Manulife US REIT - Annual Report 2021

against rising interest rates. Over time, we may also be able to recover inflation driven increases in property expenses from tenants, and rental rates should rise in tandem with a prolonged spell of inflation. As at 31 December 2021, MUST’s weighted averagedebtmaturity stoodat 2.4 years.MUST’s gearing level at year end 2021 of 42.8% is well below the regulatory limit of 50.0%. Even so, over the course of 2022, we will continue to conserve spending and aim to generate an improvement in valuations to contain the gearing level. We will continue to increase MUST’s financial flexibility by diversifying our sources of funding, lengthening our weighted average debt maturity, and unencumbering the remaining properties as appropriate. As we focus on capital recycling and portfolio rejuvenation, we will also seek opportunities to reduce gearing. Q: How did MUST engage stakeholders differently as it entered the second year of COVID-19? CEO: Whilst another year of COVID-19 restrictions made it challenging to meet investors and other stakeholders in sizeable groups or overseas, we continued to engage them through virtual meetings and interactive conference calls. On top of these traditional methods, we found creative ways to reach out to an expanding range of stakeholders using new investor relations (IR) tools. The first was the launch of our LinkedIn corporate page in September 2021 which gave us a digital platform to engage with media, analysts, and investors to keep them up-to- date on our business developments. With more than 1,000 followers as at end February 2022, LinkedIn has provided us with another engagement tool where we can share up-to- date information on what is happening in the U.S. office market and raise understanding of the operating conditions in our portfolio. The second was our very own in-house investor perception survey. We conducted this survey witharound50 institutional investors, gathering their feedback on the future growth prospects for the REIT, as well as their concerns and views on ESG. The results of this survey were shared with the Board and the management team. In 2021, we engaged in environmental stewardship with our tenants, for instance by conducting regular bike-to-work initiatives to encourage them to reduce their carbon footprint as well as roundtable events to share sustainability best practices. In addition, we worked with tenants to track environmental data to identify energy efficiency opportunities. Wewill march our green practices a step further in 2022 by starting to incorporate green lease provisions in all new leases. Not forgetting our local community, and in line with our focus on helping vulnerable families and isolated elderly, we reached out and organised a virtual leather craft making workshop to engage with seniors from the Singapore Methodist Welfare Services. We also continued our strong support of social enterprises by sourcing all our corporate gifts from them where possible. These included our 2022 red packets, designed this year by an artist with mental disability on a theme to encourage mindfulness through colouring. Q: What is MUST’s strategy as the pandemic continues to affect companies’ return-to-office plans? Will offices still be relevant in a post-COVID world and what is your immediate focus in 2022? Chairman: The pandemic has been an unpredictable force, but as it subsides and the outlook In 2021, we continued to drive environmental stewardship with our tenants with sustainability initiatives and worked with them to identify energy efficiency opportunities. ANNUAL REPORT 2021 13