|
Organization and Operations (Notes)
|
12 Months Ended |
|---|---|
|
Dec. 31, 2011
|
|
| 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, residential real properties, and other financial assets. The Company is externally managed and advised by PRCM Advisers, 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 Amex under the symbols “TWO” and “TWO.WS,” respectively.
On June 11, 2009, the Company, Two Harbors Merger Corp. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company), Pine River and Capitol Acquisition Corp. (“Capitol”) entered into a merger agreement, which, among other things, provided for the merger of Capitol into Two Harbors Merger Corp., with Capitol being the surviving entity and becoming an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.
Capitol, a development stage company, was formed on June 26, 2007 as a publicly registered vehicle to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition or other similar business combination with an operating business. On November 14, 2007, Capitol consummated its initial public offering (the “IPO”) and deposited $258,346,625 of net proceeds into a trust account (“Trust Account”), with such funds to be held in trust until the earlier of the completion of Capitol's initial business combination or November 8, 2009.
The Company was formed solely to complete the merger transaction with Capitol and, prior to such time, had no material assets or liabilities. On October 26, 2009, a majority of Capitol's stockholders approved the proposed merger transaction with the Company, and the transaction closed on October 28, 2009. As part of the merger transaction, certain of Capitol's officers, directors and special advisors (the “Initial Stockholders”) surrendered their common stock to the Company for no consideration, and their shares were canceled. At the closing of the merger transaction, certain holders of the common stock that was sold as part of the IPO elected to convert their shares to cash, or sold their shares to Capitol, in each case for a price equal to the per share value of cash held in trust, or $9.87 per share. At the closing, after deducting transaction costs and expenses, and after purchasing or converting to cash the shares of common stock of Capitol stockholders who did not elect to participate in the merger, the Company had approximately $124.0 million in cash available to fund investments and operations, and a book value of approximately $9.30 per share. The remaining Capitol stockholders, and all Capitol warrant holders, exchanged their Capitol shares and warrants for Company shares and warrants on a one-for-one basis. The new shares and warrants became available to be traded on the NYSE Amex as of October 29, 2009. The Capitol shares and warrants were retired and de-registered upon completion of the merger. Capitol ceased being a development stage company at the completion of the merger.
Upon completion of the merger, Capitol was considered the accounting acquirer, similar to a reverse merger. As the surviving entity, Capitol's financial information is presented in these financial statements on a historical carryover basis.
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 is 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.
In 2011 the Company began setting up a securitization issuance program by partnering with Barclays Bank PLC, or Barclays, to close on a $100 million mortgage loan warehouse facility, subject to future increase. The Barclays facility will be used to aggregate residential mortgage loans that the Company will acquire from mortgage loan originators and secondary market institutions. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had purchased $5.8 million in mortgage loan assets, but had not established the securitization program as a distinct operational business segment.
In the first quarter of 2012, the Company began acquiring residential real properties in certain metropolitan areas across the United States. The Company intends to hold the properties for investment and rent them for income. See Note 19 - Subsequent Events.
|