Jeannie Diefenderfer to Join the Company’s Slate and Stand for Election to the Colony Capital Board of Directors at the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders

Blackwells to Support the Company’s Slate of Director Nominees at 2020 Annual Meeting

Colony Capital Inc. ("Colony Capital" or the "Company") (NYSE: CLNY) today announced that it has reached a cooperation agreement with Blackwells Capital ("Blackwells"), which owns approximately 2% of the Company’s outstanding common stock.

Pursuant to the agreement, Colony Capital will nominate Jeannie Diefenderfer to stand for election to the Company’s Board of Directors (the "Board") at the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Annual Meeting"). Following the Annual Meeting, Colony Capital’s Board will continue to comprise 12 directors, of whom 11 are independent.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement, and appreciate that Blackwells has affirmed its support of our strategy, Board and management team," said Nancy Curtin, Colony Capital’s Lead Independent Director. "With an extensive background in digital investing and digital real estate, Jeannie adds a highly complementary skill set, diversity and relevant experience that will further enhance our oversight of management’s ongoing successful implementation of its digital strategy. We are confident that Jeannie’s expertise and perspective will be additive to our ongoing mission to generate long-term, sustainable value for stockholders."

"We stand behind Mr. Barrack, and his vision in rotating to a global digital platform along with the recruitment of a first class executive in Marc Ganzi to lead Colony," said Jason Aintabi, Chief Investment Officer of Blackwells. "We are excited by the new management team, and it is energizing to see Jeannie being added to the Board. Colony has taken a number of pro-investor steps recently that give us great comfort. We are confident that Marc Ganzi’s management team and the Board will do an excellent job of building upon Tom Barrack’s visionary leadership. We are today standing down from the proxy contest and further investing in Colony because we believe in the Company, its new Board and management."

Under the terms of the agreement, Blackwells has agreed to withdraw its slate of five nominees and vote its shares in favor of all of the Board’s nominees and support all Board recommended proposals at the Company’s 2020 Annual Meeting. Blackwells will abide by certain standstill and voting commitments, including a standstill with respect to Colony Capital until the tenth anniversary of the agreement as well as voting in favor of the Board’s recommendations until the third anniversary of the agreement.

Colony Capital and Blackwells have also agreed to enter into a joint venture to acquire Colony Capital common stock on the open market. The Company will commit $13.23 million in CLNY common stock and/or cash, and Blackwells will commit $1.47 million in cash. Colony Capital will serve as the Managing Member of the joint venture and Blackwells will retain customary minority protections.

The complete agreement between Colony Capital and Blackwells, including more information regarding the joint venture, will be filed on a Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Jeannie Diefenderfer

Jeannie Diefenderfer is founder and chief executive officer of courageNpurpose, LLC, a consulting firm providing advisory services to boards and CEOs in strategic initiatives to drive operational and business efficacy. She has nearly 30 years of technical and operational experience, with more than 10 years in executive leadership positions at Verizon Communications, including leading Verizon’s global customer care organization for its largest enterprise customers, serving as Chief Procurement Officer, and as Senior Vice President of Global Engineering & Planning. Ms. Diefenderfer is an independent member of the board of Windstream Holdings, Inc., and previously served as a director on the boards of public companies, MRV Communications, Inc. and Westell Technologies, Inc. Ms. Diefenderfer is also Chair of the Accenture Network Advisory Council, and Vice Chair and Trustee of Tufts University. She holds a bachelor of science in chemical engineering from Tufts University, and an MBA from Babson College.

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