UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10‑K

Commission file number 1‑35442

SELECT INCOME REIT

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458‑1634

(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)

Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code: 617‑796‑8303

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well‑known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒  No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐  No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒  No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S‑T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ☒  No ☐

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S‑K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10‑K or any amendment to this Form 10‑K. ☒

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 the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b‑2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b‑2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐  No ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting common shares of beneficial ownership, $.01 par value, or common shares, of the registrant held by non‑affiliates was approximately $1.3 billion based on the $20.64 closing price per common share on the New York Stock Exchange on June 30, 2015. For purposes of this calculation, an aggregate of 879,821 common shares held directly by, or by affiliates of, the trustees and the executive officers of the registrant have been included in the number of common shares held by affiliates. In addition, 24,918,421 common shares held by Government Properties Income Trust and 880,000 common shares held by The RMR Group Inc. as of June 30, 2015 have been included in the number of common shares held by affiliates.

Number of the registrant’s common shares outstanding as of February 12, 2016: 89,374,029.

References in this Annual Report on Form 10‑K to the Company, SIR, we, us or our mean Select Income REIT and its consolidated subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise requires.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Certain information required by Items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10‑K is incorporated by reference to our definitive Proxy Statement for the 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, or our definitive Proxy Statement, to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.

WARNING CONCERNING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

THIS ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10‑K CONTAINS STATEMENTS THAT CONSTITUTE FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995 AND OTHER SECURITIES LAWS. ALSO, WHENEVER WE USE WORDS SUCH AS “BELIEVE”,  “EXPECT”,  “ANTICIPATE”,  “INTEND”,  “PLAN”,  “ESTIMATE” OR SIMILAR EXPRESSIONS, WE ARE MAKING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS. THESE FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS ARE BASED UPON OUR PRESENT INTENT, BELIEFS OR EXPECTATIONS, BUT FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS ARE NOT GUARANTEED TO OCCUR AND MAY NOT OCCUR. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS IN THIS REPORT RELATE TO VARIOUS ASPECTS OF OUR BUSINESS, INCLUDING:

i

OUR ACTUAL RESULTS MAY DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THOSE CONTAINED IN OR IMPLIED BY OUR FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS AS A RESULT OF VARIOUS FACTORS. FACTORS THAT COULD HAVE A MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON OUR FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS AND UPON OUR BUSINESS, RESULTS OF OPERATIONS, FINANCIAL CONDITION, FUNDS FROM OPERATIONS, OR FFO, ATTRIBUTED TO SIR, NORMALIZED FUNDS FROM OPERATIONS, OR NORMALIZED FFO, ATTRIBUTED TO SIR, NET OPERATING INCOME, OR NOI, CASH FLOWS, LIQUIDITY AND PROSPECTS INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

FOR EXAMPLE:

ii

iii 

THESE RESULTS COULD OCCUR DUE TO MANY DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES, SOME OF WHICH ARE BEYOND OUR CONTROL, SUCH AS ACTS OF TERRORISM, NATURAL DISASTERS, CHANGES IN OUR TENANTS’ FINANCIAL CONDITIONS OR THE MARKET DEMAND FOR LEASED SPACE OR CHANGES IN CAPITAL MARKETS OR THE ECONOMY GENERALLY.

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED ELSEWHERE IN THIS ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10‑K OR IN OUR OTHER FILINGS WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, OR SEC, INCLUDING UNDER THE CAPTION “RISK FACTORS”, OR INCORPORATED HEREIN OR THEREIN, IDENTIFIES OTHER IMPORTANT FACTORS THAT COULD CAUSE DIFFERENCES FROM OUR FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS. OUR FILINGS WITH THE SEC ARE AVAILABLE ON THE SEC’S WEBSITE AT WWW.SEC.GOV.

iv

YOU SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE RELIANCE UPON OUR FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS.

EXCEPT AS REQUIRED BY LAW, WE DO NOT INTEND TO UPDATE OR CHANGE ANY FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS AS A RESULT OF NEW INFORMATION, FUTURE EVENTS OR OTHERWISE.

STATEMENT CONCERNING LIMITED LIABILITY

THE AMENDED AND RESTATED DECLARATION OF TRUST ESTABLISHING SELECT INCOME REIT, DATED MARCH 9, 2012, AS AMENDED, AS FILED WITH THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF ASSESSMENTS AND TAXATION OF MARYLAND, PROVIDES THAT NO TRUSTEE, OFFICER, SHAREHOLDER, EMPLOYEE OR AGENT OF SELECT INCOME REIT SHALL BE HELD TO ANY PERSONAL LIABILITY, JOINTLY OR SEVERALLY, FOR ANY OBLIGATION OF, OR CLAIM AGAINST, SELECT INCOME REIT. ALL PERSONS DEALING WITH SELECT INCOME REIT IN ANY WAY SHALL LOOK ONLY TO THE ASSETS OF SELECT INCOME REIT FOR THE PAYMENT OF ANY SUM OR THE PERFORMANCE OF ANY OBLIGATION.

v

SELECT INCOME REIT

2015 FORM 10‑K ANNUAL REPORT

Table of Contents

PART I

Item 1. Business

Our Company

We are a real estate investment trust, or REIT, that was organized under Maryland law in 2011. We primarily own single tenant, net leased properties. As of December 31, 2015, we owned 119 properties (360 buildings, leasable land parcels and easements) with approximately 44.7 million rentable square feet that were 97.8% leased (based on rentable square feet). These properties consisted of (i) 108 office and industrial properties (131 buildings) with approximately 26.9 million square feet located in 34 states throughout the mainland United States, or our Mainland Properties, and (ii) 11 properties (229 buildings, leasable land parcels and easements) located on the island of Oahu, HI, or our Hawaii Properties, with approximately 17.8 million rentable square feet that are primarily leased to industrial and commercial tenants. As of December 31, 2015, our properties were leased to 317 different tenants, with a weighted average remaining lease term (based on annualized rental revenue) of approximately 10.5 years.

Our principal executive offices are located at Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458‑1634, and our telephone number is (617) 796‑8303.

Acquisition of Cole Corporate Income Trust, Inc. and Sale of Healthcare Properties to Senior Housing Properties Trust, or SNH

On January 29, 2015, we completed our acquisition of Cole Corporate Income Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation, or CCIT, pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of August 30, 2014, as amended, or the Merger Agreement, by and among us, SC Merger Sub LLC, a Maryland limited liability company and our wholly owned subsidiary, or SIR Merger Sub, and CCIT. On January 29, 2015, CCIT merged with and into SIR Merger Sub, and the separate corporate existence of CCIT ceased, with SIR Merger Sub surviving as our wholly owned subsidiary, or the CCIT Merger.

At the effective time of the CCIT Merger, we acquired CCIT’s full property portfolio, which included 64 office and industrial net leased properties, or the 64 CCIT Properties, as well as 23 healthcare properties which, as described below, we sold to SNH.  The total consideration for our acquisition of CCIT’s full portfolio was approximately $3.0 billion, including the assumption of approximately $297.7 million of mortgage debt principal (of which approximately $30.0 million was assumed by SNH, in the Healthcare Properties Sale (as defined and described below)) and excluding acquisition related costs.  Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, we paid approximately $1.245 billion in cash and issued approximately 28.4 million of our common shares as merger consideration to former holders of CCIT common stock.

Concurrently with the closing of the CCIT Merger, we sold entities acquired in the CCIT Merger which own 23 healthcare properties for approximately $501.7 million in cash, plus the assumption of approximately $30.0 million of mortgage debt principal, to SNH. We refer to this sale as the Healthcare Properties Sale.

We financed the cash portion of the merger consideration paid to former CCIT stockholders and the fees, expenses and costs incurred in connection with the CCIT Merger and the related transactions and repayment of certain CCIT debts, using a combination of our available cash on hand, borrowings under our existing revolving credit facility, borrowings under a new $1.0 billion 364-day senior unsecured bridge loan facility and approximately $501.7 million in cash proceeds from the Healthcare Properties Sale.

In connection with the closing of the CCIT Merger, we entered into a bridge loan agreement with a group of institutional lenders pursuant to which we obtained a 364-day $1.0 billion bridge loan, which had a maturity date of January 28, 2016, bore interest at LIBOR plus 140 basis points and was prepayable in whole or part at any time. On February 3, 2015, we repaid in full the $1.0 billion senior unsecured bridge loan and reduced amounts then outstanding on our revolving credit facility with net proceeds from an underwritten public offering of an aggregate principal amount of $1.45 billion of senior unsecured notes, which included: $350.0 million aggregate principal amount of 2.85%

unsecured senior notes due 2018; $400.0 million aggregate principal amount of 3.60% unsecured senior notes due 2020; $300.0 million aggregate principal amount of 4.15% unsecured senior notes due 2022; and $400.0 million aggregate principal amount of 4.50% unsecured senior notes due 2025.

Our Business

Our Mainland Properties generally consist of properties that are net leased to single tenants. Because of the capital many of these tenants have invested in improvements and because many of our properties appear to have strategic importance to the tenants’ businesses, we believe that there is a greater likelihood that these tenants will renew or extend their leases when they expire as compared to tenants in a property with multiple tenants. However, we also believe that if a building previously occupied by a single tenant becomes vacant, it may take longer and cost more to locate a replacement tenant than when space becomes vacant in a multi‑tenant property because in place improvements designed specifically for the needs of the prior single tenant may not suit a replacement tenant’s needs.

A  significant number of our Hawaii Properties consist of lands which are leased to third parties for rents that are periodically reset based on fair market values, generally every five to ten years. During our ownership of the Hawaii Properties, market rents have generally increased along with Hawaii’s generally improving economy and, as a result, the revenues from our Hawaii Properties have often increased when leases have expired or rent resets occurred. We expect to continue to negotiate rents, based on then current fair market values, when leases expire or when rent resets occur at our Hawaii Properties.

Whenever we extend, renew or enter into new leases for our properties, we seek rents which are equal to or higher than our historical rents for the same properties; however, our ability to maintain or increase the rents for our properties depends in large part upon market conditions which are beyond our control.

We currently intend to expand our investments by primarily acquiring additional single tenant, net leased properties throughout the mainland United States and we expect to use the extensive nationwide resources of our manager, The RMR Group LLC (formerly known as Reit Management & Research LLC), a Maryland limited liability company, or RMR LLC, to locate and acquire such properties. One of our goals in acquiring additional properties will be to further diversify our sources of rents and thus improve the security of our revenues. Another goal will be to purchase properties that produce rents, less property operating expenses, that are greater than our capital costs for the properties and, accordingly, allow us to increase distributions to our shareholders over time. We expect that most of our acquisition efforts will focus on office and industrial properties; however, we may consider acquiring other types of properties, including properties which are net leased to single tenants for retail uses and special purpose properties specifically suited to particular tenants’ requirements. We also may acquire additional properties in Hawaii, but we currently expect this will not be a significant part of our future acquisitions because there are limited opportunities to acquire properties in Hawaii, especially to acquire lands which are leased to third party tenants.

Our external growth strategy is defined by our acquisition, disposition and financing policies.

Our Acquisition Policies

In evaluating potential property acquisitions, we consider various factors, including but not limited to, the following:

Our Board of Trustees may change our acquisition and investment policies at any time without a vote of, or notice to, our shareholders. Also, we may in the future adopt policies with respect to investments in real estate mortgages or securities of other entities engaged in real estate activities.

We have in the past considered, and may in the future consider, the possibility of entering into mergers or strategic combinations with other companies. A principal goal of any such transaction may be to further diversify our revenue sources and increase our cash flow from operations.

Our Disposition Policies

We generally consider ourselves to be a long term owner of properties and are more interested in the long term earnings potential of our properties than selling properties for short term gains. However, we may, from time to time, decide to sell certain of our properties. We expect our decision to sell properties will be based upon the following considerations, among others, which may be relevant to a particular property at a particular time:

Our Board of Trustees may change our disposition policies at any time without a vote of, or notice to, our shareholders.

Our Financing Policies

To qualify for taxation as a REIT under the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the IRC, we must distribute at least 90% of our annual REIT taxable income (excluding capital gains) and satisfy a number of organizational and operational requirements. Accordingly, we generally will not be able to retain sufficient cash from operations to repay debts, invest in properties and fund acquisitions. Instead, we expect to repay our debts, invest in our properties and fund acquisitions by borrowing, issuing equity or debt securities or using retained cash from operations which may exceed our distributions. Our growth has been primarily financed by borrowings under our revolving credit facility and term loan and our senior unsecured note issuances and by equity issuances in addition to our cash generated by our operations. When we have significant borrowings outstanding under our revolving credit facility and as the maturities of our revolving credit facility, term loan or senior unsecured notes approach, we expect to refinance such indebtedness with equity issuances or new debt. We will decide when and whether to issue equity or new debt depending upon market conditions and other factors. Because our ability to raise capital may depend, in large part, upon market conditions, we can provide you no assurance that we will be able to raise sufficient capital to repay our debt or to fund our growth strategies.

We currently have a $750.0 million unsecured revolving credit facility that we use for working capital and general business purposes and for acquisition funding on an interim basis until we may refinance with equity or term debt. In some instances, we may assume outstanding mortgage debt in connection with our acquisition of properties or place new mortgages on properties we own. For more information regarding our financing sources and activities, please see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Our Investment and Financing Liquidity and Resources” of this Annual Report on Form 10‑K.

Generally, we intend to manage our leverage in a way that may allow us to maintain “investment grade” ratings from nationally recognized statistical rating organizations; however, we can provide no assurance that we will be able to maintain our investment grade ratings. We may increase or decrease our ratio of debt to total book capitalization. Also, our Board of Trustees may change our financing policies at any time without a vote of, or notice to, our shareholders.

Our History

We were formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of Equity Commonwealth (formerly known as CommonWealth REIT), or EQC. EQC created us to concentrate its ownership of certain net leased lands located in Hawaii that EQC purchased in 2003 and 2005 and other single tenant, net leased properties. On February 16, 2012, EQC contributed 30 initial properties (251 buildings, leasable land parcels and easements), or the Initial Properties, to us and in return we issued to EQC: (i) 22,000,000 common shares (including 1,000 common shares initially issued to EQC on December 21, 2011 in connection with our formation); and (ii) a $400.0 million demand promissory note, or the EQC Note. On March 12, 2012, we sold 9,200,000 of our common shares in our initial public offering, or IPO, and we became a public company. Simultaneous with the closing of our IPO, we entered into a $500.0 million revolving credit facility which has subsequently been increased to $750.0 million and which is available for our general business purposes, including acquisitions. We used the net proceeds from our IPO and borrowings under our revolving credit facility to repay in full the EQC Note and to reimburse EQC for costs that EQC incurred in connection with our organization and preparation for our IPO. On July 9, 2014, EQC sold 21,500,000 of our common shares that it owned to Government Properties Income Trust, a Maryland real estate investment trust, or GOV, and sold 500,000 of our common shares that it owned to RMR LLC. We understand that, following these sales, EQC no longer owned any of our common shares.

Our Leases

The following is an overview of the general lease terms for our properties. The terms of any particular lease may vary from those described below.

Mainland Office and Industrial Leases

In general, our office and industrial properties located on the mainland United States include buildings that are net leased to single tenants. The leases generally require that the tenants pay fixed annual rents on a monthly basis, and also pay or reimburse us for all, substantially all, the amounts of, or increases in, the property level operating expenses and capital expenditures, such as real estate taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance and repairs. Some of these leases provide for periodic fixed increases of base rent. Certain leases for our buildings at our Mainland Properties require us to maintain the roof, exterior walls, foundation and other structural elements of the buildings at our expense.

Hawaii Leases

In general, leases for our properties in Hawaii are net leases, which require that the tenant pay a fixed annual rent on a monthly, quarterly or semi‑annual basis, and also pay or reimburse us for all, or substantially all, the property level operating expenses and capital expenditures, such as real estate taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance and repairs. A minority of our Hawaii leases include buildings that we own. Certain leases for our buildings in Hawaii require us to maintain the roof, exterior walls, foundation and other structural elements of the buildings at our expense and some require us to pay property operating costs. A majority of our Hawaii Properties are lands that are leased for fixed annual rents that are periodically reset based on fair market values. In some cases, the resets are based on fair market value rent and in other cases, on a percentage of the fair market value of the land. Fair market value rent reset rates are generally determined through negotiations between us and our tenants; however, when no agreement is achieved, the Hawaii leases require an appraisal process. In the appraisal process for the land leases that are periodically reset, the appraisers are generally required to determine the fair and reasonable rent, exclusive of improvements. In the appraisal process for the leases that are periodically reset based on a percentage of the fair market value of the land, the appraisers are required to determine the fair market value of the land, exclusive of improvements, with such fair market value being based on the highest and best use of the land and as though unencumbered by the lease.

Environmental Matters

Ownership of real estate is subject to risks associated with environmental hazards. We may be liable for environmental hazards at, or migrating from, our properties, including those created by prior owners or occupants, existing tenants, abutters or other persons. Various federal and state laws impose liabilities upon property owners, such as us, for any environmental damages arising from properties they own. We may be held liable for environmental investigation and clean up costs at, or near, our properties, including at sites we own and lease to our tenants. As an owner of properties which contain environmental hazards, we also may be liable to governmental agencies or third parties for costs and damages they incur arising from environmental hazards at such properties.  The costs and damages which may arise from environmental hazards are often difficult to project and may be substantial.

Although our leases generally require our tenants to operate in compliance with all applicable laws and to indemnify us against any environmental liabilities arising from a tenant’s activities on our property, we could be subject to strict liability by virtue of our ownership interest. Also, our tenants may be unable to satisfy their indemnification obligations, if any, under our leases. Furthermore, the discovery of contamination or violations of environmental laws on any of our properties could lead to significant remediation costs or fines, penalties or other liabilities or obligations attributable to the tenant of that property. Such liabilities or obligations may affect a tenant’s ability to make payments to us, including rental payments and, where applicable, indemnification payments. When we acquired the Initial Properties from EQC, we agreed to indemnify EQC against all environmental liabilities with respect to the Initial Properties.

Certain of our properties are used or have been used for industrial purposes. Though we have reviewed these and our other properties for potential environmental liabilities and have established a reserve for potential costs that may be incurred as a result of environmental contamination, no assurance can be given that we have identified all potential

environmental liabilities or that our reserve will be sufficient to cover any costs we may incur relating to environmental matters. Some of these properties contain, or may have contained, or are adjacent to or near other properties that have contained or currently contain, underground storage tanks for the storage of petroleum products and other hazardous or toxic substances. The presence of these tanks creates the potential for the release of petroleum products or other hazardous or toxic substances onto our properties. In addition, certain of our properties are on, adjacent to or near other properties upon which others have engaged, or may in the future engage, in activities that may release petroleum products or other hazardous or toxic substances.

We do not have any insurance designated to limit any losses that we may incur as a result of known or unknown environmental conditions which are not caused by an insured event, such as, for example, fire or flood. As of December 31, 2015, we have reserved approximately $8.2 million for potential environmental liabilities. The environmental reserve EQC applied to the Initial Properties, and that we have applied since we began owning the Initial Properties, historically has not varied significantly from year to year and the actual historical costs to remediate certain environmental issues have not deviated significantly from the corresponding reserve amount. Nevertheless, environmental exposures are difficult to assess and estimate for numerous reasons, including uncertainty about the extent of contamination, alternative treatment methods that may be applied, and location of the affected property which subjects it to differing local laws and regulations and their interpretations, as well as the time it takes to remediate contamination. In developing reserves for potential environmental liability on a property by property basis, we consider among other things, enacted laws and regulations, assessments of contamination and surrounding geology, quality of information available, currently available technologies for treatment, alternative methods of remediation and prior experience. Environmental reserves are based on estimates which are subject to significant change and are adjusted as the remediation progresses, as circumstances change and as environmental contingencies become more clearly defined and reasonably estimable. We do not believe that there are environmental conditions at any of our properties that will materially and adversely affect us. However, no assurance can be given that environmental conditions present at our properties or costs we may be required to incur in the future to address environmental contamination will not materially and adversely affect us.

We believe any asbestos in our buildings is contained in accordance with current regulations, and we have no current plans to remove it. If we remove the asbestos at our properties or renovate or demolish the affected properties, certain environmental regulations govern the manner in which the asbestos must be handled and removed, and we could incur substantial costs complying with such regulations.

Further, we may be impacted by laws enacted or proposed addressing climate change and climate change may adversely affect our business. For more information regarding climate change matters and their possible adverse impact on us, please see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Impact of Climate Change.”

Competition

Investing in and operating commercial properties is a very competitive business. We compete against publicly traded and private REITs, numerous financial institutions, individuals and public and private companies. Some of our competitors may have greater financial and other resources than we have. We believe the diversity of our tenants, the experience and abilities of our management, the quality of our properties and the structure of our leases may afford us some competitive advantages and allow us to operate our business successfully despite the competitive nature of our business. For more information, see “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—We face significant competition.”

Our Manager

The RMR Group Inc. (NASDAQ: RMR), a Maryland corporation, or RMR Inc., is a holding company and substantially all of its business is conducted by RMR LLC. Barry Portnoy and Adam Portnoy, our Managing Trustees, are the controlling shareholders, directors and officers of RMR LLC. Our day to day operations are conducted by RMR LLC. RMR LLC originates and presents investment and divestment opportunities to our Board of Trustees and provides management and administrative services to us. RMR LLC has a principal place of business at Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458‑1634, and its telephone number is (617) 796‑8390. RMR

LLC also acts as the manager to GOV, Hospitality Properties Trust, or HPT, and SNH and provides management and other services to other private and public companies, including Five Star Quality Care, Inc., or FVE, TravelCenters of America LLC, or TA, and Sonesta International Hotels Corporation, or Sonesta. As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the executive officers of RMR LLC are: Adam Portnoy, President and Chief Executive Officer; Barry Portnoy, Chairman; David M. Blackman, Executive Vice President; Jennifer B. Clark, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary; David J. Hegarty, Executive Vice President; Mark L. Kleifges, Executive Vice President; Bruce J. Mackey Jr., Executive Vice President; John G. Murray, Executive Vice President; Thomas M. O’Brien, Executive Vice President; and John C. Popeo, Executive Vice President. David M. Blackman and John C. Popeo are also our executive officers. Messrs. Blackman and Popeo and other officers of RMR LLC also serve as officers of other companies to which RMR LLC provides management services.

Employees

We have no employees. Services which would otherwise be provided to us by employees are provided by RMR LLC and by our Managing Trustees and officers. As of February 10, 2016, RMR LLC had approximately 420 full time employees in its headquarters and regional offices located throughout the United States.

Insurance

We generally have insurance coverage for our properties and the operations conducted on them, including for casualty, liability, fire, extended coverage and rental or business interruption loss. Under our Hawaii land leases, our tenants are generally responsible for purchasing the insurance directly, while under our leases relating to our Hawaii buildings, our tenants are generally either required to reimburse us for the costs of maintaining the insurance coverage or purchase such insurance directly and list us as an insured party. With respect to our Mainland Properties, we either purchase the insurance ourselves and our tenants reimburse us, or the tenants buy the insurance directly and are required to list us as an insured party. We participate with RMR LLC and other companies to which RMR LLC provides management services in a combined property insurance program through Affiliates Insurance Company, or AIC, and with respect to which AIC is a reinsurer of certain coverage amounts. For more information, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Related Person Transactions” and Note 12 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

Other Matters

Legislative and regulatory developments may occur at the federal, state and local levels that have direct or indirect impact on the ownership, leasing and operation of our properties. We may need to make expenditures, to the extent these costs are not paid by our tenants, due to changes in government regulations, or the application of such regulations to our properties, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, fire and safety regulations, building codes, land use regulations or environmental regulations on containment, abatement or removal.

Internet Website

Our internet website address is www.sirreit.com. Copies of our governance guidelines, or Governance Guidelines, code of business conduct and ethics, or Code of Conduct, policy outlining procedures for handling concerns or complaints about accounting, internal accounting controls or auditing matters and the charters of our audit, compensation and nominating and governance committees are posted on our website and also may be obtained free of charge by writing to our Secretary, Select Income REIT, Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458‑1634 or at our website. We make available, free of charge, on our website, our Annual Reports on Form 10‑K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10‑Q, Current Reports on Form 8‑K and amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after these forms are filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Any shareholder or other interested party who desires to communicate with our non‑management Trustees, individually or as a group, may do so by filling out a report on our website. Our Board of Trustees also provides a process for security holders to send communications to the entire Board of Trustees. Information about the process for sending communications to our Board of Trustees can be found on our website. Our website address and the

website addresses of one or more unrelated third parties are included several times in this Annual Report on Form 10‑K as textual references only and the information in any such website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10‑K.

UNITED STATES FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS

The following summary of United States federal income tax considerations is based on existing law, and is limited to investors who own our shares as investment assets rather than as inventory or as property used in a trade or business.  The summary does not discuss all of the particular tax consequences that might be relevant to you if you are subject to special rules under federal income tax law, for example if you are:

The sections of the IRC that govern the federal income tax qualification and treatment of a REIT and its shareholders are complex.  This presentation is a summary of applicable IRC provisions, related rules and regulations, and administrative and judicial interpretations, all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect.  Future legislative, judicial or administrative actions or decisions could also affect the accuracy of statements made in this summary.  We have not received a ruling from the United States Internal Revenue Service, or the IRS, with respect to any matter described in this summary, and we cannot assure you that the IRS or a court will agree with all of the statements made in this summary.  The IRS could, for example, take a different position from that described in this summary with respect to our acquisitions, operations, restructurings or other matters, which, if a court agreed, could result in significant tax liabilities for applicable parties.  In addition, this summary is not exhaustive of all possible tax consequences, and does not discuss any estate, gift, state, local or foreign tax consequences.  For all these reasons, we urge you and any prospective acquiror of our shares to consult with a tax advisor about the federal income tax and other tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our shares.  Our intentions and beliefs described in this summary are based upon our understanding of applicable laws and regulations that are in effect as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.  If new laws or regulations are enacted which impact us directly or indirectly, we may change our intentions or beliefs.

Your federal income tax consequences generally will differ depending on whether or not you are a “U.S. shareholder.”  For purposes of this summary, a “U.S. shareholder” is a beneficial owner of our shares that is:

whose status as a U.S. shareholder is not overridden by an applicable tax treaty.  Conversely, a  “non-U.S. shareholder” is a beneficial owner of our shares other than a partnership or a U.S. shareholder.  

If any entity treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes is a beneficial owner of our shares, the tax treatment of a partner in the partnership generally will depend upon the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership.  Any entity or other arrangement treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes that is a beneficial owner of our shares and the partners in such a partnership (as determined for federal income tax purposes) are urged to consult their own tax advisors about the federal income tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our shares.

Taxation as a REIT

        We have elected to be taxed as a REIT under Sections 856 through 860 of the IRC, commencing with our taxable year ended December 31, 2012.  Our REIT election, assuming continuing compliance with the then applicable qualification tests, has continued and will continue in effect for subsequent taxable years.  Although no assurance can be given, we believe that we have been organized and have operated, and will continue to be organized and to operate, in a manner that qualified and will continue to qualify us to be taxed under the IRC as a REIT.

As a REIT, we generally are not subject to federal income tax on our net income distributed as dividends to our shareholders.  Distributions to our shareholders generally are included in their income as dividends to the extent of our available current or accumulated earnings and profits.  Our dividends are not generally entitled to the preferential tax rates on qualified dividend income, but a portion of our dividends may be treated as capital gain dividends or as qualified dividend income, all as explained below.  No portion of any of our dividends is eligible for the dividends received deduction for corporate shareholders.  Distributions in excess of current or accumulated earnings and profits generally are treated for federal income tax purposes as returns of capital to the extent of a recipient shareholder’s basis in our shares, and will reduce this basis.  Our current or accumulated earnings and profits are generally allocated first to distributions made on our preferred shares, of which there are none outstanding at this time, and thereafter to distributions made on our common shares.  For all these purposes, our distributions include cash distributions, any in kind distributions of property that we might make, and deemed or constructive distributions resulting from capital market activities, as described below. 

Our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, has provided to us an opinion that we have been organized and have qualified for taxation as a REIT under the IRC for our 2012 through 2015 taxable years, and that our current and anticipated investments and plan of operation will enable us to continue to meet the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the IRC.  Our counsel’s opinions are conditioned upon the assumption that our leases, our declaration of trust and all other legal documents to which we are or have been a party have been and will be complied with by all parties to those documents, upon the accuracy and completeness of the factual matters described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and upon representations made by us as to certain factual matters relating to our organization and operations and our expected manner of operation.  If this assumption or a representation is inaccurate or

incomplete, our counsel’s opinions may be adversely affected and may not be relied upon.  The opinions of our counsel are based upon the law as it exists today, but the law may change in the future, possibly with retroactive effect.  Given the highly complex nature of the rules governing REITs, the ongoing importance of factual determinations, and the possibility of future changes in our circumstances, no assurance can be given by Sullivan & Worcester LLP or us that we will qualify as or be taxed as a REIT for any particular year.  Any opinion of Sullivan & Worcester LLP as to our qualification or taxation as a REIT will be expressed as of the date issued.  Our counsel will have no obligation to advise us or our shareholders of any subsequent change in the matters stated, represented or assumed, or of any subsequent change in the applicable law.  Also, the opinions of our counsel are not binding on either the IRS or a court, and either could take a position different from that expressed by our counsel.

Our continued qualification and taxation as a REIT will depend upon our compliance on a continuing basis with various qualification tests imposed under the IRC and summarized below.  While we believe that we have satisfied and will satisfy these tests, our counsel does not review compliance with these tests on a continuing basis.  If we fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT in any year, we will be subject to federal income taxation as if we were a corporation taxed under subchapter C of the IRC, or a C corporation, and our shareholders will be taxed like shareholders of C corporations, meaning that federal income tax generally will be applied at both the corporate and shareholder levels.  In this event, we could be subject to significant tax liabilities, and the amount of cash available for distribution to our shareholders could be reduced or eliminated.

If we qualify for taxation as a REIT and meet the tests described below, we generally will not pay federal income tax on amounts we distribute to our shareholders.  However, even if we qualify for taxation as a REIT, we may be subject to federal tax in the following circumstances:

If we fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT or elect not to qualify for taxation as a REIT, then we will be subject to federal income tax in the same manner as a regular C corporation.  Further, as a regular C corporation, distributions to our shareholders will not be deductible by us, nor will distributions be required under the IRC.  Also, to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits, all distributions to our shareholders will generally be taxable as ordinary dividends potentially eligible for the preferential tax rates discussed below in “Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders” and, subject to limitations in the IRC, will be potentially eligible for the dividends received deduction for corporate shareholders.  Finally, we will generally be disqualified from qualification for taxation as a REIT for the four taxable years following the taxable year in which the termination is effective.  Our failure to qualify for taxation as a REIT for even one year could result in us reducing or eliminating distributions to our shareholders, or in us incurring substantial indebtedness or liquidating substantial investments in order to pay the resulting corporate-level taxes.  Relief provisions under the IRC may allow us to continue to qualify for taxation as a REIT even if we fail to comply with various REIT requirements, all as discussed in more detail below.

REIT Qualification Requirements

General Requirements.  Section 856(a) of the IRC defines a REIT as a corporation, trust or association:

(1)that is managed by one or more trustees or directors;

(2)the beneficial ownership of which is evidenced by transferable shares or by transferable certificates of beneficial interest;

(3)that would be taxable, but for Sections 856 through 859 of the IRC, as a domestic C corporation;

(4)that is not a financial institution or an insurance company subject to special provisions of the IRC;

(5)the beneficial ownership of which is held by 100 or more persons;

(6)that is not “closely held” as defined under the personal holding company stock ownership test, as described below; and

(7)that meets other tests regarding the nature of its income and assets and the amount of its distributions, all as described below.

Section 856(b) of the IRC provides that conditions (1) through (4) must be met during the entire taxable year and that condition (5) must be met during at least 335 days of a taxable year of 12 months, or during a proportionate part of a taxable year of less than 12 months.  Section 856(h)(2) of the IRC provides that neither condition (5) nor (6) need to have been met during our first taxable year as a REIT.  We believe that we have met conditions (1) through (7) during each of the requisite periods ending on or before the close of our most recently completed taxable year, and that we will continue to meet these conditions in future taxable years.  There can, however, be no assurance in this regard.

By reason of condition (6), we will fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT for a taxable year if at any time during the last half of a year (except for our first taxable year as a REIT) more than 50% in value of our outstanding shares is owned directly or indirectly by five or fewer individuals.  To help comply with condition (6), our declaration of trust restricts transfers of our shares that would otherwise result in concentrated ownership positions.  In addition, if we comply with applicable Treasury regulations to ascertain the ownership of our outstanding shares and do not know, or by exercising reasonable diligence would not have known, that we failed condition (6), then we will be treated as having met condition (6).  However, our failure to comply with these regulations for ascertaining ownership may result in a penalty of $25,000, or $50,000 for intentional violations.  Accordingly, we have complied and will continue to comply with these regulations, including requesting annually from record holders of significant percentages of our shares information regarding the ownership of our shares.  Under our declaration of trust, our shareholders are required to respond to these requests for information.  A shareholder who fails or refuses to comply with the request is required by Treasury regulations to submit a statement with its federal income tax return disclosing its actual ownership of our shares and other information.

For purposes of condition (6), the term “individuals” is defined in the IRC to include natural persons, supplemental unemployment compensation benefit plans, private foundations and portions of a trust permanently set aside or used exclusively for charitable purposes, but not other entities or qualified pension plans or profit-sharing trusts.  As a result, REIT shares owned by an entity that is not an “individual” are considered to be owned by the direct and indirect owners of the entity that are individuals (as so defined), rather than to be owned by the entity itself.  Similarly, REIT shares held by a qualified pension plan or profit-sharing trust are treated as held directly by the individual beneficiaries in proportion to their actuarial interests in such plan or trust.  Consequently, five or fewer such trusts could own more than 50% of the interests in an entity without jeopardizing that entity’s qualification for taxation as a REIT.  However, as discussed below in “Taxation of Tax-Exempt U.S. Shareholders,” if a REIT is a “pension-held REIT,” each qualified pension plan or profit-sharing pension trust owning more than 10% of the REIT’s shares by value generally may be taxed on a portion of the dividends it receives from the REIT.

The IRC provides that we will not automatically fail to qualify as a REIT if we do not meet conditions (1)

through (6), provided we can establish that such failure was due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect.  Each such excused failure will result in the imposition of a $50,000 penalty instead of REIT disqualification.  It is impossible to state whether in all circumstances we would be entitled to the benefit of this relief provision.  This relief provision applies to any failure of the applicable conditions, even if the failure first occurred in a prior taxable year.

Our Wholly Owned Subsidiaries and Our Investments Through Partnerships.  Except in respect of taxable REIT subsidiaries as discussed below, Section 856(i) of the IRC provides that any corporation, 100% of whose stock is held by a REIT and its disregarded subsidiaries, is a qualified REIT subsidiary and shall not be treated as a separate corporation.  The assets, liabilities and items of income, deduction and credit of a qualified REIT subsidiary are treated as the REIT’s.  We believe that each of our direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, other than the taxable REIT subsidiaries discussed below (and entities owned solely by the taxable REIT subsidiaries), will be either a qualified REIT subsidiary within the meaning of Section 856(i) of the IRC, or a noncorporate entity that for federal income tax purposes is not treated as separate from its owner under Treasury regulations issued under Section 7701 of the IRC.  Thus, except for the taxable REIT subsidiaries discussed below (and entities owned in whole or in part by the taxable REIT subsidiaries), in applying all of the federal income tax REIT qualification requirements described in this summary, all assets, liabilities and items of income, deduction and credit of our direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries are treated as ours.

We have invested and may invest in real estate through one or more entities that are treated as partnerships for federal income tax purposes.  In the case of a REIT that is a partner in a partnership, Treasury regulations under the IRC provide that, for purposes of the REIT qualification requirements regarding income and assets discussed below, the REIT is deemed to own its proportionate share of the assets of the partnership corresponding to the REIT’s proportionate capital interest in the partnership and is deemed to be entitled to the income of the partnership attributable to this proportionate share.  In addition, for these purposes, the character of the assets and items of gross income of the partnership generally remains the same in the hands of the REIT.  Accordingly, our proportionate share of the assets, liabilities, and items of income of each partnership in which we are or become a partner is treated as ours for purposes of the income tests and asset tests discussed below.  In contrast, for purposes of the distribution requirement discussed below, we must take into account as a partner our share of the partnership’s income as determined under the general federal income tax rules governing partners and partnerships under Sections 701 through 777 of the IRC.

Subsidiary REITs.  We may invest in real estate through one or more subsidiary entities that are intended to qualify for taxation as REITs.  Any subsidiary REIT will generally be subject to the various REIT qualification requirements and other limitations described in this summary that are applicable to us.  If one of our subsidiary REITs were to fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT, then (a) the subsidiary REIT would become subject to regular United States corporate income tax, as described above, and (b) our ownership of shares in the subsidiary REIT would cease to be a qualifying real estate asset for purposes of the 75% asset test and would become subject to the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test and the 10% value test generally applicable to our ownership in corporations other than REITs, qualified REIT subsidiaries and taxable REIT subsidiaries, all as described under “Asset Tests” below.  If a subsidiary REIT were to fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT, it is possible that we would not meet the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test or the 10% value test with respect to our interest in the subsidiary REIT, in which event we would fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT unless we could utilize applicable relief provisions.  We may make protective taxable REIT subsidiary elections as described below with respect to our subsidiary REITs and may implement other protective arrangements intended to avoid a cascading REIT failure if any of our subsidiary REITs were not to qualify for taxation as a REIT, but there can be no assurance that such protective elections and other arrangements will be effective to avoid the resulting adverse consequences to us.

From January through July 2015, we were invested in real estate through a subsidiary that was intended to qualify for taxation as a REIT.  Accordingly, the above discussion regarding subsidiary REITs was generally applicable with respect to this subsidiary REIT during that time period.  We believe that our former subsidiary REIT was organized and operated in a manner that permitted it to qualify for taxation as a REIT from and after the effective date of its REIT election and through the date of its liquidation for federal income tax purposes.  In addition, to limit the possibility of a cascading REIT failure in the event that our former subsidiary REIT had somehow failed to qualify for taxation as a REIT, we made a protective taxable REIT subsidiary election with respect to this subsidiary that presumably would be effective to the extent our subsidiary had failed to so qualify.

Taxable REIT Subsidiaries.  We are permitted to own any or all of the securities of a “taxable REIT subsidiary” as

defined in Section 856(l) of the IRC, provided that no more than 25% (20% beginning with our 2018 taxable year) of the total value of our assets, at the close of each quarter, is comprised of our investments in the stock or other securities of our taxable REIT subsidiaries.  Our ownership of stock and other securities in taxable REIT subsidiaries is exempt from the 10% and 5% REIT asset tests discussed below.  Among other requirements, a taxable REIT subsidiary of ours must:

(1) be a corporation (other than a REIT) for federal income tax purposes in which we directly or indirectly own shares;

(2) join with us in making a taxable REIT subsidiary election;

(3) not directly or indirectly operate or manage a lodging facility or a health care facility; and

(4) not directly or indirectly provide to any person, under a franchise, license or otherwise, rights to any brand name under which any lodging facility or health care facility is operated, except that in limited circumstances a subfranchise, sublicense or similar right can be granted to an independent contractor to operate or manage a lodging facility or a health care facility.

In addition, any corporation (other than a REIT) in which a taxable REIT subsidiary directly or indirectly owns more than 35% of the voting power or value of the outstanding securities of such corporation will automatically be treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary.  Subject to the discussion below, we believe that we and each of our taxable REIT subsidiaries have complied with, and will continue to comply with, on a continuous basis, the requirements for taxable REIT subsidiary status at all times during which the subsidiary’s taxable REIT subsidiary election is reported as being in effect, and we believe that the same will be true for any taxable REIT subsidiary that we later form or acquire. 

We acquired in the second quarter of 2015, and owned until the fourth quarter of 2015, an ownership position in RMR Inc. that was in excess of 10% of RMR Inc.’s outstanding securities by vote or value.  Accordingly, we elected to treat RMR Inc. as a taxable REIT subsidiary effective as of June 5, 2015.  RMR Inc., through its principal subsidiary, RMR LLC, has provided and continues to provide business and property management and other services to us and to other public and private companies, including other public REITs.  Among these clients were and are operators of lodging facilities, operators of health care facilities, and owners of such facilities.  Our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, has provided to us an opinion that the activities proscribed to taxable REIT subsidiaries under Section 856(l)(3) of the IRC relating to operating or managing lodging facilities or health care facilities should include only regular onsite services or day-to-day operational activities at or for lodging facilities or health care facilities.  To the best of our knowledge, neither RMR Inc. nor RMR LLC has been or is involved in proscribed activities at or for lodging facilities or health care facilities.  Thus, we do not believe that Section 856(l)(3) of the IRC precluded or precludes RMR Inc. from being treated as our taxable REIT subsidiary.  In addition, because we acquired a significant portion of our investment in RMR Inc. in exchange for our common shares that were newly issued, our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, is of the opinion that our investment in RMR Inc. should qualify as a “temporary investment of new capital” under Section 856(c)(5)(B) of the IRC to the extent related to such issuance of our common shares.  To the extent our investment in RMR Inc. so qualifies, it will constitute a “real estate asset” under Section 856(c) of the IRC and would not constitute a security subject to the REIT asset test limitations discussed below for a one-year period commencing June 5, 2015.  If the IRS or a court determines, contrary to the opinion of our counsel, that RMR Inc. was or is precluded from being treated as our taxable REIT subsidiary, then our ownership position in RMR Inc. in excess of 10% of RMR Inc.’s outstanding securities by vote or value, except to the extent and for the period qualifying as a “temporary investment of new capital,” would be in violation of the applicable REIT asset tests described below.  Under those circumstances, however, we expect that we would qualify for the REIT asset tests’ relief provision described below, and thereby would preserve our qualification for taxation as a REIT.  If the relief provision below were to apply to us, we would be subject to tax at the highest corporate rate, currently 35%, on the net income generated by our investment in RMR Inc. in excess of a 10% ownership position in that company.

As discussed below, taxable REIT subsidiaries can perform services for our tenants without disqualifying the rents we receive from those tenants under the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test discussed below.  Moreover, because our taxable REIT subsidiaries are taxed as C corporations that are separate from us, their assets, liabilities and items of income, deduction and credit generally are not imputed to us for purposes of the REIT qualification requirements

described in this summary.  Therefore, our taxable REIT subsidiaries may generally undertake third-party management and development activities and activities not related to real estate.

Restrictions are imposed on taxable REIT subsidiaries to ensure that they will be subject to an appropriate level of federal income taxation.  For example, a taxable REIT subsidiary may not deduct interest paid in any year to an affiliated REIT to the extent that the interest payments exceed, generally, 50% of the taxable REIT subsidiary’s adjusted taxable income for that year.  However, the taxable REIT subsidiary may carry forward the disallowed interest expense to a succeeding year, and deduct the interest in that later year subject to that year’s 50% adjusted taxable income limitation.  In addition, if a taxable REIT subsidiary pays interest, rent or other amounts to its affiliated REIT in an amount that exceeds what an unrelated third party would have paid in an arm’s length transaction, then the REIT generally will be subject to an excise tax equal to 100% of the excessive portion of the payment.  Further, if in comparison to an arm’s length transaction, a third-party tenant has overpaid rent to the REIT in exchange for underpaying the taxable REIT subsidiary for services rendered, and if the REIT has not adequately compensated the taxable REIT subsidiary for services provided to or on behalf of the third-party tenant, then the REIT may be subject to an excise tax equal to 100% of the undercompensation to the taxable REIT subsidiary.  A safe harbor exception to this excise tax applies if the taxable REIT subsidiary has been compensated at a rate at least equal to 150% of its direct cost in furnishing or rendering the service.  Finally, beginning in 2016, the 100% excise tax also applies to the underpricing of services by a taxable REIT subsidiary to its parent REIT in contexts where the services are unrelated to services for REIT tenants.  There can be no assurance that arrangements involving our taxable REIT subsidiaries will not result in the imposition of one or more of these deduction limitations or excise taxes, but we do not believe that we or our taxable REIT subsidiaries are or will be subject to these impositions.

Income Tests.  There are two gross income requirements for qualification as a REIT under the IRC:

For purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests outlined above, income derived from a “shared appreciation provision” in a mortgage loan is generally treated as gain recognized on the sale of the property to which it relates.  Although we will use our best efforts to ensure that the income generated by our investments will be of a type that satisfies both the 75% and 95% gross income tests, there can be no assurance in this regard.

In order to qualify as “rents from real property” under Section 856 of the IRC, several requirements must be met:

We believe that all or substantially all of our rents and related service charges have qualified and will continue to qualify as “rents from real property” for purposes of Section 856 of the IRC.

In order to qualify as mortgage interest on real property for purposes of the 75% gross income test, interest must derive from a mortgage loan secured by real property or on interests in real property with a fair market value at the time the loan is made (reduced by any senior liens on the property) at least equal to the amount of the loan.  If the amount of the loan exceeds the fair market value of the real property (as so reduced by senior liens), the interest will be treated as interest on a mortgage loan in a ratio equal to the ratio of the fair market value of the real property (as so reduced by senior liens) to the total amount of the mortgage loan.

Absent the “foreclosure property” rules of Section 856(e) of the IRC, a REIT’s receipt of active, nonrental gross income from a property would not qualify under the 75% and 95% gross income tests.  But as foreclosure property, the active, nonrental gross income from a property would so qualify.  In the case of property leased by a REIT to a tenant, foreclosure property generally consists of the real property and incidental personal property that the REIT has reduced to possession upon a default or imminent default under the lease by the tenant, and as to which a timely foreclosure property election is made.  Any gain that a REIT recognizes on the sale of foreclosure property held as inventory or primarily for sale to customers, plus any income it receives from foreclosure property that would not qualify under the 75% gross income test in the absence of foreclosure property treatment, reduced by expenses directly connected with the production of those items of income, would be subject to income tax at the maximum corporate rate, currently 35%, under the foreclosure property income tax rules of Section 857(b)(4) of the IRC.  Thus, if a REIT should lease foreclosure property in exchange for rent that qualifies as “rents from real property” as described above, then that rental income is not subject to the foreclosure property income tax.

Other than sales of foreclosure property, any gain we realize on the sale of property held as inventory or other property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business will be treated as income from a prohibited transaction that is subject to a penalty tax at a 100% rate.  This prohibited transaction income also may adversely affect our ability to satisfy the 75% and 95% gross income tests for federal income tax qualification as a REIT.  Whether property is held as inventory or primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business is a question of fact that depends on all the facts and circumstances surrounding the particular transaction.  There can be no assurance as to whether or not the IRS might successfully assert that one or more of our dispositions is subject to the 100% penalty tax.  Sections 857(b)(6)(C) and (E) of the IRC provide a safe harbor pursuant to which limited sales of real property held for at least two years and meeting specified additional requirements will not be treated as prohibited transactions.  However, compliance with the safe harbor is not always achievable in practice.

We believe that any gain from dispositions of assets that we have made,  or that we might make in the future, will generally qualify as income that satisfies the 75% and 95% gross income tests and will not be subject to the 100% penalty tax, because our general intent has been and is to:

If we fail to satisfy one or both of the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test in any taxable year, we may nevertheless qualify for taxation as a REIT for that year if we satisfy the following requirements:

It is impossible to state whether in all circumstances we would be entitled to the benefit of this relief provision for the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test.  Even if this relief provision does apply, a 100% tax is imposed upon the greater of the amount by which we failed the 75% gross income test or the amount by which we failed the 95% gross income test, with adjustments, multiplied by a fraction intended to reflect our profitability for the taxable year.  This relief provision applies to any failure of the applicable income tests, even if the failure first occurred in a year prior to the taxable year in which the failure was discovered.

Based on the discussion above, we believe that we have satisfied, and will continue to satisfy, the 75% and 95% gross income tests outlined above on a continuing basis beginning with our first taxable year as a REIT.

Asset Tests.  At the close of each calendar quarter of each taxable year, we must also satisfy the following asset percentage tests in order to qualify for taxation as a REIT for federal income tax purposes:

Our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, is of the opinion that our investments in the equity or debt of a taxable REIT subsidiary, to the extent and during the period they qualify as temporary investments of new capital, should be treated as a real estate asset, and not as a security, for purposes of the above REIT asset tests.

The above REIT asset tests must be satisfied at the close of each calendar quarter of each taxable year as a REIT.  After a REIT meets the asset tests at the close of any quarter, it will not lose its qualification for taxation as a REIT in any subsequent quarter solely because of fluctuations in the values of its assets.  This grandfathering rule may be of limited benefit to a REIT such as us that makes periodic acquisitions of both qualifying and nonqualifying REIT assets.  When a failure to satisfy the above asset tests results from an acquisition of securities or other property during a quarter, the failure can be cured by disposition of sufficient nonqualifying assets within thirty days after the close of that quarter.

In addition, if we fail the 5% value test or the 10% vote or value tests at the close of any quarter and we do not cure such failure within thirty days after the close of that quarter, that failure will nevertheless be excused if (a) the failure is “de minimis” and (b) within six months after the last day of the quarter in which we identify the failure, we either dispose of the assets causing the failure or otherwise satisfy the 5% value and 10% vote and value asset tests.  For purposes of this relief provision, the failure will be de minimis if the value of the assets causing the failure does not exceed the lesser of (a) 1% of the total value of our assets at the end of the relevant quarter or (b) $10,000,000.  If our failure is not de minimis, or if any of the other REIT asset tests have been violated, we may nevertheless qualify for taxation as a REIT if (a) we provide the IRS with a description of each asset causing the failure, (b) the failure was due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect, (c) we pay a tax equal to the greater of (1) $50,000 or (2) the highest rate of corporate tax imposed,  currently 35%, on the net income generated by the assets causing the failure during the period of the failure, and (d) within six months after the last day of the quarter in which we identify the failure, we either dispose of the assets causing the failure or otherwise satisfy all of the REIT asset tests.  These relief provisions apply to any failure of the applicable asset tests, even if the failure first occurred in a year prior to the taxable year in which the failure was discovered.

The IRC also provides an excepted securities safe harbor to the 10% value test that includes among other items (a) “straight debt” securities, (b) certain rental agreements in which payment is to be made in subsequent years, (c) any obligation to pay “rents from real property,” (d) securities issued by governmental entities that are not dependent in whole or in part on the profits of or payments from a nongovernmental entity, and (e) any security issued by another REIT.    We have maintained and will continue to maintain records of the value of our assets to document our compliance with the above asset tests, and intend to take actions as may be required to cure any failure to satisfy the tests within thirty days after the close of any quarter or within the six month periods described above.

Based on the discussion above, we believe that we have satisfied, and will continue to satisfy,  the above REIT asset tests on a continuing basis beginning with our first taxable year as a REIT.

Annual Distribution Requirements.  In order to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, we are required to make annual distributions other than capital gain dividends to our shareholders in an amount at least equal to the excess of:

(1)the sum of 90% of our “real estate investment trust taxable income” and 90% of our net income after tax, if any, from property received in foreclosure, over

(2)the amount by which our non-cash income  (e.g., imputed rental income or income from transactions inadvertently failing to qualify as like-kind exchanges) exceeds 5% of our “real estate investment trust taxable income.”

For these purposes, our “real estate investment trust taxable income” is as defined under Section 857 of the IRC and is computed without regard to the dividends paid deduction and our net capital gain and will generally be reduced by specified corporate-level taxes that we pay (e.g., taxes on built-in gains or taxes on foreclosure property income).

For our 2014 and prior taxable years, a distribution of ours that was not pro rata within a class of our beneficial interests entitled to a distribution, or which was not consistent with the rights to distributions among our classes of beneficial interests, would have been a preferential distribution that would not have been taken into consideration for purposes of the distribution requirements, and accordingly the payment of a preferential distribution would have affected our ability to meet the distribution requirements.  Taking into account our distribution policies, including any dividend reinvestment plan we adopted, we do not believe that we made any preferential distributions in 2014 or prior taxable years.  Because we are a “publicly offered REIT” (as defined in Section 562(c)(2) of the IRC) that is required to file annual and periodic reports with the SEC, under the Exchange Act, the preferential distribution rule does not apply to us beginning with our 2015 taxable year.

Distributions must be paid in the taxable year to which they relate, or in the following taxable year if declared before we timely file our federal income tax return for the earlier taxable year and if paid on or before the first regular distribution payment after that declaration.  If a dividend is declared in October, November or December to shareholders of record during one of those months, and is paid during the following January, then for federal income tax purposes the dividend will be treated as having been both paid and received on December 31 of the prior taxable year.  The 90% 

distribution requirements may be waived by the IRS if a REIT establishes that it failed to meet them by reason of distributions previously made to meet the requirements of the 4% excise tax discussed below.  To the extent that we do not distribute all of our net capital gain and all of our “real estate investment trust taxable income,” as adjusted, we will be subject to federal income tax at regular corporate rates on undistributed amounts.

In addition, we will be subject to a 4% nondeductible excise tax to the extent we fail within a calendar year to make required distributions to our shareholders of 85% of our ordinary income and 95% of our capital gain net income plus the excess, if any, of the “grossed up required distribution” for the preceding calendar year over the amount treated as distributed for that preceding calendar year.  For this purpose, the term “grossed up required distribution” for any calendar year is the sum of our taxable income for the calendar year without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and all amounts from earlier years that are not treated as having been distributed under the provision.  We will be treated as having sufficient earnings and profits to treat as a dividend any distribution by us up to the amount required to be distributed in order to avoid imposition of the 4% excise tax.

If we do not have enough cash or other liquid assets to meet the 90% distribution requirements, or if we so choose, we may find it necessary or desirable to arrange for new debt or equity financing to provide funds for required distributions in order to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT.  We can provide no assurance that financing would be available for these purposes on favorable terms, if at all.

We may be able to rectify a failure to pay sufficient dividends for any year by paying “deficiency dividends” to shareholders in a later year.  These deficiency dividends may be included in our deduction for dividends paid for the earlier year, but an interest charge would be imposed upon us for the delay in distribution.

In addition to the other distribution requirements above, to preserve our qualification for taxation as a REIT we are required to timely distribute all C corporation earnings and profits that we inherit from acquired corporations.

Acquisitions of C Corporations

We may in the future engage in transactions where we acquire all of the outstanding stock of a C corporation.  Upon these acquisitions, except to the extent we make an applicable taxable REIT subsidiary election, each of the acquired entities and their various corporate and noncorporate subsidiaries generally will become either our qualified REIT subsidiaries under Section 856(i) of the IRC or disregarded entities under Treasury regulations issued under Section 7701 of the IRC.  Thus, after the acquisition, all assets, liabilities and items of income, deduction and credit of the acquired and then disregarded entities will be treated as ours for purposes of the various REIT qualification tests described above.  In addition, we generally will be treated as the successor to the acquired and then disregarded entities’ (a) federal income tax attributes, such as those entities’ adjusted tax bases in their assets and their depreciation schedules; and (b) earnings and profits for federal income tax purposes, if any. The carryover of these attributes creates REIT implications such as built-in gains tax exposure and additional distribution requirements, as described below.    However, where we make an election under Section 338(g) of the IRC with respect to corporations that we acquire, we generally will not be subject to such attribute carryovers.

Built-in Gains from C Corporations.  As described above, notwithstanding our qualification and taxation as a REIT, we may be subject to corporate taxation if we dispose of assets previously held by a  C corporation.  Specifically, if we acquire an asset from a corporation in a transaction in which our adjusted tax basis in the asset is determined by reference to the adjusted tax basis of that asset in the hands of a C corporation, and if we subsequently recognize gain on the disposition of that asset during a five-year period beginning on the date on which the asset ceased to be owned by the C corporation, then we will generally pay tax at the highest regular corporate tax rate, currently 35%, on the lesser of (a) the excess, if any, of the asset’s fair market value over its adjusted tax basis, each determined as of the time the asset ceased to be owned by the C corporation or (b) our gain recognized in the disposition.  Accordingly, any taxable disposition of an asset so acquired during such five-year period could be subject to this built-in gains tax.  To the extent of our gains in a taxable year that are subject to the built-in gains tax, net of any taxes paid on such gains with respect to that taxable year, our taxable dividends paid to you in the following year will be potentially eligible for treatment as qualified dividends that are taxed to our noncorporate U.S. shareholders at preferential rates.  However, we do not expect to sell any assets if that sale would result in the imposition of a material tax liability.  We cannot, however, provide

assurance that we will not change our plans in this regard.

Earnings and Profits.  Following a corporate acquisition, we must generally distribute no later than the end of the applicable tax year all of the C corporation earnings and profits inherited in that transaction, if any, to preserve our qualification for taxation as a REIT.  If we fail to do so, we would not qualify for taxation as a REIT for that year and a number of years thereafter, unless we are able to rely on the relief provision described below.  Although Sullivan & Worcester LLP is unable to render an opinion on factual determinations such as the amount of our undistributed earnings and profits, we will compute, with the assistance of accountants as needed, the amount of undistributed earnings and profits that we inherit in our corporate acquisitions.    However, there can be no assurance, if audited, that the IRS would not, upon subsequent examination, propose adjustments to our calculation of the undistributed earnings and profits that we inherit, including adjustments that might be deemed necessary by the IRS as a result of its examination of the companies we acquired.  In any such examination, the IRS might consider all taxable years of the acquired entities as open for review for purposes of its proposed adjustments.  If it is subsequently determined that we had undistributed earnings and profits as of the end of the applicable tax year, we may be eligible for a relief provision similar to the “deficiency dividends” procedure described above.  To utilize this relief provision, we would have to pay an interest charge for the delay in distributing the undistributed earnings and profits; in addition, we would be required to distribute to our shareholders, in addition to our other REIT distribution requirements, the amount of the undistributed earnings and profits less the interest charge paid.

Acquisition of CCIT 

On January 29, 2015, we acquired CCIT (an entity that itself had qualified for taxation as a REIT prior to such acquisition) in a transaction that was intended to qualify as a “reorganization” within the meaning of Section 368(a) of the IRC, and both our counsel Sullivan & Worcester LLP and counsel to CCIT so opined.  As a result, we are generally liable for unpaid taxes, including penalties and interest (if any), of CCIT.  In addition, if CCIT is deemed to have lost its qualification for taxation as a  REIT prior to the date that we acquired it and no relief is available, we would face the following tax consequences:

Finally, if there is an adjustment to CCIT’s “real estate investment trust taxable income” or dividends paid deductions, we could elect to use the deficiency dividend procedure described above to preserve our predecessor CCIT’s qualification for taxation as a REIT.  That deficiency dividend procedure could require us to make significant distributions to our shareholders and to pay significant interest to the IRS.

Depreciation and Federal Income Tax Treatment of Leases

Our initial tax bases in our assets will generally be our acquisition cost.  We will generally depreciate our depreciable real property on a straight-line basis over forty years and our personal property over the applicable shorter periods.  These depreciation schedules may vary for properties that we acquire through tax-free or carryover basis acquisitions.

We are entitled to depreciation deductions from our facilities only if we are treated for federal income tax purposes as the owner of the facilities.  This means that the leases of the facilities must be classified for federal income tax purposes as true leases, rather than as sales or financing arrangements, and we believe this to be the case. 

Distributions to our Shareholders

As discussed above, we expect to make distributions to our shareholders from time to time.  These distributions may include cash distributions, in kind distributions of property, and deemed or constructive distributions resulting from capital market activities.  The United States federal income tax treatment of our distributions will vary based on the status of the recipient shareholder as more fully described below under “Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders,” “Taxation of Tax-Exempt U.S. Shareholders,” and “Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders.”

A redemption of our shares for cash only will be treated as a distribution under Section 302 of the IRC, and hence taxable as a dividend to the extent of our available current or accumulated earnings and profits, unless the redemption satisfies one of the tests set forth in Section 302(b) of the IRC enabling the redemption to be treated as a sale or exchange of the shares.  The redemption for cash only will be treated as a sale or exchange if it (a) is “substantially disproportionate” with respect to the surrendering shareholder’s ownership in us, (b) results in a “complete termination” of the surrendering shareholder’s entire share interest in us, or (c) is “not essentially equivalent to a dividend” with respect to the surrendering shareholder, all within the meaning of Section 302(b) of the IRC.  In determining whether any of these tests have been met, a shareholder must generally take into account shares considered to be owned by such shareholder by reason of constructive ownership rules set forth in the IRC, as well as shares actually owned by such shareholder.  In addition, if a redemption is treated as a distribution under the preceding tests, then a shareholder’s tax basis in the redeemed shares generally will be transferred to the shareholder’s remaining shares in us, if any, and if such shareholder owns no other shares in us, such basis generally may be transferred to a related person or may be lost entirely.  Because the determination as to whether a shareholder will satisfy any of the tests of Section 302(b) of the IRC depends upon the facts and circumstances at the time that our shares are redeemed, we urge you to consult your own tax advisor to determine your particular tax treatment of any redemption.

Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders

For noncorporate U.S. shareholders, to the extent that their total adjusted income does not exceed applicable thresholds, the maximum federal income tax rate for long-term capital gains and most corporate dividends is generally 15%.  For those noncorporate U.S. shareholders whose total adjusted income exceeds the applicable thresholds, the maximum federal income tax rate for long-term capital gains and most corporate dividends is generally 20%.  However, because we are not generally subject to federal income tax on the portion of our “real estate investment trust taxable income” distributed to our shareholders, dividends on our shares generally are not eligible for such preferential tax rates, except that any distribution of C corporation earnings and profits and taxed built-in gain items will potentially be eligible for these preferential tax rates.  As a result, our ordinary dividends are generally taxed at the higher federal income tax rates applicable to ordinary income.  To summarize, the preferential federal income tax rates for long-term capital gains and for qualified dividends generally apply to:

(1)long-term capital gains, if any, recognized on the disposition of our shares;

(2)our distributions designated as long-term capital gain dividends (except to the extent attributable to real estate depreciation recapture, in which case the distributions are subject to a maximum 25% federal income tax rate);

(3)our dividends attributable to dividend income, if any, received by us from C corporations such as taxable REIT subsidiaries;

(4)our dividends attributable to earnings and profits that we inherit from C corporations; and

(5)our dividends to the extent attributable to income upon which we have paid federal corporate income tax (such as sale gains subject to the 35% built-in gains tax), net of the corporate taxes thereon.

As long as we qualify for taxation as a REIT, a distribution to our U.S. shareholders that we do not designate as a capital gain dividend generally will be treated as an ordinary income dividend to the extent of our available current or accumulated earnings and profits.  Distributions made out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits that we

properly designate as capital gain dividends generally will be taxed as long-term capital gains, as discussed below, to the extent they do not exceed our actual net capital gain for the taxable year.  However, corporate shareholders may be required to treat up to 20% of any capital gain dividend as ordinary income under Section 291 of the IRC.

In addition, we may elect to retain net capital gain income and treat it as constructively distributed.  In that case:

(1)we will be taxed at regular corporate capital gains tax rates on retained amounts;

(2)each U.S. shareholder will be taxed on its designated proportionate share of our retained net capital gains as though that amount were distributed and designated a capital gain dividend;

(3)each U.S. shareholder will receive a credit or refund for its designated proportionate share of the tax that we pay;

(4)each U.S. shareholder will increase its adjusted basis in our shares by the excess of the amount of its proportionate share of these retained net capital gains over the U.S. shareholder’s proportionate share of the tax that we pay; and

(5)both we and our corporate shareholders will make commensurate adjustments in our respective earnings and profits for federal income tax purposes.

If we elect to retain our net capital gains in this fashion, we will notify our U.S. shareholders of the relevant tax information within sixty days after the close of the affected taxable year.

If for any taxable year we designate capital gain dividends for our shareholders, then a portion of the capital gain dividends we designate will be allocated to the holders of a particular class of shares on a percentage basis equal to the ratio of the amount of the total dividends paid or made available for the year to the holders of that class of shares to the total dividends paid or made available for the year to holders of all outstanding classes of our shares.  We will similarly designate the portion of any capital gain dividend that is to be taxed to noncorporate U.S. shareholders at preferential maximum rates (including any capital gains attributable to real estate depreciation recapture that are subject to a maximum 25% federal income tax rate) so that the designations will be proportionate among all outstanding classes of our shares.

Distributions in excess of current or accumulated earnings and profits will not be taxable to a U.S. shareholder to the extent that they do not exceed the shareholder’s adjusted tax basis in the shareholder’s shares, but will reduce the shareholder’s basis in those shares.  To the extent that these excess distributions exceed a U.S. shareholder’s adjusted basis in our shares, they will be included in income as capital gain, with long-term gain generally taxed to noncorporate U.S. shareholders at preferential maximum rates.  No U.S. shareholder may include on its federal income tax return any of our net operating losses or any of our capital losses.

If a dividend is declared in October, November or December to shareholders of record during one of those months, and is paid during the following January, then for federal income tax purposes the dividend will be treated as having been both paid and received on December 31 of the prior taxable year.  Also, items that are treated differently for regular and alternative minimum tax purposes are to be allocated between a REIT and its shareholders under Treasury regulations which are to be prescribed.  It is possible that these Treasury regulations will permit or require tax preference items to be allocated to our shareholders with respect to any accelerated depreciation or other tax preference items that we claim. Also, until such time as regulations are issued, we may choose to allocate applicable tax preference items to our shareholders.

A U.S. shareholder will generally recognize gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and the shareholder’s adjusted basis in our shares that are sold or exchanged.  This gain or loss will be capital gain or loss, and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the shareholder’s holding period in our shares exceeds one year.  In addition, any loss upon a sale or exchange of our shares held for six months or less will generally be treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any long-term capital gain dividends we paid on such shares during the holding period.

U.S. shareholders who are individuals, estates or trusts are generally required to pay a 3.8% Medicare tax on

their net investment income (including dividends on and gains from the sale or other disposition of our shares), or in the case of estates and trusts on their net investment income that is not distributed, in each case to the extent that their total adjusted income exceeds applicable thresholds.

If a U.S. shareholder recognizes a loss upon a disposition of our shares in an amount that exceeds a prescribed threshold, it is possible that the provisions of Treasury regulations involving “reportable transactions” could apply, with a resulting requirement to separately disclose the loss-generating transaction to the IRS.  These Treasury regulations are written quite broadly, and apply to many routine and simple transactions.  A reportable transaction currently includes, among other things, a sale or exchange of our shares resulting in a tax loss in excess of (a) $10 million in any single year or $20 million in a prescribed combination of succeeding tax years in the case of our shares held by a C corporation or by a partnership with only C corporation partners or (b) $2 million in any single year or $4 million in a prescribed combination of succeeding tax years in the case of our shares held by any other partnership or an S corporation, trust or individual, including losses that flow through pass through entities to individuals.  A taxpayer discloses a reportable transaction by filing IRS Form 8886 with its federal income tax return and, in the first year of filing, a copy of Form 8886 must be sent to the IRS’s Office of Tax Shelter Analysis.  The annual maximum penalty for failing to disclose a reportable transaction is generally $10,000 in the case of a natural person and $50,000 in any other case.

Noncorporate U.S. shareholders who borrow funds to finance their acquisition of our shares could be limited in the amount of deductions allowed for the interest paid on the indebtedness incurred.  Under Section 163(d) of the IRC, interest paid or accrued on indebtedness incurred or continued to purchase or carry property held for investment is generally deductible only to the extent of the investor’s net investment income.  A U.S. shareholder’s net investment income will include ordinary income dividend distributions received from us and, if an appropriate election is made by the shareholder, capital gain dividend distributions and qualified dividends received from us; however, distributions treated as a nontaxable return of the shareholder’s basis will not enter into the computation of net investment income.

Taxation of Tax-Exempt U.S. Shareholders

The rules governing the federal income taxation of tax-exempt entities are complex, and the following discussion is intended only as a summary of these rules.  If you are a tax-exempt shareholder, we urge you to consult with your own tax advisor to determine the impact of federal, state, local and foreign tax laws, including any tax return filing and other reporting requirements, with respect to your investment in our shares.

Subject to the pension-held REIT rules discussed below, our distributions made to shareholders that are tax-exempt pension plans, individual retirement accounts or other qualifying tax-exempt entities should not constitute UBTI, provided that the shareholder has not financed its acquisition of our shares with “acquisition indebtedness” within the meaning of the IRC, that the shares are not otherwise used in an unrelated trade or business of the tax-exempt entity, and that, consistent with our present intent, we do not hold a residual interest in a real estate mortgage investment conduit.

Any trusts that are described in Section 401(a) of the IRC and are tax-exempt under Section 501(a) of the IRC, or tax-exempt pension trusts, that own more than 10% by value of a “pension-held REIT” at any time during a taxable year may be required to treat a percentage of all dividends received from the pension-held REIT during the year as UBTI.  This percentage is equal to the ratio of:

(1)the pension-held REIT’s gross income derived from the conduct of unrelated trades or businesses, determined as if the pension-held REIT were a tax-exempt pension trust, less direct expenses related to that income, to

(2)the pension-held REIT’s gross income from all sources, less direct expenses related to that income,

except that this percentage shall be deemed to be zero unless it would otherwise equal or exceed 5%.

A REIT is a pension-held REIT if:

A REIT is predominantly held by tax-exempt pension trusts if at least one tax-exempt pension trust owns more than 25% by value of the interests in such REIT, or if one or more tax-exempt pension trusts, each owning more than 10% by value of the interests in such REIT, own in the aggregate more than 50% by value of the interests in such REIT.  Because of the share ownership concentration restrictions contained in our declaration of trust, we believe that we have not been and will not become a pension-held REIT and accordingly, the tax treatment described above should be inapplicable to our tax-exempt shareholders.  However, because our shares have been and are expected to remain publicly traded, we cannot completely control whether or not we are or will become a pension-held REIT.

Social clubs, voluntary employee benefit associations and supplemental unemployment benefit trusts exempt from federal income taxation under Sections 501(c)(7), (c)(9) and (c)(17) of the IRC, respectively, are subject to different UBTI rules, which generally will require them to characterize distributions from a REIT as UBTI.  In addition, these prospective investors should consult their own tax advisors concerning any “set aside” or reserve requirements applicable to them.

Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders

The rules governing the United States federal income taxation of non-U.S. shareholders are complex, and the following discussion is intended only as a summary of these rules.  If you are a non-U.S. shareholder, we urge you to consult with your own tax advisor to determine the impact of United States federal, state, local and foreign tax laws, including any tax return filing and other reporting requirements, with respect to your investment in our shares.

In general, a non-U.S. shareholder will be subject to regular United States federal income tax in the same manner as a U.S. shareholder with respect to its investment in our shares if that investment is effectively connected with the non-U.S. shareholder’s conduct of a trade or business in the United States (and, if provided by an applicable income tax treaty, is attributable to a permanent establishment or fixed base the non-U.S. shareholder maintains in the United States).  In addition, a corporate non-U.S. shareholder that receives income that is or is deemed effectively connected with a trade or business in the United States may also be subject to the 30% branch profits tax under Section 884 of the IRC, or lower applicable tax treaty rate, which is payable in addition to regular United States federal corporate income tax.  The balance of this discussion of the United States federal income taxation of non-U.S. shareholders addresses only those non-U.S. shareholders whose investment in our shares is not effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business in the United States.

A distribution by us to a non-U.S. shareholder that is not attributable to gain from the sale or exchange of a “United States real property interest” within the meaning of Section 897 of the IRC, or a USRPI, and that is not designated as a capital gain dividend will be treated as an ordinary income dividend to the extent that it is made out of current or accumulated earnings and profits.  A distribution of this type will generally be subject to United States federal income tax and withholding at the rate of 30%, or at a lower rate if the non-U.S. shareholder has in the manner prescribed by the IRS demonstrated to the applicable withholding agent its entitlement to benefits under a tax treaty. In the case of any deemed or constructive distributions or a distribution in kind, the applicable withholding agent will have to collect the amount required to be withheld by reducing to cash for remittance to the IRS a sufficient portion of the property that the non-U.S. shareholder would otherwise receive or own, and the non-U.S. shareholder may bear brokerage or other costs for this withholding procedure.  Because we cannot determine our current and accumulated earnings and profits until the end of the taxable year, withholding at the rate of 30% or applicable lower treaty rate will generally be imposed on the gross amount of any distribution to a non-U.S. shareholder that we make and do not designate as a capital gain dividend.  Notwithstanding this potential withholding on distributions in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits, these distributions are a nontaxable return of capital to the extent that they do not exceed the non-U.S. shareholder’s adjusted basis in our shares, and the nontaxable return of capital will reduce the adjusted basis in these shares.  To the extent that distributions in excess of current and accumulated earnings and profits exceed the non-U.S. shareholder’s adjusted basis in our shares, the distributions will give rise to tax liability if the non-U.S. shareholder would otherwise be subject to tax on any gain from the sale or exchange of these shares, as discussed below.  A non-U.S. shareholder may seek a refund from the IRS of amounts withheld on distributions to it in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits.

From time to time, some of our distributions may be attributable to the sale or exchange of USRPIs.  However, capital gain dividends that are received by a non-U.S. shareholder, as well as dividends attributable to our sales of USRPIs, will be subject to the taxation and withholding regime applicable to ordinary income dividends and the branch profits tax will not apply, provided that (a) these dividends are received with respect to a class of shares that is “regularly traded” on a domestic “established securities market” such as the New York Stock Exchange, or the NYSE, both terms as defined by applicable Treasury regulations, and (b) the non-U.S. shareholder does not own more than 10% (5% for dividends before December 18, 2015) of that class of shares at any time during the one-year period ending on the date of distribution of the applicable capital gain and USRPI dividends.  If both of these provisions are satisfied, qualifying non-U.S. shareholders will not be subject to withholding either on capital gain dividends or on dividends that are attributable to our sales of USRPIs as though those amounts were effectively connected with a United States trade or business, and qualifying non-U.S. shareholders will not be required to file United States federal income tax returns or pay branch profits tax in respect of these dividends.  Instead, these dividends will be subject to United States federal income tax and withholding as ordinary dividends, currently at a 30% tax rate unless, as discussed below, reduced by an applicable treaty.  Although there can be no assurance in this regard, we believe that our common shares have been and will remain “regularly traded” on a domestic “established securities market” within the meaning of applicable Treasury regulations; however, we can provide no assurance that our shares will continue to be “regularly traded” on a domestic “established securities market” in future taxable years.

Except as discussed above, for any year in which we qualify for taxation as a REIT, distributions that are attributable to gain from the sale or exchange of a USRPI are taxed to a non-U.S. shareholder as if these distributions were gains effectively connected with a trade or business in the United States conducted by the non-U.S. shareholder.  Accordingly, a non-U.S. shareholder that does not qualify for the special rule above (a) will be taxed on these amounts at the normal capital gain and other tax rates applicable to a U.S. shareholder, subject to any applicable alternative minimum tax and to a special alternative minimum tax in the case of nonresident alien individuals, (b) will be required to file a United States federal income tax return reporting these amounts, even if applicable withholding is imposed as described below, and (c) if such non-U.S. shareholder is also a corporation, it may owe the 30% branch profits tax under Section 884 of the IRC, or lower applicable tax treaty rate, in respect of these amounts.  The applicable withholding agent will be required to withhold from distributions to such non-U.S. shareholders, and remit to the IRS, 35% of the maximum amount of any distribution that could be designated as a capital gain dividend.  In addition, for purposes of this withholding rule, if we designate prior distributions as capital gain dividends, then subsequent distributions up to the amount of the designated prior distributions will be treated as capital gain dividends.  The amount of any tax withheld is creditable against the non-U.S. shareholder’s United States federal income tax liability, and the non-U.S. shareholder may file for a refund from the IRS of any amount of withheld tax in excess of that tax liability.

A special “wash sale” rule may apply to a non-U.S. shareholder who owns any class of our shares if (a) the non-U.S. shareholder owns more than 5% of that class of shares at any time during the one-year period ending on the date of the distribution described below, or (b) that class of our shares is not, within the meaning of applicable Treasury regulations, “regularly traded” on a domestic “established securities market” such as the NYSE.  Although there can be no assurance in this regard, we believe that our common shares have been and will remain “regularly traded” on a domestic “established securities market” within the meaning of applicable Treasury regulations, all as discussed above; however, we can provide no assurance that our shares will continue to be “regularly traded” on a domestic “established securities market” in future taxable years.  We anticipate this wash sale rule will apply, if at all, only (a) to a non-U.S. shareholder that owns more than 10% (5% for dispositions before December 18, 2015) of either our common shares or any class of our preferred shares or (b) if the particular class of our shares were to be no longer “regularly traded.”    Such a non-U.S. shareholder will be treated as having made a “wash sale” of our shares if it (a) disposes of an interest in our shares during the thirty days preceding the ex-dividend date of a distribution by us that, but for such disposition, would have been treated by the non-U.S. shareholder in whole or in part as gain from the sale or exchange of a USRPI, and then (b) acquires or enters into a contract to acquire a substantially identical interest in our shares, either actually or constructively through a related party, during the sixty-one day period beginning thirty days prior to the ex-dividend date.  In the event of such a wash sale, the non-U.S. shareholder will have gain from the sale or exchange of a USRPI in an amount equal to the portion of the distribution that, but for the wash sale, would have been a gain from the sale or exchange of a USRPI.  As discussed above, a non-U.S. shareholder’s gain from the sale or exchange of a USRPI can trigger increased United States taxes, such as the branch profits tax applicable to non-U.S. corporations, and increased United States tax filing requirements.

If for any taxable year we designate capital gain dividends for our shareholders, then a portion of the capital gain dividends we designate will be allocated to the holders of a particular class of shares on a percentage basis equal to the ratio of the amount of the total dividends paid or made available for the year to the holders of that class of shares to the total dividends paid or made available for the year to holders of all outstanding classes of our shares.

Tax treaties may reduce the withholding obligations on our distributions.  Under some treaties, however, rates below 30% that are applicable to ordinary income dividends from United States corporations may not apply to ordinary income dividends from a REIT or may apply only if the REIT meets specified additional conditions.  A non-U.S. shareholder must generally use an applicable IRS Form W-8, or substantially similar form, to claim tax treaty benefits.  If the amount of tax withheld with respect to a distribution to a non-U.S. shareholder exceeds the shareholder’s United States federal income tax liability with respect to the distribution, the non-U.S. shareholder may file for a refund of the excess from the IRS.  The 35% withholding tax rate discussed above on some capital gain dividends corresponds to the maximum income tax rate applicable to corporate non-U.S. shareholders but is higher than the current preferential maximum rates on capital gains generally applicable to noncorporate non-U.S. shareholders.  Treasury regulations also provide special rules to determine whether, for purposes of determining the applicability of a tax treaty, our distributions to a non-U.S. shareholder that is an entity should be treated as paid to the entity or to those owning an interest in that entity, and whether the entity or its owners are entitled to benefits under the tax treaty.  In the case of any deemed or constructive distribution or a distribution in kind,  the applicable withholding agent may collect the amount required to be withheld by reducing to cash for remittance to the IRS a sufficient portion of the property that the non-U.S. shareholder would otherwise receive or own if the cash portion of any such distribution is not sufficient to cover the withholding liability, and the non-U.S. shareholder may bear brokerage or other costs for this withholding procedure.

Non-U.S. shareholders should generally be able to treat amounts we designate as retained but constructively distributed capital gains in the same manner as actual distributions of capital gain dividends by us.  In addition, a non-U.S. shareholder should be able to offset as a credit against its federal income tax liability the proportionate share of the tax paid by us on such retained but constructively distributed capital gains.  A non-U.S. shareholder may file for a refund from the IRS for the amount that the non-U.S. shareholder’s proportionate share of tax paid by us exceeds its federal income tax liability on the constructively distributed capital gains.

If our shares are not USRPIs, then a non-U.S. shareholder’s gain on the sale of these shares generally will not be subject to United States federal income taxation, except that a nonresident alien individual who was in the United States for 183 days or more during the taxable year may be subject to a 30% tax on this gain.  Our shares will not constitute a USRPI if we are a “domestically controlled REIT.”  A domestically controlled REIT is a REIT in which at all times during the preceding five-year period less than 50% of the fair market value of the outstanding shares was directly or indirectly held by foreign persons.  From and after December 18, 2015, a person who at all relevant times holds less than 5% of a REIT’s shares that are regularly traded on an established securities market in the United States is deemed to be a U.S. person in making the determination of whether a REIT is domestically controlled, unless the REIT has actual knowledge that the person is not a U.S. person.  Other presumptions apply in making the determination with respect to other classes of REIT shareholders.  As a result of applicable presumptions, we expect to be able to demonstrate from and after December 18, 2015 that we are less than 50% foreign owned.  For periods prior to December 18, 2015, we believe that we were less than 50% foreign owned, but that may not be possible to demonstrate.  Accordingly, we can provide no assurance that we have been or will remain a domestically controlled REIT, particularly if that determination includes the period before December 18, 2015, when the presumptions described above did not apply.  Even if we are not a domestically controlled REIT, a non-U.S. shareholder’s gain on the sale of our shares will not be subject to United States federal income taxation as a sale of a USRPI, if that class of shares is “regularly traded,” as defined by applicable Treasury regulations, on an established securities market such as the NYSE, and the non-U.S. shareholder has at all times during the preceding five years owned 10% (5% for dispositions before December 18, 2015) or less by value of that class of shares.  In this regard, because the shares held by others may be redeemed, a non-U.S. shareholder’s percentage interest in a class of our shares may increase even if it acquires no additional shares in that class.  If a  gain on the sale of our shares is subject to United States federal income taxation under these rules, the non-U.S. shareholder will generally be subject to the same treatment as a U.S. shareholder with respect to its gain (subject to any applicable alternative minimum tax and a special alternative minimum tax in the case of nonresident alien individuals) and will be required to file a United States federal income tax return reporting that gain.  A purchaser of our shares from a non-U.S. shareholder will not be required to withhold on the purchase price if the purchased shares are regularly traded on an established securities market or if we are a domestically controlled

REIT.  Otherwise, a purchaser of our shares from a non-U.S. shareholder may be required to withhold 15% (10% for dispositions on or before February 16, 2016) of the purchase price paid to the non-U.S. shareholder and to remit the withheld amount to the IRS.

Information Reporting, Backup Withholding, and Foreign Account Withholding

Information reporting, backup withholding, and foreign account withholding may apply to distributions or proceeds paid to our shareholders under the circumstances discussed below.  If a shareholder is subject to backup or other United States federal income tax withholding, then the applicable withholding agent will be required to withhold the appropriate amount with respect to a deemed or constructive distribution or a distribution in kind even though there is insufficient cash from which to satisfy the withholding obligation.  To satisfy this withholding obligation, the applicable withholding agent may collect the amount of United States federal income tax required to be withheld by reducing to cash for remittance to the IRS a sufficient portion of the property that the shareholder would otherwise receive or own, and the shareholder may bear brokerage or other costs for this withholding procedure.

The backup withholding rate is currently 28%.  Amounts withheld under backup withholding are generally not an additional tax and may be refunded by the IRS or credited against the shareholder’s federal income tax liability.  A U.S. shareholder may be subject to backup withholding when it receives distributions on our shares or proceeds upon the sale, exchange, redemption, retirement or other disposition of our shares, unless the U.S. shareholder properly executes, or has previously properly executed, under penalties of perjury an IRS Form W-9 or substantially similar form that:

If the U.S. shareholder has not provided and does not provide its correct taxpayer identification number on an IRS Form W-9 or substantially similar form, it may be subject to penalties imposed by the IRS, and the applicable withholding agent may have to withhold a portion of any distributions or proceeds paid to such U.S. shareholder.  Unless the U.S. shareholder has established on a properly executed IRS Form W-9 or substantially similar form that it comes within an enumerated exempt category, distributions or proceeds on our shares paid to it during the calendar year, and the amount of tax withheld, if any, will be reported to it and to the IRS.

Distributions on our shares to a non-U.S. shareholder during each calendar year and the amount of tax withheld, if any, will generally be reported to the non-U.S. shareholder and to the IRS.  This information reporting requirement applies regardless of whether the non-U.S. shareholder is subject to withholding on distributions on our shares or whether the withholding was reduced or eliminated by an applicable tax treaty.  Also, distributions paid to a non-U.S. shareholder on our shares will generally be subject to backup withholding, unless the non-U.S. shareholder properly certifies to the applicable withholding agent its non-U.S. shareholder status on an applicable IRS Form W-8 or substantially similar form.  Information reporting and backup withholding will not apply to proceeds a non-U.S. shareholder receives upon the sale, exchange, redemption, retirement or other disposition of our shares, if the non-U.S. shareholder properly certifies its non-U.S. shareholder status on an applicable IRS Form W-8 or substantially similar form.  Even without having executed an applicable IRS Form W-8 or substantially similar form, however, in some cases information reporting and backup withholding will not apply to proceeds that a non-U.S. shareholder receives upon the sale, exchange, redemption, retirement or other disposition of our shares if the non-U.S. shareholder receives those proceeds through a broker’s foreign office.

Non-United States financial institutions and other non-United States entities are subject to diligence and reporting requirements for purposes of identifying accounts and investments held directly or indirectly by United States persons.  The failure to comply with these additional information reporting, certification and other requirements could result in a 30% withholding tax on applicable payments to non-United States persons.  In particular, a payee that is a foreign financial institution that is subject to the diligence and reporting requirements described above must enter into an agreement with the United States Department of the Treasury requiring, among other things, that it undertake to identify accounts held by “specified United States persons” or “United States owned foreign entities” (each as defined in the

IRC), annually report information about such accounts, and withhold 30% on applicable payments to noncompliant foreign financial institutions and account holders.  Foreign financial institutions located in jurisdictions that have an intergovernmental agreement with the United States with respect to these requirements may be subject to different rules.  The foregoing withholding regime generally applies to payments of dividends on our shares, and is expected to generally apply to other “withholdable payments” (including payments of gross proceeds from a sale or other disposition of our shares) made after December 31, 2018.  In general, to avoid withholding, any non-United States intermediary through which a shareholder owns our shares must establish its compliance with the foregoing regime, and a non-U.S. shareholder must provide certain documentation (usually an applicable IRS Form W-8) containing information about its identity, its status, and if required, its direct and indirect U.S. owners.  Non-U.S. shareholders and shareholders who hold our shares through a non-United States intermediary are encouraged to consult with their own tax advisor regarding foreign account tax compliance.

Other Tax Considerations

Our tax treatment and that of our shareholders may be modified by legislative, judicial or administrative actions at any time, which actions may be retroactive in effect.  The rules dealing with federal income taxation are constantly under review by the United States Congress, the IRS and the United States Department of the Treasury, and statutory changes, new regulations, revisions to existing regulations and revised interpretations of established concepts are issued frequently.  Likewise, the rules regarding taxes other than United States federal income taxes may also be modified.  No prediction can be made as to the likelihood of passage of new tax legislation or other provisions, or the direct or indirect effect on us and our shareholders.  Revisions to tax laws and interpretations of these laws could adversely affect our ability to qualify and be taxed as a REIT, as well as the tax or other consequences of an investment in our shares.  We and our shareholders may also be subject to taxation by state, local or other jurisdictions, including those in which we or our shareholders transact business or reside.  These tax consequences may not be comparable to the United States federal income tax consequences discussed above. 

ERISA PLANS, KEOGH PLANS AND INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS

General Fiduciary Obligations

Fiduciaries of a pension, profit-sharing or other employee benefit plan subject to Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, or ERISA, must consider whether:

Trustees and other fiduciaries of an ERISA plan may incur personal liability for any loss suffered by the plan on account of a violation of their fiduciary responsibilities.  In addition, these fiduciaries may be subject to a civil penalty of up to 20% of any amount recovered by the plan on account of a violation.  Fiduciaries of any individual retirement account or annuity, or IRA, Roth IRA, tax-favored account (such as an Archer MSA, Coverdell education savings account or health savings account), Keogh Plan or other qualified retirement plan not subject to Title I of ERISA, or non-ERISA plans, should consider that the plan may only make investments that are authorized by the appropriate governing instrument.

Fiduciaries considering an investment in our securities should consult their own legal advisors if they have any concern as to whether the investment is consistent with the foregoing criteria or is otherwise appropriate.  The sale of our securities to an ERISA or non-ERISA plan is in no respect a representation by us or any underwriter of the securities that the investment meets all relevant legal requirements with respect to investments by plans generally or any particular plan, or that the investment is appropriate for plans generally or any particular plan.

Prohibited Transactions

Fiduciaries of ERISA plans and persons making the investment decision for an IRA or other non-ERISA plan should consider the application of the prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA and the IRC in making their investment decision.  Sales and other transactions between an ERISA or non-ERISA plan, and persons related to it, are prohibited transactions.  The particular facts concerning the sponsorship, operations and other investments of an ERISA plan or non-ERISA plan may cause a wide range of other persons to be treated as disqualified persons or parties in interest with respect to it.  A prohibited transaction, in addition to imposing potential personal liability upon fiduciaries of ERISA plans, may also result in the imposition of an excise tax under the IRC or a penalty under ERISA upon the disqualified person or party in interest with respect to the plan.  If the disqualified person who engages in the transaction is the individual on behalf of whom an IRA or Roth IRA is maintained or his beneficiary, the IRA or Roth IRA may lose its tax-exempt status and its assets may be deemed to have been distributed to the individual in a taxable distribution on account of the prohibited transaction, but no excise tax will be imposed.  Fiduciaries considering an investment in our securities should consult their own legal advisors as to whether the ownership of our securities involves a prohibited transaction.

“Plan Assets” Considerations

The United States Department of Labor has issued a regulation defining “plan assets.”  The regulation generally provides that when an ERISA or non-ERISA plan acquires a security that is an equity interest in an entity and that security is neither a “publicly offered security” nor a security issued by an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, the ERISA plan’s or non-ERISA plan’s assets include both the equity interest and an undivided interest in each of the underlying assets of the entity, unless it is established either that the entity is an operating company or that equity participation in the entity by benefit plan investors is not significant.

Each class of our shares (that is, our common shares and any class of preferred shares that we may issue) must be

analyzed separately to ascertain whether it is a publicly offered security.  The regulation defines a publicly offered security as a security that is “widely held,” “freely transferable” and either part of a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act, or sold under an effective registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, provided the securities are registered under the Exchange Act within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year of the issuer during which the offering occurred.  Each class of our outstanding shares has been registered under the Exchange Act within the necessary time frame to satisfy the foregoing condition.

The regulation provides that a security is “widely held” only if it is part of a class of securities that is owned by 100 or more investors independent of the issuer and of one another.  However, a security will not fail to be “widely held” because the number of independent investors falls below 100 subsequent to the initial public offering as a result of events beyond the issuer’s control.  We believe our common shares have been and will remain widely held, and we expect the same to be true of any class of preferred shares that we may issue, but we can give no assurances in this regard.

The regulation provides that whether a security is “freely transferable” is a factual question to be determined on the basis of all relevant facts and circumstances.  The regulation further provides that, where a security is part of an offering in which the minimum investment is $10,000 or less, some restrictions on transfer ordinarily will not, alone or in combination, affect a finding that these securities are freely transferable.  The restrictions on transfer enumerated in the regulation as not affecting that finding include:

We believe that the restrictions imposed under our declaration of trust on the transfer of shares do not result in the failure of our shares to be “freely transferable.”  Furthermore, we believe that there exist no other facts or circumstances limiting the transferability of our shares that are not included among those enumerated as not affecting their free transferability under the regulation, and we do not expect or intend to impose in the future, or to permit any person to impose on our behalf, any limitations or restrictions on transfer that would not be among the enumerated permissible limitations or restrictions.

Assuming that each class of our shares will be “widely held” and that no other facts and circumstances exist that restrict transferability of these shares, our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, is of the opinion that our shares will not fail to be “freely transferable” for purposes of the regulation due to the restrictions on transfer of our shares under our declaration of trust and that under the regulation each class of our currently outstanding shares is publicly offered and our assets will not be deemed to be “plan assets” of any ERISA plan or non-ERISA plan that acquires our shares in a public offering.  This opinion is conditioned upon certain assumptions and representations, as discussed above in “United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—Taxation as a REIT.”

Item 1A.  Risk Factors

Our business is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. The risks described below may not be the only risks we face but are risks we believe material at this time. Additional risks that we do not yet know of, or that we currently think are immaterial, may also impair our business operations or financial results. If any of the events or circumstances described below occurs, our business, financial condition or results of operations and the trading price of our securities could decline. Investors and prospective investors should consider the following risks and the information contained under the heading “Warning Concerning Forward Looking Statements” before deciding whether to invest in our securities.

Risks Related to Our Business

The U.S. economy’s recovery to date from its most recent recession has been slow, unsteady and incomplete.

The U.S. economy’s recovery to date from its most recent recession has been slow, unsteady and incomplete, which has created volatile market conditions. While the markets had been showing signs of stabilization and growth, new challenges have arisen, including uncertain U.S. Federal Reserve policy regarding the timing and amount of future increases in interest rates and the risk that declining overseas markets may hinder the growth of the U.S. economy. It remains unclear whether the U.S. economy will be able to withstand these market challenges and global uncertainty and achieve meaningful and sustained growth. Economic weakness in the U.S. economy generally or a new recession would likely adversely affect our financial condition and that of our tenants, and could impact the ability or willingness of our tenants to renew our leases or pay rent to us.

When we reset rents, renew leases or lease to new tenants, our rents may decline and our expenses may increase.

When we reset rents, renew leases or lease to new tenants we may receive less rent than we currently receive. A majority of our Hawaii land leases require the rent to periodically be reset based on fair market values, which could result in rental increases or decreases. Our ability to increase rents when rent resets occur will depend upon then prevailing market conditions that are beyond our control. Further, our leases in Hawaii typically provide for appraisal proceedings to determine fair market value if we cannot reach agreement with our tenants on the rent reset amount. Accordingly, we cannot assure that the historical increases which we or EQC achieved in rent resets will be repeated in the future. While rent resets involving our Hawaii land leases have, in the aggregate, resulted in rent increases during the period of our and EQC’s ownership, in some instances rent resets have resulted in rent decreases. Additionally, a downturn in economic conditions in Hawaii may cause reduced market rents for our properties when rents are reset, which could lead to a reduction in our revenues.

When we lease to new tenants or renew leases we may have to spend substantial amounts for leasing commissions, tenant improvements or other tenant inducements. Many of our leases are for properties that are specially suited to the particular business of our tenants. Because these properties have been designed or physically modified for a particular tenant, if the current lease is terminated or not renewed, we may be required to renovate the property at substantial costs, decrease the rent we charge or provide other concessions in order to lease the property to another tenant.

There is a general trend in the office real estate sector for companies to decrease the square feet they occupy per employee and to reconfigure leased space for changed usage. This increase in utilization rates may result in a tenant renewing a lease for less square feet than they currently occupy, which could increase both the vacancy and unreimbursed operating costs at our properties. The need to reconfigure leased space to increase utilization may also require us to spend increased amounts for tenant fit out.

We may be unable to lease our properties when our leases expire.

Although we typically will seek to renew our leases with current tenants when these leases expire, we cannot assure that we will be successful in doing so. If our tenants do not renew their leases, we may be unable to locate new tenants to maintain or increase the historical occupancy rates of, or rents from, our properties.

Increasing interest rates may adversely affect us.

Since the most recent recession, the U.S. Federal Reserve has taken actions which have resulted in low interest rates prevailing in the marketplace for a historically long period of time. In December 2015, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point. Market interest rates may continue to increase and the increase may materially and negatively affect us. One of the factors that investors typically consider important in deciding whether to buy or sell our common shares is the distribution rate with respect to such shares relative to prevailing market interest rates. If market interest rates go up, investors may expect a higher distribution rate before investing in our common shares or may sell our common shares and seek alternate investments with a higher distribution rate. Sales of our common shares may cause a decline in the market prices of such shares, which would reduce our market capitalization and total shareholder return.

The potential negative impact on the value of our shares may increase our cost of capital, including decreasing the amount of equity and debt we may be able to raise, increasing the extent of dilution from any equity offering we may make or increasing the costs to us for any such equity or debt offering.

Amounts outstanding under our revolving credit facility and term loan bear interest at variable interest rates. When interest rates increase, so will our interest costs, which could adversely affect our cash flow, our ability to pay principal and interest on our debt, our cost of refinancing our debt when it becomes due and our ability to make or sustain distributions to our shareholders. Additionally, if we choose to hedge our interest rate risk in addition to our current cash flow hedge on $41.0 million of mortgage debt, we cannot assure that the hedge will be effective or that our hedging counterparty will meet its obligations to us.

An increase in interest rates could decrease the amount buyers may be willing to pay for our properties, thereby reducing the market value of our properties and limiting our ability to sell properties or to obtain mortgage financing secured by our properties. Further, increased interest rates may effectively increase the cost of properties we acquire to the extent we utilize leverage for those acquisitions and may result in a reduction in our acquisitions to the extent we reduce the amount we offer to pay for properties, due to the effect of increased interest rates, to a price that sellers may not accept.

Our ability to increase rents in Hawaii may be curtailed in the future by government action.

In July 2009, the Hawaii state legislature enacted legislation which would have limited rent increases at certain of our leased industrial and commercial properties in Hawaii. In May 2010, the U.S. District Court in Hawaii ruled that this legislation violated the U.S. Constitution and was unenforceable. In October 2010, EQC entered a settlement agreement with the State of Hawaii pursuant to which the State’s appeal of this decision was dismissed with prejudice in return for EQC’s agreement not to pursue its attorneys’ fees from the State. The Hawaii state legislature may in the future adopt laws to limit rent increases at our Hawaii Properties, and, even if we are successful in challenging such laws, the cost of doing so may be significant.

Substantially all of our properties are leased to single tenants and the majority are leased to tenants that do not have investment ratings.

Substantially all of our total revenues as of December 31, 2015 were from properties leased to single tenants. We expect that we will continue to derive substantially all of our revenues from single tenant properties and, therefore, the success of single tenant properties will be materially dependent on the performance of those tenants under their respective leases. Tenant defaults or failure to renew leases upon termination will adversely impact our revenues. In addition to not realizing rental income, many property level operating expenses and capital expenditures, such as real estate taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance and repairs, other than, in certain circumstances, roof and structural element‑related expenditures, are paid or reimbursed by our tenants pursuant to our leases, and a tenant default could leave us responsible for paying these expenses. Because our properties are leased to single tenants, the adverse impact of tenant defaults or non‑renewals is likely to be greater than would be the case if our properties were leased to multiple tenants.

The occurrence of a tenant bankruptcy or insolvency could diminish the income we receive from that tenant’s lease. If a tenant becomes bankrupt or insolvent, federal law may prohibit us from evicting such a tenant based solely upon such bankruptcy or insolvency. In addition, a bankrupt or insolvent tenant may be authorized to reject and terminate its lease with us. Any claims against a bankrupt tenant for unpaid future rent would be subject to statutory limitations that would likely result in our receipt of rental income that is substantially less than the contractually specified rent we are owed under the lease. In addition, any claim we have for unpaid past rent may not be paid in full.

The majority of our properties are leased to tenants who are not rated by any nationally recognized statistical rating organization. It is more difficult to assess the ability of a tenant that is not rated to meet its obligations to us than that of a rated tenant. Further, tenants may be rated when we enter leases with them but their ratings may be later lowered or terminated during the term of the leases.

We may be unable to access the capital necessary to repay our debts, invest in our properties or fund acquisitions.

To retain our qualification for taxation as a REIT, we are required to distribute at least 90% of our annual REIT taxable income (excluding capital gains) and satisfy a number of organizational and operational requirements to which REITs are subject. Accordingly, we generally will not be able to retain sufficient cash from operations to repay debts, invest in our properties or fund acquisitions. Our business and growth strategies depend, in part, upon our ability to raise additional capital at reasonable costs to repay our debts, invest in our properties and fund acquisitions. Because of the volatility in the availability of capital to businesses on a global basis and the increased volatility in most debt and equity markets generally, our ability to raise reasonably priced capital is not guaranteed; we may be unable to raise reasonably priced capital because of reasons related to our business, market perceptions of our prospects, the terms of our indebtedness or for reasons beyond our control, such as market conditions. If we are unable to raise reasonably priced capital, our business and growth strategies may fail and we may be unable to remain a REIT.

We may be unable to grow our business by acquisitions and our acquisitions may not be successful.

An element of our business plan involves the acquisition of additional properties. Our ability to complete attractive acquisitions may be subject to risks associated with:

Additionally, we might encounter unanticipated difficulties and expenditures relating to any acquired properties. For example:

For these reasons, among others, our business plan to acquire additional properties may not succeed or may cause us to experience losses.

We face significant competition.

We face significant competition for acquisition opportunities from other investors, including publicly traded and private REITs, numerous financial institutions, individuals and public and private companies. Because of competition, we may be unable to, or may pay a significantly increased purchase price to, acquire a desired property. Some of our competitors may have greater financial and other resources than we have.

In addition, substantially all of our properties face competition for tenants. Some competing properties may be newer, better located or more attractive to tenants. Competing properties may have lower rates of occupancy than our properties, which may result in competing owners offering available space at lower rents than we offer at our properties. Increased real estate development activities may increase the supply of properties of the type we own on the market which may heighten the competition we face. These competition matters may affect our ability to attract and retain tenants and may reduce the rents we are able to charge. 

Ownership of real estate is subject to environmental and climate change risks.

Ownership of real estate is subject to risks associated with environmental hazards. We may be liable for environmental hazards at, or migrating from, our properties, including those created by prior owners or occupants, existing tenants, abutters or other persons. Various federal and state laws impose liabilities upon property owners, such as us, for any environmental damages arising at, or migrating from, properties they own, and we cannot assure that we will not be held liable for environmental investigation and clean up at, or near, our properties, including at sites we own and lease to our tenants. As an owner or previous owner of properties which contain environmental hazards, we also may be liable to pay damages to governmental agencies or third parties for costs and damages they incur arising from environmental hazards at, or migrating from, our properties. Moreover, the costs and damages which may arise from environmental hazards are often difficult to project and may be substantial.

Although our leases generally require our tenants to operate in compliance with all applicable laws and to indemnify us against any environmental liabilities arising from a tenant’s activities on the property, we could be subject to strict liability by virtue of our ownership interest. We cannot assure that our tenants will satisfy their indemnification obligations, if any, under our leases. Furthermore, the discovery of contamination or violations of environmental laws on any of our properties could lead to significant remediation costs or fines, penalties, or other liabilities or obligations attributable to the tenant of that property. Such liabilities or obligations may affect a tenant’s ability to make payments to us, including rental payments and, where applicable, indemnification payments. When we acquired the Initial Properties from EQC, we agreed to indemnify EQC against all environmental liabilities with respect to the Initial Properties.

Certain of our properties are used or have been used for industrial purposes. Though we have reviewed these and our other properties for potential environmental liabilities and have established a reserve for potential costs that may be incurred as a result of environmental contamination, we cannot assure that we have identified all potential environmental liabilities or that our reserve will be sufficient to cover any costs we may incur relating to environmental matters. Some of these properties contain, or may have contained, or are adjacent to or near other properties that contain, or may have contained, underground storage tanks for the storage of petroleum products and other hazardous or toxic substances. Our exposure to these tanks creates the potential for the release of petroleum products or other hazardous or toxic substances onto our properties. In addition, certain of our properties are on or are adjacent to or near other properties upon which others, including former owners or tenants, have engaged, or may in the future engage, in activities that may release petroleum products or other hazardous or toxic substances.

We do not have any insurance designated to limit any losses that we may incur as a result of known or unknown environmental conditions which are not caused by an insured event, such as, for example, fire or flood. As of December 31, 2015, we had reserved approximately $8.2 million for potential environmental liabilities. The environmental reserve EQC applied to the Initial Properties, and that we have applied since we began owning the Initial Properties, historically has not varied significantly from year to year and the actual historical costs to remediate certain environmental issues have not deviated significantly from the corresponding reserve amount. Nevertheless, environmental exposures are difficult to assess and estimate for numerous reasons, including uncertainty about the extent of contamination, alternative treatment methods that may be applied, location of the property which subjects it to differing local laws and regulations and their interpretations, as well as the time it takes to remediate contamination. In developing reserves for potential environmental liability on a property by property basis, we consider among other things, enacted laws and regulations, assessments of contamination and surrounding geology, quality of information available, currently available technologies for treatment, alternative methods of remediation and prior experience. Environmental reserves are based on estimates which are subject to significant change and are adjusted as the remediation treatment progresses, as circumstances change and as environmental contingencies become more clearly defined and reasonably estimable. We do not believe that there are environmental conditions at any of our properties that will materially and adversely affect us. However, we cannot assure that environmental conditions present at our properties or costs we may be required to incur in the future to address environmental contamination will not materially and adversely affect us.

We believe any asbestos in our buildings is contained in accordance with current regulations, and we have no current plans to remove it. If we removed the asbestos or demolished these properties, certain environmental regulations govern the manner in which the asbestos must be handled and removed, and we could incur substantial costs complying with such regulations.

There have recently been severe weather activities in different parts of the country that some observers believe evidence global climate change. Such severe weather that may result from climate change may have an adverse effect on individual properties we own. Further, the current political debate about climate change has resulted in various treaties, laws and regulations which are intended to limit carbon emissions. We believe these laws being enacted or proposed may cause energy costs at our properties to increase. Laws enacted to mitigate climate change may make some of our buildings obsolete or cause us to make material investments in our properties which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. For more information regarding climate change matters and their possible adverse impact on us, please see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Impact of Climate Change.”

Real estate ownership creates risks and liabilities.

In addition to the risks related to environmental hazards and climate change, our business is subject to other risks associated with real estate ownership, including:

We have a substantial amount of indebtedness and other obligations, which could adversely affect our financial condition, and we may incur additional debt.

As of December 31, 2015, our consolidated indebtedness was $2.4 billion, our consolidated net debt to book capitalization ratio was 53.1% and we had $447.0 million available for borrowing under our $750.0 million revolving credit facility.  Our revolving credit facility and our $350.0 million term loan may be increased to up to $2.2 billion on a combined basis under certain circumstances. 

Our current indebtedness obligations are substantial, could have important consequences to holders of our common shares and could limit our ability to obtain financing for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, refinancing, lease obligations or other purposes.  They may also increase our vulnerability to adverse economic, market and industry conditions, limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business operations or to our industry overall, and place us at a disadvantage in relation to competitors that have lower debt levels. As a result, we are subject to increased risks associated with debt financing, including an increased risk that our cash flow could be insufficient to meet required payments on our debt.  In addition, amounts outstanding under our revolving credit facility and term loan require interest to be paid at variable interest rates. When interest rates increase, so will our interest costs, which could adversely affect our cash flow, our ability to pay principal and interest on our debt and our cost of refinancing our debt when it becomes due.  For further information regarding our exposure to risks associated with market changes in interest rates, please see elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including Part II, Item 7A,“Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.” We have a cash flow hedge on $41.0 million of mortgage debt, and, in the future, we may choose to hedge our interest rate risk. We cannot assure that our current hedge or any future hedge will be effective or that any hedging counterparty will meet its obligations to us.  Any or all of the above events and factors could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

If we default under a loan (including any default in covenants contained in our credit agreement for our existing revolving credit facility and term loan or in the indenture related to our senior unsecured notes and its supplement), we may be in default under any other loan that has cross-default provisions, further borrowings under our existing revolving credit facility or term loan may be prohibited, outstanding indebtedness under our existing revolving credit facility, term loan, senior unsecured notes indenture and its supplement or such other loans may be accelerated, and we could be forced to liquidate our assets for less than the values we would receive in a more orderly process.

Our credit agreement and our senior unsecured notes indenture and its supplement contain terms limiting our ability to incur additional debt.  These terms, or our failure or inability to meet them, could adversely affect our business and may prevent us from making distributions to our shareholders.

Our credit agreement includes various conditions to our borrowing,  financial and other covenants, including covenants requiring us to maintain certain minimum debt service coverage and leverage ratios, and events of default.  Our senior unsecured notes indenture and its supplement also impose customary restrictions on us, including requiring us to comply with certain debt to asset ratios and debt service coverage ratios if we want to incur additional debt and requiring us to maintain at least a specified ratio of total unencumbered assets to debt.  We may not be able to satisfy all of these conditions or may default on some of these covenants for various reasons, including matters which are beyond our control. Further, maintaining compliance with these covenants may limit our ability to pursue actions that may otherwise be beneficial to us and our shareholders.

If we are unable to borrow under our revolving credit facility, we may be unable to meet our business obligations or to grow by buying additional properties, or we may be required to sell some of our properties. If we default under our credit agreement, our lenders may demand immediate payment and our lenders under our revolving credit facility may elect not to make further borrowings available to us. Additionally, during the continuance of any event of default under our credit agreement, we will be limited or in some cases prohibited from making distributions on our common shares. Any default under our credit agreement that resulted in our obligations to repay outstanding indebtedness being accelerated or in our no longer being permitted to borrow under our revolving credit facility would likely have serious and adverse consequences to us and would likely cause the market price of our common shares to materially decline.

In the future, we may obtain additional debt financing, and the covenants and conditions which apply to any such additional indebtedness may be more restrictive than the covenants and conditions contained in our credit agreement or senior unsecured notes indenture. Defaults under our future debt could likely have the same consequences as described above.

Insurance on our properties may not adequately cover all losses and uninsured losses could materially and adversely affect us.

Generally, our tenants are responsible for the costs of insurance coverage for the properties we lease to them, including for casualty, liability, fire, extended coverage and rental or business interruption loss. Either we purchase the insurance ourselves and our tenants are required to reimburse us, or the tenants buy the insurance directly and are required to list us as an insured party. Depending upon the location of the property, including our properties located in Hawaii, losses of a catastrophic nature, such as those caused by tsunamis, hurricanes, flooding, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, may be covered by insurance policies with limitations such as large deductibles or co‑payments that a tenant may not be able to meet. Under certain circumstances insurance proceeds may not be adequate to restore our economic position with respect to an affected property and we could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we do not have any insurance designated to limit any losses that we may incur as a result of known or unknown environmental conditions which are not caused by an insured event, such as, for example, fire or flood.

We may incur significant costs complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act and similar laws.

Under the Americans with Disability Act, places of public accommodation and/or commercial facilities must meet federal requirements related to access and use by disabled persons. We may be required to make substantial capital expenditures at our properties to comply with this law. In addition, non-compliance could result in the imposition of fines or an award of damages to private litigants.

A number of additional federal, state, and local laws and regulations exist regarding access by disabled persons. These regulations may require modifications to our properties or may affect future renovations. These expenditures may have an adverse impact on overall returns on our investments.

Our business could be adversely impacted if there are deficiencies in our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting.

The design and effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and our internal control over financial reporting may not prevent all errors, misstatements or misrepresentations. While management will continue to review the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and our internal control over financial reporting, there can be no guarantee that our internal control over financial reporting will be effective in accomplishing all control objectives all of the time. Deficiencies, including any material weaknesses, in our internal control over financial reporting could result in misstatements of our results of operations or our financial statements or could otherwise materially and adversely affect our business, reputation, results of operations, financial condition or liquidity.

Our manager relies on information technology for our operations, and any material failure, inadequacy, interruption or security failure of that technology could harm our business.

RMR LLC relies on information technology networks and systems, including the Internet, to process, transmit and store electronic information and to manage or support a variety of our business processes, including financial transactions and maintenance of records, which may include personally identifiable information of employees and tenants and lease data. RMR LLC relies on commercially available systems, software, tools and monitoring to provide security for processing, transmitting and storing confidential tenant, customer and vendor information, such as personally identifiable information relating to financial accounts. Although RMR LLC takes various actions to protect the security of the data maintained in its information systems, it is possible that its security measures will not prevent the systems’ improper functioning, or the improper disclosure of personally identifiable information such as in the event of cyber attacks. Security breaches, including physical or electronic break‑ins, computer viruses, attacks by hackers and similar breaches, can create system disruptions, shutdowns or unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. Any failure to maintain proper function, security and availability of RMR LLC’s information systems could interrupt our operations, damage our reputation, subject us to liability claims or regulatory penalties and could materially and adversely affect us.

Changes in lease accounting standards may materially and adversely affect us.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, is in the process of adopting new accounting rules that will be effective for fiscal years ending after December 2018, which will require companies to capitalize all leases on their balance sheets by recognizing a lessee’s rights and obligations. When the final rules are effective, many companies that account for certain leases on an “off balance sheet” basis will be required to account for such leases “on balance sheet.” This change will remove many of the differences in the way companies account for owned property and leased property, and could have a material effect on various aspects of our tenants’ businesses, including their credit quality and the factors they consider in deciding whether to own or lease properties. When the rules are effective, or as the effective date approaches, it could cause companies that lease properties to prefer shorter lease terms, in an effort to reduce the leasing liability required to be recorded on their balance sheets. The new rules could also make lease renewal options less attractive, as, under certain circumstances, the rules will require a tenant to assume that a renewal right will be exercised and accrue a liability relating to the longer lease term.

Risks Related to Our Relationships with GOV, RMR Inc. and RMR LLC

GOV owns approximately 27.9% of our common shares.  As a result, investors in our securities will have less influence over our business than shareholders of most other publicly owned companies.

As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, GOV owned approximately 27.9% of our outstanding common shares.  For so long as GOV continues to retain a significant ownership stake in us, GOV may have significant influence in the election of all of the members of our Board of Trustees, including our Independent Trustees, and the outcome of shareholder actions.  As a result, GOV may have the ability to significantly impact all matters affecting us, including:

GOV’s significant ownership in us may discourage transactions involving a change of control of us, including transactions in which holders of our common shares might otherwise receive a premium for their common shares over the then current market price.

GOV’s sale of some or all of its ownership stake in us, acquisition of additional shares of us and speculation about any such possible transactions may adversely affect the market price of our common shares.  

GOV is not prohibited from selling some or all of the common shares it owns or purchasing additional common shares of ours, subject to applicable requirements of the federal securities laws.  Speculation by the press, stock analysts, our shareholders or others regarding GOV’s intention with respect to its investment in us could adversely affect the market price of our common shares.  So long as GOV continues to retain significant ownership in us, the market price of our common shares may be adversely impacted. 

We may not realize the expected benefits of our acquisition of an interest in RMR Inc.

On June 5, 2015, we participated in a transaction with RMR Inc., RMR LLC, ABP Trust (f/k/a Reit Management & Research Trust), GOV and two other REITs to which RMR LLC provides management services in which, among other things, we acquired 3,166,891 shares of RMR Inc.’s class A common stock, ABP Trust acquired 880,000 of our common shares and we amended our management agreements with RMR LLC and extended them for 20 year terms, or the Up-C Transaction.  We subsequently distributed 1,580,055 of the shares of RMR Inc.’s class A common stock that we received in the Up-C Transaction pro rata to our shareholders.  We believe the Up-C Transaction provided several benefits to us, including an attractive investment in the equity securities of RMR Inc., the further alignment of the interests of RMR LLC, Adam Portnoy and Barry Portnoy with our interests and greater transparency for us and our shareholders into the compensation practices and financial and operating results of RMR LLC.  However, our investment in RMR Inc. is subject to various risks, including the highly competitive nature of RMR LLC’s business and the limited public market for RMR Inc.’s securities, among others, which may result in us losing some or all of our investment in RMR Inc. or otherwise not realizing the benefits we expect from the Up-C Transaction.  For further information on the Up-C Transaction, see “Note 12: Related Person Transactions—Acquisition of Interest in our Manager.”

We are dependent upon RMR LLC to manage our business and implement our growth strategy.

We have no employees.  Personnel and services that we require are provided to us by RMR LLC pursuant to our management agreements with RMR LLC.  Our ability to achieve our business objectives depends on RMR LLC and its ability to manage our properties, identify and complete our acquisitions and dispositions and to execute our growth strategy.  Accordingly, our business is dependent upon RMR LLC’s business contacts, its ability to successfully hire, train, supervise and manage its personnel and its ability to maintain its operating systems.  If we lose the services provided by RMR LLC or its key personnel, our business and growth prospects may decline.  We may be unable to duplicate the quality and depth of management available to us by becoming internally managed or by hiring another manager.  Also, in the event RMR LLC is unwilling or unable to continue to provide management services to us, our cost of obtaining substitute services may be greater than the fees we pay RMR LLC under our management agreements, and as a result our expenses may increase.

Each of our executive officers is also an officer of RMR LLC, and our President and Chief Operating Officer, David Blackman, is the President and Chief Operating Officer of GOV.  Because our executive officers have duties to RMR LLC, and David Blackman has duties to GOV, as well as to our company, we do not have their undivided attention.  They face conflicts in allocating their time and resources between our company and RMR LLC and GOV, as applicable.

Our management structure and agreements and relationships with GOV and RMR LLC may restrict our investment activities and may create conflicts of interest or the perception of such conflicts.

RMR LLC is authorized to follow broad operating and investment guidelines and, therefore, has discretion in

determining the properties that will be appropriate investments for us, as well as our individual operating and investment decisions.  Our Board of Trustees periodically reviews our operating and investment guidelines and our operating activities and investments but it does not review or approve each decision made by RMR LLC on our behalf.  In addition, in conducting periodic reviews, our Board of Trustees relies primarily on information provided to it by RMR LLC.  Our Managing Trustees control RMR Inc., which is the managing member of and controls RMR LLC.

RMR LLC also acts as the manager for GOV and two other NYSE-listed REITs: HPT, which owns hotels and travel centers; and SNH, which primarily owns healthcare, senior living properties and medical office buildings.  RMR LLC also provides services to other publicly and privately owned companies, including: FVE, which operates senior living communities; TA, which operates and franchises travel centers and convenience stores; and Sonesta, which operates, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and cruise ships.  These multiple responsibilities to public companies and other businesses could create competition for the time and efforts of RMR LLC and Messrs. Barry and Adam Portnoy.  Also, RMR LLC’s multiple responsibilities to us and to other companies to which it provides management services, including GOV, may give rise to conflicts of interest, or the appearance of such conflicts of interest.

Our management agreements were negotiated between related parties, and the terms, including the fees payable to RMR LLC, may not be as favorable to us as they would have been if they were negotiated between unrelated parties.  Our property management fees are calculated based on rents we receive and construction supervision fees for construction at our properties overseen and managed by RMR LLC, and our base business management fee is calculated based upon the lower of the historical costs of our real estate investments and our market capitalization.  These fee arrangements could incentivize RMR LLC to pursue acquisitions, capital transactions, tenancies and construction projects or to avoid disposing of our assets in order to increase or maintain its management fees.  Our Independent Trustees oversee our acquisition and disposition program and capital transactions and regularly review our properties’ results, rents, leasing activities, budgets and construction activities as well as market trends.  If we do not effectively manage our investment, disposition, and capital transactions and leasing, construction and other property management activities, we may pay increased management fees without proportional benefits to our shareholders.

In our management agreements with RMR LLC, we acknowledge that RMR LLC may engage in other activities or businesses and act as the manager to any other person or entity (including other REITs) even though such person or entity has investment policies and objectives similar to our policies and objectives and we are not entitled to preferential treatment in receiving information, recommendations and other services from RMR LLC.  Accordingly, we may lose investment opportunities to, and may compete for tenants with, other businesses managed by RMR LLC.

Barry Portnoy is a Managing Director, officer and controlling shareholder (through ABP Trust) of RMR Inc. and an officer of RMR LLC, and Adam Portnoy is a Managing Director, President, Chief Executive Officer and controlling shareholder (through ABP Trust) of RMR Inc. and an officer of RMR LLC.  Adam Portnoy and Barry Portnoy also own class A membership units of RMR LLC through their ownership of ABP Trust.  All of the members of our Board of Trustees, including our Independent Trustees, are members of one or more boards of trustees or directors of other public companies to which RMR LLC provides management services.  All of our executive officers are also officers of RMR Inc., RMR LLC and other companies to which RMR LLC provides management services, including our President and Chief Operating Officer, David Blackman, who also serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of GOV.  The foregoing individuals may hold equity in RMR Inc. and other public companies to which RMR LLC provides management services. Any such equity ownership or positions could create, or appear to create, conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving us, GOV, the other companies to which RMR LLC provides management services and RMR Inc. and its related parties.

The Up-C Transaction and the agreements entered into as part of the Up-C Transaction are among related persons, which increases the risk of allegations of conflicts of interest, and such allegations may impair our ability to realize the benefits we expect from the Up-C Transaction.

Because of the various relationships among us, GOV, RMR Inc., RMR LLC and the other REITs to which RMR LLC provides management services, the Up-C Transaction and the agreements entered into as part of the Up-C Transaction, including the amendment and extension of our management agreements for 20 year terms, are among related persons.  The Up-C Transaction and the terms thereof were negotiated and reviewed by a Joint Special Committee comprised solely of our Independent Trustees and the independent trustees of the other REITs, or the Joint

Special Committee, and were separately approved and adopted by our Independent Trustee who did not, at that time, serve as an independent trustee of any of the other REITs, by a Special Committee of our Board of Trustees, comprised solely of our Independent Trustees, or our Special Committee, and by our Board of Trustees.  Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as financial advisor to the Joint Special Committee and FBR Capital Markets & Co. acted as financial advisor to our Special Committee.  Nonetheless, the Up-C Transaction may not be on terms as favorable to us or the other REITs to which RMR LLC provides management services as it would have been if it was negotiated among unrelated parties.  As a result of these relationships, we may be subject to increased risk that our shareholders or the shareholders of the other REITs to which RMR LLC provides management services may challenge the Up-C Transaction and the agreements entered into as part of the Up-C Transaction.  Any such challenge could result in substantial costs and be a diversion to our management’s attention, could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business and growth and could adversely affect our ability to realize the benefits we expect from the Up-C Transaction, whether or not the allegations have merit or are substantiated.

The termination of our management agreements may require payment of a substantial termination fee, including in the case of a termination for unsatisfactory performance, which may limit our ability to end our relationship with RMR LLC.

The terms of our management agreements with RMR LLC automatically extend on December 31st of each year so that such terms thereafter end on the 20th anniversary of the date of the extension.  We have the right to terminate these agreements: (1) at any time on 60 days’ written notice for convenience, (2) immediately upon written notice for cause, as defined in the agreements, (3) on written notice given within 60 days after the end of any applicable calendar year for a performance reason, as defined in the agreements, and (4) by written notice during the 12 months following a manager change of control, as defined in the agreements.  However, if we terminate a management agreement for convenience, or if RMR LLC terminates a management agreement with us for good reason, as defined in such agreement, we are obligated to pay RMR LLC a termination fee in an amount equal to the sum of the present values of the monthly future fees, as defined in the agreement, payable to RMR LLC for the remaining term of the agreement, which term, depending on the time of termination, would be between 19 and 20 years.  Additionally, if we terminate a management agreement for a performance reason, as defined in the agreement, we are obligated to pay RMR LLC the termination fee calculated as described above, but assuming a remaining term of ten years. These provisions substantially increase the cost to us of terminating the management agreements without cause, which may limit our ability to end our relationship with RMR LLC as our manager.  The payment of the termination fee could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, including our ability to pay dividends to our shareholders. 

Our management arrangements with RMR LLC may discourage our change of control.

Our management agreements with RMR LLC have 20 year terms that renew annually.  As noted in the preceding risk factor, if we terminate either of these management agreements other than for cause or upon a change of control of our manager, we are obligated to pay RMR LLC a substantial termination fee. For these reasons, our management agreements with RMR LLC discourage a change of control of us, including a change of control which might result in payment of a premium for our common shares.

We may be at an increased risk for dissident shareholder activities due to perceived conflicts of interest arising from our management structure.

In the past, in particular following periods of volatility in the overall market or declines in the market price of a company’s securities, shareholder litigation, dissident shareholder trustee nominations and dissident shareholder proposals have often been instituted against companies alleging conflicts of interest in business dealings with affiliated and related persons and entities.  Our relationships with GOV, RMR Inc., RMR LLC, AIC, the other businesses and entities to which RMR LLC provides management services, Barry Portnoy and Adam Portnoy and other related persons of RMR LLC may precipitate such activities.  These activities, if instituted against us, could result in further costs, which could be substantial in amount, and a diversion of our management’s attention even if the action is unfounded.

We may experience losses from our business dealings with AIC.

We have invested approximately $6.2 million in AIC, we have purchased a substantial portion of our property

insurance in a program designed by AIC, and we periodically consider the possibilities for expanding our relationship with AIC to other types of insurance.  We, ABP Trust, GOV and four other companies to which RMR LLC provides management services each own 14.3% of AIC, and we and those other AIC shareholders participate in a combined insurance program designed and reinsured in part by AIC.  Our principal reason for investing in AIC and for purchasing insurance in these programs is to seek to improve our financial results by obtaining improved insurance coverages at lower costs than may be otherwise available to us or by participating in any profits which we may realize as an owner of AIC.  While we believe we have in the past benefitted from these arrangements, these beneficial financial results may not occur in the future, and we may need to invest additional capital in order to continue to pursue these results.  AIC’s business involves the risks typical of an insurance business, including the risk that it may not operate profitably.  Accordingly, financial benefits from our business dealings with AIC may not be achieved in the future, and we may experience losses from these dealings.

Risks Related to Our Organization and Structure 

Ownership limitations and certain provisions in our declaration of trust, bylaws and contracts, as well as certain provisions of Maryland law, may deter, delay or prevent a change in our control or unsolicited acquisition proposals.

Our declaration of trust prohibits any shareholder other than RMR LLC and its affiliates (as defined under Maryland law), and certain persons who have been exempted by our Board of Trustees, including GOV, from owning (directly and by attribution) more than 9.8% of the number or value of shares of any class or series of our outstanding shares of beneficial interest, including our common shares.  This provision of our declaration of trust is intended to assist with our REIT compliance under the IRC, and otherwise to promote our orderly governance.  However, this provision also inhibits acquisitions of a significant stake in us and may deter, delay or prevent a change in control of us or unsolicited acquisition proposals that a shareholder may consider favorable.  Additionally, provisions contained in our declaration of trust and bylaws or under Maryland law may have a similar impact, including, for example, provisions relating to:

In addition, our shareholders agreement with respect to AIC provides that AIC and the other shareholders of AIC may have rights to acquire our interests in AIC in the event that anyone acquires more than 9.8% of our shares or

we experience some other change in control.

Our ownership interest in AIC may prevent shareholders from accumulating large share ownership, from nominating or serving as Trustees, or from taking actions to otherwise control our business.

As an owner of AIC, we are licensed and approved as an insurance holding company; and any shareholder who owns or controls 10% or more of our securities or anyone who wishes to solicit proxies for election of, or to serve as, one of our Trustees or for another proposal of business not approved by our Board of Trustees may be required to receive pre-clearance from the concerned insurance regulators.  These pre-approval procedures may discourage or prevent investors from purchasing our securities, from nominating persons to serve as our Trustees or from taking other actions.

Our rights and the rights of our shareholders to take action against our Trustees and officers are limited.

Our declaration of trust limits the liability of our Trustees and officers to us and our shareholders for money damages to the maximum extent permitted under Maryland law.  Under current Maryland law, our Trustees and officers will not have any liability to us and our shareholders for money damages other than liability resulting from:

Our bylaws and indemnification agreements require us to indemnify any present or former Trustee or officer, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law, who is made or threatened to be made a party to a proceeding by reason of his or her service in that capacity.  However, except with respect to proceedings to enforce rights to indemnification, we will indemnify any person referenced in the previous sentence in connection with a proceeding initiated by such person against us only if such proceeding is authorized by our Board of Trustees or shareholders.  In addition, we may be obligated to pay or reimburse the expenses incurred by our present and former Trustees and officers without requiring a preliminary determination of their ultimate entitlement to indemnification.  As a result, we and our shareholders may have more limited rights against our present and former Trustees and officers than might otherwise exist absent the provisions in our declaration of trust, bylaws and indemnification agreements or that might exist with other companies, which could limit your recourse in the event of actions not in your best interest.

Disputes with RMR LLC and shareholder litigation against us or our Trustees and officers may be referred to binding arbitration proceedings.

Our contracts with RMR LLC provide that any dispute arising under those contracts may be referred to binding arbitration proceedings.  Similarly, our bylaws provide that actions by our shareholders against us or against our Trustees and officers, including derivative and class actions, may be referred to binding arbitration proceedings.  As a result, we and our shareholders would not be able to pursue litigation for these disputes in courts against RMR LLC or our Trustees and officers if the disputes were referred to arbitration.  In addition, the ability to collect attorneys’ fees or other damages may be limited in the arbitration proceedings, which may discourage attorneys from agreeing to represent parties wishing to commence such a proceeding.

We may change our operational, financing and investment policies without shareholder approval and we may become more highly leveraged, which may increase our risk of default under our debt obligations.

Our Board of Trustees determines our operational, financing and investment policies and may amend or revise our policies, including our policies with respect to our intention to qualify for taxation as a REIT, acquisitions, dispositions, growth, operations, indebtedness, capitalization and distributions, or approve transactions that deviate from these policies, without a vote of, or notice to, our shareholders.  Policy changes could adversely affect the market value of our common shares and our ability to make distributions to our shareholders.  Further, our organizational documents do not limit the amount or percentage of indebtedness, funded or otherwise, that we may incur.  Our Board of Trustees may alter or eliminate our current policy on borrowing at any time without shareholder approval.  If this policy changed, we could become more highly leveraged, which could result in an increase in our debt service costs.  Higher leverage

also increases the risk of default on our obligations.  In addition, a change in our investment policies, including the manner in which we allocate our resources across our portfolio or the types of assets in which we seek to invest, may increase our exposure to interest rate risk, real estate market fluctuations and liquidity risk.

Our bylaws designate the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland or, if that court does not have jurisdiction, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Baltimore Division, as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our shareholders, which could limit our shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our Trustees, officers, manager or agents or employees. 

Our bylaws currently provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum or the dispute has been referred to binding arbitration, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland, or if that court does not have jurisdiction, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Baltimore Division, will be the sole and exclusive forum for: (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (ii) any action asserting a claim for breach of a duty owed by any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee of ours to us or our shareholders; (iii) any action asserting a claim against us or any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee of ours arising pursuant to the Maryland Corporations and Associations Law, our declaration of trust or bylaws brought by or on behalf of a shareholder; or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us or any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee of ours that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine.  This choice of forum provision may limit a shareholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that the shareholder believes is favorable for disputes with us or our Trustees, officers, manager, agents or employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our Trustees, officers, manager, agents or employees.  Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in our shares of beneficial interest shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to this provision of our bylaws, as they may be amended from time to time.  This choice of forum provision of our bylaws does not abrogate or supersede other provisions of our bylaws stipulating that actions by our shareholders against us or against our Trustees and officers, including derivative and class actions, may be referred to binding arbitration proceedings.

Risks Related to Our Taxation

The loss of our status as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes could have significant adverse consequences.

As a REIT, we generally do not pay federal and state income taxes. However, actual qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC depends on satisfying complex statutory requirements, for which there are only limited judicial and administrative interpretations. We believe that we have been organized and have operated, and will continue to be organized and to operate, in a manner that qualified and will continue to qualify us to be taxed under the IRC as a REIT. However, we cannot be certain that, upon review or audit, the IRS will agree with this conclusion. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the federal government will not someday eliminate REITs or adversely modify their taxation under the IRC.

Maintaining our qualification for taxation as a REIT will require us to continue to satisfy tests concerning, among other things, the nature of our assets, the sources of our income and the amounts we distribute to our shareholders. In order to meet these requirements, it may be necessary for us to sell or forgo attractive investments.

If we cease to qualify for taxation as a REIT, then our ability to raise capital might be adversely affected, we will be in breach under our credit agreement, we may be subject to material amounts of federal and state income taxes and the value of our shares likely would decline. In addition, if we lose or revoke our qualification as a REIT for a taxable year, we will generally be prevented from requalifying as a REIT for the next four taxable years.

Distributions to shareholders generally will not qualify for reduced tax rates.

Dividends payable by U.S. corporations to noncorporate shareholders, such as individuals, trusts and estates, are generally eligible for reduced tax rates. Distributions paid by REITs, however, generally are not eligible for these reduced rates. The more favorable rates for corporate dividends may cause investors to perceive that an investment in a

REIT is less attractive than an investment in a non‑REIT entity that pays dividends, thereby reducing the demand and market price of our shares.

REIT distribution requirements could adversely affect our ability to execute our business plan.

We generally must distribute annually at least 90% of our taxable income, subject to specified adjustments and excluding any net capital gain, in order for federal corporate income tax not to apply to earnings that we distribute. To the extent that we satisfy this distribution requirement, but distribute less than 100% of our taxable income, we will be subject to federal corporate income tax on our undistributed taxable income. We intend to make distributions to our shareholders to comply with the REIT requirements of the IRC. In addition, we will be subject to a 4% nondeductible excise tax if the actual amount that we pay out to our shareholders in a calendar year is less than a minimum amount specified under federal tax laws.

From time to time, we may generate taxable income greater than our income for financial reporting purposes prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, or differences in timing between the recognition of taxable income and the actual receipt of cash may occur. If we do not have other funds available in these situations we could be required to borrow funds on unfavorable terms, sell investments at disadvantageous prices or distribute amounts that would otherwise be invested in future acquisitions to make distributions sufficient to enable us to pay out enough of our taxable income to satisfy the REIT distribution requirement and to avoid corporate income tax and the 4% excise tax in a particular year. These alternatives could increase our costs or reduce our shareholders’ equity. Thus, compliance with the REIT requirements may hinder our ability to grow, which could adversely affect the value of our shares.

Even if we qualify and remain qualified as a REIT, we may face other tax liabilities that reduce our cash flow.

Even if we qualify and remain qualified for taxation as a REIT, we may be subject to federal, state and local taxes on our income and assets, including taxes on any undistributed income, excise taxes, state or local income, property and transfer taxes, such as mortgage recording taxes, and other taxes. See “Business—United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—Taxation as a REIT.” For example, some state jurisdictions may in the future limit or eliminate certain favorable deductions, including the dividends paid deduction, which could increase our income tax expense. In addition, in order to meet the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT, prevent the recognition of particular types of non‑cash income, or avert the imposition of a 100% tax that applies to specified gains derived by a REIT from dealer property or inventory, we may hold some of our assets and operations through our taxable REIT subsidiaries or other subsidiary corporations that will be subject to corporate level income tax at regular rates. Any of these taxes would decrease cash available for distribution to our shareholders.

We may incur adverse tax consequences if CCIT failed to qualify as a REIT for United States federal income tax purposes prior to the CCIT Merger. 

If CCIT failed to qualify as a REIT for United States federal income tax purposes prior to the CCIT Merger, we may inherit significant tax liabilities and could lose our status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes. Even if we retain our status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, if CCIT is deemed to have lost its status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes for 2015 or a prior taxable year, we will face serious tax consequences that could substantially reduce our cash available for distribution to our shareholders because:

As a result of these factors, CCIT's failure before the CCIT Merger to qualify as a REIT could impair our ability to expand our business and raise capital, and could materially adversely affect the value of our shares.

Also, if there is an adjustment to CCIT's REIT taxable income or dividends paid deductions, we could elect to use the deficiency dividend procedure in order to maintain CCIT's status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, but that deficiency dividend procedure could require us to make significant distributions to our shareholders and to pay significant interest to the IRS.

Risks Related to our Securities

We cannot assure that we will continue to make distributions to our shareholders, and distributions we make may include a return of capital.

We intend to continue to make regular quarterly distributions to our shareholders. However:

For these reasons, among others, our distribution rate may decline or we may cease making distributions. Also, our distributions may include a return of capital.

Changes in market conditions could adversely affect the market price of our common shares.

As with other publicly traded equity securities and REIT securities, the value of our common shares depends on various market conditions that may change from time to time, including: