Form 10-K

Commission file number: 001-32136

Arbor Realty Trust, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(516) 832-8002

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)

      Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known, seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.     Yes o          No þ

      Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.     o

      Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the proceeding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.     Yes þ          No o

      Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein and will not be contained, to the best of the registrant’s knowledge, in the definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.     o

      Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer or a non-accelerated filer. See definition of “accelerated filer and large accelerated filer” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one)

Large accelerated filer o          Accelerated filer þ          Non-accelerated filer o

      Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).     Yes o          No þ

      The aggregate market value of the registrant’s voting common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2005 (computed based on the closing price on such date as reported on the NYSE) was $459.4 million. As of March 10, 2006, the registrant had issued and outstanding 17,112,761 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

      Portions of the definitive proxy statement for the registrant’s 2006 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “2006 Proxy Statement”), to be filed within 120 days after the end of the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2005, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

INDEX

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

      The information contained in this annual report on Form 10-K is not a complete description of our business or the risks associated with an investment in Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. We urge you to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by us in this report.

      This report contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, the operating performance of our investments and financing needs. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “potential,” “intend,” “expect,” “endeavor,” “seek,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “overestimate,” “underestimate,” “believe,” “could,” “project,” “predict,” “continue” or other similar words or expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions, discuss future expectations, describe future plans and strategies, contain projections of results of operations or of financial condition or state other forward-looking information. Our ability to predict results or the actual effect of future plans or strategies is inherently uncertain. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, our actual results and performance could differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. Factors that could have a material adverse effect on our operations and future prospects include, but are not limited to, changes in economic conditions generally and the real estate market specifically; adverse changes in the financing markets we access affecting our ability to finance our loan and investment portfolio; changes in interest rates; the quality and size of the investment pipeline and the rate at which we can invest our cash; impairments in the value of the collateral underlying our loans and investments; changes in the markets; legislative/regulatory changes; completion of pending investments; the availability and cost of capital for future investments; competition within the finance and real estate industries; and other risks detailed from time to time in our SEC reports. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements, which reflect our management’s views as of the date of this report. The factors noted above could cause our actual results to differ significantly from those contained in any forward-looking statement. For a discussion of our critical accounting policies, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. and Subsidiaries — Significant Accounting Estimates and Critical Accounting Policies” under Item 7 of this report.

      Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. We are under no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this report to conform these statements to actual results.

PART I

Overview

      We are a specialized real estate finance company which invests in a diversified portfolio of structured finance assets in the multi-family and commercial real estate markets. We invest primarily in real estate-related bridge and mezzanine loans, including junior participating interests in first mortgages, preferred and direct equity, and in limited cases, discounted mortgage notes and other real estate-related assets, which we refer to collectively as structured finance investments. We also invest in mortgage-related securities. Our principal business objective is to maximize the difference between the yield on our investments and the cost of financing these investments to generate cash available for distribution, facilitate capital appreciation and maximize total return to our stockholders.

      We are organized to qualify as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) for federal income tax purposes. We commenced operations in July 2003 and conduct substantially all of our operations and investing activities through our operating partnership, Arbor Realty Limited Partnership, and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. We serve as the general partner of our operating partnership, and own an approximately 82% partnership interest in our operating partnership as of December 31, 2005.

      We are externally managed and advised by Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC (“ACM”), a national commercial real estate finance company which specializes in debt and equity financing for multi-family and commercial real estate, pursuant to the terms of a management agreement described below. We believe ACM’s experience and reputation positions it to originate attractive investment opportunities for us. Our management agreement with ACM was developed to capitalize on synergies with ACM’s origination infrastructure, existing business relationships and management expertise.

      We believe the financing of multi-family and commercial real estate offers significant growth opportunities that demand customized financing solutions. ACM has granted us a right of first refusal to pursue all domestic structured finance investment opportunities identified by ACM. ACM continues to originate and service multi-family and commercial mortgage loans under Fannie Mae, Federal Housing Administration and conduit commercial lending programs. We believe that the customer relationships established from these lines of business may generate additional real estate investment opportunities for our business.

Our Corporate History

      On July 1, 2003, ACM contributed a portfolio of structured finance investments to our operating partnership. Concurrently with this contribution, we and our operating partnership entered into a management agreement with ACM pursuant to which ACM manages our investments for a base management fee and incentive compensation, and the nine person asset management group of ACM became our employees.

      In exchange for ACM’s contribution of structured finance investments, our operating partnership issued approximately 3.1 million units of limited partnership interest, or operating partnership units, and approximately 0.6 million warrants to purchase additional operating partnership units at an initial exercise price of $15.00 per operating partnership unit to ACM. Concurrently, we, our operating partnership and ACM entered into a pairing agreement. Pursuant to the pairing agreement, each operating partnership unit issued to ACM and issuable to ACM upon exercise of its warrants for additional operating partnership units in connection with the contribution of initial assets was paired with one share of the Company’s special voting preferred stock. In October 2004, ACM exercised these warrants and currently holds approximately 3.8 million operating partnership units, constituting an approximately 18% limited partnership interest in our operating partnership. ACM may redeem each of these operating partnership units for cash or, at our election, one share of our common stock. We granted ACM certain demand and other registration rights with respect to the shares of common stock that may be issued upon redemption of these operating partnership units. Each of these operating partnership units is also paired with one share of our special voting preferred stock entitling ACM to one vote on all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders. ACM currently holds approximately

18% of the voting power of our outstanding stock. If ACM redeems these operating partnership units, an equivalent number of shares of our special voting preferred stock will be redeemed and cancelled.

      Concurrently with ACM’s contribution of investments to our operating partnership, we sold approximately 1.6 million of our units, each consisting of five shares of our common stock and one warrant to purchase an additional share of common stock at an initial exercise price of $15.00 per share, for $75.00 per unit in a private placement and agreed to register the shares of common stock underlying these units and warrants for resale under the Securities Act of 1933. In July 2004, we registered approximately 9.6 million shares of common stock underlying these units and warrants. As of December 31, 2005, approximately 1.6 million warrants were exercised, of which 0.5 million were exercised “cashless”, for a total of 1.3 million common shares issued pursuant to their exercise.

      In April 2004, we closed our initial public offering in which we issued and sold 6.3 million shares of common stock and a selling stockholder sold 22,500 shares of common stock, each at $20.00 per share. Concurrently with the initial public offering, we sold 0.5 million shares of common stock at the initial public offering price directly to an entity wholly-owned by one of our directors. The underwriters of our initial public offering exercised their overallotment option and, in May 2004, we issued and sold an additional 0.5 million shares of our common stock pursuant to such exercise.

      In January 2005, we completed a non-recourse collateralized debt obligation (“CDO”) transaction, whereby $469 million of real estate related and other assets were contributed to a newly-formed consolidated subsidiary, which issued $305 million of investment grade-rated floating-rate notes in a private placement. These proceeds were used to repay outstanding debt and resulted in a decreased cost of funds relating to the CDO assets.

      Subsequently, in January 2006, we completed our second non-recourse collateralized debt obligation (“CDO II”) transaction, whereby $412 million of real estate related and other assets were contributed to a newly-formed consolidated subsidiary, which issued $356 million of investment grade-rated floating-rate notes in a private placement. These proceeds were used to repay outstanding debt and resulted in a decreased cost of funds relating to the CDO II assets.

Our Investment Strategy

      Our principal business objectives are to invest in bridge and mezzanine loans, including junior participating interests in first mortgages, preferred and direct equity and other real estate related assets in the multifamily and commercial real estate markets and actively manage our investment portfolio in order to generate cash available for distribution, facilitate capital appreciation and maximize total return to our stockholders. We believe we can achieve these objectives through the following business and growth strategies:

Our Targeted Investments

      We actively pursue lending and investment opportunities with property owners and developers who need interim financing until permanent financing can be obtained. We primarily target transactions under $40 million where we believe we have competitive advantages, particularly our lower cost structure and in-house underwriting capabilities. Our structured finance investments generally have maturities of two to five years, depending on type, have extension options when appropriate, and generally require a balloon payment of principal at maturity. Borrowers in the market for these types of loans include, but are not limited to, owners or developers seeking either to acquire or refurbish real estate or to pay down debt and reposition a property for permanent financing.

      Our investment program emphasizes the following general categories of real estate related activities:

      The rate of prepayments on the underlying mortgage loans affect the price and volatility of mortgage-related securities and may have the effect of shortening or extending the effective maturity of the security beyond what was anticipated at the time of our investment in such securities. The yield and maturity characteristics of mortgage-related securities differ from conventional fixed-income securities in that the principal amount of mortgage-related securities may be prepaid at any time because the underlying mortgage loans may be prepaid at any time. Therefore, some mortgage-related securities may have less potential for growth in value than conventional fixed-income securities with comparable maturities. In addition, the rate of prepayments tends to increase in periods of falling interest rates. During such periods, the reinvestment of prepayment proceeds by us will generally be at lower rates than the rates that were carried by the obligations that have been prepaid. To the extent that we purchase mortgage-related securities at a premium, prepayments (which may be made without penalty) may result in loss of our principal investment to the extent of the premium paid.

Our Structured Finance Investments

      We own a diversified portfolio of structured finance investments consisting primarily of real estate-related bridge and mezzanine loans as well as preferred equity investments and mortgage-backed securities.

      At December 31, 2005, we had 72 loans and investments in our portfolio, totaling $1.3 billion. These loans and investments were for 14 multi-family properties, 15 condominium properties, 21 office properties, eight hotels, six commercial properties, four retail properties, and four other properties. There are no loans or investments in the portfolio that are non-performing. We continue to actively manage all loans and investments in the portfolio and believe that our strict underwriting and active asset management enable us to maintain the credit quality of our portfolio.

      The overall yield on our portfolio in 2005 was 10.40%, excluding the impact from a second quarter distribution that was recorded as interest income totaling approximately $17.2 million, on average assets of $979 million. This yield was computed by dividing the interest income earned during the year by the average assets during the year. Our cost of funds in 2005 was 6.20% on average borrowings of $718 million. This cost of funds was computed by dividing the interest expense incurred during the year by the average borrowings during the year.

      Our average net investment (average assets less average borrowings) in 2005 was $261 million, resulting in average leverage (average borrowings divided by average assets) of 73%. The net interest income earned in 2005 yielded a 21.92% return on our average net investment during the year. This yield was computed by dividing the net interest (interest income less interest expense) earned in 2005 by the average equity (computed as average assets minus average borrowings) invested during the year. Our business plan contemplates that our leverage ratio will be approximately 65% to 75%. However, our leverage will not exceed 80% of the value of our assets in the aggregate unless approval to exceed the 80% limit is obtained from our board of directors.

STRUCTURED FINANCE INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO

As of December 31, 2005

      The following tables set forth information regarding our bridge and mezzanine loans, preferred equity investments and other real estate-related assets as of December 31, 2005.

Our Investments in Mortgage-Related Securities

      In 2004, we invested $57.4 million (including $0.1 million of purchased interest) in agency-sponsored whole pool certificates. $20.6 million of these securities were issued by FNMA and $36.7 million were issued by FHLMC. Pools of FNMA and FHLMC adjustable rate residential mortgage loans underlie these securities. The underlying mortgage loans bear interest at a weighted average fixed rate for three years and adjusts annually thereafter and have a weighted average coupon rate of 3.8%. We receive monthly payments of interest and principal on these securities based on the monthly interest and principal payments that are made on the underlying mortgage loans. At December 31, 2005, these securities were financed under a $100 million repurchase agreement, maturing July 2006, at a rate of one-month LIBOR plus 0.20%. At December 31, 2005, the amortized cost of these securities was $30.5 million and the amount outstanding on the repurchase agreement related to the financing of these securities was $28.4 million. These investments had a weighted average balance of $38.7 million for the year with an average yield of 2.14%, net of amortization of premiums. These assets were financed by borrowings with a weighted average balance of $36.6 million and an average cost of funds of 3.46%.

      The table below sets forth information regarding our investments in mortgage-related securities as of December 31, 2005. These securities have a fixed interest rate until March 2007, and adjust annually thereafter.

Regulatory Aspects of Our Investment Strategy

      Real Estate Exemption from Investment Company Act. We believe that we conduct and we intend to conduct our business at all times in a manner that avoids registration as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. There is an exemption from registration for entities that are primarily engaged in the business of purchasing or otherwise acquiring “mortgages and other liens on and interests in real estate.” This exemption generally requires us to maintain at least 55% of our assets directly in qualifying real estate assets. Assets that qualify for purposes of this 55% test include, among other things, real estate, mortgage loans and agency-sponsored whole loan pool certificates. Our bridge loans secured by first mortgage liens on the underlying properties, loans secured by second mortgage liens on the underlying properties and agency-sponsored whole loan pool certificates generally qualify for purposes of this 55% test. We believe that these assets and certain of our mezzanine loans are in excess of 55% of our assets as of December 31, 2005 and qualify for purposes of the 55% test. The percentage of our assets that we invest in agency-sponsored whole loan pool certificates may decrease if we determine that we do not need to purchase such certificates for purposes of meeting the 55% test. If the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) takes a position or makes an interpretation more favorable to us, we may have greater flexibility in the investments we make. Our investments in mortgage-related securities are limited to agency-sponsored whole loan pool certificates which qualify for purposes of the 55% test. Our investment guidelines provide that no more than 15% of our assets may consist of any type of the mortgage-related securities and that the percentage of our investments in mortgage-related securities as compared to our structured finance investments be monitored on a regular basis.

Management Agreement

      On July 1, 2003, we and our operating partnership entered into a management agreement with ACM. On January 19, 2005, we, our operating partnership, Arbor Realty SR, Inc., one of our subsidiaries and ACM entered into an amended and restated management agreement with substantially the same terms as the original management agreement in order to add Arbor Realty SR, Inc. as a beneficiary of ACM’s services. Pursuant to the terms of the management agreement, our manager has agreed to service and manage our investments and to provide us with structured finance investment opportunities, finance and other services necessary to operate our business. Our manager is required to provide a dedicated management team to provide these services to us, the members of which will devote such of their time to our management as our independent directors reasonably deem necessary and appropriate, commensurate with our level of activity from time to time. We rely to a significant extent on the facilities and resources of our manager to conduct our operations. For performing services under the management agreement, ACM receives a base management fee and incentive compensation calculated as described in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Arbor Realty Trust Inc. and Subsidiaries” under Item 7 of this report.

Operations

      Our Manager’s Investment Services. Under the management agreement, ACM is responsible for sourcing originations, providing underwriting services and processing approvals for all loans and other investments in our portfolio. ACM also provides certain administrative loan servicing functions with respect to our loans and investments. We are able to capitalize on ACM’s well established operations and services in each area described below.

      Origination. Our manager sources the origination of most of our investments. ACM has a network of ten sales offices located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Boston, Massachusetts; Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; Kinderhook, New York; Los Angeles, California; New York, New York; Uniondale, New York; and Woodland Hills, California. These offices are staffed by approximately 16 loan originators who solicit property owners, developers and mortgage loan brokers. In some instances, the originators accept loan applications meeting our underwriting criteria from a select group of mortgage loan brokers. While a large portion of ACM’s marketing effort occurs at the branch level, ACM also markets its products in industry publications and targeted direct mailings. ACM markets structured finance products and our product offerings using the same methods. Once potential borrowers have been identified, ACM determines which financing products best meet the borrower’s needs. Loan originators in every branch office are able to offer borrowers the full array of ACM’s and our structured finance products. After identifying a suitable product, ACM works with the borrower to prepare a loan application. Upon completion by the borrower, the application is forwarded to ACM’s underwriters for due diligence.

      Underwriting. ACM’s loan originators work in conjunction with its underwriters who perform due diligence on all proposed transactions prior to loan approval and commitment. The underwriters analyze each loan application in accordance with the guidelines set forth below in order to determine the loan’s conformity with respect to such guidelines. In general, ACM’s underwriting guidelines require it to evaluate the following: the historic and in place property revenues and expenses; the potential for near-term revenue growth and opportunity for expense reduction and increased operating efficiencies; the property’s location, its attributes and competitive position within its market; the proposed ownership structure, financial strength and real estate experience of the borrower and property management; third party appraisal, environmental and engineering studies; market assessment, including property inspection, review of tenant lease files, surveys of property comparables and an analysis of area economic and demographic trends; review of an acceptable mortgagee’s title policy and an “as built” survey; construction quality of the property to determine future maintenance and capital expenditure requirements; and the requirements for any reserves, including those for immediate repairs or rehabilitation, replacement reserves, tenant improvement and leasing commission costs, real estate taxes and property casualty and liability insurance. Key factors considered in credit decisions include, but are not limited to, debt service coverage, loan to value ratios and property, financial and operating performance. Consideration is also given to other factors, such as additional forms of collateral and identifying likely

strategies to effect repayment. ACM will refine its underwriting criteria based upon actual loan portfolio experience and as market conditions and investor requirements evolve.

      Investment Approval Process. ACM applies its established investment approval process to all loans and other investments proposed for our portfolio before submitting each proposal to us for final approval. A written report is generated for every loan or other investment that is submitted to ACM’s credit committee for approval. The report includes a description of the prospective borrower and any guarantors, the collateral and the proposed use of investment proceeds, as well as borrower and property consolidated financial statements and analysis. In addition, the report includes an analysis of borrower liquidity, net worth, cash investment, income, credit history and operating experience. If the transaction is approved by a majority of ACM’s credit committee, it is presented for approval to our credit committee, which consists of our chief executive officer, chief credit officer, and executive vice president of structured finance. All transactions require the approval of a majority of the members of our credit committee. Following the approval of any such transaction, ACM’s underwriting and servicing departments, together with our asset management group, assure that all loan approval terms have been satisfied and that they conform with lending requirements established for that particular transaction. If our credit committee rejects the loan and our independent directors allow ACM or one of its affiliates to pursue it, ACM will have the opportunity to execute the transaction.

      Servicing. ACM services our loans and investments through its internal servicing operations. Our manager currently services an expanding portfolio, consisting of approximately 513 loans with outstanding balances of $3.2 billion through its loan administration department in Buffalo, New York. ACM’s loan servicing operations are designed to provide prompt customer service and accurate and timely information for account follow up, financial reporting and management review. Following the funding of an approved loan, all pertinent loan data is entered into ACM’s data processing system, which provides monthly billing statements, tracks payment performance and processes contractual interest rate adjustments on variable rate loans. Our manager utilizes the operations of its loan administration department to service our portfolio with the same efficiency, accuracy and promptness. ACM also works closely with our asset management group to ensure the appropriate level of customer service and monitoring of these loans.

      Our Asset Management Operations. Our asset management group is comprised of 16 of our employees. Prior to our formation, the asset management group successfully managed numerous transactions, including complex restructurings, refinancings and asset dispositions for ACM.

      Effective asset and portfolio management is essential to maximizing the performance and value of a real estate investment. The asset management group customizes an asset management plan with the loan originators and underwriters to track each investment from origination through disposition. This group monitors each investment’s operating history, local economic trends and rental and occupancy rates and evaluates the underlying property’s competitiveness within its market. This group assesses ongoing and potential operational and financial performance of each investment in order to evaluate and ultimately improve its operations and financial viability. The asset management group performs frequent onsite inspections, conducts meetings with borrowers and evaluates and participates in the budgeting process, financial and operational review and renovation plans of each of the underlying properties. As an asset and portfolio manager, the asset management group focuses on increasing the productivity of onsite property managers and leasing brokers. This group communicates the status of each transaction against its established asset management plan to senior management in order to enhance and preserve capital, as well as to avoid litigation and potential exposure.

      Timely and accurate identification of an investment’s operational and financial issues and each borrower’s objectives is essential to implementing an executable loan workout and restructuring process, if required. Since existing property management may not have the requisite expertise to manage the workout process effectively, the asset management group determines current operating and financial status of an asset or portfolio and performs liquidity analysis of properties and ownership entities and then, if appropriate, identifies and evaluates alternatives in order to maximize the value of an investment.

      Our asset management group continues to provide its services to ACM on a limited basis pursuant to an asset management services agreement between ACM and us. The asset management services agreement will

be effective throughout the term of our management agreement and during the origination period described in the management agreement. In the event the services provided by our asset management group pursuant to this agreement exceed by more than 15% per quarter the level anticipated by our board of directors, we will negotiate in good faith with our manager an adjustment to our manager’s base management fee under the management agreement, to reduce the scope of the services, the quantity of serviced assets or the time required to be devoted to the services by our asset management group.

Operating Policies and Strategies

      Investment Guidelines. Our board of directors has adopted general guidelines for our investments and borrowings to the effect that: (1) no investment will be made that would cause us to fail to qualify as a REIT; (2) no investment will be made that would cause us to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act; (3) no more than 25% of our equity, determined as of the date of such investment, will be invested in any single asset; (4) our leverage will generally not exceed 80% of the value of our assets, in the aggregate; (5) we will not co-invest with our manager or any of its affiliates unless such co-investment is otherwise in accordance with these guidelines and its terms are at least as favorable to us as to our manager or the affiliate making such co-investment; (6) no more than 15% of our gross assets may consist of mortgage-related securities.

      Financing Policies. We finance the acquisition of our structured finance investments primarily by borrowing against or “leveraging” our existing portfolio and using the proceeds to acquire additional mortgage assets. We expect to incur debt such that we will maintain an equity to assets ratio no less than 20%, although the actual ratio may be lower from time to time depending on market conditions and other factors deemed relevant by our manager. Our charter and bylaws do not limit the amount of indebtedness we can incur, and the board of directors has discretion to deviate from or change our indebtedness policy at any time. However, we intend to maintain an adequate capital base to protect against various business environments in which our financing and hedging costs might exceed the interest income from our investments.

      Our investments are financed primarily by collateralized debt obligations, our variable rate junior subordinate notes, and through our floating rate warehouse lines of credit, loan repurchase agreements and other financing facilities with institutional lenders. Although we expect that these will be the principal means of leveraging our investments, we may issue preferred stock or secured or unsecured notes of any maturity if it appears advantageous to do so.

      Credit Risk Management Policy. We are exposed to various levels of credit and special hazard risk depending on the nature of our underlying assets and the nature and level of credit enhancements supporting our assets. We originate or purchase mortgage loans that meet our minimum debt service coverage standards. ACM, as our manager, our chief credit officer, and our asset management group, reviews and monitors credit risk and other risks of loss associated with each investment. In addition, ACM seeks to diversify our portfolio of assets to avoid undue geographic, issuer, industry and certain other types of concentrations. Our board of directors monitors the overall portfolio risk and reviews levels of provision for loss.

      Interest Rate Risk Management Policy. To the extent consistent with our election to qualify as a REIT, we follow an interest rate risk management policy intended to mitigate the negative effects of major interest rate changes. We minimize our interest rate risk from borrowings by attempting to structure the key terms of our borrowings to generally correspond to the interest rate term of our assets.

      We may enter into hedging transactions to protect our investment portfolio from interest rate fluctuations and other changes in market conditions. These transactions may include interest rate swaps, the purchase or sale of interest rate collars, caps or floors, options, mortgage derivatives and other hedging instruments. These instruments may be used to hedge as much of the interest rate risk as ACM determines is in the best interest of our stockholders, given the cost of such hedges and the need to maintain our status as a REIT. In general, income from hedging transactions does not constitute qualifying income for purposes of the REIT gross income requirements. To the extent, however, that a hedging contract reduces interest rate risk on indebtedness incurred to acquire or carry real estate assets, any income that is derived from the hedging contract, while comprising non-qualifying income for purposes of the REIT 75% gross income test, would not

give rise to non-qualifying income for purposes of the 95% gross income test. ACM may elect to have us bear a level of interest rate risk that could otherwise be hedged when it believes, based on all relevant facts, that bearing such risk is advisable.

      To date, we have entered into various interest rate swaps in connection with the issuance of floating rate secured notes, the issuance of variable rate junior subordinate notes, and to hedge the interest risk on forecasted outstanding Libor based debt. The notional amount of each interest rate swap agreement and the related terms have been designed to protect our investment portfolio from interest rate risk and to match the payment and receipts of interest on the underlying debt instruments, where applicable.

      Disposition Policies. Although there are no current plans to dispose of properties or other assets within our portfolio, ACM evaluates our asset portfolio on a regular basis to determine if it continues to satisfy our investment criteria. Subject to certain restrictions applicable to REITs, ACM may cause us to sell our investments opportunistically and use the proceeds of any such sale for debt reduction, additional acquisitions or working capital purposes.

      Equity Capital Policies. Subject to applicable law, our board of directors has the authority, without further stockholder approval, to issue additional authorized common stock and preferred stock or otherwise raise capital, including through the issuance of senior securities, in any manner and on the terms and for the consideration it deems appropriate, including in exchange for property. We may in the future issue common stock in connection with acquisitions. We also may issue units of partnership interest in our operating partnership in connection with acquisitions of property. We may, under certain circumstances, repurchase our common stock in private transactions with our stockholders, if those purchases are approved by our board of directors. Our board of directors currently has no intention of causing us to repurchase any shares, and any action would only be taken in conformity with applicable federal and state laws and the applicable requirements for qualifying as a REIT, for so long as the board of directors concludes that we should continue to qualify as a REIT.

      Conflicts of Interest Policies. We, our executive officers and ACM face conflicts of interests because of our relationships with each other. Mr. Kaufman is our chief executive officer and the chief executive officer of ACM. Mr. Ivan Kaufman and entities controlled by him own approximately 90% of the outstanding membership interests of ACM. In addition, Mr. Weber, our executive vice president of structured finance, Mr. Kilgore, our executive vice president of securitization, Mr. Fogel, our senior vice president of asset management, and two of our directors, Mr. Joseph Martello and Mr. Walter Horn, have minority ownership interests in ACM. Mr. Horn also serves as our secretary, general counsel, and director of compliance. Mr. Martello serves as the trustee and co-trustee of two separate trusts through which Mr. Kaufman owns an equity interest in ACM.

      We have implemented several policies, through board action and through the terms of our constituent documents and of our agreements with ACM, to help address these conflicts of interest: