Business and Organization

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

W. P. Carey Inc. (“W. P. Carey”) is a REIT that, together with our consolidated subsidiaries, invests primarily in operationally-critical, single-tenant commercial real estate properties located in the United States and Northern and Western Europe on a long-term basis. We earn revenue principally by leasing the properties we own to companies on a triple-net lease basis, which generally requires each tenant to pay the costs associated with operating and maintaining the property.

Founded in 1973, our shares of common stock are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “WPC.”

We elected to be taxed as a REIT under Section 856 through 860 of the Internal Revenue Code effective as of February 15, 2012. As a REIT, we are not subject to federal income taxes on income and gains that we distribute to our stockholders as long as we satisfy certain requirements, principally relating to the nature of our income and the level of our distributions, as well as other factors. We also own real property in jurisdictions outside the United States through foreign subsidiaries and are subject to income taxes on our pre-tax income earned from properties in such countries. Through our taxable REIT subsidiaries (“TRSs”), we also earn revenue as the advisor to certain publicly owned, non-traded investment programs. We hold all of our real estate assets attributable to our Real Estate segment under the REIT structure, while the activities conducted by our Investment Management segment subsidiaries have been organized under TRSs.

At March 31, 2020, we were the advisor to the following entities:


•	Corporate Property Associates 18 – Global Incorporated (“CPA:18 – Global”), a publicly owned, non-traded REIT that primarily invests in commercial real estate properties;

•

Carey Watermark Investors Incorporated (“CWI 1”) and Carey Watermark Investors 2 Incorporated (“CWI 2”), two publicly owned, non-traded REITs that invest in lodging and lodging-related properties; we refer to CWI 1 and CWI 2 together as the “CWI REITs” and, together with CPA:18 – Global, as the “Managed REITs” (as used throughout this Report, the term “Managed REITs” does not include CWI 1 and CWI 2 following the closing of the CWI 1 and CWI 2 Merger described below) (Note 3); and


•	Carey European Student Housing Fund I, L.P. (“CESH”), a limited partnership formed for the purpose of developing, owning, and operating student housing properties and similar investments in Europe (Note 3); we refer to the Managed REITs and CESH collectively as the “Managed Programs.”

On October 22, 2019, CWI 1 and CWI 2 announced that they had entered into a definitive merger agreement under which the two companies intended to merge in an all-stock transaction, with CWI 2 as the surviving entity (the “CWI 1 and CWI 2 Merger”). The CWI 1 and CWI 2 Merger was approved by the stockholders of CWI 1 and CWI 2 on April 8, 2020 and closed on April 13, 2020, as described in Note 16. Following the close of the merger, the advisory agreements with CWI 1 and CWI 2 were terminated, CWI 2 was renamed Watermark Lodging Trust, Inc., and we provide certain management services to Watermark Lodging Trust, Inc. pursuant to a transition services agreement. We no longer raise capital for new or existing funds, but currently expect to continue managing CPA:18 – Global and CESH through the end of their respective life cycles (Note 3).

Reportable Segments

Real Estate — Lease revenues from our real estate investments generate the vast majority of our earnings. We invest primarily in commercial properties located in the United States and Northern and Western Europe, which are leased to companies on a triple-net lease basis. At March 31, 2020, our owned portfolio was comprised of our full or partial ownership interests in 1,215 properties, totaling approximately 141.1 million square feet, substantially all of which were net leased to 352 tenants, with a weighted-average lease term of 10.7 years and an occupancy rate of 98.8%. In addition, at March 31, 2020, our portfolio was comprised of full or partial ownership interests in 20 operating properties, including 19 self-storage properties and one hotel, totaling approximately 1.4 million square feet.

Investment Management — Through our TRSs, we structure and negotiate investments for the Managed Programs, for which we earn structuring revenue, and manage their portfolios of real estate investments, for which we earn asset management revenue. We may earn disposition revenue when we negotiate and structure the sale of properties on behalf of the Managed REITs, and we may also earn incentive revenue and receive other compensation through our advisory agreements with certain of the Managed Programs, including in connection with providing liquidity events for the Managed REITs’ stockholders. In addition, we include equity income generated through our (i) ownership of shares and limited partnership units of the Managed Programs (Note 7) and (ii) special general partner interests in the operating partnerships of the Managed REITs, through which we participate in their cash flows (Note 3), in our Investment Management segment.

At March 31, 2020, the Managed Programs owned all or a portion of 50 net-leased properties (including certain properties in which we also have an ownership interest), totaling approximately 10.1 million square feet, substantially all of which were leased to 65 tenants, with an occupancy rate of approximately 99.3%. The Managed Programs also had interests in 104 operating properties (totaling approximately 14.9 million square feet in the aggregate) and 16 active build-to-suit projects.