LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) (“Colony” or the “Company”) today announced two recent appointments: Andrew Witt, Managing Director, has been promoted to the new position of Chief Operating Officer of Global Credit at Colony, and Kevin Smithen, Managing Director and Head of Strategy at Digital Bridge and Digital Colony, has been promoted to Managing Director, Global Head of Strategy and Capital Formation at Colony.
Mr. Witt joined Colony in 2007 and has played an important role in building Colony’s credit business, managing real estate-related product development, investor relations and marketing private offerings globally. In his new position, he will lead Colony’s credit business managing the operational and investment-related aspects of both private and public credit at Colony Credit Real Estate, Inc. (“CLNC”), as well as at Colony. Mr. Witt will continue to serve on the credit committee and investment committee for CLNC. He was previously an Executive Vice President of Colony American Homes where he was responsible for overseeing investments in single family residential property which culminated in the acquisition of nearly 20,000 homes.
At Digital Bridge Mr. Smithen has been instrumental in the successful capital formation of more than $10 billion of fund equity and co-investment capital from some of the world’s most sophisticated limited partners and investment institutions. He will now assume an expanded role at Colony in the implementation of the firm’s digital Colony 2.0 strategy to build an industry-leading platform for digital real estate and infrastructure, and will lead institutional capital formation across Colony’s $49 billion AUM global investment management business. Mr. Smithen will maintain his responsibilities for the Digital Colony Partners fund, including the sourcing of unique and proprietary deals and co-investment opportunities. He has led proprietary deal sourcing of fiber and data center deals in Canada and Latin America, and has more than 25 years of experience in global communications services and infrastructure sectors.
Thomas J. Barrack, Jr., CEO and Founder of Colony Capital, said, “Colony’s senior management team has been further enhanced by our acquisition of Digital Bridge. We are pleased to recognize Andy and Kevin and allow these talented executives to take on greater responsibility for the benefit of our shareholders.”
About Colony Capital
Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) is a leading global investment management firm with assets under management of $49 billion, which includes approximately $14 billion of assets under management from Digital Bridge, a leading global investment manager of digital infrastructure assets including cell towers, small cells, fiber and data centers. The Company manages capital on behalf of its stockholders, as well as institutional and retail investors in private funds, and traded and non-traded real estate investment trusts. The Company has significant holdings in: (a) the healthcare and hospitality property sectors; (b) Colony Credit Real Estate, Inc. (NYSE: CLNC), which is externally managed by a subsidiary of the Company; and (c) various other equity and debt investments. The Company is headquartered in Los Angeles with key offices in Boca Raton, New York, Paris and London, and has over 400 employees across 21 locations in 13 countries as a result of the business combination with Digital Bridge. For additional information regarding the Company and its management and business, please refer to www.clny.com.
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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. Additional information about these factors can be found in Colony Capital’s reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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