Redeemable Noncontrolling Interests in Operating Partnership

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2023

Redeemable Noncontrolling Interests in Operating Partnership

Redeemable noncontrolling interests in the operating partnership represents the limited partners’ proportionate share of equity and their allocable share of equity in earnings/losses of Braemar OP, which is an allocation of net income/loss attributable to the common unitholders based on the weighted average ownership percentage of these limited partners’ common units of limited partnership interest in the operating partnership (the “common units”) and units issued under our Long-Term Incentive Plan (the “LTIP” units) that are vested. Each common unit may be redeemed, by the holder, for either cash or, at our sole discretion, up to one share of our REIT common stock, which is either: (i) issued pursuant to an effective registration statement; (ii) included in an effective registration statement providing for the resale of such common stock; or (iii) issued subject to a registration rights agreement.

LTIP units, which are issued to certain executives and employees of Ashford LLC as compensation, generally have vesting periods of three years. Additionally, certain independent members of the board of directors have elected to receive LTIP units as part of their compensation, which are fully vested upon grant. Upon reaching economic parity with common units, each vested LTIP unit can be converted by the holder into one common unit which can then be redeemed for cash or, at our election, settled in our common stock. An LTIP unit will achieve parity with the common units upon the sale or deemed sale of all or substantially all of the assets of our operating partnership at a time when our stock is trading at a level in excess of the price it was trading on the date of the LTIP issuance. More specifically, LTIP units will achieve full economic parity with common units in connection with (i) the actual sale of all or substantially all of the assets of our operating partnership; or (ii) the hypothetical sale of such assets, which results from a capital account revaluation, as defined in the partnership agreement, for our operating partnership.

The compensation committee of the board of directors of the Company may authorize the issuance of Performance LTIP units to certain executive officers and directors from time to time. The award agreements provide for the grant of a target number of Performance LTIP units that will be settled in common units of Braemar OP, if, when and to the extent the applicable vesting criteria have been achieved following the end of the performance and service period, which is generally three years from the grant date. As of September 30, 2023, there were approximately 2.4 million Performance LTIP units, representing 200% of the target, outstanding.

With respect to the 2021, 2022 and 2023 award agreements, the compensation committee shifted to a new performance metric, pursuant to which, the performance awards will be eligible to vest, from 0% to 200% of target, based on achievement of certain performance targets over the three-year performance period. The performance criteria for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 performance grants are based on performance conditions under the relevant literature. The corresponding compensation cost is recognized ratably over the service period for the award as the service is rendered, based on the applicable measurement date fair value of the award. The grant date fair value of the award may vary from period to period, as the number of performance grants earned may vary since the estimated probable achievement of certain performance targets may vary from period to period.

In March 2023, the Company granted approximately 353,000 Performance LTIP units, representing 200% of the target, with an initial grant date fair value of $3.86 per share and a vesting period of approximately three years. During the second quarter, the Company’s stockholders approved an increase to the stock incentive plan, which is sufficient to cover the expected settlements as of June 30, 2023. The 2023 awards, which were originally classified as liability awards, are now classified as equity awards, within temporary equity, which resulted in a remeasurement of the award at a new fair value of $4.07 per share.

On May 10, 2023, approximately 45,000 LTIP units were issued to independent directors, with a fair value of approximately $182,000, which vested immediately upon grant and have been expensed during the nine months ended September 30, 2023.

As of September 30, 2023, we have issued a total of approximately 3.8 million LTIP and Performance LTIP units, net of Performance LTIP cancellations. All LTIP and Performance LTIP units, other than approximately 614,000 LTIP units and 1.2 million Performance LTIP units issued from March 2015 to May 2023, had reached full economic parity with, and are convertible into, common units.

The following table presents the redeemable noncontrolling interests in Braemar OP and the corresponding approximate ownership percentage of our operating partnership:


	September 30, 2023			December 31, 2022
Redeemable noncontrolling interests in Braemar OP (in thousands)	$	33,494		$	40,555
Adjustments to redeemable noncontrolling interests (1) (in thousands)	$	62		$	70
Ownership percentage of operating partnership	6.63		%	7.69		%

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(1) Reflects the excess of the redemption value over the accumulated historical cost.

We allocated net (income) loss to the redeemable noncontrolling interests as illustrated in the table below (in thousands):


	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2023		2022		2023		2022
Net (income) loss attributable to redeemable noncontrolling interests in operating partnership	$	2,354	$	1,166	$	3,018	$	(647)
Distributions declared to holders of common units, LTIP units and Performance LTIP units	$	361	$	84	$	1,083	$	251

On February 24, 2023, at the option of Mr. Monty J. Bennett, Mr. Bennett’s 169,523 vested LTIP units that achieved economic parity with his common units were redeemed for common units on a one-for-one basis. On February 24, 2023, the Company received a Notice of Exercise of Redemption Right (the “Redemption Notice”), pursuant to which Mr. Bennett elected to redeem the common units and such redemption was settled in cash at the Company’s election based on the average of the closing price of the Company’s common stock for the ten consecutive trading days ending on February 23, 2023. Additionally, on February 24, 2023, Mr. Bennett elected to redeem an additional 1,254,254 common units and following receipt of the Redemption Notice, such redemption was settled in cash at the Company’s election at a price per common unit based on the average of the closing price of the Company’s common stock for the ten consecutive trading days ending on February 23, 2023. The cash redemption for the 1,423,777 common units totaled approximately $7.0 million.On May 12, 2023, the Company received a Notice of Redemption with respect to 32,500 vested common units, and such redemption was settled in cash at the Company’s election for approximately $123,000.