Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Organization and Operations

v3.10.0.1
Organization and Operations
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018
Organization and Operations [Abstract]  
Organization and Operations Organization and Operations
Two Harbors Investment Corp., or the Company, is a Maryland corporation investing in, financing and managing Agency residential mortgage-backed securities, or Agency RMBS, non-Agency securities, mortgage servicing rights, or MSR, and other financial assets. The Company’s Chief Investment Officer manages the investment portfolio as a whole and resources are allocated and financial performance is assessed on a consolidated basis. The Company is externally managed and advised by PRCM Advisers LLC, or PRCM Advisers, which is a subsidiary of Pine River Capital Management L.P., or Pine River. The Company’s common stock is listed on the NYSE under the symbol “TWO”.
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 of the Company as a result of the merger.
The Company has elected to be treated as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, as defined under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, for U.S. federal income tax purposes. 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.
On June 28, 2017, the Company completed the contribution of its portfolio of commercial real estate assets to Granite Point Mortgage Trust Inc., or Granite Point, a newly formed Maryland corporation intended to qualify as a REIT, externally managed and advised by Pine River, and focused on directly originating, investing in and managing senior floating-rate commercial mortgage loans and other debt and debt-like commercial real estate investments. The Company contributed its equity interests in its wholly owned subsidiary, TH Commercial Holdings LLC, to Granite Point and, in exchange for its contribution, received approximately 33.1 million shares of common stock of Granite Point, which represented approximately 76.5% of the outstanding stock of Granite Point upon completion of the initial public offering, or IPO, of its common stock on June 28, 2017. On November 1, 2017, the Company distributed, on a pro rata basis, the 33.1 million shares of Granite Point common stock that it acquired in connection with the contribution to stockholders holding shares of Two Harbors common stock outstanding as of the close of business on October 20, 2017.
On April 26, 2018, the Company announced that it had entered into a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which the Company would acquire CYS Investments, Inc., or CYS, a Maryland corporation investing in primarily Agency RMBS and treated as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The transaction was approved by the stockholders of both the Company and CYS on July 27, 2018, and the merger was completed on July 31, 2018, at which time CYS became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. In exchange for all of the shares of CYS common stock outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the merger, the Company issued approximately 72.6 million new shares of common stock, as well as aggregate cash consideration of $15.0 million, to CYS common stockholders. In addition, the Company issued 3 million shares of newly classified Series D cumulative redeemable preferred stock and 8 million shares of newly classified Series E cumulative redeemable preferred stock in exchange for all shares of CYS’s Series A and Series B cumulative redeemable preferred stock outstanding prior to the effective time of the merger.