Colony Capital Announces Rebrand as DigitalBridge
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.”
The Company intends to share more information about its strategy and rebranding, including a new logo at its inaugural Investor Day, to be held on June 22, 2021. To register and for additional information please visit event’s site: DigitalBridge Investor Day.
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.
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. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, and may cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Factors that might cause such a difference include, without limitation, whether the Company will complete the sale of its OED business within the timeframe anticipated or at all, including the Company’s ability to obtain any necessary third-party approvals to consummate the transactions, whether the Company will realize any of the anticipated benefits from the sale of its OED business, the timing and pace of the Company’s digital transformation, including the Company’s ability to rotate the balance sheet and redeploy capital into digital infrastructure, whether the Company will realize any of the anticipated benefits of such transformation, and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in Colony Capital's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, and its other reports filed from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s good faith beliefs, assumptions and expectations, but they are not guarantees of future performance. 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.