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  • Seller
  • Buyer
  • Type
  • Date Announced
  • Seller AUM
  • Kennedy-Wilson, Inc.
  • Prospect Acquisition Corp.
  • Real Estate Managers
  • September 9, 2009
  • $2.8 Billion

Seller Details

Founded in 1977, Kennedy-Wilson, Inc. ("Kennedy Wilson") is a vertically-integrated real estate investment and services company headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA with over 300 professionals in 21 offices throughout the U.S. and Japan. The company offers a comprehensive array of real estate services including property and asset management, brokerage and auction services, and construction and trust management. Through its fund management and separate account businesses, Kennedy Wilson is a strategic investor and manager of real estate investments in the U.S. and Japan.

Kennedy Wilson's management team has acquired, developed and managed more than $15 billion of real estate. The senior management team has worked together on average for over a decade and has an average of over 25 years of real estate experience.

Buyer Details

Prospect is a blank check company formed for the purpose of acquiring, or acquiring control of, through a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination, one or more businesses or assets, which it refers to as its initial business combination, in the financial services industry, which includes investment management firms.

Transaction Summary

Kennedy-Wilson, Inc. ("Kennedy Wilson"), a vertically-integrated real estate investment and services company headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA, with 21 offices throughout the U.S. and Japan, and Prospect Acquisition Corp. ("Prospect"), a special purpose acquisition company with approximately $248 million of cash, today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement under which they plan to combine. The proceeds of the transaction will enable Kennedy Wilson to seek to capitalize on distressed real estate acquisition opportunities and to fund the growth of its auction and property management businesses.

 

Under the terms of the transaction, the business combination between Kennedy-Wilson and Prospect will be accomplished through the merger of a newly formed, wholly-owned subsidiary of Prospect with and into Kennedy-Wilson. Kennedy-Wilson, whose management currently owns a majority of the outstanding Kennedy-Wilson shares and who will be exchanging all of those shares for shares in the combined company, will continue as the surviving entity in the merger and as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Prospect. Prospect will change its name to Kennedy-Wilson Holdings Inc.  The merger is expected to close by November 14, 2009.

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