Simon 2021 Annual Report

• selling or leasing land adjacent to our properties, commonly referred to as “outlots” or “outparcels,” and • generating interest income on cash deposits and investments in loans, including those made to related entities. We focus on high quality real estate across the retail real estate spectrum. We expand or redevelop properties to enhance profitability and market share of existing assets when we believe the investment of our capital meets our risk-reward criteria. We selectively develop new properties in markets we believe are not adequately served by existing retail outlet properties. We routinely review and evaluate acquisition opportunities based on their ability to enhance our portfolio. Our international strategy includes partnering with established real estate companies and financing international investments with local currency to minimize foreign exchange risk. To support our growth, we employ a three-fold capital strategy: • provide the capital necessary to fund growth, • maintain sufficient flexibility to access capital in many forms, both public and private, and • manage our overall financial structure in a fashion that preserves our investment grade credit ratings. We consider FFO, net operating income, or NOI, and portfolio NOI to be key measures of operating performance that are not specifically defined by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or GAAP. We use these measures internally to evaluate the operating performance of our portfolio and provide a basis for comparison with other real estate companies. Reconciliations of these measures to the most comparable GAAP measure are included below in this discussion. COVID-19 On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel strain of coronavirus, or COVID-19, a global pandemic and recommended containment and mitigation measures worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a material negative impact on economic and market conditions around the world, and, notwithstanding the fact that vaccines are being administered in the United States and elsewhere, the pandemic continues to adversely impact economic activity in retail real estate. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and governments and other authorities, including where we own or hold interests in properties, have imposed at times measures intended to control its spread, including restrictions on freedom of movement, group gatherings and business operations such as travel bans, border closings, business closures, quarantines, stay-at-home, shelter-in-place orders, capacity limitations and social distancing measures. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and these periodic measures, the Company has experienced material impacts including changes in the ability to recognize revenue due to changes in our assessment of the probability of collection of lease income and asset impairment charges as a result of changing cash flows generated by our properties and investments. Due to certain restrictive governmental orders placed on us, our domestic portfolio lost approximately 13,500 shopping days in 2020, the majority of which occurred in the second quarter. As we developed and implemented our response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions intended to prevent its spread on our business, our primary focus has been on the health and safety of our employees, our shoppers and the communities in which we serve. In the second quarter of 2020, in connection with the property closures, we implemented a series of actions to reduce costs and increase liquidity in light of the economic impacts of the pandemic, including: • significantly reduced all non-essential corporate spending, • significantly reduced property operating expenses, including discretionary marketing spend, • implemented a temporary furlough of certain corporate and field employees due to the closure of the Company’s U.S. properties as a result of restrictive governmental orders; reduced certain corporate and field personnel and implemented a temporary freeze on company hiring efforts, and • suspended more than $1.0 billion of redevelopment and new development projects.

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