New Residential tumbles as mREIT slashes dividend, sees book value down about 30%
31/03/2020 20:57
** New Residential Investment Corp NRZ.N tumbles 16.2% to
$5.00 after mortgage REIT slashes its stock dividend by 90% amid
market turmoil created by COVID-19 pandemic
** Fortress Investment-managed firm says "market
dislocations have put significant downward pressure on asset
values...we have made a number of decisions to de-risk, increase
liquidity and protect our book value" urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nBwb1KcFa
** NRZ declares Q1 common stock dividend of 5 cents/sh vs
previous payout of 50 cents; dividend payable on May 15 to
holders of record on Apr 15
** Also estimates its book value as of Mar 27 down ~25%-30%
from $16.21 as of Dec 31
** Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-31/fortress-managed-new-residential-is-selling-6-billion-of-debt
NRZ has been selling $6 bln of non-agency debt over the past
week, citing people with knowledge of the matter
** NRZ joins a string of mREITs that have suspended dividend
payouts in effort to conserve cash, and sold assets to reduce
leverage given bond market turbulence urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2BN14F urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2BM04Q
** With Tues decline, NRZ has fallen ~70% this month. The
Dow Jones U.S. Mortgage REITs index and iShares Mortgage Real
Estate ETF REM.N are down ~55% and ~57%, respectively, over
same time frame
(Reporting by Lance Tupper)
((lance.tupper.tr.com@reuters.net
lance.tupper@tr.com 646-223-5017))