Fortress-SoftBank deal wins OK from target’s shareholders

Fortress Investment Group shareholders have provided a near-unanimous backing of the asset manager’s proposed $3.3 billion acquisition by SoftBank Group, the firm announced on Wednesday.

Of the 63.1 percent of Fortress Class A and Class B shareholders that voted, 99.7 percent supported the all-cash deal, which is expected to close later this year. The Tokyo-based purchaser and New York-based seller announced the deal in February. Pete Briger, Wes Edens and Randy Nardone, all principals at Fortress, will continue to lead firm post-closing.

A spokesman for the firm could not be reached for comment.

Fortress Class A shareholders are set to receive $8.08 per share. That figure represents a 38.6 percent premium to Fortress Class A common stock’s 13 February closing price, and a premium of 51.2 percent to Fortress’s 3-month volume-weighted average price, excluding dividends.

The deal’s ratification by stockholders comes almost a week after Fortress agreed to sell its fixed-income business, Logan Circle Partners, to insurance company MetLife for $250 million cash. Logan Circle is the single largest part of Fortress’s business in terms of assets under management, in which the former managed $33.7 billion of its parent company’s $70.2 billion assets.

Fortress in May closed its US-focused Senior Secured Lending Fund at $590 million, surpassing its $500 million target. In general, the Fortress credit funds have management fee rates between 1-1.5 percent and generate incentive income of between 10-20 percent of a fund's profits, according to the firm’s 2016 annual report.

– Thomas Duffell and Justin Slaughter contributed to this report.