provisions of Simon’s charter and by-laws could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control even if some of Simon’s stockholders or the Operating Partnership’s unitholders or preferred unitholders deem such a change to be in their best interests. These include provisions preventing holders of Simon’s common stock from acting by written consent and requiring that up to four directors in the aggregate may be elected by holders of Class B common stock. In addition, certain provisions of the Operating Partnership’s partnership agreement could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control. These include a provision requiring the consent of a majority in interest of units in order for Simon, as general partner of the Operating Partnership, to, among other matters, engage in a merger transaction or sell all or substantially all of its assets. Risks Related to Indebtedness and the Financial Markets We have a substantial debt burden that could affect our future operations. As of December 31, 2023, our consolidated mortgages and unsecured indebtedness, excluding related premium, discount and debt issuance costs, totaled $26.2 billion. As a result of this indebtedness, we are required to use a substantial portion of our cash flows for debt service, including selected repayment at scheduled maturities, which limits our ability to use those cash flows to fund the growth of our business. We are also subject to the risks normally associated with debt financing, including the risk that our cash flows from operations will be insufficient to meet required debt service or that we will be able to refinance such indebtedness on acceptable terms, or at all. Our debt service costs generally will not be reduced if developments at the applicable property, such as the entry of new competitors or the loss of major tenants, cause a reduction in the income from the property. Our indebtedness could also have other adverse consequences on us, including reducing our access to capital or increasing our vulnerability to general adverse economic, industry and market conditions. In addition, if a property is mortgaged to secure payment of indebtedness and income from such property is insufficient to pay that indebtedness, the property could be foreclosed upon by the mortgagee resulting in a loss of income and a decline in our total asset value. If any of the foregoing occurs, we could be materially and adversely affected. The agreements that govern our indebtedness contain various covenants that impose restrictions on us that might affect our ability to operate freely. We have a variety of unsecured debt, including the Credit Facilities, senior unsecured notes and commercial paper, and secured property level debt. Certain of the agreements that govern our indebtedness contain covenants, including, among other things, limitations on our ability to incur secured and unsecured indebtedness, sell all or substantially all of our assets and engage in mergers and certain acquisitions. In addition, certain of the agreements that govern our indebtedness contain financial covenants that require us to maintain certain financial ratios, including certain coverage ratios. These covenants may restrict our ability to pursue certain business initiatives or certain transactions that might otherwise be advantageous to us. In addition, our ability to comply with these provisions might be affected by events beyond our control. Failure to comply with any of our financing covenants could result in an event of default, which, if not cured or waived, could accelerate the related indebtedness as well as other of our indebtedness, which could have a material adverse effect on us. Disruption in the capital and credit markets may increase the cost of capital and may adversely affect our ability to access external financings for our growth and ongoing debt service requirements. We depend on external financings, principally debt financings, to fund the growth of our business, execute on our business model, and to ensure that we can meet ongoing maturities of our outstanding debt. Our access to financing depends on our credit ratings, the willingness of lending institutions and other debt investors to grant credit to us and conditions in the capital markets in general, which can impact both our cost of capital and, to a lesser degree, our ability to access capital. An economic recession may cause extreme volatility and disruption in the capital and credit markets. We rely upon the Credit Facilities as sources of funding for numerous transactions. Our access to these funds is dependent upon the ability of each of the participants to the Credit Facilities to meet their funding commitments to us. When markets are volatile, access to capital and credit markets could be disrupted over an extended period of time and one or more financial institutions may not have the available capital to meet their previous commitments to us. The failure of one or more participants to the Credit Facilities to meet their funding commitments to us could have a material adverse effect on us, including as a result of making it difficult to obtain the financing we may need for future growth and/or meeting our debt service requirements. Additionally, a high interest rate environment, as we are currently experiencing, and which the Company believes will continue in 2024, could prevent us from accessing capital at attractive interest rates, which could adversely impact our ability to refinance existing debt at maturity as well as our ability to fund development and/or opportunistic acquisition activities. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain the financing we need for the future growth of our business, execution on our business model or to meet our debt service requirements, or that a sufficient amount of financing will be available to us on favorable terms, or at all.
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