Fortress shares slide after offering is priced

Shares of Fortress Investment Group LLC fell today after the investment manager said it priced a stock offering. Fortress said it priced the offering of 40 million Class A shares at $5 per share, giving the company gross proceeds of $200 million. The underwriters of the offer have an option to buy as many as 6 million shares over the next 30 days. Shares of the company closed at $5.26 on Thursday, and they fell 70 cents, or 13.3 percent, to $4.56 in afternoon trading today. As of May 6, Fortress had 94.6 million Class A shares and 312.1 million Class B shares on the market. As a result, the offering dilutes the value of Fortress shares by about 10 to 11 percent. Roger Smith, an analyst for Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran, said Fortress could gain $60 million to $130 million in management fees if it spends $100 million of the proceeds from the offering to invest in new funds.