Fortress to Acquire Colony American Finance, LLC

Operating platform to be rebranded as CoreVest American Finance Lender, a specialty lender focused on the residential real estate investor space

NEW YORK, July 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Colony American Finance, LLC (“CAF”) today announced that certain funds (“Fortress Funds”) managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG) have purchased the equity and substantially all of the assets of CAF. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.

Simultaneously with the purchase, Fortress Funds will rebrand the CAF operating platform under the name CoreVest American Finance Lender LLC (“CoreVest”). CAF was launched in 2014 to address the unique financing needs of residential real estate investors and has successfully grown into the market leader, having closed over $2.8 billion in loans since its inception. The Fortress Funds will be joined by the current senior management team of CAF in launching CoreVest. The senior management team will remain with the company and retain their current titles.

“We are excited to bring the same team and the same approach to the market under the CoreVest brand”

Beth O’Brien, Chief Executive Officer of CAF who is now CEO of CoreVest, said, “We are excited to bring the same team and the same approach to the market under the CoreVest brand. Our customers will continue to work with our people and experience our high level of service, while also benefiting from the strategic capital brought by the Fortress Funds.”

“We see terrific synergies between CoreVest and Fortress,” added Christopher Hoeffel, Chief Financial Officer of CoreVest. “The new relationship with the Fortress Funds, given their experience in the specialty finance area, will allow us to expand our market leading position in the growing, yet underserved, single-family rental finance market.”

Ryan McBride, Chief Operating Officer of CoreVest, noted, “We believe our opportunity for growth is especially strong given the demographic tailwinds for housing in the U.S. This transaction will enable us to provide scalable debt capital and innovative financing products to our investor clients.”

Freeman and Co. and Latham & Watkins LLP advised affiliates of Colony NorthStar managed funds, Sidley Austin LLP advised the Fortress Funds and Dechert LLP advised the management team.

View the full Press Release here.