Description of Common Stock
Relationship of Common Stock and Preferred Stock. The rights of holders of Common Stock will be subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of holders of our existing Series D Preferred Stock (described below under “Description of Capital Stock—Description of Preferred Stock”) and any Preferred Stock that may be issued in the future. Our Board of Directors may cause Preferred Stock to be issued to obtain additional capital, in connection with acquisitions, to our officers, directors and employees pursuant to benefit plans or otherwise and for other corporate purposes.
Ownership Restrictions. Our Common Stock is subject to certain ownership restrictions designed to help us maintain our qualification as a REIT under the Code, which are described under “Description of Capital Stock - Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer.”
Preferences, Sinking Fund Provisions, Appraisal Rights and Preemptive Rights. Any shares of Common Stock that we may issue will, when issued, be fully paid and nonassessable and will have no preferences, conversion, sinking fund, redemption rights (except with respect to shares of excess stock, described above) or preemptive rights to subscribe for any of our capital stock. Our stockholders generally have no appraisal rights unless our board of directors determines prospectively that appraisal rights will apply to one or more transactions in which holders of our Common Stock would otherwise be entitled to exercise appraisal rights.
Voting Rights. Subject to the provisions of our charter regarding restrictions on transfer and ownership of shares of Common Stock, our common stockholders will have one vote per share on all matters submitted to a vote of the common stockholders, including the election of directors. Except as provided with respect to any other class or series of capital stock, the holders of Common Stock will possess the exclusive voting power.
There is no cumulative voting in the election of directors, which means that the holders of a plurality of the outstanding shares of Common Stock can elect all of the directors then standing for election and the holders of the remaining shares of Common Stock, if any, will not be able to elect any directors, except as otherwise provided for in any other class or series of our capital stock, including any Preferred Stock.
Distributions. Subject to any preferential rights granted to any class or series of our capital stock, including any Preferred Stock, and to the provisions of our charter regarding restrictions on transfer and ownership of shares of Common Stock, holders of our Common Stock will be entitled to receive dividends or other distributions if, as and when authorized by our Board of Directors and declared by us out of funds legally available for dividends or other distributions to stockholders. Subject to the provisions in our charter regarding restrictions on ownership and transfer, all shares of our Common Stock have equal distribution rights. In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, after payment of any preferential amounts to any class of Preferred Stock which may be outstanding and after payment of, or adequate provision for, all of our known debts and liabilities, holders of Common Stock and excess stock will be entitled to share ratably in all assets that we may legally distribute to our stockholders.
Stockholder Liability. Under Maryland law, holders of our Common Stock will generally not be liable for our obligations solely as a result of their status as stockholders.
Transfer Agent. The registrar and transfer agent for shares of our Common Stock is American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC (an Equiniti company).
Description of Preferred Stock
The following description, together with the additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplement, summarizes the material terms and provisions of the Preferred Stock that we may offer under this prospectus. As of the date of this prospectus, we have 10,167,117 shares of Series D Preferred Stock outstanding. While the terms we have summarized below will apply generally to any future Preferred Stock we may offer, we will describe the particular terms of any Preferred Stock that we may offer in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement. The terms of any Preferred Stock we offer under that prospectus supplement may differ from the terms we describe below.
General. Shares of Preferred Stock may be issued from time to time, in one or more series, as authorized by our Board of Directors. Before issuance of shares of each series, the Board of Directors is required to fix for each such series, subject to the provisions of MGCL and our charter, the terms, preferences, conversion and other rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to dividends and other distributions and terms and conditions of redemption, and such other matters as may be fixed by resolution of the Board of Directors or a duly authorized committee thereof.