NEW YORK, June 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Fortress Investment Group LLC announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a second quarter cash dividend of $0.225 per Class A share for the quarter ending June 30, 2007, representing a 5.9% increase from the prior quarter dividend and a 32.4% increase since its IPO in February 2007. The dividend is payable on July 13, 2007 to holders of record of Fortress's Class A shares on June 29, 2007.
This dividend represents an annualized dividend of $0.90 per share. The Company intends to announce and pay quarterly dividends, and dividend announcements will be separate from quarterly earnings announcements. Fortress will target dividends that reflect a payout ratio over time of approximately 75% of Fortress's distributable earnings, after tax related payments and reserves. Quarterly dividends are not necessarily representative of the Company's quarterly earnings, but are reflective of our anticipated performance over the next four quarters.
About Fortress
Fortress is a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $36 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2007. Fortress raises, invests and manages private equity funds, hedge funds and publicly traded alternative investment vehicles. Fortress was founded in 1998. For more information regarding Fortress Investment Group LLC or to be added to our e-mail distribution list, please visit http://www.fortress.com/.
Withholding Information
For U.S. federal income tax purposes, the dividend will be treated as a partnership distribution. Based on the best information currently available, when calculating withholding taxes, 10.20 cents of the per share dividend will be treated as U.S. source dividend income, and 6.60 cents of the per share dividend will be treated as U.S. source interest income. Accordingly, for non- U.S. holders of Class A shares, unless an exception to withholding tax applies, the per share amount of the dividend will be subject to a U.S. federal withholding tax of 5.04 cents and the per share amount of the dividend received after taking into account such withholding taxes will be 17.46 cents.
Non-U.S. holders of Class A shares are generally subject to U.S. federal withholding tax at a rate of 30% (subject to reduction by applicable treaty or other exception) on their shares of U.S. source dividends and certain other types of U.S. source income realized by the Company. With respect to interest, however, no withholding is generally required if proper certification (on an IRS Form W-8) of a beneficial owner's foreign status has been filed with the withholding agent. In addition, non-U.S. holders must generally provide the withholding agent with a properly completed IRS Form W-8 to obtain any reduction in withholding.
