Colony Capital Rebrands as DigitalBridge, Sells non-digital Assets

Colony Capital announced that it has sold most of its non-digital assets to Fortress Investment group. It has also rebranded to DigitalBridge. This will see Colony Capital start using the Digital Bridge name after acquiring Digital Holdings in 2019. Asides from that, the Company will now focus solely on digital infrastructure instead of being a diverse real estate investment Company.

CEO of Colony Capital and Digital Colony, Marc Ganzi, noted that the Company is strategically positioned to build and operate a new age in connectivity while being entirely focused on digital infrastructures like data centers, towers, small cells, and fiber.

The Company also announced that it sold close to $2.7 billion of assets to Fortress Investment Group. The assets sold include Colony funds, a portfolio of 40 positions that include more than 100 properties in the US and Europe.

Ganzi further noted that the Company now has over $500 million to redeploy into digital infrastructures due to the transaction.

ColonyCapital Press Release on June 8, 2021:

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) (the “Company” or “Colony Capital”) today announced a corporate rebranding of the Company to DigitalBridge, effective June 22, 2021. Digital Colony, the Company’s digital infrastructure investment platform, will also change to operate under the DigitalBridge brand. In connection with the transition, the corporate name will be changed to DigitalBridge Group, Inc. and the Company will begin trading under a new NYSE ticker symbol, DBRG, as of June 22, 2021.

The new name reflects the significant business transformation the Company has undergone since the leadership and board of directors made the bold decision to chart a new direction - years ago - realigning a diversified real estate investment firm to focus exclusively on the fast-growing digital infrastructure sector. The ‘new’ name, DigitalBridge, re-establishes and renews the original Digital Bridge, which combined with the Company in 2019, evoking its heritage as an early innovator in digital infrastructure, while looking forward to a fully digital, interconnected future.

“The vision we crafted, bringing a digital infrastructure platform built on two decades of operating experience and deep industry relationships together with an institutional capital formation capability and global enterprise-grade operations, has reached its next phase. Today as one company, DigitalBridge, we’re a unique digital infrastructure business, with both the operating DNA and access to institutional capital that positions us to execute globally on a converging digital infrastructure ecosystem,” said Marc Ganzi, President and CEO of Colony Capital and CEO of Digital Colony. “We are poised to build, operate, and finance a new era in connectivity, leveraging a single platform focused on the full spectrum of digital infrastructure including towers, data centers, fiber, and small cells.”

Mr. Ganzi added, “Today marks a new chapter in our history as we emerge from this transformation as a fast-growing global digital infrastructure REIT. I am proud of and humbled by what our team has accomplished in just the past two years, executing one of the most significant asset transitions in the history of REITs. We are on track to rotate $100 billion in AUM ‘from diversified to digital’ and are now 80% rotated on a pro forma basis, following our agreement, announced yesterday, to divest the bulk of our Other Equity & Debt (OED) business for over a half-billion dollars. This is the natural moment for us to reactivate DigitalBridge, advancing our strategy as we connect networks, companies, geographies, and communities on a global basis.”
“Marc and the team have done an outstanding job reaching this significant milestone and we believe the new name captures who we have become through this transformation and our new vision for the future,” said Nancy Curtin, Chairperson of the Board. “As the digital economy continues to grow rapidly, DigitalBridge is well-positioned to capitalize on the powerful secular tailwinds supporting the continued investment in digital infrastructure.”

About Colony Capital
Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) is a leading global investment firm with a heritage of identifying and capitalizing on key secular trends in real estate. Colony Capital, structured as a REIT, is headquartered in Boca Raton with key offices in Los Angeles, New York, London and Singapore.

About Digital Colony
Digital Colony is a leading global investment firm dedicated to digital infrastructure. With a heritage of over 25 years investing in and operating businesses across the digital ecosystem including towers, data centers, fiber, and small cells, the Digital Colony team manages a $32 billion portfolio of digital infrastructure assets on behalf of its shareholders and limited partners and has over 90 investment and operating professionals.