Colony Capital, Inc. Announces Appointment of Thomas Barrack as CEO
Executive Chairman Tom Barrack Reassumes Role as Chief Executive Officer, Richard Saltzman Departs; Darren
Tangen Becomes President and Mark Hedstrom to Assume Role as Chief Financial Officer
Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) (collectively, “Colony Capital,” or the “Company”) announced today that its board of
directors and its Chief Executive Officer, Richard Saltzman, have reached a mutual agreement in which Mr. Saltzman, who has served
as CEO since going public four years ago, has resigned as CEO, President and as a director of the Company. Mr. Saltzman will remain
in a non-executive capacity as Chairman of both Colony Credit Real Estate Inc. (NYSE: CLNC) and NorthStar Realty Europe (NYSE:
NRE), which are externally managed by subsidiaries of the Company. Thomas J. Barrack, Jr., the Company’s Executive Chairman, has
taken on the additional role of CEO of the Company. In doing so, Mr. Barrack reassumes the position he held when he founded Colony
as a private company in 1991, until 2014, when Colony merged into Colony Financial, Inc.
The Company will be implementing a set of additional organizational changes to further align with its increasing focus on its
investment management business. Darren Tangen, the Company’s current Chief Financial Officer, has been named President, effective
immediately, and will resign as Chief Financial Officer, effective January 1, 2019. Effective January 1, 2019, Mark Hedstrom, the
Company’s current Chief Operating Officer, will reassume the additional responsibilities of Chief Financial Officer, a position he
held prior to Colony’s 2014 merger into Colony Financial, Inc.
Additionally, in connection with the exit of certain non-core business lines and as part of a reorganization and restructuring
plan, Colony Capital will be commencing a series of steps to reduce overhead and match resources to its renewed set of missions,
with an expected $50 to $55 million in total annual general and administrative cost reductions over the next 12 to 18 months. These
cost reductions are designed to leave the Company more nimble and de-centralized, with a focus on pay-for-performance.
In a statement, the Company’s board of directors said: “Since the combination of Colony Financial and Colony Capital to create
the listed entity Colony Capital, and since the complex merger of Colony and the NorthStar entities, Mr. Saltzman has tirelessly
worked to position the Company for the future. We are grateful for his contributions and wish him continued success. We are pleased
that Tom will again be Colony’s CEO.”
“Today I leave Colony well positioned to invest and flourish through economic cycles. I am proud of what has been accomplished
during my more than 15-year leadership stint at Colony Capital, including the last four years as a public company. More
importantly, I am optimistic about the long-term outlook for the Company,” Mr. Saltzman said. “Furthermore, I completely respect
and embrace Tom’s interest in returning to the CEO role as the Founder and driving force behind the Company for decades. I remain a
substantial shareholder, and he has my full support.”
Mr. Barrack said: “Richard has been my partner and friend for almost three decades. He is also one of the most highly regarded
executives in our industry. Richard’s impact on many of today’s leading real estate companies cannot be overstated, and Colony is
no exception. I thank Richard in particular for his help establishing a permanent balance sheet with which to invest alongside
investors to increase alignment of interests and thus create greater value for shareholders and LPs alike.”
About Colony Capital, Inc.
Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) is a leading global investment management firm with assets under management of $44 billion.
The Company manages capital on behalf of its stockholders, as well as institutional and retail investors in private funds,
non-traded and traded real estate investment trusts and registered investment companies. The Company has significant holdings in:
(a) the healthcare, industrial and hospitality property sectors; (b) Colony Credit Real Estate, Inc. (NYSE: CLNC) and NorthStar
Realty Europe Corp. (NYSE: NRE), which are both externally managed by subsidiaries of the Company; and (c) various other equity and
debt investments. The Company is headquartered in Los Angeles with key offices in New York, Paris and London, and has over 400
employees across 17 locations in ten countries. For additional information regarding the Company and its management and business,
please refer to www.clny.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking
statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar
expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use
of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,”
“estimates,” “predicts,” or “potential” or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or phrases which are
predictions of or indicate future events or trends and which do not relate solely to historical matters. You can also identify
forward-looking statements by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and contingencies, many of which are
beyond the Company’s control, and may cause the Company’s actual results to differ significantly from those expressed in any
forward-looking statement. Factors that might cause such a difference include, without limitation, our failure to achieve
anticipated synergies in and benefits of the completed merger among NorthStar Asset Management Group Inc., Colony Capital, Inc. and
NorthStar Realty Finance Corp., the impact of changes to Colony Capital’s management, employee and organizational structure, the
amount, timing and impact of cost reductions, including whether any anticipated benefits of such reductions will be realized, the
Company’s financial flexibility, the Company's ability to grow its investment management business, the timing and pace of growth of
the Company's Industrial platform, the performance of the Company’s investment in Colony Credit Real Estate, Inc., the Company’s
ability to maintain or create future permanent capital vehicles under its management, whether the Company will realize any
anticipated benefits from the Digital Bridge partnership, the Company’s ability to simplify its business and become more balance
sheet-lite, the Company's portfolio composition, Colony Capital’s liquidity, including its ability to continue to generate
liquidity by more accelerated sales of non-core assets and businesses, whether the Company will complete or sponsor any compelling
investment opportunities under a predominantly third-party capital model, the Company's expected taxable income and net cash flows,
excluding the contribution of gains, the Company’s ability to grow the dividend at all in the future; the impact to the Company of
the management agreement amendments with NorthStar Healthcare Income, Inc. and NorthStar Realty Europe Corp., whether Colony
Capital will be able to maintain its qualification as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the timing of and ability to
deploy available capital, the timing of and ability to complete repurchases of Colony Capital’s stock, Colony Capital’s ability to
maintain inclusion and relative performance on the RMZ, Colony Capital’s leverage, including the Company’s ability to reduce debt
and the timing and amount of borrowings under its credit facility, whether the Company will benefit from the combination of its
broker-dealer business with S2K Financial, increased interest rates and operating costs, adverse economic or real estate
developments in Colony Capital’s markets, Colony Capital’s failure to successfully operate or lease acquired properties, decreased
rental rates, increased vacancy rates or failure to renew or replace expiring leases, defaults on or non-renewal of leases by
tenants, the impact of economic conditions on the borrowers of Colony Capital’s commercial real estate debt investments and the
commercial mortgage loans underlying its commercial mortgage backed securities, adverse general and local economic conditions, an
unfavorable capital market environment, decreased leasing activity or lease renewals, and other risks and uncertainties detailed in
our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). All forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s good
faith beliefs, assumptions and expectations, but they are not guarantees of future performance. Additional information about these
and other factors can be found in Colony Capital’s reports filed from time to time with the SEC.
Colony Capital cautions investors not to unduly rely on any forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements speak
only as of the date of this press release. Colony Capital is under no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements after
the date of this press release, nor to conform prior statements to actual results or revised expectations, and Colony Capital does
not intend to do so.
Investor Contact:
Addo Investor Relations
Lasse Glassen
310-829-5400
or
Media Contact:
Blicksilver PR
Lisa Baker
914-725-5949
lisa@blicksilverpr.com
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