Adverse changes in our credit ratings could affect our borrowing capacity and borrowing terms. The Operating Partnership’s outstanding senior unsecured notes, the Credit Facilities, the Commercial Paper program, and Simon’s preferred stock are periodically rated by nationally recognized credit rating agencies. The credit ratings are based on our operating performance, liquidity and leverage ratios, financial condition and prospects, and other factors viewed by the credit rating agencies as relevant to us and our industry and the economic outlook in general. Our credit ratings can affect the amount of capital we can access, as well as the terms of any financing we obtain. Since we depend primarily on debt financing to fund the growth of our business, an adverse change in our credit ratings, including actual changes and changes in outlook, or even the initiation of a review of our credit ratings that could result in an adverse change, could have a material adverse effect on us. An increase in interest rates would increase our interest costs on variable rate debt and could adversely impact our ability to refinance existing debt on attractive terms, or at all; our hedging interest rate protection arrangements may not effectively limit our interest rate risk. As of December 31, 2023, we had approximately $328.0 million of outstanding consolidated indebtedness that bears interest at variable rates, and we may incur more variable rate indebtedness in the future. When interest rates increase, then so does the interest costs on our unhedged variable rate debt, which could adversely affect our cash flows and our ability to pay principal and interest on our debt and our ability to make distributions to our stockholders. Further, rising interest rates could limit our ability to refinance existing debt when it matures or significantly increase our future interest expense. We selectively manage our exposure to interest rate risk by a combination of interest rate protection agreements to effectively fix or cap all or a portion of our variable rate debt. In addition, we refinance fixed rate debt at times when we believe rates and other terms are appropriate. Our efforts to manage these exposures may not be successful. Our use of interest rate hedging arrangements to manage risk associated with interest rate volatility may expose us to additional risks, including a risk that a counterparty to a hedging arrangement may fail to honor its obligations or that we could be required to fund our contractual payment obligations under such arrangements in relatively large amounts or on short notice. Developing an effective interest rate risk strategy is complex and no strategy can completely insulate us from risks associated with interest rate fluctuations. There can be no assurance that our hedging activities will have the desired beneficial impact on our results of operations, liquidity and financial condition. Termination of these hedging agreements typically involves costs, such as transaction fees or breakage costs. Risks Related to Joint Ventures We have limited control with respect to some properties that are partially owned or managed by third parties, which may adversely affect our ability to sell or refinance them. As of December 31, 2023, we owned interests in 100 income-producing properties with other parties. Of those, 19 properties are included in our consolidated financial statements. We apply the equity method of accounting to the other 81 properties (the joint venture properties) and our investments in Klépierre (a publicly traded, Paris-based real estate company), The Taubman Realty Group, LLC, or TRG, and Jamestown, as well as our investments in certain entities involved in retail operations, such as J.C. Penney and SPARC Group; intellectual property and licensing venture, such as Authentic Brands Group, LLC, or ABG; and an e-commerce venture Rue Gilt Groupe, or RGG, (collectively, our other platform investments). We serve as general partner or property manager for 51 of these 81 joint venture properties; however, certain major decisions, such as approving the operating budget and selling, refinancing, and redeveloping the properties, require the consent of the other owners. Of the joint venture properties for which we do not serve as general partner or property manager, 24 are in our international joint ventures. These international properties are managed locally by joint ventures in which we share control of the properties with our partner. The other owners have participating rights that we consider substantive for purposes of determining control over the joint venture properties’ assets. The remaining joint venture properties, Klépierre, TRG, Jamestown, and our joint ventures with ABG, J.C. Penney, RGG, and SPARC Group are managed by third parties. These investments, and other future similar investments, could involve risks that would not be present were a third party not involved, including the possibility that partners or other owners might become bankrupt, suffer a deterioration in their creditworthiness, or fail to fund their share of required capital contributions. If one of our partners or other owners in these investments were to become bankrupt, we may be precluded from taking certain actions regarding our investments without prior court approval, which at a minimum may delay the actions we would or might want to take. Additionally, partners or other owners could have economic or other business interests or goals that are inconsistent with our own business interests or goals, and could be in a position to take actions contrary to our policies or objectives.
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