American Assets Trust, Inc.

Hello, and thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Q4 and year-end 2021 American Assets Trust, Inc. Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star 0. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Adam Wong, President and Chief Operating Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to American Asset Trust, Inc.' 's fourth quarter year-end 2021 earnings call. Yesterday afternoon, our earnings release and supplemental information were furnished to the SEC on Form 8K. Both are now available on the Investors section of our website, AmericanAssetsTrust.com. During this call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures which are reconciled to our GAAP financial results in our earnings release and supplemental information. We will also be making forward-looking statements based on our current expectations, which statements are subject to risk and uncertainties discussed in our SEC filings. Your caution not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as actual events could cause our results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements, including due to the impact of COVID-19. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Ernest Rady, our chairman and CEO, to begin the discussion of our fourth quarter and year-end 2021 results. Ernest? Thank you very much, Adam.

And good morning, everyone. First and foremost, I would like to wish all of our stakeholders continued health and safety as we hopefully find 2022 ushering in a more manageable phase of this pandemic. As you all know, we remain very optimistic about the high-quality, Irreplaceable properties, an asset class diversity of our portfolio combined with the strength of our balance sheet, ample liquidity, top-notch management team, and that said with all due modesty, an efficient operating platform will allow us to grow our earnings and net asset value for our shareholders on an accretive basis, on a long-term basis. I recall at the outset of the pandemic, I thought we might be in for another Great Depression, like the 1930s. But thanks to the incredible ingenuity and perseverance of Americans in modern science, particularly in regard to the push for effective vaccines and antiviral drugs, the U.S. economy only felt a limited recession, and meanwhile, capital markets rebounded quickly in most industries. However, our economy is left managing the unprecedented fiscal stimulus that no doubt has contributed to what is likely to be more than short-term inflation. Along those lines, with the Consumer Price Index experiencing its largest gain in 30 years, approximately 7%, we are confident in the thesis of our portfolio being an effective protection against inflation. Based on one, our ability to increase both base rents and annual rent escalators as lease expire within our portfolio to keep up with inflation, our visibility of significantly higher demand and limited supply in our markets for higher quality assets like the ones we own, and third, the replacement cost of our properties continues to rise. This is particularly more compelling with high barrier to entry modern amenitized property like ours that are in the path of growth, education, and innovation. Therefore, we can likely withstand the impacts of long-term inflation, if not ultimately thrive. These are amongst the reasons why I personally have purchased our stock during prior open periods, as in my view, we are trading significantly below our net asset value. and believe that the recent broker transaction in our markets and asset classes support this view. With respect to our financial results, I was pleased to see our considerable rebound in 2021 as compared to 2020 and continue to be optimistic about our growth in 2022 and particularly the years thereafter. As such, I want to mention that the Board of Directors has approved a quarterly dividend of 32 cents a share for the first quarter, an increase of 2 cents or approximately 7% from our previous dividend, which we believe is supported by our financial results and an expression of our board's confidence in the embedded growth of our portfolio this year and beyond. The dividend will be paid on March 24th to shareholders of record March 10th. Finally, on the development front, both La Jolla Commons III and one beat speed remain on time and on budget. And though we remain optimistic by the leasing prospects, we do not have any specific views to share on that front at this time. Adam, Bob, and Steve will go into more details on our various asset segments, financial results, and guidance, and I will be available for any questions that you may have at the conclusion of our prepared remarks. Again, on behalf of all of us at American Assets Trust, We thank you for your confidence in allowing us to manage your company and for your continued support. I'm now going to turn the call back over to Adam.