NEW YORK CITY-Already the owner of about 12.4% of the commonstock of locally based REIT CreXus InvestmentCorp., Annaly Capital Management Inc.said Monday it plans to acquire the remaining 87.6% in an all-cashdeal worth $12.50 per share, or approximately $840 million. Theproposed buyout was announced in a letter to CreXus’ board madepublic on Monday. GlobeSt.com’s calls to CreXus were not returnedby deadline early Monday afternoon.

Agency mortgage REIT Annaly, which already manages CreXusthrough its wholly owned Fixed Income Discount AdvisoryCo. subsidiary, says it has engaged Bank ofAmerica Merrill Lynch as its financial advisor andK&L Gates as legal counsel to assist in theproposed deal. In a statement, recently appointed chairman and CEOWellington Denahan says the acquisition would be“part of a broad evolution of our capital allocation strategy.”

Denahan adds that although Annaly remains committed to theagency market, “given the current environment, we believe it isprudent to diversify a portion of our investment portfolio.Therefore, we may allocate up to 25% of our shareholders’ equity toreal estate assets other than agency mortgage-backedsecurities.”