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Organization and Operations (Notes)
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6 Months Ended |
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Jun. 30, 2013
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| Organization and Operations [Abstract] | |
| Organization and Operations |
Organization and Operations
Two Harbors Investment Corp., or the Company, is a Maryland corporation focused on investing in, financing and managing residential mortgage-backed securities, or RMBS, residential mortgage loans, and other financial assets. The Company is externally managed and advised by PRCM Advisers LLC, a subsidiary of Pine River Capital Management L.P., or Pine River, a global multi-strategy asset management firm. The Company's common stock is listed on the NYSE and its warrants are listed on the NYSE MKT under the symbols “TWO” and “TWO.WS,” respectively.
The Company was incorporated on May 21, 2009 and commenced operations as a publicly traded company on October 28, 2009, upon completion of a merger with Capitol Acquisition Corp., or Capitol, which became a wholly owned indirect subsidiary as a result of the merger.
The Company has elected to be treated as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes commencing with its initial taxable period ended December 31, 2009. As long as the Company continues to comply with a number of requirements under federal tax law and maintains its qualification as a REIT, the Company generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income taxes to the extent that the Company distributes its taxable income to its stockholders on an annual basis and does not engage in prohibited transactions. However, certain activities that the Company may perform may cause it to earn income which will not be qualifying income for REIT purposes. The Company has designated certain of its subsidiaries as taxable REIT subsidiaries, or TRSs, as defined in the Code, to engage in such activities, and the Company may in the future form additional TRSs.
On December 19, 2012, the Company completed the contribution of its portfolio of single-family rental properties to Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp., or Silver Bay, a newly organized Maryland corporation intended to qualify as a REIT and focused on the acquisition, renovation, leasing and management of single-family residential properties for rental income and long-term capital appreciation. The Company contributed its equity interests in its wholly owned subsidiary, Two Harbors Property Investment LLC, to Silver Bay, and in exchange for its contribution, received shares of common stock of Silver Bay. Silver Bay completed its initial public offering, or IPO, of its common stock on December 19, 2012. As the Company will not have any significant continuing involvement in Two Harbors Property Investment LLC, all of the associated operating results were removed from continuing operations and are presented separately as discontinued operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2013 and 2012. See Note 4 - Discontinued Operations for additional information.
On April 30, 2013, one of the Company's wholly-owned subsidiaries acquired a company that has seller-servicer approvals from the Federal National Mortgage Association, or Fannie Mae, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, or Freddie Mac, and the Government National Mortgage Association, or Ginnie Mae, to hold and manage mortgage servicing rights, or MSRs. The MSRs acquired in conjunction with the acquisition of this entity, or the MSR subsidiary, represent the right to service mortgage loans. The Company and its subsidiaries do not originate or directly service mortgage loans, and instead contract with fully licensed subservicers to handle all servicing functions for the loans underlying the Company's MSRs. See Note 13 - Other Assets for additional information.
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