Maryland law and our organizational documents limit our stockholders’ ability to amend our charter or dissolve us without the approval of our board of directors. Although the NASAA REIT Guidelines indicate that stockholders are permitted to amend our charter or terminate us without the necessity for concurrence by our board of directors, we are required to comply with the Maryland General Corporation Law, which provides that any amendment to our charter or any dissolution of our company must first be declared advisable by our board of directors. Therefore, our stockholders may vote to authorize the amendment of our charter or the dissolution of our company, but only after such action has been declared advisable by our board of directors. Accordingly, the only proposals to amend our charter or to dissolve our company that will be presented to our stockholders will be those that have been declared advisable by our board of directors and also require approval by our stockholders. Your interest in us will be diluted if we issue additional shares or if the Operating Partnership issues additional units. Holders of our common stock will not have preemptive rights to any shares we issue in the future. Our charter authorizes us to issue up to 3,100,000,000 shares of capital stock, of which 3,000,000,000 shares are classified as common stock, of which 500,000,000 shares are classified as Class T shares, 1,000,000,000 shares are classified as Class S shares, 500,000,000 shares are classified as Class D shares and 1,000,000,000 shares are classified as Class I shares, and 100,000,000 shares are classified as preferred stock. In addition, our board of directors may amend our charter from time to time to increase or decrease the aggregate number of authorized shares of capital stock or the number of authorized shares of capital stock of any class or series without stockholder approval. Our board of directors may elect, without stockholder approval, to: (i) sell additional shares in our current or future public offerings; (ii) issue shares of our common stock or units in our Operating Partnership in private offerings; (iii) issue shares of our common stock or units in our Operating Partnership upon the exercise of the options we may grant to our independent directors or future employees; (iv) issue shares of our common stock or units in our Operating Partnership to the Advisor or the Special Limited Partner, or their successors or assigns, in payment of an outstanding obligation to pay fees for services rendered to us or in connection with the performance participation allocation; or (v) issue shares of our common stock or units in our Operating Partnership to sellers of properties we acquire in connection with an exchange of limited partnership interests of our Operating Partnership. To the extent we issue additional shares percentage ownership interests in us will be diluted. Because we hold all of our assets through the Operating Partnership, to the extent we issue additional units of our Operating Partnership, stockholders’ percentage ownership interest in our assets will be diluted. Because certain classes of the units of our Operating Partnership may, in the discretion of our board of directors, be exchanged for shares of our common stock, any merger, exchange or conversion between our Operating Partnership and another entity ultimately could result in the issuance of a substantial number of shares of our common stock, thereby diluting the percentage ownership interest of other stockholders. Because of these and other reasons, you may experience substantial dilution in your percentage ownership of our shares or your interests in the underlying assets held by our Operating Partnership. Our UPREIT structure may result in potential conflicts of interest with limited partners in our Operating Partnership whose interests may not be aligned with those of our stockholders. Our directors and officers have duties to our corporation and our stockholders under Maryland law and our charter in connection with their management of the corporation. At the same time, we, as general partner, have fiduciary duties under Delaware law to our Operating Partnership and to the limited partners in connection with the management of our Operating Partnership. Our duties as general partner of our Operating Partnership and its partners may come into conflict with the duties of our directors and officers to the corporation and our stockholders. Under Delaware law, a general partner of a Delaware limited partnership owes its limited partners the duties of good faith and fair dealing. Other duties, including fiduciary duties, may be modified or eliminated in the partnership’s partnership agreement. The partnership agreement of our Operating Partnership provides that, for so long as we own a controlling interest in our Operating Partnership, any conflict that cannot be resolved in a manner not adverse to either our stockholders or the limited partners may be resolved in favor of our stockholders. Additionally, the partnership agreement expressly limits our liability by providing that we and our officers, directors, agents and employees will not be liable or accountable to our Operating Partnership for losses sustained, liabilities incurred or benefits not derived if we or our officers, directors, agents or employees acted in good faith. In addition, our Operating Partnership is required to indemnify us and our officers, directors, employees, agents and designees to the extent permitted by applicable law from and against any and all claims arising from operations of our Operating Partnership, unless it is established that: (i) the act or omission was material to the matter giving rise to the proceeding and either was committed in bad faith or was the result of active and deliberate dishonesty; (ii) the indemnified party received an improper personal benefit in money, property or services; or (iii) in the case of a criminal proceeding, the indemnified person had reasonable cause to believe that the act or omission was unlawful. The provisions of Delaware law that allow the fiduciary duties of a general partner to be modified by a partnership agreement have not been tested in a court of law, and we have not obtained an opinion of counsel covering the provisions set forth in the partnership agreement that purport to waive or restrict our fiduciary duties.
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