DigitalBridge Group, Inc. 10-Q

Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk. Market risk includes the exposure to loss resulting from changes in interest rates, credit curve spreads, foreign currency exchange rates, commodity prices, equity prices and credit risk in our underlying investments. Credit Risk We are subject to the credit risk of the tenant/operators of our properties. We seek to undertake a rigorous credit evaluation of each tenant and operator prior to acquiring properties. This analysis includes an extensive due diligence investigation of the tenant/operator’s business as well as an assessment of the strategic importance of the underlying real estate to the tenant/operator’s core business operations. Where appropriate, we may seek to augment the tenant/operator’s commitment to the facility by structuring various credit enhancement mechanisms into their management assessments, where applicable, and underlying leases. These mechanisms could include security deposit requirements or guarantees from entities we deem creditworthy. In addition, our investment in loans receivable is subject to a high degree of credit risk through exposure to loss from loan defaults. Default rates are subject to a wide variety of factors, including, but not limited to, borrower financial condition, property performance, property management, supply/demand factors, construction trends, consumer behavior, regional economics, interest rates, the strength of the U.S. economy and other factors beyond our control. All loans are subject to a certain probability of default. We manage credit risk through the underwriting process, acquiring our investments at the appropriate discount to face value, if any, and establishing loss assumptions. We also carefully monitor the performance of the loans, including those held through our joint venture investments, as well as external factors that may affect their value. 79 Table of Contents Interest Rate and Credit Curve Spread Risk Interest rate risk relates to the risk that the future cash flow of a financial instrument will fluctuate because of changes in market interest rates. Interest rate risk is highly sensitive to many factors, including governmental, monetary and tax policies, domestic and international economic and political considerations and other factors beyond our control. Credit curve spread risk is highly sensitive to the dynamics of the markets for loans and securities we hold. Excessive supply of these assets combined with reduced demand will cause the market to require a higher yield. This demand for higher yield will cause the market to use a higher spread over the U.S. Treasury securities yield curve, or other benchmark interest rates, to value these assets. As U.S. Treasury securities are priced to a higher yield and/or the spread to U.S. Treasuries used to price the assets increases, the price at which we could sell some of our fixed rate financial assets may decline. Conversely, as U.S. Treasury securities are priced to a lower yield and/or the spread to U.S. Treasuries used to price the assets decreases, the value of our fixed rate financial assets may increase. Fluctuations in LIBOR and/or any alternative reference rate may affect the amount of interest income we earn on our floating rate borrowings and interest expense we incur on borrowings indexed to such reference rate, including under credit facilities and investment-level financing. We utilize a variety of financial instruments on some of our investments, including interest rate swaps, caps, floors and other interest rate exchange contracts, in order to limit the effects of fluctuations in interest rates on our operations. The use of these types of derivatives to hedge interest-earning assets and/or interest-bearing liabilities carries certain risks, including the risk that losses on a hedge position will reduce the funds available for distribution and that such losses may exceed the amount invested in such instruments. A hedge may not perform its intended purpose of offsetting losses of rising interest rates. Moreover, with respect to certain of the instruments used as hedges, we are exposed to the risk that the counterparties with which we trade may cease making markets and quoting prices in such instruments, which may render us unable to enter into an offsetting transaction with respect to an open position. If we anticipate that the income from any such hedging transaction will not be qualifying income for REIT income purposes, we may conduct all or part of our hedging activities through a to-be-formed corporate subsidiary that is fully subject to federal corporate income taxation. Our profitability may be adversely affected during any period as a result of changing interest rates. We have financing arrangements with various financial institutions bearing variable rate interest indexed primarily to 1 and 3-month LIBOR and 1 and 3-month Euribor. We limit our exposure to interest rate increases for our debt primarily through the use of interest rate caps. The interest rate sensitivity table below illustrates the hypothetical impact of changes in the index rates in 1% increments on our interest expense in a one year period, assuming no changes in our debt principal as it stood at September 30, 2021, and taking into account the effects of interest rate caps and contractual floors on indices. The maximum decrease in the interest rates is assumed to be the actual applicable indices at September 30, 2021, all of which were under 1% at September 30, 2021. ($ in thousands) +2.00% +1.00% Maximum Decrease in Applicable Index Increase (decrease) in interest expense $ 75,703 $ 38,754 $ (2,550) Amount attributable to noncontrolling interests in investment entities 33,581 17,403 (965) Amount attributable to Operating Company $ 42,122 $ 21,351 $ (1,585) Foreign Currency Risk We have foreign currency rate exposures related to our foreign currency-denominated investments, in EUR and in GBP, held predominantly by our foreign subsidiaries and to a lesser extent, by U.S. subsidiaries. Changes in foreign currency rates can adversely affect the fair values and earnings of our non-U.S. holdings. We generally mitigate this foreign currency risk by utilizing currency instruments to hedge our net investments in our foreign subsidiaries, using primarily foreign currency put options, forward contracts and costless collars. The maturity dates of these instruments approximate the projected dates of related cash flows for specific investments. We expect our foreign currency exposure to be reduced significantly in the near future as we are currently pursuing a monetization of the remaining investments in our OED portfolio in the Other segment, which holds a substantial portion of our foreign currency denominated investments. Commodity Price Risk Certain operating costs in our data center portfolio are subject to price fluctuations caused by volatility of underlying commodity prices, primarily electricity used in our data center operations. We closely monitor the cost of electricity at all of our locations and may enter into power utility contracts to purchase electricity at fixed prices in certain locations in the U.S., with such contracts generally representing less than our forecasted usage. Our building of new data centers and 80 Table of Contents expansion of existing data centers will also subject us to commodity price risk with respect to building materials such as steel and copper. Additionally, the lead time to procure data center equipment is substantial and procurement delays could increase construction cost and delay revenue generation.