Colony Buys FDIC Loans

Investment vehicles managed by Colony Capital LLC of Santa Monica have bought a portfolio of mostly commercial real estate loans from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., it was announced Friday.

The 1,200 loans, 75 percent of which are delinquent, have an unpaid principal balance of $1.02 billion. The portfolio was acquired a deep discount. The purchase price by Colony was $90.5 million, and it gets a 40 percent equity interest in a new limited liability company that will hold the loans. The financing of the transaction includes $233 million of notes provided by the FDIC, which gets the remaining 60 percent of the LLC.

As the LLC's managing equity owner, Colony Capital will provide for the management, servicing and ultimate disposition of the assets.

“Colony is honored to be selected to partner with the FDIC again, and we look forward to working with the FDIC over the coming years and resolving this portfolio,” said Tom Barrack Jr., the chief executive of Colony Capital. He is also chairman of its unit, the publicly traded Colony Financial Inc., which was created to take advantage of opportunities in commercial mortgage sector following the financial downturn.

Colony Financial shares were up 9 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $20.53 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange