Manulife US REIT - Annual Report 2021

ANNUAL REPORT 2021 2021 was a challenging but pivotal year for MUST as we made good on our strategy by acquiring three properties in the sunbelt and magnet cities in Arizona and Oregon. Having built a strong portfolio of Trophy and Class A properties since the REIT’s IPO, we determined to increase our exposure in the high-growth markets/tenants. 11 Having built a solid foundation in the four years prior to the pandemic, and despite difficult times in 2021, MUST’s high-quality portfolio started to stabilise. In 2021, green shoots of recovery began to appear, and opportunities emerged, enablingmanagement to recommence the REIT’s growth path through accretive acquisitions. This renewedmomentum heralds the implementation of a strategy for portfolio rejuvenation and transformation that will pave the way for MUST to generate sustainable growth for our investors. Q: What were MUST’s greatest achievements in 2021? CEO: 2021 was a challenging but pivotal year for MUST as we made good on our strategy by acquiring three properties in the sunbelt and magnet cities in Arizona and Oregon. Having built a strong portfolio of Trophy and Class A properties since the REIT’s IPO, we determined to increase our exposure in the high-growth markets/tenants.We have been communicating this strategy to investors for more than a year as the pandemic propelled us to refresh our investment strategy in order to future-proof our business. Due to reduced volumes of suitable U.S. office transactions in 2020 and 2021, these were our first acquisitions in two years. Since our IPO in 2016, we have been committed to delivering accretive deals. The timing to acquire in 4Q2021 was extremely challenging given the considerable volatility in the U.S. and Singapore stock markets arising from fears over the onset of the Omicron outbreak. Despite the considerable uncertainty, we were able to string together three different third-party deals and complete a swift fund raising exercise totalling US$100.0 million. We were pleased to achieve a 2.8% yield accretion on the acquisition and importantly, increased our exposure by GRI to high-growth tenant sectors by 32.0% from 9.7% to 12.8% and AUM in growth markets by 38.1% from 21.0% to 29.0% as at end December 2021. Despite the ongoing pandemic, we made big strides indemonstratingMUST’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) stewardship. The highlight was planting our green flag through a week-long ESG thought leadership initiative ‘MUST Go Green’ in October 2021. We were the first SREIT to launch an ESG conference to help our stakeholders better understand how ESG will impact REITs. The conference was a roaring success, branding us as a true sustainability leader and steward in the SREIT space. It also successfully profiled MUST’s ESG accomplishments and accolades. As part of our green strategy, we announced our alignment to the Sponsor’s target to achieve net zero, and an 80.0% reduction target in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. We are also aiming to achieve a 100.0% green-certified portfolio by 2030. With the increased focus on ESG investing, our goal is to be at the forefront to catch the ESG wave and showcase ourselves as thought leaders in this space. Dovetailing with our heightened commitment to ESG, this year’s annual report is titled ‘MUST Go Green’. More information on ESG can be found in the Sustainability Report. Q: How did MUST’s portfolio perform in 2021 against the operational challenges brought on by the pandemic? CEO: After a challenging end to 2020 and a difficult first half in 2021, over the second half of the year, MUST’s portfolio started to stabilise and show signs of recovery. Whilst MUST’s portfolio weathered the storm, inevitably, the financial