Public Storage 2011 Annual Report Download - page 23

9
Investments in Real Estate and Unconsolidated Real Estate Entities
Investment Policies and Practices with respect to our investments: Following are our investment practices
and policies which, though we do not anticipate any significant alteration, can be changed by our Board of Trustees
without a shareholder vote:
Our investments primarily consist of direct ownership of self-storage facilities (the nature of our self-
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self-storage facilities.
Our partial ownership interests primarily reflect general and limited partnership interests in entities that
own self-VWRUDJHIDFLOLWLHVWKDWDUHPDQDJHGE\XVXQGHUWKH³3XEOLF6WRUDJH´EUDQGQDPHLQWKH86
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Shurgard Europe.
Additional acquired interests in real estate (other than the acquisition of properties from third parties)
will include common equity interests in entities in which we already have an interest.
To a lesser extent, we have interests in existing commercial properties (described in Item 2,
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PSB.
Facilities Owned by Subsidiaries
In addition to our direct ownership of 2,015 self-storage facilities in the U.S. and one self-storage facility in
London, England at December 31, 2011, we have controlling indirect interests in entities that own 26 self-storage
facilities in the U.S. with approximately two million net rentable square feet. Due to our controlling interest in each
of these entities, we consolidate the assets, liabilities, and results of operations of these entities in our financial
statements.
Facilities Owned by Unconsolidated Real Estate Entities
At December 31, 2011, we had ownership interests in entities that we do not control or consolidate,
comprised of PSB, Shurgard Europe, and various limited partnerships that own an aggregate of 17 self-storage
facilities with approximately one million net rentable square feet of storage space. These entities are referred to
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PSB, which files financial statements with the SEC, and Shurgard Europe, have debt and other obligations
that we do not consolidate in our financial statements. All of the other Unconsolidated Real Estate Entities have no
significant amounts of debt or other obligations. See Note 4 to our December 31, 2011 financial statements for
further disclosure regarding the assets, liabilities and operating results of the Unconsolidated Real Estate Entities.
Limitations on Debt
Without the consent of holders of the various series of Senior Preferred Shares, we may not take any action
that would result in RXU³'HEW5DWLR´H[FHHGLQJ³'HEW5DWLR´DVGHILQHGLQWKHUHODWHGJRYHUQLQJGRFXPHQWV
represents generally the ratio of debt to total assets before accumulated depreciation and amortization on our balance
sheet, in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. As of December 31, 2011, the Debt Ratio
was approximately 3%.
Our bank and senior unsecured debt agreements contain various customary financial covenants, including
limitations on the level of indebtedness and the prohibition of the payment of dividends upon the occurrence of
defined events of default. We believe we have met each of these covenants as of December 31, 2011.