XML 24 R16.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT

Other Investments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2023

Investments, All Other Investments [Abstract]

Note 7—Other Investments

The Company’s other investments and its proportionate share of earnings from equity investments were as follows ($ in thousands):


					Earnings from				Earnings from
	Carrying Value				Equity Method Investments				Equity Method Investments
	as of				For the Three Months Ended				For the Nine Months Ended
	September 30,		December 31,		September 30,				September 30,
	2023		2022		2023		2022		2023		2022
Safehold Inc. ("Safe")⁽¹⁾	$	240,703	$	554,733	$	—	$	16,052	$	1,089	$	27,956
Other real estate and strategic equity investments⁽²⁾		283		32,405		217		12,941		29,344		22,546
Total	$	240,986	$	587,138	$	217	$	28,993	$	30,433	$	50,502

(1)

As of September 30, 2023, the Company owned 13.5 million shares of Safe common stock which, based on the closing price of $17.80 on September 29, 2023, had a market value of $240.7 million. The Company does not have significant influence over Safe and accounts for its investment in Safe as an equity investment under ASC 321 – Investments – Equity Securities (“ASC 321”), which requires that the Company adjust its investment in Safe to fair value through income at each reporting period. As such, the Company recognized an “Unrealized loss on equity investment” of $80.2 million and $247.1 million, respectively, in its combined and consolidated statements of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023. Prior to the Spin-Off, iStar accounted for its investment in Safe as an equity method investment under ASC 323 – Investments – Equity Method and Joint Ventures (“ASC 323”) due to its ability to exercise significant influence. Pursuant to ASC 323-10-40-1, an equity method investor shall account for a share issuance by an investee as if the investor had sold a proportionate share of its investment. Any gain or loss to the investor resulting from an investee’s share issuance shall be recognized in earnings. For the nine months ended September 30, 2022, equity in earnings includes $0.3 million of dilution gains resulting from Safe equity offerings. As of December 31, 2022, the Company was allocated ownership of approximately 15.2 million shares of Safe common stock from iStar. The allocation was adjusted based upon the final terms of the Spin-Off on March 31, 2023, and the Company’s investment basis was reduced by approximately 1.8 million shares with a carrying value of approximately $65.6 million, which was adjusted against additional paid-in capital within equity.

(2)

For the nine months ended September 30, 2023, the Company recorded $29.3 million in earnings from equity method investments primarily from the sale of properties within its equity method investments. For the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company recognized earnings from equity method investments of $11.5 million primarily from the sale of a multifamily property at one of our ventures and $5.0 million primarily from the settlement of our interest in a venture.

Safehold Inc.—Safe is a publicly-traded company that acquires, owns, manages, finances and capitalizes ground leases. Ground leases generally represent ownership of the land underlying commercial real estate projects that is net leased by the fee owner of the land to the owners/operators of the real estate projects built thereon (“Ground Leases”). As of September 30, 2023, the Company owned approximately 13.5 million shares, or 19.0%, of Safe’s outstanding common stock. The Company accounts for its investment in the Safe Shares as an equity investment due to the terms of the governance agreement described below.

On March 31, 2023, the Company entered into the following agreements with Safe:

Separation and Distribution Agreement—The Separation and Distribution Agreement provides for, among other things, the principal corporate transactions required to effect the Spin-Off and provisions governing Star Holdings' relationship with Safe with respect to and following the Spin-Off. The Separation and Distribution Agreement includes provisions allocating assets and liabilities between Star Holdings and Safe and various post-closing covenants relating to, among other things, the treatment of the parties’ insurance policies, information sharing and other operational matters. The Separation and Distribution Agreement includes a mutual release by Star Holdings, on the one hand, and Safe, on the other hand, of the other party from certain specified liabilities, as well as mutual indemnification covenants pursuant to which Star Holdings and Safe have agreed to indemnify each other from certain specified liabilities.

Management Agreement—The Company entered into the Management Agreement with Safehold Management Services Inc. (the “Manager”), a subsidiary of Safe. The Management Agreement requires the manager to manage the

Company’s assets and its and its subsidiaries’ day-to-day operations, subject to the supervision of Board of Trustees of the Company (the “Board”). Pursuant to the Management Agreement, the manager is required to provide the Company with a management team, including a chief executive officer, a chief financial officer and a chief compliance officer, along with support personnel, to provide the management services to be provided by the manager to the Company. The manager does not assume any responsibility other than to render the services called for thereunder and is not responsible for any action of the Board in following or declining to follow its advice or recommendations.

The initial term of the Management Agreement will expire on the first anniversary of the date of the Management Agreement and will be automatically renewed for a one-year term each anniversary date thereafter unless previously terminated pursuant to the terms thereof. The Company will pay the manager fixed cash management fees of $25.0 million, $15.0 million, $10.0 million and $5.0 million, respectively, in each of the initial four annual terms of the Management Agreement and 2.0% of the gross book value of the Company’s assets excluding the Safe Shares for each annual term thereafter, and will reimburse the manager for third party expenses incurred in connection with its services. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, the Company recorded $6.3 million and $13.5 million, respectively, of management fees to the Manager.

The Management Agreement may be terminated by the Company without cause by not less than one hundred eighty days’ written notice to the Manager upon the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the Company’s independent directors, provided, however, that if the date of termination occurs prior to the fourth anniversary of the Spin-Off, the termination will be subject to payment of the applicable termination fee to the Manager. The Company may also terminate the Management Agreement at any time, including during the initial term, with 30 days’ prior written notice from the Company’s board of trustees for “cause,” as defined in the Management Agreement.

In the event of a termination without cause by the Company prior to the fourth anniversary of the Spin-Off, the Company will pay the Manager a termination fee of $50.0 million minus the aggregate amount of management fees actually paid to the Manager prior to the termination date. However, if the Company has completed the liquidation of its assets on or before the termination date, the termination fee will consist of any portion of the annual management fee that remained unpaid for the remainder of the then current annual term plus, if the termination date occurs on or before the third anniversary of the Spin-Off, the amount of the management fee that would have been payable for the next succeeding annual term, or if the termination date occurs after the third anniversary of the Spin-Off, zero.

In the event of a termination by the Manager based on a reduction in the amount of the Company’s combined and consolidated assets below designated thresholds, the Company will pay the Manager a termination fee of $30.0 million if the termination occurs in the first year, $15.0 million if the termination occurs in the second year and $5.0 million if the termination occurs in the third year, in each case, plus the balance of any unpaid portion of the annual management fee for the applicable year.

Governance Agreement—The Company and Safe entered into a governance agreement (the “Governance Agreement”) in order to establish various arrangements and restrictions with respect to the governance of the Company and certain rights and restrictions with respect to the Safe Shares owned by the Company.

Pursuant to the terms of the Governance Agreement, the Company and its subsidiaries are subject to customary restrictions on the transfer of Safe Shares held by the Company for nine months. Furthermore, the Company and its subsidiaries are prohibited from transferring at any time any the Safe Shares held by the Company or its subsidiaries to any person who is known by the Company or its subsidiaries to be an “Activist” or “Company Competitor” (as such terms are defined in the Governance Agreement), or to any group that, to the knowledge of the Company or its subsidiaries, includes as “Activist” or “Company Competitor,” without first obtaining the Safe’s prior written consent.

During a “restrictive period” which lasts until the earliest to occur of (i) the effective date on which Safe terminates the Management Agreement; or (ii) the date on which we beneficially own less than 7.5% of Safe’s outstanding common stock and Safe is no longer our external manager; or (iii) a Change of Control of Safe (as defined in the Governance Agreement), we and our directly or indirectly wholly owned subsidiaries are required to vote the Safe Shares in accordance

with the recommendations of the board of directors of Safe. We have irrevocably designated and appointed the board of directors of Safe as our sole and exclusive attorney-in-fact and proxy with full power of substitution and re-substitution to exercise the voting power of our shares of Safe in accordance with these requirements. We will also be subject to certain standstill agreements during the restrictive period. The terms of such standstill agreements will restrict us from making certain acquisitions of Safe securities, seeking representation on Safe’s board of directors, participating in the solicitation of proxies or written consents of Safe shareholders, and taking other actions which could seek to influence or result in a change of control of Safe or cause or require Safe to make certain public announcements, except as permitted by the governance agreement or with the prior written consent of the independent directors of the board of directors of Safe.

Registration Rights Agreement—Under the Registration Rights Agreement, Safe has agreed to (i) register Star Holdings' shares of Safe common stock and the other registrable securities for resale by filing and maintaining a shelf registration statement; (ii) file a registration statement covering Star Holdings' shares of Safe common stock and other registrable securities pursuant to the demand right and (iii) allow Star Holdings to piggyback on certain other registration statements filed by Safe. Star Holdings may use the registration rights to sell its shares of Safe common stock in underwritten offerings, block trades and other methods of distribution. Star Holdings will be subject to certain suspension and lockup obligations. Star Holdings' registration rights will end, among other times, when it owns less than 2% of Safe's outstanding common stock and is able to sell all of the shares of Safe common stock pursuant to Rule 144(b) without restriction.

Safe Credit Facility—Refer to Note 9 for additional information on the Safe Credit Facility.

Other real estate and strategic equity investments—As of September 30, 2023, the Company’s other real estate equity investments include equity interests of 95% in real estate ventures comprised primarily of investments in two operating properties that have been sold and are in the process of liquidating. As of December 31, 2022, the Company’s other real estate equity investments include equity interests of 95% in real estate ventures comprised of investments in three operating properties.

Summarized investee financial information—The following table presents the investee level summarized financial information for the Company’s equity method investment in Safe that was significant for the periods presented ($ in thousands):


	Revenues		Expenses		Net Income Attributable to Safe⁽¹⁾
For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2023⁽²⁾
Safe	$	78,329	$	75,875	$	4,682

For the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2022
Safe	$	196,943	$	136,517	$	113,628

(1)	Net Income Attributable to Safe also includes gain on sale of net investment in leases and earnings from equity method investments.

(2)

Prior to the Spin-Off, iStar accounted for its investment in Safe as an equity method investment under ASC 323 due to its ability to exercise significant influence. Subsequent to the Spin-Off, the Company does not have significant influence over Safe and accounts for its investment in Safe as an equity investment under ASC 321, which requires that the Company adjust its investment in Safe to fair value through income at each reporting period.