Acquisitions · Asset management
SoftBank buys New York asset manager Fortress for about $3.3 billion
- Buyer
- SoftBank Group (Tokyo)
- Target
- Fortress Investment Group, New York, New York
- Value
- About $3.3B cash ($8.08 a share); about ¥375.2B
- Status
- Agreed on February 14, 2017; completed on December 27, 2017.
- Date
- 2017-02-14
SoftBank Group agreed to buy Fortress Investment Group, a New York asset manager, for $8.08 a share in cash, about $3.3 billion in total. Fortress managed $70.1 billion in assets as of September 30, 2016. SoftBank said Fortress would operate as an independent business within the group, still based in New York and led by its three principals.
Why it matters
The purchase gave SoftBank in-house investment management expertise as it prepared to launch the SoftBank Vision Fund.
Terms
The $8.08 price was a 38.6% premium to Fortress's closing price on February 13, 2017, and a 51.2% premium to its three-month volume-weighted average price. Shareholders could also receive up to two quarterly dividends of no more than $0.09 a share before closing. The deal needed Fortress shareholder approval and certain regulatory approvals.
Management and people
Fortress had about 1,100 employees. Its principals, Pete Briger, Wes Edens and Randy Nardone, stayed on to lead the firm and committed to invest half of their after-tax proceeds in Fortress-managed funds and in SoftBank equity and SoftBank-managed funds. SoftBank said it would keep Fortress's brand, staff, processes and culture.
Sources
Kakehashi M&A News home
