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Related Person Transactions
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2022
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related Person Transactions
Note 10. Related Person Transactions
We have relationships and historical and continuing transactions with TA, Sonesta, RMR, RMR Inc., and others related to them, including other companies to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide management services and some of which have trustees, directors or officers who are also our Trustees or officers. RMR is a majority owned subsidiary of RMR Inc. The Chair of our Board of Trustees and one of our Managing Trustees, Adam D. Portnoy, is the sole trustee, an officer and the controlling shareholder of ABP Trust, which is the controlling shareholder of RMR Inc., and is chair of the board of directors and a managing director and the president and chief executive officer of RMR Inc. and an officer and employee of RMR. John G. Murray, our other Managing Trustee and our former President and Chief Executive Officer, was appointed the president and chief executive officer of Sonesta, effective April 1, 2022. Mr. Murray also serves as an officer and employee of RMR. In addition, each of our other officers serves as an officer of RMR. Some of our Independent Trustees also serve as independent trustees or independent directors of other public companies to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide management services. Adam Portnoy serves as chair of the boards and as a managing director or managing trustee of these public companies. Other officers of RMR, including Mr. Murray and certain of our other officers, serve as managing trustees, managing directors or officers of certain of these companies.
Our Manager, RMR. We have two agreements with RMR to provide management services to us. See Note 9 for further information regarding our management agreements with RMR.
Share Awards to RMR Employees. As described in Note 8, we award shares to our officers and other employees of RMR annually. Generally, one fifth of these awards vest on the award date and one fifth vests on each of the next four anniversaries of the award dates. In certain instances, we may accelerate the vesting of an award, such as in connection with the award holder’s retirement as an officer of us or an officer or employee of RMR. These awards to RMR employees are in addition to the share awards to our Managing Trustees, as Trustee compensation, and the fees we paid to RMR. See Note 8 for information regarding our share awards and activity as well as certain share purchases we made in connection with share award recipients satisfying tax withholding obligations on the vesting of share awards.
TA. We lease 177 of our travel centers to TA under the TA leases. As of December 31, 2022, we owned 1,184,797 shares of common stock, representing approximately 7.8% of TA’s outstanding shares of common stock, which amount includes 500,797 shares of TA common stock that we purchased in an underwritten public equity offering in July 2020 at the public offering price of $14.00 per share. RMR provides management services to both us and TA, and Adam D. Portnoy also serves as the chair of the board of directors and as a managing director of TA and, as of December 31, 2022, beneficially owned 661,505 shares of TA common stock (including through RMR), representing approximately 4.1% of TA’s outstanding shares of common stock.
Spin-Off of TA. In connection with TA’s spin-off, we entered a transaction agreement with TA and RMR, pursuant to which TA granted us a right of first refusal to purchase, lease, mortgage or otherwise finance any interest TA owns in a travel center before it sells, leases, mortgages or otherwise finances that travel center to or with another party, and TA also granted us and any other company managed by RMR a right of first refusal to acquire or finance any real estate of the types in which we or they invest before TA does. TA also agreed that for so long as TA is a tenant of ours it will not permit: the acquisition by any person or group of beneficial ownership of 9.8% or more of the voting shares or the power to direct the management and policies of TA or any of its subsidiary tenants or guarantors under its leases with us; the sale of a material part of the assets of TA or any such tenant or guarantor; or the cessation of certain continuing directors constituting a majority of the board of directors of TA or any such tenant or guarantor. TA also agreed not to take any action that might reasonably be expected to have a material adverse impact on our ability to qualify as a REIT and to indemnify us for any liabilities we may incur relating to TA’s assets and business.
See Notes 4, 5 and 15 for further information regarding our relationships, agreements and transactions with TA.
Sonesta. Sonesta is a private company of which Adam Portnoy, one of our Managing Trustees, is a director and the controlling stockholder. One of Sonesta’s other directors and president and chief executive officer is our other Managing Trustee and former President and Chief Executive Officer, and Sonesta’s other director serves as one of RMR Inc.’s managing directors, as RMR’s and RMR Inc.’s executive vice president, general counsel and secretary and as our Secretary. Certain of Sonesta’s officers are officers of RMR. Certain other officers and employees of Sonesta are former officers and employees of RMR. RMR also provides certain services to Sonesta. As of December 31, 2022, we owned approximately 34.0% of Sonesta’s outstanding shares of common stock and Sonesta managed 196 of our hotels. See Notes 4 and 5 for further information regarding our relationships, agreements and transactions with Sonesta.
Affiliates Insurance Company. Until its dissolution on February 13, 2020, we, ABP Trust, TA and four other companies to which RMR provides management services owned Affiliates Insurance Company, an Indiana insurance company, or AIC, in equal portions. We and AIC’s other shareholders participated in combined property insurance programs arranged by AIC in periods prior to 2020. In connection with AIC’s dissolution, we and each other AIC shareholder received a liquidating distribution of approximately $286 in June 2020. We received the final distribution of $12 in December 2021. We did not recognize any income in the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020 with respect to our ownership in AIC.