Fortress Plans to Raise $125 Million in Share Sale

Date: Thursday, May 14, 2009
Author: Saijel Kishan, Bloomberg

Fortress Investment Group LLC, the private-equity and hedge-fund manager, plans to raise $125 million by selling stock and will use some of the money to pay part of its outstanding debt.

The firm will grant underwriters an option to buy an additional $18.75 million of the Class-A shares to cover extra demand, New York-based Fortress said in a statement distributed by PRNewswire today.

Fortress, which went public in 2007, may use the remainder of the money to invest in its funds, the firm said. Its principals won’t sell any stock with the offering and expect to buy about 10 percent of the shares, according to the statement.

Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Merrill Lynch & Co., and Nomura Holdings Inc. are managing the sale, Fortress said.

Fortress declined 48 cents, or 8.9 percent, to $4.90 in electronic trading at 6 p.m. New York time.

To contact the reporter on this story: Saijel Kishan in New York at skishan@bloomberg.net;