Blackwells Capital Reiterates Support for the Combination of Global Net Lease and The Necessity Retail REIT

Blackwells Capital LLC (together with its affiliates, “Blackwells”), an alternative investment management firm that is a shareholder of both Global Net Lease, Inc. (NYSE: GNL) (“GNL”) and The Necessity Retail REIT, Inc. (NASDAQ: RTL) (“RTL”), today reiterated its support for the companies’ proposed combination.

Jason Aintabi, Chief Investment Officer of Blackwells, commented:

“Blackwells spent the last year engaging with GNL and RTL to secure various enhancements, including corporate governance improvements, that stand to benefit both companies’ shareholders for years to come. The Special Committees of GNL and RTL, per the disclosure in the proxies, negotiated multiple internalizations with the external manager in order to create this valuable corporate transformation. We estimate this will save the combined entity more than $75 million annually and give shareholders best-in-class corporate governance, tremendous scale, synergies, AFFO accretion, debt reduction and diversification. The internally managed combination is trading at an implied value of less than half that of its peer set currently, while we believe the merged entity will command a premium valuation as the market comes to understand the strength of a $10 billion REIT platform with all the attributes above.”

Mr. Aintabi continued:

“Achieving these results cannot come without a cost. We are focused on a future that we believe promises considerably outsized returns for shareholders, rather than contemplate continuing to own two sub-scale, externally managed REITs that do not have the governance or financial attributes to unlock all the value embedded within them. A vote against this merger is a vote to maintain the status quo, which we worked hard to improve. Blackwells will vote in favor of the merger and related proposals at the Special Meetings of both GNL and RTL.”

About Blackwells Capital

Blackwells Capital was founded in 2016 by Jason Aintabi, its Chief Investment Officer. Since that time, it has made investments in public securities, engaging with management and boards, both publicly and privately, to help unlock value for stakeholders, including shareholders, employees and communities. Throughout their careers, Blackwells’ principals have invested globally on behalf of leading public and private equity firms and have held operating roles and served on the boards of media, energy, technology, insurance and real estate enterprises. For more information, please visit www.blackwellscap.com.