at regular corporate rates and may be precluded from qualifying as a REIT for the subsequent four taxable years following the year during which we lost our REIT qualification. Even if we qualify for taxation as a REIT, we may be subject to some federal, state and local taxes on our income or property.
1940 Act Exemption
We operate our business so that we are exempt from registration under the 1940 Act, as administered by the Securities and Exchange Commission and its Division of Investment Management. We intend to rely on the exemption from registration provided by Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the 1940 Act, a provision designed for companies that do not issue redeemable securities and are primarily engaged in the business of purchasing or otherwise acquiring mortgages and other liens on and interests in real estate.
To qualify for the exemption, we make investments so that at least 55% of the assets we own consist of qualifying mortgages and other liens on and interests in real estate, which are collectively referred to as “qualifying real estate assets,” and so that at least 80% of the assets we own consist of real estate-related assets (including our qualifying real estate assets). We do not intend to issue redeemable securities.
We also consider RMBS such as certificates issued or guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae that represent the entire beneficial interest in the underlying pool of mortgage loans, or Agency Whole Pool Certificates, to be qualifying real estate assets. By contrast, an agency certificate that represents less than the entire beneficial interest in the underlying mortgage loans is not considered to be a qualifying real estate asset for purposes of the 55% test, but constitutes a real estate-related asset for purposes of the 80% test.
12
Restrictions on Ownership of Our Common Stock
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• |
beneficially or constructively owning shares of our capital stock that would result in our being “closely held” under Section 856(h) of the Internal Revenue Code or otherwise cause us to fail to qualify as a REIT; and |
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• |
transferring shares of our capital stock if such transfer would result in our capital stock being owned by fewer than 100 persons. |
Our charter provides that any ownership or purported transfer of our capital stock in violation of the foregoing restrictions will result in the shares owned or transferred in such violation being automatically transferred to a charitable trust for the benefit of a charitable beneficiary, and the purported owner or transferee acquiring no rights in such shares. If a transfer to a charitable trust would be ineffective for any reason to prevent a violation of the restriction, the transfer that would have resulted in such violation will be void ab initio.
Recent Developments
On September 9, 2008, our board of directors declared a quarterly distribution of $6.2 million, or $0.16 per share of our common stock. This dividend will be paid on October 31, 2008 to stockholders of record on September 18, 2008. Purchasers in this offering will not participate in this quarterly distribution. We have not yet completed our 2008 third quarter financial statements. When completed, our Core Earnings per share could be different from our dividends per share.
On October 13, 2008, we and FIDAC amended our management agreement to reduce the base management fee from 1.75% per annum to 1.50% per annum of our stockholders’ equity and provide that the incentive fees may be paid in cash or shares of our common stock, at the election of our board of directors.
13
14
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As of June
30, |
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As of
December 31, |
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(dollars in thousands, except per share data) |
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||||||
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Statement of Financial Condition Highlights |
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Mortgage-backed securities |
|
$ |
1,116,586 |
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|
$ |
1,124,290 |
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Loans held for investment |
|
$ |
150,083 |
|
|
$ |
162,371 |
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|
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Securitized loans |
|
$ |
613,580 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
Total assets |
|
$ |
1,971,156 |
|
|
$ |
1,565,636 |
|
|
|
Repurchase agreements |
|
$ |
909,089 |
|
|
$ |
270,584 |
|
|
|
Securitized debt |
|
$ |
504,397 |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
Total liabilities |
|
$ |
1,583,477 |
|
|
$ |
1,026,747 |
|
|
|
Stockholders’ equity |
|
$ |
387,679 |
|
|
$ |
538,889 |
|
|
|
Book value per share |
|
$ |
9.94 |
|
|
$ |
14.29 |
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Number of shares outstanding |
|
|
38,999,850 |
|
|
|
37,705,563 |
|
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For the
six |
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For the
period |
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||||
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||||
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|
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(dollars in thousands, except per share data) |
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Statement of Operations Highlights |
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Net interest income |
|
$ |
24,098 |
|
|
$ |
3,077 |
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|
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Net loss |
|
($ |
21,039 |
) |
|
($ |
2,906 |
) |
|
|
Earnings per share, or EPS (basic) |
|
($ |
0.54 |
) |
|
($ |
0.08 |
) |
|
|
EPS (diluted) |
|
($ |
0.54 |
) |
|
($ |
0.08 |
) |
|
|
Weighted average shares – basic |
|
|
38,995,096 |
|
|
|
37,401,737 |
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Weighted average shares – diluted |
|
|
38,995,096 |
|
|
|
37,401,737 |
|
|
|
Taxable income per share (1) |
|
$ |
0.410 |
|
|
$ |
0.030 |
|
|
|
Dividend declared per share (2) |
|
$ |
0.420 |
|
|
$ |
0.025 |
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|
Other Data |
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|
|
Average total assets |
|
$ |
1,839,220 |
|
|
$ |
1,044,355 |
|
|
|
Average investment securities |
|
$ |
1,736,932 |
|
|
$ |
399,736 |
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|
|
Average borrowings |
|
$ |
1,387,361 |
|
|
$ |
270,584 |
|
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|
Average stockholders’ equity |
|
$ |
403,495 |
|
|
$ |
530,982 |
|
|
|
Annualized yield on average interest earning assets |
|
|
6.38 |
% |
|
|
7.02 |
% |
|
|
Annualized cost of funds on average interest bearing liabilities |
|
|
4.91 |
% |
|
|
5.08 |
% |
|
|
Annualized interest rate spread |
|
|
1.47 |
% |
|
|
1.94 |
% |
|
|
Annualized net interest margin (net interest income/average interest earning assets) |
|
|
2.77 |
% |
|
|
6.85 |
% |
|
|
Annualized G&A and management fee expense as percentage of average total assets |
|
|
0.89 |
% |
|
|
1.55 |
% |
|
|
Annualized G&A and management fee expense as percentage of average equity |
|
|
4.05 |
% |
|
|
3.05 |
% |
|
|
Return on average interest earning assets |
|
|
(2.42 |
%) |
|
|
(6.47 |
%) |
|
|
Return on average equity |
|
|
(10.43 |
%) |
|
|
(4.87 |
%) |
|
15
|
|
|
|
(1) See reconciliation below of non-GAAP financial measurements to GAAP financial measurements. |
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(2) For the applicable period. |
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Reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measurements to GAAP financial measurements
As a REIT, we are required to distribute to our shareholders substantially all of our REIT taxable income in the form of dividends. Accordingly, we believe taxable income per share is a meaningful financial measurement for investors and management in assessing our performance. A reconciliation of REIT taxable income per share to GAAP EPS (basic) follows:
Reconciliation of REIT Taxable Income Per Share to GAAP EPS
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|
|
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|
|
|
For the
six |
|
For the
period |
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
GAAP EPS |
|
|
$ |
(0.54 |
) |
|
|
($ |
0.08 |
) |
|
|
Unrealized loss on interest rate swaps |
|
|
$ |
0.15 |
|
|
|
$ |
0.11 |
|
|
|
Realized loss on sales of investments |
|
|
$ |
0.80 |
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
REIT taxable income per share |
|
|
$ |
0.41 |
|
|
|
$ |
0.03 |
|
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16
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Common stock offered by us |
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250,000,000 shares (plus up to an additional 37,500,000 shares of our common stock that we may issue and sell upon the exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option). |
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|
|
|
|
Common stock to be
outstanding |
|
315,537,355 shares, based upon 38,988,683 shares of common stock outstanding as of October 13, 2008. Does not include up to an additional 37,500,000 shares of our common stock that we may issue and sell upon the exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option. Includes 1,227,400 shares of our restricted common stock granted pursuant to our equity incentive plan that were unvested as of June 30, 2008. Includes 26,548,672 shares to be sold to Annaly concurrently with this offering. |
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Use of proceeds |
|
We intend to invest the net proceeds of this offering primarily in non-Agency RMBS, Agency RMBS, prime and Alt-A mortgage loans, CMBS, CDOs, and other consumer or non-consumer ABS. Since we commenced operations in November 2007, we have focused our investment activities on acquiring non-Agency RMBS and on purchasing residential mortgage loans that have been originated by select high-quality originators, including the retail lending operations of leading commercial banks. Our investment portfolio at June 30, 2008 was weighted toward non-Agency RMBS. After the consummation of this offering, we expect that over the near term our investment portfolio will continue to be weighted toward RMBS, subject to maintaining our REIT qualification and our 1940 Act exemption. Until appropriate investments can be identified, our Manager may invest these funds in interest-bearing short-term investments, including money market accounts, which are consistent with our intention to qualify as a REIT. These investments are expected to provide a lower net return than we hope to achieve from investments in our intended use of proceeds of this offering. See “Use of Proceeds.” |
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Our distribution policy |
|
Federal income tax law requires that a REIT distribute annually at least 90% of its REIT taxable income, determined without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and excluding net capital gain. For more information, please see “Certain Federal Income Tax Considerations.” |
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In connection with the REIT requirements, we intend to make regular quarterly distributions of all or substantially all of our REIT taxable income to holders of our common stock out of assets legally available therefor. Any future distributions we make will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon, among other things, our actual results of operations. These results and our ability to pay distributions will be affected by various factors, including the net interest and other income from our portfolio, our operating expenses and any other |
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17
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expenditures. For more information, please see “Distribution Policy.” |
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We cannot assure you that we will make any distributions to our stockholders in the future. |
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NYSE symbol |
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“CIM” |
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Ownership and transfer restrictions |
|
To assist us in complying with limitations on the concentration of ownership of a REIT imposed by the Internal Revenue Code, our charter generally prohibits, among other prohibitions, any stockholder from beneficially or constructively owning more than 9.8% in value or in number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of any class or series of the outstanding shares of our capital stock. We have granted such a waiver to Legg Mason Opportunity Trust, ValueAct Capital Master Fund III, L.P. and to Annaly. The ownership limits for Legg Mason Opportunity Trust, ValueAct Capital Master Fund III, L.P., and Annaly have been set at 15%, 12%, and 12%, respectively. See “Description of Capital Stock—Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer.” |
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Risk factors |
|
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully read and consider the information set forth under “Risk Factors” and all other information in this prospectus before investing in our common stock. |
Our Corporate Information
18
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risk factors and all other information contained in this prospectus before purchasing our common stock. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently deem immaterial, also may become important factors that affect us.
If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In that case, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose some or all of your investment.
Risks Associated With Recent Adverse Developments in the Mortgage Finance and Credit Markets
Difficult conditions in the financial markets
and the economy generally, have caused us and may continue to cause us market
losses related to our holdings, and we do not expect these conditions to improve
in the near future.
Our results of operations are materially affected by conditions in the mortgage market, the financial markets and the economy generally. Recently, concerns over inflation, energy costs, geopolitical issues, the availability and cost of credit, the mortgage market and a declining real estate market have contributed to increased volatility and diminished expectations for the economy and markets going forward. The mortgage market, including the market for prime and Alt-A loans, has been severely affected by changes in the lending landscape and there is no assurance that these conditions have stabilized or that they will not worsen. The severity of the liquidity limitation was largely unanticipated by the markets. For now (and for the foreseeable future), access to mortgages has been substantially limited. While the limitation on financing was initially in the sub-prime mortgage market, the liquidity issues have now also affected prime and Alt-A non-Agency lending, with mortgage rates remaining much higher than previously available in recent periods and many product types being severely curtailed. This has an impact on new demand for homes, which will compress the home ownership rates and weigh heavily on future home price performance. There is a strong correlation between home price growth rates and mortgage loan delinquencies. The market deterioration has caused us to expect increased losses related to our holdings and to sell assets at a loss.
Although as of and for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, we had no impairments on RMBS or whole mortgage loans, during the third quarter of 2008, we sold assets with a carrying value of $432.5 million in AAA-rated non-Agency RMBS for a loss of approximately $113 million and terminated $983.4 million in notional interest rate swaps for a loss of approximately $10.5 million, which together resulted in a net realized loss of approximately $123.5 million. Further declines in the market values of our investments may adversely affect periodic reported results and credit availability, which may reduce earnings and, in turn, cash available for distribution to our stockholders.
A substantial portion of our assets are classified for accounting purposes as “available-for-sale” and carried at fair value. Changes in the market values of those assets are directly charged or credited to other comprehensive income. As a result, a decline in values may reduce the book value of our assets. Moreover, if the decline in value of an available-for-sale security is other than temporary, such decline will reduce earnings.
All
of our repurchase agreements and interest rate swap agreements are subject to
bilateral margin calls in the event that the collateral securing our
obligations under those facilities exceeds or does not meet our
collateralization requirements. We analyze the sufficiency of our
collateralization daily, and as of June 30, 2008, on a net basis, the fair
value of the collateral, including restricted cash, securing our obligations
under repurchase agreements and interest rate swaps, exceeded the amount of
such obligations by approximately $71.8 million. During the six months ended
June 30, 2008, due to the deterioration in the market value of our assets, we
received and met margin calls under our repurchase agreements, which resulted
in our obtaining additional funding from third parties, including from Annaly
(see “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions”), and taking other steps
to increase our liquidity. Additionally, the disruptions during the six months
ended June 30, 2008 resulted in us not being in compliance with the net income
covenant in one of our whole loan repurchase agreements and the liquidity
covenants in our other whole loan repurchase agreement at a time during which
we had no amounts outstanding under those facilities. We amended these
covenants, and on July 29, 2008, we terminated those facilities to avoid paying
non-usage fees. Should we receive additional margin calls, we may not be able
to amend the restrictive covenants or obtain other funding. If we were unable
to post additional collateral, we would have to sell the assets at a time when
we might not otherwise choose to do so and such sales may be at a loss. A
reduction in credit available may reduce our earnings and, in turn, cash
available to us for distribution to stockholders.
19
Dramatic
declines in the housing market, with falling home prices and increasing
foreclosures and unemployment, have resulted in significant asset write-downs
by financial institutions, which have caused many financial institutions to
seek additional capital, to merge with other institutions and, in some cases,
to fail. In addition, we rely on the availability of financing to acquire
residential mortgage loans, real estate-related securities and real estate
loans on a leveraged basis. Institutions from which we will seek to obtain
financing may have owned or financed residential mortgage loans, real
estate-related securities and real estate loans, which have declined in value
and caused them to suffer losses as a result of the recent downturn in the
residential mortgage market. Many lenders and institutional investors have
reduced and, in some cases, ceased to provide funding to borrowers, including
other financial institutions. If these conditions persist, these institutions
may become insolvent or tighten their lending standards, which could make it
more difficult for us to obtain financing on favorable terms or at all. Our
profitability may be adversely affected if we are unable to obtain
cost-effective financing for our investments.
A significant portion of our financing is from Annaly which is a significant shareholder of ours and which owns our Manager.
Our ability to fund our investments on a leveraged basis depends to a large extent upon our ability to secure warehouse, repurchase, credit, and/or commercial paper financing on acceptable terms. The current dislocation in the non-Agency mortgage sector has made it difficult for us to obtain short-term financing on favorable terms. As a result, we have completed loan securitizations in order to obtain long-term financing and terminated our un-utilized whole loan repurchase agreements in order to avoid paying non-usage fees under those agreements. In addition, we have entered into a RMBS repurchase agreement with Annaly. This agreement contains customary representations, warranties and covenants contained in such agreements. As of June 30, 2008, we had $50.0 million outstanding under this repurchase agreement. As of September 30, 2008, we had approximately $620.0 million outstanding under this agreement, which constitutes approximately 56% of our total financing. As of October 13, 2008, the weighted average borrowing rate on amounts outstanding under this agreement was 3.97%. Our RMBS repurchase agreement with Annaly is rolled daily at market rates, bears interest at LIBOR plus 80 basis points, and is secured by the RMBS pledged under the agreement. We do not expect to increase significantly the amount of securities pledged to Annaly or significantly increase or decrease the funds we borrow from Annaly as a result of this offering. We cannot assure you that Annaly will continue to provide us with such financing. If Annaly does not provide us with financing, we cannot assure you that we will be able to replace such financing, and if we are not able to replace this financing, we could be forced to sell our assets at an inopportune time when prices are depressed.
The lack of liquidity in our investments may adversely affect our business, including our ability to value and sell our assets.
We have invested and may continue to invest in securities or other instruments that are not liquid. Moreover, turbulent market conditions, such as those currently in effect, could significantly and negatively impact the liquidity of our assets. It may be difficult or impossible to obtain third party pricing on the investments we purchase. Illiquid investments typically experience greater price volatility, as a ready market does not exist, and can be more difficult to value. In addition, validating third party pricing for illiquid investments may be more subjective than more liquid investments. The illiquidity of our investments may make it difficult for us to sell such investments if the need or desire arises. In addition, if we are required to liquidate all or a portion of our portfolio quickly, we may realize significantly less than the value at which we have previously recorded our investments. As a result, our ability to vary our portfolio in response to changes in economic and other conditions may be relatively limited, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
There can be no assurance that the actions of the U.S. government, Federal Reserve and other governmental and regulatory bodies for the purpose of stabilizing the financial markets, or market response to those actions, will achieve the intended effect, our business may not benefit from these actions and further government or market developments could adversely impact us.
In
response to the financial issues affecting the banking system and financial
markets and going concern threats to investment banks and other financial
institutions, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, or EESA, was
recently enacted. The EESA provides the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury with the
authority to establish a Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to purchase
from financial institutions up to $700 billion of residential or commercial
mortgages and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based
on or related to such mortgages, that in each case was originated or issued on
or before March 14, 2008, as well as any other financial instrument that the
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Chairman of the
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, determines the purchase of
which is necessary to promote financial market stability,
20
upon
transmittal of such determination, in writing, to the appropriate committees of
the U.S. Congress. The EESA also provides for a program that would allow
companies to insure their troubled assets.
There
can be no assurance that the EESA will have a beneficial impact on the
financial markets, including current extreme levels of volatility. To the
extent the market does not respond favorably to the TARP or the TARP does not
function as intended, our business may not receive the anticipated positive
impact from the legislation. In addition, the U.S. Government, Federal Reserve
and other governmental and regulatory bodies have taken or are considering
taking other actions to address the financial crisis. We cannot predict whether
or when such actions may occur or what impact, if any, such actions could have
on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Risks Associated With Our Management and Relationship With Our Manager
We are dependent on our Manager and its key personnel for our success.
We have no separate offices and are completely reliant on our Manager. We have no employees other than our officers. Our officers are also employees of our Manager or its affiliates, which has significant discretion as to the implementation of our investment and operating policies and strategies. Accordingly, we depend on the diligence, skill and network of business contacts of the senior management of our Manager. Our Manager’s employees evaluate, negotiate, structure, close and monitor our investments; therefore, our success will depend on our Manager’s senior managers’ continued service. The departure of any of the senior managers of our Manager could have a material adverse effect on our performance. In addition, we can offer no assurance that our Manager will remain our investment manager or that we will continue to have access to our Manager’s senior managers. Our management agreement with our Manager only extends until December 31, 2010. If the management agreement is terminated and no suitable replacement is found to manage us, we may not be able to execute our business plan. Moreover, our Manager is not obligated to dedicate certain of its employees exclusively to us nor is it obligated to dedicate any specific portion of its time to our business, and none of our Manager’s employees are contractually dedicated to us under our management agreement with our Manager. The only employees of our Manager who are primarily dedicated to our operations are Christian J. Woschenko, our Head of Investments, and William B. Dyer, our Head of Underwriting.
There are conflicts of interest in our relationship with our Manager and Annaly, which could result in decisions that are not in your best interests.
We
are subject to potential conflicts of interest arising out of our relationship
with Annaly and our Manager. An Annaly executive officer is our Manager’s sole
director, two of Annaly’s employees are our directors, and several of Annaly’s
employees are officers of our Manager and us. Specifically, each of our
officers also serves as an employee of our Manager or its affiliates. As a
result, our Manager and our officers may have conflicts between their duties to
us and their duties to, and interests in, Annaly or our Manager. There may also
be conflicts in allocating investments which are suitable both for us and
Annaly as well as other FIDAC managed funds. Annaly may compete with us with
respect to certain investments which we may want to acquire, and as a result we
may either not be presented with the opportunity or have to compete with Annaly
to acquire these investments. Our Manager and our officers may choose to
allocate favorable investments to Annaly instead of to us. The ability of our
Manager and its officers and employees to engage in other business activities
may reduce the time our Manager spends managing us. Further, during turbulent
conditions in the mortgage industry, distress in the credit markets or other
times when we will need focused support and assistance from our Manager, other entities
for which our Manager also acts as an investment manager will likewise require
greater focus and attention, placing our Manager’s resources in high demand. In
such situations, we may not receive the necessary support and assistance we
require or would otherwise receive if we were internally managed or if our
Manager did not act as a manager for other entities. There is no assurance that
the allocation policy that addresses some of the conflicts relating to our
investments, which is described under “Business—Conflicts of Interest,” will be
adequate to address all of the conflicts that may arise. In addition, we have
entered into a repurchase agreement with Annaly, our Manager’s parent, to
finance our RMBS. This financing arrangement may make us less likely to
terminate our Manager. It could also give rise to further conflicts because
Annaly may be a creditor of ours. As one of our creditors, Annaly’s interests
may diverge from the interests of our stockholders.
We
pay our Manager substantial management fees regardless of the performance of
our portfolio. Our Manager’s entitlement to substantial nonperformance-based
compensation might reduce its incentive to devote its time and effort to
seeking investments that provide attractive risk-adjusted returns for our
portfolio. This in turn could hurt both our ability to make distributions to
our stockholders and the market price of our common stock. As
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of June 30,
2008, Annaly owned approximately 9.6% of our outstanding shares of common stock
(excluding unvested shares of restricted stock granted to our executive
officers and employees of our Manager or its affiliates), which entitles them
to receive quarterly distributions based on financial performance. Annaly’s
percentage ownership may increase in the future if our Manager is paid its
incentive fees in shares of our common stock. In evaluating investments and
other management strategies, this may lead our Manager to place emphasis on the
maximization of revenues at the expense of other criteria, such as preservation
of capital. Investments with higher yield potential are generally riskier or
more speculative. This could result in increased risk to the value of our
invested portfolio. Annaly may sell the shares in us purchased concurrently
with our initial public offering at any time after the earlier of (i) November
15, 2010 or (ii) the termination of the management agreement. Annaly may sell
the shares in us purchased concurrently with this offering at any time after
the earlier of (i) the date which is three years following the date of this
prospectus or (ii) the termination of the management agreement. To the extent
Annaly sells some of its shares, its interests may be less aligned with our
interests.
Our incentive fee may induce our Manager to make certain investments, including speculative investments.
In
addition to its management fee, our Manager is entitled to receive incentive
fees based, in part, upon our achievement of targeted levels of Core Earnings.
In evaluating investments and other management strategies, the opportunity to
earn incentive fees based on net income may lead our Manager to place undue
emphasis on the maximization of net income at the expense of other criteria,
such as preservation of capital, to achieve higher incentive fees. Investments
with higher yield potential are generally riskier or more speculative. This
could result in increased risk to the value of our invested portfolio.
The management agreement with our Manager was not negotiated on an arm’s-length basis and may not be as favorable to us as if it had been negotiated with an unaffiliated third party and may be costly and difficult to terminate.
Our
president, chief financial officer, head of investments, treasurer, controller,
secretary and head of underwriting also serve as employees of our Manager or
its affiliates. In addition, certain of our directors are employees of our
Manager or its affiliates. Our management agreement with our Manager was
negotiated between related parties, and its terms, including fees payable, may
not be as favorable to us as if it had been negotiated with an unaffiliated
third party. Termination of the management agreement with our Manager without
cause is difficult and costly. Our independent directors review our Manager’s
performance and the management fees annually, and following the initial term,
the management agreement may be terminated annually by us without cause upon
the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of our independent directors, or by
a vote of the holders of at least a majority of the outstanding shares of our
common stock (other than those shares held by Annaly or its affiliates), based
upon: (i) our Manager’s unsatisfactory performance that is materially detrimental
to us, or (ii) a determination that the management fees payable to our Manager
are not fair, subject to our Manager’s right to prevent termination based on
unfair fees by accepting a reduction of management fees agreed to by at least
two-thirds of our independent directors. We must provide our Manager with
180-days’ prior notice of any such termination. Additionally, upon such
termination, the management agreement provides that we will pay our Manager a
termination fee equal to three times the sum of (a) the average annual base
management fee and (b) the average annual incentive fees earned by our Manager
during the prior 24-month period before such termination, calculated as of the
end of the most recently completed fiscal quarter. These provisions may
adversely affect our ability to terminate our Manager without cause. Our
Manager is only contractually committed to serve us until December 31, 2010.
Thereafter, the management agreement is renewable on an annual basis, however,
our Manager may terminate the management agreement annually upon 180-days’
prior notice. If the management agreement is terminated and no suitable
replacement is found to manage us, we may not be able to execute our business
plan.
Our board of directors has approved very broad investment guidelines for our Manager and will not approve each investment decision made by our Manager.
Our Manager is authorized to follow very broad investment guidelines. Our board of directors periodically reviews our investment guidelines and our investment portfolio, but does not, and is not required to, review all of our proposed investments or any type or category of investment, except that an investment in a security structured or managed by our Manager must be approved by a majority of our independent directors. In addition, in conducting periodic reviews, our board of directors relies primarily on information provided to them by our Manager. Furthermore, our Manager uses complex strategies, and transactions entered into by our Manager may be difficult or impossible to unwind by the time they are reviewed by our board of directors. Our Manager has great latitude within the broad investment guidelines in determining the types of assets it may decide are proper investments for
22
us, which could result in investment returns that are substantially below expectations or that result in losses, which would materially and adversely affect our business operations and results. Further, decisions made and investments entered into by our Manager may not be in your best interests.
We may change our investment strategy, asset allocation, or financing plans without stockholder consent, which may result in riskier investments.
We
may change our investment strategy, asset allocation, or financing plans at any
time without the consent of our stockholders, which could result in our making
investments that are different from, and possibly riskier than, the investments
described in this prospectus. A change in our investment strategy or financing
plans may increase our exposure to interest rate and default risk and real
estate market fluctuations. Furthermore, a change in our asset allocation could
result in our making investments in asset categories different from those
described in this prospectus. These changes could adversely affect the market
price of our common stock and our ability to make distributions to you.
While investments in investment vehicles managed by our Manager require approval by a majority of our independent directors, our Manager has an incentive to invest our funds in investment vehicles managed by our Manager because of the possibility of generating an additional incremental management fee, which may reduce other investment opportunities available to us. In addition, we cannot assure you that investments in investment vehicles managed by our Manager will prove beneficial to us.
We may invest in CDOs managed by our Manager, including the purchase or sale of all or a portion of the equity of such CDOs, which may result in an immediate loss in book value and present a conflict of interest between us and our Manager.
We may invest in securities of CDOs managed by our Manager. If all of the securities of a CDO managed by our Manager were not fully placed as a result of our not investing, our Manager could experience losses due to changes in the value of the underlying investments accumulated in anticipation of the launch of such investment vehicle. The accumulated investments in a CDO transaction are generally sold at the price at which they were purchased and not the prevailing market price at closing. Accordingly, to the extent we invest in a portion of the equity securities for which there has been a deterioration of value since the securities were purchased, we would experience an immediate loss equal to the decrease in the market value of the underlying investment. As a result, the interests of our Manager in our investing in such a CDO may conflict with our interests and your interests.
Our investment focus is different from those of other entities that are or have been managed by our Manager.
Our investment focus is different from those of other entities that are or have been managed by our Manager. In particular, entities managed by our Manager have not purchased whole mortgage loans or structured whole loan securitizations. In addition, our Manager has limited experience in managing CDOs and investing in CDOs, non-Agency RMBS, CMBS and other ABS which we may pursue as part of our investment strategy. Accordingly, our Manager’s historical returns are not indicative of its performance for our investment strategy and we can offer no assurance that our Manager will replicate the historical performance of the Manager’s investment professionals in their previous endeavors. Our investment returns could be substantially lower than the returns achieved by our Manager’s investment professionals’ previous endeavors.
We compete with investment vehicles of our Manager for access to our Manager’s resources and investment opportunities.
Our
Manager provides investment and financial advice to a number of investment
vehicles and some of our Manager’s personnel are also employees of Annaly and
in that capacity are involved in Annaly’s investment process. Accordingly, we
compete with our Manager’s other investment vehicles and with Annaly for our
Manager’s resources. Our Manager may sponsor and manage other investment
vehicles with an investment focus that overlaps with ours, which could result
in us competing for access to the benefits that our relationship with our
Manager provides to us.
Risks Related To Our Business
We have a limited operating history and may
not continue to operate successfully or generate sufficient revenue to make or
sustain distributions to you.
We
were organized in June 2007 and commenced operations in November 2007 and have
a limited operating history. We cannot assure you that we will be able to
continue to operate our business successfully or
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implement our operating policies and strategies described in this prospectus. The results of our operations depend on many factors, including the availability of opportunities for the acquisition of assets, the valuation of our assets, the level and volatility of interest rates, readily accessible short and long-term financing and the terms of the financing, conditions in the financial markets and economic conditions.
Failure to procure adequate capital and funding on favorable terms, or at all, would adversely affect our results and may, in turn, negatively affect the market price of shares of our common stock and our ability to distribute dividends to you.
The
capital and credit markets have been experiencing extreme volatility and
disruption for more than 12 months. In recent weeks, the volatility and
disruption have reached unprecedented levels. In some cases, the markets have
exerted downward pressure on stock prices and credit capacity for certain
issuers. We depend upon the availability of adequate funding and capital for
our operations. We intend to finance our assets over the long-term through a
variety of means, including repurchase agreements, credit facilities,
securitizations, commercial paper and CDOs. Our access to capital depends upon
a number of factors over which we have little or no control, including:
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The
current weakness in the broader mortgage markets could adversely affect one or
more of our potential lenders or any of our lenders and could cause one or more
of our potential lenders or any of our lenders to be unwilling or unable to
provide us with financing or require us to post additional collateral. In
general, this could potentially increase our financing costs and reduce our
liquidity or require us to sell assets at an inopportune time or price.
We
have used and expect to use a number of sources to finance our investments,
including repurchase agreements, warehouse facilities, securitizations,
asset-backed commercial paper and term CDOs. Current market conditions have
affected the cost and availability of financing from each of these sources —
and their individual providers — to different degrees; some sources generally are
unavailable, some are available but at a high cost, and some are largely
unaffected. For example, in the repurchase agreement market, borrowers have
been affected differently depending on the type of security they are financing.
Non-Agency RMBS have been harder to finance, depending on the type of assets
collateralizing the RMBS. The amount, term and margin requirements associated
with these types of financings have been negatively impacted.
Currently, warehouse facilities to finance whole loan prime residential mortgages are generally available from major banks, but at significantly higher cost and greater margin requirements than previously offered. Many major banks that offer warehouse facilities have also reduced the amount of capital available to new entrants and consequently the size of those facilities offered now are smaller than those previously available.
It is currently a challenging market to term finance whole loans through securitization or bonds issued by a CDO structure. The highly rated senior bonds in these securitizations and CDO structures currently have liquidity, but at much wider spreads than issues priced earlier this year. The junior subordinate tranches of these structures currently have few buyers and current market conditions have forced issuers to retain these lower rated bonds rather than sell them.
Certain issuers of asset-backed commercial paper, or ABCP, have been unable to place (or roll) their securities, which has resulted, in some instances, in forced sales of mortgage-backed securities, or MBS, and other securities which has further negatively impacted the market value of these assets. These market conditions are fluid and likely to change over time.
As a result, the execution of our investment strategy may be dictated by the cost and availability of financing from these different sources.
In
addition, the impairment of other financial institutions could negatively
affect us. If one or more major market participants fails or otherwise
experience a major liquidity crisis, as was the case for Bear Stearns & Co.
in
24
March 2008,
and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September 2008, it could adversely affect
the marketability of all fixed income securities and this could negatively
impact the value of the securities we acquire, thus reducing our net book
value.
Furthermore, if any of our potential lenders or any of our lenders are unwilling or unable to provide us with financing, we could be forced to sell our securities or residential mortgage loans at an inopportune time when prices are depressed. For example, for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, we sold assets with a carrying value of $394.2 million for an aggregate loss of $32.8 million. While we did not sell any assets during the quarter ended June 30, 2008, for the third quarter of 2008, we sold assets with a carrying value of $432.5 million in AAA-rated non-Agency RMBS for a loss of approximately $113 million and terminated $983.4 million in notional interest rate swaps for a loss of approximately $10.5 million, which together resulted in a net realized loss of approximately $123.5 million.
Our
business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially
adversely affected by recent disruptions in the financial markets. We cannot
assure you, under such extreme conditions, that these markets will remain an
efficient source of long-term financing for our assets. If our strategy is not
viable, we will have to find alternative forms of financing for our assets,
which may not be available. Further, as a REIT, we are required to distribute
annually at least 90% of our REIT taxable income, determined without regard to
the deduction for dividends paid and excluding net capital gain, to you and are
therefore not able to retain significant amounts of our earnings for new
investments. We cannot assure you that any, or sufficient, funding or capital
will be available to us in the future on terms that are acceptable to us. If we
cannot obtain sufficient funding on acceptable terms, there may be a negative
impact on the market price of our common stock and our ability to make
distributions to you. Moreover, our ability to grow will be dependent on our
ability to procure additional funding. To the extent we are not able to raise
additional funds through the issuance of additional equity or borrowings, our
growth will be constrained.
We operate in a highly competitive market for investment opportunities and more established competitors may be able to compete more effectively for investment opportunities than we can.
A number of entities compete with us to make the types of investments that we plan to make. We compete with other REITs, public and private funds, commercial and investment banks and commercial finance companies. Many of our competitors are substantially larger and have considerably greater financial, technical and marketing resources than we do. Several other REITs have recently raised, or are expected to raise, significant amounts of capital, and may have investment objectives that overlap with ours, which may create competition for investment opportunities. Some competitors may have a lower cost of funds and access to funding sources that are not available to us. In addition, some of our competitors may have higher risk tolerances or different risk assessments, which could allow them to consider a wider variety of investments and establish more favorable relationships than we can. We cannot assure you that the competitive pressures we face will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Also, as a result of this competition, we may not be able to take advantage of attractive investment opportunities from time to time, and we can offer no assurance that we will be able to identify and make investments that are consistent with our investment objectives.
Loss of our 1940 Act exemption would adversely affect us and negatively affect the market price of shares of our common stock and our ability to distribute dividends and could result in the termination of the management agreement with our Manager.
We
operate our company so that we will not be required to register as an
investment company under the 1940 Act because we are “primarily engaged in the
business of purchasing or otherwise acquiring mortgages and other liens on and
interests in real estate.” Specifically, our investment strategy is to invest
at least 55% of our assets in mortgage loans, RMBS that represent the entire
ownership in a pool of mortgage loans and other qualifying interests in real
estate and approximately an additional 25% of our assets in other types of
mortgages, RMBS, securities of REITs and other real estate-related assets. As a
result, we are limited in our ability to make certain investments. If we fail
to qualify for this exemption in the future, we could be required to
restructure our activities in a manner that or at a time when we would not
otherwise choose to do so, which could negatively affect the value of shares of
our common stock, the sustainability of our business model, and our ability to
make distributions. For example, if the market value of our investments in
securities were to increase by an amount that resulted in less than 55% of our
assets being invested in mortgage loans or RMBS that represent the entire
ownership in a pool of mortgage loans or less than 80% of our assets being
invested in real estate-related assets, we might have to sell securities to qualify
for exemption under the 1940 Act. The sale could occur during adverse market
conditions, and we could be forced to accept a price below that which we
believe is acceptable. In addition, there can be no
25
assurance that the laws and regulations governing REITs, including regulations issued by the Division of Investment Management of the SEC, providing more specific or different guidance regarding the treatment of assets as qualifying real estate assets or real estate-related assets, will not change in a manner that adversely affects our operations. A loss of our 1940 Act exemption would allow our Manager to terminate the management agreement with us, which would materially adversely affect our business and operations.
Rapid changes in the values of our RMBS,
residential mortgage loans, and other real estate-related investments may make
it more difficult for us to maintain our qualification as a REIT or our
exemption from the 1940 Act.
If the market value or income potential of our RMBS, residential mortgage loans, and other real estate-related investments declines as a result of increased interest rates, prepayment rates or other factors, we may need to increase our real estate investments and income or liquidate our non-qualifying assets to maintain our REIT qualification or our exemption from the 1940 Act. If the decline in real estate asset values or income occurs quickly, this may be especially difficult to accomplish. This difficulty may be exacerbated by the illiquid nature of any non-real estate assets we may own. We may have to make investment decisions that we otherwise would not make absent the REIT and 1940 Act considerations.
We may leverage our investments, which may adversely affect our return on our investments and may reduce cash available for distribution to you.
We may leverage our investments through borrowings, generally through the use of repurchase agreements, warehouse facilities, credit facilities, securitizations, commercial paper and CDOs. We are not required to maintain any specific debt-to-equity ratio. The amount of leverage we may use will vary depending on our ability to obtain credit facilities, the lenders’ and rating agencies’ estimates of the stability of the investments’ cash flow, and our assessment of the appropriate amount of leverage for the particular assets we are funding. As of September 30, 2008, we had outstanding indebtedness of approximately $1.119 billion, which consists of recourse leverage of approximately $620.0 million and non-recourse securitized financing of approximately $499.0 million. We are required to maintain minimum average cash balances in connection with borrowings under our credit facilities. Our return on our investments and cash available for distribution to you may be reduced to the extent that changes in market conditions prevent us from leveraging our investments, require us to decrease our rate of leverage, or increase the amount of collateral we post or increase the cost of our financing relative to the income that can be derived from the assets acquired. Our debt service payments will reduce cash flow available for distributions to you, which could adversely affect the price of our common stock. We may not be able to meet our debt service obligations, and, to the extent that we cannot, we risk the loss of some or all of our assets to foreclosure or sale to satisfy the obligations. We leverage certain of our assets through repurchase agreements. A decrease in the value of these assets may lead to margin calls which we will have to satisfy. We may not have the funds available to satisfy any such margin calls and we may be forced to sell assets at significantly depressed prices due to market conditions or otherwise. The satisfaction of such margin calls may reduce cash flow available for distribution to you. Any reduction in distributions to you or sales of assets at inopportune times or at a loss may cause the value of our common stock to decline, in some cases, precipitously.
We may depend on warehouse and repurchase facilities, credit facilities and commercial paper to execute our business plan, and our inability to access funding could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and business.
Our
ability to fund our investments may depend upon our ability to secure
warehouse, repurchase, credit, and commercial paper financing on acceptable
terms. Pending the securitization of a pool of mortgage loans, if any, we may
fund the acquisition of mortgage loans through borrowings from warehouse,
repurchase, and credit facilities and commercial paper. We can provide no
assurance that we will be successful in establishing sufficient warehouse,
repurchase, and credit facilities and issuing commercial paper. In addition, because
warehouse, repurchase, and credit facilities and commercial paper are
short-term commitments of capital, the lenders may respond to market
conditions, which may favor an alternative investment strategy for them, making
it more difficult for us to secure continued financing. During certain periods
of the credit cycle such as has been in effect recently, lenders may curtail
their willingness to provide financing. If we are not able to renew our then
existing warehouse, repurchase, and credit facilities and issue commercial
paper or arrange for new financing on terms acceptable to us, or if we default
on our covenants or are otherwise unable to access funds under any of these
facilities, we will have to curtail our asset acquisition activities.
26
It
is possible that the lenders that provide us with financing could experience
changes in their ability to advance funds to us, independent of our performance
or the performance of our investments, including our mortgage loans. In
addition, if the regulatory capital requirements imposed on our lenders change,
they may be required to increase significantly the cost of the warehouse
facilities that they provide to us. Our lenders also may revise their
eligibility requirements for the types of residential mortgage loans they are
willing to finance or the terms of such financings, based on, among other
factors, the regulatory environment and their management of perceived risk,
particularly with respect to assignee liability. Financing of equity-based
lending, for example, may become more difficult in the future. Moreover, the
amount of financing we will receive under our warehouse and repurchase
facilities will be directly related to the lenders’ valuation of the assets
that secure the outstanding borrowings. Typically warehouse, repurchase, and
credit facilities grant the respective lender the absolute right to reevaluate
the market value of the assets that secure outstanding borrowings at any time.
If a lender determines in its sole discretion that the value of the assets has
decreased, it has the right to initiate a margin call. A margin call would
require us to transfer additional assets to such lender without any advance of
funds from the lender for such transfer or to repay a portion of the outstanding
borrowings. Any such margin call could have a material adverse effect on our
results of operations, financial condition, business, liquidity and ability to
make distributions to you, and could cause the value of our common stock to
decline. We may be forced to sell assets at significantly depressed prices to
meet such margin calls and to maintain adequate liquidity, which could cause us
to incur losses. Moreover, to the extent we are forced to sell assets at such
time, given market conditions, we may be forced to sell assets at the same time
as others facing similar pressures to sell similar assets, which could greatly
exacerbate a difficult market environment and which could result in our
incurring significantly greater losses on our sale of such assets. In an
extreme case of market duress, a market may not even be present for certain of
our assets at any price.
The current dislocation and weakness in the broader mortgage markets, could adversely affect one or more of our potential lenders and could cause one or more of our potential lenders to be unwilling or unable to provide us with financing. This could potentially increase our financing costs and reduce our liquidity. If one or more major market participants fails or otherwise experiences a major liquidity crisis, as was the case for Bear Stearns & Co. in March 2008 and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September 2008, it could negatively impact the marketability of all fixed income securities, including Agency and non-Agency RMBS, residential mortgage loans and real estate related securities, and this could negatively impact the value of the securities we acquire, thus reducing our net book value. Furthermore, if any of our potential lenders or any of our lenders, including Annaly, are unwilling or unable to provide us with financing, we could be forced to sell our assets at an inopportune time when prices are depressed.
Since June 30, 2008, there have been increased market concerns about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae’s ability to withstand future credit losses associated with securities held in their investment portfolios, and on which they provide guarantees, without the direct support of the federal government. Recently, the government passed the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008”. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have recently been placed into the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or FHFA, their federal regulator, pursuant to its powers under The Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008, a part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. As the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the FHFA controls and directs the operations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and may (1) take over the assets of and operate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with all the powers of the shareholders, the directors, and the officers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and conduct all business of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; (2) collect all obligations and money due to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; (3) perform all functions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which are consistent with the conservator’s appointment; (4) preserve and conserve the assets and property of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and (5) contract for assistance in fulfilling any function, activity, action or duty of the conservator.
In
addition to FHFA becoming the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, (i)
the U.S. Department of Treasury and FHFA have entered into preferred stock
purchase agreements between the U.S. Department of Treasury and Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac pursuant to which the U.S. Department of Treasury will ensure that
each of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac maintains a positive net worth; (ii) the
U.S. Department of Treasury has established a new secured lending credit
facility which will be available to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal
Home Loan Banks, which is intended to serve as a liquidity backstop, which will
be available until December 2009; and (iii) the U.S. Department of Treasury has
initiated a temporary program to purchase RMBS issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac. Given the highly fluid and evolving nature of these events, it is unclear
how our business will be impacted. Based upon the further activity of the U.S.
government or market response to developments at Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, our
business could be adversely impacted.
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Continued adverse developments in the residential mortgage market could make it difficult for us to borrow money to acquire investments on a leveraged basis, which could adversely affect our profitability.
We
may rely on the availability of financing to acquire residential mortgage
loans, real estate-related securities and real estate loans on a leveraged
basis. Institutions from which we may seek to obtain financing may have owned
or financed residential mortgage loans, real estate-related securities and real
estate loans which have declined in value and caused them to suffer losses as a
result of the recent downturn in the residential mortgage market. If these
conditions persist, these institutions may become insolvent or tighten their
lending standards, which could make it more difficult for us to obtain
financing on favorable terms or at all. Our profitability may be adversely
affected if we were unable to obtain cost-effective financing for our
investments.
Certain of our financing facilities contain covenants that restrict our operations and may inhibit our ability to grow our business and increase revenues.
Certain
of our financing facilities contain extensive restrictions, covenants, and
representations and warranties that, among other things, require us to satisfy
specified financial, asset quality, loan eligibility and loan performance
tests. If we fail to meet or satisfy any of these covenants or representations
and warranties, we would be in default under these agreements and our lenders
could elect to declare all amounts outstanding under the agreements to be
immediately due and payable, enforce their respective interests against
collateral pledged under such agreements and restrict our ability to make
additional borrowings. Our financing agreements may contain cross-default
provisions, so that if a default occurs under any one agreement, the lenders
under our other agreements could also declare a default. The covenants and
restrictions we expect in our financing facilities may restrict our ability to,
among other things:
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make certain investments or acquisitions; |
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make distributions on or repurchase or redeem capital stock; |
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finance mortgage loans with certain attributes; |
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reduce liquidity below certain levels; |
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grant liens; |
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These restrictions may interfere with our ability to obtain financing, including the financing needed to qualify as a REIT, or to engage in other business activities, which may significantly harm our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations. A default and resulting repayment acceleration could significantly reduce our liquidity, which could require us to sell our assets to repay amounts due and outstanding. This could also significantly harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, and our ability to make distributions, which could cause the value of our common stock to decline. A default will also significantly limit our financing alternatives such that we will be unable to pursue our leverage strategy, which could curtail our investment returns.
The repurchase agreements, warehouse facilities, credit facilities and commercial paper that we use to finance our investments may require us to provide additional collateral and may restrict us from leveraging our assets as fully as desired.
We
use repurchase agreements, warehouse facilities, credit facilities and
commercial paper to finance our investments. We currently have uncommitted
repurchase agreements with 12 counterparties, including Annaly, for financing
our RMBS. Our repurchase agreements are uncommitted and a counterparty may
refuse to advance funds under the agreements to us. If the market value of the
loans or securities pledged or sold by us to a funding source decline in value,
we may be required by the lending institution to provide additional collateral
or pay down a portion of the funds advanced, but we may not have the funds
available to do so. Posting additional collateral will reduce our liquidity and
limit our ability to leverage our assets, which could adversely affect our
business. In the event we
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do not have sufficient liquidity to meet such requirements, lending institutions can accelerate repayment of our indebtedness, increase our borrowing rates, liquidate our collateral or terminate our ability to borrow. Such a situation would likely result in a rapid deterioration of our financial condition and possibly necessitate a filing for protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Further, financial institutions may require us to maintain a certain amount of cash that is not invested or to set aside non-levered assets sufficient to maintain a specified liquidity position which would allow us to satisfy our collateral obligations. As a result, we may not be able to leverage our assets as fully as we would choose, which could reduce our return on equity. If we are unable to meet these collateral obligations, then, as described above, our financial condition could deteriorate rapidly.
If the counterparty to our repurchase transactions defaults on its obligation to resell the underlying security back to us at the end of the transaction term, or if the value of the underlying security has declined as of the end of that term or if we default on our obligations under the repurchase agreement, we will lose money on our repurchase transactions.
When
we engage in a repurchase transaction, we generally sell securities to the
transaction counterparty and receive cash from the counterparty. The
counterparty is obligated to resell the securities back to us at the end of the
term of the transaction, which is typically 30 to 90 days. Because the cash we
receive from the counterparty when we initially sell the securities to the
counterparty is less than the value of those securities (this difference is
referred to as the haircut), if the counterparty defaults on its obligation to
resell the securities back to us we would incur a loss on the transaction equal
to the amount of the haircut (assuming there was no change in the value of the
securities).
We would also lose money on a repurchase transaction if the value of the underlying securities has declined as of the end of the transaction term, as we would have to repurchase the securities for their initial value but would receive securities worth less than that amount. Any losses we incur on our repurchase transactions could adversely affect our earnings, and thus our cash available for distribution to you. If we default on one of our obligations under a repurchase transaction, the counterparty can terminate the transaction and cease entering into any other repurchase transactions with us. In that case, we would likely need to establish a replacement repurchase facility with another repurchase dealer in order to continue to leverage our portfolio and carry out our investment strategy. There is no assurance we would be able to establish a suitable replacement facility.
Our rights under our repurchase agreements
are subject to the effects of the bankruptcy laws in the event of the
bankruptcy or insolvency of us or our lenders under the repurchase agreements.
In the event of our insolvency or bankruptcy, certain repurchase agreements may qualify for special treatment under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the effect of which, among other things, would be to allow the lender under the applicable repurchase agreement to avoid the automatic stay provisions of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and to foreclose on the collateral agreement without delay. In the event of the insolvency or bankruptcy of a lender during the term of a repurchase agreement, the lender may be permitted, under applicable insolvency laws, to repudiate the contract, and our claim against the lender for damages may be treated simply as an unsecured creditor. In addition, if the lender is a broker or dealer subject to the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970, or an insured depository institution subject to the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, our ability to exercise our rights to recover our securities under a repurchase agreement or to be compensated for any damages resulting from the lender’s insolvency may be further limited by those statutes. These claims would be subject to significant delay and, if and when received, may be substantially less than the damages we actually incur.
An increase in our borrowing costs relative to the interest we receive on our assets may adversely affect our profitability, and thus our cash available for distribution to you.
As our repurchase agreements and other short-term borrowings mature, we will be required either to enter into new borrowings or to sell certain of our investments. An increase in short-term interest rates at the time that we seek to enter into new borrowings would reduce the spread between our returns on our assets and the cost of our borrowings. This would adversely affect our returns on our assets that are subject to prepayment risk, including our mortgage-backed securities, which might reduce earnings and, in turn, cash available for distribution to you.
If we issue senior securities we will be exposed to additional risks.
If we decide to issue senior securities in the future, it is likely that they will be governed by an indenture or other instrument containing covenants restricting our operating flexibility. Additionally, any convertible or exchangeable securities that we issue in the future may have rights, preferences and privileges more favorable than
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those of our common stock and may result in dilution to owners of our common stock. We and, indirectly, you, will bear the cost of issuing and servicing such securities.
Our securitizations expose us to additional
risks.
On
April 24, 2008, we sponsored a $619.7 million securitization as a long-term
financing transaction whereby we securitized our then-current inventory of
mortgage loans. We generally expect to continue to structure these transactions
so that they are treated as financing transactions, and not as sales, for
federal income tax purposes, although we may structure some securitizations as
sales. On July 25, 2008, we sponsored a $151.2 million securitization as a
sale. In our typical securitization structure, we would convey a pool of assets
to a special purpose vehicle, the issuing entity, and the issuing entity would
issue one or more classes of non-recourse notes pursuant to the terms of an
indenture. The notes would be secured by the pool of assets. In exchange for
the transfer of assets to the issuing entity, we would receive the cash
proceeds of the sale of non-recourse notes and a 100% interest in the equity of
the issuing entity. The securitization of our portfolio investments might
magnify our exposure to losses on those portfolio investments because any
equity interest we retain in the issuing entity would be subordinate to the
notes issued to investors and we would, therefore, absorb all of the losses
sustained with respect to a securitized pool of assets before the owners of the
notes experience any losses. Moreover, we cannot be assured that we will be
able to continue to access the securitization market, or be able to do so at
favorable rates. The inability to securitize our portfolio could hurt our
performance and our ability to grow our business.
The use of CDO financings with over-collateralization requirements may have a negative impact on our cash flow.
We
expect that the terms of CDOs we may sponsor will generally provide that the
principal amount of assets must exceed the principal balance of the related
bonds by a certain amount, commonly referred to as “over-collateralization.” We
anticipate that the CDO terms will provide that, if certain delinquencies or
losses exceed the specified levels based on the analysis by the rating agencies
(or any financial guaranty insurer) of the characteristics of the assets
collateralizing the bonds, the required level of over-collateralization may be
increased or may be prevented from decreasing as would otherwise be permitted
if losses or delinquencies did not exceed those levels. Other tests (based on
delinquency levels or other criteria) may restrict our ability to receive net
income from assets collateralizing the obligations. We cannot assure you that
the performance tests will be satisfied. In advance of completing negotiations
with the rating agencies or other key transaction parties on our future CDO
financings, we cannot assure you of the actual terms of the CDO delinquency
tests, over-collateralization terms, cash flow release mechanisms or other
significant factors regarding the calculation of net income to us. Given recent
volatility in the CDO market, rating agencies may depart from historic
practices for CDO financings, making them more costly for us. Failure to obtain
favorable terms with regard to these matters may materially and adversely
affect the availability of net income to us. If our assets fail to perform as
anticipated, our over-collateralization or other credit enhancement expense
associated with our CDO financings will increase.
Hedging against interest rate exposure may adversely affect our earnings, which could reduce our cash available for distribution to you.
Subject
to maintaining our qualification as a REIT, we may utilize various hedging
strategies to seek to reduce our exposure to losses from adverse changes in
interest rates. Our hedging activity may vary in scope based on the level and
volatility of interest rates, the type of assets held and other changing market
conditions. Interest rate hedging may fail to protect or could adversely affect
us because, among other things:
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interest rate hedging can be expensive, particularly during periods of rising and volatile interest rates; |
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available interest rate hedges may not correspond directly with the interest rate risk for which protection is sought; |
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the duration of the hedge may not match the duration of the related liability; |
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the amount of income that a REIT may earn from hedging transactions (other than through taxable REIT subsidiaries, or TRSs) to offset interest rate losses is limited by federal tax provisions governing REITs; |
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the credit quality of the party owing money on the hedge may be downgraded to such an extent that it impairs our ability to sell or assign our side of the hedging transaction; and |
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the party owing money in the hedging transaction may default on its obligation to pay. |
Our
hedging transactions, which are intended to limit losses, may actually limit
gains and increase our exposure to losses. For example, we suffered unrealized
losses from hedges in the quarter ended June 30, 2008. As a result, our hedging
activity may adversely affect our earnings, which could reduce our cash
available for distribution to you. In addition, hedging instruments involve
risk since they often are not traded on regulated exchanges, guaranteed by an
exchange or its clearing house, or regulated by any U.S. or foreign
governmental authorities. Consequently, there are no requirements with respect
to record keeping, financial responsibility or segregation of customer funds
and positions. Furthermore, the enforceability of agreements underlying
derivative transactions may depend on compliance with applicable statutory and
commodity and other regulatory requirements and, depending on the identity of
the counterparty, applicable international requirements. The business failure
of a hedging counterparty with whom we enter into a hedging transaction will
most likely result in its default. Default by a party with whom we enter into a
hedging transaction may result in the loss of unrealized profits and force us
to cover our commitments, if any, at the then current market price. Although
generally we will seek to reserve the right to terminate our hedging positions,
it may not always be possible to dispose of or close out a hedging position
without the consent of the hedging counterparty, and we may not be able to
enter into an offsetting contract in order to cover our risk. We cannot assure
you that a liquid secondary market will exist for hedging instruments purchased
or sold, and we may be required to maintain a position until exercise or
expiration, which could result in losses.
Our hedging strategies may not be successful in mitigating the risks associated with interest rates.
Subject to complying with REIT tax requirements, we have employed and intend to continue to employ techniques that limit, or “hedge,” the adverse effects of rising interest rates on our short-term repurchase agreements. In general, our hedging strategy depends on our view of our entire portfolio, consisting of assets, liabilities and derivative instruments, in light of prevailing market conditions. We could misjudge the condition of our investment portfolio or the market.
Our hedging activity will vary in scope based on the level and volatility of interest rates and principal repayments, the type of securities held and other changing market conditions. Our actual hedging decisions will be determined in light of the facts and circumstances existing at the time and may differ from our currently anticipated hedging strategy. These techniques may include entering into interest rate caps, collars, floors, forward contracts, futures or swap agreements. We may conduct certain hedging transactions through a TRS, which will be subject to federal, state and, if applicable, local income tax.
There are no perfect hedging strategies, and interest rate hedging may fail to protect us from loss. Alternatively, we may fail to properly assess a risk to our investment portfolio or may fail to recognize a risk entirely, leaving us exposed to losses without the benefit of any offsetting hedging activities. The derivative financial instruments we select may not have the effect of reducing our interest rate risk. The nature and timing of hedging transactions may influence the effectiveness of these strategies. Poorly designed strategies or improperly executed transactions could actually increase our risk and losses. In addition, hedging activities could result in losses if the event against which we hedge does not occur. For example, interest rate hedging could fail to protect us or adversely affect us because, among other things:
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as explained in further detail in the risk factor immediately below, the party owing money in the hedging transaction may default on its obligation to pay; |
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the value of derivatives used for hedging may be adjusted from time to time in accordance with accounting rules to reflect changes in fair value. Downward adjustments, or “mark-to-market losses,” would reduce our stockholders’ equity. |
Whether
the derivatives we acquire achieve hedge accounting treatment under the
Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, Statement of Financial
Accounting Standards No. 133, Accounting for
Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, or SFAS 133, or not,
hedging generally involves costs and risks. Our hedging
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strategies may adversely affect us because hedging activities involve costs that we will incur regardless of the effectiveness of the hedging activity. Those costs may be higher in periods of market volatility, both because the counterparties to our derivative agreements may demand a higher payment for taking risks, and because repeated adjustments of our hedges during periods of interest rate changes also may increase costs. Especially if our hedging strategies are not effective, we could incur significant hedging-related costs without any corresponding economic benefits.
We have elected not to qualify for hedge accounting treatment.
We record derivative and hedge transactions in accordance with SFAS 133. We have elected not to qualify for hedge accounting treatment. As a result, our operating results may suffer because losses on the derivatives that we enter into may not be offset by a change in the fair value of the related hedged transaction.
Declines in the market values of our investments may adversely affect periodic reported results and credit availability, which may reduce earnings and, in turn, cash available for distribution to you.
A substantial portion of our assets are classified for accounting purposes as “available-for-sale” and carried at fair value. Changes in the market values of those assets will be directly charged or credited to other comprehensive income. In addition, a decline in values will reduce the book value of our assets. A decline in the market value of our assets may adversely affect us, particularly in instances where we have borrowed money based on the market value of those assets. If the market value of those assets declines, the lender may require us to post additional collateral to support the loan. If we were unable to post the additional collateral, we would have to sell the assets at a time when we might not otherwise choose to do so and such sales may be at a loss. A reduction in credit available may reduce our earnings and, in turn, cash available for distribution to you.
We are highly dependent on information systems and third parties, and systems failures could significantly disrupt our business, which may, in turn, negatively affect the market price of our common stock and our ability to pay dividends to you.
Our business is highly dependent on communications and information systems. Any failure or interruption of our systems could cause delays or other problems in our securities trading activities, including mortgage-backed securities trading activities, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and negatively affect the market price of our common stock and our ability to pay dividends to you.
We are required to obtain various state licenses in order to purchase mortgage loans in the secondary market and there is no assurance we will be able to obtain or maintain those licenses.
While we are not required to obtain licenses to purchase mortgage-backed securities, we are required to obtain various state licenses to purchase mortgage loans in the secondary market. We have applied for these licenses and expect this process could take several months. There is no assurance that we will obtain all of the licenses that we desire or that we will not experience significant delays in seeking these licenses. Furthermore, we will be subject to various information and other requirements to maintain these licenses, and there is no assurance that we will satisfy those requirements. Our failure to obtain or maintain licenses will restrict our investment options and could harm our business.
We may be subject to liability for potential violations of predatory lending laws, which could adversely impact our results of operations, financial condition and business.
Various
federal, state and local laws have been enacted that are designed to discourage
predatory lending practices. The federal Home Ownership and Equity Protection
Act of 1994, or HOEPA, prohibits inclusion of certain provisions in residential
mortgage loans that have mortgage rates or origination costs in excess of
prescribed levels and requires that borrowers be given certain disclosures
prior to origination. Some states have enacted, or may enact, similar laws or
regulations, which in some cases impose restrictions and requirements greater
than those in HOEPA. In addition, under the anti-predatory lending laws of some
states, the origination of certain residential mortgage loans, including loans
that are not classified as “high cost” loans under applicable law, must satisfy
a net tangible benefits test with respect to the related borrower. This test
may be highly subjective and open to interpretation. As a result, a court may
determine that a residential mortgage loan, for example, does not meet the test
even if the related originator reasonably believed that the test was satisfied.
Failure of residential mortgage loan originators or servicers to comply with
these laws, to the extent any of their residential mortgage loans become part of
our mortgaged-related assets, could subject us, as an assignee or purchaser to
the related residential mortgage loans, to monetary penalties and could result
in the borrowers rescinding the affected residential mortgage loans.
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Lawsuits have been brought in various states making claims against assignees or purchasers of high cost loans for violations of state law. Named defendants in these cases have included numerous participants within the secondary mortgage market. If the loans are found to have been originated in violation of predatory or abusive lending laws, we could incur losses, which could adversely impact our results of operations, financial condition and business.
Terrorist attacks and other acts of violence or war may affect the market for our common stock, the industry in which we conduct our operations and our profitability.
Terrorist attacks may harm our results of operations and your investment. We cannot assure you that there will not be further terrorist attacks against the United States or U.S. businesses. These attacks or armed conflicts may directly impact the property underlying our asset-based securities or the securities markets in general. Losses resulting from these types of events are uninsurable. More generally, any of these events could cause consumer confidence and spending to decrease or result in increased volatility in the United States and worldwide financial markets and economies. Adverse economic conditions could harm the value of the property underlying our asset-backed securities or the securities markets in general which could harm our operating results and revenues and may result in the volatility of the value of our securities.
We are subject to the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
As we are a public company, our management is required to deliver a report that assesses the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting, pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires an independent registered public accounting firm to deliver an attestation report on management’s assessment of, and the operating effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting in conjunction with their opinion on our audited financial statements beginning with the year ending December 31, 2008. Substantial work on our part is required to implement appropriate processes, document the system of internal control over key processes, assess their design, remediate any deficiencies identified and test their operation. This process is both costly and challenging. We cannot give any assurances that material weaknesses will not be identified in the future in connection with our compliance with the provisions of Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The existence of any material weakness described above would preclude a conclusion by management and our independent auditors that we maintained effective internal control over financial reporting. Our management may be required to devote significant time and expense to remediate any material weaknesses that may be discovered and may not be able to remediate all material weaknesses in a timely manner. The existence of any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting could also result in errors in our financial statements that could require us to restate our financial statements, cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, all of which could lead to a decline in the trading price of our common stock.
The increasing number of proposed federal, state and local laws may increase our risk of liability with respect to certain mortgage loans and could increase our cost of doing business.
The United States Congress and various state and local legislatures are considering legislation, which, among other provisions, would permit limited assignee liability for certain violations in the mortgage loan origination process. We cannot predict whether or in what form Congress or the various state and local legislatures may enact legislation affecting our business. We are evaluating the potential impact of these initiatives, if enacted, on our practices and results of operations. As a result of these and other initiatives, we are unable to predict whether federal, state or local authorities will require changes in our practices in the future. These changes, if required, could adversely affect our profitability, particularly if we make such changes in response to new or amended laws, regulations or ordinances in any state where we acquire a significant portion of our mortgage loans, or if such changes result in us being held responsible for any violations in the mortgage loan origination process.
Changes in accounting treatment may adversely
affect our profitability and impact our financial results.
In
February 2008, the FASB issued final guidance regarding the accounting and
financial statement presentation for transactions which involve the acquisition
of residential mortgage loans, real estate-related securities and real estate
loans from a counterparty and the subsequent financing of these residential
mortgage loans, real estate-related securities and real estate loans through
repurchase agreements with the same counterparty. We are evaluating our
position based on the final guidance issued by the FASB. If we do not meet the
criteria under the final guidance to account for the transactions on a gross
basis, our accounting treatment would not affect the economics of these
transactions, but would affect how these transactions are reported in our
financial statements. If we are not able to comply with the criteria under this
final guidance for same party transactions we would be
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precluded from
presenting residential mortgage loans, real estate-related securities and real
estate loans and the related financings, as well as the related interest income
and interest expense, on a gross basis in our financial statements. Instead, we
would be required to account for the purchase commitment and related repurchase
agreement on a net basis and record a forward commitment to purchase
residential mortgage loans, real estate-related securities and real estate
loans as a derivative instrument. Such forward commitments would be recorded at
fair value with subsequent changes in fair value recognized in earnings.
Additionally, we would record the cash portion of our investment in residential
mortgage loans, real estate-related securities and real estate loans as a
mortgage-related receivable from the counterparty on our balance sheet.
Although we would not expect this change in presentation to have a material
impact on our net income, it could have an adverse impact on our operations. It
could have an impact on our ability to include certain residential mortgage
loans, real estate-related securities and real estate loans purchased and
simultaneously financed from the same counterparty as qualifying real estate
interests or real estate-related assets used to qualify under the exemption
from registration as an investment company under the 1940 Act. It could also
limit our investment opportunities as we may need to limit our purchases of
residential mortgage loans, real estate-related securities and real estate
loans that are simultaneously financed with the same counterparty.
We
also understand that FASB is currently considering comments regarding FSP FAS
157-d which would amend FASB Statement No. 157, Fair Value Measurements, and intends to issue its position
in October 2008 to be immediately effective for the quarter ended September 30,
2008. Any position adopted by FASB or the Securities and Exchange Commission
relating to the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2008 could affect the value
of our RMBS as reflected in our financial statements and could have a negative
impact on our financial results.
Risks Related To Our Investments
We might not be able to purchase residential mortgage loans, mortgage-backed securities and other investments that meet our investment criteria or at favorable spreads over our borrowing costs.
Our
net income depends on our ability to acquire residential mortgage loans,
mortgage-backed securities and other investments at favorable spreads over our
borrowing costs without experiencing credit losses and losses in value. Our
investments are selected by our Manager, and you will not have input into such
investment decisions. Until appropriate investments can be identified, our
Manager may invest the net proceeds of this offering and the concurrent sale of
shares to Annaly in interest-bearing short-term investments, including money
market accounts that are consistent with our intention to qualify as a REIT. These
investments are expected to provide a lower net return than we hope to achieve
from investments in our intended use of proceeds of this offering. Our Manager
intends to conduct due diligence with respect to each investment and suitable
investment opportunities may not be immediately available. Even if
opportunities are available, there can be no assurance, however, that our
Manager’s due diligence processes will uncover all relevant facts or that any
investment will be successful.
We may allocate the net proceeds from this offering to investments with which you may not agree.
We will have significant flexibility in investing the net proceeds of this offering. You will be unable to evaluate the manner in which the net proceeds of this offering will be invested or the economic merit of our expected investments and, as a result, we may use the net proceeds from this offering to invest in investments with which you may not agree. The failure of our management to apply these proceeds effectively or find investments that meet our investment criteria in sufficient time or on acceptable terms could result in unfavorable returns, could cause a material adverse effect on you, and could cause the value of our common stock to decline.
We may not realize income or gains from our investments.
We invest to generate both current income and capital appreciation. The investments we invest in may, however, not appreciate in value and, in fact, may decline in value, and the debt securities we invest in may default on interest or principal payments. Accordingly, we may not be able to realize income or gains from our investments. Any gains that we do realize may not be sufficient to offset any other losses we experience. Any income that we realize may not be sufficient to offset our expenses.
Our investments may be concentrated and will be subject to risk of default.
While we intend to diversify our portfolio of investments in the manner described in this prospectus, we are not required to observe specific diversification criteria. To the extent that our portfolio is concentrated in any one geographic region or type of security, downturns relating generally to such region or type of security may result in
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defaults on a number of our investments within a short time period, which may reduce our net income and the value of our shares and accordingly may reduce our ability to pay dividends to you.
Our investments in subordinated RMBS are generally in the “first loss” position and our investments in the mezzanine RMBS are generally in the “second loss” position and therefore subject to losses.
In general, losses on a mortgage loan included in a securitization will be borne first by the equity holder of the issuing trust, and then by the “first loss” subordinated security holder and then by the “second loss” mezzanine holder. In the event of default and the exhaustion of any classes of securities junior to those in which we invest and there is any further loss, we will not be able to recover all of our investment in the securities we purchase. In addition, if the underlying mortgage portfolio has been overvalued by the originator, or if the values subsequently decline and, as a result, less collateral is available to satisfy interest and principal payments due on the related RMBS, the securities in which we invest may effectively become the “first loss” position behind the more senior securities, which may result in significant losses to us. The prices of lower credit quality securities are generally less sensitive to interest rate changes than more highly rated investments, but more sensitive to adverse economic downturns or individual issuer developments. A projection of an economic downturn, for example, could cause a decline in the price of lower credit quality securities because the ability of obligors of mortgages underlying RMBS to make principal and interest payments may be impaired. In such event, existing credit support in the securitization structure may be insufficient to protect us against loss of our principal on these securities.
Increases in interest rates could negatively affect the value of our investments, which could result in reduced earnings or losses and negatively affect the cash available for distribution to you.
We
have invested and will continue to invest in real estate-related assets by
acquiring RMBS, residential mortgage loans, CMBS and CDOs backed by real
estate-related assets. Under a normal yield curve, an investment in these
assets will decline in value if long-term interest rates increase. Declines in
market value may ultimately reduce earnings or result in losses to us, which
may negatively affect cash available for distribution to you. A significant
risk associated with these investments is the risk that both long-term and
short-term interest rates will increase significantly. If long-term rates were
to increase significantly, the market value of these investments would decline,
and the duration and weighted average life of the investments would increase.
We could realize a loss if these assets were sold. At the same time, an
increase in short-term interest rates would increase the amount of interest
owed on the repurchase agreements or other adjustable rate financings we may
enter into to finance the purchase of these assets. Market values of our
investments may decline without any general increase in interest rates for a
number of reasons, such as increases in defaults, increases in voluntary
prepayments for those investments that are subject to prepayment risk and
widening of credit spreads.
In a period of rising interest rates, our interest expense could increase while the interest we earn on our fixed-rate assets would not change, which would adversely affect our profitability.
Our operating results will depend in large part on the differences between the income from our assets, net of credit losses and financing costs. We anticipate that, in most cases, the income from such assets will respond more slowly to interest rate fluctuations than the cost of our borrowings. Consequently, changes in interest rates, particularly short-term interest rates, may significantly influence our net income. Increases in these rates will tend to decrease our net income and market value of our assets. Interest rate fluctuations resulting in our interest expense exceeding our interest income would result in operating losses for us and may limit or eliminate our ability to make distributions to you.
Interest rate mismatches between our investments and our borrowings used to fund our purchases of these assets may reduce our income during periods of changing interest rates.
We
intend to fund some of our acquisitions of residential mortgage loans, real
estate-related securities and real estate loans with borrowings that have
interest rates based on indices and repricing terms with shorter maturities
than the interest rate indices and repricing terms of our adjustable-rate
assets. Accordingly, if short-term interest rates increase, this may harm our
profitability.
Some of the residential mortgage loans, real estate-related securities and real estate loans we acquire are and will be fixed-rate securities. This means that their interest rates will not vary over time based upon changes in a short-term interest rate index. Therefore, the interest rate indices and repricing terms of the assets that we acquire and their funding sources will create an interest rate mismatch between our assets and liabilities. During periods of
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changing interest rates, these mismatches could reduce our net income, dividend yield and the market price of our stock.
Accordingly, in a period of rising interest rates, we could experience a decrease in net income or a net loss because the interest rates on our borrowings adjust whereas the interest rates on our fixed-rate assets remain unchanged.
Interest rate caps on our adjustable rate RMBS may adversely affect our profitability.
Adjustable-rate RMBS are typically subject to periodic and lifetime interest rate caps. Periodic interest rate caps limit the amount an interest rate can increase during any given period. Lifetime interest rate caps limit the amount an interest rate can increase over the life of the security. Our borrowings typically will not be subject to similar restrictions. Accordingly, in a period of rapidly increasing interest rates, the interest rates paid on our borrowings could increase without limitation while caps could limit the interest rates on our adjustable-rate RMBS. This problem is magnified for hybrid adjustable-rate and adjustable-rate RMBS that are not fully indexed. Further, some hybrid adjustable-rate and adjustable-rate RMBS may be subject to periodic payment caps that result in a portion of the interest being deferred and added to the principal outstanding. As a result, we may receive less cash income on hybrid adjustable-rate and adjustable-rate RMBS than we need to pay interest on our related borrowings. These factors could reduce our net interest income and cause us to suffer a loss.
A significant portion of our portfolio investments will be recorded at fair value, as determined in accordance with our pricing policy as approved by our board of directors and, as a result, there will be uncertainty as to the value of these investments.
A significant portion of our portfolio of investments is in the form of securities that are not publicly traded. The fair value of securities and other investments that are not publicly traded may not be readily determinable. It may be difficult or impossible to obtain third party pricing on the investments we purchase. We value these investments quarterly at fair value, as determined in accordance with our pricing policy as approved by our board of directors. Because such valuations are inherently uncertain, may fluctuate over short periods of time and may be based on estimates, our determinations of fair value may differ materially from the values that would have been used if a ready market for these securities existed. The value of our common stock could be adversely affected if our determinations regarding the fair value of these investments were materially higher than the values that we ultimately realize upon their disposal.
A prolonged economic slowdown, a recession or declining real estate values could impair our investments and harm our operating results.
Many of our investments are susceptible to economic slowdowns or recessions, which could lead to financial losses in our investments and a decrease in revenues, net income and assets. Unfavorable economic conditions also could increase our funding costs, limit our access to the capital markets, result in a decision by lenders not to extend credit to us, or force us to sell assets at an inopportune time and for a loss. These events could prevent us from increasing investments and have an adverse effect on our operating results.
Changes in prepayment rates could negatively affect the value of our investment portfolio, which could result in reduced earnings or losses and negatively affect the cash available for distribution to you.
There are seldom any restrictions on borrowers’ abilities to prepay their residential mortgage loans. Homeowners tend to prepay mortgage loans faster when interest rates decline. Consequently, owners of the loans have to reinvest the money received from the prepayments at the lower prevailing interest rates. Conversely, homeowners tend not to prepay mortgage loans when interest rates increase. Consequently, owners of the loans are unable to reinvest money that would have otherwise been received from prepayments at the higher prevailing interest rates. This volatility in prepayment rates may affect our ability to maintain targeted amounts of leverage on our portfolio of residential mortgage loans, RMBS, and CDOs backed by real estate-related assets and may result in reduced earnings or losses for us and negatively affect the cash available for distribution to you.
To the extent our investments are purchased at a premium, faster than expected prepayments result in a faster than expected amortization of the premium paid, which would adversely affect our earnings. Conversely, if these investments were purchased at a discount, faster than expected prepayments accelerate our recognition of income.
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A decrease in prepayment rates may adversely affect our profitability.
When borrowers prepay their mortgage loans at slower than expected rates, prepayments on the related residential mortgage loans, real estate-related securities and real estate loans may be slower than expected. These slower than expected payments may adversely affect our profitability.
We may purchase residential mortgage loans, real estate-related securities and real estate loans that have a lower interest rate than the then prevailing market interest rate. In exchange for this lower interest rate, we may pay a discount to par value to acquire the investment. In accordance with accounting rules, we will accrete this discount over the expected term of the investment based on our prepayment assumptions. If the investment is prepaid at a slower than expected rate, however, we must accrete the remaining portion of the discount at a slower than expected rate. This will extend the expected life of the portfolio and result in a lower than expected yield on investment purchased at a discount to par.
The mortgage loans we invest in and the mortgage loans underlying the mortgage and asset-backed securities we invest in are subject to delinquency, foreclosure and loss, which could result in losses to us.
Residential
mortgage loans are typically secured by single-family residential property and
are subject to risks of delinquency and foreclosure and risks of loss. The
ability of a borrower to repay a loan secured by a residential property is
dependent upon the income or assets of the borrower. A number of factors,
including a general economic downturn, acts of God, terrorism, social unrest
and civil disturbances, may impair borrowers’ abilities to repay their loans. In
addition, we invest in non-Agency RMBS, which are backed by residential real
property but, in contrast to Agency RMBS, their principal and interest is not
guaranteed by federally chartered entities such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
and, in the case of Ginnie Mae, the U.S. government. The U.S. Department of
Treasury and FHFA have also entered into preferred stock purchase agreements
between the U.S. Department of Treasury and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pursuant
to which the U.S. Department of Treasury will ensure that each of Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac maintains a positive net worth. Asset-backed securities are
bonds or notes backed by loans or other financial assets. The ability of a
borrower to repay these loans or other financial assets is dependent upon the
income or assets of these borrowers. Commercial mortgage loans are secured by
multifamily or commercial property and are subject to risks of delinquency and
foreclosure, and risks of loss that are greater than similar risks associated
with loans made on the security of single-family residential property. The
ability of a borrower to repay a loan secured by an income-producing property
typically is dependent primarily upon the successful operation of such property
rather than upon the existence of independent income or assets of the borrower.
If the net operating income of the property is reduced, the borrower’s ability
to repay the loan may be impaired. Net operating income of an income producing
property can be affected by, among other things, tenant mix, success of tenant
businesses, property management decisions, property location and condition,
competition from comparable types of properties, changes in laws that increase
operating expense or limit rents that may be charged, any need to address environmental
contamination at the property, the occurrence of any uninsured casualty at the
property, changes in national, regional or local economic conditions or
specific industry segments, declines in regional or local real estate values,
declines in regional or local rental or occupancy rates, increases in interest
rates, real estate tax rates and other operating expenses, changes in
governmental rules, regulations and fiscal policies, including environmental
legislation, acts of God, terrorism, social unrest and civil disturbances. In
the event of any default under a mortgage loan held directly by us, we will
bear a risk of loss of principal to the extent of any deficiency between the
value of the collateral and the principal and accrued interest of the mortgage
loan, which could have a material adverse effect on our cash flow from
operations. In the event of the bankruptcy of a mortgage loan borrower, the
mortgage loan to such borrower will be deemed to be secured only to the extent
of the value of the underlying collateral at the time of bankruptcy (as
determined by the bankruptcy court), and the lien securing the mortgage loan
will be subject to the avoidance powers of the bankruptcy trustee or
debtor-in-possession to the extent the lien is unenforceable under state law.
Foreclosure of a mortgage loan can be an expensive and lengthy process which
could have a substantial negative effect on our anticipated return on the
foreclosed mortgage loan. RMBS evidence interests in or are secured by pools of
residential mortgage loans and CMBS evidence interests in or are secured by a
single commercial mortgage loan or a pool of commercial mortgage loans.
Accordingly, the RMBS and CMBS we invest in are subject to all of the risks of
the respective underlying mortgage loans.
We may be required to repurchase mortgage loans or indemnify investors if we breach representations and warranties, which could harm our earnings.
If
we sell loans, we would be required to make customary representations and
warranties about such loans to the loan purchaser. Our residential mortgage
loan sale agreements require us to repurchase or substitute loans in
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the event we breach a representation or warranty given to the loan purchaser. In addition, we may be required to repurchase loans as a result of borrower fraud or in the event of early payment default on a mortgage loan. Likewise, we are required to repurchase or substitute loans if we breach a representation or warranty in connection with our securitizations. The remedies available to a purchaser of mortgage loans are generally broader than those available to us against the originating broker or correspondent. Further, if a purchaser enforces its remedies against us, we may not be able to enforce the remedies we have against the sellers. The repurchased loans typically can only be financed at a steep discount to their repurchase price, if at all. They are also typically sold at a significant discount to the unpaid principal balance. Significant repurchase activity could harm our cash flow, results of operations, financial condition and business prospects.
We may enter into derivative contracts that could expose us to contingent liabilities in the future.
Subject to maintaining our qualification as a REIT, part of our investment strategy involves entering into derivative contracts that could require us to fund cash payments in certain circumstances. These potential payments will be contingent liabilities and therefore may not appear on our statement of financial condition. Our ability to fund these contingent liabilities will depend on the liquidity of our assets and access to capital at the time, and the need to fund these contingent liabilities could adversely impact our financial condition.
Our Manager’s due diligence of potential investments may not reveal all of the liabilities associated with such investments and may not reveal other weaknesses in such investments, which could lead to investment losses.
Before making an investment, our Manager assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the originator or issuer of the asset as well as other factors and characteristics that are material to the performance of the investment. In making the assessment and otherwise conducting customary due diligence, our Manager relies on resources available to it and, in some cases, an investigation by third parties. This process is particularly important with respect to newly formed originators or issuers with unrated and other subordinated tranches of MBS and ABS because there may be little or no information publicly available about these entities and investments. There can be no assurance that our Manager’s due diligence process will uncover all relevant facts or that any investment will be successful.
Our real estate investments are subject to risks particular to real property.
We own assets secured by real estate and may own real estate directly in the future, either through direct investments or upon a default of mortgage loans. Real estate investments are subject to various risks, including:
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acts of God, including earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters, which may result in uninsured losses; |
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acts of war or terrorism, including the consequences of terrorist attacks, such as those that occurred on September 11, 2001; |
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adverse changes in national and local economic and market conditions; |
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changes in governmental laws and regulations, fiscal policies and zoning ordinances and the related costs of compliance with laws and regulations, fiscal policies and ordinances; |
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costs of remediation and liabilities associated with environmental conditions such as indoor mold; and |
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If any of these or similar events occurs, it may reduce our return from an affected property or investment and reduce or eliminate our ability to make distributions to you.
We may be exposed to environmental liabilities with respect to properties to which we take title.
In the course of our business, we may take title to real estate, and, if we do take title, we could be subject to environmental liabilities with respect to these properties. In such a circumstance, we may be held liable to a governmental entity or to third parties for property damage, personal injury, investigation, and clean-up costs incurred by these parties in connection with environmental contamination, or may be required to investigate or clean up hazardous or toxic substances, or chemical releases at a property. The costs associated with investigation or remediation activities could be substantial. If we ever become subject to significant environmental liabilities, our business, financial condition, liquidity, and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
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We may in the future invest in RMBS collateralized by subprime mortgage loans, which are subject to increased risks.
We
may in the future invest in RMBS backed by collateral pools of subprime
residential mortgage loans. “Subprime” mortgage loans refer to mortgage loans
that have been originated using underwriting standards that are less
restrictive than the underwriting requirements used as standards for other
first and junior lien mortgage loan purchase programs, such as the programs of
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These lower standards include mortgage loans made
to borrowers having imperfect or impaired credit histories (including
outstanding judgments or prior bankruptcies), mortgage loans where the amount of
the loan at origination is 80% or more of the value of the mortgage property,
mortgage loans made to borrowers with low credit scores, mortgage loans made to
borrowers who have other debt that represents a large portion of their income
and mortgage loans made to borrowers whose income is not required to be
disclosed or verified. Due to economic conditions, including increased interest
rates and lower home prices, as well as aggressive lending practices, subprime
mortgage loans have in recent periods experienced increased rates of
delinquency, foreclosure, bankruptcy and loss, and they are likely to continue
to experience delinquency, foreclosure, bankruptcy and loss rates that are
higher, and that may be substantially higher, than those experienced by mortgage
loans underwritten in a more traditional manner. Thus, because of the higher
delinquency rates and losses associated with subprime mortgage loans, the
performance of RMBS backed by subprime mortgage loans in which we may invest
could be correspondingly adversely affected, which could adversely impact our
results of operations, financial condition and business.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which guarantee the Agency RMBS in which we may invest, were recently placed into the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
The interest and principal payments we expect to receive on some of the mortgage-backed securities in which we intend to invest will be guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or Ginnie Mae. The recent economic challenges in the residential mortgage market have affected the financial results and stock values of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In the second quarter of 2008, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported substantial losses. Fannie Mae reported a net loss of $2.3 billion in the second quarter 2008, compared with a first quarter 2008 net loss of $2.2 billion. Fannie Mae recently stated that it expects the downturn in the housing market and the disruption in the mortgage and credit markets to continue to adversely affect their financial results in 2008 and 2009. Freddie Mac has also reported a net loss of $821 million in the second quarter 2008, compared with a first quarter 2008 net loss of $151 million.
Since June 30, 2008, there have been increased market concerns about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae’s ability to withstand future credit losses associated with securities held in their investment portfolios, and on which they provide guarantees, without the direct support of the federal government. Recently, the government passed the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008”. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have recently been placed into the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or FHFA, their federal regulator, pursuant to its powers under The Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008, a part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. As the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the FHFA controls and directs the operations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and may (1) take over the assets of and operate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with all the powers of the shareholders, the directors, and the officers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and conduct all business of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; (2) collect all obligations and money due to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; (3) perform all functions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which are consistent with the conservator’s appointment; (4) preserve and conserve the assets and property of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and (5) contract for assistance in fulfilling any function, activity, action or duty of the conservator.
In
addition to FHFA becoming the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, (i)
the U.S. Department of Treasury and FHFA have entered into preferred stock
purchase agreements between the U.S. Department of Treasury and Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac pursuant to which the U.S. Department of Treasury will ensure that
each of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac maintains a positive net worth; (ii) the
U.S. Department of Treasury has established a new secured lending credit
facility which will be available to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal
Home Loan Banks, which is intended to serve as a liquidity backstop, which will
be available until December 2009; and (iii) the U.S. Department of Treasury has
initiated a temporary program to purchase RMBS issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac. Given the highly fluid and evolving nature of these events, it is unclear
how our business will be impacted. Based upon the further activity of the U.S.
government or market response to developments at Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, our
business could be adversely impacted.
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Exchange rate fluctuations may limit gains or result in losses.
If we directly or indirectly hold assets denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollars, we will be exposed to currency risk that may adversely affect performance. Changes in the U.S. dollar’s rate of exchange with other currencies may affect the value of investments in our portfolio and the income that we receive in respect of such investments. In addition, we may incur costs in connection with conversion between various currencies, which may reduce our net income and accordingly may reduce our ability to pay distributions to you.
Risks Related To Our Common Stock
Annaly owns a significant percentage of our common stock, which could result in significant influence over the outcome of matters submitted to the vote of our stockholders.
As
of June 30, 2008, Annaly owned approximately 9.6% of our outstanding common stock,
which percentage excludes unvested shares of our restricted common stock
granted to our executive officers and employees of our Manager or its
affiliates, and is expected to continue to own a similar percentage following
this offering and the concurrent private offering made to it, excluding shares
to be sold pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise of their overallotment option
and unvested shares of restricted stock granted to our executive officers and
employees of our Manager or its affiliates. In addition, Annaly’s percentage
ownership may increase in the future if our Manager is paid its incentive fees
in shares of our common stock. As a result, Annaly may have significant
influence over the outcome of matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders,
including the election of our directors or transactions involving a change in
control. The interests of Annaly may conflict with, or differ from, the
interests of other holders of our common stock, particularly as Annaly is also
a large creditor of ours. So long as Annaly continues to own a significant
percentage of shares of our common stock, it will significantly influence all
our corporate decisions submitted to our stockholders for approval, regardless
of whether we terminate the management agreement with our Manager.
We issued common stock on the New York Stock Exchange on November 16, 2007.
Our shares of common stock are newly issued securities for which there was no trading market prior to November 2007. The market price of our common stock may be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations as has been the case due to the adverse conditions in the mortgage industry and credit markets. There is no assurance that our stock price will not continue to experience significant volatility in the current environment.
Some additional factors that could negatively affect our share price include:
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actual or anticipated variations in our quarterly operating results; |
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changes in our earnings estimates or publication of research reports about us or the real estate industry; |
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increases in market interest rates that may lead purchasers of our shares to demand a higher yield; |
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changes in market valuations of similar companies; |
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changes in valuations of our assets; |
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adverse market reaction to any increased indebtedness we incur in the future; |
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additions or departures of our Manager’s key personnel; |
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actions by stockholders; |
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speculation in the press or investment community; and |
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Common stock eligible for future sale may have adverse effects on our share price.
We
cannot predict the effect, if any, of future sales of common stock, or the availability
of shares for future sales, on the market price of the common stock. Sales of
substantial amounts of common stock, or the perception that such sales could
occur, may adversely affect prevailing market prices for the common stock. At
June 30, 2008, we had 38,999,850 shares of common stock issued and outstanding.
In addition, Annaly owned approximately 9.6% of our outstanding shares of
common stock as of June 30, 2008, which percentage excludes unvested shares of
our restricted common stock granted to our executive officers and employees of
our Manager or its affiliates. Also,
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Annaly’s
percentage ownership may increase in the future if our Manager is paid its
incentive fees in shares of our common stock. Our equity incentive plan provides
for grants of restricted common stock and other equity-based awards up to an
aggregate of 8% of the issued and outstanding shares of our common stock (on a
fully diluted basis and including shares sold to Annaly concurrently with this
offering and the initial public offering and shares sold pursuant to the
underwriters’ exercise of their overallotment option) at the time of the award,
subject to a ceiling of 40,000,000 shares available for issuance under the
plan. On January 2, 2008, our executive officers and other employees of our
Manager and our independent directors were granted, as a group, 1,301,000
shares of our restricted common stock. The restricted common stock granted to
our executive officers and other employees of our Manager or its affiliates
vests in equal installments on the first business day of each fiscal quarter
over a period of 10 years beginning on January 2, 2008, of which 73,600 shares
vested and 6,713 shares were forfeited during the six months ended June 30,
2008. The restricted common stock granted to our executive officers and other
employees of our Manager or its affiliates that remain outstanding and are
unvested will fully vest on the death of the individual. The 1,227,400 shares
of our restricted common stock granted to our executive officers and other
employees of our Manager or its affiliates and to our independent directors
that remains unvested as of June 30, 2008 represents approximately 0.4% of the
issued and outstanding shares of our common stock (on a fully diluted basis
after giving effect to the shares issued in this offering and including shares
to be sold to Annaly concurrently with this offering but excluding any shares
to be sold pursuant to the exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option).
We will not make distributions on shares of restricted stock that have not
vested. Our management agreement provides that our Manager may, at the election
of our board of directors, receive its incentive fee, if any, in shares of our
common stock subject to certain ownership limitations. We, Annaly, and our
executive officers and our directors have agreed with the underwriters to a
90-day lock-up period (subject to extensions), meaning that, until the end of
the 90-day lock-up period, we and they will not, subject to certain exceptions,
sell or transfer any shares of common stock without the prior consent of
Merrill Lynch & Co, which we refer to as Merrill Lynch. Merrill Lynch may,
in its sole discretion, at any time from time to time and without notice, waive
the terms and conditions of the lock-up agreements to which it is a party.
Additionally, Annaly has agreed with us to a further lock-up period in
connection with the shares purchased by Annaly concurrently with our initial
public offering that will expire at the earlier of (i) November 15, 2010 or
(ii) the termination of the management agreement. Annaly has further agreed
with us to a further lock-up period in connection with the shares purchased by
Annaly concurrently with this offering that will expire at the earlier of (i)
the date which is three years following the date of this prospectus or (ii) the
termination of the management agreement. When the lock-up periods expire, these
common shares will become eligible for sale, in some cases subject to the
requirements of Rule 144 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the
Securities Act, which are described under “Shares Eligible for Future Sale.”
The market price of our common stock may decline significantly when the
restrictions on resale by certain of our stockholders lapse. Sales of
substantial amounts of common stock or the perception that such sales could
occur may adversely affect the prevailing market price for our common stock.
There is a risk that you may not receive distributions or that distributions may not grow over time.
We intend to make distributions on a quarterly basis out of assets legally available therefor to our stockholders in amounts such that all or substantially all of our REIT taxable income in each year is distributed. We have not established a minimum distribution payment level and our ability to pay distributions may be adversely affected by a number of factors, including the risk factors described in this prospectus. All distributions will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our earnings, our financial condition, maintenance of our REIT status and other factors as our board of directors may deem relevant from time to time. Among the factors that could adversely affect our results of operations and impair our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders are:
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the profitability of the investment of the net proceeds of the initial public offering and this offering; |
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our ability to make profitable investments; |
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margin calls or other expenses that reduce our cash flow; |
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defaults in our asset portfolio or decreases in the value of our portfolio; and |
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the fact that anticipated operating expense levels may not prove accurate, as actual results may vary from estimates. |
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A change in any one of these factors could affect our ability to make distributions. We cannot assure you that we will achieve investment results that will allow us to make a specified level of cash distributions or year-to-year increases in cash distributions.
Market interest rates may have an effect on the trading value of our shares.
One of the factors that investors may consider in deciding whether to buy or sell our shares is our distribution rate as a percentage of our share price relative to market interest rates. If market interest rates increase, prospective investors may demand a higher distribution rate or seek alternative investments paying higher dividends or interest. As a result, interest rate fluctuations and capital market conditions can affect the market value of our shares. For instance, if interest rates rise, it is likely that the market price of our shares will decrease as market rates on interest-bearing securities, such as bonds, increase.
Investing in our shares may involve a high degree of risk.
The investments we make in accordance with our investment objectives may result in a high amount of risk when compared to alternative investment options and volatility or loss of principal. Our investments may be highly speculative and aggressive, are subject to credit risk, interest rate, and market value risks, among others, and therefore an investment in our shares may not be suitable for someone with lower risk tolerance.
Broad market fluctuations could negatively impact the market price of our common stock.
The stock market has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected the market price of many companies in industries similar or related to ours and that have been unrelated to these companies’ operating performances. These broad market fluctuations could reduce the market price of our common stock. Furthermore, our operating results and prospects may be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors or may be lower than those of companies with comparable market capitalizations, which could lead to a material decline in the market price of our common stock.
Future sales of shares may have adverse consequences for investors.
We
may issue additional shares in subsequent public offerings or private
placements to make new investments or for other purposes. We are not required
to offer any such shares to existing stockholders on a pre-emptive basis.
Therefore, it may not be possible for existing stockholders to participate in
such future share issues, which may dilute the existing stockholders’ interests
in us. Annaly will own approximately 9.6% of our shares of common stock as of
the closing of this offering and the concurrent private placement made to it
excluding shares to be sold pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise of their
overallotment option and unvested shares of restricted stock granted to our
executive officers and employees of our Manager or its affiliates. Annaly will
be permitted, subject to the requirements of Rule 144 under the Securities Act,
to sell such shares upon the earlier of (i) (a) November 15, 2010 with respect
to shares acquired concurrently with our initial public offering and (b) the
date which is three years after the date of this prospectus with respect to
shares being acquired concurrently with this offering or (ii) the termination
of the management agreement. Our management agreement provides that our Manager
may, at the election of our board of directors, receive its incentive fee, if
any, in shares of our common stock subject to certain ownership limitations.
Risks Related to Our Organization and Structure
Our charter and bylaws contain provisions that may inhibit potential acquisition bids that you may consider favorable, and the market price of our common stock may be lower as a result.
Our charter and bylaws contain provisions that have an anti-takeover effect and inhibit a change in our board of directors. These provisions include the following:
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There are ownership limits and restrictions on transferability and ownership in our charter. To qualify as a REIT for each taxable year after 2007, not more than 50% of the value of our outstanding stock may be owned, directly or constructively, by five or fewer individuals during the second half of any calendar year. In addition, our shares must be beneficially owned by 100 or more persons during at least 335 days of a taxable year of 12 months or during a proportionate part of a shorter taxable year for each taxable year after 2007. To assist us in satisfying these tests, our charter generally prohibits any person from beneficially or constructively owning more than 9.8% in value or number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of any class or series of our outstanding capital stock. These restrictions |
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may discourage a tender offer or other transactions or a change in the composition of our board of directors or control that might involve a premium price for our shares or otherwise be in your best interests and any shares issued or transferred in violation of such restrictions being automatically transferred to a trust for a charitable beneficiary, thereby resulting in a forfeiture of the additional shares. |
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Our charter permits our board of directors to issue stock with terms that may discourage a third party from acquiring us. Our charter permits our board of directors to amend the charter without stockholder approval to increase the total number of authorized shares of stock or the number of shares of any class or series and to issue common or preferred stock, having preferences, conversion or other rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to dividends or other distributions, qualifications, or terms or conditions of redemption as determined by our board. Thus, our board could authorize the issuance of stock with terms and conditions that could have the effect of discouraging a takeover or other transaction in which holders of some or a majority of our shares might receive a premium for their shares over the then-prevailing market price of our shares. |
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Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act. Maryland law provides that “control shares” of a corporation acquired in a “control share acquisition” will have no voting rights except to the extent approved by a vote of two-thirds of the votes eligible to be cast on the matter under the Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act. “Control shares” means voting shares of stock that, if aggregated with all other shares of stock owned by the acquirer or in respect of which the acquirer is able to exercise or direct the exercise of voting power (except solely by a revocable proxy), would entitle the acquirer to exercise voting power in electing directors within one of the following ranges of voting power: one-tenth or more but less than one-third, one-third or more but less than a majority, or a majority or more of all voting power. A “control share acquisition” means the acquisition of control shares, subject to certain exceptions. |
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If voting rights or control shares acquired in a control share acquisition are not approved at a stockholders meeting, or if the acquiring person does not deliver an acquiring person statement as required by the Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act, then, subject to certain conditions and limitations, the issuer may redeem any or all of the control shares for fair value. If voting rights of such control shares are approved at a stockholders meeting and the acquirer becomes entitled to vote a majority of the shares of stock entitled to vote, all other stockholders may exercise appraisal rights. Our bylaws contain a provision exempting acquisitions of our shares from the Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act. However, our board of directors may amend our bylaws in the future to repeal or modify this exemption, in which case any control shares of our company acquired in a control share acquisition will be subject to the Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act. |
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Business Combinations. Under Maryland law, “business combinations” between a Maryland corporation and an interested stockholder or an affiliate of an interested stockholder are prohibited for five years after the most recent date on which the interested stockholder becomes an interested stockholder. These business combinations include a merger, consolidation, share exchange or, in circumstances specified in the statute, an asset transfer or issuance or reclassification of equity securities. An interested stockholder is defined as: |
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any person who beneficially owns 10% or more of the voting power of the corporation’s shares; or |
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an affiliate or associate of the corporation who, at any time within the two-year period before the date in question, was the beneficial owner of 10% or more of the voting power of the then outstanding voting stock of the corporation. |
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A person is not an interested stockholder under the statute if the board of directors approved in advance the transaction by which such person otherwise would have become an interested stockholder. However, in approving a transaction, the board of directors may provide that its approval is subject to compliance, at or after the time of approval, with any terms and conditions determined by the board. After the five-year prohibition, any business combination between the Maryland corporation and an interested stockholder generally must be recommended by the board of directors of the corporation and approved by the affirmative vote of at least: |
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80% of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of outstanding shares of voting stock of the corporation; and |
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two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of voting stock of the corporation, other than shares held by the interested stockholder with whom or with whose affiliate the business combination is to be effected or held by an affiliate or associate of the interested stockholder. |
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These super-majority vote requirements do not apply if the corporation’s common stockholders receive a minimum price, as defined under Maryland law, for their shares in the form of cash or other consideration in the same form as previously paid by the interested stockholder for its shares. The statute permits various exemptions from its provisions, including business combinations that are exempted by the board of directors before the time that the interested stockholder becomes an interested stockholder. Our board of directors has adopted a resolution which provides that any business combination between us and any other person is exempted from the provisions of the Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act, provided that the business combination is first approved by the board of directors. This resolution, however, may be altered or repealed in whole or in part at any time. If this resolution is repealed, or the board of directors does not otherwise approve a business combination, this statute may discourage others from trying to acquire control of us and increase the difficulty of consummating any offer. |
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Staggered board. Our board of directors is divided into three classes of directors. The current terms of the directors expire in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively. Directors of each class are chosen for three-year terms upon the expiration of their current terms, and each year one class of directors is elected by the stockholders. The staggered terms of our directors may reduce the possibility of a tender offer or an attempt at a change in control, even though a tender offer or change in control might be in your best interests. |
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Our charter and bylaws contain other possible anti-takeover provisions. Our charter and bylaws contain other provisions that may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of us or the removal of existing directors and, as a result, could prevent you from being paid a premium for your common stock over the then- prevailing market price. See “Description of Capital Stock” and “Certain Provisions of Maryland General Corporation Law and Our Charter and Bylaws.” |
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Our rights and your rights to take action against our directors and officers are limited, which could limit your recourse in the event of actions not in your best interests.
Our charter limits the liability of our directors and officers to us and you for money damages, except for liability resulting from:
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actual receipt of an improper benefit or profit in money, property or services; or |
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a final judgment based upon a finding of active and deliberate dishonesty by the director or officer that was material to the cause of action adjudicated |
for which Maryland law prohibits such exemption from liability.
In
addition, our charter authorizes us to obligate our company to indemnify our
present and former directors and officers for actions taken by them in those
capacities to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law. Our bylaws require
us to indemnify each present or former director or officer, to the maximum
extent permitted by Maryland law, in the defense of any proceeding to which he
or she is made, or threatened to be made, a party because of his or her service
to us. In addition, we may be obligated to fund the defense costs incurred by our
directors and officers. See “Certain Provisions of Maryland General Corporation
Law and Our Charter and Bylaws—Limitation on Liability of Directors and
Officers; Indemnification and Advance of Expenses.”
Tax Risks
Your investment has various federal income tax risks.
This summary of certain tax risks is limited to the federal tax risks addressed below. Additional risks or issues may exist that are not addressed in this prospectus and that could affect the federal tax treatment of us or you. Because this prospectus was written in connection with the marketing of our common stock, it is not intended to be used and cannot be used by you to avoid penalties that may be imposed on stockholders under the Internal Revenue
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Code, or the Code. We strongly urge you to review carefully the discussion under “Certain Federal Income Tax Considerations” and to seek advice based on your particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor concerning the effects of federal, state and local income tax law on an investment in our common stock and on your individual tax situation.
Complying with REIT requirements may cause us to forego otherwise attractive opportunities.
To qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, we must continually satisfy various tests regarding the sources of our income, the nature and diversification of our assets, the amounts we distribute to stockholders and the ownership of our stock. To meet these tests, we may be required to forego investments we might otherwise make. We may be required to make distributions to you at disadvantageous times or when we do not have funds readily available for distribution. Thus, compliance with the REIT requirements may hinder our investment performance.
Complying with REIT requirements may force us to liquidate otherwise attractive investments.
To
qualify as a REIT, we generally must ensure that at the end of each calendar
quarter at least 75% of the value of our total assets consists of cash, cash
items, government securities and qualified REIT real estate assets, including
certain mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities. The remainder of our
investment in securities (other than government securities and qualifying real
estate assets) generally cannot include more than 10% of the outstanding voting
securities of any one issuer or more than 10% of the total value of the
outstanding securities of any one issuer. In addition, in general, no more than
5% of the value of our assets (other than government securities and qualifying
real estate assets) can consist of the securities of any one issuer, and no
more than 25% of the value of our total securities can be represented by
securities of one or more TRSs. See “Certain Federal Income Tax
Considerations—Taxation of Our Company—Asset Tests.” If we fail to comply with
these requirements at the end of any quarter, we must correct the failure
within 30 days after the end of such calendar quarter or qualify for certain
statutory relief provisions to avoid losing our REIT status and suffering
adverse tax consequences. As a result, we may be required to liquidate from our
portfolio otherwise attractive investments. These actions could have the effect
of reducing our income and amounts available for distribution to you.
Potential characterization of distributions or gain on sale may be treated as unrelated business taxable income to tax-exempt investors.
If
(1) all or a portion of our assets are subject to the rules relating to taxable
mortgage pools, (2) we are a “pension-held REIT,” (3) a tax-exempt stockholder
has incurred debt to purchase or hold our common stock, or (4) the residual
Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit interests, or REMICs, we buy generate
“excess inclusion income,” then a portion of the distributions to and, in the
case of a stockholder described in clause (3), gains realized on the sale of
common stock by such tax-exempt stockholder may be subject to federal income
tax as unrelated business taxable income under the Internal Revenue Code. See
“Certain Federal Income Tax Considerations—Taxation of Our Company—Taxable
Mortgage Pools.”
Classification of a securitization or financing arrangement we enter into as a taxable mortgage pool could subject us or certain of you to increased taxation.
We
intend to structure our securitization and financing arrangements as to not
create a taxable mortgage pool. However, if we have borrowings with two or more
maturities and (1) those borrowings are secured by mortgages or mortgage-backed
securities and (2) the payments made on the borrowings are related to the
payments received on the underlying assets, then the borrowings and the pool of
mortgages or mortgage-backed securities to which such borrowings relate may be
classified as a taxable mortgage pool under the Internal Revenue Code. If any
part of our investments were to be treated as a taxable mortgage pool, then our
REIT status would not be impaired, but a portion of the taxable income we
recognize may, under regulations to be issued by the Treasury Department, be
characterized as “excess inclusion” income and allocated among our stockholders
to the extent of and generally in proportion to the distributions we make to
each stockholder. Any excess inclusion income would:
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not be allowed to be offset by a stockholder’s net operating losses; |
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be subject to a tax as unrelated business income if a stockholder were a tax-exempt stockholder; |
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be subject to the application of federal income tax withholding at the maximum rate (without reduction for any otherwise applicable income tax treaty) with respect to amounts allocable to foreign stockholders; and |
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be taxable (at the highest corporate tax rate) to us, rather than to you, to the extent the excess inclusion income relates to stock held by disqualified organizations (generally, tax-exempt companies not subject to tax on unrelated business income, including governmental organizations). |
Failure to qualify as a REIT would subject us to federal income tax, which would reduce the cash available for distribution to you.
We intend to operate in a manner that is intended to cause us to qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes commencing with our taxable year ending on December 31, 2007. However, the federal income tax laws governing REITs are extremely complex, and interpretations of the federal income tax laws governing qualification as a REIT are limited. Qualifying as a REIT requires us to meet various tests regarding the nature of our assets and our income, the ownership of our outstanding stock, and the amount of our distributions on an ongoing basis. While we intend to operate so that we will qualify as a REIT, given the highly complex nature of the rules governing REITs, the ongoing importance of factual determinations, including the tax treatment of certain investments we may make, and the possibility of future changes in our circumstances, no assurance can be given that we will so qualify for any particular year. If we fail to qualify as a REIT in any calendar year and we do not qualify for certain statutory relief provisions, we would be required to pay federal income tax on our taxable income. We might need to borrow money or sell assets to pay that tax. Our payment of income tax would decrease the amount of our income available for distribution to you. Furthermore, if we fail to maintain our qualification as a REIT and we do not qualify for certain statutory relief provisions, we no longer would be required to distribute substantially all of our REIT taxable income to our stockholders. Unless our failure to qualify as a REIT were excused under federal tax laws, we would be disqualified from taxation as a REIT for the four taxable years following the year during which qualification was lost.
Failure to make required distributions would subject us to tax, which would reduce the cash available for distribution to you.
To qualify as a REIT, we must distribute to our stockholders each calendar year at least 90% of our REIT taxable income (including certain items of non-cash income), determined without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and excluding net capital gain. To the extent that we satisfy the 90% distribution requirement, but distribute less than 100% of our taxable income, we will be subject to federal corporate income tax on our undistributed income. In addition, we will incur a 4% nondeductible excise tax on the amount, if any, by which our distributions in any calendar year are less than the sum of:
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85% of our REIT ordinary income for that year; |
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intend to distribute our REIT taxable income to our stockholders in a manner
intended to satisfy the 90% distribution requirement and to avoid both
corporate income tax and the 4% nondeductible excise tax. However, there is no
requirement that TRSs distribute their after-tax net income to their parent
REIT or their stockholders. Our taxable income may substantially exceed our net
income as determined based on GAAP because, for example, realized capital
losses will be deducted in determining our GAAP net income, but may not be
deductible in computing our taxable income. In addition, we may invest in
assets that generate taxable income in excess of economic income or in advance
of the corresponding cash flow from the assets. To the extent that we generate
such non-cash taxable income in a taxable year, we may incur corporate income
tax and the 4% nondeductible excise tax on that income if we do not distribute
such income to our stockholders in that year. As a result of the foregoing, we
may generate less cash flow than taxable income in a particular year. In that
event, we may be required to use cash reserves, incur debt, or liquidate
non-cash assets at rates or at times that we regard as unfavorable to satisfy
the distribution requirement and to avoid corporate income tax and the 4%
nondeductible excise tax in that year. Moreover, our ability to distribute cash
is restricted by our financing facilities
Ownership limitations may restrict change of control or business combination opportunities in which you might receive a premium for their shares.
In
order for us to qualify as a REIT for each taxable year after 2007, no more
than 50% in value of our outstanding capital stock may be owned, directly or
indirectly, by five or fewer individuals during the last half of any calendar
year. “Individuals” for this purpose include natural persons, private
foundations, some employee
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benefit plans
and trusts, and some charitable trusts. To preserve our REIT qualification, our
charter generally prohibits any person from directly or indirectly owning more
than 9.8% in value or in number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of
any class or series of the outstanding shares of our capital stock. This
ownership limitation could have the effect of discouraging a takeover or other
transaction in which holders of our common stock might receive a premium for
their shares over the then prevailing market price or which holders might
believe to be otherwise in their best interests.
Our ownership of and relationship with any TRS which we may form or acquire in the future will be limited, and a failure to comply with the limits would jeopardize our REIT status and may result in the application of a 100% excise tax.
A
REIT may own up to 100% of the stock of one or more TRSs. A TRS may earn income
that would not be qualifying income if earned directly by the parent REIT. Both
the subsidiary and the REIT must jointly elect to treat the subsidiary as a
TRS. Overall, no more than 25% of the value of a REIT’s assets may consist of
stock or securities of one or more TRSs. A TRS will pay federal, state and
local income tax at regular corporate rates on any income that it earns. In
addition, the TRS rules impose a 100% excise tax on certain transactions
between a TRS and its parent REIT that are not conducted on an arm’s-length
basis. The TRS that we may form in the future would pay federal, state and
local income tax on its taxable income, and its after-tax net income would be
available for distribution to us but would not be required to be distributed to
us. We anticipate that the aggregate value of the TRS stock and securities
owned by us will be less than 25% of the value of our total assets (including
the TRS stock and securities). Furthermore, we will monitor the value of our
investments in our TRSs to ensure compliance with the rule that no more than
25% of the value of our assets may consist of TRS stock and securities (which
is applied at the end of each calendar quarter). In addition, we will
scrutinize all of our transactions with taxable REIT subsidiaries to ensure
that they are entered into on arm’s-length terms to avoid incurring the 100%
excise tax described above. There can be no assurance, however, that we will be
able to comply with the 25% limitation discussed above or to avoid application
of the 100% excise tax discussed above.
We could fail to qualify as a REIT or we could become subject to a penalty tax if income we recognize from certain investments that are treated or could be treated as equity interests in a foreign corporation exceeds 5% of our gross income in a taxable year.
We may invest in securities, such as subordinated interests in certain CDO offerings, that are treated or could be treated for federal (and applicable state and local) corporate income tax purposes as equity interests in foreign corporations. Categories of income that qualify for the 95% gross income test include dividends, interest and certain other enumerated classes of passive income. Under certain circumstances, the federal income tax rules concerning controlled foreign corporations and passive foreign investment companies require that the owner of an equity interest in a foreign corporation include amounts in income without regard to the owner’s receipt of any distributions from the foreign corporation. Amounts required to be included in income under those rules are technically neither actual dividends nor any of the other enumerated categories of passive income specified in the 95% gross income test. Furthermore, there is no clear precedent with respect to the qualification of such income under the 95% gross income test. Due to this uncertainty, we intend to limit our direct investment in securities that are or could be treated as equity interests in a foreign corporation such that the sum of the amounts we are required to include in income with respect to such securities and other amounts of non-qualifying income do not exceed 5% of our gross income. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in this regard. To avoid any risk of failing the 95% gross income test, we may be required to invest only indirectly, through a domestic TRS, in any securities that are or could be considered to be equity interests in a foreign corporation. This, of course, will result in any income recognized from any such investment to be subject to federal income tax in the hands of the TRS, which may, in turn, reduce our yield on the investment.
Liquidation of our assets may jeopardize our REIT qualification.
To qualify as a REIT, we must comply with requirements regarding our assets and our sources of income. If we are compelled to liquidate our investments to repay obligations to our lenders, we may be unable to comply with these requirements, ultimately jeopardizing our qualification as a REIT, or we may be subject to a 100% tax on any resultant gain if we sell assets in transactions that are considered to be prohibited transactions.
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The tax on prohibited transactions will limit our ability to engage in transactions, including certain methods of securitizing mortgage loans that would be treated as sales for federal income tax purposes.
A REIT’s net income from prohibited transactions is subject to a 100% tax. In general, prohibited transactions are sales or other dispositions of property, other than foreclosure property, but including mortgage loans, held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business. We might be subject to this tax if we sold or securitized our assets in a manner that was treated as a sale for federal income tax purposes. Therefore, to avoid the prohibited transactions tax, we may choose not to engage in certain sales of assets at the REIT level and may securitize assets only in transactions that are treated as financing transactions and not as sales for tax purposes even though such transactions may not be the optimal execution on a pre-tax basis. We could avoid any prohibited transactions tax concerns by engaging in securitization transactions through a TRS, subject to certain limitations described above. To the extent that we engage in such activities through domestic TRSs, the income associated with such activities will be subject to federal (and applicable state and local) corporate income tax.
Characterization of the repurchase agreements we enter into to finance our investments as sales for tax purposes rather than as secured lending transactions would adversely affect our ability to qualify as a REIT.
We
have entered into and will enter into repurchase agreements with a variety of
counterparties to achieve our desired amount of leverage for the assets in
which we invest. When we enter into a repurchase agreement, we generally sell
assets to our counterparty to the agreement and receive cash from the
counterparty. The counterparty is obligated to resell the assets back to us at
the end of the term of the transaction, which is typically 30 to 90 days. We
believe that for federal income tax purposes we will be treated as the owner of
the assets that are the subject of repurchase agreements and that the repurchase
agreements will be treated as secured lending transactions notwithstanding that
such agreement may transfer record ownership of the assets to the counterparty
during the term of the agreement. It is possible, however, that the IRS could
successfully assert that we did not own these assets during the term of the
repurchase agreements, in which case we could fail to qualify as a REIT.
Complying with REIT requirements may limit our ability to hedge effectively.
The
REIT provisions of the Internal Revenue Code substantially limit our ability to
hedge mortgage-backed securities and related borrowings. Under these
provisions, our annual gross income from non-qualifying hedges, together with
any other income not generated from qualifying real estate assets, cannot
exceed 25% of our annual gross income. In addition, our aggregate gross income
from non-qualifying hedges, fees, and certain other non-qualifying sources
cannot exceed 5% of our annual gross income. As a result, we might have to limit
our use of advantageous hedging techniques or implement those hedges through a
TRS, which we may form in the future. This could increase the cost of our
hedging activities or expose us to greater risks associated with changes in
interest rates than we would otherwise want to bear.
We may be subject to adverse legislative or regulatory tax changes that could reduce the market price of our common stock.
At any time, the federal income tax laws or regulations governing REITs or the administrative interpretations of those laws or regulations may be amended. We cannot predict when or if any new federal income tax law, regulation or administrative interpretation, or any amendment to any existing federal income tax law, regulation or administrative interpretation, will be adopted, promulgated or become effective and any such law, regulation or interpretation may take effect retroactively. We and you could be adversely affected by any such change in, or any new, federal income tax law, regulation or administrative interpretation.
Dividends payable by REITs do not qualify for the reduced tax rates.
Legislation enacted in 2003 generally reduces the maximum tax rate for dividends payable to domestic stockholders that are individuals, trusts and estates from 38.6% to 15% (through 2010). Dividends payable by REITs, however, are generally not eligible for the reduced rates. Although this legislation does not adversely affect the taxation of REITs or dividends paid by REITs, the more favorable rates applicable to regular corporate dividends could cause investors who are individuals, trusts and estates to perceive investments in REITs to be relatively less attractive than investments in stock of non-REIT corporations that pay dividends, which could adversely affect the value of the stock of REITs, including our common stock.
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We make forward-looking statements in this prospectus that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include information about possible or assumed future results of our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, plans and objectives. When we use the words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “plan,” “continue,” “intend,” “should,” “may,” “would,” “will” or similar expressions, we intend to identify forward-looking statements. Statements regarding the following subjects, among others, are forward-looking by their nature:
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our business and investment strategy; |
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our projected financial and operating results; |
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our ability to maintain existing financing arrangements, obtain future financing arrangements and the terms of such arrangements; |
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general volatility of the securities markets in which we invest; |
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• |
our expected investments; |
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• |
changes in the value of our investments; |
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|
• |
interest rate mismatches between our mortgage-backed securities and our borrowings used to fund such purchases; |
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|
• |
changes in interest rates and mortgage prepayment rates; |
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|
• |
effects of interest rate caps on our adjustable-rate mortgage-backed securities; |
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|
• |
rates of default or decreased recovery rates on our investments; |
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|
• |
prepayments of the mortgage and other loans underlying our mortgage-backed or other asset-backed securities; |
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|
• |
the degree to which our hedging strategies may or may not protect us from interest rate volatility; |
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|
• |
impact of and changes in governmental regulations, tax law and rates, accounting guidance, and similar matters; |
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|
• |
availability of investment opportunities in real estate-related and other securities; |
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|
• |
availability of qualified personnel; |
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|
• |
estimates relating to our ability to make distributions to you in the future; |
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|
• |
our understanding of our competition; |
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|
• |
market trends in our industry, interest rates, the debt securities markets or the general economy; and |
|
|
|
|
|
|
• |
use of the proceeds of this offering. |
The
forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and
expectations of our future performance, taking into account all information
currently available to us. You should not place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements. These beliefs, assumptions and expectations can
change as a result of many possible events or factors, not all of which are
known to us. Some of these factors are described in this prospectus under the
headings “Prospectus Summary,” “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business.” If a
change occurs, our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of
operations may vary materially from those expressed in our forward-looking
statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which
it is made. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is
impossible for us to predict those events or how they may affect us. Except as
required by law, we are not obligated to, and do not intend to, update or
revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
49
We
estimate that our net proceeds from this public offering of our shares of
common stock, after deducting the underwriting discount and our estimated
offering expenses, will be approximately $997.0 million (based on the price on the
cover of this prospectus). We estimate that our net proceeds will be
approximately $1.15 billion if the underwriters exercise their overallotment
option in full. In addition, we may at our option pay the underwriters an
aggregate amount of up to 0.25% of the aggregate proceeds raised from sales of
shares sold in this offering based on the underwriters’ performance in relation
to this offering.
Concurrent with this offering, we will sell to Annaly 26,548,672 shares of common stock in a private offering at the same price per share as the price per share of this public offering. Upon completion of this offering and the concurrent private offering, Annaly will own approximately 9.6% of our outstanding common stock (which percentage excludes shares to be sold pursuant to the exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option and unvested shares of our restricted common stock granted to our executive officers and employees of our Manager or its affiliates). We will not pay any underwriting fees, commissions or discounts with respect to the shares we sell to Annaly. We plan to invest the net proceeds of this offering and the concurrent sale of shares to Annaly in accordance with our investment objectives and the strategies described in this prospectus. See “Business—Our Investment Strategy.”
We intend to use the net proceeds of this offering to finance the acquisition of non-Agency RMBS, Agency RMBS, prime and Alt-A mortgage loans, CMBS, CDOs and other consumer or non-consumer ABS. Since we commenced operations in November 2007, we have focused our investment activities on acquiring non-Agency RMBS and on purchasing residential mortgage loans that have been originated by select high-quality originators, including the retail lending operations of leading commercial banks. Our investment portfolio at June 30, 2008 was weighted toward non-Agency RMBS. After the consummation of this offering, we expect that over the near term our investment portfolio will continue to be weighted toward RMBS, subject to maintaining our REIT qualification and our 1940 Act exemption.
We
may also use the proceeds for other general corporate purposes such as
repayment of outstanding indebtedness, working capital, and for liquidity
needs, although we presently do not intend to use such net proceeds in the near
term to pay down our repurchase facility with Annaly. Pending any such uses, we
may invest the net proceeds from the sale of any securities in interest-bearing
short-term investments, including money market accounts that are consistent
with our intention to qualify as a REIT, or may use them to reduce short term
indebtedness. These investments are expected to provide a lower net return than
we hope to achieve from investments in our intended use of proceeds of this
offering. To the extent we raise more proceeds in this offering, we will
make more investments. To the extent we raise less proceeds in this offering,
we will make fewer investments.
50
We
have elected and intend to qualify
to be taxed as a REIT for federal income tax purposes commencing with our
taxable year ending on December 31, 2007. Federal income tax law requires that
a REIT distribute with respect to each year at least 90% of its REIT taxable
income, determined without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and
excluding any net capital gain. If our cash available for distribution is less
than 90% of our REIT taxable income, we could be required to sell assets or
borrow funds to make cash distributions or we may make a portion of the
required distribution in the form of a taxable stock distribution or
distribution of debt securities. To the extent we distribute less than 90% of
our REIT taxable income in 2007, then we will rectify this shortfall through
throwback dividends. We will not be required to make distributions with respect
to activities conducted through the TRS which we may form in the future. For
more information, please see “Certain Federal Income Tax
Considerations—Taxation of Our Company.”
To satisfy the requirements to qualify as a REIT and generally not be subject to federal income and excise tax, we intend to make regular quarterly distributions of all or substantially all of our REIT taxable income to holders of our common stock out of assets legally available therefor. On December 20, 2007, our board of directors declared a quarterly distribution of $0.9 million, or $0.025 per share of our common stock. This dividend was paid on January 25, 2008 to stockholders of record on December 31, 2007. On March 19, 2008, our board of directors declared a quarterly distribution of $9.8 million, or $0.26 per share of our common stock. This dividend was paid on April 30, 2008 to stockholders of record on March 31, 2008. On June 2, 2008, our board of directors declared a quarterly distribution of $6.0 million, or $0.16 per share of our common stock. This dividend was paid on July 31, 2008 to stockholders of record on June 12, 2008. On September 9, 2008, we declared the third quarter 2008 common stock cash dividend of $0.16 per share of our common stock. This dividend is payable October 31, 2008 to common shareholders of record on September 18, 2008. Purchasers in this offering will not participate in this quarterly distribution. Our GAAP net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2008 was $21.0 million and our Core Earnings were $17.0 million. Any future distributions we make will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon our earnings and financial condition, maintenance of our REIT status, applicable provisions of the Maryland General Corporation Law, or MGCL, and such other factors as our board of directors deems relevant. Our earnings and financial condition will be affected by various factors, including the net interest and other income from our portfolio, our operating expenses and any other expenditures. For more information regarding risk factors that could materially adversely affect our earnings and financial condition, please see “Risk Factors.”
We
anticipate that our distributions generally will be taxable as ordinary income
to you, although a portion of the distributions may be designated by us as
qualified dividend income or capital gain or may constitute a return of
capital. We will furnish annually to each of you a statement setting forth
distributions paid during the preceding year and their characterization as
ordinary income, return of capital, qualified dividend income or capital gain.
For more information, please see “Certain Federal Income Tax Considerations—Taxation
of Owners.”
51
PRICE RANGE OF OUR COMMON STOCK AND DISTRIBUTIONS
Our
common stock began trading publicly on November 16, 2007 and is traded on the
New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol “CIM”. As of October 10, 2008,
there were 38,988,683 shares of common stock issued and outstanding and 82
stockholders of record. The following table sets forth, for the periods
indicated, the high, low, and closing sales prices per share of our common
stock as reported on the New York Stock Exchange composite tape and the cash
dividends declared per share of our common stock.
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Stock Prices |
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High |
|
Low |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
October 1, 2008 to October 13, 2008 |
|
$ |
6.30 |
|
$ |
3.24 |
|
|
July 1, 2008 to September 30, 2008 |
|
$ |
9.15 |
|
$ |
4.26 |
|
|
April 1, 2008 to June 30, 2008 |
|
$ |
14.34 |
|
$ |
8.87 |
|
|
January 1, 2008 to March 31, 2008 |
|
$ |
19.79 |
|
$ |
11.10 |
|
|
November 16, 2007 to December 31, 2007 |
|
$ |
17.88 |
|
$ |
14.10 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Common
Dividends |
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
April 1, 2008 to June 30, 2008 |
|
|
$ |
0.16 |
|
|
|
January 1, 2008 to March 31, 2008 |
|
|
$ |
0.26 |
|
|
|
November 21, 2007 to December 31, 2007 |
|
|
$ |
0.025 |
|
|
On September 9, 2008, we declared the third quarter 2008 common stock cash dividend of $0.16 per share of our common stock. This dividend is payable October 31, 2008 to common shareholders of record on September 18, 2008. Purchasers in this offering will not participate in this quarterly distribution.
The
closing sales price of our common stock on October 13, 2008 was $4.18 per
share.
52
The
following table sets forth (1) our actual capitalization at June 30, 2008 and
(2) our capitalization as adjusted to reflect the effects of (i) the sale of
our common stock in this offering at an offering price of $4.18 per share after
deducting the underwriters’ commissions and estimated offering expenses payable
by us and (ii) the concurrent private offering to Annaly of 26,548,672 shares
of our common stock in a private offering at the same price per share as the
price per share of this public offering. You should read this table together
with “Use of Proceeds” included elsewhere in this prospectus.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of June 30, 2008 |
|
||||||
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|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
Actual(1) |
|
As Adjusted(1)(2)(3)(4)(5) |
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|
(dollars in thousands, except per share amounts) |
|
||||||
|
|
Stockholders’ equity: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
Common stock, par value $.01 per share; |
|
$ |
378 |
|
|
$ |
3,143 |
|
|
|
|
Additional paid-in-capital |
|
|
533,026 |
|
|
|
1,638,234 |
|
|
|
|
Accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income |
|
|
(104,980 |
) |
|
|
(104,980 |
) |
|
|
|
Accumulated deficit |
|
|
(40,745 |
) |
|
|
(40,745 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total stockholders’ equity |
|
$ |
387,679 |
|
|
$ |
1,495,652 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1) |
Does not include 1,227,400 unvested shares of restricted common stock granted pursuant to our equity incentive plan as of June 30, 2008. Includes 11,167 shares of restricted common stock granted pursuant to our equity incentive plan as of June 30, 2008 which were forfeited subsequent to June 30, 2008. |
|
|
|
|
(2) |
Does not include $123.5 million in net realized losses on assets sold and interest rate swaps terminated subsequent to June 30, 2008. |
|
|
|
|
(3) |
Includes (i) 250,000,000 shares which will be sold in this offering at an offering price of $4.18 per share for net proceeds of approximately $997.0 million after deducting the underwriters’ commission and estimated offering expenses of approximately $975 thousand and (ii) the concurrent private offering to Annaly of 26,548,672 shares of our common stock in a private offering at the same price per share as the price per share of this public offering. The shares sold to Annaly will be sold at the offering price without payment of any underwriters’ commission. See “Use of Proceeds.” |
|
|
|
|
(4) |
Does not include the underwriters’ option to purchase or place up to 37,500,000 additional shares. |
|
|
|
|
(5) |
Does not include the payment of a discretionary amount to the underwriters of up to 0.25% of the aggregate proceeds raised from sales of shares sold in this offering based on the underwriters’ performance in relation to this offering. |
|
|
|
|
(6) |
Our charter provides that we may issue up to 550,000,000 shares of stock, consisting of up to 500,000,000 shares of common stock having a par value of $0.01 per share and up to 50,000,000 shares of preferred stock having a par value of $0.01 per share. We have no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding and there will be no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding after this public offering and the concurrent private offering. |
|
|
|
53
MANAGEMENT’S
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION
AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes to those statements included in this prospectus. The discussion may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are those that are not historical in nature. As a result of many factors, such as those set forth under “Risk Factors” in this prospectus, our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements.
Executive Summary
We
are a specialty finance company that invests in residential mortgage-backed
securities, residential mortgage loans, real estate related securities and
various other asset classes. We are externally managed by FIDAC. We have elected and intend to qualify to
be taxed as a REIT for federal income tax purposes commencing with our taxable
year ending on December 31, 2007. Our
targeted asset classes and the principal investments we have made and expect to
continue to make in each are as follows:
|
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|
• |
RMBS, consisting of: |
||
|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
o |
Non-Agency RMBS, including investment-grade and non-investment grade classes, including the BB-rated, B-rated and non-rated classes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
|
o |
Agency RMBS |
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|
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|
• |
Whole mortgage loans, consisting of: |
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|
o |
Prime mortgage loans |
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|
|
|
|
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|
|
o |
Jumbo prime mortgage loans |
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
o |
Alt-A mortgage loans |
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|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
• |
ABS, consisting of: |
||
|
|
|
|
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|
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|
||||
|
|
|
|
o |
CMBS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
o |
Debt and equity tranches of CDOs |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
o |
Consumer and non-consumer ABS, including investment-grade and non-investment grade classes, including the BB-rated, B-rated and non-rated classes |
We
completed our initial public offering on November 21, 2007. In that offering
and in a concurrent private offering we raised proceeds before offering
expenses of approximately $533.6 million. We have commenced investing these
proceeds and, as of June 30, 2008, had a portfolio of approximately $1.1
billion of RMBS, approximately $150.1 million of whole mortgage loans, and
approximately $613.6 million in securitized loans.
Our objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns to our investors over the long-term, primarily through dividends and secondarily through capital appreciation. We intend to achieve this objective by investing in a broad class of financial assets to construct an investment portfolio that is designed to achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns and that is structured to comply with the various federal income tax requirements for REIT status.
Since
we commenced operations in November 2007, we have focused our investment
activities on acquiring non-Agency RMBS and on purchasing residential mortgage
loans that have been originated by select high-quality originators, including
the retail lending operations of leading commercial banks. Our investment
portfolio at June 30, 2008 was weighted toward non-Agency RMBS. After the
consummation of this offering, we expect that over the near term our investment
portfolio will continue to be weighted toward RMBS, subject to maintaining our REIT
qualification and our 1940 Act exemption. In addition, we have engaged in and
anticipate continuing to engage in transactions with residential mortgage
lending operations of leading commercial banks and other high-quality
originators in which we identify and re-underwrite residential mortgage loans
owned by such entities, and rather than purchasing and securitizing such
residential mortgage loans ourselves, we and the originator would structure the
securitization and we would purchase the resulting mezzanine and subordinate
non-Agency RMBS. We may also engage in similar transactions with non-Agency
RMBS in which we would acquire AAA-
54
rated non-Agency RMBS and
immediately re-securitize those securities. We would sell the resulting
AAA-rated super senior RMBS and retain the AAA-rated mezzanine RMBS.
Our investment strategy is intended to take advantage of opportunities in the current interest rate and credit environment. We will adjust our strategy to changing market conditions by shifting our asset allocations across these various asset classes as interest rate and credit cycles change over time. We believe that our strategy, combined with our Manager’s experience, will enable us to pay dividends and achieve capital appreciation throughout changing market cycles. We expect to take a long-term view of assets and liabilities, and our reported earnings and mark-to-market valuations at the end of a financial reporting period will not significantly impact our objective of providing attractive risk-adjusted returns to our stockholders over the long-term.
We
use leverage to seek to increase our potential returns and to fund the
acquisition of our assets. Our income is generated primarily by the difference,
or net spread, between the income we earn on our assets and the cost of our
borrowings. We have and expect to continue to finance our investments using a
variety of financing sources including repurchase agreements, warehouse
facilities, securitizations, commercial paper and term financing CDOs. We have
and expect to continue to manage our debt by utilizing interest rate hedges,
such as interest rate swaps, to reduce the effect of interest rate fluctuations
related to our debt. As of September 30, 2008, we had outstanding indebtedness
of approximately $1.119 billion, which consists of recourse leverage of
approximately $620.0 million and non-recourse securitized financing of
approximately $499.0 million.
Recent Developments
We
commenced operations in November 2007 in the midst of challenging market
conditions which affected the cost and availability of financing from the
facilities with which we expected to finance our investments. These instruments
included repurchase agreements, warehouse facilities, securitizations,
asset-backed commercial paper, or ABCP, and term CDOs. The liquidity crisis
which commenced in August 2007 affected each of these sources—and their
individual providers—to different degrees; some sources generally became
unavailable, some remained available but at a high cost, and some were largely
unaffected. For example, in the repurchase agreement market, non-Agency RMBS
became harder to finance, depending on the type of assets collateralizing the
RMBS. The amount, term and margin requirements associated with these types of
financings were also impacted. At that time, warehouse facilities to finance
whole loan prime residential mortgages were generally available from major
banks, but at significantly higher cost and had greater margin requirements
than previously offered. It was also extremely difficult to term finance whole
loans through securitization or bonds issued by a CDO structure. Financing
using ABCP froze as issuers became unable to place (or roll) their securities,
which resulted, in some instances, in forced sales of mortgage-backed
securities, or MBS, and other securities which further negatively impacted the
market value of these assets.
Although the credit markets had been undergoing much turbulence, as we started ramping up our portfolio, we noted a slight easing. We entered into a number of repurchase agreements we could use to finance RMBS. In January 2008, we entered into two whole mortgage loan repurchase agreements. As we began to see the availability of financing, we were also seeing better underwriting standards used to originate new mortgages. We commenced buying and financing RMBS and also entered into agreements to purchase whole mortgage loans. We purchased high credit quality assets which we believed we would be readily able to finance.
Beginning
in mid-February 2008, credit markets experienced a dramatic and sudden adverse
change. The severity of the limitation on liquidity was largely unanticipated
by the markets. Credit once again froze, and in the mortgage market, valuations
of non-Agency RMBS and whole mortgage loans came under severe pressure. This
credit crisis began in early February 2008, when a heavily leveraged investor
announced that it had to de-lever and liquidate a portfolio of approximately
$30 billion of non-Agency RMBS. Prices of these types of securities dropped
dramatically, and lenders started lowering the prices on non-Agency RMBS that
they held as collateral to secure the loans they had extended. The subsequent
failure in March 2008 of a major investment bank worsened the crisis. During
the six months ended June 30, 2008, due to the deterioration in the market
value of our assets, we received and met margin calls under our repurchase
agreements, which resulted in our obtaining additional funding from third
parties, including from Annaly (see “Certain Relationships and Related
Transactions”), and taking other steps to increase our liquidity. Additionally,
the disruptions during the six months ended June 30, 2008 resulted in us not
being in compliance with the net income covenant in one of our whole loan
repurchase agreements and the liquidity covenants in our other whole loan
repurchase agreement at a time during which we had no amounts outstanding under
those facilities. We amended these covenants, and on July 29, 2008, we
terminated those facilities to avoid paying non-usage fees. Although we made no
asset sales during the quarter ended June 30, 2008, for the third
55
quarter of
2008, we sold assets with a carrying value of $432.5 million in AAA-rated non-Agency
RMBS for a loss of approximately $113 million, which includes a realized loss
of $11.5 million related to the August 28, 2008 transaction described below,
and terminated $983.4 million in notional interest rate swaps for a loss of
approximately $10.5 million, which together resulted in a net realized loss of
approximately $123.5 million.
The challenges of the first quarter of 2008 have continued into the second and third quarters, as financing difficulties have severely pressured liquidity and asset values. In September 2008, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., a major investment bank, experienced a major liquidity crisis and failed. Securities trading remains limited and mortgage securities financing markets remain challenging as the industry continues to report negative news. This dislocation in the non-Agency mortgage sector has made it difficult for us to obtain short-term financing on favorable terms. As a result, we have completed loan securitizations in order to obtain long-term financing and terminated our un-utilized whole loan repurchase agreements in order to avoid paying non-usage fees under those agreements. In addition, we have continued to seek funding from Annaly. Under these circumstances, we expect to take actions intended to protect our liquidity, which may include reducing borrowings and disposing of assets as well as raising capital in this offering and the concurrent private offering to Annaly.
During the six months ended June 30, 2008, due to the deterioration in the market value of our assets, we received and met margin calls under our repurchase agreements, which resulted in our having to amend our liquidity covenants in one facility, obtaining additional funding from third parties, including from Annaly (see “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions”), and taking other steps to increase our liquidity. Additionally, the disruptions during this period resulted in us not being in compliance with the net income covenant in another one of our mortgage loan facilities. On July 29, 2008, we terminated both mortgage loan repurchase facilities. Non-Agency RMBS and whole mortgage loan valuations remain volatile and under severe pressure. Securities trading remains limited and mortgage securities financing markets remain challenging as the industry continues to report negative news. As a result, we expect to operate with a low level of leverage and to continue to take actions that would support available cash.
During this period of market dislocation, fiscal and monetary policymakers have established new liquidity facilities for primary dealers and commercial banks, reduced short-term interest rates, and passed legislation that is intended to address the challenges of mortgage borrowers and lenders. This legislation, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, seeks to forestall home foreclosures for distressed borrowers and assist communities with foreclosure problems. Although these aggressive steps are intended to protect and support the US housing and mortgage market, we continue to operate under very difficult market conditions.
Since June 30, 2008, there have been increased market concerns about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae’s ability to withstand future credit losses associated with securities held in their investment portfolios, and on which they provide guarantees, without the direct support of the federal government. Recently, the government passed the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have recently been placed into the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or FHFA, their federal regulator, pursuant to its powers under The Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008, a part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. As the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the FHFA controls and directs the operations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and may (1) take over the assets of and operate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with all the powers of the shareholders, the directors, and the officers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and conduct all business of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; (2) collect all obligations and money due to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; (3) perform all functions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which are consistent with the conservator’s appointment; (4) preserve and conserve the assets and property of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and (5) contract for assistance in fulfilling any function, activity, action or duty of the conservator.
In
addition to FHFA becoming the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, (i)
the U.S. Department of Treasury and FHFA have entered into preferred stock
purchase agreements between the U.S. Department of Treasury and Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac pursuant to which the U.S. Department of Treasury will ensure that
each of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac maintains a positive net worth; (ii) the
U.S. Department of Treasury has established a new secured lending credit
facility which will be available to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal
Home Loan Banks, which is intended to serve as a liquidity backstop, which will
be available until December 2009; and (iii) the U.S. Department of Treasury has
initiated a temporary program to purchase RMBS issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac. Given the highly fluid and evolving nature of these events, it is unclear
how our business will be impacted. Based upon the further activity of the U.S.
government or market response to developments at Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, our
business could be adversely impacted.
56
The
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, or EESA, was recently enacted.
The EESA provides the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury with the authority to
establish a Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to purchase from financial
institutions up to $700 billion of residential or commercial mortgages and any
securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to
such mortgages, that in each case was originated or issued on or before March
14, 2008, as well as any other financial instrument that the U.S. Secretary of
the Treasury, after consultation with the Chairman of the Board of Governors of
the Federal Reserve System, determines the purchase of which is necessary to
promote financial market stability, upon transmittal of such determination, in
writing, to the appropriate committees of the U.S. Congress. The EESA also
provides for a program that would allow companies to insure their troubled
assets.
There can be no assurance that the EESA will have a beneficial impact on the financial markets, including current extreme levels of volatility. To the extent the market does not respond favorably to the TARP or the TARP does not function as intended, our business may not receive the anticipated positive impact from the legislation. In addition, the U.S. Government, Federal Reserve and other governmental and regulatory bodies have taken or are considering taking other actions to address the financial crisis. We cannot predict whether or when such actions may occur or what impact, if any, such actions could have on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
On July 25, 2008, we sponsored a $151.2 million securitization whereby we securitized our then-current inventory of mortgage loans. In this transaction, we retained all of the securities issued by the securitization trust including approximately $142.4 million of AAA-rated fixed and floating rate senior bonds and $8.8 million in subordinated bonds. This transaction will be accounted for as a sale. On August 28, 2008, we sold approximately $74.9 million of the AAA-rated fixed and floating rate bonds related to the July 25, 2008 securitization to third-party investors and realized a loss of $11.5 million.
On September 9, 2008, we declared the third quarter 2008 common stock cash dividend of $0.16 per share of our common stock. This dividend is payable October 31, 2008 to common shareholders of record on September 18, 2008. Purchasers in this offering will not participate in this quarterly distribution.
On
October 13, 2008, we and FIDAC amended our management agreement to reduce the
base management fee from 1.75% per annum to 1.50% per annum of our
stockholders’ equity and provide that the incentive fees may be paid in cash or
shares of our common stock, at the election of our board of directors.
Trends
We expect the results of our operations to be affected by various factors, many of which are beyond our control. Our results of operations will primarily depend on, among other things, the level of our net interest income, the market value of our assets, and the supply of and demand for such assets. Our net interest income, which reflects the amortization of purchase premiums and accretion of discounts, varies primarily as a result of changes in interest rates, borrowing costs, and prepayment speeds, which is a measurement of how quickly borrowers pay down the unpaid principal balance on their mortgage loans.
Prepayment Speeds. Prepayment speeds, as reflected by the Constant Prepayment Rate, or CPR, vary according to interest rates, the type of investment, conditions in financial markets, competition and other factors, none of which can be predicted with any certainty. In general, when interest rates rise, it is relatively less attractive for borrowers to refinance their mortgage loans, and as a result, prepayment speeds tend to decrease. When interest rates fall, prepayment speeds tend to increase. For mortgage loan and RMBS investments purchased at a premium, as prepayment speeds increase, the amount of income we earn decreases because the purchase premium we paid for the bonds amortizes faster than expected. Conversely, decreases in prepayment speeds result in increased income and can extend the period over which we amortize the purchase premium. For mortgage loan and RMBS investments purchased at a discount, as prepayment speeds increase, the amount of income we earn increases because of the acceleration of the accretion of the discount into interest income. Conversely, decreases in prepayment speeds result in decreased income and can extend the period over which we accrete the purchase discount into interest income.
Rising Interest Rate Environment. As indicated above, as interest rates rise, prepayment speeds generally decrease, increasing our interest income. Rising interest rates, however, increase our financing costs which may result in a net negative impact on our net interest income. In addition, if we acquire Agency and non-Agency RMBS collateralized by monthly reset adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, and three- and five-year hybrid ARMs, such interest rate increases could result in decreases in our net investment income, as there could be a timing mismatch between the interest rate reset dates on our RMBS portfolio and the financing costs of these investments.
57
Monthly reset ARMs are ARMs
on which coupon rates reset monthly based on indices such as the one-month
London Interbank Offering Rate, or LIBOR. Hybrid ARMs are mortgages that have
interest rates that are fixed for an initial period (typically three, five,
seven or ten years) and thereafter reset at regular intervals subject to
interest rate caps.
With respect to our floating rate investments, such interest rate increases should result in increases in our net investment income because our floating rate assets are greater in amount than the related floating rate liabilities. Similarly, such an increase in interest rates should generally result in an increase in our net investment income on fixed-rate investments made by us because our fixed-rate assets would be greater in amount than our fixed-rate liabilities. We expect, however, that our fixed-rate assets would decline in value in a rising interest rate environment and that our net interest spreads on fixed rate assets could decline in a rising interest rate environment to the extent such assets are financed with floating rate debt.
Credit
Risk. One of our
strategic focuses is acquiring assets which we believe to be of high credit
quality. We believe this strategy will generally keep our credit losses and
financing costs low. We retain the risk of potential credit losses on all of
the residential mortgage loans we hold in our portfolio. Additionally, some of
our investments in RMBS may be qualifying interests for purposes of maintaining
our exemption from the 1940 Act because we retain a 100% ownership interest in
the underlying loans. If we purchase all classes of these securitizations, we
have the credit exposure on the underlying loans. Prior to the purchase of
these securities, we conduct a due diligence process that allows us to remove
loans that do not meet our credit standards based on loan-to-value ratios,
borrowers’ credit scores, income and asset documentation and other criteria
that we believe to be important indications of credit risk.
Size of Investment Portfolio. The size of our investment portfolio, as measured by the aggregate unpaid principal balance of our mortgage loans and aggregate principal balance of our mortgage related securities and the other assets we own is also a key revenue driver. Generally, as the size of our investment portfolio grows, the amount of interest income we receive increases. The larger investment portfolio, however, drives increased expenses as we incur additional interest expense to finance the purchase of our assets.
Since changes in interest rates may significantly affect our activities, our operating results depend, in large part, upon our ability to effectively manage interest rate risks and prepayment risks while maintaining our status as a REIT.
Current
Environment. The
current weakness in the broader mortgage markets could adversely affect one or
more of our potential lenders or any of our lenders and could cause one or more
of our potential lenders or any of our lenders to be unwilling or unable to
provide us with financing or require us to post additional collateral. In
general, this could potentially increase our financing costs and reduce our
liquidity or require us to sell assets at an inopportune time. We expect to use
a number of sources to finance our investments, including repurchase
agreements, warehouse facilities, securitizations, asset-backed commercial
paper and term CDOs. Current market conditions have affected the cost and
availability of financing from each of these sources and their individual
providers to different degrees; some sources generally are unavailable, some
are available but at a high cost, and some are largely unaffected. For example,
in the repurchase agreement market, borrowers have been affected differently
depending on the type of security they are financing. Non-Agency RMBS have been
harder to finance, depending on the type of assets collateralizing the RMBS.
The amount, term and margin requirements associated with these types of
financings have been negatively impacted.
Currently,
warehouse facilities to finance whole loan prime residential mortgages are
generally available from major banks, but at significantly higher cost and have
greater margin requirements than previously offered. Many major banks that
offer warehouse facilities have also reduced the amount of capital available to
new entrants and consequently the size of those facilities offered now are
smaller than those previously available. We decided to terminate our two whole
loan repurchase agreements in order to avoid paying non-usage fees under those
agreements.
It is currently a challenging market to term finance whole loans through securitization or bonds issued by a CDO structure. The highly rated senior bonds in these securitizations and CDO structures currently have liquidity, but at much wider spreads than issues priced in recent history. The junior subordinate tranches of these structures currently have few buyers and current market conditions have forced issuers to retain these lower rated bonds rather than sell them.
58
Certain
issuers of ABCP have been unable to place (or roll) their securities, which has
resulted, in some instances, in forced sales of MBS and other securities which
has further negatively impacted the market value of these assets. These market
conditions are fluid and likely to change over time. As a result, the execution
of our investment strategy may be dictated by the cost and availability of
financing from these different sources.
If one or more major market participants fails or otherwise experiences a major liquidity crisis, as was the case for Bear Stearns & Co. in March 2008, and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September 2008, it could negatively impact the marketability of all fixed income securities and this could negatively impact the value of the securities we acquire, thus reducing our net book value. Furthermore, if many of our potential lenders or any of our lenders are unwilling or unable to provide us with financing, we could be forced to sell our securities or residential mortgage loans at an inopportune time when prices are depressed. For example, for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, we sold assets with a carrying value of $394.2 million for an aggregate loss of $32.8 million. While we did not sell any assets during the quarter ended June 30, 2008, for the third quarter of 2008, we sold assets with a carrying value of $432.5 million in AAA-rated non-Agency RMBS for a loss of approximately $113 million and terminated $983.4 million in notional interest rate swaps for a loss of approximately $10.5 million, which together resulted in a net realized loss of approximately $123.5 million.
Since June 30, 2008, there have been increased market concerns about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae’s ability to withstand future credit losses associated with securities held in their investment portfolios, and on which they provide guarantees, without the direct support of the federal government. Recently, the government passed the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008”. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have recently been placed into the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or FHFA, their federal regulator, pursuant to its powers under The Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008, a part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. As the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the FHFA controls and directs the operations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and may (1) take over the assets of and operate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with all the powers of the shareholders, the directors, and the officers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and conduct all business of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; (2) collect all obligations and money due to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; (3) perform all functions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which are consistent with the conservator’s appointment; (4) preserve and conserve the assets and property of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and (5) contract for assistance in fulfilling any function, activity, action or duty of the conservator.
In addition to FHFA becoming the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, (i) the U.S. Department of Treasury and FHFA have entered into preferred stock purchase agreements between the U.S. Department of Treasury and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pursuant to which the U.S. Department of Treasury will ensure that each of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac maintains a positive net worth; (ii) the U.S. Department of Treasury has established a new secured lending credit facility which will be available to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks, which is intended to serve as a liquidity backstop, which will be available until December 2009; and (iii) the U.S. Department of Treasury has initiated a temporary program to purchase RMBS issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Given the highly fluid and evolving nature of these events, it is unclear how our business will be impacted. Based upon the further activity of the U.S. government or market response to developments at Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, our business could be adversely impacted.
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, or EESA, was recently enacted. The EESA provides the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury with the authority to establish a Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to purchase from financial institutions up to $700 billion of residential or commercial mortgages and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages, that in each case was originated or issued on or before March 14, 2008, as well as any other financial instrument that the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, determines the purchase of which is necessary to promote financial market stability, upon transmittal of such determination, in writing, to the appropriate committees of the U.S. Congress. The EESA also provides for a program that would allow companies to insure their troubled assets.
There
can be no assurance that the EESA will have a beneficial impact on the
financial markets, including current extreme levels of volatility. To the
extent the market does not respond favorably to the TARP or the TARP does not
function as intended, our business may not receive the anticipated positive
impact from the legislation. In addition, the U.S. Government, Federal Reserve
and other governmental and regulatory bodies have taken or are considering
taking other actions to address the financial crisis. We cannot predict whether
or when such actions may occur or what impact, if any, such actions could have
on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
59
In the current market, it may be difficult or impossible to obtain third party pricing on the investments we purchase. In addition, validating third party pricing for our investments may be more subjective as fewer participants may be willing to provide this service to us. Moreover, the current market is more illiquid than in recent history for some of the investments we purchase. Illiquid investments typically experience greater price volatility as a ready market does not exist. As volatility increases or liquidity decreases we may have greater difficulty financing our investments which may negatively impact our earnings and the execution of our investment strategy.
Critical Accounting Policies
Our
financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP. These accounting
principles may require us to make some complex and subjective decisions and
assessments. Our most critical accounting policies will involve decisions and
assessments that could affect our reported assets and liabilities, as well as
our reported revenues and expenses. We believe that all of the decisions and
assessments upon which our financial statements are based have been and will be
reasonable at the time made and based upon information available to us at that
time. At each quarter end, we calculate estimated fair value using a pricing
model. We validate our pricing model by obtaining independent pricing on all of
our assets and performing a verification of those sources to our own internal
estimate of fair value. We have identified what we believe will be our most
critical accounting policies to be the following:
Valuation of Investments
On
January 1, 2008, we adopted FASB Statement of Financial Accounting Standards
No. 157, Fair
Value Measurements, or SFAS 157, which defines fair value,
establishes a framework for measuring fair value in accordance with GAAP and
expands disclosures about fair value measurements. The FASB has recently issued
a staff position clarifying the application of SFAS 157, which is effective for
the quarter ended September 30, 2008. We are evaluating the position adopted by
the FASB relating to the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2008. The position
adopted by the FASB could affect the value of our RMBS as reflected in our
financial statements and could result in our book value per share being
different from the estimate provided in this prospectus. The valuation hierarchy is based upon the
transparency of inputs to the valuation of an asset or liability as of the
measurement date. The three levels are defined as follow:
Level
1 – inputs to the valuation methodology are quoted prices (unadjusted) for
identical assets and liabilities in active markets.
Level 2 – inputs to the valuation methodology include quoted prices for similar assets and liabilities in active markets, and inputs that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly, for substantially the full term of the financial instrument.
Level 3 – inputs to the valuation methodology are unobservable and significant to fair value.
Mortgage-backed
securities and interest rate swaps are valued using a pricing model. The MBS
pricing model incorporates such factors as coupons, prepayment speeds, spread
to the Treasury and swap curves, convexity, duration, periodic and life caps,
and credit enhancement. Interest rate swaps are modeled by incorporating such
factors as the Treasury curve, LIBOR rates, and the receive rate on the
interest rate swaps. Management reviews the fair values determined by the
pricing model and compares its results to dealer quotes received on each
investment to validate the reasonableness of the valuations indicated by the
pricing models. The dealer quotes will incorporate common market pricing
methods, including a spread measurement to the Treasury curve or interest rate
swap curve as well as underlying characteristics of the particular security
including coupon, periodic and life caps, rate reset period, issuer, additional
credit support and expected life of the security.
Any changes to the valuation methodology are reviewed by management to ensure the changes are appropriate. As markets and products develop and the pricing for certain products becomes more transparent, we continue to refine our valuation methodologies. The methods used by us may produce a fair value calculation that may not be indicative of net realizable value or reflective of future fair values. Furthermore, while we believe our valuation methods are appropriate and consistent with other market participants, the use of different methodologies, or assumptions, to determine the fair value of certain financial instruments could result in a different estimate of fair value at the reporting date. We use inputs that are current as of the measurement date, which may include periods of market dislocation, during which price transparency may be reduced. This condition could cause our financial instruments to be reclassified from Level 2 to Level 3 in the future.
We
have classified our RMBS as “Level 2” as described above.
60
Loans Held for Investment
We purchase residential mortgage loans and classify them as loans held for investment on the statement of financial condition. Loans held for investment are intended to be held to maturity and, accordingly, are reported at the principal amount outstanding, net of provisions for loan losses.
Loan loss provisions are examined quarterly and updated to reflect expectations of future probable credit losses based on factors such as originator historical losses, geographic concentration, individual loan characteristics, experienced losses, and expectations of future loan pool behavior. As credit losses occur, the provision for loan losses will reflect that realization.
When we determine that it is probable that contractually due specific amounts are deemed uncollectible, the loan is considered impaired. To measure our impairment we determine the excess of the recorded investment amount over the net fair value of the collateral, as reduced by selling costs. Any deficiency between the carrying amount of an asset and the net sales price of repossessed collateral is charged to the allowance for loan losses.
An allowance for mortgage loans is maintained at a level believed adequate by management to absorb probable losses. We may elect to sell a loan held for investment due to adverse changes in credit fundamentals. Once the determination has been made by us that we will no longer hold the loan for investment, we will account for the loan at the lower of amortized cost or estimated fair value. The reclassification of the loan and recognition of impairments could adversely affect our reported earnings.
Valuations of Available-for-Sale Securities
We expect our investments in RMBS will be primarily classified as available-for-sale securities that are carried on the statement of financial condition at their fair value. This classification will result in changes in fair values being recorded as statement of financial condition adjustments to accumulated other comprehensive income or loss, which is a component of stockholders’ equity.
Our available-for-sale securities have fair values as determined with reference to fair values calculated using a pricing model. Management reviews the fair values generated to insure prices are reflective of the current market. We perform a validation of the fair value calculated by the pricing model by comparing its results to independent prices provided by dealers in the securities and/or third party pricing services. If dealers or independent pricing services are unable to provide a price for an asset, or if the price provided by them is deemed unreliable by our Manager, then the asset will be valued at its fair value as determined in good faith by our Manager. The pricing is subject to various assumptions which could result in different presentations of value.
When
the fair value of an available-for-sale security is less than its amortized
cost for an extended period, we consider whether there is an
other-than-temporary impairment in the value of the security. If, based on our
analysis, an other-than-temporary impairment exists, the cost basis of the
security is written down to the then-current fair value, and the unrealized
loss is transferred from accumulated other comprehensive loss as an immediate
reduction of current earnings (as if the loss had been realized in the period
of other-than-temporary impairment). The determination of other-than-temporary
impairment is a subjective process, and different judgments and assumptions
could affect the timing of loss realization.
We consider the following factors when determining an other-than-temporary impairment for a security:
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The length of time and the extent to which the market value has been less than the amortized cost; |
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Whether the security has been downgraded by a rating agency; and |
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Our intent to hold the security for a period of time sufficient to allow for any anticipated recovery in market value. |
The determination of other-than-temporary impairment is made at least quarterly. If we determine an impairment to be other than temporary we will realize a loss which will negatively impact current income.
Investment Consolidation
For
each investment we make, we will evaluate the underlying entity that issued the
securities we will acquire or to which we will make a loan to determine the
appropriate accounting. In performing our analysis, we refer to guidance in
SFAS No. 140, Accounting for Transfers and Servicing of Financial Assets and
Extinguishments of Liabilities, and FASB Interpretation No. (FIN)
46R, Consolidation
of Variable Interest Entities. FIN 46R
61
addresses the application of Accounting Research Bulletin No. 51, Consolidated Financial Statements, to certain entities in which voting rights are not effective in identifying an investor with a controlling financial interest. In variable interest entities, or VIEs, an entity is subject to consolidation under FIN 46R if the investors either do not have sufficient equity at risk for the entity to finance its activities without additional subordinated financial support, are unable to direct the entity’s activities, or are not exposed to the entity’s losses or entitled to its residual returns. VIEs within the scope of FIN 46R are required to be consolidated by their primary beneficiary. The primary beneficiary of a VIE is determined to be the party that absorbs a majority of the entity’s expected losses, its expected returns, or both. This determination can sometimes involve complex and subjective analyses.
Interest Income Recognition
Interest
income on available-for-sale securities and loans held for investment is
recognized over the life of the investment using the effective interest method
as described by SFAS No. 91, Accounting for Nonrefundable Fees and Costs
Associated with Originating or Acquiring Loans and Initial Direct Costs of
Leases, for securities of high credit quality and Emerging Issues
Task Force No. 99-20, Recognition of Interest Income and Impairment on
Purchased and Retained Beneficial Interests in Securitized Financial Assets,
for all other securities. Income recognition is suspended for loans when, in
the opinion of management, a full recovery of income and principal becomes
doubtful. Income recognition is resumed when the loan becomes contractually
current and performance is demonstrated to be resumed.
Under SFAS No. 91 and Emerging Issues Task Force No. 99-20, management will estimate, at the time of purchase, the future expected cash flows and determine the effective interest rate based on these estimated cash flows and our purchase price. As needed, these estimated cash flows will be updated and a revised yield computed based on the current amortized cost of the investment. In estimating these cash flows, there will be a number of assumptions that will be subject to uncertainties and contingencies. These include the rate and timing of principal payments (including prepayments, repurchases, defaults and liquidations), the pass-through or coupon rate and interest rate fluctuations. In addition, interest payment shortfalls due to delinquencies on the underlying mortgage loans, and the timing of the magnitude of credit losses on the mortgage loans underlying the securities have to be judgmentally estimated. These uncertainties and contingencies are difficult to predict and are subject to future events that may impact management’s estimates and our interest income.
Accounting For Derivative Financial Instruments
Our policies permit us to enter into derivative contracts, including interest rate swaps and interest rate caps, as a means of mitigating our interest rate risk. We use interest rate derivative instruments to mitigate interest rate risk rather than to enhance returns.
We account for derivative financial instruments in accordance with SFAS No. 133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, as amended and interpreted. SFAS No. 133 requires an entity to recognize all derivatives as either assets or liabilities in the statement of financial condition and to measure those instruments at fair value. Additionally, the fair value adjustments will affect either other comprehensive income in stockholders’ equity until the hedged item is recognized in earnings or net income depending on whether the derivative instrument qualifies as a hedge for accounting purposes and, if so, the nature of the hedging activity. We have elected not to qualify for hedge accounting treatment. As a result, our operating results may suffer because losses on the derivatives that we enter into may not be offset by a change in the fair value of the related hedged transaction.
In the normal course of business, we may use a variety of derivative financial instruments to manage, or hedge, interest rate risk. These derivative financial instruments must be effective in reducing our interest rate risk exposure in order to qualify for hedge accounting. When the terms of an underlying transaction are modified, or when the underlying hedged item ceases to exist, all changes in the fair value of the instrument are included in net income for each period until the derivative instrument matures or is settled. Any derivative instrument used for risk management that does not meet the hedging criteria is carried at fair value with the changes in value included in net income.
Derivatives will be used for economic hedging purposes rather than speculation. We will rely on quotations from third parties to determine fair values. If our hedging activities do not achieve our desired results, our reported earnings may be adversely affected.
62
Reserve for Possible Credit Losses
The expense for possible credit losses in connection with debt investments is the charge to earnings to increase the allowance for possible credit losses to the level that management estimates to be adequate considering delinquencies, loss experience and collateral quality. Other factors considered relate to geographic trends and product diversification, the size of the portfolio and current economic conditions. Based upon these factors, we establish the provision for possible credit losses by category of asset. When it is probable that we will be unable to collect all amounts contractually due, the account is considered impaired.
Where impairment is indicated, a valuation write-down or write-off is measured based upon the excess of the recorded investment amount over the net fair value of the collateral, as reduced by selling costs. Any deficiency between the carrying amount of an asset and the net sales price of repossessed collateral is charged to the allowance for credit losses.
Income Taxes
We
have elected and intend to qualify
to be taxed as a REIT commencing with our taxable year ending on December 31,
2007. Accordingly, we will generally not be subject to corporate federal or
state income tax to the extent that we make qualifying distributions to you,
and provided we satisfy on a continuing basis, through actual investment and
operating results, the REIT requirements including certain asset, income,
distribution and stock ownership tests. If we fail to qualify as a REIT, and do
not qualify for certain statutory relief provisions, we will be subject to
federal, state and local income taxes and may be precluded from qualifying as a
REIT for the subsequent four taxable years following the year in which we lost
our REIT qualification. Accordingly, our failure to qualify as a REIT could
have a material adverse impact on our results of operations and amounts
available for distribution to you.
The dividends paid deduction of a REIT for qualifying dividends to its stockholders is computed using our taxable income as opposed to net income reported on the financial statements. Taxable income, generally, will differ from net income reported on the financial statements because the determination of taxable income is based on tax provisions and not financial accounting principles.
In the future, we may elect to treat certain of our subsidiaries as TRSs. In general, a TRS of ours may hold assets and engage in activities that we cannot hold or engage in directly and generally may engage in any real estate or non-real estate-related business. A TRS is subject to federal, state and local corporate income taxes.
While any TRS we may form in the future will generate net income, our TRS can declare dividends to us which will be included in our taxable income and necessitate a distribution to you. Conversely, if we retain earnings at the TRS level, no distribution is required and we can increase book equity of the consolidated entity.
Financial Condition
At
June 30, 2008, our portfolio consisted of approximately $1.1 billion of RMBS,
approximately $150.1 million of whole mortgage loans, and approximately $613.6
million in securitized loans.
The following table summarizes certain characteristics of our portfolio at June 30, 2008 and December 31, 2007.
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June 30, |
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December
31, |
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Leverage at period-end |
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3.6:1 |
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0.5:1 |
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Residential mortgage-backed securities as a % of portfolio |
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61.8 |
% |
87.5 |
% |
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Residential mortgage loans as a % of portfolio |
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7.7 |
% |
12.5 |
% |
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Loans collateralizing secured debt as a % of portfolio |
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30.5 |
% |
— |
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Fixed-rate investments as % of portfolio |
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20.0 |
% |
14.4 |
% |
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Adjustable-rate investments as % of portfolio |
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80.0 |
% |
85.6 |
% |
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Fixed-rate investments |
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Residential mortgage-backed securities as a % of fixed-rate assets |
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16.0 |
% |
39.5 |
% |
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Residential mortgage loans as a % of fixed-rate assets |
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15.2 |
% |
60.5 |
% |
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Loans collateralizing secured debt as a % of fixed-rate assets |
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68.8 |
% |
— |
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Adjustable-rate investments |
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Residential mortgage-backed securities as a % of adjustable-rate assets |
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73.2 |
% |
95.5 |
% |
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Residential mortgage loans as a % of adjustable-rate assets |
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5.8 |
% |
4.5 |
% |
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Loans collateralizing secured debt as a % of adjustable-rate assets |
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21.0 |
% |
— |
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Annualized yield on average earning assets during the period |
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6.18 |
% |
7.02 |
% |
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Annualized cost of funds on average repurchase balance during the period |
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5.53 |
% |
5.08 |
% |
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Annualized interest rate spread during the period |
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0.65 |
% |
1.94 |
% |
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Weighted average yield on assets at period-end |
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6.18 |
% |
6.62 |
% |
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Weighted average cost of funds at period-end |
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5.35 |
% |
5.02 |
% |
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63
Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities
The
table below summarizes our RMBS investments at June 30, 2008 and December 31,
2007:
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June 30, 2008 |
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December 31, 2007 |
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(dollars in thousands) |
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Amortized cost |
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$ |
1,221,567 |
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$ |
1,114,137 |
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Unrealized gains |
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— |
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10,675 |
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Unrealized losses |
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(104,981 |
) |
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(522 |
) |
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Fair value |
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$ |
1,116,586 |
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$ |
1,124,290 |
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|
As of June 30, 2008, the RMBS in our portfolio were purchased at a net discount to their par value. Our RMBS had a weighted average amortized cost of 99.4% and 98.8% at June 30, 2008 and December 31, 2007, respectively.
The following tables summarize certain characteristics of our RMBS portfolio at June 30, 2008 and December 31, 2007.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted Averages |
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Estimated Value |
|
Coupon |
|
Yield to |
|
Constant |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
June 30, 2008 |
|
$ |
1,116,586 |
|
6.27 |
% |
6.53 |
% |
13 |
% |
|
December 31, 2007 |
|
$ |
1,124,290 |
|
6.32 |
% |
6.87 |
% |
10 |
% |
(1) All assets listed in this chart are carried at their fair value.
(2) Represents the estimated percentage of principal that will be prepaid over the next three months based on historical principal paydowns.
All
of our RMBS investments at June 30, 2008 and December 31, 2007 carried actual or
implied AAA credit ratings.
Actual maturities of RMBS are generally shorter than stated contractual maturities, as they are affected by the contractual lives of the underlying mortgages, periodic payments of principal, and prepayments of principal. The stated contractual final maturity of the mortgage loans underlying our portfolio of RMBS ranges up to 40 years, but the expected maturity is subject to change based on the prepayments of the underlying loans. As of June 30, 2008, the average final contractual maturity of the RMBS portfolio is 31 years, and as of December 31, 2007, it was 29 years. The estimated weighted average months to maturity of the RMBS in the tables below are based upon our prepayment expectations, which are based on both proprietary and subscription-based financial models. Our prepayment projections consider current and expected trends in interest rates, interest rate volatility, steepness of the yield curve, the mortgage rate of the outstanding loan, time to reset and the spread margin of the reset.
The CPR attempts to predict the percentage of principal that will be prepaid over a period of time. We calculate average CPR on a quarterly basis based on historical principal paydowns. As interest rates rise, the rate of refinancings typically declines, which we expect may result in lower rates of prepayment and, as a result, a lower portfolio CPR. Conversely, as interest rates fall, the rate of refinancings typically increases, which we expect may result in higher rates of prepayment and, as a result, a higher portfolio CPR.
After
the reset date, interest rates on our hybrid adjustable rate RMBS securities
adjust annually based on spreads over various LIBOR and Treasury indices. These
interest rates are subject to caps that limit the amount the
64
applicable interest rate can
increase during any year, known as periodic cap, and through the maturity of
the applicable security, known as a lifetime cap. The weighted average periodic
cap for the portfolio is an increase of 1.93% and the weighted average maximum
lifetime increases and decreases for the portfolio are 12.18%.
The following table summarizes our RMBS according to their estimated weighted average life classifications as of June 30, 2008 and December 31, 2007:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fair Value |
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
June 30, 2008 |
|
December 31, |
|
||
|
|
|
(dollars in thousands) |
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Less than one year |
|
$ |
— |
|
$ |
45,868 |
|
|
Greater than one year and less than five years |
|
|
1,071,852 |
|
|
1,078,422 |
|
|
Greater than or equal to five years |
|
|
44,734 |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
$ |
1,116,586 |
|
$ |
1,124,290 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Whole Mortgage Loan Portfolio Characteristics
The
following tables present certain characteristics of our whole mortgage loan
portfolio as of June 30, 2008.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(dollars in thousands) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Original loan balance |
|
$ |
153,966 |
|
|
Unpaid principal balance |
|
$ |
152,315 |
|
|
Weighted average coupon rate on loans |
|
|
5.77 |
% |
|
Weighted average original term (years) |
|
|
28.9 |
|
|
Weighted average remaining term (years) |
|
|
28.7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Geographic Distribution |
|
Remaining Balance |
|
% of Loan Portfolio |
|
Loan Count |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CA |
|
$ |
35,854 |
|
23.5 |
% |
50 |
|
|
IL |
|
|
14,947 |
|
9.8 |
% |
23 |
|
|
NJ |
|
|
11,642 |
|
7.6 |
% |
18 |
|
|
SC |
|
|
6,968 |
|
4.6 |
% |
8 |
|
|
NY |
|
|
6,741 |
|
4.4 |
% |
10 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
$ |
76,152 |
|
49.9 |
% |
109 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Occupancy Status |
|
Remaining |
|
% of |
|
Loan Count |
|
|
Loan Purpose |
|
% of Loan |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Owner-occupied |
|
$ |
137,546 |
|
90.3 |
% |
196 |
|
|
Purchase |
|
50.5 |
% |
|
Second home |
|
|
14,330 |
|
9.4 |
% |
19 |
|
|
Cash out refinance |
|
18.1 |
% |
|
Investor |
|
|
439 |
|
0.3 |
% |
1 |
|
|
Rate and term refinance |
|
31.4 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
$ |
152,315 |
|
100.0 |
% |
216 |
|
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Documentation Type |
|
|
|
% of Loan |
|
|
|
|
ARM Loan Type |
|
% of |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Full/alternative |
|
|
|
|
77.1 |
% |
|
|
|
Traditional ARM loans |
|
— |
|
|
Stated income/no ratio |
|
|
|
|
22.9 |
% |
|
|
|
Hybrid ARM loans |
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
Total |
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
65
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unpaid Principal Balance |
|
Dollars in |
|
|
FICO Score |
|
% of Loan |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$417,000 or less |
|
$ |
394 |
|
|
740 and above |
|
59.5 |
% |
|
$417,001 to $650,000 |
|
|
66,399 |
|
|
700 to 739 |
|
25.4 |
% |
|
$650,001 to $1,000,000 |
|
|
66,471 |
|
|
660 to 699 |
|
13.3 |
% |
|
$1,000,001 to $2,000,000 |
|
|
19,051 |
|
|
620 to 659 |
|
0.3 |
% |
|
$2,000,001 or more |
|
|
— |
|
|
Below 620 or not available |
|
1.5 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
$ |
152,315 |
|
|
Total |
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted Average FICO Score |
|
749.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Original
Loan-to-Value |
|
Dollars in |
|
|
Property Type |
|
% of Loan |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
80.01% and above |
|
$ |
24,881 |
|
|
Single-family |
|
62.8 |
% |
|
70.01% to 80.00% |
|
|
79,330 |
|
|
Planned urban development |
|
28.0 |
% |
|
60.01% to 70.00% |
|
|
16,794 |
|
|
Condominium |
|
4.2 |
% |
|
60.00% or less |
|
|
31,310 |
|
|
Other residential |
|
5.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
$ |
152,315 |
|
|
Total |
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted Average Original |
|
|
72.30 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Periodic Cap on Hybrid ARM Loans |
|
% of ARM |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3.00% or less |
|
100.0 |
% |
|
3.01% to 4.00% |
|
— |
|
|
4.01% to 5.00% |
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
We purchase our whole mortgage loans on a servicing retained basis. As a result, we do not service any loans, or receive any servicing income.
66
Hedging Instruments
As
of June 30, 2008 and December 31, 2007, we had entered into hedges with a
notional amount of $1.0 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively. Our hedges at
June 30, 2008 and December 31, 2007 were fixed-for-floating interest rate swap
agreements whereby we swapped the floating rate of interest on the liabilities
we hedged for a fixed rate of interest. At June 30, 2008, the unrealized loss
on our interest rate swap agreements was $10.1 million. At December 31, 2007,
the unrealized loss on our interest rate swap agreements was $4.2 million. In a
decreasing interest rate environment, we expect that the fair value of our
hedges will continue to decrease. We intend to continue to seek such hedges for
our floating rate debt in the future. In the third quarter of 2008, we
terminated $983.4 million in notional interest rate swaps for a loss of
approximately $10.5 million.
Results of Operations for the Six Months Ended June 30, 2008
Net Income/Loss Summary
For
the six months ended, June 30, 2008, our net loss was $21.0 million, or $0.54
per average share. We attribute the net loss for the six months ended June 30,
2008 primarily to unrealized losses on our interest rate swaps due to fair
value adjustments and realized losses on sales of investments. The table below
presents the net income/loss summary for the six months ended June 30, 2008:
(dollars in thousands, except for per share data)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Six |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest income |
|
$ |
58,145 |
|
|
Interest expense |
|
|
34,047 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net interest income |
|
|
24,098 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unrealized gains (losses) on interest rate swaps |
|
|
(5,909 |
) |
|
Realized gains (losses) on sales of investments |
|
|
(31,175 |
) |
|
Realized gain on terminations of interest rate swaps |
|
|
123 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net investment income (loss) |
|
|
(12,863 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Expenses |
|
|
|
|
|
Management fee |
|
|
4,455 |
|
|
General and administrative expenses |
|
|
3,718 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total expenses |
|
|
8,173 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gain (loss) before income taxes |
|
|
(21,036 |
) |
|
Income taxes |
|
|
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income (loss) |
|
$ |
(21,039 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income (loss) per share – basic and diluted |
|
$ |
(0.54 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted average number of shares outstanding – basic and diluted |
|
|
38,995,096 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comprehensive Income (Loss): |
|
|
|
|
|
Net income (loss) |
|
|
(21,039 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other comprehensive loss: |
|
|
|
|
|
Unrealized loss on available-for-sale securities Other comprehensive income: |
|
|
(136,155 |
) |
|
Reclassification adjustment for realized (gains) losses included in net income |
|
|
31,175 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other comprehensive loss |
|
|
(104,980 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comprehensive loss |
|
$ |
(126,019 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
67
We
attribute the net loss primarily to unrealized losses on our interest rate
swaps due to fair value adjustments and realized losses on sales of investments
during the quarter ended June 30, 2008.
Interest Income and Average Earning Asset Yield
We
had average earning assets of $1.7 billion for the six months ending June 30,
2008. Our interest income for this six month period was $58.1 million. The
yield on our portfolio was 6.38% for this six month period.
Interest Expense and the Cost of Funds
Our
largest expense is the cost of borrowed funds. We had average borrowed funds of
$1.4 billion and total interest expense of $34.0 million for the six months
ending June 30, 2008. Our average cost of funds was 4.91% for the six months
ending June 30, 2008. We attribute the increase in interest expense to the
increase in our interest rate swap expense and an increase in weighted average
rate we paid to finance our assets.
The table below shows our average borrowed funds and average cost of funds as compared to average one-month and average six-month LIBOR for the quarters ended March 31, 2008 and June 30, 2008, and the period commencing November 21, 2007 (inception) and ending December 31, 2007.
Average Cost of Funds
(Ratios have been annualized, dollars in thousands)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Average |
|
Interest |
|
Average |
|
Average |
|
Average
|
|
Average |
|
Average
Cost |
|
Average |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
For the quarter ended June 30, 2008 |
|
$ |
1,449,567 |
|
$ |
20,025 |
|
5.53 |
% |
2.59 |
% |
2.93 |
% |
(0.34 |
%) |
2.94 |
% |
2.60 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the quarter ended March 31, 2008 |
|
$ |
1,325,156 |
|
$ |
14,022 |
|
4.23 |
% |
3.31 |
% |
3.18 |
% |
0.13 |
% |
0.92 |
% |
1.05 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the period commencing November 21, 2007 and ending December 31, 2007 |
|
$ |
270,584 |
|
$ |
415 |
|
5.08 |
% |
4.98 |
% |
4.84 |
% |
0.14 |
% |
0.10 |
% |
0.24 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net Interest Income
Our
net interest income, which equals interest income less interest expense, totaled
$24.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2008. Our net interest spread,
which equals the yield on our average assets for the period less the average
cost of funds for the period, for this six month period was 1.47%.
The
table below shows our average assets held, total interest earned on assets,
yield on average interest earning assets, average balance of repurchase
agreements, interest expense, average cost of funds, net interest income, and
net interest rate spread for the quarters ended March 31, 2008 and June 30,
2008, and the period commencing November 21, 2007 and ending December 31, 2007.
68
Net Interest Income
(Ratios have been annualized, dollars in thousands)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Average |
|
Interest |
|
Yield
on |
|
Average |
|
Interest |
|
Average |
|
Net |
|
Net |
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
For the quarter ended June 30, 2008 |
|
$ |
1,917,969 |
|
$ |
29,630 |
|
6.18 |
% |
$ |
1,449,567 |
|
$ |
20,025 |
|
5.53 |
% |
$ |
9,926 |
|
0.65 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the quarter ended March 31, 2008 |
|
$ |
1,555,896 |
|
$ |
25,790 |
|
6.63 |
% |
$ |
1,325,156 |
|
$ |
14,022 |
|
4.23 |
% |
$ |
14,172 |
|
2.40 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the period commencing November 21, 2007 and ending December 31, 2007 |
|
$ |
399,736 |
|
$ |
3,492 |
|
7.02 |
% |
$ |
270,584 |
|
$ |
415 |
|
5.08 |
% |
$ |
3,077 |
|
1.94 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gains and Losses on Sales of Assets and Interest Rate Swaps
For
the six months ended June 30, 2008, we sold assets with a carrying value of
$369.9 million for an aggregate loss of $31.2 million.
Management Fee and General and Administrative Expenses
We
paid our Manager a base management fee of $4.5 million for the six months ended
June 30, 2008 and did not pay an incentive fee for this six month period.
General and administrative (or G&A) expenses were $3.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2008.
Total expenses as a percentage of average total assets were 0.89% for the six months ended June 30, 2008.
Currently, our Manager has waived its right to require us to pay our pro rata portion of its, and its affiliates’, rent, telephone, utilities, office furniture, equipment, machinery and other office, internal and overhead expenses required for our operations.
The table below shows our total management fee and G&A expenses as compared to average total assets and average equity for the quarters ended March 31, 2008 and June 30, 2008, and the period commencing November 21, 2007 and ending December 31, 2007.
Management Fee and G&A Expenses and
Operating Expense Ratios
(Ratios have been annualized, dollars in thousands)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
Total Management |
|
Total Management |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the quarter ended June 30, 2008 |
|
$ |
3,380 |
|
0.70 |
% |
3.35 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the quarter ended March 31, 2008 |
|
$ |
4,792 |
|
1.10 |
% |
4.00 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the period commencing November 21, 2007 and ending December 31, 2007 |
|
$ |
1,822 |
|
1.55 |
% |
3.05 |
% |
Net Income/Loss and Return on Average Equity
Our
net income (loss) was ($21.0) million for the six months ended June 30, 2008.
We attribute the losses incurred during the six months ended June 30, 2008 to
realized losses on sales of investments and unrealized losses on interest rate
swaps. The table below shows our net interest income, gain (loss) on sale of
assets, unrealized gains (loss) on interest rate swaps, total expenses, income
tax, each as a percentage of average equity, and the return on
69
average equity
for the quarters ended June 30, 2008, March 31, 2008, and the period commencing
November 21, 2007 and ending December 31, 2007.
Components of Return on Average Equity
(Ratios have been annualized)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net |
|
Gain/(Loss) |
|
Unrealized |
|
Total |
|
Income |
|
Return
on |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the quarter ended June 30, 2008 |
|
9.84 |
% |
1.75 |
% |
25.36 |
% |
(3.35 |
%) |
— |
|
33.60 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the quarter ended March 31, 2008 |
|
11.83 |
% |
(27.40 |
%) |
(26.29 |
%) |
(4.00 |
%) |
— |
|
(45.86 |
%) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the period commencing November 21, 2007 and ending December 31, 2007 |
|
5.16 |
% |
— |
|
(6.97 |
%) |
(3.05 |
%) |
(0.01 |
%) |
(4.87 |
%) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Liquidity and Capital Resources
We
held cash and cash equivalents of approximately $49.9 million at June 30, 2008
compared to cash and cash equivalents of approximately $6.0 million at December
31, 2007. We attribute the increase to a reduction in leverage by us and the
termination of short term investments in reverse repurchase agreements.
Our operating activities provided net cash of approximately $15.6 million from operations for the six months ended June 30, 2008.
Our investing activities used net cash of $1.1 billion for the six months ended June 30, 2008. We used this cash primarily for the purchase of investments.
Our financing activities as of June 30, 2008 consisted of proceeds from repurchase agreements, as well as the debt obligations of a $619.7 million securitization we completed during the quarter. We expect to continue to borrow funds in the form of repurchase agreements as well as other types of financing. We currently have established uncommitted repurchase agreements for RMBS with 12 counterparties, including Annaly. As of June 30, 2008, we had $50.0 million outstanding under our repurchase agreement with Annaly. As of September 30, 2008, we had approximately $620.0 million outstanding under this agreement, which constitutes approximately 56% of our total financing. The terms of the repurchase transaction borrowings under our master repurchase agreements generally conform to the terms in the standard master repurchase agreement as published by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, or SIFMA, as to repayment, margin requirements and the segregation of all securities we have initially sold under the repurchase transaction. In addition, each lender typically requires that we include supplemental terms and conditions to the standard master repurchase agreement. Typical supplemental terms and conditions include changes to the margin maintenance requirements, required haircuts, and purchase price maintenance requirements, requirements that all controversies related to the repurchase agreement be litigated in a particular jurisdiction and cross default provisions. These provisions will differ for each of our lenders and will not be determined until we engage in a specific repurchase transaction. We had also established two repurchase agreements for whole mortgage loans as of June 30, 2008, which were terminated subsequent to the end of the quarter.
Our RMBS repurchase agreement with Annaly is rolled daily at market rates, bears interest at LIBOR plus 80 basis points, and is secured by the RMBS pledged under the agreement. We do not expect to increase significantly the amount of securities pledged to Annaly or significantly increase or decrease the funds we borrow from Annaly as a result of this offering.
In
March 2008, we entered into a receivables sales agreement with Annaly. This
agreement provided for the sale of approximately $127 million of receivables by
us to Annaly of the proceeds that we were due to receive under a mortgage loan
purchase and sale agreement with a third party. Annaly paid us a discounted
amount of such receivables due from the third party equal to less than one
percent of such receivables due from the third party in exchange for us
receiving the purchase price under the receivables sales agreement in
immediately available funds from Annaly. The agreement contained
representations, warranties and covenants by both parties. As of March 31,
2008, each party had performed their outstanding obligations under the
agreement, the third party purchaser under the mortgage loan purchase and sale
agreement had paid the purchase price under the mortgage loan purchase and
70
sale agreement,
and we have remitted such amounts to Annaly pursuant to the receivables sales
agreement. We did not enter into any similar arrangement with Annaly subsequent
to March 31, 2008.
We had outstanding $909.0 million in repurchase agreements collateralized by our RMBS with weighted average borrowing rates of 4.85% and weighted average remaining maturities of 23 days as of June 30, 2008. The RMBS pledged as collateral under these repurchase agreements had an estimated fair value of $911.7 million at June 30, 2008. The interest rates of these repurchase agreements are generally indexed to the one-month LIBOR rate and repriced accordingly.
At June 30, 2008 and March 31, 2008, the repurchase agreements for RMBS had the following remaining maturities:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
June 30, 2008 |
|
March 31, 2008 |
|
||
|
|
|
(dollars in thousands) |
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Within 30 days |
|
$ |
539,603 |
|
$ |
598,168 |
|
|
30 to 59 days |
|
|
344,972 |
|
|
384,964 |
|
|
60 to 89 days |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
90 to 119 days |
|
|
24,514 |
|
|
— |
|
|
Greater than or equal to 120 days |
|
|
— |
|
|
24,514 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
$ |
909,089 |
|
$ |
1,007,646 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
During
the quarter ended March 31, 2008, we entered into two master repurchase
agreements pursuant to which we finance whole mortgage loans. As of March 31,
2008, we had $487.0 million borrowed against these facilities, which included
$55.2 million of RMBS, at an effective rate of 4.41%. The amount borrowed on
the loans held for investment at March 31, 2008 was collateralized by mortgage
loans with a carrying value of $433.3 million, including accrued interest, and
cash totaling $35.2 million. As of June 30, 2008, we had no amounts borrowed
against these facilities. On July 29, 2008, we terminated these agreements in
order to avoid paying non-usage fees under those agreements.
Increases in short-term interest rates could negatively affect the valuation of our mortgage-related assets, which could limit our borrowing ability or cause our lenders to initiate margin calls. Amounts due upon maturity of our repurchase agreements will be funded primarily through the rollover/reissuance of repurchase agreements and monthly principal and interest payments received on our mortgage-backed securities.
For our short-term (one year or less) and long-term liquidity, which includes investing and compliance with collateralization requirements under our repurchase agreements (if the pledged collateral decreases in value or in the event of margin calls created by prepayments of the pledged collateral), we also rely on the cash flow from investments, primarily monthly principal and interest payments to be received on our RMBS and whole mortgage loans, cash flow from the sale of securities as well as any primary securities offerings authorized by our board of directors.
Based on our current portfolio, leverage ratio and available borrowing arrangements, we believe our assets will be sufficient to enable us to meet anticipated short-term (one year or less) liquidity requirements such as to fund our investment activities, pay fees under our management agreement, fund our distributions to stockholders and pay general corporate expenses. However, an increase in prepayment rates substantially above our expectations could cause a temporary liquidity shortfall due to the timing of the necessary margin calls on the financing arrangements and the actual receipt of the cash related to principal paydowns. If our cash resources are at any time insufficient to satisfy our liquidity requirements, we may have to sell investments or issue debt or additional equity securities in a common stock offering. If required, the sale of RMBS or whole mortgage loans at prices lower than their carrying value would result in losses and reduced income.
Our ability to meet our long-term (greater than one year) liquidity and capital resource requirements will be subject to obtaining additional debt financing and equity capital. Subject to our maintaining our qualification as a REIT, we expect to use a number of sources to finance our investments, including repurchase agreements, warehouse facilities, securitizations, commercial paper and term financing CDOs. Such financing will depend on market conditions for capital raises and for the investment of any proceeds. If we are unable to renew, replace or expand our sources of financing on substantially similar terms, it may have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Upon liquidation, holders of our debt securities, if any, and shares of preferred stock, if any,
71
and lenders with respect to other borrowings will receive a distribution of our available assets prior to the holders of our common stock.
We
are not required by our investment guidelines to maintain any specific
debt-to-equity ratio as we believe the appropriate leverage for the particular
assets we are financing depends on the credit quality and risk of those assets.
However, our repurchase agreements for whole loans require us to maintain
certain debt-to-equity ratios. At June 30, 2008, our total debt was
approximately $1.4 billion which represented a debt-to-equity ratio of
approximately 3.6:1. As of September 30, 2008, we had outstanding indebtedness
of approximately $1.119 billion, which consists of recourse leverage of
approximately $620.0 million and non-recourse securitized financing of
approximately $499.0 million.
Stockholders’ Equity
During
the quarter ended June 30, 2008, we declared dividends to common shareholders
totaling $6.0 million, or $0.16 per share, all of which was paid on July 31,
2008. During the quarter ended March 31, 2008, we declared dividends to common
shareholders totaling $9.8 million, or $0.26 per share, all of which was paid
on April 30, 2008. During the period ended December 31, 2007, we declared
dividends to common shareholders totaling $943 thousand or $0.025 per share,
all of which was paid on January 25, 2008.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
Management Agreement
We
have entered into a management agreement with FIDAC, pursuant to which FIDAC is
entitled to receive a base management fee, incentive fee and, in certain
circumstances, a termination fee and reimbursement of certain expenses as
described in the management agreement. Such fees and expenses do not have fixed
and determinable payments. The base management fee is payable quarterly in
arrears in an amount equal to 1.50% per annum, calculated quarterly, of our
stockholders’ equity (as defined in the management agreement). FIDAC uses the
proceeds from its management fee in part to pay compensation to its officers
and employees who, notwithstanding that certain of them also are our officers,
receive no cash compensation directly from us. The base management fee will be
reduced, but not below zero, by our proportionate share of any CDO base
management fees FIDAC receives in connection with the CDOs in which we invest,
based on the percentage of equity we hold in such CDOs. FIDAC will receive
quarterly incentive fees payable in cash or shares of our common stock at the
election of our board of directors in an amount equal to 20% of the dollar
amount by which Core Earnings, on a rolling four-quarter basis and before the
incentive fee, exceeds the product of (1) the weighted average of the issue
price per share of all of our public offerings multiplied by the weighted
average number of shares of common stock outstanding in such quarter and (2)
0.50% plus one-fourth of the average of the one month LIBOR rate for such
quarter and the previous three quarters. For the initial four quarters
following this offering, Core Earnings and the LIBOR rate will be calculated on
the basis of each of the previously completed quarters on an annualized basis.
Core Earnings is a non-GAAP measure and is defined as GAAP net income (loss)
excluding non-cash equity compensation expense, excluding any unrealized gains,
losses or other items that do not affect realized net income (regardless of
whether such items are included in other comprehensive income or loss, or in
net income). The amount will be adjusted to exclude one-time events pursuant to
changes in GAAP and certain non-cash charges after discussions between FIDAC
and our independent directors and approval by a majority of our independent
directors. The incentive fee will be reduced, but not below zero, by our
proportionate share of any CDO incentive fees FIDAC receives in connection with
the CDOs in which we invest, based on the percentage of equity we hold in such
CDOs. We expect to enter into certain contracts that contain a variety of
indemnification obligations, principally with FIDAC, brokers and counterparties
to repurchase agreements. The maximum potential future payment amount we could
be required to pay under these indemnification obligations is unlimited.
Financing Arrangements with Annaly
In
March 2008, we entered into a RMBS repurchase agreement with Annaly. This
agreement contains customary representations, warranties and covenants
contained in such agreements. As of June 30, 2008, we had $50.0 million
outstanding under this agreement with a weighted average borrowing rate of
3.96%. As of September 30, 2008, we had approximately $620.0 million
outstanding under this agreement, which constitutes approximately 56% of our
total financing. As of October 13, 2008, the weighted average borrowing rate on
amounts outstanding under this agreement was 3.97%. Our RMBS repurchase
agreement with Annaly is rolled daily at market rates, bears interest at LIBOR
plus 80 basis points, and is secured by the RMBS pledged under the agreement.
We do not
72
expect to increase significantly the amount of securities pledged
to Annaly or significantly increase or decrease the funds we borrow from Annaly
as a result of this offering.
In
March 2008, we entered into a receivables sales agreement with Annaly. This
agreement provided for the sale of approximately $127 million of receivables by
us to Annaly of the proceeds that we were due to receive under a mortgage loan
purchase and sale agreement with a third party. Annaly paid us a discounted
amount of such receivables due from the third party equal to less than one
percent of such receivables due from the third party in exchange for us
receiving the purchase price under the receivables sales agreement in
immediately available funds from Annaly. The agreement contained
representations, warranties and covenants by both parties. As of March 31,
2008, each party had performed their outstanding obligations under the
agreement, the third party purchaser under the mortgage loan purchase and sale
agreement had paid the purchase price under the mortgage loan purchase and sale
agreement, and we have remitted such amounts to Annaly pursuant to the
receivables sales agreement. We did not enter into any similar arrangement with
Annaly during the quarter ended June 30, 2008.
Restricted Stock Grants
During
the quarter ended June 30, 2008, 32,300 shares of restricted stock we had
awarded to our Manager’s employees vested and 6,713 shares were forfeited or
cancelled. We did not grant any incentive awards during the quarter ended June
30, 2008.
At
June 30, 2008 there are approximately 1.2 million unvested shares of restricted
stock issued to employees of FIDAC. For the three months ended June 30, 2008,
compensation expense less general and administrative costs associated with the
amortization of the fair value of the restricted stock totaled $337 thousand.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
The
following table summarizes our contractual obligations at June 30, 2008.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(dollars in thousands) |
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
Contractual Obligations |
|
Within One |
|
One to |
|
Three to |
|
Greater |
|
Total |
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
Repurchase agreements for RMBS |
|
$ |
909,089 |
|
$ |
— |
|
$ |
— |
|
$ |
— |
|
$ |
909,089 |
|
|
Securitized debt |
|
|
93,635 |
|
|
173,874 |
|
|
105,023 |
|
|
152,939 |
|
|
525,471 |
|
|
Interest expense on RMBS repurchase agreements(1) |
|
|
19 |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
19 |
|
|
Interest expense on securitized debt |
|
|
31,333 |
|
|
51,501 |
|
|
30,765 |
|
|
227,994 |
|
|
341,593 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
$ |
1,034,076 |
|
$ |
225,375 |
|
$ |
135,788 |
|
$ |
380,933 |
|
$ |
1,776,172 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1) Interest is based on rates in effect as of June 30, 2008.
The
repurchase agreements for our repurchase facilities generally do not include
substantive provisions other than those contained in the standard master
repurchase agreement as published by the Securities Industry and Financial
Markets Association.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We do not have any relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, such as entities often referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes. Further, we have not guaranteed any obligations of unconsolidated entities nor do we have any commitment or intent to provide funding to any such entities. As such, we are not materially exposed to any market, credit, liquidity or financing risk that could arise if we had engaged in such relationships.
Dividends
To qualify as a REIT, we must pay annual dividends to our stockholders of at least 90% of our taxable income, determined without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and excluding any net capital gains. We intend to pay regular quarterly dividends to our stockholders. Before we pay any dividend, whether for U.S. federal
73
income tax purposes or otherwise, which would only be paid out of available cash to the extent permitted under our warehouse and repurchase facilities and commercial paper, we must first meet both our operating requirements and scheduled debt service on our warehouse lines and other debt payable.
Inflation
Virtually all of our assets and liabilities are interest rate sensitive in nature. As a result, interest rates and other factors influence our performance far more so than does inflation. Changes in interest rates do not necessarily correlate with inflation rates or changes in inflation rates. Our financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP and our distributions will be determined by our board of directors consistent with our obligation to distribute to our stockholders at least 90% of our REIT taxable income on an annual basis in order to maintain our REIT qualification; in each case, our activities and balance sheet are measured with reference to historical cost and/or fair market value without considering inflation.
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
The primary components of our market risk are related to credit risk, interest rate risk, prepayment risk, market value risk and real estate market risk. While we do not seek to avoid risk completely, we believe the risk can be quantified from historical experience and we seek to actively manage that risk, to earn sufficient compensation to justify taking those risks and to maintain capital levels consistent with the risks we undertake.
Credit Risk
We
are subject to credit risk in connection with our investments and face more
credit risk on assets we own which are rated below “AAA”. The credit risk
related to these investments pertains to the ability and willingness of the
borrowers to pay, which is assessed before credit is granted or renewed and
periodically reviewed throughout the loan or security term. We believe that
residual loan credit quality is primarily determined by the borrowers’ credit
profiles and loan characteristics. Our Manager uses a comprehensive credit
review process. Our Manager’s analysis of loans includes borrower profiles, as
well as valuation and appraisal data. Our Manager uses compensating factors
such as liquid assets, low loan-to-value ratios and job stability in evaluating
loans. Our Manager’s resources include a proprietary portfolio management
system, as well as third party software systems. Our Manager utilizes third
party due diligence firms to perform an independent underwriting review to
insure compliance with existing guidelines. Our Manager selects loans for
review predicated on risk-based criteria such as loan-to-value, borrower’s
credit score(s) and loan size. Our Manager also outsources underwriting
services to review higher risk loans, either due to borrower credit profiles or
collateral valuation issues. In addition to statistical sampling techniques,
our Manager creates adverse credit and valuation samples, which we individually
review. Our Manager rejects loans that fail to conform to our standards. Our
Manager accepts only those loans which meet our underwriting criteria. Once we
own a loan, our Manager’s surveillance process includes ongoing analysis
through our proprietary data warehouse and servicer files. Additionally, the non-Agency
RMBS and other ABS which we will acquire for our portfolio are reviewed by
FIDAC to ensure that they satisfy our risk based criteria. Our Manager’s review
of non-Agency RMBS and other ABS includes utilizing its proprietary portfolio
management system. Our Manager’s review of non-Agency RMBS and other ABS is
based on quantitative and qualitative analysis of the risk-adjusted returns on
non-Agency RMBS and other ABS present.
Interest Rate Risk
Interest rate risk is highly sensitive to many factors, including governmental monetary and tax policies, domestic and international economic and political considerations and other factors beyond our control. We are subject to interest rate risk in connection with our investments and our related debt obligations, which are generally repurchase agreements, warehouse facilities, securitization, commercial paper and term financing CDOs. Our repurchase agreements and warehouse facilities may be of limited duration that are periodically refinanced at current market rates. We intend to mitigate this risk through utilization of derivative contracts, primarily interest rate swap agreements.
Interest Rate Effect on Net Interest Income
Our operating results depend, in large part, on differences between the income from our investments and our borrowing costs. Most of our warehouse facilities and repurchase agreements provide financing based on a floating rate of interest calculated on a fixed spread over LIBOR. The fixed spread varies depending on the type of underlying asset which collateralizes the financing. Accordingly, the portion of our portfolio which consists of floating interest rate assets will be match-funded utilizing our expected sources of short-term financing, while our
74
fixed interest rate assets will not be match-funded. During periods of rising interest rates, the borrowing costs associated with our investments tend to increase while the income earned on our fixed interest rate investments may remain substantially unchanged. This will result in a narrowing of the net interest spread between the related assets and borrowings and may even result in losses. Further, during this portion of the interest rate and credit cycles, defaults could increase and result in credit losses to us, which could adversely affect our liquidity and operating results. Such delinquencies or defaults could also have an adverse effect on the spread between interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities. Hedging techniques are partly based on assumed levels of prepayments of our fixed-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage loans and RMBS. If prepayments are slower or faster than assumed, the life of the mortgage loans and RMBS will be longer or shorter, which would reduce the effectiveness of any hedging strategies we may use and may cause losses on such transactions. Hedging strategies involving the use of derivative securities are highly complex and may produce volatile returns.
Interest Rate Effects on Fair Value
Another component of interest rate risk is the effect changes in interest rates will have on the fair value of the assets we acquire. We face the risk that the fair value of our assets will increase or decrease at different rates than that of our liabilities, including our hedging instruments. We primarily assess our interest rate risk by estimating the duration of our assets and the duration of our liabilities. Duration essentially measures the market price volatility of financial instruments as interest rates change. We generally calculate duration using various financial models and empirical data. Different models and methodologies can produce different duration numbers for the same securities.
It is important to note that the impact of changing interest rates on fair value can change significantly when interest rates change beyond 100 basis points from current levels. Therefore, the volatility in the fair value of our assets could increase significantly when interest rates change beyond 100 basis points. In addition, other factors impact the fair value of our interest rate-sensitive investments and hedging instruments, such as the shape of the yield curve, market expectations as to future interest rate changes and other market conditions. Accordingly, in the event of changes in actual interest rates, the change in the fair value of our assets would likely differ from that shown above and such difference might be material and adverse to our stockholders.
Interest Rate Cap Risk
We also invest in adjustable-rate mortgage loans and RMBS. These are mortgages or RMBS in which the underlying mortgages are typically subject to periodic and lifetime interest rate caps and floors, which limit the amount by which the security’s interest yield may change during any given period. However, our borrowing costs pursuant to our financing agreements will not be subject to similar restrictions. Therefore, in a period of increasing interest rates, interest rate costs on our borrowings could increase without limitation by caps, while the interest-rate yields on our adjustable-rate mortgage loans and RMBS would effectively be limited. This problem will be magnified to the extent we acquire adjustable-rate RMBS that are not based on mortgages which are fully indexed. In addition, the mortgages or the underlying mortgages in an RMBS may be subject to periodic payment caps that result in some portion of the interest being deferred and added to the principal outstanding. This could result in our receipt of less cash income on our adjustable-rate mortgages or RMBS than we need in order to pay the interest cost on our related borrowings. These factors could lower our net interest income or cause a net loss during periods of rising interest rates, which would harm our financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.
Interest Rate Mismatch Risk
We fund a substantial portion of our acquisitions of hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages and RMBS with borrowings that, after the effect of hedging, have interest rates based on indices and repricing terms similar to, but of somewhat shorter maturities than, the interest rate indices and repricing terms of the mortgages and RMBS. Thus, in most cases the interest rate indices and repricing terms of our mortgage assets and our funding sources will not be identical, thereby creating an interest rate mismatch between assets and liabilities. Therefore, our cost of funds would likely rise or fall more quickly than would our earnings rate on assets. During periods of changing interest rates, such interest rate mismatches could negatively impact our financial condition, cash flows and results of operations. To mitigate interest rate mismatches, we may utilize the hedging strategies discussed above. Our analysis of risks is based on our Manager’s experience, estimates, models and assumptions. These analyses rely on models which utilize estimates of fair value and interest rate sensitivity. Actual economic conditions or implementation of investment decisions by our management may produce results that differ significantly from the estimates and assumptions used in our models and the projected results shown in this prospectus.
75
Our
profitability and the value of our portfolio (including interest rate swaps)
may be adversely affected during any period as a result of changing interest
rates. The following table quantifies the potential changes in net interest
income and portfolio value should interest rates go up or down 25, 50, and 75
basis points, assuming the yield curves of the rate shocks will be parallel to
each other and the current yield curve. All changes in income and value are
measured as percentage changes from the projected net interest income and
portfolio value at the base interest rate scenario. The base interest rate
scenario assumes interest rates at June 30, 2008 and various estimates
regarding prepayment and all activities are made at each level of rate shock.
Actual results could differ significantly from these estimates.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change in Interest Rate |
|
Projected Percentage Change in |
|
Projected Percentage Change in |
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
-75 Basis Points |
|
|
|
(9.28 |
%) |
|
|
|
1.16 |
% |
|
|
-50 Basis Points |
|
|
|
(6.34 |
%) |
|
|
|
1.10 |
% |
|
|
-25 Basis Points |
|
|
|
(3.20 |
%) |
|
|
|
1.02 |
% |
|
|
Base Interest Rate |
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
+25 Basis Points |
|
|
|
3.40 |
% |
|
|
|
0.77 |
% |
|
|
+50 Basis Points |
|
|
|
6.82 |
% |
|
|
|
0.61 |
% |
|
|
+75 Basis Points |
|
|
|
10.24 |
% |
|
|
|
0.42 |
% |
|
Prepayment Risk
As we receive prepayments of principal on these investments, premiums paid on such investments will be amortized against interest income. In general, an increase in prepayment rates will accelerate the amortization of purchase premiums, thereby reducing the interest income earned on the investments. Conversely, discounts on such investments are accreted into interest income. In general, an increase in prepayment rates will accelerate the accretion of purchase discounts, thereby increasing the interest income earned on the investments.
Extension Risk
Our
Manager computes the projected weighted-average life of our investments based
on assumptions regarding the rate at which the borrowers will prepay the
underlying mortgages. In general, when fixed-rate or hybrid adjustable-rate
mortgage loans or RMBS are acquired with borrowings, we may, but are not
required to, enter into an interest rate swap agreement or other hedging
instrument that effectively fixes our borrowing costs for a period close to the
anticipated average life of the fixed-rate portion of the related assets. This
strategy is designed to protect us from rising interest rates because the
borrowing costs are fixed for the duration of the fixed-rate portion of the
related assets. However, if prepayment rates decrease in a rising interest rate
environment, the life of the fixed-rate portion of the related assets could
extend beyond the term of the swap agreement or other hedging instrument. This
could have a negative impact on our results from operations, as borrowing costs
would no longer be fixed after the end of the hedging instrument while the
income earned on the hybrid adjustable-rate assets would remain fixed. This
situation may also cause the market value of our hybrid adjustable-rate assets
to decline, with little or no offsetting gain from the related hedging
transactions. In extreme situations, we may be forced to sell assets to
maintain adequate liquidity, which could cause us to incur losses.
Market Risk
Market Value Risk
Our
available-for-sale securities are reflected at their estimated fair value with
unrealized gains and losses excluded from earnings and reported in other
comprehensive income pursuant to SFAS No. 115, Accounting
for Certain Investments in Debt and Equity Securities. The estimated
fair value of these securities fluctuates primarily due to changes in interest
rates and other factors. Generally, in a rising interest rate environment, the
estimated fair value of these securities would be expected to decrease;
conversely, in a decreasing interest rate environment, the estimated fair value
of these securities would be expected to increase. As market volatility
increases or liquidity decreases, the fair value of our investments may be
adversely impacted. If we are unable to readily obtain independent pricing to
validate our estimated fair value of securities in the portfolio, the fair
value gains or losses recorded in other comprehensive income may be adversely
affected.
76
Real Estate Market Risk
We own assets secured by real property and may own real property directly in the future. Residential property values are subject to volatility and may be affected adversely by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, national, regional and local economic conditions (which may be adversely affected by industry slowdowns and other factors); local real estate conditions (such as an oversupply of housing); changes or continued weakness in specific industry segments; construction quality, age and design; demographic factors; and retroactive changes to building or similar codes. In addition, decreases in property values reduce the value of the collateral and the potential proceeds available to a borrower to repay our loans, which could also cause us to suffer losses.
Risk Management
To
the extent consistent with maintaining our REIT status, we seek to manage risk
exposure to protect our portfolio of residential mortgage loans, RMBS, and
other assets and related debt against the effects of major interest rate
changes. We generally seek to manage our risk by:
|
|
|
|
• |
monitoring and adjusting, if necessary, the reset index and interest rate related to our RMBS and our financings; |
|
|
|
|
• |
attempting to structure our financing agreements to have a range of different maturities, terms, amortizations and interest rate adjustment periods; |
|
|
|
|
• |
using derivatives, financial futures, swaps, options, caps, floors and forward sales to adjust the interest rate sensitivity of our MBS and our borrowings; |
|
|
|
|
• |
using securitization financing to lower average cost of funds relative to short-term financing vehicles further allowing us to receive the benefit of attractive terms for an extended period of time in contrast to short term financing and maturity dates of the investments included in the securitization; and |
|
|
|
|
• |
actively managing, on an aggregate basis, the interest rate indices, interest rate adjustment periods, and gross reset margins of our investments and the interest rate indices and adjustment periods of our financings. |
Our efforts to manage our assets and liabilities are concerned with the timing and magnitude of the repricing of assets and liabilities. We attempt to control risks associated with interest rate movements. Methods for evaluating interest rate risk include an analysis of our interest rate sensitivity “gap”, which is the difference between interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities maturing or repricing within a given time period. A gap is considered positive when the amount of interest-rate sensitive assets exceeds the amount of interest-rate sensitive liabilities. A gap is considered negative when the amount of interest-rate sensitive liabilities exceeds interest-rate sensitive assets. During a period of rising interest rates, a negative gap would tend to adversely affect net interest income, while a positive gap would tend to result in an increase in net interest income. During a period of falling interest rates, a negative gap would tend to result in an increase in net interest income, while a positive gap would tend to affect net interest income adversely. Because different types of assets and liabilities with the same or similar maturities may react differently to changes in overall market rates or conditions, changes in interest rates may affect net interest income positively or negatively even if an institution were perfectly matched in each maturity category.
The
following table sets forth the estimated maturity or repricing of our
interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities at June 30, 2008. The
amounts of assets and liabilities shown within a particular period were
determined in accordance with the contractual terms of the assets and
liabilities, except adjustable-rate loans, and securities are included in the
period in which their interest rates are first scheduled to adjust and not in
the period in which they mature and does include the effect of the interest
rate swaps. The interest rate sensitivity of our assets and liabilities in the
table could vary substantially if based on actual prepayment experience.
77
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Within 3 |
|
3-12 Months |
|
1 Year to 3 |
|
Greater than |
|
Total |
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
(dollars in thousands) |
|
|||||||||||||
|
Rate sensitive assets |
|
$ |
— |
|
$ |
49,623 |
|
$ |
360,148 |
|
$ |
1,578,257 |
|
$ |
1,988,028 |
|
|
Cash equivalents |
|
|
49,889 |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
49,889 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total rate sensitive assets |
|
$ |
49,889 |
|
$ |
49,623 |
|
$ |
360,148 |
|
$ |
1,578,257 |
|
$ |
2,037,917 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Rate sensitive liabilities, with the effect of swaps |
|
|
(19,684 |
) |
|
214,117 |
|
|
598,656 |
|
|
641,471 |
|
|
1,434,560 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest rate sensitivity gap |
|
$ |
69,573 |
|
$ |
(164,494 |
) |
$ |
(238,508 |
) |
$ |
936,786 |
|
$ |
603,357 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cumulative rate sensitivity gap |
|
$ |
69,573 |
|
$ |
(94,921 |
) |
$ |
(333,429 |
) |
$ |
603,357 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cumulative interest rate sensitivity gap as a percentage of total rate-sensitive assets |
|
|
3 |
% |
|
(5 |
%) |
|
(16 |
%) |
|
30 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Our analysis of risks is based on FIDAC’s experience, estimates, models and assumptions. These analyses rely on models which utilize estimates of fair value and interest rate sensitivity. Actual economic conditions or implementation of investment decisions by FIDAC may produce results that differ significantly from the estimates and assumptions used in our models and the projected results shown in the above tables and in this prospectus. These analyses contain certain forward-looking statements and are subject to the safe harbor statement set forth under the heading “Forward-Looking Statements.”
78
Our Company
We
are a specialty finance company that invests in residential mortgage-backed
securities, or RMBS, residential mortgage loans, real estate-related securities
and various other asset classes. We have elected and intend to qualify to be
taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for federal income tax
purposes commencing with our taxable year ending on December 31, 2007. If we
qualify for taxation as a REIT, we generally will not be subject to federal
income tax on our taxable income that is distributed to our stockholders. We
are externally managed by Fixed Income Discount Advisory Company, which we
refer to as our Manager or FIDAC. Our Manager is an investment advisor
registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Additionally,
our Manager is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Annaly Capital Management, Inc., or
Annaly, a New York Stock Exchange-listed REIT, which has a long track record of
managing investments in U.S. government agency mortgage-backed securities.
Our objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns to our investors over the long-term, primarily through dividends and secondarily through capital appreciation. We intend to achieve this objective by investing in a broad class of financial assets to construct an investment portfolio that is designed to achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns and that is structured to comply with the various federal income tax requirements for REIT status and to maintain our exemption from registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, or 1940 Act.
We
were organized in Maryland on June 1, 2007, and commenced operations on
November 21, 2007 following the completion of our initial public offering. In
our initial public offering, including the exercise of the underwriters’
overallotment option, we sold approximately 34.1 million shares of our common
stock at $15.00 per share, and raised proceeds of $479.3 million before
offering expenses. Concurrent with our initial public offering, in a private
offering we sold to Annaly approximately 3.6 million shares of our common stock
at $15.00 per share for aggregate proceeds of approximately $54.3 million.
Our Manager
We
are externally managed and advised by FIDAC pursuant to a management agreement.
All of our officers are employees of our Manager or its affiliates. Our Manager
is a fixed-income investment management company specializing in managing
investments in U.S. government agency residential mortgage-backed securities,
or Agency RMBS, which are mortgage pass-through certificates, collateralized
mortgage obligations, or CMOs, and other mortgage-backed securities
representing interests in or obligations backed by pools of mortgage loans
issued or guaranteed by the Federal National Mortgage Association, or Fannie
Mae, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, or Freddie Mac, and the
Government National Mortgage Association, or Ginnie Mae. Our Manager also has
experience in managing investments in non-Agency RMBS and collateralized debt
obligations, or CDOs; real estate-related securities; and managing credit and
interest rate-sensitive investment strategies. Our Manager commenced active investment
management operations in 1994. At June 30, 2008, our Manager was the adviser or
sub-adviser for funds with approximately $2.7 billion in net assets and $11.8
billion in gross assets, and which consisted predominantly of Agency RMBS.
Our Manager is responsible for administering our business activities and day-to-day operations. We have no employees other than our officers. Pursuant to the terms of the management agreement, our Manager provides us with our management team, including our officers, along with appropriate support personnel. Our Manager is at all times subject to the supervision and oversight of our board of directors and has only such functions and authority as we delegate to it.
Our
Manager has well-respected and established portfolio management resources for
each of our targeted asset classes and a sophisticated infrastructure
supporting those resources, including investment professionals focusing on
residential mortgage loans, Agency and non-Agency RMBS and other asset-backed
securities. Additionally, we have benefited and expect to continue to benefit
from our Manager’s finance and administration functions, which address legal,
compliance, investor relations and operational matters, including portfolio management,
trade allocation and execution, securities valuation, risk management and
information technologies in connection with the performance of its duties.
We
do not pay any of our officers any cash compensation. Rather, we pay our
Manager a base management fee and incentive fees based on performance pursuant
to the terms of the management agreement.
79
Our Competitive Advantages
We believe that our competitive advantages include the following:
Investment Strategy Designed to Perform in a Variety of Interest Rate and Credit Environments
We
seek to manage our investment strategy to balance both interest rate risk and
credit risk. We believe this strategy is designed to generate attractive,
risk-adjusted returns in a variety of market conditions because operating
conditions in which either of these risks are increased, or decreased, may
occur at different points in the economic cycle. For example, there may be
periods when interest-rate sensitive strategies outperform credit-sensitive
strategies whereby we would receive increased income over our cost of
financing, in which case our portfolio’s increased exposure to this risk would
be beneficial. There may be other periods when credit-sensitive strategies outperform
interest-rate sensitive strategies. Although we face interest rate risk and
credit risk, we believe that with appropriate hedging strategies, as well as
our ability to evaluate the quality of targeted asset investment opportunities,
we can reduce these risks and provide attractive risk-adjusted returns.
Credit-Oriented Investment Approach
We
seek to minimize principal loss while maximizing risk-adjusted returns through
our Manager’s credit-based investment approach, which is based on rigorous
quantitative and qualitative analysis.
Experienced Investment Advisor
Our
Manager has a long history of strong performance across a broad range of
fixed-income assets. Our Manager’s most senior investment professionals have a
long history of investing in a variety of mortgage and real estate-related
securities and structuring and marketing CDOs. Our Manager is also acting as
liquidating agent for a number of CDOs, and has competitive advantages as a
result of its knowledge regarding the pipeline, values, supply and market
participants for liquidations of CDOs because of its involvement in these
liquidations. Investments will be overseen by an Investment Committee of our
Manager’s professionals, consisting of Michael A.J. Farrell, Wellington J.
Denahan-Norris, James P. Fortescue, Kristopher Konrad, Rose-Marie Lyght, Ronald
Kazel, Jeremy Diamond, Eric Szabo and Matthew Lambiase.
Access to Annaly’s and Our Manager’s Relationships
Annaly
and our Manager have developed long-term relationships with a number of
commercial banks and other financial intermediaries. We believe these
relationships provide us with a range of high-quality investment opportunities.
Access to Our Manager’s Systems and Infrastructure
Our Manager has created a proprietary portfolio management system, which we believe provides us with a competitive advantage. Our Manager’s personnel have created a comprehensive finance and administrative infrastructure, an important component of a complex investment vehicle such as a REIT. In addition, most of our Manager’s personnel are also Annaly’s personnel; therefore, they have had extensive experience managing Annaly, which is a REIT.
Alignment of Interests between Annaly, Our Manager and Our Investors
Concurrent
with this offering, we will sell to Annaly 26,548,672 shares of common stock in
a private offering at the same price per share as the price per share of this
public offering. Upon completion of this offering and the concurrent private
offering, Annaly will own approximately 9.6% of our outstanding common stock
(which percentage excludes shares to be sold pursuant to the exercise of the
underwriters’ overallotment option and unvested shares of our restricted common
stock granted to our executive officers and employees of our Manager or its
affiliates).
Moreover,
a portion of the fees that may be earned by our Manager consist of incentive
fees that are based on the amount that a measure of our earnings exceeds a
specified threshold. Further, the incentive fees are payable in cash or shares
of our common stock at the election of our board of directors. We believe that
Annaly’s investment and our Manager’s ability to earn performance fees will
align our Manager’s interests with our interests.
Our Investment Strategy
Our
objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns to our investors over
the long-term, primarily through dividends and secondarily through capital
appreciation. We intend to achieve this objective by investing in
80
a diversified investment portfolio of residential mortgage-backed
securities, residential mortgage loans, real estate-related securities and
various other asset classes, subject to maintaining our REIT status and
exemption from registration under the 1940 Act. The residential mortgage backed
securities, or RMBS, asset backed securities, or ABS, commercial mortgage
backed securities, or CMBS, and CDOs we purchase may include investment-grade
and non-investment grade classes, including the BB-rated, B-rated and non-rated
classes.
We rely on our Manager’s expertise in identifying assets within our target asset classes. Our Manager makes investment decisions based on various factors, including expected cash yield, relative value, risk-adjusted returns, current and projected credit fundamentals, current and projected macroeconomic considerations, current and projected supply and demand, credit and market risk concentration limits, liquidity, cost of financing and financing availability, as well as maintaining our REIT qualification and our exemption from registration under the 1940 Act.
Over time, we will modify our investment allocation strategy as market conditions change to seek to maximize the returns from our investment portfolio. We believe this strategy, combined with our Manager’s experience, will enable us to pay dividends and achieve capital appreciation throughout changing interest rate and credit cycles and provide attractive long-term returns to investors.
Our
targeted asset classes and the principal investments we have made and expect to
make in each are as follows:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Asset Class |
|
Principal Investments |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities, or RMBS |
|
• |
Non-Agency RMBS, including investment-grade and non-investment grade classes, including the BB-rated, B-rated and non-rated classes. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
• |
Agency RMBS. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Residential Mortgage Loans |
|
• |
Prime mortgage loans, which are mortgage loans that conform to the underwriting guidelines of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which we refer to as Agency Guidelines; and jumbo prime mortgage loans, which are mortgage loans that conform to the Agency Guidelines except as to loan size. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
• |
Alt-A mortgage loans, which are mortgage loans that may have been originated using documentation standards that are less stringent than the documentation standards applied by certain other first lien mortgage loan purchase programs, such as the Agency Guidelines, but have one or more compensating factors such as a borrower with a strong credit or mortgage history or significant assets. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other Asset-Backed Securities, or ABS |
|
• |
Commercial mortgage-backed securities, or CMBS. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
• |
Debt and equity tranches of collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
• |
Consumer and non-consumer ABS, including investment-grade and non-investment grade classes, including the BB-rated, B-rated and non-rated classes. |
Since
we commenced operations in November 2007, we have focused our investment
activities on acquiring non-Agency RMBS and on purchasing residential mortgage
loans that have been originated by select high-quality originators, including
the retail lending operations of leading commercial banks. This is in contrast
to
81
Annaly’s strategy which concentrates on Agency RMBS. Our
investment portfolio at June 30, 2008 was weighted toward non-Agency RMBS.
After the consummation of this offering, we expect that over the near term our
investment portfolio will continue to be weighted toward RMBS, subject to
maintaining our REIT qualification and our 1940 Act exemption. In addition, we
have engaged in and anticipate continuing to engage in transactions with
residential mortgage lending operations of leading commercial banks and other
high-quality originators in which we identify and re-underwrite residential
mortgage loans owned by such entities, and rather than purchasing and
securitizing such residential mortgage loans ourselves, we and the originator
would structure the securitization and we would purchase the resulting
mezzanine and subordinate non-Agency RMBS. We may also engage in similar
transactions with non-Agency RMBS in which we would acquire AAA-rated
non-Agency RMBS and immediately re-securitize those securities. We would sell
the resulting AAA-rated super senior RMBS and retain the AAA-rated mezzanine
RMBS. Our investment decisions, however, will depend on prevailing market
conditions and will change over time. As a result, we cannot predict the
percentage of our assets that will be invested in each asset class or whether
we will invest in other classes of investments. We may change our investment
strategy and policies without a vote of our stockholders.
We have elected and intend to qualify to be taxed as a REIT commencing with our taxable year ending December 31, 2007 and to operate our business so as to be exempt from registration under the 1940 Act, and therefore we will be required to invest a substantial majority of our assets in loans secured by mortgages on real estate and real estate-related assets. Subject to maintaining our REIT qualification and our 1940 Act exemption, we do not have any limitations on the amounts we may invest in any of our targeted asset classes.
Our Investment Portfolio
As of June 30, 2008, our investment portfolio consisted of the following (dollars in thousands):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amortized Cost |
|
Estimated Fair |
|
Percent of Total |
|
Weighted Average |
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
RMBS |
|
$ |
1,221,567 |
|
$ |
1,116,586 |
|
|
59.4 |
% |
|
6.27 |
% |
|
Residential Mortgage Loans(2) |
|
$ |
150,629 |
|
$ |
150,083 |
|
|
8.0 |
% |
|
5.77 |
% |
|
Securitized Loans |
|
$ |
614,278 |
|
$ |
613,580 |
|
|
32.6 |
% |
|
5.96 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
$ |
1,986,474 |
|
$ |
1,880,249 |
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1) Based on estimated fair value.
(2) On
April 24, 2008, we sponsored a $619.7 million securitization, which was
structured as a long-term financing transaction. See “– Recent Developments.”
Securitizations structured as financings will result in the outstanding
principal balance of the securitized mortgage loans remaining on our books as
an asset and the outstanding principal balance of the notes issued by the trust
will be recorded on our books as a liability. On July 25, 2008, we sponsored a
$151.2 million securitization, which was structured as a sale. Securitizations
structured as sales will result in the fair value of any notes and equity we
retain remaining on our books as an asset.
The following briefly discusses the principal types of investments that we have made and expect to make:
Residential Mortgage-Backed
Securities
We have invested in and intend to continue to invest in RMBS which are typically pass-through certificates created by the securitization of a pool of mortgage loans that are collateralized by residential real estate properties.
The securitization process is governed by one or more of the rating agencies, including Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s, which determine the respective bond class sizes, generally based on a sequential payment structure. Bonds that are rated from AAA to BBB by the rating agencies are considered “investment grade.” Bond classes that are subordinate to the BBB class are considered “below-investment grade” or “non-investment grade.” The respective bond class sizes are determined based on the review of the underlying collateral by the rating agencies. The payments received from the underlying loans are used to make the payments on the RMBS. Based on the sequential payment priority, the risk of nonpayment for the investment grade RMBS is lower than the risk of nonpayment for the non-investment grade bonds. Accordingly, the investment grade class is typically sold at a lower yield compared to the non-investment grade classes which are sold at higher yields.
We
invest in investment grade and non-investment grade RMBS. We evaluate the credit
characteristics of these types of securities, including, but not limited to,
loan balance distribution, geographic concentration, property type, occupancy,
periodic and lifetime cap, weighted-average loan-to-value and weighted-average
FICO score. Qualifying securities are then analyzed using base line
expectations of expected prepayments and losses from given
82
sectors, issuers and the current state of the fixed-income
market. Losses and prepayments are stressed simultaneously based on a credit
risk-based model. Securities in this portfolio are monitored for variance from
expected prepayments, frequencies, severities, losses and cash flow. The due
diligence process is particularly important and costly with respect to newly
formed originators or issuers because there may be little or no information
publicly available about these entities and investments.
We may invest in net interest margin securities, or NIMs, which are notes that are payable from and secured by excess cash flow that is generated by RMBS or home equity line of credit-backed securities, or HELOCs, after paying the debt service, expenses and fees on such securities. The excess cash flow represents all or a portion of a residual that is generally retained by the originator of the RMBS or HELOCs. The residual is illiquid, thus the originator will monetize the position by securitizing the residual and issuing a NIM, usually in the form of a note that is backed by the excess cash flow generated in the underlying securitization.
We may invest in mortgage pass-through certificates issued or guaranteed by Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. We refer to these U.S. government agencies as Agencies, and to the mortgage pass-through certificates they issue or guarantee as Agency Mortgage Pass-through Certificates. More specifically, Agency Mortgage Pass-through Certificates are securities representing interests in “pools” of mortgage loans secured by residential real property where payments of both interest and principal, plus pre-paid principal, on the securities are made monthly to holders of the security, in effect “passing through” monthly payments made by the individual borrowers on the mortgage loans that underlie the securities, net of fees paid to the issuer/guarantor and servicers of the securities. We may also invest in collateralized mortgage obligations, or CMOs, issued by the Agencies. CMOs consist of multiple classes of securities, with each class bearing different stated maturity dates. Monthly payments of principal, including prepayments, are first returned to investors holding the shortest maturity class; investors holding the longer maturity classes receive principal only after the first class has been retired. We refer to these types of securities as Agency CMOs, and we refer to Agency Mortgage Pass-through Certificates and Agency CMOs as Agency RMBS.
Agency RMBS are collateralized by either fixed-rate mortgage loans, or FRMs, adjustable-rate mortgage loans, or ARMs, or hybrid ARMs. Hybrid ARMs are mortgage loans that have interest rates that are fixed for an initial period (typically three, five, seven or ten years) and thereafter reset at regular intervals subject to interest rate caps. Our allocation between securities collateralized by FRMs, ARMs or hybrid ARMs will depend on various factors including, but not limited to, relative value, expected future prepayment trends, supply and demand, costs of financing, costs of hedging, expected future interest rate volatility and the overall shape of the U.S. Treasury and interest rate swap yield curves. We take these factors into account when we make these types of investments.
Recently, the government passed the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008”. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have recently been placed into the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or FHFA, their federal regulator, pursuant to its powers under The Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008, a part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. As the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the FHFA controls and directs the operations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and may (1) take over the assets of and operate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with all the powers of the shareholders, the directors, and the officers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and conduct all business of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; (2) collect all obligations and money due to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; (3) perform all functions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which are consistent with the conservator’s appointment; (4) preserve and conserve the assets and property of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and (5) contract for assistance in fulfilling any function, activity, action or duty of the conservator.
In addition to FHFA becoming the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, (i) the U.S. Department of Treasury and FHFA have entered into preferred stock purchase agreements between the U.S. Department of Treasury and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pursuant to which the U.S. Department of Treasury will ensure that each of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac maintains a positive net worth; (ii) the U.S. Department of Treasury has established a new secured lending credit facility which will be available to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks, which is intended to serve as a liquidity backstop, which will be available until December 2009; and (iii) the U.S. Department of Treasury has initiated a temporary program to purchase RMBS issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, or EESA, was recently enacted.
The EESA provides the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury with the authority to
establish a Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to purchase from financial
institutions up to $700 billion of residential or commercial mortgages and any
securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to
such mortgages, that in each case was originated or
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issued on or before March 14, 2008, as well as any other
financial instrument that the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, after
consultation with the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, determines the purchase of which is necessary to promote financial
market stability, upon transmittal of such determination, in writing, to the
appropriate committees of the U.S. Congress. The EESA also provides for a
program that would allow companies to insure their troubled assets.
There can be no assurance that the EESA will have a beneficial impact on the financial markets, including current extreme levels of volatility. To the extent the market does not respond favorably to the TARP or the TARP does not function as intended, our business may not receive the anticipated positive impact from the legislation. In addition, the U.S. Government, Federal Reserve and other governmental and regulatory bodies have taken or are considering taking other actions to address the financial crisis. We cannot predict whether or when such actions may occur or what impact, if any, such actions could have on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We
anticipate engaging in transactions with residential mortgage lending
operations of leading commercial banks and other high-quality originators in
which we identify and re-underwrite residential mortgage loans owned by such
entities, and rather than purchasing and securitizing such residential mortgage
loans ourselves, we and the originator would structure the securitization and
we would purchase the resulting mezzanine and subordinate non-Agency RMBS. We
may also engage in similar transactions with non-Agency RMBS in which we would
acquire AAA-rated non-Agency RMBS and immediately re-securitize those
securities. We would sell the resulting AAA-rated super senior RMBS and retain
the AAA-rated mezzanine RMBS.
Residential Mortgage Loans
We have invested and intend to continue to invest in residential mortgage loans (mortgage loans secured by residential real property) primarily through direct purchases from selected high-quality originators. On December 14, 2007, we entered into a mortgage loan purchase agreement with PHH Mortgage Corporation. We intend to enter into additional mortgage loan purchase agreements with a number of primary mortgage loan originators, including mortgage bankers, commercial banks, savings and loan associations, home builders, credit unions and mortgage conduits. We may also purchase mortgage loans on the secondary market. We expect these loans to be secured primarily by residential properties in the United States.
We invest primarily in residential mortgage loans underwritten to our specifications. The originators perform the credit review of the borrowers, the appraisal of the properties securing the loan, and maintain other quality control procedures. We generally consider the purchase of loans when the originators have verified the borrowers’ income and assets, verified their credit history and obtained appraisals of the properties. We or a third party perform an independent underwriting review of the processing, underwriting and loan closing methodologies that the originators used in qualifying a borrower for a loan. Depending on the size of the loans, we may not review all of the loans in a pool, but rather select loans for underwriting review based upon specific risk-based criteria such as property location, loan size, effective loan-to-value ratio, borrower’s credit score and other criteria we believe to be important indicators of credit risk. Additionally, before the purchase of loans, we obtain representations and warranties from each originator stating that each loan is underwritten to our requirements or, in the event underwriting exceptions have been made, we are informed so that we may evaluate whether to accept or reject the loans. An originator who breaches these representations and warranties in making a loan that we purchase may be obligated to repurchase the loan from us. As added security, we use the services of a third-party document custodian to insure the quality and accuracy of all individual mortgage loan closing documents and to hold the documents in safekeeping. As a result, all of the original loan collateral documents that are signed by the borrower, other than the original credit verification documents, are examined, verified and held by the third-party document custodian.
We currently do not intend to originate mortgage loans or provide other types of financing to the owners of real estate. We currently do not intend to establish a loan servicing platform, but expect to retain highly-rated servicers to service our mortgage loan portfolio. We purchase certain residential mortgage loans on a servicing-retained basis. In the future, however, we may decide to originate mortgage loans or other types of financing, and we may elect to service mortgage loans and other types of assets.
We expect that all servicers servicing our loans will be highly rated by the rating agencies. We also conduct a due diligence review of each servicer before executing a servicing agreement. Servicing procedures will typically follow Fannie Mae guidelines but will be specified in each servicing agreement. All servicing agreements will meet standards for inclusion in highly rated mortgage-backed or asset-backed securitizations. We have entered
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into a master servicing agreement with Wells Fargo, N.A. to assist us with management, servicing oversight, and other administrative duties associated with managing our mortgage loans.
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expect that the loans we acquire will be first lien, single-family residential
traditional fixed-rate, adjustable-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate loans with
original terms to maturity of not more than 40 years and are either fully
amortizing or are interest-only for up to ten years, and fully amortizing
thereafter. Fixed-rate mortgage loans bear an interest rate that is fixed for
the life of the loan. All adjustable-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate
residential mortgage loans will bear an interest rate tied to an interest rate
index. Most loans have periodic and lifetime constraints on how much the loan
interest rate can change on any predetermined interest rate reset date. The
interest rate on each adjustable-rate mortgage loan resets monthly,
semi-annually or annually and generally adjusts to a margin over a U.S.
Treasury index or the LIBOR index. Hybrid adjustable-rate loans have a fixed
rate for an initial period, generally three to ten years, and then convert to adjustable-rate
loans for their remaining term to maturity.
We acquire residential mortgage loans for our portfolio with the intention of either securitizing them and retaining them in our portfolio as securitized mortgage loans, or holding them in our residential mortgage loan portfolio. To facilitate the securitization or financing of our loans, we expect to generally create subordinate certificates, which provide a specified amount of credit enhancement. We expect to issue securities through securities underwriters and either retain these securities or finance them in the repurchase agreement market. There is no limit on the amount we may retain of these below-investment-grade subordinate certificates. Until we securitize our residential mortgage loans, we expect to finance our residential mortgage loan portfolio through the use of warehouse facilities and repurchase agreements.
Other Asset-Backed Securities
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may invest in securities issued in various CDO offerings to gain exposure to
bank loans, corporate bonds, ABS, mortgages, RMBS and CMBS and other
instruments. To avoid any actual or perceived conflicts of interest with our
Manager, an investment in any such security structured or managed by our
Manager will be approved by a majority of our independent directors. To the
extent such securities are treated as debt of the CDO issuer for federal income
tax purposes, we will hold the securities directly, subject to the requirements
of our continued qualification as a REIT as described in “Certain Federal
Income Tax Considerations – Asset Tests.” To the extent the securities
represent equity interests in a CDO issuer for federal income tax purposes, we
may be required to hold such securities through a taxable REIT subsidiary, or
TRS, which would cause the income recognized with respect to such securities to
be subject to federal (and applicable state and local) corporate income tax.
See “Risk Factors – Tax Risks.” We could fail to qualify as a REIT or we could
become subject to a penalty tax if the income we recognize from certain
investments that are treated or could be treated as equity interests in a
foreign corporation exceed 5% of our gross income in a taxable year.
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may invest in CMBS, which are secured by, or evidence ownership interests in, a
single commercial mortgage loan or a pool of mortgage loans secured by
commercial properties. These securities may be senior, subordinated, investment
grade or non-investment grade. We intend to invest in CMBS that will yield
current interest income and where we consider the return of principal to be
likely. We intend to acquire CMBS from private originators of, or investors in,
mortgage loans, including savings and loan associations, mortgage bankers,
commercial banks, finance companies, investment banks and other entities.
In general, CDO issuers are special purpose vehicles that hold a portfolio of income-producing assets financed through the issuance of rated debt securities of different seniority and equity. The debt tranches are typically rated based on cash flow structure, portfolio quality, diversification and credit enhancement. The equity securities issued by the CDO vehicle are the “first loss” piece of the CDO vehicle’s capital structure, but they are also generally entitled to all residual amounts available for payment after the CDO vehicle’s senior obligations have been satisfied. Some CDO vehicles are “synthetic,” in which the credit risk to the collateral pool is transferred to the CDO vehicle by a credit derivative such as a credit default swap.
We also intend to invest in consumer ABS. These securities are generally securities for which the underlying collateral consists of assets such as home equity loans, credit card receivables and auto loans. We also expect to invest in non-consumer ABS. These securities are generally secured by loans to businesses and consist of assets such as equipment loans, truck loans and agricultural equipment loans. Issuers of consumer and non-consumer ABS generally are special purpose entities owned or sponsored by banks and finance companies, captive
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finance subsidiaries of non-financial corporations or specialized originators such as credit card lenders. We may purchase RMBS and ABS which are denominated in foreign currencies or are collateralized by non-U.S. assets.
Investment Sourcing
Our Manager takes advantage of the broad network of relationships it and Annaly have established over the past decade to identify investment opportunities. Our Manager and Annaly have relationships with a large and diverse group of financial intermediaries, ranging from major commercial and investment banks to specialty investment dealers and brokerage firms. In addition, we believe that a portion of our Manager’s transaction pipeline, such as the CDOs it sponsors, will generate appropriate investment opportunities for us. Our Manager also sources investments directly from third-party originators, such as in the case of CDOs and CLOs, sponsored by other asset management firms.
Investing in our targeted asset classes is highly competitive. Our Manager competes with many other investment managers for profitable investment opportunities in fixed-income asset classes and related investment opportunities.
Investment Process
Our investment process benefits from the resources and professionals of our Manager. The professionals responsible for portfolio management decisions are Matthew Lambiase, our President and Chief Executive Officer and our Manager’s Executive Vice President, Structured Products; William B. Dyer, our Head of Underwriting and our Manager’s Executive Vice President; Christian J. Woschenko, our Head of Investments and our Manager’s Executive Vice President; Eric Szabo, our Manager’s Senior Vice President and Investment Strategist; and Konstantin Pavlov, our Manager’s Senior Vice President and Senior Repo Trader. Investments are overseen by an Investment Committee of our Manager’s professionals, consisting of Michael A.J. Farrell, Wellington J. Denahan-Norris, James P. Fortescue, Kristopher Konrad, Rose-Marie Lyght, Ronald Kazel, Jeremy Diamond, Eric Szabo and Matthew Lambiase. This Investment Committee oversees our investment guidelines and will meet periodically to discuss preferences for sectors and sub-sectors.
Our
investment process includes sourcing and screening of investment opportunities,
assessing investment suitability, conducting credit and prepayment analysis,
evaluating cash flow and collateral performance, reviewing legal structure and
servicer and originator information and investment structuring, as appropriate,
to seek an attractive return commensurate with the risk we are bearing. Upon
identification of an investment opportunity, the investment is screened and
monitored by our Manager to determine its impact on maintaining our REIT
qualification and our exemption from registration under the 1940 Act. We have
made and will seek to make investments in sectors where our Manager has strong
core competencies and where we believe credit risk and expected performance can
be reasonably quantified.
Our Manager evaluates each one of our investment opportunities based on its expected risk-adjusted return relative to the returns available from other, comparable investments. In addition, we evaluate new opportunities based on their relative expected returns compared to our comparable securities held in our portfolio. The terms of any leverage available to us for use in funding an investment purchase are also taken into consideration, as are any risks posed by illiquidity or correlations with other securities in the portfolio.
Once a potential residential loan package investment has been identified, our Manager and third parties it engages perform financial, operational and legal due diligence to assess the risks of the investment. Our Manager and third parties it engages analyze the loan pool and conduct follow-up due diligence as part of the underwriting process. As part of this process, the key factors which the underwriters consider include, but are not limited to, documentation, debt-to-income ratio, loan-to-value ratios and property valuation. Consideration is also given to other factors such as price of the pool, geographic concentrations and type of product. Our Manager refines its underwriting criteria based upon actual loan portfolio experience and as market conditions and investor requirements evolve. Similar analysis is also performed on securities, where the evaluation process also includes relative value analyses based on yield, credit rating, average life, expected duration, option-adjusted spreads, prepayment assumptions and credit exceptions. Other considerations in our investment process include analysis of fundamental economic trends, suitability for investment by a REIT, consumer borrowing trends, home price appreciation and relevant regulatory developments.
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Investment Guidelines
We have adopted a set of investment guidelines that set out the asset classes, risk tolerance levels, diversification requirements and other criteria used to evaluate the merits of specific investments as well as the overall portfolio composition. Our Manager’s Investment Committee reviews our compliance with the investment guidelines periodically and our board of directors receives an investment report at each quarter-end in conjunction with its review of our quarterly results. Our board also reviews our investment portfolio and related compliance with our investment policies and procedures and investment guidelines at each regularly scheduled board of directors meeting.
Our board of directors and our Manager’s Investment Committee have adopted the following guidelines for our investments and borrowings:
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No investment shall be made that would cause us to fail to qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes; |
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No investment shall be made that would cause us to be regulated as an investment company under the 1940 Act; |
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With the exception of real estate and housing, no single industry shall represent greater than 20% of the securities or aggregate risk exposure in our portfolio; and |
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Investments in non-rated or deeply subordinated ABS or other securities that are non-qualifying assets for purposes of the 75% REIT asset test will be limited to an amount not to exceed 50% of our stockholders’ equity. |
These investment guidelines may be changed by a majority of our board of directors without stockholder approval.
Our board of directors has also adopted a separate set of investment guidelines and procedures to govern our relationship with FIDAC. We have also adopted detailed compliance policies to govern our interaction with FIDAC, including when FIDAC is in receipt of material non-public information.
Our Financing Strategy
Subject to our maintaining our qualification as a REIT, we expect to use a number of sources to finance our investments, including the following:
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Repurchase Agreements. We have financed and intend to continue to finance certain of our assets through the use of repurchase agreements. We anticipate that repurchase agreements will be one of the sources we will use to achieve our desired amount of leverage for our residential real estate assets. We intend to maintain formal relationships with multiple counterparties to obtain financing on favorable terms. We currently have established uncommitted repurchase agreements for RMBS with 12 counterparties, including Annaly. As of June 30, 2008, we had $50.0 million outstanding under our repurchase agreement with Annaly. As of September 30, 2008, we had approximately $620.0 million outstanding under this agreement, which constitutes approximately 56% of our total financing. We had also established two repurchase agreements for whole mortgage loans as of June 30, 2008, which were terminated subsequent to the end of the quarter. For a description of the terms of our repurchase agreements, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources.” |
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Warehouse Facilities. We intend to utilize credit facilities for capital needed to fund our assets. We intend to maintain formal relationships with multiple counterparties to maintain warehouse lines on favorable terms. As of June 30, 2008, we had no outstanding warehouse facility balances. |
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Securitization. We acquire residential mortgage loans for our portfolio with the intention of securitizing them and retaining the securitized mortgage loans in our portfolio. To facilitate the securitization or financing of our loans, we will generally create subordinate certificates, providing a specified amount of credit enhancement, which we intend to retain in our portfolio. As described below, as of June 30, 2008, we had one completed securitization and a second securitization closed shortly after the end of that quarter. |
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On April 24, 2008, we sponsored a $619.7 million securitization, a long-term financing transaction whereby we securitized our then-current inventory of mortgage loans. In this transaction, we sold approximately $536.9 million of AAA-rated fixed and floating rate bonds to third party investors, and retained approximately $46.3 million of AAA-rated mezzanine bonds and $36.5 million in subordinated bonds. This transaction will be accounted for as a financing pursuant to SFAS 140. |
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On July 25, 2008, we sponsored a $151.2 million securitization whereby we securitized our then-current inventory of mortgage loans. In this transaction, we retained all of securities issued by the securitization trust including approximately $142.4 million of AAA-rated fixed and floating rate senior bonds and $8.8 million in subordinated bonds. This transaction will be accounted for as a sale. On August 28, 2008, we sold approximately $74.9 million of the AAA-rated fixed and floating rate bonds related to the July 25, 2008 securitization to third-party investors and realized a loss of $11.5 million. |
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Asset-Backed Commercial Paper. We may finance certain of our assets using asset-backed commercial paper, or ABCP, conduits, which are bankruptcy-remote special purpose vehicles that issue commercial paper and the proceeds of which are used to fund assets, either through repurchase or secured lending programs. We may utilize ABCP conduits of third parties or create our own conduit. As of June 30, 2008, we had no outstanding asset-backed commercial paper balances. |
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Term Financing CDOs. We may finance certain of our assets using term financing strategies, including CDOs and other match-funded financing structures. CDOs are multiple class debt securities, or bonds, secured by pools of assets, such as mortgage-backed securities and corporate debt. Like typical securitization structures, in a CDO: |
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the assets are pledged to a trustee for the benefit of the holders of the bonds; |
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one or more classes of the bonds are rated by one or more rating agencies; and |
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one or more classes of the bonds are marketed to a wide variety of fixed-income investors, which enables the CDO sponsor to achieve a relatively low cost of long-term financing. |
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Unlike typical securitization structures, the underlying assets may be sold, subject to certain limitations, without a corresponding pay-down of the CDO, provided the proceeds are reinvested in qualifying assets. As a result, CDOs enable the sponsor to actively manage, subject to certain limitations, the pool of assets. We believe CDO financing structures may be an appropriate financing vehicle for our target asset classes because they will enable us to obtain relatively low, long-term cost of funds and minimize the risk that we may have to refinance our liabilities before the maturities of our investments, while giving us the flexibility to manage credit risk and, subject to certain limitations, to take advantage of profit opportunities. As of June 30, 2008, we had no outstanding term financing CDOs. |
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Our Interest Rate Hedging and Risk Management Strategy
We may, from time to time, utilize derivative financial instruments to hedge all or a portion of the interest rate risk associated with our borrowings. Under the federal income tax laws applicable to REITs, we generally will be able to enter into certain transactions to hedge indebtedness that we may incur, or plan to incur, to acquire or carry real estate assets, although our total gross income from such hedges and other non-qualifying sources must not exceed 25% of our gross income.
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us to implement certain of these techniques through a TRS that is fully subject
to corporate income taxation. Our interest rate management techniques may
include:
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puts and calls on securities or indices of securities; |
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Eurodollar futures contracts and options on such contracts; |
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interest rate caps, swaps and swaptions; |
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U.S. treasury securities and options on U.S. treasury securities; and |
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We expect to attempt to reduce interest rate risks and to minimize exposure to interest rate fluctuations through the use of match funded financing structures, when appropriate, whereby we seek (i) to match the maturities of our debt obligations with the maturities of our assets and (ii) to match the interest rates on our investments with like-kind debt (i.e., floating rate assets are financed with floating rate debt and fixed-rate assets are financed with fixed-rate debt), directly or through the use of interest rate swaps, caps or other financial instruments, or through a combination of these strategies. We expect this to allow us to minimize the risk that we have to refinance our liabilities before the maturities of our assets and to reduce the impact of changing interest rates on our earnings.
Interest rate management techniques do not eliminate interest rate risk but, rather, seek to mitigate it. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—Hedging against interest rate exposure may adversely affect our earnings, which could reduce our cash available for distribution to you.” and “—Our hedging strategies may not be successful in mitigating the risks associated with interest rates.”
Credit Analysis and Structuring
We benefit from our Manager’s experience in credit analysis and investment structuring. The credit analysis process is driven by extensive research that focuses, where applicable, on the underlying collateral, servicer and structure of a loan or security, as well as the borrower or issuer, its management team and overall conditions in its industry. When conducting due diligence, our Manager evaluates a number of important business considerations, as well as relevant tax, accounting, environmental and legal issues in determining whether to proceed with an investment.
Risk Management
Risk management is an integral component of our strategy to deliver returns to our stockholders. Because we have invested and will continue to invest primarily in fixed-income securities, investment losses from credit defaults, interest rate volatility or other risks can meaningfully reduce or eliminate our distributions to stockholders. In addition, because we utilize financial leverage in funding our portfolio, mismatches in the maturities of our assets and liabilities can create risk in the need to continually renew or otherwise refinance our liabilities. Our net interest margins are dependent upon a positive spread between the returns on our asset portfolio and our overall cost of funding. To minimize the risks to our portfolio, we actively employ portfolio-wide and security-specific risk measurement and management processes in our daily operations. Our risk management tools include software and services licensed or purchased from third parties, in addition to proprietary analytical methods developed by FIDAC. There can be no guarantee that these tools will protect us from market risks.
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Conflicts of Interest
We are dependent on our Manager for our day-to-day management and do not have any independent officers or employees. Our officers also serve as employees of our Manager or its affiliates. Our non-independent directors also serve as employees of our Manager. Our management agreement with our Manager was negotiated between related parties and its terms, including fees payable, may not be as favorable to us as if it had been negotiated at arm’s length with an unaffiliated third party. In addition, the ability of our Manager and its officers and employees to engage in other business activities may reduce the time our Manager and its officers and employees spend managing us.
Our Manager has discretionary investment authority over a number of different funds and accounts. Although currently none of these funds or accounts have investment objectives that materially overlap with ours, it is possible in the future that our Manager may manage funds and accounts that may compete with us for investment opportunities. Also, to the extent our Manager manages investment vehicles (other than CDOs) that meet our investment objectives, our Manager will have an incentive to invest our funds in such investment vehicles because of the possibility of generating an additional incremental management fee. Our Manager may also invest in CDOs managed by it that could result in conflicts with us, particularly if we invest in a portion of the equity securities and there is a deterioration of value of such CDO before closing we could suffer an immediate loss equal to the decrease in the market value of the underlying investment. In addition, to the extent we seek to invest in Agency RMBS, we may compete for investment opportunities with Annaly. Our Manager has an investment allocation policy in place so that we may share equitably with other client accounts of our Manager and Annaly in all investment opportunities, particularly those involving an asset with limited supply, that may be suitable for our account and such other accounts. Our Manager’s policy also includes other controls designed to monitor and prevent any particular account or Annaly from receiving favorable treatment over any other fund or account. This investment policy may be amended by our Manager at any time without our consent. To the extent FIDAC’s, Annaly’s, or our business evolves in such a way to give rise to conflicts not currently addressed by our Manager’s investment allocation policy, our Manager may need to refine its policy to handle any such situations. To avoid any actual or perceived conflicts of interest with our Manager, an investment in any security structured or managed by our Manager will be approved by a majority of our independent directors.
The ability of our Manager and its officers and employees to engage in other business activities may reduce the time our Manager spends managing us. Further, during turbulent conditions in the mortgage industry, distress in the credit markets or other times when we will need focused support and assistance from our Manager, other entities for which or Manager also acts as an investment manager will likewise require greater focus and attention, placing our Manager’s resources in high demand. In such situations, we may not receive the necessary support and assistance we require or would otherwise receive if we were internally managed or if our Manager did not act as a manager for other entities.
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provisions may
increase the effective cost to us of terminating the management agreement,
thereby adversely affecting our ability to terminate our Manager without cause.
In addition, we have entered into a repurchase agreement with Annaly, our
Manager’s parent, to finance our RMBS. This financing arrangement may make us
less likely to terminate our Manager. It could also give rise to further conflicts
because Annaly may be a creditor of ours. As one of our creditors, Annaly’s
interests may diverge from the interests of our stockholders.
Our Manager may terminate the management agreement if we become required to register as an investment company under the 1940 Act, with such termination deemed to occur immediately before such event, in which case we would not be required to pay a termination fee. Our Manager may also decline to renew the management agreement by providing us with 180-days’ written notice, in which case we would not be required to pay a termination fee.
The management agreement provides that our Manager will not assume any responsibility other than to provide the services called for by the management agreement. It further provides that our Manager will not be responsible for any action of our board of directors in following or declining to follow its advice or recommendations. Our Manager, its officers, managers and employees will not be liable to us, any subsidiary of ours, our directors, our stockholders or any subsidiary’s stockholders or partners for acts or omissions performed in accordance with and pursuant to the management agreement, except because of acts constituting bad faith, willful misconduct, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of their duties under the management agreement. We have agreed to indemnify our Manager, its officers, stockholders, managers, directors, employees, any person controlling or controlled by the Manager and any person providing sub-advisory services to the Manager, with respect to all expenses, losses, damages, liabilities, demands, charges and claims arising from acts of our Manager not constituting bad faith, willful misconduct, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of duties, performed in good faith in accordance with and pursuant to the management agreement.
Resolution of Potential Conflicts of Interest and Allocation of Investment Opportunities
FIDAC will abide by its allocation policy and thus will offer us the right to participate in all investment opportunities that it determines are appropriate for us in view of our investment objectives, policies and strategies and other relevant factors, subject to the exception that, in accordance with FIDAC’s allocation policy described below, we might not participate in each such opportunity but will on an overall basis equitably participate with FIDAC’s other clients in all such opportunities. FIDAC allocates investments to eligible accounts, including us, based on current demand according to the market value of the account (which is the amount of available capital that, consistent with such account’s investment parameters, may be invested in a proposed investment). An account has current demand if it has positive market value. For certain transactions that cannot be allocated on a pro rata basis, such as in the case of “whole pool” trades, our Manager will endeavor to allocate such purchases over time in a fair and equitable manner. If the investment cannot fulfill the pro rata allocation or be allocated in marketable portions, the investment is allocated on a rotational basis to accounts with current demand, with an emphasis placed on those accounts that were excluded in prior allocations, but without any preference given to accounts based on their market value. The rotational system is determined by FIDAC’s chief investment officer and is overseen by its compliance officer to ensure fair and equitable investment allocation to all accounts in accordance with the 1940 Act.
Operating and Regulatory Structure
REIT Qualification
As a REIT, we generally will not be subject to federal income tax on our REIT taxable income we distribute currently to you. If we fail to qualify as a REIT in any taxable year and do not qualify for certain statutory relief provisions, we will be subject to federal income tax at regular corporate rates and may be precluded from qualifying as a REIT for the subsequent four taxable years following the year during which we lost our REIT
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qualification. Even if we qualify for taxation as a REIT, we may be subject to some federal, state and local taxes on our income or property.
1940 Act Exemption
We operate our business so that we are exempt from registration under the 1940 Act. We intend to rely on the exemption from registration provided by Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the 1940 Act, a provision designed for companies that do not issue redeemable securities and are primarily engaged in the business of purchasing or otherwise acquiring mortgages and other liens on and interests in real estate.
To qualify for the exemption, we make investments so that at least 55% of the assets we own consist of qualifying mortgages and other liens on and interests in real estate, which are collectively referred to as “qualifying real estate assets,” and so that at least 80% of the assets we own consist of real estate-related assets (including our qualifying real estate assets). We do not intend to issue redeemable securities.
We also consider RMBS such as Agency Whole Pool Certificates to be qualifying real estate assets. By contrast, an agency certificate that represents less than the entire beneficial interest in the underlying mortgage loans is not considered to be a qualifying real estate asset for purposes of the 55% test, but constitutes a real estate-related asset for purposes of the 80% test. Compliance with the 1940 Act may require us to purchase Agency Whole Pool Certificates.
We treat our ownership interest in pools of whole loan RMBS, in cases in which we acquire the entire beneficial interest in a particular pool, as qualifying real estate assets based on no−action positions of the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission. We generally do not expect our investments in CMBS and other RMBS investments to constitute qualifying real estate assets for the 55% test, unless such treatment is consistent with guidance of the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Instead, these investments generally will be classified as real estate−related assets for purposes of the 80% test. We do not expect that our investments in CDOs or other ABS will constitute qualifying real estate assets. We may, however, treat our equity interests in a CDO issuer that we determine is a “majority owned subsidiary” and that is exempt from 1940 Act registration under Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the 1940 Act as qualifying real estate assets, real estate-related assets, and miscellaneous assets in the same proportion as the assets in such CDO are qualifying real estate assets, real estate-related assets and miscellaneous assets. We may in the future, however, modify our treatment of such CDO equity to conform to guidelines provided by the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
We also invest in other types of RMBS and CMBS, which we will not treat as qualifying real estate assets for purposes of determining our eligibility for the exemption from registration provided by Section 3(c)(5)(C) unless such treatment is consistent with guidance of the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission. We have not requested no−action or other interpretative guidance or applied for an exemptive order with respect to the treatment of such assets. In the absence of guidance of the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission that otherwise supports the treatment of such investments as qualifying real estate assets, we will treat them, for purposes of determining our eligibility for the exemption from registration provided by Section 3(c)(5)(C), as real estate−related assets or miscellaneous assets as appropriate. Any additional guidance from the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission could provide additional flexibility to us, or it could further inhibit our ability to pursue the investment strategy we have chosen.
We monitor our assets to ensure that at least 55% of our assets consist of qualifying real estate assets, and that at least 80% of our assets consist of qualifying real estate assets and real estate−related assets. We expect, when required due to the mix of our investments, to acquire pools of whole loan RMBS for compliance purposes. Investments in such pools may not represent an optimum use of our investable capital when compared to the available investments we target pursuant to our investment strategy.
Licensing
We
may be required to be licensed to purchase and sell previously originated
residential mortgage loans in certain jurisdictions (including the District of
Columbia) in which we will conduct our business. We are currently in
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the process of
obtaining those licenses, if required. Our failure to obtain or maintain
licenses will restrict our investment options. We will consummate this offering
even if we have not yet obtained such licenses. We intend to be licensed in
those states where licenses are required to purchase or sell previously
originated mortgage loans as soon as reasonably practicable.
If our board of directors determines that additional funding is required, we may raise such funds through additional offerings of equity or debt securities or the retention of cash flow (subject to provisions in the Code concerning distribution requirements and the taxability of undistributed REIT taxable income) or a combination of these methods. If our board of directors determines to raise additional equity capital, it has the authority, without stockholder approval, to issue additional common stock or preferred stock in any manner and on such terms and for such consideration as it deems appropriate, at any time.
We may offer equity or debt securities to repurchase or otherwise reacquire our shares, meet liquidity obligations, or for working capital purposes or other reasons. In addition, we may borrow money to finance the acquisition of investments. We intend to use traditional forms of financing, such as repurchase agreements. Our investment guidelines and our portfolio and leverage are periodically reviewed by our board of directors as part of their oversight of our Manager.
We engage in the purchase and sale of investments. We will not underwrite the securities of other issuers. We will not make loans to other persons or invest in the securities of other issuers for the purpose of exercising control of those entities.
Our board of directors may change any of these policies without prior notice to you or a vote by our stockholders.
Competition
Our net income depends, in large part, on our ability to acquire assets at favorable spreads over our borrowing costs. In acquiring real estate-related assets, we will compete with other mortgage REITs, specialty finance companies, savings and loan associations, banks, mortgage bankers, insurance companies, mutual funds, institutional investors, investment banking firms, financial institutions, governmental bodies and other entities. In addition, there are numerous mortgage REITs with similar asset acquisition objectives, including a number that have been recently formed, and others that may be organized in the future. These other REITs will increase competition for the available supply of mortgage assets suitable for purchase. Many of our competitors are significantly larger than we are, have access to greater capital and other resources and may have other advantages over us. In addition, some of our competitors may have higher risk tolerances or different risk assessments, which could allow them to consider a wider variety of investments and establish more favorable relationships than we can. Current market conditions may attract more competitors, which may increase the competition for sources of financing. An increase in the competition for sources of funding could adversely affect the availability and cost of financing, and thereby adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
Staffing
We are managed by our Manager pursuant to the management agreement between our Manager and us. All of our officers are employees of our Manager or its affiliates. We will have no employees upon completion of this offering other than our officers. See “Our Manager and the Management Agreement—Management Agreement.”
Legal Proceedings
Neither we nor our Manager is currently subject to any legal proceedings which it considers to be material.
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OUR MANAGER AND THE MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT
General
We are externally advised and managed by our Manager. All of our officers are employees of our Manager or its affiliates. The executive offices of our Manager are located at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2902, New York, New York 10036 and the telephone number of our Manager’s executive offices is (212) 696-0100.
Officers of Our Manager
The following sets forth certain information with respect to the executive officers and employees of our Manager:
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Name |
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Age |
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Position Held with our Manager |
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Michael A.J. Farrell |
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57 |
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Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer |
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Wellington J. Denahan-Norris |
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44 |
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Vice Chairman of the Board, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer |
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Kathryn F. Fagan |
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41 |
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Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer |
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Jeremy Diamond |
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45 |
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Managing Director |
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Ronald Kazel |
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40 |
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Managing Director |
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R. Nicholas Singh |
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49 |
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Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer |
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James P. Fortescue |
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35 |
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Managing Director and Head of Liabilities |
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Kristopher Konrad |
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34 |
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Managing Director and Co-Head Portfolio Management |
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Rose-Marie Lyght |
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35 |
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Managing Director and Co-Head Portfolio Management |
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Matthew Lambiase |
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42 |
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Executive Vice President, Structured Products |
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Christian J. Woschenko |
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48 |
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Executive Vice President |
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William B. Dyer |
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61 |
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Executive Vice President |
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A. Alexandra Denahan |
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38 |
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Controller |
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Konstantin Pavlov |
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37 |
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Senior Vice President and Senior Repo Trader |
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Eric Szabo |
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33 |
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Executive Vice President and Investment Strategist |
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Kevin Riordan |
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52 |
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Director |
Wellington J. Denahan-Norris is the Vice-Chairman of Annaly, and Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Annaly and FIDAC. Ms. Denahan-Norris is a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. Ms. Denahan-Norris was elected on December 5, 1996 to serve as Vice Chairman of the Board and a director of Annaly. Ms. Denahan-Norris was appointed Annaly’s Chief Operating Officer in January 2006. Ms. Denahan-Norris has been the Chief Investment Officer of Annaly since 1996. She was a founder of Annaly and has been the Chief Operating Officer of FIDAC since January 2006. She has been FIDAC’s Senior Vice President since March 1995, Treasurer since July 1994 and Chief Investment Officer since February 1997. From July 1994 through March 1995 she was a Vice President of FIDAC. She is also responsible for the development of Annaly and FIDAC’s in-house portfolio systems. Ms. Denahan-Norris has been the Portfolio Manager for the U.S. Dollar Floating Rate Fund since its inception in August 1994. Prior to joining FIDAC, from March 1992 to July 1994, Ms. Denahan-Norris had been Vice President responsible for asset selection and financing at Citadel Funding Corporation. Prior to joining Citadel she had been a trader on the mortgage-backed securities desk at Schroder
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Wertheim and Co. Inc. from July 1991 to March 1992. She has a Bachelors Degree in Finance from Florida State University and attended the New York Institute of Finance for intense mortgage-backed securities studies.
Kathryn F. Fagan is our Manager’s and Annaly’s Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Ms. Fagan was employed by Annaly and FIDAC on April 1, 1997 in the positions of Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of each of Annaly and FIDAC. From June 1, 1991 to February 28, 1997, Ms. Fagan was Chief Financial Officer and Controller of First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Opelousas, Louisiana. First Federal is a publicly owned savings and loan that converted to the stock form of ownership during her employment period. Ms. Fagan’s responsibilities at First Federal included all financial reporting, including reports for internal use and reports required by the SEC and the Office of Thrift Supervision. During the period from September 1988 to May 1991, Ms. Fagan was employed as a bank and savings and loan auditor by John S. Dowling & Company, a corporation of Certified Public Accountants. Ms. Fagan is a Certified Public Accountant and has an M.B.A. from the University of Southwestern Louisiana.
Jeremy Diamond is one of our Directors. He is also a Managing Director for FIDAC and Annaly and a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. He joined Annaly and FIDAC in March 2002. From 1990 to 2002 he was President of Grant’s Financial Publishing, a financial research company and publisher of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer. In addition to his responsibilities as principal business executive, Mr. Diamond conducted security analysis and financial market research. Mr. Diamond began his career as an analyst in the investment banking group at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Diamond has an M.B.A. from UCLA and a Bachelors Degree from Princeton University.
Ronald Kazel is a Managing Director for Annaly and FIDAC. Mr. Kazel is a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. Mr. Kazel joined these companies in December 2001. Before joining Annaly and FIDAC, Mr. Kazel was a Senior Vice President in Friedman Billings Ramsey’s financial services investment banking group. During his tenure there, he was responsible for structuring both the private and public equity offerings for Annaly in 1997. From 1991 to 1996, Mr. Kazel served as a Vice President at Sandler O’Neill & Partners where he was involved in asset/liability management and mortgage-backed securities analysis and sales. Mr. Kazel has a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Management from New York University.
R. Nicholas Singh is Executive Vice President and serves as General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer for Annaly and FIDAC. Before joining these companies in February 2005, Mr. Singh was a partner at the law firm McKee Nelson LLP. Mr. Singh has experience in a broad range of public and private transactions. Before joining McKee Nelson, he was a partner at the law firm of Sidley Austin, LLP. Mr. Singh received a J.D. from the Washington College of Law, American University, an M.A. from Columbia University and a Bachelors Degree from Carleton College.
James P. Fortescue is a Managing Director and Head of Liabilities for FIDAC and Annaly. Mr. Fortescue is a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. He started with FIDAC in June 1995 where he was in charge of finding financing on mortgage-backed and corporate bonds for regional dealers. In September 1996 he expanded his responsibilities for all financing activities which included trading and structuring all liabilities, coordinating trade settlements with broker dealers and maintaining the relationships with these dealers. Mr. Fortescue has been in charge of liability management for Annaly since its inception, and continues to oversee all financing activities for FIDAC. Mr. Fortescue holds a Bachelors Degree in Finance from Siena College.
Kristopher Konrad is a Managing Director and Co-Head of Portfolio Management for FIDAC and Annaly. Mr. Konrad is a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. He has worked for both companies since October 1997. Currently, Mr. Konrad is a portfolio manager for Annaly and has served in this capacity since December 2000. Before this, he was head of financing for the US Dollar Floating Rate Fund, Ltd. and assisted with the management of FIDAC’s high net worth separate accounts. Mr. Konrad has a Bachelors Degree in Business from Ithaca College and has attended the New York Institute of Finance for intense mortgage-backed securities studies.
Rose-Marie Lyght is a Managing Director and Co-Head of Portfolio Management for FIDAC and Annaly. Ms. Lyght is a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. She joined both companies in April 1999. Since that time she has been involved in the asset selection and financing for FIDAC’s funds and high net worth separate accounts. She has been a portfolio manager of the US Dollar Floating Rate Fund, Ltd. since December 2000. Ms. Lyght has a Bachelor of Science in Finance and an M.B.A. from Villanova University.
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Matthew Lambiase is our President and Chief Executive Officer, and one of our Directors. He is Executive Vice President, Structured Products for Annaly and FIDAC and a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. He joined these companies in June 2004. Before joining Annaly and FIDAC, Mr. Lambiase was a Director in Fixed Income Sales at Nomura Securities International, Inc. Over his 11 year employment at Nomura, Mr. Lambiase was responsible for the distribution of commercial and residential mortgage-backed securities to a wide variety of institutional investors. Mr. Lambiase also held positions at Bear, Stearns & Company as Vice President in Institutional Fixed Income Sales and as a mortgage analyst in the Financial Analytics and Structured Transaction Group. Mr. Lambiase has a Bachelors Degree in Economics from the University of Dayton.
Christian J. Woschenko is our Manager’s Executive Vice President and serves as our Head of Investments. Before joining FIDAC in August 2007, Mr. Woschenko worked at PHH Mortgage since 2005 with responsibilities for arranging, modeling and pricing the securitizations of their non-Agency residential mortgage production. He was a member of both PHH’s Credit Committee and Interest Rate Risk Committee. Previously, Mr. Woschenko was employed as Senior Mortgage Credit Trader at RBC Capital, Senior Asset Backed Securities Banker at BB&T Capital Markets and as a Principal in Mortgage Trading at Mariner Capital Management. Mr. Woschenko has a Bachelors Degree in Accounting from Widener University.
William B. Dyer is our Manager’s Executive Vice President and serves as our Head of Underwriting. Before joining FIDAC in August 2007, Mr. Dyer was Vice President, Credit Risk Management for PHH Mortgage Corporation from 1997 where his responsibilities included supervision of the Credit Solutions Department. Mr. Dyer was Vice President at the Fixed-Income Division of Nomura Asset Capital Corporation from 1994 to 1997, where he managed deal-related activities critical for the securitization or sale of the mortgage loans. Mr. Dyer has an M.B.A. from St. John’s University and a Bachelor of Science from St. Francis College.
Konstantin Pavlov is Senior Vice President and Senior Repo Trader of Annaly and FIDAC. He has worked for both companies since March of 2001. Since 2004, Mr. Pavlov has assisted in the financing for Annaly and oversees the financing for the FIDAC accounts. Mr. Pavlov has a Bachelors Degree from San Diego State University.
Eric Szabo is an Executive Vice President and Investment Strategist for Annaly and FIDAC. Mr. Szabo is a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. Before joining these companies in April 2004, he worked for Times Square Capital Management as a Mortgage Analyst and Trader since 2001. Mr. Szabo has a Bachelor’s Degree from The College of New Jersey and a M.A. in Finance from Boston College. Mr. Szabo is a PRMIA certified Professional Risk Manager and a CFA charterholder.
Investment Committee
The role of our Investment Committee is to review and approve our investment policies, our investment portfolio holdings and related compliance with our investment policies. The Investment Committee meets as frequently as necessary in order for us to achieve our investment objectives. Our Manager has an Investment Committee of our Manager’s professionals, consisting of Michael A.J. Farrell, Wellington J. Denahan-Norris, James P. Fortescue, Kristopher Konrad, Rose-Marie Lyght, Ronald Kazel, Jeremy Diamond, Eric Szabo and Matthew Lambiase. For biographical information on the members of our Investment Committee, see “Our Manager and the Management Agreement—Officers of Our Manager.”
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Management Agreement
We have entered into a management agreement with Fixed Income Discount Advisory Company, our Manager, pursuant to which it provides for the day-to-day management of our operations.
The management agreement requires our Manager to manage our business affairs in conformity with the policies and the investment guidelines that are approved and monitored by our board of directors. Our Manager’s role as manager is under the supervision and direction of our board of directors. Our Manager is responsible for (i) the selection, purchase and sale of our portfolio investments, (ii) our financing activities, and (iii) providing us with investment advisory services. Our Manager is responsible for our day-to-day operations and performs (or causes to be performed) such services and activities relating to our assets and operations as are appropriate, which include, without limitation, the following:
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(i) |
serving as our consultant with respect to the periodic review of the investment criteria and parameters for our investments, borrowings and operations, any modifications to which will be approved by a majority of our independent directors; |
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(ii) |
investigating, analyzing and selecting possible investment opportunities and acquiring, financing, retaining, selling, restructuring, or disposing of investments consistent with the investment guidelines; |
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(iii) |
with respect to prospective purchases, sales, or exchanges of investments, conducting negotiations on our behalf with sellers and purchasers and their respective agents, representatives and investment bankers; |
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(iv) |
negotiating and entering into, on our behalf, credit finance agreements, repurchase agreements, securitizations, commercial paper, CDOs, interest rate swaps, warehouse facilities and all other agreements and instruments required for us to conduct our business; |
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(v) |
engaging and supervising, on our behalf and at our expense, independent contractors which provide investment banking, mortgage brokerage, securities brokerage, other financial services, due diligence services, underwriting review services, and all other services as may be required relating to our investments; |
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(vi) |
coordinating and managing operations of any joint venture or co-investment interests held by us and conducting all matters with the joint venture or co-investment partners; |
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(vii) |
providing executive and administrative personnel, office space and office services required in rendering services to us; |
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(viii) |
administering the day-to-day operations and performing and supervising the performance of such other administrative functions necessary to our management as may be agreed upon by our Manager and our board of directors, including, without limitation, the collection of revenues and the payment of our debts and obligations and maintenance of appropriate computer services to perform such administrative functions; |
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(ix) |
communicating on our behalf with the holders of any of our equity or debt securities as required to satisfy the reporting and other requirements of any governmental bodies or agencies or trading markets and to maintain effective relations with such holders; |
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(x) |
counseling us in connection with policy decisions to be made by our board of directors; |
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(xi) |
evaluating and recommending to our board of directors hedging strategies and engaging in hedging activities on our behalf, consistent with such strategies, as so modified from time to time, with our status as a REIT, and with the investment guidelines; |
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(xii) |
counseling us regarding the maintenance of our status as a REIT and monitoring compliance with the various REIT qualification tests and other rules set out in the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury Regulations thereunder and using commercially reasonable efforts to cause us to qualify for taxation as a REIT; |
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(xiii) |
counseling us regarding the maintenance of our exemption from the 1940 Act and monitoring compliance with the requirements for maintaining an exemption from the 1940 Act and using commercially reasonable efforts to cause us to maintain such exemption from registration from the status as an investment company under the 1940 Act; |
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(xiv) |
assisting us in developing criteria for asset purchase commitments that are specifically tailored to our investment objectives and making available to us its knowledge and experience with respect to mortgage loans, real estate, real estate-related securities, other real estate-related assets and non-real estate-related assets; |
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(xv) |
furnishing reports and statistical and economic research to us regarding our activities and services performed for us by our Manager; |
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(xvi) |
monitoring the operating performance of our investments and providing periodic reports with respect thereto to the board of directors, including comparative information with respect to such operating performance and budgeted or projected operating results; |
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(xvii) |
investing and re-investing any moneys and securities of ours (including investing in short-term investments pending investment in other investments, payment of fees, costs and expenses, or payments of dividends or distributions to our stockholders and partners) and advising us as to our capital structure and capital raising; |
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(xviii) |
causing us to retain qualified accountants and legal counsel, as applicable, to assist in developing appropriate accounting procedures, compliance procedures and testing systems with respect to financial reporting obligations and compliance with the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code applicable to REITs and to conduct quarterly compliance reviews with respect thereto; |
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(xix) |
assisting us in qualifying to do business in all applicable jurisdictions and to obtain and maintain all appropriate licenses; |
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(xx) |
assisting us in complying with all regulatory requirements applicable to us in respect of our business activities, including preparing or causing to be prepared all financial statements required under applicable regulations and contractual undertakings and all reports and documents, if any, required under the Exchange Act, the Securities Act, or by the NYSE; |
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(xxi) |
assisting us in taking all necessary actions to enable us to make required tax filings and reports, including soliciting stockholders for required information to the extent provided by the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code applicable to REITs; |
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(xxii) |
placing, or arranging for the placement of, all orders pursuant to the Manager’s investment determinations for us either directly with the issuer or with a broker or dealer (including any affiliated broker or dealer); |
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(xxiii) |
handling and resolving all claims, disputes or controversies (including all litigation, arbitration, settlement or other proceedings or negotiations) in which we may be involved or to which we may be subject arising out of our day-to-day operations (other than with the Manager of its affiliates), subject to such limitations or parameters as may be imposed from time to time by the board of directors; |
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(xxiv) |
using commercially reasonable efforts to cause expenses incurred by us or on our behalf to be commercially reasonable or commercially customary and within any budgeted parameters or expense guidelines set by the board of directors from time to time; |
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(xxv) |
representing and making recommendations to us in connection with the purchase and finance of, and commitment to purchase and finance, mortgage loans (including on a portfolio basis), real estate, real estate-related securities, other real estate-related assets and non-real estate-related assets, and the sale and commitment to sell such assets; |
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(xxvi) |
advising us with respect to and structuring long-term financing vehicles for our portfolio of assets, and offering and selling securities publicly or privately in connection with any such structured financing; |
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(xxvii) |
performing such other services as may be required from time to time for management and other activities relating to our assets and business as our board of directors shall reasonably request or our Manager shall deem appropriate under the particular circumstances; and |
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(xxviii) |
using commercially reasonable efforts to cause us to comply with all applicable laws. |
Pursuant to the management agreement, our Manager does not assume any responsibility other than to render the services called for thereunder and is not responsible for any action of our board of directors in following or declining to follow its advice or recommendations. Our Manager, its officers, its stockholders, managers, directors, officers, employees, any person controlling or controlled by the Manager and any person providing sub-
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advisory services to the Manager, is not liable to us, any subsidiary of ours, our directors, our stockholders or any subsidiary’s stockholders or partners for acts or omissions performed in accordance with and pursuant to the management agreement, except because of acts constituting bad faith, willful misconduct, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of their duties under the management agreement, as determined by a final non-appealable order of a court of competent jurisdiction. We have agreed to indemnify our Manager, its members and its officers with respect to all expenses, losses, damages, liabilities, demands, charges and claims arising from acts of our Manager not constituting bad faith, willful misconduct, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of duties, performed in good faith in accordance with and pursuant to the management agreement. Our Manager has agreed to indemnify us, our directors and officers with respect to all expenses, losses, damages, liabilities, demands, charges and claims arising from acts of our Manager constituting bad faith, willful misconduct, gross negligence or reckless disregard of its duties under the management agreement or any claims by our Manager’s employees relating to the terms and conditions of their employment by our Manager. For the avoidance of doubt, our Manager is not liable for trade errors that may result from ordinary negligence, such as errors in the investment-decision making process (e.g., a transaction was effected in violation of our investment guidelines) or in the trade process (e.g., a buy order was entered instead of a sell order, or the wrong security was purchased or sold, or a security was purchased or sold in an amount or at a price other than the correct amount or price). Notwithstanding the foregoing, our Manager carries errors and omissions and other customary insurance at the time of this offering.
Pursuant to the terms of the management agreement, our Manager is required to provide us with our management team, including a president, chief executive officer, head of underwriting, head of investments, and chief financial officer, along with appropriate support personnel, to provide the management services to be provided by our Manager to us.
We may also terminate the management agreement, without the payment of any termination fee, with 30 days’ prior written notice from our board of directors for cause, which is defined as:
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our Manager’s continued material breach of any provision of the management agreement following a period of 30 days after written notice thereof (or 45 days after written notice of such breach if our Manager, under certain circumstances, has taken steps to cure such breach within 30 days of the written notice); |
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our Manager’s fraud, misappropriation of funds, or embezzlement against us; |
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our Manager’s gross negligence of duties under the management agreement; |
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the occurrence of certain events with respect to the bankruptcy or insolvency of our Manager, including an order for relief in an involuntary bankruptcy case or our Manager authorizing or filing a voluntary bankruptcy petition; |
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our Manager is convicted (including a plea of nolo contendere) of a felony; |
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the dissolution of our Manager; and |
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change of control of our Manager or Annaly. |
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We may not assign our rights or responsibilities under the management agreement without the prior written consent of our Manager, except in the case of an assignment to another REIT or other organization which is our successor, in which case such organization shall be bound by the terms of such assignment in the same manner as we are bound under the management agreement. Our Manager may generally only assign the management agreement with the written approval of a majority of our independent directors. Our Manager, however, may assign certain of its duties under the management agreement to any of its affiliates without the approval of our independent directors if such assignment does not require our approval under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
Our Manager may terminate the management agreement if we become required to register as an investment company under the 1940 Act, with such termination deemed to occur immediately before such event, in which case we would not be required to pay a termination fee. Our Manager may decline to renew the management agreement by providing us with 180-days’ written notice, in which case we would not be required to pay a termination fee. In addition, if we default in the performance of any material term of the agreement and the default continues for a period of 30 days after written notice to us, our Manager may terminate the management agreement upon 60 days, written notice. If the management agreement is terminated by the Manager upon our breach, we would be required to pay our Manager the termination fee described above.
We do not maintain an office or employ personnel. Instead we rely on the facilities and resources of our Manager to conduct our operations. Expense reimbursements to our Manager are made in cash on a monthly basis following the end of each month.
Base Management Fee
Our Manager’s base management fee is calculated by our Manager within 30 days after the end of each quarter and such calculations are promptly delivered to us. We are obligated to pay the base management fee in cash within five business days after delivery to us of our Manager’s written statement setting forth the computation of the base management fee for such quarter.
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measure and is
defined as GAAP net income (loss) excluding non-cash equity compensation
expense, excluding any unrealized gains, losses or other items that do not
affect realized net income (regardless of whether such items are included in
other comprehensive income or loss, or in net income). The amount is adjusted
to exclude one-time events pursuant to changes in GAAP and certain non-cash
charges after discussions between our Manager and our independent directors and
approved by a majority of our independent directors. The incentive fee is
reduced, but not below zero, by our proportionate share of any CDO incentive
fees our Manager receives in connection with the CDOs in which we invest, based
on the percentage of equity we hold in such CDOs.
Our ability to achieve returns in excess of the thresholds noted above in order for our Manager to earn the incentive fees described in the preceding paragraph is dependent upon the level and volatility of interest rates, our ability to react to changes in interest rates and to utilize successfully the operating strategies described herein, and other factors, many of which are not within our control.
Our
Manager computes the quarterly incentive fees within 30 days after the end of
each fiscal quarter, and we pay the quarterly incentive fee with respect to
each fiscal quarter within five business days following the delivery to us of
our Manager’s written statement setting forth the computation of the incentive
fee for such quarter. The management agreement provides that, at the election
of our board of directors, our Manager may receive its incentive fee paid in
cash or shares of our common stock and if some or all of such fee cannot be
paid in shares, the balance is payable in cash. Our management agreement
provides that our Manager may not receive shares of our common stock as payment
of its incentive fee, except in accordance with all applicable securities
exchange rules and securities laws (including prohibitions on insider trading).
The number of shares to be received by our Manager will be based on the fair
market value of these shares, determined as of the average of the closing
prices of the shares on the NYSE over the 30-day period ending on the last
business day of the fiscal quarter for which it is receiving the incentive fee.
In addition, our Manager may not sell the shares received prior to one year
after the date they are paid although it may distribute the shares to Annaly
who may not sell the shares until one year after the date they were originally
paid to our Manager.
Reimbursement of Expenses
Because our Manager’s employees perform certain legal, accounting, due diligence tasks and other services that outside professionals or outside consultants otherwise would perform, our Manager is paid or reimbursed for the documented cost of performing such tasks, provided that such costs and reimbursements are in amounts which are no greater than those which would be payable to outside professionals or consultants engaged to perform such services pursuant to agreements negotiated on an arm’s-length basis.
We also pay all operating expenses, except those specifically required to be borne by our Manager under the management agreement. Our Manager is responsible for all costs incident to the performance of its duties under the management agreement, including compensation of our Manager’s employees and other related expenses. The expenses required to be paid by us include, but are not limited to:
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(i) |
expenses in connection with the issuance and transaction costs incident to the acquisition, disposition and financing of our investments; |
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(ii) |
costs of legal, tax, accounting, consulting, auditing, administrative and other similar services rendered for us by providers retained by our Manager or, if provided by our Manager’s employees, in amounts which are no greater than those which would be payable to outside professionals or consultants engaged to perform such services pursuant to agreements negotiated on an arm’s-length basis; |
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(iii) |
the compensation and expenses of our directors and the cost of liability insurance to indemnify our directors and officers; |
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(iv) |
costs associated with the establishment and maintenance of any of our credit facilities or other indebtedness of ours (including commitment fees, accounting fees, legal fees, closing and other similar costs) or any of our securities offerings; |
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(v) |
expenses connected with communications to holders of our securities or of our subsidiaries and other bookkeeping and clerical work necessary in maintaining relations with holders of such securities and in complying with the continuous reporting and other requirements of governmental bodies or agencies, including, without limitation, all costs of preparing and filing required reports with the SEC, the costs payable by us to any transfer agent and registrar in connection with the listing and/or trading of our stock on any exchange, the fees payable by us to any such exchange in connection with its listing, costs of |
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preparing, printing and mailing our annual report to our stockholders and proxy materials with respect to any meeting of our stockholders; |
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(vi) |
costs associated with any computer software or hardware, electronic equipment or purchased information technology services from third party vendors that is used solely for us; |
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(vii) |
expenses incurred by managers, officers, employees and agents of our Manager for travel on our behalf and other out-of-pocket expenses incurred by managers, officers, employees and agents of our Manager in connection with the purchase, financing, refinancing, sale or other disposition of an investment or establishment and maintenance of any of our credit facilities and other indebtedness or any of our securities offerings; |
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(viii) |
costs and expenses incurred with respect to market information systems and publications, research publications and materials, and settlement, clearing and custodial fees and expenses; |
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(ix) |
compensation and expenses of our custodian and transfer agent, if any; |
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(x) |
the costs of maintaining compliance with all federal, state and local rules and regulations or any other regulatory agency; |
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(xi) |
all taxes and license fees; |
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(xii) |
all insurance costs incurred in connection with the operation of our business except for the costs attributable to the insurance that our Manager elects to carry for itself and its employees; |
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(xiii) |
costs and expenses incurred in contracting with third parties, including affiliates of our Manager, for the servicing and special servicing of our assets; |
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(xiv) |
all other costs and expenses relating to our business and investment operations, including, without limitation, the costs and expenses of acquiring, owning, protecting, maintaining, developing and disposing of investments, including appraisal, reporting, audit and legal fees; |
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(xv) |
expenses relating to any office(s) or office facilities, including but not limited to disaster backup recovery sites and facilities, maintained for us or our investments separate from the office or offices of our Manager; |
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(xvi) |
expenses connected with the payments of interest, dividends or distributions in cash or any other form authorized or caused to be made by the board of directors to or on account of holders of our securities or of our subsidiaries, including, without limitation, in connection with any dividend reinvestment plan; |
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(xvii) |
any judgment or settlement of pending or threatened proceedings (whether civil, criminal or otherwise) against us or any subsidiary, or against any trustee, director or officer of us or of any subsidiary in his capacity as such for which we or any subsidiary is required to indemnify such trustee, director or officer by any court or governmental agency; and |
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(xviii) |
all other expenses actually incurred by our Manager which are reasonably necessary for the performance by our Manager of its duties and functions under the management agreement. |
In
addition, we are required to pay our pro rata portion of rent, telephone,
utilities, office furniture, equipment, machinery and other office, internal
and overhead expenses of our Manager and its affiliates required for our
operations. These expenses are allocated between FIDAC and us based on the
ratio of our proportion of gross assets compared to all remaining gross assets
managed by FIDAC as calculated at each quarter end. We and FIDAC will modify
this allocation methodology, subject to our board of directors’ approval if the
allocation becomes inequitable (i.e., if we become very highly leveraged
compared to FIDAC’s other funds and accounts). Currently, FIDAC has waived its
right to request reimbursement from us of these expenses until such time as it
determines to rescind that waiver.
From
November 21, 2007, the date we commenced operations, through December 31, 2007,
our Manager earned base management fees of approximately $1.2 million, no
incentive fees, and expense reimbursements of approximately $719 thousand. For
the three months ended March 31, 2008 and June 30, 2008, our Manager earned
base management fees of approximately $2.2 million and approximately $2.2
million, respectively, and no incentive fees.
102
Our Directors and Executive Officers
Our
board of directors consists of five members. Our board of directors has
determined that three of our directors satisfy the listing standards for
independence of the NYSE.
The following sets forth certain information with respect to our directors and executive officers:
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Name |
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Age |
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Position Held with Us |
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Matthew Lambiase |
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42 |
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Chief Executive Officer, President and Director |
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Christian J. Woschenko |
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48 |
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Head of Investments |
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William B. Dyer |
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61 |
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Head of Underwriting |
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A. Alexandra Denahan |
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38 |
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Chief Financial Officer and Secretary |
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Paul Donlin* |
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47 |
|
Nonexecutive Chairman of the Board of Directors |
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Jeremy Diamond |
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45 |
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Director |
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Mark Abrams* |
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59 |
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Director |
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Paul A. Keenan* |
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41 |
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Director |
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*Independent directors |
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Biographical Information
Executive Officers
For biographical information on our executive officers, see “Our Manager and the Management Agreement—Officers of Our Manager.”
Directors
Pursuant to our charter, the board of directors is divided into three classes of directors. Our Class I Directors (Messrs. Donlin and Abrams) will serve until our annual meeting of stockholders in 2011, our Class II Directors (Messrs. Lambiase and Keenan) will serve until our annual meeting of stockholders in 2009; and our Class III Director (Mr. Diamond) will serve until our annual meeting of stockholders in 2010. At each annual meeting of the stockholders, the successors to the class of directors whose term expires at such meeting are elected to hold office for a term expiring at the annual meeting of stockholders held in the third year following the year of their election and until their successors are duly elected and qualify. Our bylaws provide that a majority of the entire board of directors may, at any regular or special meeting called for that purpose, increase or decrease the number of directors. However, unless our bylaws are amended, the number of directors may never be less than the minimum number required by the MGCL nor more than 15. Set forth below are the names and certain information on each of our directors.
Class I Directors
Paul Donlin is one of our Class I
Directors
and our Nonexecutive Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Donlin recently
left Citigroup after a career that spanned 21 years. For the past 10 years at
Citigroup, Mr. Donlin was in the securitization business, with his most recent
position being the Head of Global Securitization in the Global Securitized
Markets Business within Fixed Income. Earlier in his career at Citicorp, Mr.
Donlin managed the Structured Finance and Advisory Unit of Citicorp’s Private
Bank. Mr. Donlin has a B.S. from Georgetown University and an M.B.A. from
Harvard University.
Mark Abrams is one of our Class I Directors. Mr. Abrams has served as Chief Investment Officer of the Presidential Life Insurance Company since November 2003 and as Executive Vice President since 2005. He was Senior Vice President of the Presidential Life Insurance Company from 2001 to 2005. Before that, Mr. Abrams served as Vice President of the Presidential Life Insurance Company since October 1994. Mr. Abrams currently serves as a director of the Insurance Company. Mr. Abrams has a B.A. from Hobart College.
103
Class II Directors
Matthew Lambiase is one of our Class II
Directors. For biographical information on Mr. Lambiase, see “Our Manager and
the Management Agreement—Officers of Our Manager.”
Paul A. Keenan is one of our Class II Directors. Mr. Keenan has been with Kelley, Drye and Warren LLP since 2002 and is a partner and the head of Real Estate Finance at the law firm. Mr. Keenan has a J.D. from Seton Hall University and a B.A. from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
Class III Directors
Jeremy Diamond is our Class III
Director.
For biographical information on Mr. Diamond, see “Our Manager and the
Management Agreement—Officers of Our Manager.”
Corporate Governance—Board of Directors and Committees
Our business is managed by our Manager, subject to the supervision and oversight of our board of directors, which has established investment guidelines for our Manager to follow in its day-to-day management of our business. A majority of our board of directors is “independent,” as determined by the requirements of the New York Stock Exchange and the regulations of the SEC. In connection with these independence determinations, our board of directors considered all of the relationships between each director, our Manager, and us, including those relationships deemed immaterial, and in particular the following relationship:
Mr. Donlin, our Nonexecutive Chairman of the Board of Directors, has a direct economic interest in a separate account managed on a discretionary basis by FIDAC. The separate account managed on a discretionary basis by FIDAC has the same investment objectives and similar management fees as other FIDAC managed accounts and funds and amounts to less than 1% of the separate accounts and funds managed by FIDAC.
In light of the ordinary course of business nature of these transactions, the size of the investment account as compared to the funds managed by FIDAC, and the nature of Mr. Donlin’s role as an investor in the investment account, the board of directors determined that these relationships are not material and that Mr. Donlin is “independent” within the meaning of the rules of the NYSE.
As a result of this review, our board of directors, based upon the fact that none of our non-employee directors have any material relationships with us other than as directors and holders of our common stock, affirmatively determined that three of our directors are independent directors under NYSE rules. Our independent directors are Mark Abrams, Paul Donlin and Paul A. Keenan. Jeremy Diamond and Matthew Lambiase are not considered independent because they are employees of our Manager.
Our directors keep informed about our business at meetings of our board and its committees and through supplemental reports and communications. Our independent directors meet regularly in executive sessions without the presence of our corporate officers.
Audit Committee
Our board of directors has established an audit committee, which is composed of each of our independent directors, Messrs. Donlin, Abrams and Keenan. Mr. Abrams chairs our audit committee and serves as our audit committee financial expert, as that term is defined by the SEC. Each of the members of the audit committee is “financially literate” under the rules of the NYSE. The committee assists the board in overseeing:
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• |
our accounting and financial reporting processes; |
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• |
the integrity and audits of our financial statements; |
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• |
our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements; |
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• |
the qualifications and independence of our independent registered public accounting firm; |
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• |
the performance of our independent registered public accounting firm and any internal auditors; and |
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• |
acting as a “Qualified Legal Compliance Committee” as defined in the applicable rules of the SEC. |
The audit committee is also responsible for engaging our independent registered public accounting firm, reviewing with the independent registered public accounting firm the plans and results of the audit engagement, approving professional services provided by the independent registered public accounting firm, reviewing the
104
independence of the independent registered public accounting firm, considering the range of audit and non-audit fees and reviewing the adequacy of our internal accounting controls.
Our board of directors has determined that all of the directors serving on the audit committee are independent members of the audit committee under the current NYSE independence requirements and SEC rules. The audit committee meets the requirements for independence under, and the functioning of the audit committee complies with, current rules of the SEC and NYSE.
Compensation Committee
Our board of directors has established a compensation committee, which is composed of each of our independent directors, Messrs. Donlin, Abrams and Keenan. Mr. Keenan chairs the compensation committee, whose principal functions are to:
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• |
evaluate the performance of our officers; |
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• |
evaluate the performance of our Manager; |
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• |
review the compensation and fees payable to our Manager under our management agreement; |
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• |
recommend to the board of directors the compensation for our independent directors; and |
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• |
administer the issuance of any securities under our equity incentive plan to our employees or the employees of our Manager or its affiliates. |
Our board of directors has determined that all of the directors serving on the compensation committee are independent members of the compensation committee under the current NYSE independence requirements and SEC rules. The compensation committee meets the requirements for independence under, and the functioning of the committee complies with, current rules of the NYSE.
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
Our board of directors has established a nominating and corporate governance committee, which is composed of each of our independent directors, Messrs. Donlin, Abrams and Keenan. Mr. Donlin chairs the committee, which is responsible for seeking, considering and recommending to the full board of directors qualified candidates for election as directors and recommending a slate of nominees for election as directors at the annual meeting of stockholders. It also periodically prepares and submits to the board for adoption the nominating and corporate governance committee’s selection criteria for director nominees. It reviews and makes recommendations on matters involving general operation of the board and our corporate governance, and annually recommends to the board nominees for each committee of the board. In addition, the nominating and corporate governance committee annually facilitates the assessment of the board of directors’ performance as a whole and of the individual directors and reports thereon to the board.
Our board of directors has determined that all of the directors serving on the nominating and corporate governance committee are independent members of the nominating and corporate governance committee under the current NYSE independence requirements and SEC rules. The nominating and corporate governance committee meets the requirements for independence under, and the functioning of the committee complies with, current rules of the NYSE.
Code of Business Conduct and Ethics
Our board of directors has established a code of business conduct and ethics that applies to our officers, directors and employees and to our Manager’s officers, directors and employees when such individuals are acting for or on our behalf. Among other matters, our code of business conduct and ethics is designed to deter wrongdoing and to promote:
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• |
honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships; |
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• |
full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable disclosure in our SEC reports and other public communications; |
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• |
compliance with applicable governmental laws, rules and regulations; |
105
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• |
prompt internal reporting of violations of the code to appropriate persons identified in the code; and |
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• |
accountability for adherence to the code. |
Any waiver of the code of business conduct and ethics for our executive officers or directors may be made only by our board of directors or one of our board committees and will be promptly disclosed as required by law or stock exchange regulations.
Meetings of the Board of Directors
Director Compensation
We
compensate only those directors who are independent under the NYSE listing
standards. Any member of our board of directors who is also an employee of our
Manager is referred to as an excluded director. Each excluded director does not
receive additional compensation for serving on our board of directors. Each
independent director receives an annual fee for their services of $45,000. The
chair of our audit committee receives an additional annual fee of $10,000 for
his service in such capacity. Each independent director receives a fee of $500
for attendance at every in-person meeting of the board of directors or
committee of the board of directors and a fee of $250 for attendance at every
telephonic meeting of the board of directors or committee of the board of
directors. Fees to our independent directors are paid in cash or shares of our
common stock at the election of each director. We also reimburse our directors
for their travel expenses incurred in connection with their attendance at full
board and committee meetings.
Our
independent directors are eligible to receive restricted common stock, option
and other stock-based awards under our equity incentive plan.
Director Summary Compensation Table
The table below summarizes the compensation paid by us to our non-employee directors for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007.
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Name |
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Fees |
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Stock |
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Option |
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Non-Equity |
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Change in |
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All Other |
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Total |
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Mark Abrams |
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$ |
7,082 |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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$ |
7,082 |
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Paul Donlin |
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$ |
5,794 |
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|
— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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$ |
5,794 |
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Paul A. Keenan |
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$ |
5,794 |
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— |
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— |
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|
— |
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|
— |
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|
— |
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$ |
5,794 |
|
(1) Reflects fees we paid each independent director from the date of their appointment as director on November 15, 2007 to December 31, 2007.
Executive Compensation
We have not paid, and we do not intend to pay, any annual cash compensation to our executive officers for their services as executive officers. Our executive officers are compensated by our Manager. Our Manager has informed us that, because the services performed by these executive officers or employees in their capacities as such are not performed exclusively for us, it cannot segregate and identify that portion of the compensation awarded to, earned by, or paid to our executive officers by our Manager that relates solely to their services to us.
Equity Incentive Plan
We have adopted an equity incentive plan to provide incentives to our independent directors, employees of our Manager and its affiliates, including Annaly, and other service providers to stimulate their efforts toward our continued success, long-term growth and profitability and to attract, reward and retain personnel. The equity incentive plan is administered by the compensation committee of our board of directors. Unless terminated earlier, our equity incentive plan will terminate in 2017, but will continue to govern unexpired awards.
Our equity incentive plan provides for grants of restricted common stock and other equity-based awards up to an aggregate of 8% of the issued and outstanding shares of our common stock (on a fully diluted basis and including shares to be sold to Annaly concurrently with this offering and shares to be sold pursuant to the exercise of
106
the
underwriters’ overallotment option) at the time of the award, subject to a
ceiling of 40,000,000 shares available for issuance under the plan. Upon
completion of this offering, the number of issued and outstanding shares of our
common stock will increase and, therefore, the number of shares available for
issuance under our equity incentive plan will increase by 8% of the number of
shares of common stock issued in this offering, including shares sold pursuant
to the exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option, up to a ceiling of
40,000,000 shares. As of June 30, 2008, we have granted 1,301,000 shares of
restricted stock under our equity incentive plan.
Our equity incentive plan permits the granting of options to purchase shares of common stock intended to qualify as incentive stock options under the Internal Revenue Code, and stock options that do not qualify as incentive stock options. The exercise price of each stock option may not be less than 100% of the fair market value of our shares of common stock on the date of grant. The compensation committee determines the terms of each option, including when each option may be exercised and the period of time, if any, after retirement, death, disability or termination of employment during which options may be exercised. Options become vested and exercisable in installments and the exercisability of options may be accelerated by the compensation committee.
Our equity incentive plan also permits the granting of shares of our common stock in the form of restricted common stock. A restricted common stock award is an award of shares of common stock that may be subject to forfeiture (vesting), restrictions on transferability and such other restrictions, if any, as the compensation committee may impose at the date of grant. The shares may vest and the restrictions may lapse separately or in combination at such times, under such circumstances, including, without limitation, a specified period of employment or the satisfaction of pre-established criteria, in such installments or otherwise, as our compensation committee may determine.
Unrestricted shares of common stock, which are shares of common stock awarded at no cost to the participant or for a purchase price determined by the compensation committee, may also be issued under our equity incentive plan. The compensation committee may also grant shares of our common stock, stock appreciation rights, performance awards, dividend equivalent rights, and other stock and non-stock-based awards under the incentive plan. These awards may be subject to such conditions and restrictions as the compensation committee may determine, including, but not limited to, the achievement of certain performance goals or continued employment with us through a specific period. Each award under the plan may not be exercisable more than 10 years after the date of grant.
Our board of directors may at any time amend, alter or discontinue the incentive plan, but cannot, without a participant’s consent, take any action that would diminish any of the rights of such participant under any award granted under the plan. Approval of the stockholders, however, is required for any amendment that would, other than through adjustment as provided in the incentive plan:
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increase the total number of shares of our common stock reserved for issuance under the incentive plan; |
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• |
change the class of eligible participants under the incentive plan; |
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• |
reprice any option or stock appreciation right; or |
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• |
otherwise require such approval. |
Our equity incentive plan provides that the compensation committee of our board of directors has the discretion to provide that all or any outstanding options and stock appreciation rights will become fully exercisable, all or any outstanding stock awards will become vested and transferable and all or any outstanding performance shares and incentive awards will be earned, all or any outstanding awards may be cancelled in exchange for a payment of cash or all or any outstanding awards may be substituted for awards that will substantially preserve the otherwise applicable terms of any affected awards previously granted under the equity incentive plan if there is a change in control of us.
Under our equity incentive plan, a change in control is defined as the occurrence of any of the following events: (i) the acquisition of more than 50% of our voting shares by any person; (ii) the sale or disposition of all or substantially all of our assets; (iii) a merger, consolidation or statutory share exchange where our stockholders immediately prior to such event hold less than 50% of the voting power of the surviving or resulting entity; (iv) during any two year period our directors, including subsequent directors recommended or approved by our directors, at the beginning of such period cease to constitute a majority of our board of directors; (v) stockholder approval of
107
our liquidation or dissolution; or (vi) the adoption by our board of directors of a resolution to the effect that, in its judgment, as a consequence of any transaction or event, a change in control has effectively occurred, except, in the case of clauses (i) through (vi), if the change of control results from a transaction between us and our Manager or an affiliate of our Manager or from a termination of the management agreement for cause.
Equity Compensation Plan Information
We
have adopted a long term stock incentive plan, or Incentive Plan, to provide
incentives to our independent directors, employees of our Manager and its
affiliates to stimulate their efforts towards our continued success, long-term
growth and profitability and to attract, reward and retain personnel and other
service providers. The Incentive Plan authorizes the compensation committee of
the board of directors to grant awards, including incentive stock options as
defined under Section 422 of the Code, or ISOs, non-qualified stock options, or
NQSOs, restricted shares and other types of incentive awards. The Incentive
Plan authorizes the granting of options or other awards for an aggregate of 8%
of the outstanding shares of our common stock (excluding shares from this
offering), up to a ceiling of 40,000,000 shares. For a description of our
Incentive Plan, see Note 10 to the Financial Statements.
The following table provides information as of December 31, 2007 concerning shares of our common stock authorized for issuance under our existing Incentive Plan.
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Plan Category |
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Number of Securities to |
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Weighted Average |
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Number of Securities |
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Equity Compensation Plans Approved by Stockholders(1) |
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— |
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— |
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3,016,445 |
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|
Equity Compensation Plans Not Approved by Stockholders(2) |
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— |
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— |
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— |
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Total |
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— |
|
— |
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3,016,445 |
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(1) The amount does not give effect to the 1,301,000 shares of restricted common stock issued subsequent to December 31, 2007 to our Manager’s employees and to our independent directors under our equity incentive plan or increases because of this offering. Each of our independent directors was granted 3,000 shares of our restricted common stock which fully vested on January 2, 2008. The restricted common stock approved as grants to our officers and other employees of our Manager or its affiliates will vest in equal installments on the first business day of each fiscal quarter over a period of 10 years beginning on January 2, 2008, or all outstanding unvested shares will fully vest on the death of the individual.
(2) We do not have any equity plans that have not been approved by our stockholders.
Restricted Common Stock Awards
We
made grants on January 2, 2008 of 1,301,000 shares of restricted common stock
to our executive officers and other employees of our Manager or its affiliates,
and our independent directors. Each independent director was granted 3,000
shares of our restricted common stock which fully vested on January 2, 2008.
The restricted common stock granted to our executive officers and other
employees of our Manager or its affiliates vests in equal installments on the
first business day of each fiscal quarter over a period of 10 years beginning
on January 2, 2008, of which 73,600 shares vested and 6,713 shares were
forfeited during the six months ended June 30, 2008. The restricted common
stock granted to our executive officers and other employees of our Manager or
its affiliates that remain outstanding and are unvested will fully vest on the
death of the individual. The 1,227,400 shares of our restricted common stock
granted to our executive officers and other employees of our Manager or its
affiliates and to our independent directors that remains unvested as of June
30, 2008 represents approximately 0.4% of the issued and outstanding shares of
our common stock (on a fully diluted basis after giving effect to the shares
issued in this offering and including shares to be sold to Annaly concurrently
with this offering but excluding any shares to be sold pursuant to the exercise
of the underwriters’ overallotment option) based on the assumption that
250,000,000 shares of our common stock will be issued in this offering. We
will not make distributions on shares of restricted stock which have not
vested.
108
Indemnification and Limitation on Liability; Insurance
Maryland law permits a Maryland corporation to include in its charter a provision limiting the liability of its directors and officers to the corporation and its stockholders for money damages, except for liability resulting from:
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actual receipt of an improper benefit or profit in money, property or services; or |
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active and deliberate dishonesty established by a final judgment and which is material to the cause of action. |
Our charter contains such a provision which eliminates directors’ and officers’ liability to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law.
Our charter also authorizes our company, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law, to obligate our company to indemnify any present or former director or officer or any individual who, while a director or officer of our company and at the request of our company, serves or has served another corporation, real estate investment trust, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or other enterprise as a director, officer, partner or trustee, from and against any claim or liability to which that individual may become subject or which that individual may incur because of his or her service in any such capacity and to pay or reimburse his or her reasonable expenses in advance of final disposition of a proceeding.
Our bylaws obligate us, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law, to indemnify any present or former director or officer or any individual who, while a director or officer of our company and at the request of our company, serves or has served another corporation, real estate investment trust, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or other enterprise as a director, officer, partner or trustee and who is made, or threatened to be made, a party to the proceeding because of his or her service in that capacity from and against any claim or liability to which that individual may become subject or which that individual may incur because of his or her service in any such capacity and to pay or reimburse his or her reasonable expenses in advance of final disposition of a proceeding.
Maryland law requires a corporation (unless its charter provides otherwise, which our charter does not) to indemnify a director or officer who has been successful, on the merits or otherwise, in the defense of any proceeding to which he or she is made, or threatened to be made, a party because of his or her service in such capacity. Maryland law permits a corporation to indemnify its present and former directors and officers, among others, against judgments, penalties, fines, settlements and reasonable expenses actually incurred by them in connection with any proceeding to which they may be made, or threatened to be made, a party because of their service in those or other capacities unless it is established that:
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the act or omission of the director or officer was material to the matter giving rise to the proceeding and (i) was committed in bad faith or (ii) was the result of active and deliberate dishonesty; |
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the director or officer actually received an improper personal benefit in money, property or services; or |
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in the case of any criminal proceeding, the director or officer had reasonable cause to believe that the act or omission was unlawful. |
A court may order indemnification if it determines that the director or officer is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnification, even though the director or officer did not meet the prescribed standard of conduct or was adjudged liable on the basis that personal benefit was improperly received.
Under Maryland law, however, a Maryland corporation may not indemnify for an adverse judgment in a suit by or in the right of the corporation or for a judgment of liability on the basis that personal benefit was improperly received, unless in either case a court orders indemnification and then only for expenses. In addition, Maryland law permits a corporation to advance reasonable expenses to a director or officer upon the corporation’s receipt of:
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a written affirmation by the director or officer of his or her good faith belief that he or she has met the standard of conduct necessary for indemnification by the corporation; and |
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a written undertaking by him or her or on his or her behalf to repay the amount paid or reimbursed by the corporation if it is ultimately determined that the standard of conduct was not met. |
109
We have obtained a policy of insurance under which our directors and officers are insured, subject to the limits of the policy, against certain losses arising from claims made against such directors and officers because of any acts or omissions covered under such policy in their respective capacities as directors or officers, including certain liabilities under the Securities Act.
110
Immediately prior
to the completion of this offering, there will be 38,988,683 shares of our
common stock outstanding and 82 stockholders of record. The following table
sets forth certain information, as of October 10, 2008 and immediately after
this offering, regarding the ownership of each class of capital stock by:
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each of our directors; |
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each of our executive officers; |
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each holder of 5% or more of each class of our capital stock; and |
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all of our directors and officers as a group. |
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In accordance with SEC rules, each listed person’s beneficial ownership includes: |
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all shares the investor actually owns beneficially or of record; |
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all shares over which the investor has or shares voting or dispositive control (such as in the capacity as a general partner of an investment fund); and |
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all shares the investor has the right to acquire within 60 days (such as shares of restricted common stock that are currently vested or which are scheduled to vest within 60 days). |
Unless otherwise indicated, all shares are owned directly and the indicated person has sole voting and investment power. Except as indicated in the footnotes to the table below, the business address of the stockholders listed below is the address of our principal executive office, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2902, New York, New York 10036.
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Percentage of Common Stock Outstanding |
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Name |
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Shares Owned |
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Percentage |
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Shares Owned |
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Percentage |
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Matthew Lambiase(3) |
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90,000 |
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* |
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90,000 |
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* |
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Christian J. Woschenko(4) |
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88,973 |
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* |
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88,973 |
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* |
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William B. Dyer(5) |
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69,469 |
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* |
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69,469 |
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* |
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A. Alexandra Denahan(6) |
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70,000 |
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* |
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70,000 |
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* |
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Paul Donlin(7) |
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3,324 |
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* |
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3,324 |
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* |
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Jeremy Diamond(8) |
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68,524 |
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* |
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68,524 |
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* |
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Mark Abrams(9) |
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3,000 |
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* |
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3,000 |
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* |
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Paul A. Keenan(10) |
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3,324 |
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* |
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3,324 |
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* |
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All Directors and Officers as a Group |
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396,794 |
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1.0 |
% |
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396,794 |
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* |
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FMR LLC(11) |
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4,804,138 |
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12.3 |
% |
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4,804,138 |
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1.5 |
% |
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LMM LLC; Legg Mason Opportunity Trust; Legg Mason Capital Management, Inc.; and Legg Mason Special Investment Trust, Inc.(12) |
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4,423,984 |
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11.3 |
% |
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4,423,984 |
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1.4 |
% |
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ValueAct Capital Master Fund III, L.P.(13) |
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4,242,628 |
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10.9 |
% |
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4,242,628 |
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1.3 |
% |
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Annaly Capital Management, Inc.(14) |
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3,621,581 |
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9.3 |
% |
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30,170,253 |
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9.5 |
% |
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Marc C. Cohodes(15) |
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3,618,057 |
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9.3 |
% |
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3,618,057 |
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1.1 |
% |
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Capital Research Global Investors(16) |
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2,239,800 |
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5.7 |
% |
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2,239,800 |
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* |
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Reed Conner & Birdwell, LLC(17) |
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1,945,738 |
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5.0 |
% |
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1,945,738 |
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* |
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Avenir Corporation(18) |
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1,927,591 |
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4.9 |
% |
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1,927,591 |
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* |
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* Less than 1 percent. |
111
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(1) |
Includes vested and unvested shares of restricted common stock approved as grants to our independent directors and employees of our Manager or its affiliates. |
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(2) |
Assumes the issuance of 250,000,000 shares offered hereby and the sale of 26,548,672 shares of our common stock in a concurrent private offering at the same price per share as the price per share of this public offering. Does not include any shares of common stock reserved for issuance upon exercise of the underwriters’ option. Assumes that no existing holder of shares of our common stock, other than Annaly, purchases shares in this offering. |
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(3) |
Mr. Lambiase, our Chief Executive Officer, President and one of our directors, beneficially owns 90,000 shares. Mr. Lambiase was awarded 90,000 shares of restricted common stock which vest in equal installments on the first business day of each fiscal quarter over a period of 10 years beginning on January 2, 2008. As of October 10, 2008, 9,000 shares have vested, no shares will vest within 60 days of October 10, 2008 and 81,000 shares will vest more than 60 days after October 10, 2008. |
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(4) |
Mr. Woschenko, our Head of Investments, beneficially owns 88,973 shares. Mr. Woschenko was awarded 90,000 shares of restricted common stock which vest in equal installments on the first business day of each fiscal quarter over a period of 10 years beginning on January 2, 2008. As of October 10, 2008, 7,973 shares have vested, no shares will vest within 60 days of October 10, 2008 and 81,000 shares will vest more than 60 days after October 10, 2008. |
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(5) |
Mr. Dyer, our Head of Underwriting, beneficially owns 69,469 shares. Mr. Dyer was awarded 70,000 shares of restricted common stock which vest in equal installments on the first business day of each fiscal quarter over a period of 10 years beginning on January 2, 2008. As of October 10, 2008, 6,649 shares have vested, no shares will vest within 60 days of October 10, 2008 and 63,000 shares will vest more than 60 days after October 10, 2008. |
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(6) |
Ms. Denahan, our Chief Financial Officer and Secretary, beneficially owns 70,000 shares. Ms. Denahan was awarded 70,000 shares of restricted common stock which vest in equal installments on the first business day of each fiscal quarter over a period of 10 years beginning on January 2, 2008. As of October 10, 2008, 7,000 shares have vested, no shares will vest within 60 days of October 10, 2008 and 63,000 shares will vest more than 60 days after October 10, 2008. |
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(7) |
Mr. Donlin is one of our directors. |
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(8) |
Mr. Diamond, one of our directors, beneficially owns 68,524 shares. Mr. Diamond was awarded 70,000 shares of restricted common stock which vest in equal installments on the first business day of each fiscal quarter over a period of 10 years beginning on January 2, 2008. As of October 10, 2008, 5,524 shares have vested, no shares will vest within 60 days of October 10, 2008 and 63,000 shares will vest more than 60 days after October 10, 2008. |
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(9) |
Mr. Abrams is one of our directors. |
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(10) |
Mr. Keenan is one of our directors. |
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(11) |
The business address for this stockholder is 82 Devonshire Street, Boston, MA 02109. Based solely on information contained in a Schedule 13G dated June 10, 2008 filed by FMR LLC. The Schedule 13G reports that FMR LLC has sole dispositive power over 4,804,138 shares and sole voting power over 390,220 shares, and that Edward C. Johnson III has sole dispositive power over 4,804,138 shares. |
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(12) |
The business address for these stockholders is 100 Light Street, Baltimore, MD 21202. Based solely on information contained in a Schedule 13G filed jointly by LMM LLC, Legg Mason Opportunity Trust, Legg Mason Capital Management, Inc. and Legg Mason Special Investment Trust, Inc. on December 10, 2007 as amended on February 14, 2008 and August 11, 2008, respectively. LMM LLC has shared voting and dispositive power over 1,167,784 shares of common stock. Legg Mason Capital Management, Inc. has shared voting and dispositive power over 3,256,200 shares of common stock. Legg Mason Opportunity Trust has been granted a waiver to own up to 15% of our common stock. |
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(13) |
The business address for this stockholder is c/o ValueAct Capital, 435 Pacific Avenue, Fourth Floor, San Francisco, CA 94133. Based solely on information contained in a Schedule 13D filed by ValueAct Capital Master Fund III, L.P., VA Partners III, LLC, ValueAct Capital Management, L.P., ValueAct Capital Management, LLC, ValueAct Holdings, L.P., and ValueAct Holdings GP, LLC on April 24, 2008 as amended on May 14, 2008, June 9, 2008, and June 24, 2008 respectively. ValueAct Capital Master Fund III, L.P. has been granted a waiver to own up to 12% of our common stock. |
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(14) |
Annaly owns our Manager. The business address for this stockholder is 1211 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2902, New York, NY 10036. Annaly has been granted a waiver to own up to 12% of our common stock. |
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(15) |
The business address for this stockholder is c/o Copper River Management, L.P., 12 Linden Place, Second Floor, Red Bank, NJ 07701. Based solely on information contained in a Schedule 13G filed by Marc C. |
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112
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Cohodes on February 12, 2008. The shares shown as beneficially owned by Marc C. Cohodes reflect shares of common stock held by Copper River Partners, L.P., a New York limited partnership, and the other investment funds and accounts over which Marc C. Cohodes holds investment control and voting control with respect to their investments (collectively the “Funds”). Mr. Cohodes by virtue of his position as (i) a managing partner of Copper River, and (ii) the managing member of Copper River Management, L.L.C., the investment advisor to the Funds, possesses the sole power to vote and the sole power to direct the disposition of all 3,618,057 of these shares. |
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(16) |
The business address for this stockholder is 333 South Hope Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071. Based solely on information contained in a Schedule 13G filed by Capital Research Global Investors on February 12, 2008. Capital Research Global Investors has sole dispositive power and voting power over 2,239,800 shares of common stock as a result of it acting as investment adviser to various investment companies registered under Section 8 of the Investment Company Act of 1940. |
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(17) |
The business address for this stockholder is 11111 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 1700, Los Angeles, CA 90025. Based solely on information contained in a Schedule 13D filed by Reed Conner & Birdwell, LLC on April 2, 2008. |
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(18) |
The business address for this stockholder is 1919 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20006. Based solely on information contained in a Schedule 13G filed by Avenir Corporation on June 10, 2008. |
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113
CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Management Agreement
We have entered into a management agreement with FIDAC, our Manager, pursuant to which it provides the day-to-day management of our operations. The management agreement requires our Manager to manage our business affairs in conformity with the policies and the investment guidelines that are approved and monitored by our board of directors. See “Our Manager and the Management Agreement—Management Agreement.”
Our
chief executive officer and president, chief financial officer, head of
underwriting, treasurer, controller, secretary, and head of investments also
serve as employees of our Manager. As a result, the management agreement
between us and our Manager was negotiated between related parties, and the
terms, including fees payable, may not be as favorable to us as if it had been
negotiated with an unaffiliated third party. See “Business—Conflicts of Interest
” and “Risk Factors—Risks Associated with Our Management and Relationship with
Our Manager—There are conflicts of interest in our relationship with our
Manager which could result in decisions that are not in your best interests.”
Restricted Common Stock Awards
Our equity
incentive plan provides for grants of restricted common stock and other
equity-based awards up to an aggregate of 8% of the issued and outstanding
shares of our common stock (on a fully diluted basis and including shares to be
sold to Annaly concurrently with this offering and shares to be sold pursuant
to the exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option) at the time of the
award, subject to a ceiling of 40,000,000 shares available for issuance under
the plan. Each independent director was granted 3,000 shares of our restricted
common stock which fully vested on January 2, 2008. In addition, our executive
officers and other employees of our Manager or its affiliates were granted
shares of our restricted common stock which, as a group and together with the
shares granted to our independent directors, represented an aggregate of
1,301,000 shares of our common stock. The restricted common stock granted to
our executive officers and other employees of our Manager or its affiliates
vests in equal installments on the first business day of each fiscal quarter
over a period of 10 years beginning on January 2, 2008, of which 73,600 shares
vested and 6,713 shares were forfeited during the six months ended June 30,
2008. The restricted common stock granted to our executive officers and other
employees of our Manager or its affiliates that remain outstanding and are
unvested will fully vest on the death of the individual. The 1,227,400 shares
of our restricted common stock granted to our executive officers and other
employees of our Manager or its affiliates and to our independent directors
that remains unvested as of June 30, 2008 represents approximately 0.4% of the
issued and outstanding shares of our common stock (on a fully diluted basis
after giving effect to the shares issued in this offering and including shares
to be sold to Annaly concurrently with this offering but excluding any shares
to be sold pursuant to the exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option),
based on the assumption that 250,000,000 shares of our common stock will be
issued in this offering. We do not make distributions on shares of restricted
stock which have not vested.
Purchases of Common Stock by Affiliates
Concurrent with
this offering, we will sell to Annaly 26,548,672 shares of common stock in a
private offering at the same price per share as the price per share of this
public offering. Upon completion of this offering and the concurrent private
offering, Annaly will own approximately 9.6% of our outstanding common stock
(which percentage excludes shares to be sold pursuant to the exercise of the
underwriters’ overallotment option and unvested shares of our restricted common
stock granted to our executive officers and employees of our Manager or its
affiliates). We plan to invest the net proceeds of this offering and the
concurrent sale of shares to Annaly in accordance with our investment
objectives and the strategies described in this prospectus.
Financings by Annaly
In March 2008, we
entered into a RMBS repurchase agreement with Annaly. This agreement contains
customary representations, warranties and covenants contained in such
agreements. We have, from time to time, received financing from Annaly under
this facility. As of June 30, 2008, we had $50.0 million outstanding under the
agreement with a weighted average borrowing rate of 3.96%. As of September 30,
2008, we had approximately $620.0 million outstanding under this agreement,
which constitutes approximately 56% of our total financing. As of October 13,
2008, the weighted average borrowing rate on amounts outstanding under this
agreement was 3.97%. Our RMBS repurchase agreement with Annaly is rolled daily
at market rates, bears interest at LIBOR plus 80 basis points, and is secured
by the RMBS pledged under the agreement. We do not expect to increase
significantly the
114
amount of securities pledged to Annaly or significantly increase or decrease
the funds we borrow from Annaly as a result of this offering.
In
March 2008, we entered into a receivables sales agreement with Annaly. This
agreement provided for the sale of approximately $127 million of receivables by
us to Annaly of the proceeds that we were due to receive under a mortgage loan
purchase and sale agreement with a third party. Annaly paid us a discounted
amount of such receivables due from the third party equal to less than one
percent of such receivables due from the third party in exchange for us
receiving the purchase price under the receivables sales agreement in
immediately available funds from Annaly. The agreement contained
representations, warranties and covenants by both parties. As of March 31,
2008, each party had performed their outstanding obligations under the agreement,
the third party purchaser under the mortgage loan purchase and sale agreement
had paid the purchase price under the mortgage loan purchase and sale
agreement, and we have remitted such amounts to Annaly pursuant to the
receivables sales agreement.
Other Relationships
Matthew J. Lambiase, our President and Chief Executive Officer, one of our directors and the Executive Vice President, Structured Products for Annaly and FIDAC, is the son of one of Annaly’s directors, John A. Lambiase. A. Alexandra Denahan, our Chief Financial Officer and Secretary and the Controller of Annaly and FIDAC, is the sister of Wellington J. Denahan-Norris, the Vice Chairman of Annaly and Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Annaly and FIDAC.
Paul Donlin, our Nonexecutive Chairman of the Board of Directors, has a direct economic interest in a separate account managed on a discretionary basis by FIDAC. See “Management—Corporate Governance—Board of Directors and Committees” above for a description of the transactions involving FIDAC and this separate account.
Related Person Transaction Policies
Our
code of business conduct and ethics requires all of our personnel to be
scrupulous in avoiding a conflict of interest with regard to our interests. The
code prohibits us from entering into a business relationship with an immediate
family member or with a company that the employee or immediate family member
has a substantial financial interest in unless such relationship is disclosed
to and approved in advance by our board of directors.
Each of our directors and executive officers is required to complete an annual disclosure questionnaire and report all transactions with us in which they and their immediate family members had or will have a direct or indirect material interest with respect to us. We review these questionnaires and, if we determine it necessary, discuss any reported transactions with the entire board of directors. We do not, however, have a formal written policy for approval or ratification of such transactions, and all such transactions are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. If we believe a transaction is significant to us and raises particular conflict of interest issues, we will discuss it with our legal counsel, and if necessary, we will form an independent board committee which has the right to engage its own legal and financial counsel to evaluate and approve the transaction.
In addition, we will not invest in any collateralized debt obligation or security structured or managed by our Manager or any of its affiliates unless the investment is approved in advance by a majority of our independent directors.
Lack of Separate Representation
K&L Gates LLP
is counsel to us, our Manager and Annaly in connection with this offering and
may in the future act as counsel to us, our Manager and Annaly. There is a
possibility that in the future the interests of various parties may become
adverse. If such a dispute were to arise between us, our Manager or Annaly,
separate counsel for such matters will be retained as and when appropriate. In
the event of a dispute or conflict between us, FIDAC, or Annaly, K&L Gates
LLP will not represent any of the parties in any such dispute or conflict.
115
The following summary description of our capital stock does not purport to be complete and is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to the MGCL and our charter and our bylaws, copies of which will be available before the closing of this offering from us upon request. See “Where You Can Find More Information.”
General
Our charter
provides that we may issue up to 550,000,000 shares of stock, consisting of up
to 500,000,000 shares of common stock having a par value of $0.01 per share and
up to 50,000,000 shares of preferred stock having a par value of $0.01 per
share. Upon completion of this offering and the concurrent private offering to
Annaly, 315,537,355 shares of common stock will be issued and outstanding and
no shares of preferred stock will be issued and outstanding. Our board of
directors, with the approval of a majority of the entire board and without any
action on the part of our stockholders, may amend our charter from time to time
to increase or decrease the aggregate number of shares of stock or the number
of shares of stock of any class or series that we have authority to issue.
Under Maryland law, our stockholders generally are not personally liable for
our debts and obligations solely as a result of their status as stockholders.
Common Stock
All shares of our common stock have equal rights as to earnings, assets, dividends and voting and, when they are issued, will be duly authorized, validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable. Distributions may be paid to the holders of our common stock if, as and when authorized by our board of directors and declared by us out of funds legally available therefor. Shares of our common stock have no preemptive, appraisal, preferential exchange, conversion or redemption rights and are freely transferable, except where their transfer is restricted by federal and state securities laws, by contract or by the restrictions in our charter. In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, each share of our common stock would be entitled to share ratably in all of our assets that are legally available for distribution after payment of or adequate provision for all of our known debts and other liabilities and subject to any preferential rights of holders of our preferred stock, if any preferred stock is outstanding at such time. Subject to our charter restrictions on the transfer and ownership of our stock and except as may otherwise be specified in the terms of any class or series of common stock, each share of our common stock entitles the holder to one vote on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders, including the election of directors. Except as provided with respect to any other class or series of stock, the holders of our common stock will possess exclusive voting power. There is no cumulative voting in the election of directors, which means that holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock can elect all of our directors, and holders of less than a majority of such shares will be unable to elect any director.
Power to Reclassify Shares of Our Stock
Our charter authorizes our board of directors to classify and reclassify any unissued shares of stock into other classes or series of stock, including preferred stock. Before issuance of shares of each class or series, the board of directors is required by Maryland law and by our charter to set, subject to our charter restrictions on the transfer and ownership of our stock, the terms, preferences, conversion or other rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to dividends or other distributions, qualifications and terms or conditions of redemption for each class or series. Thus, the board of directors could authorize the issuance of shares of common stock or preferred stock with terms and conditions which could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a transaction or a change in control that might involve a premium price for holders of our common stock or otherwise be in their best interests. No shares of our preferred stock are presently outstanding and we have no present plans to issue any preferred stock.
Power to Issue Additional Shares of Common Stock and Preferred Stock
We believe that the power of our board of directors to amend the charter without stockholder approval to increase the total number of authorized shares of our stock or any class or series of our stock, to issue additional authorized but unissued shares of our common stock or preferred stock and to classify or reclassify unissued shares of our common stock or preferred stock and thereafter to cause us to issue such classified or reclassified shares of stock will provide us with increased flexibility in structuring possible future financings and acquisitions and in meeting other needs which might arise. The additional classes or series, as well as our common stock, will be available for issuance without further action by our stockholders, un