Shareholders Approve NorthStar, Colony Merger, Forming New REIT with $8B Market Cap

by Jeff Shaw

LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK CITY — The shareholders of Colony Capital Inc. (NYSE: CLNY), NorthStar Asset Management Group Inc. (NYSE: NSAM) and NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. (NYSE: NRF) have all approved the planned merger of the three companies into one REIT.

The new company will be named Colony NorthStar Inc. and be listed under the New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol CLNS. The REIT will have a market cap of more than $8 billion and have $58 billion in assets under management.

The companies expect that, through increased scale and a more diversified and stable investment portfolio, Colony NorthStar should benefit from a stronger balance sheet; ongoing deleveraging and improved liquidity; broadened access to multiple sources of capital, including fee-bearing capital to accelerate growth and provide enhanced returns; and significant cost savings as a result of the merger.

Upon closing of the transaction, Thomas J. Barrack Jr., currently Colony’s executive chairman, will be executive chairman of the Board of Directors of Colony NorthStar. David Hamamoto, currently executive chairman of NSAM and chairman of NRF, will be executive vice chairman of the merged REIT and Richard Saltzman, currently CEO of Colony, will be CEO.

The companies expect to complete the merger in January 2017, subject to customary closing conditions.

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