The largest real estate merger of 2016 was approved on Thursday, creating Colony Northstar, a NYSE-listed equity REIT and global alternative investment manager with $58 bn (€55 bn) assets under management.
The shareholders of Colony Capital, Northstar Asset Management Group and Northstar Realty Finance voted to approve the previously announced merger of the three companies at their respective special meetings.
'This merger is the result of decades of long line relationships by all three companies aligning into one powerful, global real estate and real asset investment manager,' said Thomas Barrack Jr, executive chairman of Colony.
'The overwhelmingly favourable shareholder vote provides support to our view that combining these three complementary companies will result in what we believe is the best outcome for all stakeholders,' added David Hamamoto, executive chairman of NSAM and chairman of NRF. 'We are very excited with creating such a strong partnership of already established companies and our future prospects.'
The combined global, diversified real estate and investment management company will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol 'CLNS', with an equity market capitalisation in excess of $8 bn, likely to place it in the top quartile of equity REITs, according to the MSCI US REIT Index.
Colony NorthStar will have assets under management in excess of $58 bn, managing capital on behalf of its stockholders, institutional and retail investors in private funds and non-traded and traded real estate investment trusts and 1940 Act companies.
'Our focus now turns to the successful integration of the businesses, realising the anticipated synergies of the merger, and executing on our go-forward strategic plan by taking advantage of the unique scaled platform resulting from the merger,' added Richard Saltzman, CEO of Colony.
LA-based Colony Capital has been active in Europe in recent years, inking the massive Gemini UK deal at the end of 2015, a CMBS portfolio worth €423 mln. It recently saw off rival bidders to emerge as the reported buyer of Irish bad bank NAMA's €1.5 bn project Tolka loans, connected mainly to development projects initiated by local players John Flynn, Paddy Kelly and the Dublin-based McCormack family. Significant assets in the portfolio include the Burlington Plaza office complex and the Clarion Hotel, as well as the former Harcourt street childrens' hospital, all located in Dublin.
NorthStar Realty Finance made its presence felt on the European stage in late 2014 when its joined forces with London-based Cale Street Partners to acquire an 11-asset European office portfolio from SEB Asset Management for €1.1 bn. The following year the REIT acquired the €450 mln Trias office portfolio in Germany; the Trianon office tower in Frankfurt for €540 mln; and separately took a a 15% stake in pan-European fund manager Aerium.
Upon closing of the Colony Northstar merger, Thomas Barrack Jr will be executive chairman of the board of directors, David Hamamoto will be executive vice chairman, and Richard Saltzman will be CEO.
The companies expect to complete the merger in January 2017.