Oaktree Held Talks Last Year to Buy Parts of Colony Capital

Tom Barrack’s Colony Capital Inc., which in February said it would conduct a strategic review as it seeks to salvage its plummeting market value, held talks late last year to sell pieces of itself to Oaktree Capital Group LLC, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The discussions centered on Colony Credit Real Estate Inc., a REIT with a market value of $2 billion in which Colony is the largest shareholder; Colony Industrial, owner of warehouses with a total gross asset value of more than $3.7 billion as of Dec. 31; and the firm’s stake in Digital Colony, a joint venture focused on communications infrastructure investments, said the people, who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

READ MORE>>