At the Company’s 2021 annual meeting of stockholders held on April 12, 2021, the Company’s stockholders approved the 2021 Omnibus Incentive Compensation Plan of Global Net Lease, Inc. (the “Individual Plan”) and the 2021 Omnibus Advisor Incentive Compensation Plan of Global Net Lease, Inc. (the “Advisor Plan” and together with the Individual Plan, the “2021 Equity Plan”). Both the Individual Plan and the Advisor Plan became effective upon stockholder approval.

The terms of the Advisor Plan are substantially similar to the terms of the Individual Plan, except with respect to the eligible participants. Generally, directors of the Company, employees of the Company and employees of the Advisor or its affiliates who are involved in providing services to the Company (including the Company’s executive officers) as well as certain consultants to the Company and the Advisor and its affiliates are eligible to participate in the Individual Plan. Only the Advisor and any of its affiliates that are involved in providing services to the Company or any of its subsidiaries are eligible to receive awards under the Advisor Plan. The total number of shares of Common Stock that can be issued or subject to awards under the Advisor Plan and the Individual Plan, in the aggregate, is 6,300,000 shares. Shares issued or subject to awards under the Individual Plan reduce the number of shares available for awards under the Advisor Plan on a one-for-one basis and vice versa. The Individual Plan and the Advisor Plan will expire on April 12, 2031.

The Company’s employee and director incentive restricted share plan (“RSP”) provides the Company with the ability to grant awards of Restricted Shares and RSUs to directors, officers and full-time employees (if any), of the Company, the Advisor and its affiliates, and certain persons that provide services to the Company, the Advisor or its affiliates.

Under the RSP, prior to stockholder approval of the 2021 Equity Plan, the number of shares of Common Stock available for awards was equal to 10.0% of the Company’s outstanding shares of Common Stock on a fully diluted basis at any time, and, if any awards granted under the RSP were forfeited for any reason, the number of forfeited shares was again available for purposes of granting awards under the RSP. Because the 2021 Equity Plan was approved by the Company’s stockholders, only 2,772,905 shares of Common Stock remained available for the grant of new awards under the RSP through the expiration of the RSP on April 20, 2022, and shares of Common Stock underlying awards that expire, terminate, are cancelled or are forfeited under the RSP will not again be available for issuance under the RSP. Awards previously granted under the RSP will remain outstanding (and eligible to vest and settle) in accordance with their terms under the RSP.

RSUs may be awarded under terms that provide for vesting on a straight-line basis over a specified period of time for each award. RSUs represent a contingent right to receive shares of Common Stock at a future settlement date, subject to satisfaction of applicable vesting conditions or other restrictions, as set forth in the RSP and an award agreement evidencing the grant of RSUs. RSUs may not, in general, be sold or otherwise transferred until restrictions are removed and the RSUs are settled in, or converted into, the shares of Common Stock. Holders of RSUs do not have or receive any voting rights with respect to the RSUs or any shares underlying any award of RSUs, but such holders are generally credited with dividend or other distribution equivalents which are subject to the same vesting conditions or other restrictions as the underlying RSUs and only paid at the time such RSUs are settled in shares of Common Stock. RSU award agreements generally provide for accelerated vesting of all unvested RSUs in connection with a termination without cause from the Company’s board of directors or a change of control and accelerated vesting of the portion of the unvested RSUs scheduled to vest in the year of the recipient’s voluntary resignation from or failure to be re-elected to the Company’s board of directors.

Restricted Shares are shares of Common Stock awarded under terms that provide for vesting over a specified period of time. Holders of Restricted Shares receive nonforfeitable cash dividends prior to the time that the restrictions on the Restricted Shares have lapsed. Any dividends to holders of Restricted Shares payable in shares of Common Stock are subject to the same restrictions as the underlying Restricted Shares. Restricted Shares may not, in general, be sold or otherwise transferred until restrictions are removed and the shares have vested.

In May 2022, May 2021, and September 2020, the Company granted 207,242, 213,125 and 132,025 Restricted Shares, respectively, to employees of the Advisor or its affiliates who are involved in providing services to the Company, including its Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. In accordance with accounting rules, the fair value of the Restricted Shares granted is being recorded on a straight-line basis over the vesting period of four years. In addition, during the third quarter of 2022, the Company issued 23,156 restricted shares to former employees of the Advisor, working as consultants to the Advisor, which, for accounting purposes, the fair value of such grants was fully expensed during the third quarter of 2022.

The awards to the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer were recommended by the Advisor and approved by the compensation committee. The other awards were made pursuant to authority delegated by the compensation committee to Edward M. Weil, Jr., a member of the Company’s board of directors. No awards may be made pursuant to this delegation of authority to anyone who is also a partner, member or equity owner of the parent of the Advisor.

The Restricted Shares granted to employees of the Advisor or its affiliates vest in 25% increments on each of the first four anniversaries of the grant date. Except in connection with a change in control (as defined in the award agreement) of the Company, any unvested Restricted Shares will be forfeited if the holder’s employment with the Advisor terminates for any reason. During the three months ended March 31, 2023, no Restricted Shares were forfeited. Upon a change in control of the Company, 50% of the unvested Restricted Shares will immediately vest and the remaining unvested Restricted Shares will be forfeited.

Compensation expense for awards granted pursuant to the RSP was $0.7 million and $0.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Compensation expense is recorded as equity-based compensation in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations.

As of March 31, 2023, the Company had $0.3 million of unrecognized compensation cost related to RSUs granted under the RSP, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 1.7 years. As of March 31, 2023, the Company had $4.6 million of unrecognized compensation cost related to Restricted Shares granted under the RSP, which is expected to be recognized over a period of 3.1 years.

The Company pays independent director compensation as follows: (i) the annual retainer payable to all independent directors is $100,000 per year, (ii) the annual retainer for the non-executive chair is $105,000, (iii) the annual retainer for independent directors serving on the audit committee, compensation committee or nominating and corporate governance committee is $30,000. All annual retainers are payable 50% in the form of cash and 50% in the form of RSUs which vest over a three-year period. In addition, the directors have the option to elect to receive the cash component in the form of RSUs which would vest over a three-year period.

Based on a maximum award value of $50.0 million and $20.00 (the “2021 Initial Share Price”), the closing price of Common Stock on June 2, 2021, the Advisor was granted a total of 2,500,000 LTIP Units pursuant to the 2021 OPP. These LTIP Units may be earned and become vested based on the Company’s total shareholder return (“TSR”), including both share price appreciation and reinvestment of Common Stock dividends, compared to the 2021 Initial Share Price over a performance period commencing on June 3, 2021 and ending on the earliest of (i) June 3, 2024, (ii) the effective date of any Change of Control (as defined in the Advisor Plan) and (iii) the effective date of any termination of the Advisor’s service as the Company’s advisor.

Under current accounting rules, the total fair value of the LTIP Units granted under the 2021 OPP of $27.7 million was fixed as of June 3, 2021 and will not be remeasured in subsequent periods unless the 2021 OPP is amended (see Note 2 — Summary of Significant Accounting Policies for a description of accounting rules related to non-employee equity awards). The fair value of the LTIP Units that were granted is being recorded evenly over the requisite service period which is approximately 3.1 years from May 3, 2021, the date that the Company’s independent directors approved the award of LTIP Units under the 2021 OPP.

The rights of the Advisor as the holder of the LTIP Units are governed by the terms of the LTIP Units set forth in the agreement of limited partnership of the OP. Holders of LTIP Units are entitled to distributions on the LTIP Units equal to 10% of the distributions made per OP Unit (other than distributions of sale proceeds) until the LTIP Units are earned. Distributions paid on an OP Unit are equal to dividends paid on a share of Common Stock. Distributions paid on LTIP Units are not subject to forfeiture, even if the LTIP Units are ultimately forfeited. The Advisor is entitled to a priority catch-up distribution on each earned LTIP Unit equal to 90% of the aggregate distributions paid on OP Units during the applicable performance period. Any LTIP Units that are earned become entitled to receive the same distributions paid on the OP Units. If and when the Advisor’s capital account with respect to an earned LTIP Unit is equal to the capital account balance of an OP Unit, the Advisor, as the holder of the earned LTIP Unit, in its sole discretion, is entitled to convert the LTIP Unit into an OP Unit, which may in turn be redeemed on a one-for-one basis for, at the Company’s election, a share of Common Stock or the cash equivalent thereof.

With respect to one-half of the LTIP Units granted under the 2021 OPP, the number of LTIP Units that become earned (if any) will be determined as of the last day of the performance period based on the Company’s achievement of absolute TSR levels as shown in the table below.

With respect to the remaining one-half of the LTIP Units granted under the 2021 OPP, the number of LTIP Units that become earned (if any) will be determined as of the last day of the performance period based on the difference (expressed in terms of basis points, whether positive or negative, as shown in the table below) between the Company’s absolute TSR on the last day of the performance period relative to the average TSR of a peer group consisting of Lexington Realty Trust, Office Properties Income Trust and W.P. Carey, Inc. as of the last day of the performance period.


						Number of LTIP Units Earned
Performance Level (% of LTIP Units Earned)			Relative TSR Excess				2021 OPP
Below Threshold	0	%	Less than	-600	basis points		0
Threshold	25	%		-600	basis points		312,500
Target	50	%		0	basis points		625,000
Maximum	100	%		600	basis points		1,250,000

If the relative TSR excess is more than -600 basis points but less than zero basis points, or more than zero basis points but less than +600 basis points, the number of LTIP Units that become earned is determined using linear interpolation as between those tiers, respectively.

Under the 2021 OPP, in the case of a Change of Control or a termination of the Advisor for any reason, the number of LTIP Units that become earned at the end of the performance period is calculated based on actual performance through the last trading day prior to the effective date of the Change of Control or termination (as applicable), with the hurdles for calculating absolute TSR prorated to reflect a performance period of less than three years but without prorating the number of LTIP Units that may become earned to reflect the shortened performance period.

Pursuant to the terms of the Advisor Plan, the LTIP Units awarded under the 2021 OPP will be administered by the Company’s board or a committee thereof, defined as the “Committee” in the Advisor Plan. Promptly following the performance period, the Committee will determine the number of LTIP Units earned (if any), as calculated by an independent consultant engaged by the Committee and as approved by the Committee in its reasonable and good faith discretion. The Committee also must approve the transfer of any LTIP Units or any OP Units into which LTIP Units may be converted in accordance with the terms of the agreement of limited partnership of the OP. Any LTIP Units that are not earned will automatically be forfeited effective as of the end of the performance period and neither the Company nor the OP will be required to pay any future consideration in respect thereof.

The Company may issue Common Stock in lieu of cash to pay fees earned by the Company’s directors at each director’s election. If the Company did so, there would be no restrictions on the shares issued since these payments in lieu of cash relate to fees earned for services performed. There were no such shares of Common Stock issued in lieu of cash during the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022.