Annaly to buy rest of CreXus for about $872M

NEW YORK (AP) -- Annaly Capital Management Inc. raised its offer to buy the rest of specialty finance group CreXus Investment Corp. and has sealed the deal for about $872.3 million in cash.

Annaly, a real estate investment trust, said Thursday it will pay $13 per share for the stock it doesn't already own, up from its November offer of $12.50 per share. The price is represents a 4 percent premium over CreXus' Wednesday closing stock price of $12.50.

The new price stemmed from talks between the two companies and has been approved by CreXus' board. CreXus shares added 80 cents, or 6 percent, to reach $13.30 in premarket trading. The stock has traded between $9.48 and $12.69 over the past year.

Annaly already holds a 12.4 percent stake in New York-based CreXus, or about 9.5 million of its 76.6 million outstanding shares. The deal values the entire company at $996.2 million.

Annaly said the move is part of its plan to move toward directly investing in commercial real estate assets. The acquisition is expected to immediately boost the company's earnings per share.

Annaly said it will launch a tender offer for CreXus shares. The tender offer is expected to expire in mid-April and the deal will close shortly after that, CreXus said.