Exhibit 99.1
Two Harbors Announces Commercial Real Estate Team
and $500 Million Initial Capital Allocation
New York, November 17, 2014 — Two Harbors Investment Corp. (NYSE: TWO) announced today that the parent company of its external manager, Pine River Capital Management L.P., has hired Jack Taylor to serve as Global Head of Commercial Real Estate and Stephen Alpart and Steven Plust to each serve as Managing Directors.
Two Harbors also announced that it is planning an initial allocation of approximately $500 million of equity capital to a commercial real estate initiative.
“The addition of Jack, Stephen and Steven to the Pine River team will enable Two Harbors to diversify our portfolio into commercial real estate assets,” stated Thomas Siering, Two Harbors’ President and Chief Executive Officer. “We believe the opportunity in the commercial real estate market is attractive and will drive total stockholder return over the long term.”
Prior to joining Pine River in New York as Global Head of Commercial Real Estate, Mr. Taylor served as a Managing Director and Head of the Global Real Estate Finance business for Prudential Real Estate Investors. Mr. Taylor joined Prudential in May 2009 to establish the integrated global debt funds platform, and was responsible for strategic planning, product development, client relations and the investment activities of the group. Mr. Taylor was also a member of the Global Management Committee and chaired the Global Investment Committee for debt and equity. From 2003 to 2007, Mr. Taylor was a partner at Five Mile Capital Partners LLC and the portfolio manager for its flagship structured income fund. Prior to Five Mile Capital Partners LLC, he was co-head of real estate investment banking for the Americas and Europe at UBS, led the Real Estate Group at Paine Webber and served on the firm’s Operating Committee. Previously, Mr. Taylor was head trader and manager of the CMBS and Principal Commercial Mortgage businesses for Kidder, Peabody & Co., Inc. Mr. Taylor was a founding governor of the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association (now the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council) and a member of the President’s Council of the Real Estate Roundtable. Mr. Taylor received a J.D. from Yale Law School, a MSc. in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and B.A. in philosophy from the University of Illinois.
Prior to joining Pine River in New York as Managing Director of Commercial Real Estate, Mr. Alpart served as a Managing Director for Prudential Real Estate Investors. Mr. Alpart joined Prudential Real Estate Investors in 2009 with Mr. Taylor and Mr. Plust to establish the global debt funds platform. Mr. Alpart was a Portfolio Manager and a member of the Debt Investment Committee and was responsible for investment activities. Mr. Alpart has worked in real estate finance and debt investing for over 20 years in a variety of functions, including third party funds management, proprietary on-balance sheet lending, transaction advisory, loan syndications and loan sales, and workouts / restructurings. Areas of responsibility have included product development, fundraising, origination, underwriting credit review, structuring, pricing, deal terms, document negotiation, and asset and portfolio management. Mr. Alpart received an M.B.A. in Finance and Real Estate from New York University and a B.S. in Business Administration from Washington University.