We cannot assure you that these markets will remain an efficient source of long-term financing for our assets. If our strategy is not viable, we will have to find alternative forms of financing for our assets which may not be available. Further, as a REIT, we are required to distribute annually at least 90% of our REIT taxable income, determined without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and excluding net capital gain, to our stockholders and are therefore not able to retain significant amounts of our earnings for new investments. We cannot assure you that any, or sufficient, funding or capital will be available to us in the future on terms that are acceptable to us. If we cannot obtain sufficient funding on acceptable terms, there may be a negative impact on the market price of our common stock and our ability to make distributions to our stockholders. Moreover, our ability to grow will be dependent on our ability to procure additional funding. To the extent we are not able to raise additional funds through the issuance of additional equity or borrowings, our growth will be constrained.

We will depend on warehouse and repurchase facilities, credit facilities and commercial paper to execute our business plan, and our inability to access funding could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and business.

Our ability to fund our investments depends to a large extent upon our ability to secure warehouse, repurchase, credit, and commercial paper financing on acceptable terms. Pending the securitization of a pool of mortgage loans, if any, we will fund the acquisition of mortgage loans through borrowings from warehouse, repurchase, and credit facilities and commercial paper. We can provide no assurance that we will be successful in establishing sufficient warehouse, repurchase, and credit facilities and issuing commercial paper. In addition, because warehouse, repurchase, and credit facilities and commercial paper are short-term commitments of capital, the lenders may respond to market conditions, which may favor an alternative investment strategy for them, making it more difficult for us to secure continued financing. During certain periods of the credit cycle, lenders may curtail their willingness to provide financing. If we are not able to renew our then existing warehouse, repurchase, and credit facilities and issue commercial paper or arrange for new financing on terms acceptable to us, or if we default on our covenants or are otherwise unable to access funds under any of these facilities, we will have to curtail our asset acquisition activities.

It is possible that the lenders that will provide us with financing could experience changes in their ability to advance funds to us, independent of our performance or the performance of our investments, including our mortgage loans. In addition, if the regulatory capital requirements imposed on our lenders change, they may be required to significantly increase the cost of the warehouse facilities that they provide to us. Our lenders also may revise their eligibility requirements for the types of residential mortgage loans they are willing to finance or the terms of such financings, based on, among other factors, the regulatory environment and their management of perceived risk, particularly with respect to assignee liability. Financing of equity-based lending, for example, may become more difficult in the future. Moreover, the amount of financing we will receive under our warehouse and repurchase facilities will be directly related to the lenders’ valuation of the assets that secure the outstanding borrowings. Typically warehouse, repurchase, and credit facilities grant the respective lender the absolute right to reevaluate the market value of the assets that secure outstanding borrowings at any time. If a lender determines in its sole discretion that the value of the assets has decreased, it has the right to initiate a margin call. A margin call would require us to transfer additional assets to such lender without any advance of funds from the lender for such transfer or to repay a portion of the outstanding borrowings. Any such margin call could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, business, liquidity and ability to make distributions to our stockholders, and could cause the value of our common stock to decline. We may be forced to sell assets at significantly depressed prices to meet such margin calls and to maintain adequate liquidity, which could cause us to incur losses. Moreover, to the extent we are forced to sell assets at such time, given market conditions, we may be forced to sell assets at the same time as others facing similar pressures to sell similar assets, which could greatly exacerbate a difficult market environment and which could result in our incurring significantly greater losses on our sale of such assets. In an extreme case of market duress, a market may not even be present for certain of our assets at any price.

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The current dislocation in the sub-prime mortgage sector, and the current weakness in the broader mortgage market, could adversely affect one or more of our potential lenders and could cause one or more of our potential lenders to be unwilling or unable to provide us with financing. This could potentially increase our financing costs and reduce our liquidity. If one or more major market participants fails, it could negatively impact the marketability of all fixed income securities, including Agency and non-Agency RMBS, residential mortgage loans and real estate related securities, and this could negatively impact the value of the securities we acquire, thus reducing our net book value. Furthermore, if many of our potential lenders are unwilling or unable to provide us with financing, we could be forced to sell our assets at an inopportune time when prices are depressed.

We expect that our financing facilities will contain covenants that restrict our operations and may inhibit our ability to grow our business and increase revenues.

We expect our financing facilities will contain extensive restrictions, covenants, and representations and warranties that, among other things, will require us to satisfy specified financial, asset quality, loan eligibility and loan performance tests. If we fail to meet or satisfy any of these covenants or representations and warranties, we would be in default under these agreements and our lenders could elect to declare all amounts outstanding under the agreements to be immediately due and payable, enforce their respective interests against collateral pledged under such agreements and restrict our ability to make additional borrowings. We also expect our financing agreements will contain cross-default provisions, so that if a default occurs under any one agreement, the lenders under our other agreements could also declare a default.

The covenants and restrictions we expect in our financing facilities may restrict our ability to, among other things:

	•	incur or guarantee additional debt;

	•	make certain investments or acquisitions;

	•	make distributions on or repurchase or redeem capital stock;

	•	engage in mergers or consolidations;

	•	finance mortgage loans with certain attributes;

	•	reduce liquidity below certain levels;

	•	grant liens, incur operating losses for more than a specified period;

	•	enter into transactions with affiliates; and

	•	hold mortgage loans for longer than established time periods.

These restrictions may interfere with our ability to obtain financing, including the financing needed to qualify as a REIT, or to engage in other business activities, which may significantly harm our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations. A default and resulting repayment acceleration could significantly reduce our liquidity, which could require us to sell our assets to repay amounts due and outstanding. This could also significantly harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, and our ability to make distributions, which could cause the value of our common stock to decline. A default will also significantly limit our financing alternatives such that we will be unable to pursue our leverage strategy, which could curtail our investment returns.

The repurchase agreements, warehouse facilities and credit facilities and commercial paper that we will use to finance our investments may require us to provide additional collateral and may restrict us from leveraging our assets as fully as desired.

We expect to use repurchase agreements, warehouse facilities and credit facilities and commercial paper to finance our investments. If the market value of the loans or securities pledged or sold by us to a funding source decline in value, we may be required by the lending institution to provide additional collateral or pay down a portion of the funds advanced, but we may not have the funds available to do so. Posting additional collateral will reduce our liquidity and limit our ability to

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leverage our assets, which could adversely affect our business. In the event we do not have sufficient liquidity to meet such requirements, lending institutions can accelerate repayment of our indebtedness, increase our borrowing rates, liquidate our collateral or terminate our ability to borrow. Such a situation would likely result in a rapid deterioration of our financial condition and possibly necessitate a filing for protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Further, financial institutions may require us to maintain a certain amount of cash that is not invested or to set aside non-levered assets sufficient to maintain a specified liquidity position which would allow us to satisfy our collateral obligations. As a result, we may not be able to leverage our assets as fully as we would choose, which could reduce our return on equity. If we are unable to meet these collateral obligations, then, as described above, our financial condition could deteriorate rapidly.

If the counterparty to our repurchase transactions defaults on its obligation to resell the underlying security back to us at the end of the transaction term, or if the value of the underlying security has declined as of the end of that term or if we default on our obligations under the repurchase agreement, we will lose money on our repurchase transactions.

When we engage in a repurchase transaction, we generally sell securities to the transaction counterparty and receive cash from the counterparty. The counterparty is obligated to resell the securities back to us at the end of the term of the transaction, which is typically 30-90 days. Because the cash we receive from the counterparty when we initially sell the securities to the counterparty is less than the value of those securities (this difference is referred to as the haircut), if the counterparty defaults on its obligation to resell the securities back to us we would incur a loss on the transaction equal to the amount of the haircut (assuming there was no change in the value of the securities). We would also lose money on a repurchase transaction if the value of the underlying securities has declined as of the end of the transaction term, as we would have to repurchase the securities for their initial value but would receive securities worth less than that amount. Any losses we incur on our repurchase transactions could adversely affect our earnings, and thus our cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

If we default on one of our obligations under a repurchase transaction, the counterparty can terminate the transaction and cease entering into any other repurchase transactions with us. In that case, we would likely need to establish a replacement repurchase facility with another repurchase dealer in order to continue to leverage our portfolio and carry out our investment strategy. There is no assurance we would be able to establish a suitable replacement facility.

An increase in our borrowing costs relative to the interest we receive on our assets may adversely affect our profitability, and thus our cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

As our repurchase agreements and other short-term borrowings mature, we will be required either to enter into new borrowings or to sell certain of our investments. An increase in short-term interest rates at the time that we seek to enter into new borrowings would reduce the spread between our returns on our assets and the cost of our borrowings. This would adversely affect our returns on our assets that are subject to prepayment risk, including our mortgage-backed securities, which might reduce earnings and, in turn, cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

If we issue senior securities we will be exposed to additional risks.

If we decide to issue senior securities in the future, it is likely that they will be governed by an indenture or other instrument containing covenants restricting our operating flexibility. Additionally, any convertible or exchangeable securities that we issue in the future may have rights, preferences and privileges more favorable than those of our common stock and may result in dilution to owners of our common stock. We and, indirectly, our stockholders, will bear the cost of issuing and servicing such securities.

Our securitizations will expose us to additional risks.

We expect to securitize certain of our portfolio investments to generate cash for funding new investments. We expect to structure these transactions so that they are treated as financing

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transactions, and not as sales, for federal income tax purposes. In each such transaction, we would convey a pool of assets to a special purpose vehicle, the issuing entity, and the issuing entity would issue one or more classes of non-recourse notes pursuant to the terms of an indenture. The notes would be secured by the pool of assets. In exchange for the transfer of assets to the issuing entity, we would receive the cash proceeds of the sale of non-recourse notes and a 100% interest in the equity of the issuing entity. The securitization of our portfolio investments might magnify our exposure to losses on those portfolio investments because any equity interest we retain in the issuing entity would be subordinate to the notes issued to investors and we would, therefore, absorb all of the losses sustained with respect to a securitized pool of assets before the owners of the notes experience any losses. Moreover, we cannot be assured that we will be able to access the securitization market, or be able to do so at favorable rates. The inability to securitize our portfolio could hurt our performance and our ability to grow our business.

The use of CDO financings with over-collateralization requirements may have a negative impact on our cash flow.

We expect that the terms of CDOs we may sponsor will generally provide that the principal amount of assets must exceed the principal balance of the related bonds by a certain amount, commonly referred to as ‘‘over-collateralization.’’ We anticipate that the CDO terms will provide that, if certain delinquencies or losses exceed the specified levels based on the analysis by the rating agencies (or any financial guaranty insurer) of the characteristics of the assets collateralizing the bonds, the required level of over-collateralization may be increased or may be prevented from decreasing as would otherwise be permitted if losses or delinquencies did not exceed those levels. Other tests (based on delinquency levels or other criteria) may restrict our ability to receive net income from assets collateralizing the obligations. We cannot assure you that the performance tests will be satisfied. In advance of completing negotiations with the rating agencies or other key transaction parties on our future CDO financings, we cannot assure you of the actual terms of the CDO delinquency tests, over-collateralization terms, cash flow release mechanisms or other significant factors regarding the calculation of net income to us. Given recent volatility in the CDO market, rating agencies may depart from historic practices for CDO financings, making them more costly for us. Failure to obtain favorable terms with regard to these matters may materially and adversely affect the availability of net income to us. If our assets fail to perform as anticipated, our over-collateralization or other credit enhancement expense associated with our CDO financings will increase.

Hedging against interest rate exposure may adversely affect our earnings, which could reduce our cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

Subject to maintaining our qualification as a REIT, we may pursue various hedging strategies to seek to reduce our exposure to losses from adverse changes in interest rates. Our hedging activity will vary in scope based on the level and volatility of interest rates, the type of assets held and other changing market conditions. Interest rate hedging may fail to protect or could adversely affect us because, among other things:

	•	interest rate hedging can be expensive, particularly during periods of rising and volatile interest rates;

	•	available interest rate hedges may not correspond directly with the interest rate risk for which protection is sought;

	•	the duration of the hedge may not match the duration of the related liability;

	•	the amount of income that a REIT may earn from hedging transactions (other than through taxable REIT subsidiaries, or TRSs) to offset interest rate losses is limited by federal tax provisions governing REITs;

	•	the credit quality of the party owing money on the hedge may be downgraded to such an extent that it impairs our ability to sell or assign our side of the hedging transaction; and

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	•	the party owing money in the hedging transaction may default on its obligation to pay.

Our hedging transactions, which are intended to limit losses, may actually limit gains and increase our exposure to losses. As a result, our hedging activity may adversely affect our earnings, which could reduce our cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

In addition, hedging instruments involve risk since they often are not traded on regulated exchanges, guaranteed by an exchange or its clearing house, or regulated by any U.S. or foreign governmental authorities. Consequently, there are no requirements with respect to record keeping, financial responsibility or segregation of customer funds and positions. Furthermore, the enforceability of agreements underlying derivative transactions may depend on compliance with applicable statutory and commodity and other regulatory requirements and, depending on the identity of the counterparty, applicable international requirements. The business failure of a hedging counterparty with whom we enter into a hedging transaction will most likely result in its default. Default by a party with whom we enter into a hedging transaction may result in the loss of unrealized profits and force us to cover our commitments, if any, at the then current market price. Although generally we will seek to reserve the right to terminate our hedging positions, it may not always be possible to dispose of or close out a hedging position without the consent of the hedging counterparty, and we may not be able to enter into an offsetting contract in order to cover our risk. We cannot assure you that a liquid secondary market will exist for hedging instruments purchased or sold, and we may be required to maintain a position until exercise or expiration, which could result in losses.

Declines in the market values of our investments may adversely affect periodic reported results and credit availability, which may reduce earnings and, in turn, cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

A substantial portion of our assets will be classified for accounting purposes as ‘‘available- for-sale.’’ Changes in the market values of those assets will be directly charged or credited to stockholders’ equity. As a result, a decline in values may reduce the book value of our assets. Moreover, if the decline in value of an available-for-sale security is other than temporary, such decline will reduce earnings.

A decline in the market value of our assets may adversely affect us, particularly in instances where we have borrowed money based on the market value of those assets. If the market value of those assets declines, the lender may require us to post additional collateral to support the loan. If we were unable to post the additional collateral, we would have to sell the assets at a time when we might not otherwise choose to do so. A reduction in credit available may reduce our earnings and, in turn, cash available for distribution to stockholders.

The lack of liquidity in our investments may adversely affect our business.

We may invest in securities or other instruments that are not liquid. The illiquidity of our investments may make it difficult for us to sell such investments if the need or desire arises. In addition, if we are required to liquidate all or a portion of our portfolio quickly, we may realize significantly less than the value at which we have previously recorded our investments. As a result, our ability to vary our portfolio in response to changes in economic and other conditions may be relatively limited, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We are highly dependent on information systems and third parties, and systems failures could significantly disrupt our business, which may, in turn, negatively affect the market price of our common stock and our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders.

Our business is highly dependent on communications and information systems. Any failure or interruption of our systems could cause delays or other problems in our securities trading activities, including mortgage-backed securities trading activities, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and negatively affect the market price of our common stock and our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders.

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We expect to be required to obtain various state licenses in order to purchase mortgage loans in the secondary market and there is no assurance we will be able to obtain or maintain those licenses.

While we are not required to obtain licenses to purchase mortgage-backed securities, we will be required to obtain various state licenses to purchase mortgage loans in the secondary market. We have not applied for these licenses and expect that this process will be costly and could take several months. There is no assurance that we will obtain all of the licenses that we desire or that we will not experience significant delays in seeking these licenses. Furthermore, we will be subject to various information and other requirements to maintain these licenses, and there is no assurance that we will satisfy those requirements. Our failure to obtain or maintain licenses will restrict our investment options and could harm our business.

We may be subject to liability for potential violations of predatory lending laws, which could adversely impact our results of operations, financial condition and business.

Various federal, state and local laws have been enacted that are designed to discourage predatory lending practices. The federal Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act of 1994, commonly known as HOEPA, prohibits inclusion of certain provisions in residential mortgage loans that have mortgage rates or origination costs in excess of prescribed levels and requires that borrowers be given certain disclosures prior to origination. Some states have enacted, or may enact, similar laws or regulations, which in some cases impose restrictions and requirements greater than those in HOEPA. In addition, under the anti-predatory lending laws of some states, the origination of certain residential mortgage loans, including loans that are not classified as ‘‘high cost’’ loans under applicable law, must satisfy a net tangible benefits test with respect to the related borrower. This test may be highly subjective and open to interpretation. As a result, a court may determine that a residential mortgage loan, for example, does not meet the test even if the related originator reasonably believed that the test was satisfied.

Failure of residential mortgage loan originators or servicers to comply with these laws, to the extent any of their residential mortgage loans become part of our mortgaged-related assets, could subject us, as an assignee or purchaser to the related residential mortgage loans, to monetary penalties and could result in the borrowers rescinding the affected residential mortgage loans. Lawsuits have been brought in various states making claims against assignees or purchasers of high cost loans for violations of state law. Named defendants in these cases have included numerous participants within the secondary mortgage market. If the loans are found to have been originated in violation of predatory or abusive lending laws, we could incur losses, which could adversely impact our results of operations, financial condition and business.

Terrorist attacks and other acts of violence or war may affect the market for our common stock, the industry in which we conduct our operations and our profitability.

Terrorist attacks may harm our results of operations and your investment. We cannot assure you that there will not be further terrorist attacks against the United States or U.S. businesses. These attacks or armed conflicts may directly impact the property underlying our asset-based securities or the securities markets in general. Losses resulting from these types of events are uninsurable.

More generally, any of these events could cause consumer confidence and spending to decrease or result in increased volatility in the United States and worldwide financial markets and economies. Adverse economic conditions could harm the value of the property underlying our asset-backed securities or the securities markets in general which could harm our operating results and revenues and may result in the volatility of the value of our securities.

We will be subject to the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

After we become a public company, our management will be required to deliver a report that assesses the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting, pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires our independent registered public accounting firm to deliver an attestation report on

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management’s assessment of, and the operating effectiveness of, our internal controls over financial reporting in conjunction with their opinion on our audited financial statements as of December 31 subsequent to the year in which our registration statement becomes effective. Substantial work on our part is required to implement appropriate processes, document the system of internal control over key processes, assess their design, remediate any deficiencies identified and test their operation. This process is expected to be both costly and challenging. We cannot give any assurances that material weaknesses will not be identified in the future in connection with our compliance with the provisions of Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The existence of any material weakness described above would preclude a conclusion by management and our independent auditors that we maintained effective internal control over financial reporting. Our management may be required to devote significant time and expense to remediate any material weaknesses that may be discovered and may not be able to remediate any material weaknesses in a timely manner. The existence of any material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting could also result in errors in our financial statements that could require us to restate our financial statements, cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, all of which could lead to a decline in the trading price of our common stock.

Risks Related To Our Investments

We have not yet identified any specific investments.

We have not yet identified any specific investments for our portfolio and, thus, you will not be able to evaluate any proposed investments before purchasing shares of our common stock. Additionally, our investments will be selected by our Manager, and our stockholders will not have input into such investment decisions. Both of these factors will increase the uncertainty, and thus the risk, of investing in our shares.

Until appropriate investments can be identified, our Manager may invest the net proceeds of this offering and the concurrent sale of shares to Annaly in interest-bearing short-term investments, including money market accounts, that are consistent with our intention to qualify as a REIT. These investments are expected to provide a lower net return than we hope to achieve from investments in our intended use of proceeds of this offering. We expect to reallocate a portion of the net proceeds from this offering into a more diversified portfolio of investments within six months, subject to the availability of appropriate investment opportunities. Our Manager intends to conduct due diligence with respect to each investment and suitable investment opportunities may not be immediately available. Even if opportunities are available, there can be no assurance that our Manager’s due diligence processes will uncover all relevant facts or that any investment will be successful.

We may allocate the net proceeds from this offering to investments with which you may not agree.

We will have significant flexibility in investing the net proceeds of this offering. You will be unable to evaluate the manner in which the net proceeds of this offering will be invested or the economic merit of our expected investments and, as a result, we may use the net proceeds from this offering to invest in investments with which you may not agree. The failure of our management to apply these proceeds effectively or find investments that meet our investment criteria in sufficient time or on acceptable terms could result in unfavorable returns, could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations and ability to make distributions to our stockholders, and could cause the value of our common stock to decline.

We may not realize income or gains from our investments.

We seek to generate both current income and capital appreciation. The securities we invest in may, however, not appreciate in value and, in fact, may decline in value, and the debt securities we invest in may default on interest or principal payments. Accordingly, we may not be able to realize income or gains from our investments. Any gains that we do realize may not be sufficient to offset any other losses we experience. Any income that we realize may not be sufficient to offset our expenses.

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Our investments may be concentrated and will be subject to risk of default.

While we intend to diversify our portfolio of investments in the manner described in this prospectus, we are not required to observe specific diversification criteria. To the extent that our portfolio is concentrated in any one region or type of security, downturns relating generally to such region or type of security may result in defaults on a number of our investments within a short time period, which may reduce our net income and the value of our shares and accordingly may reduce our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders.

Increases in interest rates could negatively affect the value of our investments, which could result in reduced earnings or losses and negatively affect the cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

We expect to invest in real estate-related assets by investing directly in residential mortgage loans and indirectly by purchasing RMBS, CMBS and CDOs backed by real estate-related assets. Under a normal yield curve, an investment in these assets will decline in value if long-term interest rates increase. Declines in market value may ultimately reduce earnings or result in losses to us, which may negatively affect cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

A significant risk associated with these investments is the risk that both long-term and short-term interest rates will increase significantly. If long-term rates were to increase significantly, the market value of these investments would decline, and the duration and weighted average life of the investments would increase. We could realize a loss if these assets were sold. At the same time, an increase in short-term interest rates would increase the amount of interest owed on the repurchase agreements we may enter into to finance the purchase of these assets.

Market values of our investments may decline without any general increase in interest rates for a number of reasons, such as increases in defaults, increases in voluntary prepayments for those investments that are subject to prepayment risk and widening of credit spreads.

In a period of rising interest rates, our interest expense could increase while the interest we earn on our fixed-rate assets would not change, which would adversely affect our profitability.

Our operating results will depend in large part on the differences between the income from our assets, net of credit losses and financing costs. We anticipate that, in most cases, the income from such assets will respond more slowly to interest rate fluctuations than the cost of our borrowings. Consequently, changes in interest rates, particularly short-term interest rates, may significantly influence our net income. Increases in these rates will tend to decrease our net income and market value of our assets. Interest rate fluctuations resulting in our interest expense exceeding our interest income would result in operating losses for us and may limit or eliminate our ability to make distributions to our stockholders.

Most of our portfolio investments will be recorded at fair value, as determined in accordance with our pricing policy as approved by our board of directors and, as a result, there will be uncertainty as to the value of these investments.

Most of our portfolio investments will be in the form of securities that are not publicly traded. The fair value of securities and other investments that are not publicly traded may not be readily determinable. We will value these investments quarterly at fair value, as determined in accordance with our pricing policy as approved by our board of directors. Because such valuations are inherently uncertain, may fluctuate over short periods of time and may be based on estimates, our determinations of fair value may differ materially from the values that would have been used if a ready market for these securities existed. The value of our common stock could be adversely affected if our determinations regarding the fair value of these investments were materially higher than the values that we ultimately realize upon their disposal.

A prolonged economic slowdown, a recession or declining real estate values could impair our investments and harm our operating results.

Many of our investments may be susceptible to economic slowdowns or recessions, which could lead to financial losses in our investments and a decrease in revenues, net income and assets.

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Unfavorable economic conditions also could increase our funding costs, limit our access to the capital markets or result in a decision by lenders not to extend credit to us. These events could prevent us from increasing investments and have an adverse effect on our operating results.

Prepayment rates could negatively affect the value of our investment portfolio, which could result in reduced earnings or losses and negatively affect the cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

In the case of residential mortgage loans, there are seldom any restrictions on borrowers’ abilities to prepay their loans. Homeowners tend to prepay mortgage loans faster when interest rates decline. Consequently, owners of the loans have to reinvest the money received from the prepayments at the lower prevailing interest rates. Conversely, homeowners tend not to prepay mortgage loans when interest rates increase. Consequently, owners of the loans are unable to reinvest money that would have otherwise been received from prepayments at the higher prevailing interest rates. This volatility in prepayment rates may affect our ability to maintain targeted amounts of leverage on our portfolio of residential mortgage loans, RMBS, and CDOs backed by real estate-related assets and may result in reduced earnings or losses for us and negatively affect the cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

The mortgage loans we will invest in and the mortgage loans underlying the mortgage and asset-backed securities we will invest in are subject to delinquency, foreclosure and loss, which could result in losses to us.

Residential mortgage loans are secured by single-family residential property and are subject to risks of delinquency and foreclosure and risks of loss. The ability of a borrower to repay a loan secured by a residential property is dependent upon the income or assets of the borrower. A number of factors, including a general economic downturn, acts of God, terrorism, social unrest and civil disturbances, may impair borrowers’ abilities to repay their loans. In addition, we intend to invest in non-Agency RMBS, which are backed by residential real property but, in contrast to Agency RMBS, their principal and interest is not guaranteed by federally chartered entities such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and, in the case of Ginnie Mae, the U.S. government. Asset-backed securities are bonds or notes backed by loans or other financial assets. The ability of a borrower to repay these loans or other financial assets is dependant upon the income or assets of these borrowers.

Commercial mortgage loans are secured by multifamily or commercial property and are subject to risks of delinquency and foreclosure, and risks of loss that are greater than similar risks associated with loans made on the security of single-family residential property. The ability of a borrower to repay a loan secured by an income-producing property typically is dependent primarily upon the successful operation of such property rather than upon the existence of independent income or assets of the borrower. If the net operating income of the property is reduced, the borrower’s ability to repay the loan may be impaired. Net operating income of an income producing property can be affected by, among other things, tenant mix, success of tenant businesses, property management decisions, property location and condition, competition from comparable types of properties, changes in laws that increase operating expense or limit rents that may be charged, any need to address environmental contamination at the property, the occurrence of any uninsured casualty at the property, changes in national, regional or local economic conditions or specific industry segments, declines in regional or local real estate values, declines in regional or local rental or occupancy rates, increases in interest rates, real estate tax rates and other operating expenses, changes in governmental rules, regulations and fiscal policies, including environmental legislation, acts of God, terrorism, social unrest and civil disturbances.

In the event of any default under a mortgage loan held directly by us, we will bear a risk of loss of principal to the extent of any deficiency between the value of the collateral and the principal and accrued interest of the mortgage loan, which could have a material adverse effect on our cash flow from operations. In the event of the bankruptcy of a mortgage loan borrower, the mortgage loan to such borrower will be deemed to be secured only to the extent of the value of the underlying collateral at the time of bankruptcy (as determined by the bankruptcy court), and the lien securing the mortgage loan will be subject to the avoidance powers of the bankruptcy trustee or debtor-in-possession to the extent the lien is unenforceable under state law.

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Foreclosure of a mortgage loan can be an expensive and lengthy process which could have a substantial negative effect on our anticipated return on the foreclosed mortgage loan. RMBS evidence interests in or are secured by pools of residential mortgage loans and CMBS evidence interests in or are secured by a single commercial mortgage loan or a pool of commercial mortgage loans. Accordingly, the MBS and CMBS we invest in are subject to all of the risks of the respective underlying mortgage loans.

We may be required to repurchase mortgage loans or indemnify investors if we breach representations and warranties, which could harm our earnings.

When we sell loans, we will be required to make customary representations and warranties about such loans to the loan purchaser. Our residential mortgage loan sale agreements will require us to repurchase or substitute loans in the event we breach a representation or warranty given to the loan purchaser. In addition, we may be required to repurchase loans as a result of borrower fraud or in the event of early payment default on a mortgage loan. Likewise, we are required to repurchase or substitute loans if we breach a representation or warranty in connection with our securitizations. The remedies available to a purchaser of mortgage loans are generally broader than those available to us against the originating broker or correspondent. Further, if a purchaser enforces its remedies against us, we may not be able to enforce the remedies we have against the sellers. The repurchased loans typically can only be financed at a steep discount to their repurchase price, if at all. They are also typically sold at a significant discount to the unpaid principal balance. Significant repurchase activity could harm our cash flow, results of operations, financial condition and business prospects.

We may enter into derivative contracts that could expose us to contingent liabilities in the future.

Subject to maintaining our qualification as a REIT, part of our investment strategy will involve entering into derivative contracts that could require us to fund cash payments in certain circumstances. These potential payments will be contingent liabilities and therefore may not appear on our balance sheet. Our ability to fund these contingent liabilities will depend on the liquidity of our assets and access to capital at the time, and the need to fund these contingent liabilities could adversely impact our financial condition.

Our Manager’s due diligence of potential investments may not reveal all of the liabilities associated with such investments and may not reveal other weaknesses in such investments, which could lead to investment losses.

Before making an investment, our Manager will assess the strengths and weaknesses of the originator or issuer of the asset as well as other factors and characteristics that are material to the performance of the investment. In making the assessment and otherwise conducting customary due diligence, our Manager will rely on resources available to it and, in some cases, an investigation by third parties. This process is particularly important with respect to newly formed originators or issuers with unrated and other subordinated tranches of MBS and ABS because there may be little or no information publicly available about these entities and investments. There can be no assurance that our Manager’s due diligence process will uncover all relevant facts or that any investment will be successful.

Our real estate investments are subject to risks particular to real property.

We own assets secured by real estate and may own real estate directly in the future, either through direct investments or upon a default of mortgage loans. Real estate investments are subject to various risks, including:

	•	acts of God, including earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters, which may result in uninsured losses;

	•	acts of war or terrorism, including the consequences of terrorist attacks, such as those that occurred on September 11, 2001;

	•	adverse changes in national and local economic and market conditions;

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	•	changes in governmental laws and regulations, fiscal policies and zoning ordinances and the related costs of compliance with laws and regulations, fiscal policies and ordinances;

	•	costs of remediation and liabilities associated with environmental conditions such as indoor mold; and

	•	the potential for uninsured or under-insured property losses.

If any of these or similar events occurs, it may reduce our return from an affected property or investment and reduce or eliminate our ability to make distributions to stockholders.

We may be exposed to environmental liabilities with respect to properties to which we take title.

In the course of our business, we may take title to real estate, and, if we do take title, we could be subject to environmental liabilities with respect to these properties. In such a circumstance, we may be held liable to a governmental entity or to third parties for property damage, personal injury, investigation, and clean-up costs incurred by these parties in connection with environmental contamination, or may be required to investigate or clean up hazardous or toxic substances, or chemical releases at a property. The costs associated with investigation or remediation activities could be substantial. If we ever become subject to significant environmental liabilities, our business, financial condition, liquidity, and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We may in the future invest in RMBS collateralized by subprime mortgage loans, which are subject to increased risks.

We may in the future invest in RMBS backed by collateral pools of subprime residential mortgage loans. ‘‘Subprime’’ mortgage loans refer to mortgage loans that have been originated using underwriting standards that are less restrictive than the underwriting requirements used as standards for other first and junior lien mortgage loan purchase programs, such as the programs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These lower standards include mortgage loans made to borrowers having imperfect or impaired credit histories (including outstanding judgments or prior bankruptcies), mortgage loans where the amount of the loan at origination is 80% or more of the value of the mortgage property, mortgage loans made to borrowers with low credit scores, mortgage loans made to borrowers who have other debt that represents a large portion of their income and mortgage loans made to borrowers whose income is not required to be disclosed or verified.

Due to economic conditions, including increased interest rates and lower home prices, as well as aggressive lending practices, subprime mortgage loans have in recent periods experienced increased rates of delinquency, foreclosure, bankruptcy and loss, and they are likely to continue to experience delinquency, foreclosure, bankruptcy and loss rates that are higher, and that may be substantially higher, than those experienced by mortgage loans underwritten in a more traditional manner. Thus, because of the higher delinquency rates and losses associated with subprime mortgage loans, the performance of RMBS backed by subprime mortgage loans in which we may invest could be correspondingly adversely affected, which could adversely impact our results of operations, financial condition and business.

Exchange rate fluctuations may limit gains or result in losses.

If we directly or indirectly hold assets denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollars, we will be exposed to currency risk that may adversely affect performance. Changes in the U.S. dollar’s rate of exchange with other currencies may affect the value of investments in our portfolio and the income that we receive in respect of such investments. In addition, we may incur costs in connection with conversion between various currencies, which may reduce our net income and accordingly may reduce our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders.

Risks Related To Our Common Stock

There is no public market for our common stock and a market may never develop, which could result in holders of our common stock being unable to monetize their investment.

Our shares of common stock are newly issued securities for which there is no established trading market. We expect that our common stock will be approved for trading on the New York Stock

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Exchange, but there can be no assurance that an active trading market for our common stock will develop. Accordingly, no assurance can be given as to the ability of our stockholders to sell their common stock or the price that our stockholders may obtain for their common stock.

Even if an active trading market develops, the market price of our common stock may be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations after this offering and may fall below the offering price. Some of the factors that could negatively affect our share price include:

	•	actual or anticipated variations in our quarterly operating results;

	•	changes in our earnings estimates or publication of research reports about us or the real estate industry;

	•	increases in market interest rates that may lead purchasers of our shares to demand a higher yield;

	•	changes in market valuations of similar companies;

	•	adverse market reaction to any increased indebtedness we incur in the future;

	•	additions or departures of our Manager’s key personnel;

	•	actions by stockholders;

	•	speculation in the press or investment community; and

	•	general market and economic conditions.

Common stock eligible for future sale may have adverse effects on our share price.

We cannot predict the effect, if any, of future sales of common stock, or the availability of shares for future sales, on the market price of the common stock. Sales of substantial amounts of common stock, or the perception that such sales could occur, may adversely affect prevailing market prices for the common stock.

Upon the completion of this offering, we will have    shares of common stock outstanding. In addition, Annaly will hold 9.8% of our outstanding shares of common stock as of the closing of this offering, excluding shares sold pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise of their overallotment option. Our equity incentive plan provides for grants of restricted common stock and other equity-based awards up to an aggregate of     % of the issued and outstanding shares of our common stock (on a fully diluted basis and including shares to be sold to Annaly concurrently with this offering and shares to be sold pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise of their overallotment option) at the time of the award, subject to a ceiling of              shares available for issuance under the plan. Each independent director will receiveshares of our restricted common stock upon completion of this offering. In addition, our Manager’s employees will receive shares of our restricted common stock which, as a group and together with the restricted shares granted to our independent directors, will be an aggregate of% of the issued and outstanding shares of our common stock after giving effect to the shares issued in this offering, excluding shares sold pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise of their overallotment option. The restricted common stock granted to our independent directors and the employees of our Manager shall vest as follows: one fourth on each of the date of this prospectus, the first anniversary of this prospectus, the second anniversary of this prospectus and the third anniversary of this prospectus. We will not make distributions on shares of restricted common stock which have not vested.

We, Annaly, and our executive officers and directors have agreed with the underwriters to a 180-day lock-up period (subject to extensions), meaning that, until the end of the 180-day lock-up period, we and they will not, subject to certain exceptions, sell or transfer any shares of common stock without the prior consent of Merrill Lynch. Merrill Lynch may, in its sole discretion, at any time from time to time and without notice, waive the terms and conditions of the lock-up agreements to which it is a party. Additionally, Annaly has agreed with us to a further lock-up period that will expire at the earlier of (i) the date which is three years following the date of this prospectus or (ii) the termination

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of the management agreement. Assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option to purchase additional shares, approximately    % of our common shares are subject to lock-up agreements. When the lock-up periods expire, these common shares will become eligible for sale, in some cases subject to the requirements of Rule 144 under the Securities Act of 1933, or the Securities Act, which are described under ‘‘Shares Eligible for Future Sale.’’

The market price of our common stock may decline significantly when the restrictions on resale by certain of our stockholders lapse. Sales of substantial amounts of common stock or the perception that such sales could occur may adversely affect the prevailing market price for our common stock.

There is a risk that you may not receive distributions or that distributions may not grow over time.

We intend to make distributions on a quarterly basis out of assets legally available therefor to our stockholders in amounts such that all or substantially all of our REIT taxable income in each year is distributed. We have not established a minimum distribution payment level and our ability to pay distributions may be adversely affected by a number of factors, including the risk factors described in this prospectus. All distributions will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our earnings, our financial condition, maintenance of our REIT status and other factors as our board of directors may deem relevant from time to time. Among the factors that could adversely affect our results of operations and impair our ability to pay distributions to our stockholders are:

	•	the profitability of the investment of the net proceeds of this offering:

	•	our ability to make profitable investments;

	•	margin calls or other expenses that reduce our cash flow;

	•	defaults in our asset portfolio or decreases in the value of our portfolio; and

	•	the fact that anticipated operating expense levels may not provide accurate, as actual results may vary from estimates.

A change in any one of these factors could affect our ability to make distributions. We cannot assure you that we will achieve investment results that will allow us to make a specified level of cash distributions or year-to-year increases in cash distributions.

Market interest rates may have an effect on the trading value of our shares.

One of the factors that investors may consider in deciding whether to buy or sell our shares is our distribution rate as a percentage of our share price relative to market interest rates. If market interest rates increase, prospective investors may demand a higher distribution rate or seek alternative investments paying higher dividends or interest. As a result, interest rate fluctuations and capital market conditions can affect the market value of our shares. For instance, if interest rates rise, it is likely that the market price of our shares will decrease as market rates on interest-bearing securities, such as bonds, increase.

Investing in our shares may involve a high degree of risk.

The investments we make in accordance with our investment objectives may result in a high amount of risk when compared to alternative investment options and volatility or loss of principal. Our investments may be highly speculative and aggressive, and therefore an investment in our shares may not be suitable for someone with lower risk tolerance.

Broad market fluctuations could negatively impact the market price of our common stock.

The stock market has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected the market price of many companies in industries similar or related to ours and that have been unrelated to these companies’ operating performances. These broad market fluctuations could reduce the market price of our common stock. Furthermore, our operating results and prospects may be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors or may be lower than those of companies with comparable market capitalizations, which could lead to a material decline in the market price of our common stock.

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Future sales of shares may have adverse consequences for investors.

We may issue additional shares in subsequent public offerings or private placements to make new investments or for other purposes. We are not required to offer any such shares to existing shareholders on a pre-emptive basis. Therefore, it may not be possible for existing shareholders to participate in such future share issues, which may dilute the existing shareholders’ interests in us. Additional shares may be issued pursuant to the terms of the underwriters’ option, which, if issued, would dilute shareholders’ percentage ownership in us. If the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares to cover overallotments, the issuance of additional shares by us, or the possibility of such issue, may cause the market price of the shares to decline. Annaly will own 9.8% of our outstanding shares of common stock as of the closing of this offering, excluding shares sold pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise of their overallotment option, and will be permitted, subject to the requirements of Rule 144 under the Securities Act, to sell such shares following expiration of the lock-up period which expires upon the earlier of (i) the date which is three years after the date of this prospectus or (ii) the termination of the management agreement.

Risks Related to Our Organization and Structure

Our charter and bylaws contain provisions that may inhibit potential acquisition bids that you and other stockholders may consider favorable, and the market price of our common stock may be lower as a result.

Upon completion of this offering, our charter and bylaws will contain provisions that may have an anti-takeover effect and inhibit a change in our board of directors. These provisions include the following:

	•	There are ownership limits and restrictions on transferability and ownership in our charter.    To qualify as a REIT for each taxable year after 2007, not more than 50% of the value of our outstanding stock may be owned, directly or constructively, by five or fewer individuals during the second half of any calendar year. In addition, our shares must be beneficially owned by 100 or more persons during at least 335 days of a taxable year of 12 months or during a proportionate part of a shorter taxable year for each taxable year after 2007. To assist us in satisfying these tests, our charter generally prohibits any person from beneficially or constructively owning more than 9.8% in value or number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of any class or series of our outstanding capital stock. These restrictions may discourage a tender offer or other transactions or a change in the composition of our board of directors or control that might involve a premium price for our shares or otherwise be in the best interests of our stockholders and any shares issued or transferred in violation of such restrictions being automatically transferred to a trust for a charitable beneficiary, thereby resulting in a forfeiture of the additional shares.

	•	Our charter permits our board of directors to issue stock with terms that may discourage a third party from acquiring us.    Upon completion of this offering, our charter will permit our board of directors to amend the charter without stockholder approval to increase the total number of authorized shares of stock or the number of shares of any class or series and to issue common or preferred stock, having preferences, conversion or other rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to dividends or other distributions, qualifications, or terms or conditions of redemption as determined by our board. Thus, our board could authorize the issuance of stock with terms and conditions that could have the effect of discouraging a takeover or other transaction in which holders of some or a majority of our shares might receive a premium for their shares over the then-prevailing market price of our shares.

	•	Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act.    Maryland law provides that ‘‘control shares’’ of a corporation acquired in a ‘‘control share acquisition’’ will have no voting rights except to the extent approved by a vote of two-thirds of the votes eligible to be cast on the matter under the Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act. ‘‘Control shares’’ means voting shares of stock that, if aggregated with all other shares of stock owned by the acquiror or in respect of which the acquiror is able to exercise or direct the exercise of voting power (except solely by a

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		revocable proxy), would entitle the acquiror to exercise voting power in electing directors within one of the following ranges of voting power: one-tenth or more but less than one-third, one-third or more but less than a majority, or a majority or more of all voting power. A ‘‘control share acquisition’’ means the acquisition of control shares, subject to certain exceptions.

	•	If voting rights or control shares acquired in a control share acquisition are not approved at a stockholders’ meeting, or if the acquiring person does not deliver an acquiring person statement as required by the Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act, then, subject to certain conditions and limitations, the issuer may redeem any or all of the control shares for fair value. If voting rights of such control shares are approved at a stockholders’ meeting and the acquiror becomes entitled to vote a majority of the shares of stock entitled to vote, all other stockholders may exercise appraisal rights. Our bylaws contain a provision exempting acquisitions of our shares from the Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act. However, our board of directors may amend our bylaws in the future to repeal or modify this exemption, in which case any control shares of our company acquired in a control share acquisition will be subject to the Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act.

	•	Business Combinations.    Under Maryland law, ‘‘business combinations’’ between a Maryland corporation and an interested stockholder or an affiliate of an interested stockholder are prohibited for five years after the most recent date on which the interested stockholder becomes an interested stockholder. These business combinations include a merger, consolidation, share exchange or, in circumstances specified in the statute, an asset transfer or issuance or reclassification of equity securities. An interested stockholder is defined as:

	•	any person who beneficially owns 10% or more of the voting power of the corporation’s shares; or

	•	an affiliate or associate of the corporation who, at any time within the two-year period before the date in question, was the beneficial owner of 10% or more of the voting power of the then outstanding voting stock of the corporation.

A person is not an interested stockholder under the statute if the board of directors approved in advance the transaction by which such person otherwise would have become an interested stockholder. However, in approving a transaction, the board of directors may provide that its approval is subject to compliance, at or after the time of approval, with any terms and conditions determined by the board.

After the five-year prohibition, any business combination between the Maryland corporation and an interested stockholder generally must be recommended by the board of directors of the corporation and approved by the affirmative vote of at least:

	•	80% of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of outstanding shares of voting stock of the corporation; and

	•	two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of voting stock of the corporation, other than shares held by the interested stockholder with whom or with whose affiliate the business combination is to be effected or held by an affiliate or associate of the interested stockholder.

These super-majority vote requirements do not apply if the corporation’s common stockholders receive a minimum price, as defined under Maryland law, for their shares in the form of cash or other consideration in the same form as previously paid by the interested stockholder for its shares.

The statute permits various exemptions from its provisions, including business combinations that are exempted by the board of directors before the time that the interested stockholder becomes an interested stockholder. Our board of directors has adopted a resolution which provides that any business combination between us and any other person is exempted from the provisions of the Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act, provided that the business

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combination is first approved by the board of directors. This resolution, however, may be altered or repealed in whole or in part at any time. If this resolution is repealed, or the board of directors does not otherwise approve a business combination, this statute may discourage others from trying to acquire control of us and increase the difficulty of consummating any offer.

	•	Staggered board.     Our board of directors is divided into three classes of directors. The current terms of the directors expire in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. Directors of each class are chosen for three-year terms upon the expiration of their current terms, and each year one class of directors is elected by the stockholders. The staggered terms of our directors may reduce the possibility of a tender offer or an attempt at a change in control, even though a tender offer or change in control might be in the best interests of our stockholders.

	•	Our charter and bylaws contain other possible anti-takeover provisions.    Upon completion of this offering, our charter and bylaws will contain other provisions that may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of us or the removal of existing directors and, as a result, could prevent our stockholders from being paid a premium for their common stock over the then-prevailing market price. See ‘‘Description of Capital Stock’’ and ‘‘Certain Provisions of Maryland General Corporation Law and Our Charter and Bylaws.’’

Our rights and the rights of our stockholders to take action against our directors and officers are limited, which could limit your recourse in the event of actions not in your best interests.

Our charter limits the liability of our directors and officers to us and our stockholders for money damages, except for liability resulting from:

	•	actual receipt of an improper benefit or profit in money, property or services; or

	•	a final judgment based upon a finding of active and deliberate dishonesty by the director or officer that was material to the cause of action adjudicated

for which Maryland law prohibits such exemption from liability.

In addition, our charter authorizes us to obligate our company to indemnify our present and former directors and officers for actions taken by them in those capacities to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law. Our bylaws require us to indemnify each present or former director or officer, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law, in the defense of any proceeding to which he or she is made, or threatened to be made, a party because of his or her service to us. In addition, we may be obligated to fund the defense costs incurred by our directors and officers. See ‘‘Limitation on Liability of Directors and Officers and Indemnification and Advance of Expenses.’’

Tax Risks

Your investment has various federal income tax risks.

This summary of certain tax risks is limited to the federal tax risks addressed below. Additional risks or issues may exist that are not addressed in this prospectus and that could affect the federal tax treatment of us or our stockholders.

Because this prospectus was written in connection with the marketing of our common stock, it is not intended to be used and cannot be used by any stockholder to avoid penalties that may be imposed on stockholders under the Internal Revenue Code.

We strongly urge you to review carefully the discussion under ‘‘Certain Federal Income Tax Considerations’’ and to seek advice based on your particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor concerning the effects of federal, state and local income tax law on an investment in our common stock and on your individual tax situation.

Complying with REIT requirements may cause us to forego otherwise attractive opportunities.

To qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, we must continually satisfy various tests regarding the sources of our income, the nature and diversification of our assets, the amounts we

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distribute to our stockholders and the ownership of our stock. To meet these tests, we may be required to forego investments we might otherwise make. We may be required to make distributions to stockholders at disadvantageous times or when we do not have funds readily available for distribution. Thus, compliance with the REIT requirements may hinder our investment performance.

Complying with REIT requirements may force us to liquidate otherwise attractive investments.

To qualify as a REIT, we generally must ensure that at the end of each calendar quarter at least 75% of the value of our total assets consists of cash, cash items, government securities and qualified REIT real estate assets, including certain mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities. The remainder of our investment in securities (other than government securities and qualifying real estate assets) generally cannot include more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of any one issuer or more than 10% of the total value of the outstanding securities of any one issuer. In addition, in general, no more than 5% of the value of our assets (other than government securities and qualifying real estate assets) can consist of the securities of any one issuer, and no more than 20% of the value of our total securities can be represented by securities of one or more TRSs. See ‘‘Certain Federal Income Tax Considerations — Taxation of Our Company — Asset Tests.’’ If we fail to comply with these requirements at the end of any quarter, we must correct the failure within 30 days after the end of such calendar quarter or qualify for certain statutory relief provisions to avoid losing our REIT status and suffering adverse tax consequences. As a result, we may be required to liquidate from our portfolio otherwise attractive investments. These actions could have the effect of reducing our income and amounts available for distribution to our stockholders.

Potential characterization of distributions or gain on sale may be treated as unrelated business taxable income to tax-exempt investors.

If (1) all or a portion of our assets are subject to the rules relating to taxable mortgage pools, (2) we are a ‘‘pension-held REIT,’’ (3) a tax-exempt stockholder has incurred debt to purchase or hold our common stock, or (4) the residual REMIC interests we buy generate ‘‘excess inclusion income,’’ then a portion of the distributions to and, in the case of a stockholder described in clause (3), gains realized on the sale of common stock by such tax-exempt stockholder may be subject to federal income tax as unrelated business taxable income under the Internal Revenue Code. See ‘‘Certain Federal Income Tax Considerations — Taxation of Our Company — Taxable Mortgage Pools.’’

Classification of a securitization or financing arrangement we enter into as a taxable mortgage pool could subject us or certain of our stockholders to increased taxation.

We intend to structure our securitization and financing arrangements as to not create a taxable mortgage pool. However, if we have borrowings with two or more maturities and, (1) those borrowings are secured by mortgages or mortgage-backed securities and (2) the payments made on the borrowings are related to the payments received on the underlying assets, then the borrowings and the pool of mortgages or mortgage-backed securities to which such borrowings relate may be classified as a taxable mortgage pool under the Internal Revenue Code. If any part of our investments were to be treated as a taxable mortgage pool, then our REIT status would not be impaired, but a portion of the taxable income we recognize may, under regulations to be issued by the Treasury Department, be characterized as ‘‘excess inclusion’’ income and allocated among our stockholders to the extent of and generally in proportion to the distributions we make to each stockholder. Any excess inclusion income would:

	•	not be allowed to be offset by a stockholder’s net operating losses;

	•	be subject to a tax as unrelated business income if a stockholder were a tax-exempt stockholder;

	•	be subject to the application of federal income tax withholding at the maximum rate (without reduction for any otherwise applicable income tax treaty) with respect to amounts allocable to foreign stockholders; and

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	•	be taxable (at the highest corporate tax rate) to us, rather than to our stockholders, to the extent the excess inclusion income relates to stock held by disqualified organizations (generally, tax-exempt companies not subject to tax on unrelated business income, including governmental organizations).

Failure to qualify as a REIT would subject us to federal income tax, which would reduce the cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

We intend to operate in a manner that is intended to cause us to qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes commencing with our taxable year ending on December 31, 2007. However, the federal income tax laws governing REITs are extremely complex, and interpretations of the federal income tax laws governing qualification as a REIT are limited. Qualifying as a REIT requires us to meet various tests regarding the nature of our assets and our income, the ownership of our outstanding stock, and the amount of our distributions on an ongoing basis. While we intend to operate so that we will qualify as a REIT, given the highly complex nature of the rules governing REITs, the ongoing importance of factual determinations, including the tax treatment of certain investments we may make, and the possibility of future changes in our circumstances, no assurance can be given that we will so qualify for any particular year.

If we fail to qualify as a REIT in any calendar year and we do not qualify for certain statutory relief provisions, we would be required to pay federal income tax on our taxable income. We might need to borrow money or sell assets to pay that tax. Our payment of income tax would decrease the amount of our income available for distribution to our stockholders. Furthermore, if we fail to maintain our qualification as a REIT and we do not qualify for certain statutory relief provisions, we no longer would be required to distribute substantially all of our REIT taxable income to our stockholders. Unless our failure to qualify as a REIT were excused under federal tax laws, we would be disqualified from taxation as a REIT for the four taxable years following the year during which qualification was lost.

Failure to make required distributions would subject us to tax, which would reduce the cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

To qualify as a REIT, we must distribute to our stockholders each calendar year at least 90% of our REIT taxable income (including certain items of non-cash income), determined without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and excluding net capital gain. To the extent that we satisfy the 90% distribution requirement, but distribute less than 100% of our taxable income, we will be subject to federal corporate income tax on our undistributed income. In addition, we will incur a 4% nondeductible excise tax on the amount, if any, by which our distributions in any calendar year are less than the sum of:

	•	85% of our REIT ordinary income for that year;

	•	95% of our REIT capital gain net income for that year; and

	•	any undistributed taxable income from prior years.

We intend to distribute our REIT taxable income to our stockholders in a manner intended to satisfy the 90% distribution requirement and to avoid both corporate income tax and the 4% nondeductible excise tax. However, there is no requirement that taxable REIT subsidiaries distribute their after-tax net income to their parent REIT or their stockholders.

Our taxable income may substantially exceed our net income as determined based on generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, because, for example, realized capital losses will be deducted in determining our GAAP net income, but may not be deductible in computing our taxable income. In addition, we may invest in assets that generate taxable income in excess of economic income or in advance of the corresponding cash flow from the assets. To the extent that we generate such non-cash taxable income in a taxable year, we may incur corporate income tax and the 4% nondeductible excise tax on that income if we do not distribute such income to stockholders in that

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year. As a result of the foregoing, we may generate less cash flow than taxable income in a particular year. In that event, we may be required to use cash reserves, incur debt, or liquidate non-cash assets at rates or at times that we regard as unfavorable to satisfy the distribution requirement and to avoid corporate income tax and the 4% nondeductible excise tax in that year.

Ownership limitations may restrict change of control or business combination opportunities in which our stockholders might receive a premium for their shares.

In order for us to qualify as a REIT for each taxable year after 2007, no more than 50% in value of our outstanding capital stock may be owned, directly or indirectly, by five or fewer individuals during the last half of any calendar year. ‘‘Individuals’’ for this purpose include natural persons, private foundations, some employee benefit plans and trusts, and some charitable trusts. To preserve our REIT qualification, our charter generally prohibits any person from directly or indirectly owning more than 9.8% in value or in number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of any class or series of the outstanding shares of our capital stock.

This ownership limitation could have the effect of discouraging a takeover or other transaction in which holders of our common stock might receive a premium for their shares over the then prevailing market price or which holders might believe to be otherwise in their best interests.

Our ownership of and relationship with any TRS which we may form or acquire following the completion of this offering will be limited, and a failure to comply with the limits would jeopardize our REIT status and may result in the application of a 100% excise tax.

A REIT may own up to 100% of the stock of one or more TRSs. A TRS may earn income that would not be qualifying income if earned directly by the parent REIT. Both the subsidiary and the REIT must jointly elect to treat the subsidiary as a TRS. Overall, no more than 20% of the value of a REIT’s assets may consist of stock or securities of one or more TRSs. A TRS will pay federal, state and local income tax at regular corporate rates on any income that it earns. In addition, the TRS rules impose a 100% excise tax on certain transactions between a TRS and its parent REIT that are not conducted on an arm’s-length basis.

The TRS that we may form following the completion of this offering would pay federal, state and local income tax on its taxable income, and its after-tax net income would be available for distribution to us but would not be required to be distributed to us. We anticipate that the aggregate value of the TRS stock and securities owned by us will be less than 20% of the value of our total assets (including the TRS stock and securities). Furthermore, we will monitor the value of our investments in our TRSs to ensure compliance with the rule that no more than 20% of the value of our assets may consist of TRS stock and securities (which is applied at the end of each calendar quarter). In addition, we will scrutinize all of our transactions with taxable REIT subsidiaries to ensure that they are entered into on arm’s-length terms to avoid incurring the 100% excise tax described above. There can be no assurance, however, that we will be able to comply with the 20% limitation discussed above or to avoid application of the 100% excise tax discussed above.

We could fail to qualify as a REIT or we could become subject to a penalty tax if income we recognize from certain investments that are treated or could be treated as equity interests in a foreign corporation exceeds 5% of our gross income in a taxable year.

We may invest in securities, such as subordinated interests in certain CDO offerings, that are treated or could be treated for federal (and applicable state and local) corporate income tax purposes as equity interests in foreign corporations. Categories of income that qualify for the 95% gross income test include dividends, interest and certain other enumerated classes of passive income. Under certain circumstances, the federal income tax rules concerning controlled foreign corporations and passive foreign investment companies require that the owner of an equity interest in a foreign corporation include amounts in income without regard to the owner’s receipt of any distributions from the foreign corporation. Amounts required to be included in income under those rules are technically neither actual dividends nor any of the other enumerated categories of passive income specified in the 95% gross income test. Furthermore, there is no clear precedent with respect to the qualification of such

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income under the 95% gross income test. Due to this uncertainty, we intend to limit our direct investment in securities that are or could be treated as equity interests in a foreign corporation such that the sum of the amounts we are required to include in income with respect to such securities and other amounts of non-qualifying income do not exceed 5% of our gross income. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in this regard. To avoid any risk of failing the 95% gross income test, we may be required to invest only indirectly, through a domestic TRS, in any securities that are or could be considered to be equity interests in a foreign corporation. This, of course, will result in any income recognized from any such investment to be subject to federal income tax in the hands of the TRS, which may, in turn, reduce our yield on the investment.

Liquidation of our assets may jeopardize our REIT qualification.

To qualify as a REIT, we must comply with requirements regarding our assets and our sources of income. If we are compelled to liquidate our investments to repay obligations to our lenders, we may be unable to comply with these requirements, ultimately jeopardizing our qualification as a REIT, or we may be subject to a 100% tax on any resultant gain if we sell assets in transactions that are considered to be prohibited transactions.

The tax on prohibited transactions will limit our ability to engage in transactions, including certain methods of securitizing mortgage loans, that would be treated as sales for federal income tax purposes.

A REIT’s net income from prohibited transactions is subject to a 100% tax. In general, prohibited transactions are sales or other dispositions of property, other than foreclosure property, but including mortgage loans, held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business. We might be subject to this tax if we sold or securitized our assets in a manner that was treated as a sale for federal income tax purposes. Therefore, to avoid the prohibited transactions tax, we may choose not to engage in certain sales of assets at the REIT level and may securitize assets only in transactions that are treated as financing transactions and not as sales for tax purposes even though such transactions may not be the optimal execution on a pre-tax basis.

We could avoid any prohibited transactions tax concerns by engaging in securitization transactions through a TRS, subject to certain limitations as described above. To the extent that we engage in such activities through domestic TRSs, the income associated with such activities will be subject to federal (and applicable state and local) corporate income tax.

Characterization of the repurchase agreements we enter into to finance our investments as sales for tax purposes rather than as secured lending transactions would adversely affect our ability to qualify as a REIT.

We anticipate entering into several repurchase agreements with a variety of counterparties to achieve our desired amount of leverage for the assets in which we invest. When we enter into a repurchase agreement, we generally sell assets to our counterparty to the agreement and receive cash from the counterparty. The counterparty is obligated to resell the assets back to us at the end of the term of the transaction, which is typically 30-90 days. We believe that for federal income tax purposes we will be treated as the owner of the assets that are the subject of repurchase agreements and that the repurchase agreements will be treated as secured lending transactions notwithstanding that such agreements may transfer record ownership of the assets to the counterparty during the term of the agreement. It is possible, however, that the IRS could successfully assert that we did not own these assets during the term of the repurchase agreements, in which case we could fail to qualify as a REIT.

Complying with REIT requirements may limit our ability to hedge effectively.

The REIT provisions of the Internal Revenue Code substantially limit our ability to hedge mortgage-backed securities and related borrowings. Under these provisions, our annual gross income from qualifying and non-qualifying hedges, together with any other income not generated from qualifying real estate assets, cannot exceed 25% of our gross income. In addition, our aggregate gross income from non-qualifying hedges, fees, and certain other non-qualifying sources cannot exceed 5%

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of our annual gross income. As a result, we might have to limit our use of advantageous hedging techniques or implement those hedges through a TRS, which we intend to form following the completion of this offering. This could increase the cost of our hedging activities or expose us to greater risks associated with changes in interest rates than we would otherwise want to bear.

We may be subject to adverse legislative or regulatory tax changes that could reduce the market price of our common stock.

At any time, the federal income tax laws or regulations governing REITs or the administrative interpretations of those laws or regulations may be amended. We cannot predict when or if any new federal income tax law, regulation or administrative interpretation, or any amendment to any existing federal income tax law, regulation or administrative interpretation, will be adopted, promulgated or become effective and any such law, regulation or interpretation may take effect retroactively. We and our stockholders could be adversely affected by any such change in, or any new, federal income tax law, regulation or administrative interpretation.

Dividends payable by REITs do not qualify for the reduced tax rates.

Legislation enacted in 2003 generally reduces the maximum tax rate for dividends payable to domestic stockholders that are individuals, trusts and estates from 38.6% to 15% (through 2010). Dividends payable by REITs, however, are generally not eligible for the reduced rates. Although this legislation does not adversely affect the taxation of REITs or dividends paid by REITs, the more favorable rates applicable to regular corporate dividends could cause investors who are individuals, trusts and estates to perceive investments in REITs to be relatively less attractive than investments in stock of non-REIT corporations that pay dividends, which could adversely affect the value of the stock of REITs, including our common stock.

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

We make forward-looking statements in this prospectus that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include information about possible or assumed future results of our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, plans and objectives. When we use the words ‘‘believe,’’ ‘‘expect,’’ ‘‘anticipate,’’ ‘‘estimate,’’ ‘‘plan,’’ ‘‘continue,’’ ‘‘intend,’’ ‘‘should,’’ ‘‘may,’’ ‘‘would,’’ ‘‘will’’ or similar expressions, we intend to identify forward-looking statements. Statements regarding the following subjects, among others, are forward-looking by their nature:

	•	our business and investment strategy;

	•	our projected operating results;

	•	our ability to obtain future financing arrangements;

	•	general volatility of the securities markets in which we invest;

	•	our expected investments;

	•	interest rate mismatches between our mortgage-backed securities and our borrowings used to fund such purchases;

	•	changes in interest rates and mortgage prepayment rates;

	•	effects of interest rate caps on our adjustable-rate mortgage-backed securities;

	•	rates of default or decreased recovery rates on our investments;

	•	prepayments of the mortgage and other loans underlying our mortgage-backed or other asset-backed securities;

	•	the degree to which our hedging strategies may or may not protect us from interest rate volatility;

	•	changes in governmental regulations, tax law and rates and similar matters;

	•	availability of investment opportunities in real estate-related and other securities;

	•	availability of qualified personnel;

	•	estimates relating to our ability to make distributions to our stockholders in the future;

	•	our understanding of our competition;

	•	market trends in our industry, interest rates, the debt securities markets or the general economy; and

	•	use of the proceeds of this offering.

The forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and expectations of our future performance, taking into account all information currently available to us. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These beliefs, assumptions and expectations can change as a result of many possible events or factors, not all of which are known to us. Some of these factors are described in this prospectus under the headings ‘‘Summary,’’ ‘‘Risk Factors,’’ ‘‘Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations’’ and ‘‘Business.’’ If a change occurs, our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations may vary materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict those events or how they may affect us. Except as required by law, we are not obligated to, and do not intend to, update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that our net proceeds from the initial public offering of our shares of common stock, after deducting the underwriter discount and our estimated offering and organizational expenses, will be approximately $             million (based on the midpoint of the price range on the cover of this prospectus). We estimate that our net proceeds will be approximately $    million if the underwriters exercise their overallotment option in full.

Concurrent with this offering, we also expect to sell 9.8% of our shares, excluding shares sold pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise of their overallotment option, to Annaly at a price per share equal to the initial public offering price. No underwriting discount is payable in connection with the sale of shares to Annaly. We plan to invest the net proceeds of this offering and the concurrent sale of shares to Annaly in accordance with our investment objectives and the strategies described in this prospectus. See ‘‘Business — Our Investment Strategy.’’

We intend to invest the net proceeds of this offering in prime and Alt-A mortgage loans, non-Agency RMBS, Agency RMBS and ABS, CDOs, CMBS and other consumer or non-consumer ABS. Initially, we expect to focus our investment activities on purchasing residential mortgage loans that have been originated by select high-quality originators, including the retail lending operations of leading commercial banks, and non-Agency RMBS. Until appropriate investments can be identified, our Manager may invest the net proceeds of this offering and the concurrent sale of shares to Annaly in interest-bearing short-term investments, including money market accounts, that are consistent with our intention to qualify as a REIT. These investments are expected to provide a lower net return than we hope to achieve from investments in our intended use of proceeds of this offering. We expect to reallocate a portion of the net proceeds from this offering into a more diversified portfolio of investments within six months, subject to the availability of appropriate investment opportunities. Our Manager intends to conduct due diligence with respect to each investment and suitable investment opportunities may not be immediately available.

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DISTRIBUTION POLICY

We intend to elect and qualify to be taxed as a REIT for federal income tax purposes commencing with our taxable year ending on December 31, 2007. Federal income tax law requires that a REIT distribute with respect to each year at least 90% of its REIT taxable income, determined without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and excluding any net capital gain. If our cash available for distribution is less than 90% of our REIT taxable income, we could be required to sell assets or borrow funds to make cash distributions or we may make a portion of the required distribution in the form of a taxable stock distribution or distribution of debt securities. We will not be required to make distributions with respect to activities conducted through the TRS which we intend to form following the completion of this offering. For more information, please see ‘‘Certain Federal Income Tax Considerations — Taxation of Our Company.’’

To satisfy the requirements to qualify as a REIT and generally not be subject to federal income and excise tax, we intend to make regular quarterly distributions of all or substantially all of our REIT taxable income to holders of our common stock out of assets legally available therefor. Any future distributions we make will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon our earnings and financial condition, maintenance of our REIT status, applicable provisions of the Maryland General Corporation Law, or MGCL, and such other factors as our board of directors deems relevant. Our earnings and financial condition will be affected by various factors, including the net interest and other income from our portfolio, our operating expenses and any other expenditures. For more information regarding risk factors that could materially adversely affect our earnings and financial condition, please see ‘‘Risk Factors.’’

We anticipate that our distributions generally will be taxable as ordinary income to our stockholders, although a portion of the distributions may be designated by us as qualified dividend income or capital gain or may constitute a return of capital. We will furnish annually to each of our stockholders a statement setting forth distributions paid during the preceding year and their characterization as ordinary income, return of capital, qualified dividend income or capital gain. For more information, please see ‘‘Certain Federal Income Tax Considerations — Taxation of Stockholders.’’

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth (1) our actual capitalization at August 3, 2007 and (2) our capitalization as adjusted to reflect the effects of the sale of our common stock in this offering at an assumed offering price of $    per share (the midpoint of the range on front cover of this prospectus) after deducting the underwriters’ commissions and estimated organizational and offering expenses payable by us and the concurrent offering to Annaly of 9.8% of our common stock at the same assumed offering price. You should read this table together with ‘‘Use of Proceeds’’ included elsewhere in this prospectus.

			As of August 3, 2007
			Actual						As Adjusted(1)(2)
Stockholders’ equity:
Common stock, par value $0.01 per share; 1,000 shares authorized, 1,000 shares outstanding, actual and               shares authorized and           shares outstanding, as adjusted (3)				$	10					$
Capital in excess of par value				$	990					$
Total stockholders’ equity				$	1,000					$

(1)

Assumes                      shares will be sold in this offering at an initial offering price of    per share (the midpoint of the range on front cover of this prospectus) for net proceeds of approximately $    million after deducting the underwriters’ commission and estimated organization and offering expenses of approximately $    million and the concurrent offering to Annaly of 9.8% of our common stock. The shares sold to Annaly will be sold at the offering price without payment of any underwriters’ commission. See ‘‘Use of Proceeds.’’

(2)	Does not include the underwriters’ option to purchase or place up to                      additional shares.

(3)	Does not include              shares of restricted common stock granted pursuant to our equity incentive plan.

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION
AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

We are a newly-formed specialty finance company that will invest in residential mortgage loans, residential mortgage-backed securities, real estate-related securities and various other asset classes. We will be externally managed by FIDAC. We intend to elect and qualify to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for federal income tax purposes.

Our objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns to our investors over the long-term, primarily through dividends and secondarily through capital appreciation. We intend to achieve this objective by investing in a broad class of financial assets to construct an investment portfolio that is designed to achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns and that is structured to comply with the various federal income tax requirements for REIT status.

Our investment strategy is intended to take advantage of opportunities in the current interest rate and credit environment. We will adjust our strategy to changing market conditions by shifting our asset allocations across these various asset classes as interest rate and credit cycles change over time. We believe that our strategy, combined with our Manager’s experience, will enable us to pay dividends and achieve capital appreciation throughout changing market cycles. We expect to take a long-term view of assets and liabilities, and our reported earnings and mark-to-market valuations at the end of a financial reporting period will not significantly impact our objective of providing attractive risk-adjusted returns to our stockholders over the long-term. We have not yet made any investments.

We will use leverage to seek to increase our potential returns and to fund the acquisition of our assets. Our income will be generated primarily by the difference, or net spread, between the income we earn on our assets and the cost of our borrowings. We expect to finance our investments using a variety of financing sources including repurchase agreements, warehouse facilities, securitizations, commercial paper and term financing CDOs. We expect to manage our debt by utilizing interest rate hedges, such as interest rate swaps, to reduce the effect of interest rate fluctuations related to our debt.

We expect the results of our operations to be affected by various factors, many of which are beyond our control. Our results of operations will primarily depend on, among other things, the level of our net interest income, the market value of our assets, and the supply of and demand for such assets. Our net interest income, which reflects the amortization of purchase premiums and accretion of discounts, varies primarily as a result of changes in interest rates, borrowing costs, and prepayment speeds, which is a measurement of how quickly borrowers pay down the unpaid principal balance on their mortgage loans.

Prepayment Speeds.    Prepayment speeds, as reflected by the Constant Prepayment Rate, or CPR, vary according to interest rates, the type of investment, conditions in financial markets, competition and other factors, none of which can be predicted with any certainty. In general, when interest rates rise, it is relatively less attractive for borrowers to refinance their mortgage loans, and as a result, prepayment speeds tend to decrease. When interest rates fall, prepayment speeds tend to increase. For mortgage loan and RMBS investments purchased at a premium, as prepayment speeds increase, the amount of income we earn decreases because the purchase premium we paid for the bonds amortizes faster than expected. Conversely, decreases in prepayment speeds result in increased income and can extend the period over which we amortize the purchase premium. For mortgage loan and RMBS investments purchased at a discount, as prepayment speeds increase, the amount of income we earn increases because of the acceleration of the accretion of the discount into interest income. Conversely, decreases in prepayment speeds result in decreased income and can extend the period over which we accrete the purchase discount into interest income.

Rising Interest Rate Environment.    As indicated above, as interest rates rise, prepayment speeds generally decrease, increasing our interest income. Rising interest rates, however, increase our financing costs which may result in a net negative impact on our net interest income. In addition, if we acquire Agency and non-Agency RMBS collateralized by monthly reset adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, and three- and five-year hybrid ARMs, such interest rate increases should result in decreases

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in our net investment income, as there could be a timing mismatch between the interest rate reset dates on our RMBS portfolio and the financing costs of these investments. Monthly reset ARMs are ARMs on which coupon rates reset monthly based on indices such as one-month LIBOR. Hybrid ARMs are mortgages that have interest rates that are fixed for an initial period (typically three, five, seven or 10 years) and thereafter reset at regular intervals subject to interest rate caps.

With respect to our future floating rate investments such as CDO securities, such interest rate increases should result in increases in our net investment income because our floating rate assets are greater in amount than the related floating rate liabilities. Similarly, such an increase in interest rates should generally result in an increase in our net investment income on future fixed-rate investments made by us because our fixed-rate assets would be greater in amount than our fixed-rate liabilities. We expect, however, that our fixed-rate assets would decline in value in a rising interest rate environment and that our net interest spreads on fixed rate assets could decline in a rising interest rate environment to the extent such assets are financed with floating rate debt.

Credit Risk.    One of our strategic focuses is assets which we believe to be of high credit quality. We believe this strategy will keep our credit losses and financing costs low. We retain the risk of potential credit losses on all of the residential mortgage loans we hold in our portfolio. Additionally, some of our investments in RMBS may be qualifying interests for purposes of maintaining our exemption from the 1940 Act because we retain a 100% ownership interest in the underlying loans. If we purchase all classes of these securitizations, we have the credit exposure on the underlying loans. Prior to the purchase of these securities, we intend to conduct a due diligence process that allows us to remove loans that do not meet our credit standards based on loan-to-value ratios, borrower’s credit scores, income and asset documentation and other criteria that we believe to be important indications of credit risk.

Size of Investment Portfolio.    The size of our investment portfolio, as measured by the aggregate unpaid principal balance of our mortgage loans and aggregate principal balance of our mortgage related securities and the other assets we own is also a key revenue driver. Generally, as the size of our investment portfolio grows, the amount of interest income we receive increases. The larger investment portfolio, however, drives increased expenses as we incur additional interest expense to finance the purchase of our assets.

Since changes in interest rates may significantly affect our activities, our operating results depend, in large part, upon our ability to effectively manage interest rate risks and prepayment risks while maintaining our status as a REIT.

Current Environment.    The current situation in the sub-prime mortgage sector, and the current weakness in the broader mortgage market, could adversely affect one or more of our potential lenders and could cause one or more of our potential lenders to be unwilling or unable to provide us with financing. In general, this could potentially increase our financing costs and reduce our liquidity. We expect to use a number of sources to finance our investments, including repurchase agreements, warehouse facilities, securitizations, asset-backed commercial paper and term CDOs. Current market conditions have affected the cost and availability of financing from each of these sources — and their individual providers — to different degrees; some sources generally are unavailable, some are available but at a high cost, and some are largely unaffected. For example, in the repurchase agreement market, borrowers have been affected differently depending on the type of security they are financing. Non-Agency RMBS have been harder to finance, depending on the type of assets collateralizing the RMBS. The amount, term and margin requirements associated with these types of financings have been impacted.

Currently, warehouse facilities to finance whole loan prime residential mortgages are generally available from major banks, but at significantly higher cost and greater margin requirements than previously offered. Many major banks who offer warehouse facilities have also reduced the amount of capital available to new entrants and consequently the size of those facilities offered now are smaller than those previously available.

It is currently a challenging market to term finance whole loans through securitization or bonds issued by a CDO structure. The highly rated senior bonds in these securitizations and CDO structures

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currently have liquidity, but at much wider spreads than issues priced earlier this year. The junior subordinate tranches of these structures currently have few buyers and current market conditions have forced issuers to retain these lower rated bonds rather than sell them.

Certain issuers of asset-backed commercial paper (or ABCP) have been unable to place (or roll) their securities, which has resulted, in some instances, in forced sales of MBS and other securities which has further negatively impacted the market value of these assets. These market conditions are fluid and likely to change over time. As a result, the execution of our investment strategy may be dictated by the cost and availability of financing from these different sources.

If one or more major market participants fails, it could negatively impact the marketability of all fixed income securities and this could negatively impact the value of the securities we acquire, thus reducing our net book value. Furthermore, if many of our potential lenders are unwilling or unable to provide us with financing, we could be forced to sell our securities or residential mortgage loans at an inopportune time when prices are depressed.

Critical Accounting Policies

Our financial statements will be prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP. These accounting principles may require us to make some complex and subjective decisions and assessments. Our most critical accounting policies will involve decisions and assessments that could affect our reported assets and liabilities, as well as our reported revenues and expenses. We believe that all of the decisions and assessments upon which our financial statements will be based will be reasonable at the time made and based upon information available to us at that time. We will rely on independent pricing of our assets at each quarter’s end to arrive at what we believe to be reasonable estimates of fair market value. We have identified what we believe will be our most critical accounting policies to be the following:

Loans and Securities Held for Investment

We will purchase residential mortgage loans, RMBS, ABS, CDOs and CMBS, a portion of which may be held for investment. Loans or securities held for investment are intended to be held to maturity and, accordingly, will be reported at amortized cost, unless we determine that we are an investment company for accounting purposes under American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, or AICPA, Statement of Position 07-1, Clarification of the Scope of the Audit and Accounting Guide Investment Companies and Accounting by Parent Companies and Equity Method Investors for Investments in Investment Companies, or SOP 07-1, effective January 1, 2008, in which case they would be reported at fair value. We are currently evaluating this new guidance and have not determined whether we will be required to apply the provisions of this SOP in our financial statement presentation.

We will determine fair value of our assets at the end of each quarter by using the average of fair value estimates provided by independent dealers in the securities and loans and/or third party pricing services, which use information with respect to transactions in such assets, quotations from dealers, market transactions for comparable assets, various relationships between assets and yield to maturity in determining value. If dealers or the independent pricing services are unable to provide a price for an asset, or if the price provided by them is deemed unreliable by our Manager, then the asset will be valued at its fair value as determined in good faith by our Manager. In such circumstances, our Manager will give consideration to a number of factors, which may include, among others, the following:

	•	an evaluation of the forces which influence the market in which the securities are purchased and sold;

	•	the type, size and cost of the asset;

	•	the financial statements of the issuer;

	•	the credit quality and cash flow of the issuer, based on our Manager’s or external analysis;

	•	the information as to any transactions in or offers for the asset;

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	•	the price and extent of public trading in similar assets;

	•	the coupon payments;

	•	the quality, value and saleability of collateral, if any, securing the asset; or

	•	other relevant factors.

These assets held for investment will be valued quarterly to determine if an other-than-temporary impairment exists. If upon completion of the valuation, the fair value of the underlying collateral securing the impaired loan/security is less than the net carrying value of the loan/security, an allowance will be created with a corresponding charge to the provision for losses. An allowance for each loan/security would be maintained at a level believed adequate by management to absorb probable losses. We may elect to sell a loan/security held for investment due to adverse changes in credit fundamentals. Once the determination has been made by us that we will no longer hold the loan for investment, we will account for the loan at the lower of amortized cost or estimated fair value. The reclassification of the loan/security and recognition of impairments could adversely affect our reported earnings.

Classifications of Investment Securities

We expect our investments in RMBS will be primarily classified as available-for-sale securities that are carried on the balance sheet at their fair value. This classification will result in changes in fair value being recorded as balance sheet adjustments to accumulated other comprehensive income or loss, which is a component of stockholders’ equity. SOP 07-1 may require an adjustment to this accounting methodology whereby the investments will be carried at fair value, however the changes in fair value will be included in earnings. We are currently evaluating this new guidance and have not determined whether we will be required to apply the provisions of this SOP in our financial statement presentation. If it is necessary to adopt this accounting methodology under SOP 07-1, our reported earnings could be materially affected.

Investment Consolidation

For each investment we will make, we will evaluate the underlying entity that issued the securities we will acquire or to which we will make a loan to determine the appropriate accounting. We refer to guidance in Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 140, Accounting for Transfers and Servicing of Financial Assets and Extinguishments of Liabilities, and FASB Interpretation No. (FIN) 46R, Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities, in performing our analysis. FIN 46R addresses the application of Accounting Research Bulletin No. 51, Consolidated Financial Statements, to certain entities in which voting rights are not effective in identifying an investor with a controlling financial interest. An entity is subject to consolidation under FIN 46R if the investors either do not have sufficient equity at risk for the entity to finance its activities without additional subordinated financial support, are unable to direct the entity’s activities, or are not exposed to the entity’s losses or entitled to its residual returns (‘‘variable interest entities’’ or ‘‘VIEs’’). Variable interest entities within the scope of FIN 46R are required to be consolidated by their primary beneficiary. The primary beneficiary of a VIE is determined to be the party that absorbs a majority of the entity’s expected losses, its expected returns, or both.

Valuations of Available-for-Sale Securities

We expect our available-for-sale securities will have fair values as determined with reference to price estimates provided by independent pricing services and dealers in the securities. The pricing is subject to various assumptions which could result in different presentations of value.

When the fair value of an available-for-sale security is less than its amortized cost for an extended period, we will consider whether there is an other-than-temporary impairment in the value of the security. If, in our judgment, an other-than-temporary impairment exists, the cost basis of the security is written down to the then-current fair value, and the unrealized loss is transferred from accumulated other comprehensive loss as an immediate reduction of current earnings (as if the loss had been realized in the period of other-than-temporary impairment). The determination of

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other-than-temporary impairment is a subjective process, and different judgments and assumptions could affect the timing of loss realization.

We will consider the following factors when determining an other-than-temporary impairment for a security or investment:

	•	The length of time and the extent to which the market value has been less than the amortized cost;

	•	Whether the security has been downgraded by a rating agency; and

	•	Our intent to hold the security for a period of time sufficient to allow for any anticipated recovery in market value.

The determination of other-than-temporary impairment is made at least quarterly. If we determine an impairment to be other than temporary we will need to realize a loss that would have an impact on future income.

Interest Income Recognition

Interest income on available-for-sale securities and loans held for investment will be recognized over the life of the investment using the effective interest method. Interest income on mortgage-backed securities is recognized using the effective interest method as described by SFAS No. 91, Accounting for Nonrefundable Fees and Costs Associated with Originating or Acquiring Loans and Initial Direct Costs of Leases, for securities of high credit quality and Emerging Issues Task Force No. 99-20, Recognition of Interest Income and Impairment on Purchased and Retained Beneficial Interests in Securitized Financial Assets, for all other securities. Interest income on loans held for investment is recognized based on the contractual terms of the loan instruments. Income recognition will be suspended for loans when, in the opinion of management, a full recovery of income and principal becomes doubtful. Income recognition will be resumed when the loan becomes contractually current and performance is demonstrated to be resumed. Any loan fees or acquisition costs on originated loans or securities will be capitalized and recognized as a component of interest income over the life of the investment using the effective interest method.

Under SFAS No. 91 and Emerging Issues Task Force No. 99-20, management will estimate, at the time of purchase, the future expected cash flows and determine the effective interest rate based on these estimated cash flows and our purchase price. As needed, these estimated cash flows will be updated and a revised yield computed based on the current amortized cost of the investment. In estimating these cash flows, there will be a number of assumptions that will be subject to uncertainties and contingencies. These include the rate and timing of principal payments (including prepayments, repurchases, defaults and liquidations), the pass-through or coupon rate and interest rate fluctuations. In addition, interest payment shortfalls due to delinquencies on the underlying mortgage loans, and the timing of the magnitude of credit losses on the mortgage loans underlying the securities have to be judgmentally estimated. These uncertainties and contingencies are difficult to predict and are subject to future events that may impact management’s estimates and our interest income.

Security transactions will be recorded on the trade date. Realized gains and losses from security transactions will be determined based upon the specific identification method and recorded as gain (loss) on sale of available for sale securities and loans held for investment in the statement of income.

We will account for accretion of discounts or premiums on available-for-sale securities and real estate loans using the effective interest yield method. Such amounts will be included as a component of interest income in the income statement.

Accounting For Derivative Financial Instruments

Our policies permit us to enter into derivative contracts, including interest rate swaps and interest rate caps, as a means of mitigating our interest rate risk. We intend to use interest rate derivative instruments to mitigate interest rate risk rather than to enhance returns.

We will account for derivative financial instruments in accordance with SFAS No. 133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, as amended and interpreted. SFAS No. 133 requires

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an entity to recognize all derivatives as either assets or liabilities in the balance sheets and to measure those instruments at fair value. Additionally, the fair value adjustments will affect either other comprehensive income in stockholders’ equity until the hedged item is recognized in earnings or net income depending on whether the derivative instrument qualifies as a hedge for accounting purposes and, if so, the nature of the hedging activity.

In the normal course of business, we may use a variety of derivative financial instruments to manage, or hedge, interest rate risk. These derivative financial instruments must be effective in reducing our interest rate risk exposure in order to qualify for hedge accounting. When the terms of an underlying transaction are modified, or when the underlying hedged item ceases to exist, all changes in the fair value of the instrument are marked-to-market with changes in value included in net income for each period until the derivative instrument matures or is settled. Any derivative instrument used for risk management that does not meet the hedging criteria is marked-to-market with the changes in value included in net income.

Derivatives will be used for hedging purposes rather than speculation. We will rely on quotations from a third party to determine these fair values. If our hedging activities do not achieve our desired results, our reported earnings may be adversely affected.

Reserve for Possible Credit Losses

The expense for possible credit losses in connection with debt investments is the charge to earnings to increase the allowance for possible credit losses to the level that management estimates to be adequate considering delinquencies, loss experience and collateral quality. Other factors considered relate to geographic trends and product diversification, the size of the portfolio and current economic conditions. Based upon these factors, we will establish the provision for possible credit losses by category of asset. When it is probable that we will be unable to collect all amounts contractually due, the account is considered impaired.

Where impairment is indicated, a valuation write-down or write-off is measured based upon the excess of the recorded investment amount over the net fair value of the collateral, as reduced by selling costs. Any deficiency between the carrying amount of an asset and the net sales price of repossessed collateral is charged to the allowance for credit losses.

Income Taxes

We intend to elect and qualify to be taxed as a REIT for the taxable year ended December 31, 2007. Accordingly, we will generally not be subject to corporate federal or state income tax to the extent that we make qualifying distributions to our stockholders, and provided we satisfy on a continuing basis, through actual investment and operating results, the REIT requirements including certain asset, income, distribution and stock ownership tests. If we fail to qualify as a REIT, and do not qualify for certain statutory relief provisions, we will be subject to federal, state and local income taxes and may be precluded from qualifying as a REIT for the subsequent four taxable years following the year in which we lost our REIT qualification. Accordingly, our failure to qualify as a REIT could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations and amounts available for distribution to our stockholders.

The dividends paid deduction of a REIT for qualifying dividends to its stockholders is computed using our taxable income as opposed to net income reported on the financial statements. Taxable income, generally, will differ from net income reported on the financial statements because the determination of taxable income is based on tax provisions and not financial accounting principles.

We may elect to treat certain of our subsidiaries as TRSs. In general, a TRS of ours may hold assets and engage in activities that we cannot hold or engage in directly and generally may engage in any real estate or non-real estate-related business. A TRS is subject to federal, state and local corporate income taxes.

While our TRS will generate net income, our TRS can declare dividends to us which will be included in our taxable income and necessitate a distribution to our stockholders. Conversely, if we retain earnings at the TRS level, no distribution is required and we can increase book equity of the consolidated entity.

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Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In September 2006, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, issued SFAS No. 157, Fair Value Measurements (‘‘SFAS 157’’). SFAS 157 defines fair value, establishes a framework for measuring fair value and requires enhanced disclosures about fair value measurements. SFAS 157 requires companies to disclose the fair value of their financial instruments according to a fair value hierarchy (i.e., levels 1, 2, and 3, as defined). Additionally, companies are required to provide enhanced disclosure regarding instruments in the level 3 category (which require significant management judgment), including a reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances separately for each major category of assets and liabilities. SFAS 157 will be effective for the company on January 1, 2008.

In February 2007, the FASB issued SFAS No. 159, The Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities- Including an amendment of FASB Statement No. 115 (‘‘SFAS 159’’). SFAS 159 permits entities to choose to measure many financial instruments and certain other items at fair value. Unrealized gains and losses on items for which the fair value option has been elected will be recognized in earnings at each subsequent reporting dates. FAS 159 will be effective for the company commencing January 1, 2008.

In June 2007, the AICPA issued SOP 07-1. This SOP provides guidance for determining whether an entity is within the scope of the AICPA Audit and Accounting Guide Investment Companies, or the Guide. Entities that are within the scope of the Guide are required, among other things, to carry their investments at fair value, with changes in fair value included in earnings. The provisions of this SOP will be effective for the company on January 1, 2008.

Proposed FASB Staff Position.    The FASB issued a proposed FSP FAS 140-d relating to FASB Statement No. 140, Accounting for Transfers of Financial Assets and Repurchase Financing Transactions (‘‘FSP FAS 140’’) to address questions where assets purchased from a particular counterparty and financed through a repurchase agreement with the same counterparty can be considered and accounted for as separate transactions. Currently, we intend to record such assets and the related financing on a gross basis in our statements of financial condition, and the corresponding interest income and interest expense in our statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss). For assets representing available-for-sale investment securities, as in our case, any change in fair value will be reported through other comprehensive income under SFAS 115, with the exception of impairment losses, which will be recorded in the statement of operations and comprehensive (loss) income as realized losses. FASB’s staff position requires that all of the following criteria be met in order to continue the application of SFAS 140 as described above: (1) the initial transfer of and repurchase financing cannot be contractually contingent; (2) the repurchase financing entered into between the parties provides full recourse to the transferee and the repurchase price is fixed; (3) the financial asset has an active market and the transfer is executed at market rates; (4) the borrower maintains the right to the collateral and the lender cannot re-pledge the asset prior to settlement of the repurchase agreement; and (5) the repurchase agreement and financial asset do not mature simultaneously. FSP FAS 140 may be subject to significant changes prior to finalization, which may impact our current assessment of its impact upon adoption.

Results of Operations

As of the date of this prospectus, we have not commenced any significant operations because we are in our organization stage. We will not commence any significant operations until we have completed this offering. We are not aware of any material trends or uncertainties, other than national economic conditions affecting mortgage loans, mortgage-backed securities and real estate, generally, that may reasonably be expected to have a material impact, favorable or unfavorable, on revenues or income from the acquisition of real estate-related investments, other than those referred to in this prospectus.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Liquidity, which is our ability to turn non-cash assets into cash, allows us to purchase additional investment securities and to pledge additional assets to secure existing borrowings should the value of

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our pledged assets decline. Potential immediate sources of liquidity for us include cash balances and unused borrowing capacity. Unused borrowing capacity will vary over time as the market value of our investment securities varies. Our balance sheet also generates liquidity on an on-going basis through mortgage principal repayments and net earnings held before payment as dividends. Should our needs ever exceed these on-going sources of liquidity plus the immediate sources of liquidity discussed above, we believe that in most circumstances our investment securities could be sold to raise cash. The maintenance of liquidity is one of the goals of our capital investment policy. Under this policy, we limit asset growth to preserve unused borrowing capacity for liquidity management purposes.

We anticipate that, upon repayment of each borrowing under a repurchase agreement, we will use the collateral immediately for borrowing under a new repurchase agreement. We have not at the present time entered into any commitment agreements under which the lender would be required to enter into new repurchase agreements during a specified period of time.

Under repurchase agreements, we may be required to pledge additional assets to our repurchase agreement counterparties (i.e., lenders) in the event the estimated fair value of the existing pledged collateral under such agreements declines and such lenders demand additional collateral (a ‘‘margin call’’), which may take the form of additional securities or cash. Similarly, if the estimated fair value of investment securities increase due to changes in market interest rates of market factors, lenders may release collateral back to us. Specifically, margin calls result from a decline in the value of the our investments securing our repurchase agreements, prepayments on the mortgages securing such investments and to changes in the estimated fair value of such investments generally due to principal reduction of such investments from scheduled amortization and resulting from changes in market interest rates and other market factors. Should prepayment speeds on the mortgages underlying our investments or market interest rates suddenly increase, margin calls on our repurchase agreements could result, causing an adverse change in our liquidity position.

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

We had no contractual obligations as of August 15, 2007. We intend to enter into a management agreement with FIDAC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Annaly. FIDAC is entitled to receive a base management fee, incentive compensation and, in certain circumstances, a termination fee and reimbursement of certain expenses as described in the management agreement. Such fees and expenses do not have fixed and determinable payments. The base management fee is payable quarterly in arrears in an amount equal to 1.75% per annum, calculated quarterly, of our stockholders’ equity (as defined in the management agreement). Our Manager uses the proceeds from its management fee in part to pay compensation to its officers and employees who, notwithstanding that certain of them also are our officers, receive no cash compensation directly from us. The base management fee will be reduced, but not below zero, by our proportionate share of any CDO base management fees FIDAC receives in connection with the CDOs in which we invest, based on the percentage of equity we hold in such CDOs. Our Manager will receive quarterly incentive compensation in an amount equal to 20% of the dollar amount by which Core Earnings, before the incentive management fee, per weighted average share of common stock for such quarter, exceeds 0.50% plus one-fourth of the average of the one month LIBOR rate for such quarter multiplied by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding in such quarter. Core Earnings is a non-GAAP measure and is defined as GAAP net income (loss) excluding non-cash equity compensation expense, excluding any unrealized gains, losses or other items that do not affect realized net income (regardless of whether such items are included in other comprehensive income or loss, or in net income). The amount will be adjusted to exclude one-time events pursuant to changes in GAAP and certain non-cash charges after discussions between our Manager and our independent directors and approval by a majority of our independent directors. The incentive management fee will be reduced, but not below zero, by our proportionate share of any CDO incentive management fees FIDAC receives in connection with the CDOs in which we invest, based on the percentage of equity we hold in such CDOs.

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We expect to enter into certain contracts that contain a variety of indemnification obligations, principally with our Manager, brokers and counterparties to repurchase agreements. The maximum potential future payment amount we could be required to pay under these indemnification obligations is unlimited.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

As of August 15, 2007 we did not maintain any relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, such as entities often referred to as structured finance, or special purpose or variable interest entities, established to facilitate off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes. Further, as of August 15, 2007 we had not guaranteed any obligations of unconsolidated entities or entered into any commitment or intent to provide additional funding to any such entities.

Dividends

To qualify as a REIT, we must pay annual dividends to our stockholders of at least 90% of our taxable income, determined without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and excluding any net capital gains. We intend to pay regular quarterly dividends to our stockholders. Before we pay any dividend, whether for U.S. federal income tax purposes or otherwise, which would only be paid out of available cash to the extent permitted under our warehouse and repurchase facilities and commercial paper, we must first meet both our operating requirements and scheduled debt service on our warehouse lines and other debt payable.

Inflation

Virtually all of our assets and liabilities will be interest rate sensitive in nature. As a result, interest rates and other factors influence our performance far more so than does inflation. Changes in interest rates do not necessarily correlate with inflation rates or changes in inflation rates. Our financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP and our distributions will be determined by our board of directors consistent with our obligation to distribute to our stockholders at least 90% of our REIT taxable income on an annual basis in order to maintain our REIT qualification; in each case, our activities and balance sheet are measured with reference to historical cost and/or fair market value without considering inflation.

QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

The primary components of our market risk are related to credit risk, interest rate risk, prepayment and market value risk. While we do not seek to avoid risk completely, we believe the risk can be quantified from historical experience and seek to actively manage that risk, to earn sufficient compensation to justify taking those risks and to maintain capital levels consistent with the risks we undertake.

Credit Risk

We will be subject to credit risk in connection with our investments and face more credit risk on assets we own which are rated below ‘‘AAA’’. The credit risk related to these investments pertains to the ability and willingness of the borrowers to pay, which is assessed before credit is granted or renewed and periodically reviewed throughout the loan or security term. We believe that residual loan credit quality is primarily determined by the borrowers’ credit profiles and loan characteristics.

Our Manager will use a comprehensive credit review process. Our Manager’s analysis of loans includes borrower profiles, as well as valuation and appraisal data. Our Manager’s resources include a proprietary portfolio management system, as well as third party software systems. Our Manager will utilize a third party due diligence firm to perform an independent underwriting review to insure compliance with existing guidelines. Our Manager will select loans for review predicated on risk-based criteria such as loan-to-value, borrowers credit score(s) and loan size. Our Manager will also outsource

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underwriting services to review higher risk loans, either due to borrower credit profiles or collateral valuation issues. In addition to statistical sampling techniques, our Manager will create adverse credit and valuation samples, which we individually review. Our Manager will reject loans that fail to conform to our standards. Our Manager will accept only those loans which meet our underwriting criteria. Once we own a loan, our Manager’s surveillance process includes ongoing analysis through our proprietary data warehouse and servicer files. Additionally, the non-Agency RMBS and other ABS which we will acquire for our portfolio will be reviewed by our Manager to ensure that we acquire non-Agency RMBS and other ABS which satisfy our risk based criteria. Our Manager’s review of non-Agency RMBS and other ABS will include utilizing its proprietary portfolio management system. Our Manager’s review of non-Agency RMBS and other ABS will be based on quantitative and qualitative analysis of the risk-adjusted returns non-Agency RMBS and other ABS present.

Interest Rate Risk

Interest rate risk is highly sensitive to many factors, including governmental monetary and tax policies, domestic and international economic and political considerations and other factors beyond our control.

We will be subject to interest rate risk in connection with our investments and our related debt obligations, which are generally repurchase agreements, warehouse facilities, securitization, commercial paper and term financing CDOs. Our repurchase agreements and warehouse facilities may be of limited duration that are periodically refinanced at current market rates. We intend to mitigate this risk through utilization of derivative contracts, primarily interest rate swap agreements.

Interest Rate Effect on Net Interest Income    

Our operating results will depend in large part on differences between the income from our investments and our borrowing costs. Most of our warehouse facilities and repurchase agreements will provide financing based on a floating rate of interest calculated on a fixed spread over London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR. The fixed spread will vary depending on the type of underlying asset which collateralizes the financing. Accordingly, the portion of our portfolio which consists of floating interest rate assets will be match-funded utilizing our expected sources of short-term financing, while our fixed interest rate assets will not be match-funded. During periods of rising interest rates, the borrowing costs associated with our investments tend to increase while the income earned on our fixed interest rate investments may remain substantially unchanged. This will result in a narrowing of the net interest spread between the related assets and borrowings and may even result in losses. Further, during this portion of the interest rate and credit cycles, defaults could increase and result in credit losses to us, which could adversely affect our liquidity and operating results. Such delinquencies or defaults could also have an adverse effect on the spread between interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities.

Hedging techniques are partly based on assumed levels of prepayments of our fixed-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage loans and RMBS. If prepayments are slower or faster than assumed, the life of the mortgage loans and RMBS will be longer or shorter, which would reduce the effectiveness of any hedging strategies we may use and may cause losses on such transactions. Hedging strategies involving the use of derivative securities are highly complex and may produce volatile returns.

Interest Rate Effects on Fair Value

Another component of interest rate risk is the effect changes in interest rates will have on the market value of the assets we acquire. We will face the risk that the market value of our assets will increase or decrease at different rates than that of our liabilities, including our hedging instruments.

We will primarily assess our interest rate risk by estimating the duration of our assets and the duration of our liabilities. Duration essentially measures the market price volatility of financial instruments as interest rates change. We generally calculate duration using various financial models and empirical data. Different models and methodologies can produce different duration numbers for the same securities.

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It is important to note that the impact of changing interest rates on fair value can change significantly when interest rates change beyond 100 basis points from current levels. Therefore, the volatility in the fair value of our assets could increase significantly when interest rates change beyond 100 basis points. In addition, other factors impact the fair value of our interest rate-sensitive investments and hedging instruments, such as the shape of the yield curve, market expectations as to future interest rate changes and other market conditions. Accordingly, in the event of changes in actual interest rates, the change in the fair value of our assets would likely differ from that shown above, and such difference might be material and adverse to our stockholders.

Interest Rate Cap Risk

We will also invest in adjustable-rate mortgage loans and RMBS. These are mortgages or RMBS in which the underlying mortgages are typically subject to periodic and lifetime interest rate caps and floors, which limit the amount by which the security’s interest yield may change during any given period. However, our borrowing costs pursuant to our financing agreements will not be subject to similar restrictions. Therefore, in a period of increasing interest rates, interest rate costs on our borrowings could increase without limitation by caps, while the interest-rate yields on our adjustable-rate mortgage loans and RMBS would effectively be limited. This problem will be magnified to the extent we acquire adjustable-rate RMBS that are not based on mortgages which are fully indexed. In addition, the mortgages or the underlying mortgages in an RMBS may be subject to periodic payment caps that result in some portion of the interest being deferred and added to the principal outstanding. This could result in our receipt of less cash income on our adjustable-rate mortgages or RMBS than we need in order to pay the interest cost on our related borrowings. These factors could lower our net interest income or cause a net loss during periods of rising interest rates, which would harm our financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.

Interest Rate Mismatch Risk

We intend to fund a substantial portion of our acquisitions of hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages and RMBS with borrowings that, after the effect of hedging, have interest rates based on indices and repricing terms similar to, but of somewhat shorter maturities than, the interest rate indices and repricing terms of the mortgages and RMBS. Thus, we anticipate that in most cases the interest rate indices and repricing terms of our mortgage assets and our funding sources will not be identical, thereby creating an interest rate mismatch between assets and liabilities. Therefore, our cost of funds would likely rise or fall more quickly than would our earnings rate on assets. During periods of changing interest rates, such interest rate mismatches could negatively impact our financial condition, cash flows and results of operations. To mitigate interest rate mismatches, we may utilize the hedging strategies discussed above.

Our analysis of risks is based on our Manager’s experience, estimates, models and assumptions. These analyses rely on models which utilize estimates of fair value and interest rate sensitivity. Actual economic conditions or implementation of investment decisions by our management may produce results that differ significantly from the estimates and assumptions used in our models and the projected results shown in this prospectus.

Prepayment Risk

As we receive prepayments of principal on these investments, premiums paid on such investments will be amortized against interest income. In general, an increase in prepayment rates will accelerate the amortization of purchase premiums, thereby reducing the interest income earned on the investments. Conversely, discounts on such investments are accreted into interest income. In general, an increase in prepayment rates will accelerate the accretion of purchase discounts, thereby increasing the interest income earned on the investments.

Extension Risk

Our Manager will compute the projected weighted-average life of our investments based on assumptions regarding the rate at which the borrowers will prepay the underlying mortgages. In

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general, when a fixed-rate or hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage loans or RMBS are acquired with borrowings, we may, but are not required to, enter into an interest rate swap agreement or other hedging instrument that effectively fixes our borrowing costs for a period close to the anticipated average life of the fixed-rate portion of the related assets. This strategy is designed to protect us from rising interest rates because the borrowing costs are fixed for the duration of the fixed-rate portion of the related residential mortgage-backed security.

However, if prepayment rates decrease in a rising interest rate environment, the life of the fixed-rate portion of the related assets could extend beyond the term of the swap agreement or other hedging instrument. This could have a negative impact on our results from operations, as borrowing costs would no longer be fixed after the end of the hedging instrument while the income earned on the hybrid adjustable-rate assets would remain fixed. This situation may also cause the market value of our hybrid adjustable-rate assets to decline, with little or no offsetting gain from the related hedging transactions. In extreme situations, we may be forced to sell assets to maintain adequate liquidity, which could cause us to incur losses.

Market Risk

Market Value Risk

Our available-for-sale securities will be reflected at their estimated fair value with unrealized gains and losses excluded from earnings and reported in other comprehensive income pursuant to SFAS No. 115, Accounting for Certain Investments in Debt and Equity Securities. The estimated fair value of these securities fluctuates primarily due to changes in interest rates and other factors. Generally, in a rising interest rate environment, the estimated fair value of these securities would be expected to decrease; conversely, in a decreasing interest rate environment, the estimated fair value of these securities would be expected to increase.

Real Estate Risk

Residential property values are subject to volatility and may be affected adversely by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, national, regional and local economic conditions (which may be adversely affected by industry slowdowns and other factors); local real estate conditions (such as an oversupply of housing); changes or continued weakness in specific industry segments; construction quality, age and design; demographic factors; and retroactive changes to building or similar codes. In addition, decreases in property values reduce the value of the collateral and the potential proceeds available to a borrower to repay our loans, which could also cause us to suffer losses

Risk Management

To the extent consistent with maintaining our REIT status, we will seek to manage risk exposure to protect our portfolio of residential mortgage loans, RMBS, and mortgage securities and related debt against the effects of major interest rate changes. We generally seek to manage our risk by:

	•	monitoring and adjusting, if necessary, the reset index and interest rate related to our RMBS and our financings;

	•	attempting to structure our financings agreements to have a range of different maturities, terms, amortizations and interest rate adjustment periods;

	•	using derivatives, financial futures, swaps, options, caps, floors and forward sales to adjust the interest rate sensitivity of our MBS and our borrowings;

	•	using securitization financing to lower average cost of funds relative to short-term financing vehicles further allowing us to receive the benefit of attractive terms for an extended period of time in contrast to short term financing and maturity dates of the investments included in the securitization; and

	•	actively managing, on an aggregate basis, the interest rate indices, interest rate adjustment periods, and gross reset margins of our MBS and the interest rate indices and adjustment periods of our financings.

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BUSINESS

Our Company

We are a specialty finance company formed on June 1, 2007 by Annaly, who may be deemed our promoter, that will invest in residential mortgage loans, RMBS, real estate-related securities and various other asset classes. We will be externally managed by FIDAC. We intend to elect and qualify to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for federal income tax purposes.

Our objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns to our investors over the long-term, primarily through dividends and secondarily through capital appreciation. We intend to achieve this objective by investing in a broad class of financial assets to construct an investment portfolio that is designed to achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns and that is structured to comply with the various federal income tax requirements for REIT status and to maintain our exclusion from regulation under the Investment Company Act of 1940, or 1940 Act. We have not yet made any investments.

We recognize that investing in our targeted asset classes is highly competitive, and that our Manager will compete with many other investment managers for profitable investment opportunities in these areas. Annaly and our Manager have close relationships with a diverse group of financial intermediaries, ranging from primary dealers, major investment banks, and brokerage firms to leading mortgage originators, specialty investment dealers and financial sponsors. In addition, we expect to benefit from our Manager’s analytical and portfolio management expertise and technology. We believe that the combined and complementary strengths of Annaly and our Manager give us a competitive advantage over REITs with a similar focus to ours.

Our Manager

We will be externally managed and advised by FIDAC pursuant to a management agreement. All of our employees are employees of our Manager or one of its affiliates. Our Manager is a fixed-income investment management company specializing in managing investments in U.S. government agency mortgage-backed securities, or Agency RMBS, which are mortgage pass-through certificates, collateralized mortgage obligations and other mortgage-backed securities representing interests in or obligations backed by pools of mortgage loans issued or guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. Our Manager also has experience in managing investments in non-Agency MBS and CDOs; real estate-related securities; and managing interest rate-sensitive strategies. Our Manager commenced active investment management operations in 1994. At June 30, 2007, our Manager managed approximately $2.6 billion in net assets and $15.7 billion in gross assets, $11.5 billion of which were Agency RMBS. Recently, our Manager has begun to manage non-Agency RMBS and at June 30, 2007 $4.2 billion in gross assets were in two investment vehicles that invest in non-Agency RMBS. Our Manager’s offices are located at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2902, New York, New York 10036 and the telephone number of our Manager’s offices is 1-866-315-9930.

Our Manager will be responsible for administering our business activities and day-to-day operations. Pursuant to the terms of the management agreement, our Manager will provide us with our management team, including our officers, along with appropriate support personnel. Our Manager is at all times subject to the supervision and oversight of our board of directors and has only such functions and authority as we delegate to it.

Our Manager has well-respected and established portfolio management resources for each of our targeted asset classes and a sophisticated infrastructure supporting those resources, including investment professionals focusing on residential mortgage loans, Agency and non-Agency RMBS and other asset-backed securities. We also expect to benefit from our Manager’s finance and administration functions, which address legal, compliance, investor relations and operational matters, including portfolio management, trade allocation and execution, securities valuation, risk management and information technologies in connection with the performance of its duties.

We do not pay any of our employees any cash compensation. Rather, we pay our Manager a base management fee and incentive compensation based on performance pursuant to the terms of the management agreement.

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Our Competitive Advantages

We believe that our competitive advantages include the following:

Investment Strategy Designed to Perform in a Variety of Interest Rate and Credit Environments

We seek to manage our investment strategy to balance both interest rate risk and credit risk. We believe this strategy is designed to generate attractive, risk-adjusted returns in a variety of market conditions because operating conditions in which either of these risks are increased, or decreased, may occur at different points in the economic cycle. For example, there may be periods when interest-rate sensitive strategies outperform credit-sensitive strategies whereby we would receive increased income over our cost of financing, in which case our portfolio’s increased exposure to this risk would be beneficial. There may be other periods when credit-sensitive strategies outperform interest-rate sensitive strategies. Our current strategy capitalizes on two aspects of the current market cycle. First, our initial focus on high-quality residential mortgage loans will provide us with the opportunity to generate attractive, stable returns even though the spread between long-term interest rates and short-term interest rates is relatively narrow and mortgage default rates are increasing. Second, the general re-pricing of RMBS and other ABS, including non-investment grade classes, has resulted in securities trading at lower valuations and higher yields. As a result, we believe our focus on these markets will provide us with an opportunity to buy securities at attractive valuations. Although we will face interest rate risk and credit risk, we believe that with appropriate hedging strategies, as well as our ability to evaluate the quality of targeted asset investment opportunities, we can reduce these risks and provide attractive risk-adjusted returns.

Credit-Oriented Investment Approach

We will seek to minimize principal loss while maximizing risk-adjusted returns through our Manager’s investment approach which is based on rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis of credit risk. We review credit risk and other risks of loss associated with each of our potential investments by considering, among other things, geographic concentration, insurer, industry and certain other types of concentrations. We may also reduce certain risks from sellers and servicers through representations and warranties. Our Manager will monitor our overall portfolio risk and determine appropriate levels of provision for losses. We expect that our investment portfolio will be comprised of (1) high-quality residential mortgage loans, which generally are loans made to prime borrowers exhibiting a strong credit history with a demonstrated ability and willingness to pay, with minimum 80% loan-to-value, full documentation and full appraisals, and (2) non-Agency RMBS, and CMBS, including rated and unrated classes. Accordingly, we thereby expect to provide investors with diversification across a variety of real estate and other asset classes. We intend to source residential mortgage loans directly from originators which we believe will provide us with attractively-priced and differentiated assets. We also expect to add further diversification and enhance the return of our core portfolio of residential mortgage loans by investing in RMBS and other ABS.

Experienced Investment Advisor

Our Manager has a long history of strong performance across a broad range of fixed-income assets, including investing in a variety of mortgage and real estate-related securities and structuring and marketing CDOs. Our Manager has an investment committee of our Manager’s professionals consisting of Michael A.J. Farrell, Wellington J. Denahan-Norris, James P. Fortescue, Kristopher Konrad, Rose-Marie Lyght, Ronald Kazel, Jeremy Diamond, Eric Szabo, and Matthew Lambiase to advise and consult with our Manager’s senior management team with respect to our investment policies, investment portfolio holdings, financing and leveraging strategies and investment guidelines. Moreover, some of our Manager’s executives have had experience managing assets through a variety of interest rate and credit cycles since the early 1970s, and have demonstrated the ability to generate risk-adjusted returns in these various interest rate and credit environments. We expect to benefit from this varied expertise, and believe that our Manager’s experienced investment team provides us with a competitive advantage relative to companies that have management teams with less experience.

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Access to Annaly’s and Our Manager’s Relationships

We believe our relationship with Annaly and our Manager will provide us with access to a pipeline of investment opportunities. Annaly and our Manager have developed long-term relationships with a number of commercial and investment banks and other financial intermediaries. We believe these relationships will provide us with a range of high-quality investment opportunities.

Access to Our Manager’s Systems and Infrastructure

We will have access to our Manager’s finance and administration functions which address legal, compliance, and operational matters and promulgates and administers comprehensive policies and procedures regarding important investment advisor matters, including portfolio management, trading allocation and execution, securities valuation, risk management, investor relations, and information technologies in connection with the performance of our Manager’s duties hereunder. Our Manager has created a proprietary portfolio management system which we expect will provide us with a competitive advantage. Our Manager’s personnel have created a comprehensive finance and administrative infrastructure, an important component of a complex investment vehicle such as a REIT. In addition, our Manager’s personnel are Annaly’s employees and have had extensive experience managing Annaly, which is a REIT.

Alignment of Interests between Annaly, Our Manager and Our Investors

Our Manager’s parent company, Annaly, has agreed to purchase 9.8% of our outstanding shares after giving effect to the shares issued in this offering, excluding shares sold pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise of their overallotment option. Moreover, a portion of the fees that may be earned by our Manager consists of incentive compensation that is based on the amount that our Core Earnings exceeds a specified threshold. We believe that Annaly’s investment and our Manager’s ability to earn performance fees will align our Manager’s interests with our interests.

Our Investment Strategy

Our objective is to provide attractive returns to our investors over the long-term, primarily through dividends and secondarily through capital appreciation. We intend to seek to achieve this objective by investing in a diversified investment portfolio of residential mortgage loans, real estate-related securities and real estate loans, as well as various other asset classes, subject to maintaining our REIT status and exemption from registration under the 1940 Act. The RMBS, ABS, CMBS and CDO securities we purchase may include investment-grade and non-investment grade classes, including the BB-rated, B-rated and non-rated classes. Our investment strategy differs from Annaly’s in that Annaly primarily invests in Agency RMBS.

We will rely on our Manager’s expertise in identifying assets within our target asset classes. We expect that our Manager will make investment decisions based on various factors, including expected cash yield, relative value, risk-adjusted returns, current and projected credit fundamentals, current and projected macroeconomic considerations, current and projected supply and demand, credit and market risk concentration limits, liquidity, cost of financing and financing availability, as well as maintaining our REIT qualification and our exemption from registration under the 1940 Act.

Over time, we will modify our investment allocation strategy as market conditions change to seek to maximize the returns from our investment portfolio. We believe this strategy, combined with our Manager’s experience, will enable us to pay dividends and achieve capital appreciation throughout changing interest rate and credit cycles and provide attractive long-term returns to investors.

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Our targeted asset classes and the principal investments we expect to make in each are as follows:

Asset Class			Principal Investments
Residential Mortgage Loans			•Prime mortgage loans, which are mortgage loans that conform to the underwriting guidelines of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or Agency Guidelines; and jumbo prime mortgage loans, which are mortgage loans that conform to the Agency Guidelines except as to loan size.
			•Alt-A mortgage loans, which are mortgage loans that may have been originated using documentation standards that are less stringent than the documentation standards applied by certain other first lien mortgage loan purchase programs, such as the Agency Guidelines, but have one or more compensating factors such as a borrower with a strong credit or mortgage history or significant assets.
Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities, or RMBS			•Non-Agency RMBS, including investment-grade and non-investment grade classes, including the BB-rated, B-rated and non-rated classes.
			•Agency RMBS.
Other Asset-Backed Securities, or ABS			•Debt and equity tranches of collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs.
			•Commercial mortgage-backed securities, or CMBS.
			•Consumer and non-consumer ABS, including investment-grade and non-investment grade classes, including the BB-rated, B-rated and non-rated classes.

We intend to invest the net proceeds of this offering primarily in the investments described above. Initially, we expect to focus our investment activities on purchasing residential mortgage loans that have been originated by select high-quality originators, including the retail lending operations of leading commercial banks, and non-Agency RMBS. Our investment decisions, however, will depend on prevailing market conditions and will change over time. As a result, we cannot predict the percentage of our assets that will be invested in each asset class or whether we will invest in other classes of investments. We may change our investment strategy and policies without a vote of our stockholders.

We intend to elect and qualify to be taxed as a REIT and to operate our business so as to be exempt from registration under the 1940 Act, and therefore we will be required to invest a substantial majority of our assets in loans secured by mortgages on real estate and real estate-related assets. See ‘‘— Operating and Regulatory Structure.’’ Subject to maintaining our REIT qualification and our 1940 Act exemption, we do not have any limitations on the amounts we may invest in any of our targeted asset classes.

Investment Portfolio

The following briefly discusses the principal types of investments that we expect to make:

Residential Mortgage Loans

We intend to invest in residential mortgage loans (mortgage loans secured by residential real property) primarily through direct purchases from selected high-quality originators. We intend to enter into mortgage loan purchase agreements with a number of primary mortgage loan originators,

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including mortgage bankers, commercial banks, savings and loan associations, home builders, credit unions and mortgage conduits. We may also purchase mortgage loans on the secondary market. We expect these loans to be secured primarily by residential properties in the United States.

We intend to invest primarily in residential mortgage loans underwritten to our specifications. The originators will perform the credit review of the borrowers, the appraisal of the properties securing the loan, and maintain other quality control procedures. We expect to generally consider the purchase of loans when the originators have verified the borrowers’ income and assets, verified their credit history and obtained appraisals of the properties. We or a third party will perform an independent underwriting review of the processing, underwriting and loan closing methodologies that the originators used in qualifying a borrower for a loan. Depending on the size of the loans, we may not review all of the loans in a pool, but rather select loans for underwriting review based upon specific risk-based criteria such as property location, loan size, effective loan-to-value ratio, borrowers’ credit score and other criteria we believe to be important indicators of credit risk. Additionally, before the purchase of loans, we will obtain representations and warranties from each originator stating that each loan is underwritten to our requirements or, in the event underwriting exceptions have been made, we are informed so that we may evaluate whether to accept or reject the loans. An originator who breaches these representations and warranties in making a loan that we purchase may be obligated to repurchase the loan from us. As added security, we will use the services of a third-party document custodian to insure the quality and accuracy of all individual mortgage loan closing documents and to hold the documents in safekeeping. As a result, all of the original loan collateral documents that are signed by the borrower, other than the original credit verification documents, are examined, verified and held by the third-party document custodian.

We currently do not intend to originate mortgage loans or provide other types of financing to the owners of real estate. We currently do not intend to establish a loan servicing platform, but expect to retain highly-rated servicers to service our mortgage loan portfolio. We may also purchase certain residential mortgage loans on a servicing-retained basis. In the future, however, we may decide to originate mortgage loans or other types of financing, and we may elect to service mortgage loans and other types of financing.

We expect that all servicers servicing our loans will be highly rated by the rating agencies. We will also conduct a due diligence review of each servicer before executing a servicing agreement. Servicing procedures will typically follow Fannie Mae guidelines but will be specified in each servicing agreement. All servicing agreements will meet standards for inclusion in highly rated mortgage-backed or asset-backed securitizations.

We expect that the loans we acquire will be first lien, single-family residential traditional fixed-rate, adjustable-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate loans with original terms to maturity of not more than 40 years and are either fully amortizing or are interest-only for up to 10 years, and fully amortizing thereafter. Fixed-rate mortgage loans bear an interest rate that is fixed for the life of the loan. All adjustable-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate residential mortgage loans will bear an interest rate tied to an interest rate index. Most loans have periodic and lifetime constraints on how much the loan interest rate can change on any predetermined interest rate reset date. The interest rate on each adjustable-rate mortgage loan resets monthly, semi-annually or annually and generally adjusts to a margin over a U.S. Treasury index or LIBOR index. Hybrid adjustable-rate loans have a fixed rate for an initial period, generally 3 to 10 years, and then convert to adjustable-rate loans for their remaining term to maturity.

We will acquire residential mortgage loans for our portfolio with the intention of either securitizing them and retaining them in our portfolio as securitized mortgage loans, or holding them in our residential mortgage loan portfolio. To facilitate the securitization or financing of our loans, we expect to generally create subordinate certificates, which provide a specified amount of credit enhancement. We expect to issue securities through securities underwriters and either retain these securities or finance them in the repurchase agreement market. There is no limit on the amount we may retain of these below-investment-grade subordinate certificates. Until we securitize our residential mortgage loans, we expect to finance our residential mortgage loan portfolio through the use of warehouse facilities and reverse repurchase agreements.

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Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities

We intend to invest in residential mortgage-backed securities, or RMBS, which are typically pass-through certificates created by the securitization of a pool of mortgage loans that are collateralized by residential real estate properties.

The securitization process is governed by one or more of the rating agencies, including Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s, who determine the respective bond class sizes, generally based on a sequential payment structure. Bonds that are rated from AAA to BBB by the rating agencies are considered ‘‘investment grade.’’ Bond classes that are subordinate to the BBB class are considered ‘‘below-investment grade’’ or ‘‘non-investment grade.’’ The respective bond class sizes are determined based on the review of the underlying collateral by the rating agencies. The payments received from the underlying loans are used to make the payments on the RMBS. Based on the sequential payment priority, the risk of nonpayment for the AAA RMBS is lower than the risk of nonpayment for the non-investment grade bonds. Accordingly, the AAA class is typically sold at a lower yield compared to the non-investment grade classes which are sold at higher yields.

We may invest in investment grade and non-investment grade RMBS. We expect to evaluate the credit characteristics of these types of securities, including, but not limited to, loan balance distribution, geographic concentration, property type, occupancy, periodic and lifetime cap, weighted-average loan-to-value and weighted-average FICO score. Qualifying securities will then be analyzed using base line expectations of expected prepayments and losses from given sectors, issuers and the current state of the fixed-income market. Losses and prepayments are stressed simultaneously based on a credit risk-based model. Securities in this portfolio are monitored for variance from expected prepayments, frequencies, severities, losses and cash flow.

We may invest in net interest margin securities, or NIMs, which are notes that are payable from and secured by excess cash flow that is generated by MBS or home equity loan-backed securities, or HELOCs, after paying the debt service, expenses and fees on such securities. The excess cash flow represents all or a portion of a residual that is generally retained by the originator of the MBS or HELOCs. The residual is illiquid, thus the originator will monetize the position by securitizing the residual and issuing a NIM, usually in the form of a note that is backed by the excess cash flow generated in the underlying securitization.

We may invest in mortgage pass-through certificates issued or guaranteed by Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. We refer to these U.S. government agencies as Agencies, and to the mortgage pass-through certificates they issue or guarantee as Agency Mortgage Pass-through Certificates. We may invest in collateralized mortgage obligations issued by the Agencies. We refer to these types of securities as Agency CMOs, and we refer to Agency Mortgage Pass-through Certificates and Agency CMOs as Agency RMBS.

Other Asset-Backed Securities

We intend to invest in securities issued in various CDO offerings to gain exposure to bank loans, corporate bonds, ABS, mortgages, RMBS and CMBS and other instruments. To avoid any actual or perceived conflicts of interest with our Manager, an investment in any such security structured or managed by our Manager will be approved by a majority of our independent directors. To the extent such securities are treated as debt of the CDO issuer for federal income tax purposes, we will hold the securities directly, subject to the requirements of our continued qualification as a REIT as described in ‘‘Certain Federal Income Tax Considerations — Taxation of Our Company — Asset Tests.’’ To the extent the securities represent equity interests in a CDO issuer for federal income tax purposes, we may be required to hold such securities through a TRS which would cause the income recognized with respect to such securities to be subject to federal (and applicable state and local) corporate income tax. See ‘‘Risk Factors — Tax Risks — We could fail to qualify as a REIT or we could become subject to a penalty tax if the income we recognize from certain investments that are treated or could be treated as equity interests in a foreign corporation exceed 5% of our gross income in a taxable year.’’

In general, CDO issuers are special purpose vehicles that hold a portfolio of income-producing assets financed through the issuance of rated debt securities of different seniority and equity. The debt

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tranches are typically rated based on cash flow structure, portfolio quality, diversification and credit enhancement. The equity securities issued by the CDO vehicle are the ‘‘first loss’’ piece of the CDO vehicle’s capital structure, but they are also generally entitled to all residual amounts available for payment after the CDO vehicle’s senior obligations have been satisfied. Some CDO vehicles are ‘‘synthetic,’’ in which the credit risk to the collateral pool is transferred to the CDO vehicle by a credit derivative such as a credit default swap.

We also intend to invest in CMBS, which are secured by, or evidence ownership interests in, a single commercial mortgage loan or a pool of mortgage loans secured by commercial properties. These securities may be senior, subordinated, investment grade or non-investment grade. We intend to invest in CMBS that will yield current interest income and where we consider the return of principal to be likely. We intend to acquire CMBS from private originators of, or investors in, mortgage loans, including savings and loan associations, mortgage bankers, commercial banks, finance companies, investment banks and other entities.

We also intend to invest in consumer ABS. These securities are generally securities for which the underlying collateral consists of assets such as home equity loans, credit card receivables and auto loans. We also expect to invest in non-consumer ABS. These securities are generally secured by loans to businesses and consist of assets such as equipment loans, truck loans and agricultural equipment loans. Issuers of consumer and non-consumer ABS generally are special purpose entities owned or sponsored by banks and finance companies, captive finance subsidiaries of non-financial corporations or specialized originators such as credit card lenders.

We may purchase RMBS and ABS which are denominated in foreign currencies or are collateralized by non-U.S. assets.

Investment Sourcing

We expect our Manager to take advantage of the broad network of relationships it and Annaly have established over the past decade to identify investment opportunities. Our Manager and Annaly have relationships with a large and diverse group of financial intermediaries, ranging from major commercial and investment banks to specialty investment dealers and brokerage firms. In addition, we believe that a portion of our Manager’s transaction pipeline, such as the CDOs it sponsors, will generate appropriate investment opportunities for us. Our Manager also sources investments directly from third party originators, such as in the case of CDOs and CLOs, sponsored by other asset management firms.

Investing in our targeted asset classes is highly competitive. Our Manager competes with many other investment managers for profitable investment opportunities in fixed-income asset classes and related investment opportunities.

Investment Process

We expect our investment process will benefit from the resources and professionals of our Manager. The professionals responsible for portfolio management decisions are Matthew Lambiase, our President and Chief Executive Officer and our Manager’s Executive Vice President, Structured Products; William B. Dyer, our Chief Credit Officer and our Manager’s Executive Vice President; Christian J. Woschenko, our Chief Investment Officer and our Manager’s Executive Vice President; Eric Szabo, our Manager’s Senior Vice President and Investment Strategist; and Konstantin Pavlov, our Manager’s Senior Vice President and Senior Repo Trader. Investments will be overseen by an Investment Committee of our Manager’s professionals, consisting of Michael A.J. Farrell, Wellington J. Denahan-Norris, James P. Fortescue, Kristopher Konrad, Rose-Marie Lyght, Ronald Kazel, Jeremy Diamond, Eric Szabo and Matthew Lambiase. This Investment Committee will oversee our investment guidelines and will meet periodically to discuss preferences for sectors and sub-sectors.

Our investment process will include sourcing and screening of investment opportunities, assessing investment suitability, conducting credit and prepayment analysis, evaluating cash flow and collateral performance, reviewing legal structure and servicer and originator information and investment

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structuring, as appropriate, to seek an attractive return commensurate with the risk we are bearing. Upon identification of an investment opportunity, the investment will be screened and monitored by our Manager to determine its impact on maintaining our REIT qualification and our exemption from registration under the 1940 Act. We will seek to make investments in sectors where our Manager has strong core competencies and where we believe credit risk and expected performance can be reasonably quantified.

Our Manager evaluates each one of our investment opportunities based on its expected risk-adjusted return relative to the returns available from other, comparable investments. In addition, we evaluate new opportunities based on their relative expected returns compared to our comparable securities held in our portfolio. The terms of any leverage available to us for use in funding an investment purchase are also taken into consideration, as are any risks posed by illiquidity or correlations with other securities in the portfolio.

Once a potential residential loan package investment has been identified, our Manager and third parties it engages will perform financial, operational and legal due diligence to assess the risks of the investment. Our Manager and third parties it engages will analyze the loan pool and conduct follow-up due diligence as part of the underwriting process. As part of this process, the key factors which the underwriters will consider include, but are not limited to, documentation, debt-to-income ratio, loan-to-value ratios and property valuation. Consideration is also given to other factors such as price of the pool, geographic concentrations and type of product. Our Manager will refine its underwriting criteria based upon actual loan portfolio experience and as market conditions and investor requirements evolve. Similar analysis is also performed on securities, where the evaluation process will also include relative value analyses based on yield, credit rating, average life, expected duration, option-adjusted spreads, prepayment assumptions and credit exceptions. Other considerations in our investment process include analysis of fundamental economic trends, suitability for investment by a REIT, consumer borrowing trends, home price appreciation and relevant regulatory developments.

Our Financing Strategy

We intend to use leverage to increase potential returns to our stockholders. We will employ leverage to achieve our return objectives. We are not required to maintain any particular debt-to-equity ratio as we believe the appropriate leverage for the particular assets we are financing depends on the credit quality and risk of those assets.

Subject to our maintaining our qualification as a REIT, we expect to use a number of sources to finance our investments, including the following:

	•	Repurchase Agreements.    We intend to finance certain of our assets through the use of repurchase agreements. We anticipate that repurchase agreements will be one of the sources we will use to achieve our desired amount of leverage for our residential real estate assets. We intend to maintain formal relationships with multiple counterparties to obtain financing on favorable terms.

	•	Warehouse Facilities.    We intend to utilize credit facilities for capital needed to fund our assets. We intend to maintain formal relationships with multiple counterparties to maintain warehouse lines on favorable terms.

	•	Securitization.    We will acquire residential mortgage loans for our portfolio with the intention of securitizing them and retaining the securitized mortgage loans in our portfolio. To facilitate the securitization or financing of our loans, we will generally create subordinate certificates, providing a specified amount of credit enhancement, which we intend to retain in our portfolio.

	•	Asset-Backed Commercial Paper.    We may finance certain of our assets using asset-backed commercial paper, or ABCP, conduits, which are bankruptcy-remote special purpose vehicles that issue commercial paper and the proceeds of which are used to fund assets, either through repurchase or secured lending programs. We may utilize ABCP conduits of third parties or create our own conduit.

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	•	Term Financing CDOs.    We may finance certain of our assets using term financing strategies, including CDOs and other match-funded financing structures. CDOs are multiple class debt securities, or bonds, secured by pools of assets, such as mortgage-backed securities and corporate debt. Like typical securitization structures, in a CDO:

	•	the assets are pledged to a trustee for the benefit of the holders of the bonds;

	•	one or more classes of the bonds are rated by one or more rating agencies; and

	•	one or more classes of the bonds are marketed to a wide variety of fixed-income investors, which enables the CDO sponsor to achieve a relatively low cost of long-term financing.

Unlike typical securitization structures, the underlying assets may be sold, subject to certain limitations, without a corresponding pay-down of the CDO, provided the proceeds are reinvested in qualifying assets. As a result, CDOs enable the sponsor to actively manage, subject to certain limitations, the pool of assets. We believe CDO financing structures may be an appropriate financing vehicle for our target asset classes because they will enable us to obtain relatively low, long-term cost of funds and minimize the risk that we may have to refinance our liabilities before the maturities of our investments, while giving us the flexibility to manage credit risk and, subject to certain limitations, to take advantage of profit opportunities.

Our Interest Rate Hedging and Risk Management Strategy

We may, from time to time, utilize derivative financial instruments to hedge all or a portion of the interest rate risk associated with our borrowings. Under the federal income tax laws applicable to REITs, we generally will be able to enter into certain transactions to hedge indebtedness that we may incur, or plan to incur, to acquire or carry real estate assets, although our total gross income from such hedges and other non-qualifying sources must not exceed 25% of our gross income.

We intend to engage in a variety of interest rate management techniques that seek to mitigate changes in interest rates or other potential influences on the values of our assets. The federal income tax rules applicable to REITs, may require us to implement certain of these techniques through a TRS that is fully subject to corporate income taxation. Our interest rate management techniques may include:

	•	puts and calls on securities or indices of securities;

	•	Eurodollar futures contracts and options on such contracts;

	•	interest rate caps, swaps and swaptions;

	•	U.S. treasury securities and options on U.S. treasury securities; and

	•	other similar transactions.

We expect to attempt to reduce interest rate risks and to minimize exposure to interest rate fluctuations through the use of match funded financing structures, when appropriate, whereby we seek (i) to match the maturities of our debt obligations with the maturities of our assets and (ii) to match the interest rates on our investments with like-kind debt (i.e., floating rate assets are financed with floating rate debt and fixed-rate assets are financed with fixed-rate debt), directly or through the use of interest rate swaps, caps or other financial instruments, or through a combination of these strategies. We expect this to allow us to minimize the risk that we have to refinance our liabilities before the maturities of our assets and to reduce the impact of changing interest rates on our earnings.

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Credit Analysis and Structuring

We will benefit from our Manager’s experience in credit analysis and investment structuring. The credit analysis process is driven by extensive research that focuses, where applicable, on the underlying collateral, servicer and structure of a loan or security, as well as the borrower or issuer, its management team and overall conditions in its industry. When conducting due diligence, we expect our Manager will evaluate a number of important business considerations, as well as relevant tax, accounting, environmental and legal issues in determining whether to proceed with an investment.

Risk Management

Risk management is an integral component of our strategy to deliver returns to our stockholders. Because we will invest primarily in fixed-income securities, investment losses from credit defaults, interest rate volatility or other risks can meaningfully reduce or eliminate our distributions to stockholders. In addition, because we will employ financial leverage in funding our portfolio, mismatches in the maturities of our assets and liabilities can create risk in the need to continually renew or otherwise refinance our liabilities. Our net interest margins will be dependent upon a positive spread between the returns on our asset portfolio and our overall cost of funding. To minimize the risks to our portfolio, we will actively employ portfolio-wide and security-specific risk measurement and management processes in our daily operations. Our risk management tools include software and services licensed or purchased from third parties, in addition to proprietary analytical methods developed by FIDAC. There can be no guarantee that these tools will protect us from market risks.

Investment Guidelines

Our board of directors has adopted a set of investment guidelines that set out the asset classes, risk tolerance levels, diversification requirements and other criteria used to evaluate the merits of specific investments as well as the overall portfolio composition. Our Manager’s Investment Committee reviews our compliance with the investment guidelines periodically and our board of directors receives an investment report at each quarter-end in conjunction with its review of our quarterly results. Our board also reviews our investment portfolio and related compliance with our investment policies and procedures and investment guidelines at each regularly scheduled board of directors meeting.

Our board of directors and our Manager’s Investment Committee have adopted the following guidelines for our investments and borrowings:

	•	No investment shall be made that would cause us to fail to qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes;

	•	No investment shall be made that would cause us to be regulated as an investment company under the 1940 Act;

	•	With the exception of real estate and housing, no single industry shall represent greater than 20% of the securities or aggregate risk exposure in our portfolio; and

	•	Investments in non-rated or deeply subordinated ABS or other securities that are non-qualifying assets for purposes of the 75% REIT asset test will be limited to an amount not to exceed 50% of our stockholders’ equity.

These investment guidelines may be changed by a majority of our board of directors without the approval of our stockholders.

Our board of directors has also adopted a separate set of investment guidelines and procedures to govern our relationships with FIDAC. We have also adopted detailed compliance policies to govern our interaction with FIDAC, including when FIDAC is in receipt of material non-public information.

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Policies with Respect to Certain Other Activities

If our board of directors determines that additional funding is required, we may raise such funds through additional offerings of equity or debt securities or the retention of cash flow (subject to provisions in the Internal Revenue Code concerning distribution requirements and the taxability of undistributed REIT taxable income) or a combination of these methods. In the event that our board of directors determines to raise additional equity capital, it has the authority, without stockholder approval, to issue additional common stock or preferred stock in any manner and on such terms and for such consideration as it deems appropriate, at any time.

We may offer equity or debt securities in exchange for property and to repurchase or otherwise reacquire our shares and may engage in such activities in the future.

In addition, we may borrow money to finance the acquisition of investments. We intend to use traditional forms of financing, such as repurchase agreements and warehouse facilities. We also intend to utilize structured financing techniques, such as CDOs, to create attractively priced non-recourse financing at an all-in borrowing cost that is lower than that provided by traditional sources of financing and that provide long-term, floating rate financing. Our investment guidelines and our portfolio and leverage are periodically reviewed by our board of directors as part of their oversight of our Manager.

We may, subject to gross income and assets tests necessary for REIT qualification, invest in securities of other REITs, other entities engaged in real estate activities or securities of other issuers.

We engage in the purchase and sale of investments. We will not underwrite the securities of other issuers.

Our board of directors may change any of these policies without prior notice to you or a vote of our stockholders.

Conflicts of Interest

We are dependent on our Manager for our day-to-day management and do not have any independent officers. Our officers and our non-independent directors also serve as employees of our Manager. As a result, our management agreement with our Manager was negotiated between related parties and its terms, including fees payable, may not be as favorable to us as if it had been negotiated at arm’s length with an unaffiliated third party.

Our Manager has discretionary investment authority over a number of different funds and accounts. Although currently none of these funds or accounts have investment objectives that overlap ours, it is possible in the future that our Manager may manage funds and accounts which may compete with us for investment opportunities. Also, to the extent our Manager manages investment vehicles (other than CDOs) that meet our investment objectives, our Manager will have an incentive to invest our funds in such investment vehicles because of the possibility of generating an additional incremental management fee. Our Manager may also invest in CDOs managed by it that could result in conflicts with us, particularly if we invest in a portion of the equity securities and there is a deterioration of value of such CDO before closing we could suffer an immediate loss equal to the decrease in the market value of the underlying investment. In addition, to the extent we seek to invest in Agency RMBS, we may compete for investment opportunities with Annaly. Our Manager has an investment allocation policy in place so that we may share equitably with other client accounts of our Manager and Annaly in all investment opportunities, particularly those involving an asset with limited supply, that may be suitable for our account and such other accounts. Our Manager’s policy also includes other controls designed to monitor and prevent any particular account or Annaly from receiving favorable treatment over any other fund or account. This investment allocation policy may be amended by our Manager at any time without our consent. To the extent FIDAC’s, Annaly’s, or our business evolves in such a way to give rise to conflicts not currently addressed by our Manager’s investment allocation policy, our Manager may need to refine its policy to handle any such situations. To avoid any actual or perceived conflicts of interest with our Manager, an investment in any CDO structured or managed by our Manager will be approved by a majority of our independent directors.

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The ability of our Manager and its officers and employees to engage in other business activities may reduce the time our Manager spends managing us. Further, during turbulent conditions in the mortgage industry, distress in the credit markets or other times when we will need focused support and assistance from our Manager, other entities for which or Manager also acts as an investment manager will likewise require greater focus and attention, placing our Manager’s resources in high demand. In such situations, we may not receive the necessary support and assistance we require or would otherwise receive if we were internally managed or if our Manager did not act as a manager for other entities.

We have agreed to pay our Manager a base management fee that is not tied to our performance and incentive compensation that is based entirely on our performance. This compensation arrangement may cause our Manager to invest in high risk investments. Investments with higher yield potential are generally riskier or more speculative. The base management fee component may not sufficiently incentivize our Manager to generate attractive, risk-adjusted returns for us. The incentive compensation component may cause our Manager to place undue emphasis on the maximization of net income at the expense of other criteria, such as preservation of capital, to achieve higher incentive compensation. This could result in increased risk to the value of our investment portfolio.

It is difficult and costly to terminate the management agreement we have entered into with our Manager without cause. Our independent directors will review our Manager’s performance and the management fees annually, and following the initial term, the management agreement provides that it may be terminated annually by us without cause upon the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of our independent directors or by a vote of the holders of at least a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock (other than those shares held by Annaly or its affiliates), based upon: (i) our Manager’s unsatisfactory performance that is materially detrimental to us or (ii) our determination that the management fees payable to our Manager are not fair, subject to our Manager’s right to prevent termination based on unfair fees by accepting a reduction of management fees agreed to by at least two-thirds of our independent directors. Our Manager will be provided 180-days’ prior notice of any such termination. Upon such termination, we will pay our Manager a termination fee equal to three times the sum of (a) the average annual base management fee and (b) the average annual incentive compensation earned by our Manager during the prior 24-month period before such termination, calculated as of the end of the most recently completed fiscal quarter. These provisions may increase the effective cost to us of terminating the management agreement, thereby adversely affecting our ability to terminate our Manager without cause.

Our Manager may terminate the management agreement if we become required to register as an investment company under the 1940 Act, with such termination deemed to occur immediately before such event, in which case we would not be required to pay a termination fee. Our Manager may also decline to renew the management agreement by providing us with 180-days’ written notice, in which case we would not be required to pay a termination fee.

The management agreement provides that our Manager will not assume any responsibility other than to provide the services called for by the management agreement. It further provides that our Manager will not be responsible for any action of our board of directors in following or declining to follow its advice or recommendations. Our Manager, its officers, managers and employees will not be liable to us, any subsidiary of ours, our directors, our stockholders or any subsidiary’s stockholders or partners for acts or omissions performed in accordance with and pursuant to the management agreement, except because of acts constituting bad faith, willful misconduct, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of their duties under the management agreement. We have agreed to indemnify our Manager, its officers, stockholders, managers, directors, officers, employees, any person controlling or controlled by the Manager and any person providing sub-advisory services to the Manager, with respect to all expenses, losses, damages, liabilities, demands, charges and claims arising from acts of our Manager not constituting bad faith, willful misconduct, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of duties, performed in good faith in accordance with and pursuant to the management agreement.

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Resolution of Potential Conflicts of Interest and Allocation of Investment Opportunities

FIDAC will abide by its allocation policy and thus will offer us the right to participate in all investment opportunities that it determines are appropriate for us in view of our investment objectives, policies and strategies and other relevant factors, subject to the exception that, in accordance with FIDAC’s allocation policy described below, we might not participate in each such opportunity but will on an overall basis equitably participate with FIDAC’s other clients in all such opportunities. FIDAC allocates investments to eligible accounts, including us, based on current demand according to the market value of the account (which is the amount of available capital that, consistent with such account’s investment parameters, may be invested in a proposed investment). An account has current demand if it has positive market value. For certain transactions that cannot be allocated on a pro rata basis, such as in the case of ‘‘whole pool’’ trades, our Manager will endeavor to allocate such purchases over time in a fair and equitable manner. If the investment cannot fulfill the pro rata allocation or be allocated in marketable portions, the investment is allocated on a rotational basis to accounts with current demand, with an emphasis placed on those accounts that were excluded in prior allocations, but without any preference given to accounts based on their market value. The rotational system is determined by FIDAC’s chief investment officer and is overseen by its compliance officer to ensure fair and equitable investment allocation to all accounts in accordance with the 1940 Act.

Operating and Regulatory Structure

REIT Qualification

In connection with this offering, we intend to elect to be treated as a REIT under Sections 856 through 859 of the Internal Revenue Code commencing with our taxable year ending on December 31, 2007. Our qualification as a REIT depends upon our ability to meet on a continuing basis, through actual investment and operating results, various complex requirements under the Internal Revenue Code relating to, among other things, the sources of our gross income, the composition and values of our assets, our distribution levels and the diversity of ownership of our shares. We believe that we will be organized in conformity with the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code, and that our intended manner of operation will enable us to meet the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT.

As a REIT, we generally will not be subject to federal income tax on our REIT taxable income we distribute currently to our stockholders. If we fail to qualify as a REIT in any taxable year and do not qualify for certain statutory relief provisions, we will be subject to federal income tax at regular corporate rates and may be precluded from qualifying as a REIT for the subsequent four taxable years following the year during which we lost our REIT qualification. Even if we qualify for taxation as a REIT, we may be subject to some federal, state and local taxes on our income or property.

1940 Act Exemption

We intend to qualify for the exemption from registration under the 1940 Act provided by Section 3(c)(5) (C) of the 1940 Act and will monitor our portfolio periodically and before each acquisition to confirm that we continue to qualify for the exemption. We intend to make investments so that at least 55% of our portfolio is comprised of mortgage loans and other assets that are considered the functional equivalent of mortgage loans for the purposes of the 1940 Act (collectively ‘‘qualifying real estate assets’’), thereby allowing us to be exempted from registration as an investment company under Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the 1940 Act. In addition, to maintain the exemption under Section 3(c)(5)(C), we intend to make investments so that at least 80% of our portfolio is comprised of real estate-related assets. As a result, we will be limited in our ability to make investments.

We generally expect that our investments in residential mortgage loans, RMBS and CMBS will be considered real estate-related assets under Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the 1940 Act. In addition, we expect that certain of our investments in RMBS and residential mortgage loans will be considered qualifying real estate assets under Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the 1940 Act. The treatment of these assets as real

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estate-related assets or qualifying real estate assets will be based on the characteristics of the underlying collateral and the particular type of loan, including whether we have foreclosure rights with respect to the underlying real estate collateral. At present, we do not generally expect that our investments in CDOs and consumer and non-consumer ABS will constitute qualifying real estate assets or real estate-related assets. For more information about the requirements of Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the 1940 Act, please see ‘‘Business — Operating and Regulatory Structure — 1940 Act Exemption.’’

Licensing

We may be required to be licensed to purchase and sell previously originated residential mortgage loans in certain jurisdictions (including the District of Columbia) in which we will conduct our business. We are currently in the process of obtaining those licenses, if required. Our failure to obtain or maintain licenses will restrict our investment options. We may consummate this offering even if we have not yet obtained such licenses. Once we are fully licensed to purchase and sell mortgage loans in each of the states in which we become licensed, we expect that we will acquire previously originated residential loans in those states. We intend to be licensed in those states where licenses are required to purchase or sell previously originated mortgage loans as soon as reasonably practicable after the offering, but in any event, this is not likely to occur before the end of the third fiscal quarter in 2007.

Competition

Our net income will depend, in large part, on our ability to acquire assets at favorable spreads over our borrowing costs. In acquiring real estate-related assets, we will compete with other mortgage REITs, specialty finance companies, savings and loan associations, banks, mortgage bankers, insurance companies, mutual funds, institutional investors, investment banking firms, financial institutions, governmental bodies and other entities. In addition, there are numerous mortgage REITs with similar asset acquisition objectives, including a number that have been recently formed, and others may be organized in the future. These other REITs will increase competition for the available supply of mortgage assets suitable for purchase. Many of our anticipated competitors are significantly larger than we are, have access to greater capital and other resources and may have other advantages over us. In addition, some of our competitors may have higher risk tolerances or different risk assessments, which could allow them to consider a wider variety of investments and establish more relationships than we can. Current market conditions may attract more competitors, which may increase the competition for sources of financing. An increase in the competition for sources of funding could adversely affect the availability and cost of financing, and thereby adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

In the face of this competition, we expect to have access to our Manager’s professionals and their industry expertise, which may provide us with a competitive advantage and help us assess investment risks and determine appropriate pricing for certain potential investments. We expect that these relationships will enable us to compete more effectively for attractive investment opportunities. In addition, we believe that current market conditions may have adversely affected the financial condition of certain competitors. Thus, not having a legacy portfolio may also enable us to compete more effectively for attractive investment opportunities. However, we may not be able to achieve our business goals or expectations due to the competitive risks that we face. For additional information concerning these competitive risks, see ‘‘Risk Factors — Risks Related To Our Business — We operate in a highly competitive market for investment opportunities and more established competitors may be able to compete more effectively for investment opportunities than we can.’’

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Staffing

We will be managed by our Manager pursuant to the management agreement between our Manager and us. All of our officers are employees of our Manager or its affiliates. We will have no employees upon completion of this offering other than our officers. See ‘‘Our Manager and the Management Agreement — Management Agreement.’’

Legal Proceedings

Neither we nor our Manager is currently subject to any legal proceedings which it considers to be material.

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OUR MANAGER AND THE MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT

General

We are externally advised and managed by our Manager. All of our officers are employees of our Manager or its affiliates. The executive offices of our Manager are located at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2902, New York, New York 10036 and the telephone number of our Manager’s executive offices is (212) 696-0100.

Officers of Our Manager

The following sets forth certain information with respect to the executive officers and employees of our Manager:

Name			Age			Position Held with our Manager
Michael A.J. Farrell			56			Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer
Wellington J. Denahan-Norris			43			Vice Chairman of the Board, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer
Kathryn F. Fagan			40			Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Jeremy Diamond			44			Managing Director
Ronald Kazel			39			Managing Director
R. Nicholas Singh			48			Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer
James P. Fortescue			33			Executive Vice President and Head of Liabilities
Kristopher Konrad			32			Executive Vice President and Co-Head Portfolio Management
Rose-Marie Lyght			34			Executive Vice President and Co-Head Portfolio Management
Matthew Lambiase			41			Executive Vice President, Structured Products
Christian J. Woschenko			46			Executive Vice President
William B. Dyer			60			Executive Vice President
A. Alexandra Denahan			37			Controller
Konstantin Pavlov			36			Senior Vice President and Senior Repo Trader
Eric Szabo			32			Senior Vice President and Investment Strategist

Michael A.J. Farrell is the Chief Executive Officer, President and founder of FIDAC and Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, President and one of the founders of Annaly. Mr. Farrell was a founder of FIDAC in July 1994 and since November 1994 he has been its President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Farrell was elected on December 5, 1996 to serve as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Annaly. Mr. Farrell was appointed as Annaly’s President effective January 1, 2002. Mr. Farrell is a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. Prior to founding FIDAC, from February 1992 to July 1994, Mr. Farrell served as President of Citadel Funding Corporation. From April 1990 to January 1992, Mr. Farrell was a Managing Director for Schroder Wertheim & Co. Inc., in its Fixed Income Department. In addition to being the former Chairman of the Primary Dealers Operations Committee of the Public Securities Association (from 1981 through 1985) and its Mortgage Backed Securities Division, he is a former member of the Executive Committee of its Primary Dealers Division (from 1983 through 1988). Mr. Farrell has served on the board of directors for the US Dollar Floating Rate Fund, Ltd. since August 1994 and the board of governors of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts since January 2000 and has been the Chairman of the board of trustees of the Oratory Preparatory School since June 2004.

Wellington J. Denahan-Norris is the Vice-Chairman of Annaly, and Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Annaly and FIDAC. Ms. Denahan-Norris is a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. Ms. Denahan-Norris was elected on December 5, 1996 to serve as Vice Chairman of the Board and a director of Annaly. Ms. Denahan-Norris was appointed Annaly’s Chief

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Operating Officer in January 2006. Ms. Denahan-Norris has been the Chief Investment Officer of Annaly since 1996. She was a founder of Annaly and has been the Chief Operating Officer of FIDAC since January 2006. She has been FIDAC’s Senior Vice President since March 1995, Treasurer since July 1994 and Chief Investment Officer since February 1997. From July 1994 through March 1995 she was a Vice President of FIDAC. She is also responsible for the development of Annaly and FIDAC’s in-house portfolio systems. Ms. Denahan-Norris has been the Portfolio Manager for the U.S. Dollar Floating Rate Fund since its inception in August 1994. Prior to joining FIDAC, from March 1992 to July 1994, Ms. Denahan-Norris had been Vice President responsible for asset selection and financing at Citadel Funding Corporation. Prior to joining Citadel she had been a trader on the mortgage-backed securities desk at Schroder Wertheim and Co. Inc. from July 1991 to March 1992. She has a Bachelors Degree in Finance from Florida State University and attended the New York Institute of Finance for intense mortgage-backed securities studies.

Kathryn F. Fagan is our Manager’s and Annaly’s Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Ms. Fagan was employed by Annaly and FIDAC on April 1, 1997 in the positions of Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of each of Annaly and FIDAC. From June 1, 1991 to February 28, 1997, Ms. Fagan was Chief Financial Officer and Controller of First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Opelousas, Louisiana. First Federal is a publicly owned savings and loan that converted to the stock form of ownership during her employment period. Ms. Fagan’s responsibilities at First Federal included all financial reporting, including reports for internal use and reports required by the SEC and the Office of Thrift Supervision. During the period from September 1988 to May 1991, Ms. Fagan was employed as a bank and savings and loan auditor by John S. Dowling & Company, a corporation of Certified Public Accountants. Ms. Fagan is a Certified Public Accountant and has an M.B.A. from the University of Southwestern Louisiana.

Jeremy Diamond is one of our Directors. He is also a Managing Director for FIDAC and Annaly and a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. He joined Annaly and FIDAC in March 2002. From 1990 to 2002 he was President of Grant’s Financial Publishing, a financial research company and publisher of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer. In addition to his responsibilities as principal business executive, Mr. Diamond conducted security analysis and financial market research. Mr. Diamond began his career as an analyst in the investment banking group at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Diamond has an M.B.A. from UCLA and a Bachelors Degree from Princeton University.

Ronald Kazel is a Managing Director for Annaly and FIDAC. Mr. Kazel is a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. Mr. Kazel joined these companies in December 2001. Before joining Annaly and FIDAC, Mr. Kazel was a Senior Vice President in Friedman Billings Ramsey’s financial services investment banking group. During his tenure there, he was responsible for structuring both the private and public equity offerings for Annaly in 1997. From 1991 to 1996, Mr. Kazel served as a Vice President at Sandler O’Neill & Partners where he was involved in asset/liability management and mortgage-backed securities analysis and sales. Mr. Kazel has a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Management from New York University.

R. Nicholas Singh is Executive Vice President and serves as General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer for Annaly and FIDAC. Before joining these companies in February 2005, Mr. Singh was a partner at the law firm McKee Nelson LLP. Mr. Singh has experience in a broad range of public and private transactions. Before joining McKee Nelson, he was a partner at the law firm of Sidley Austin, LLP. Mr. Singh received a J.D. from the Washington College of Law, American University, an M.A. from Columbia University and a Bachelors Degree from Carleton College.

James P. Fortescue is an Executive Vice President and Head of Liabilities for FIDAC and Annaly. Mr. Fortescue is a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. He started with FIDAC in June 1995 where he was in charge of finding financing on mortgage-backed and corporate bonds for regional dealers. In September 1996 he expanded his responsibilities for all financing activities which included trading and structuring all liabilities, coordinating trade settlements with broker dealers and maintaining the relationships with these dealers. Mr. Fortescue has been in charge of liability management for Annaly since its inception, and continues to oversee all financing activities for FIDAC. Mr. Fortescue holds a Bachelors Degree in Finance from Siena College.

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Kristopher Konrad is an Executive Vice President and Co-Head of Portfolio Management for FIDAC and Annaly. Mr. Konrad is a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. He has worked for both companies since October 1997. Currently, Mr. Konrad is a portfolio manager for Annaly and has served in this capacity since December 2000. Before this, he was head of financing for the US Dollar Floating Rate Fund, Ltd. and assisted with the management of FIDAC’s high net worth separate accounts. Mr. Konrad has a Bachelors Degree in Business from Ithaca College and has attended the New York Institute of Finance for intense mortgage-backed securities studies.

Rose-Marie Lyght is an Executive Vice President and Co-Head of Portfolio Management for FIDAC and Annaly. Ms. Lyght is a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. She joined both companies in April 1999. Since that time she has been involved in the asset selection and financing for FIDAC’s funds and high net worth separate accounts. She has been a portfolio manager of the US Dollar Floating Rate Fund, Ltd. since December 2000. Ms. Lyght has a Bachelor of Science in Finance and an M.B.A. from Villanova University.

Matthew Lambiase is our President and Chief Executive Officer, and one of our Directors. He is Executive Vice President, Structured Products for Annaly and FIDAC and a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. He joined these companies in June 2004. Before joining Annaly and FIDAC, Mr. Lambiase was a Director in Fixed Income Sales at Nomura Securities International, Inc. Over his 11 year employment at Nomura, Mr. Lambiase was responsible for the distribution of commercial and residential mortgage-backed securities to a wide variety of institutional investors. Mr. Lambiase also held positions at Bear, Stearns & Company as Vice President in Institutional Fixed Income Sales and as a mortgage analyst in the Financial Analytics and Structured Transaction Group. Mr. Lambiase has a Bachelors Degree in Economics from the University of Dayton.

A. Alexandra Denahan is our Chief Financial Officer and Secretary, and the Controller of Annaly and FIDAC. Before joining these companies in October 2002, Ms. Denahan was a business consultant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Ms. Denahan has a Bachelors Degree in Accounting and an M.B.A. from Florida Atlantic University.

Konstantin Pavlov is Senior Vice President and Senior Repo Trader of Annaly and FIDAC. He has worked for both companies since March of 2001. Since 2004, Mr. Pavlov has assisted in the financing for Annaly and oversees the financing for the FIDAC accounts. Mr. Pavlov has a Bachelors Degree from San Diego State University.

Eric Szabo is a Senior Vice President and Investment Strategist for Annaly and FIDAC. Mr. Szabo is a member of our Manager’s Investment Committee. Before joining these companies in April 2004, he worked for Times Square Capital Management as a Mortgage Analyst and Trader since 2001. Mr. Szabo has a Bachelor’s Degree from The College of New Jersey and a M.A. in Finance from Boston College. Mr. Szabo is a PRMIA certified Professional Risk Manager and a CFA charterholder.

Christian J. Woschenko is our Manager’s Executive Vice President and serves as our Chief Investment Officer. Before joining FIDAC in August, 2007, Mr. Woschenko worked at PHH Mortgage since 2005 with responsibilities for arranging, modeling and pricing the securitizations of their non-Agency residential mortgage production. He was a member of both PHH’s Credit Committee and Interest Rate Risk Committee. Previously, Mr. Woschenko was employed as Senior Mortgage Credit Trader at RBC Capital, Senior Asset Backed Securities Banker at BB&T Capital Markets and as a Principal in Mortgage Trading at Mariner Capital Management. Mr. Woschenko has a Bachelors Degree in Accounting from Widener University.

William B. Dyer is our Manager’s Executive Vice President and serves as our Chief Credit Officer. Before joining FIDAC in August, 2007, Mr. Dyer was Vice President, Credit Risk Management for PHH Mortgage Corporation from 1997 where his responsibilities included supervision of the Credit Solutions Department. Mr. Dyer was Vice President at the Fixed-Income Division of Nomura Asset Capital Corporation from 1994 to 1997, where he managed deal-related activities critical for the securitization or sale of the mortgage loans. Mr. Dyer has an M.B.A. from St. John’s University and a Bachelor of Science from St. Francis College.

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Investment Committee

The role of our Investment Committee is to review and approve our investment policies, our investment portfolio holdings and related compliance with our investment policies. The Investment Committee will meet as frequently as necessary in order for us to achieve our investment objectives. Our Manager has an Investment Committee of our Manager’s professionals, consisting of Michael A.J. Farrell, Wellington J. Denahan-Norris, James P. Fortescue, Kristopher Konrad, Rose-Marie Lyght, Ronald Kazel, Jeremy Diamond, Eric Szabo and Matthew Lambiase. For biographical information on the members of our Investment Committee, see ‘‘Our Manager and the Management Agreement — Officers of Our Manager.’’

Management Agreement

Before the completion of this offering, we will enter into a management agreement with Fixed Income Discount Advisory Company, our Manager, pursuant to which it will provide for the day-to-day management of our operations.

The management agreement requires our Manager to manage our business affairs in conformity with the policies and the investment guidelines that are approved and monitored by our board of directors. Our Manager’s role as manager is under the supervision and direction of our board of directors. Our Manager is responsible for (i) the selection, purchase and sale of our portfolio investments, (ii) our financing activities, and (iii) providing us with investment advisory services. Our Manager is responsible for our day-to-day operations and performs (or causes to be performed) such services and activities relating to our assets and operations as may be appropriate, which may include, without limitation, the following:

	(i)	serving as our consultant with respect to the periodic review of the investment criteria and parameters for our investments, borrowings and operations, any modifications to which will be approved by a majority of our independent directors;

	(ii)	investigating, analyzing and selecting possible investment opportunities and acquiring, financing, retaining, selling, restructuring, or disposing of investments consistent with the investment guidelines;

	(iii)	with respect to prospective purchases, sales, or exchanges of investments, conducting negotiations on our behalf with sellers and purchasers and their respective agents, representatives and investment bankers;

	(iv)	negotiating and entering into, on our behalf, credit finance agreements, repurchase agreements, securitizations, commercial paper, CDOs, interest rate swaps, warehouse facilities and all other agreements and instruments required for us to conduct our business;

	(v)	engaging and supervising, on our behalf and at our expense, independent contractors which provide investment banking, mortgage brokerage, securities brokerage, other financial services, due diligence services, underwriting review services, and all other services as may be required relating to our investments;

	(vi)	coordinating and managing operations of any joint venture or co-investment interests held by us and conducting all matters with the joint venture or co-investment partners;

	(vii)	providing executive and administrative personnel, office space and office services required in rendering services to us;

	(viii)	administering the day-to-day operations and performing and supervising the performance of such other administrative functions necessary to our management as may be agreed upon by our Manager and our board of directors, including, without limitation, the collection of revenues and the payment of our debts and obligations and maintenance of appropriate computer services to perform such administrative functions;

	(ix)	communicating on our behalf with the holders of any of our equity or debt securities as required to satisfy the reporting and other requirements of any governmental bodies or agencies or trading markets and to maintain effective relations with such holders;

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	(x)	counseling us in connection with policy decisions to be made by our board of directors;

	(xi)	evaluating and recommending to our board of directors hedging strategies and engaging in hedging activities on our behalf, consistent with such strategies, as so modified from time to time, with our status as a REIT, and with the investment guidelines;

	(xii)	counseling us regarding the maintenance of our status as a REIT and monitoring compliance with the various REIT qualification tests and other rules set out in the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury Regulations thereunder and using commercially reasonable efforts to cause the company to qualify for taxation as a REIT;

	(xiii)	counseling us regarding the maintenance of our exemption from the 1940 Act and monitoring compliance with the requirements for maintaining an exemption from the 1940 Act and using commercially reasonable efforts to cause the company to maintain such exclusion from the status as an investment company under the 1940 Act;

	(xiv)	assisting us in developing criteria for asset purchase commitments that are specifically tailored to our investment objectives and making available to us its knowledge and experience with respect to mortgage loans, real estate, real estate-related securities, other real estate-related assets and non-real estate related assets;

	(xv)	furnishing reports and statistical and economic research to us regarding our activities and services performed for us by our Manager;

	(xvi)	monitoring the operating performance of our investments and providing periodic reports with respect thereto to the board of directors, including comparative information with respect to such operating performance and budgeted or projected operating results;

	(xvii)	investing and re-investing any moneys and securities of ours (including investing in short-term investments pending investment in other investments, payment of fees, costs and expenses, or payments of dividends or distributions to our stockholders and partners) and advising us as to our capital structure and capital raising;

	(xviii)	causing us to retain qualified accountants and legal counsel, as applicable, to assist in developing appropriate accounting procedures, compliance procedures and testing systems with respect to financial reporting obligations and compliance with the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code applicable to REITs and to conduct quarterly compliance reviews with respect thereto;

	(xix)	assisting us in qualifying to do business in all applicable jurisdictions and to obtain and maintain all appropriate licenses;

	(xx)	assisting us in complying with all regulatory requirements applicable to us in respect of our business activities, including preparing or causing to be prepared all financial statements required under applicable regulations and contractual undertakings and all reports and documents, if any, required under the Exchange Act, the Securities Act, or by the NYSE;

	(xxi)	assisting the company in taking all necessary actions to enable the company to make required tax filings and reports, including soliciting stockholders for required information to the extent provided by the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code applicable to REITs;

	(xxii)	placing, or arranging for the placement of, all orders pursuant to the Manager’s investment determinations for us either directly with the issuer or with a broker or dealer (including any affiliated broker or dealer);

	(xxiii)	handling and resolving all claims, disputes or controversies (including all litigation, arbitration, settlement or other proceedings or negotiations) in which we may be involved or to which we may be subject arising out of our day-to-day operations (other than with the Manager of its affiliates), subject to such limitations or parameters as may be imposed from time to time by the board of directors;

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	(xxiv)	using commercially reasonable efforts to cause expenses incurred by us or on our behalf to be commercially reasonable or commercially customary and within any budgeted parameters or expense guidelines set by the board of directors from time to time;

	(xxv)	representing and making recommendations to us in connection with the purchase and finance of, and commitment to purchase and finance, mortgage loans (including on a portfolio basis), real estate, real estate-related securities, other real estate-related assets and non-real estate-related assets, and the sale and commitment to sell such assets;

	(xxvi)	advising us with respect to and structuring long-term financing vehicles for our portfolio of assets, and offering and selling securities publicly or privately in connection with any such structured financing;

	(xxvii)	performing such other services as may be required from time to time for management and other activities relating to our assets and business as our board of directors shall reasonably request or our Manager shall deem appropriate under the particular circumstances; and

	(xxviii)	using commercially reasonable efforts to cause us to comply with all applicable laws.

Pursuant to the management agreement, our Manager will not assume any responsibility other than to render the services called for thereunder and will not be responsible for any action of our board of directors in following or declining to follow its advice or recommendations. Our Manager, its officers, stockholders, managers, directors, officers, employees, any person controlling or controlled by the Manager and any person providing sub-advisory services to the Manager, will not be liable to us, any subsidiary of ours, our directors, our stockholders or any subsidiary’s stockholders or partners for acts or omissions performed in accordance with and pursuant to the management agreement, except because of acts constituting bad faith, willful misconduct, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of their duties under the management agreement, as determined by a final non-appealable order of a court of competent jurisdiction. We have agreed to indemnify our Manager, its members and its officers with respect to all expenses, losses, damages, liabilities, demands, charges and claims arising from acts of our Manager not constituting bad faith, willful misconduct, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of duties, performed in good faith in accordance with and pursuant to the management agreement. Our Manager has agreed to indemnify us, our directors and officers with respect to all expenses, losses, damages, liabilities, demands, charges and claims arising from acts of our Manager constituting bad faith, willful misconduct, gross negligence or reckless disregard of its duties under the management agreement or any claims by our Manager’s employees relating to the terms and conditions of their employment by our Manager. For the avoidance of doubt, our Manager will not be liable for trade errors that may result from ordinary negligence, such as errors in the investment-decision making process (e.g., a transaction was effected in violation of our investment guidelines) or in the trade process (e.g., a buy order was entered instead of a sell order, or the wrong security was purchased or sold, or a security was purchased or sold in an amount or at a price other than the correct amount or price). Notwithstanding the foregoing, our Manager will carry errors and omissions and other customary insurance upon the completion of the offering.

Pursuant to the terms of the management agreement, our Manager is required to provide us with our management team, including a president, chief executive officer, chief credit officer, chief investment officer, and chief financial officer, along with appropriate support personnel, to provide the management services to be provided by our Manager to us.

The management agreement may be amended or modified by agreement between us and our Manager. The initial term of the management agreement expires on December 31, 2010 and will be automatically renewed for a one year term each anniversary date thereafter unless previously terminated as described below. Our independent directors will review our Manager’s performance and the management fees annually and, following the initial term, the management agreement may be terminated annually upon the affirmative vote of a least two-thirds of our independent directors or by a vote of the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock (other than those shares held by Annaly or its affiliates), based upon (1) unsatisfactory performance that is materially

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detrimental to us or (2) our determination that the management fees payable to our Manager are not fair, subject to our Manager’s right to prevent such termination due to unfair fees by accepting a reduction of management fees agreed to by at least two-thirds of our independent directors. We must provide 180-days’ prior notice of any such termination. Our Manager will be paid a termination fee equal to three times the sum of (a) the average annual base management fee and (b) the average annual incentive compensation earned by our Manager during the 24-month period immediately preceding such termination, calculated as of the end of the most recently completed fiscal quarter before the date of termination.

We may also terminate the management agreement, without the payment of any termination fee, with 30 days’ prior written notice from our board of directors for cause, which is defined as:

	•	our Manager’s continued material breach of any provision of the management agreement following a period of 30 days after written notice thereof (or 45 days after written notice of such breach if our Manager, under certain circumstances, has taken steps to cure such breach within 30 days of the written notice);

	•	our Manager’s fraud, misappropriation of funds, or embezzlement against us;

	•	our Manager’s gross negligence of duties under the management agreement;

	•	the occurrence of certain events with respect to the bankruptcy or insolvency of our Manager, including an order for relief in an involuntary bankruptcy case or our Manager authorizing or filing a voluntary bankruptcy petition;

	•	our Manager is convicted (including a plea of nolo contendere) of a felony;

	•	the dissolution of our Manager; and

	•	change of control of our Manager or Annaly.

We may not assign our rights or responsibilities under the management agreement without the prior written consent of our Manager, except in the case of an assignment to another REIT or other organization which is our successor, in which case such organization shall be bound by the terms of such assignment in the same manner as we are bound under the management agreement. Our Manager may generally only assign the management agreement with the written approval of a majority of our independent directors. Our Manager, however, may assign certain of its duties under the management agreement to any of its affiliates without the approval of our independent directors if such assignment does not require our approval under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

Our Manager may terminate the management agreement if we become required to register as an investment company under the 1940 Act, with such termination deemed to occur immediately before such event, in which case we would not be required to pay a termination fee. Our Manager may decline to renew the management agreement by providing us with 180-days’ written notice, in which case we would not be required to pay a termination fee. In addition, if we default in the performance of any material term of the agreement and the default continues for a period of 30 days after written notice to us, our Manager may terminate the management agreement upon 60 days, written notice. If the management agreement is terminated by the Manager upon our breach, we would be required to pay our Manager the termination fee described above.

Management Fees and Incentive Compensation

We do not maintain an office or employ personnel. Instead we rely on the facilities and resources of our Manager to conduct our operations. Expense reimbursements to our Manager are made in cash on a monthly basis following the end of each month.

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Base Management Fee

We will pay our Manager a base management fee quarterly in arrears in an amount equal to 1.75% per annum, calculated quarterly, of our stockholders’ equity. For purposes of calculating the base management fee, our stockholders’ equity means the sum of the net proceeds from any issuances of our equity securities, plus our retained earnings at the end of such quarter (without taking into account any non-cash equity compensation expense incurred in current or prior periods), less any amount that we pay for repurchases of our common stock, and less any unrealized gains, losses or other items that do not affect realized net income (regardless of whether such items are included in other comprehensive income or loss, or in net income). This amount will be adjusted to exclude one-time events pursuant to changes in GAAP, and certain non-cash charges after discussions between our Manager and our independent directors and approved by a majority of our independent directors. The base management fee will be reduced, but not below zero, by our proportionate share of any CDO base management fees FIDAC receives in connection with the CDOs in which we invest, based on the percentage of equity we hold in such CDOs. The base management fee is payable independent of the performance of our investment portfolio. Our Manager uses the proceeds from its management fee in part to pay compensation to its officers and employees who, notwithstanding that certain of them also are our officers, receive no cash compensation directly from us. If we invest in any collateralized debt obligation or investment fund managed by our Manager or any of its affiliates, then the annual base management fee payable by us to our Manager will be reduced by an amount equal to the base management fee allocable to the equity supporting our investment in such collateralized debt obligation or investment fund, except in cases where our Manager or any of its affiliates does not receive a fee in connection with the management of such collateralized debt obligation or investment fund.

Our Manager’s base management fee shall be calculated by our Manager within 30 days after the end of each quarter and such calculation shall be promptly delivered to us. We are obligated to pay the base management fee in cash within five business days after delivery to us of our Manager’s written statement setting forth the computation of the base management fee for such quarter.

Incentive Compensation

In addition to the base management fee, our Manager is entitled to receive quarterly incentive compensation in an amount equal to 20% of the dollar amount by which Core Earnings, before the incentive management fee, per weighted average share of common stock for such quarter, exceeds 0.50% plus one-fourth of the average of the one month LIBOR rate for such quarter multiplied by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding in such quarter. Core Earnings is a non-GAAP measure and is defined as GAAP net income (loss) excluding non-cash equity compensation expense, excluding any unrealized gains, losses or other items that do not affect realized net income (regardless of whether such items are included in other comprehensive income or loss, or in net income). The amount will be adjusted to exclude one-time events pursuant to changes in GAAP and certain non-cash charges after discussions between our Manager and our independent directors and approved by a majority of our independent directors. The incentive management fee will be reduced, but not below zero, by our proportionate share of any CDO incentive management fees FIDAC receives in connection with the CDOs in which we invest, based on the percentage of equity we hold in such CDOs.

Our ability to achieve returns in excess of the thresholds noted above in order for our Manager to earn the incentive compensation described in the preceding paragraph is dependent upon the level and volatility of interest rates, our ability to react to changes in interest rates and to utilize successfully the operating strategies described herein, and other factors, many of which are not within our control.

Our Manager will compute the quarterly incentive compensation within 30 days after the end of each fiscal quarter, and we will pay the quarterly incentive compensation with respect to each fiscal quarter within five business days following the delivery to us of our Manager’s written statement setting forth the computation of the incentive fee for such quarter.

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Reimbursement of Expenses

Because our Manager’s employees perform certain legal, accounting, due diligence tasks and other services that outside professionals or outside consultants otherwise would perform, our Manager is paid or reimbursed for the documented cost of performing such tasks, provided that such costs and reimbursements are in amounts which are no greater than those which would be payable to outside professionals or consultants engaged to perform such services pursuant to agreements negotiated on an arm’s-length basis.

We also pay all operating expenses, except those specifically required to be borne by our Manager under the management agreement. Our Manager is responsible for all costs incident to the performance of its duties under the management agreement, including compensation of our Manager’s employees and other related expenses. The expenses required to be paid by us include, but are not limited to:

	(i)	expenses in connection with the issuance and transaction costs incident to the acquisition, disposition and financing of our investments;

	(ii)	costs of legal, tax, accounting, consulting, auditing, administrative and other similar services rendered for us by providers retained by our Manager or, if provided by our Manager’s employees, in amounts which are no greater than those which would be payable to outside professionals or consultants engaged to perform such services pursuant to agreements negotiated on an arm’s-length basis;

	(iii)	the compensation and expenses of our directors and the cost of liability insurance to indemnify our directors and officers;

	(iv)	costs associated with the establishment and maintenance of any of our credit facilities or other indebtedness of ours (including commitment fees, accounting fees, legal fees, closing and other similar costs) or any of our securities offerings;

	(v)	expenses connected with communications to holders of our securities or of our subsidiaries and other bookkeeping and clerical work necessary in maintaining relations with holders of such securities and in complying with the continuous reporting and other requirements of governmental bodies or agencies, including, without limitation, all costs of preparing and filing required reports with the SEC, the costs payable by us to any transfer agent and registrar in connection with the listing and/or trading of our stock on any exchange, the fees payable by us to any such exchange in connection with its listing, costs of preparing, printing and mailing our annual report to our stockholders and proxy materials with respect to any meeting of our stockholders;

	(vi)	costs associated with any computer software or hardware, electronic equipment or purchased information technology services from third party vendors that is used solely for us;

	(vii)	expenses incurred by managers, officers, employees and agents of our Manager for travel on our behalf and other out-of-pocket expenses incurred by managers, officers, employees and agents of our Manager in connection with the purchase, financing, refinancing, sale or other disposition of an investment or establishment and maintenance of any of our credit facilities and other indebtedness or any of our securities offerings;

	(viii)	costs and expenses incurred with respect to market information systems and publications, research publications and materials, and settlement, clearing and custodial fees and expenses;

	(ix)	compensation and expenses of our custodian and transfer agent, if any;

	(x)	the costs of maintaining compliance with all federal, state and local rules and regulations or any other regulatory agency;

	(xi)	all taxes and license fees;

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	(xii)	all insurance costs incurred in connection with the operation of our business except for the costs attributable to the insurance that our Manager elects to carry for itself and its employees;

	(xiii)	costs and expenses incurred in contracting with third parties, including affiliates of our Manager, for the servicing and special servicing of our assets;

	(xiv)	all other costs and expenses relating to our business and investment operations, including, without limitation, the costs and expenses of acquiring, owning, protecting, maintaining, developing and disposing of investments, including appraisal, reporting, audit and legal fees;

	(xv)	expenses relating to any office(s) or office facilities, including but not limited to disaster backup recovery sites and facilities, maintained for us or our investments separate from the office or offices of our Manager;

	(xvi)	expenses connected with the payments of interest, dividends or distributions in cash or any other form authorized or caused to be made by the board of directors to or on account of holders of our securities or of our subsidiaries, including, without limitation, in connection with any dividend reinvestment plan;

	(xvii)	any judgment or settlement of pending or threatened proceedings (whether civil, criminal or otherwise) against us or any subsidiary, or against any trustee, director or officer of us or of any subsidiary in his capacity as such for which we or any subsidiary is required to indemnify such trustee, director or officer by any court or governmental agency; and

	(xviii)	all other expenses actually incurred by our Manager which are reasonably necessary for the performance by our Manager of its duties and functions under the management agreement.

In addition, we will be required to pay our pro rata portion of rent, telephone, utilities, office furniture, equipment, machinery and other office, internal and overhead expenses of our Manager and its affiliates required for our operations. These expenses will be allocated between FIDAC and us based on the ratio of our proportion of gross assets compared to all remaining gross assets managed by FIDAC as calculated at each quarter end. We and FIDAC will modify this allocation methodology, subject to our board of directors’ approval if the allocation becomes inequitable (i.e., if we become very highly leveraged compared to FIDAC’s other funds and accounts). FIDAC has waived its right to request reimbursement from us of these expenses until such time as it determines to rescind that waiver.

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MANAGEMENT

Our Directors and Executive Officers

Our board of directors will consist of five members. We have appointed two directors. We have nominated three additional persons to be directors. Our board of directors has determined that our director nominees satisfy the listing standards for independence of the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE.

The following sets forth certain information with respect to our directors and executive officers:

Name			Age						Position Held with Us
Matthew Lambiase					41				Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
Christian J. Woschenko					46				Chief Investment Officer
William B. Dyer					60				Chief Credit Officer
A. Alexandra Denahan					37				Chief Financial Officer and Secretary
Paul Donlin*					46				Nominee to be Nonexecutive Chairman of the Board of Directors
Jeremy Diamond					44				Director
Mark Abrams*					58				Director Nominee
Paul A. Keenan*					40				Director Nominee

*	Independent director nominee

Biographical Information

Executive Officers

For biographical information on our executive officers, see ‘‘Our Manager and the Management Agreement — Officers of Our Manager.’’

Directors

Pursuant to our charter, the board of directors is divided into three classes of directors. Our Class I Directors (Messrs. Donlin and Abrams) will serve until our annual meeting of stockholders in 2008, our Class II Directors (Messrs. Lambiase and Keenan) will serve until our annual meeting of stockholders in 2009; and our Class III Director (Mr. Diamond) will serve until our annual meeting of stockholders in 2010. At each annual meeting of the stockholders, the successors to the class of directors whose term expires at such meeting shall be elected to hold office for a term expiring at the annual meeting of stockholders held in the third year following the year of their election and until their successors are duly elected and qualify. Our bylaws provide that a majority of the entire board of directors may, at any regular or special meeting called for that purpose, increase or decrease the number of directors. However, unless our bylaws are amended, the number of directors may never be less than the minimum number required by the MGCL nor more than 15. Set forth below are the names and certain information on each of our Directors and nominees to be Directors.

Class I Directors

Paul Donlin is a nominee to be both one of our Class I Directors and our Nonexecutive Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Donlin recently left Citigroup after a career that spanned 21 years. For the past 10 years at Citigroup, Mr. Donlin was in the securitization business, with his most recent position being the Head of Global Securitization in the Global Securitized Markets Business within Fixed Income. Earlier in his career at Citicorp, Mr. Donlin managed the Structured Finance and Advisory Unit of Citicorp’s Private Bank. Mr. Donlin has a B.S. from Georgetown University and M.B.A. from Harvard University.

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Mark Abrams is a nominee to be one of our Class I Directors. Mr. Abrams has served as Chief Investment Officer of the Presidential Life Insurance Company since November 2003 and as Executive Vice President since 2005. He was Senior Vice President of the Presidential Life Insurance Company from 2001 to 2005. Before that, Mr. Abrams served as Vice President of the Presidential Life Insurance Company since October 1994. Mr. Abrams currently serves as a director of the Insurance Company. Mr. Abrams has a B.A. from Hobart College.

Class II Directors

Matthew Lambiase is one of our Class II Directors. For biographical information on Mr. Lambiase, see ‘‘Our Manager and the Management Agreement — Executive Officers of Our Manager.’’

Paul A. Keenan is a nominee to be one of our Class II Directors. Mr. Keenan has been with Kelley, Drye and Warren LLP since 2002 and is a partner and the head of Real Estate Finance at the law firm. Mr. Keenan has a J.D. from Seton Hall University and a B.A. from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Class III Directors

Jeremy Diamond is our Class III Director. For biographical information on Mr. Diamond, see ‘‘Our Manager and the Management Agreement — Executive Officers of Our Manager.’’

Corporate Governance — Board of Directors and Committees

Our business is managed by our Manager, subject to the supervision and oversight of our board of directors, which has established investment guidelines for our Manager to follow in its day-to-day management of our business. A majority of our board of directors is ‘‘independent,’’ as determined by the requirements of the New York Stock Exchange and the regulations of the SEC. Our directors keep informed about our business at meetings of our board and its committees and through supplemental reports and communications. Our independent directors meet regularly in executive sessions without the presence of our corporate officers.

Audit Committee

Our board of directors has established an audit committee, which is composed of each of our independent directors, Messrs. Donlin, Abrams and Keenan. Mr. Abrams chairs our audit committee and serves as our audit committee financial expert, as that term is defined by the SEC. Each of the members of the audit committee is ‘‘financially literate’’ under the rules of the NYSE. The committee assists the board in overseeing:

	•	our accounting and financial reporting processes;

	•	the integrity and audits of our financial statements;

	•	our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements;

	•	the qualifications and independence of our independent registered public accounting firm; and

	•	the performance of our independent registered public accounting firm and any internal auditors.

The audit committee is also responsible for engaging our independent registered public accounting firm, reviewing with the independent registered public accounting firm the plans and results of the audit engagement, approving professional services provided by the independent registered public accounting firm, reviewing the independence of the independent registered public accounting firm, considering the range of audit and non-audit fees and reviewing the adequacy of our internal accounting controls.

Our board of directors has determined that all of the directors serving on the audit committee are independent members of the audit committee under the current NYSE independence requirements

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and SEC rules. We believe that, at the pricing of the offering, the audit committee will meet the requirements for independence under, and the functioning of the audit committee will comply with, current rules of the SEC and NYSE.

Compensation Committee

Our board of directors has established a compensation committee, which is composed of each of our independent directors, Messrs. Donlin, Abrams and Keenan. Mr. Keenan chairs the compensation committee, whose principal functions are to:

	•	evaluate the performance of our officers;

	•	evaluate the performance of our Manager;

	•	review the compensation and fees payable to our Manager under our management agreement; and

	•	administer the issuance of any securities under our equity incentive plan to our employees or the employees of our Manager.

Our board of directors has determined that all of the directors serving on the compensation committee are independent members of the compensation committee under the current NYSE independence requirements and SEC rules. We believe that, at the pricing of the offering, the compensation committee will meet the requirements for independence under, and the functioning of the committee will comply with, current rules of the NYSE, taking into account the relevant transition rules for IPO issuers.

Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee

Our board of directors has established a nominating and corporate governance committee, which is composed of each of our independent directors, Messrs. Donlin, Abrams and Keenan. Mr. Donlin chairs the committee, which is responsible for seeking, considering and recommending to the full board of directors qualified candidates for election as directors and recommending a slate of nominees for election as directors at the annual meeting of stockholders. It also periodically prepares and submits to the board for adoption the nominating and corporate governance committee’s selection criteria for director nominees. It reviews and makes recommendations on matters involving general operation of the board and our corporate governance, and annually recommends to the board nominees for each committee of the board. In addition, the nominating and corporate governance committee annually facilitates the assessment of the board of directors’ performance as a whole and of the individual directors and reports thereon to the board.

Our board of directors has determined that all of the directors serving on the nominating and corporate governance committee are independent members of the nominating and corporate governance committee under the current NYSE independence requirements and SEC rules. We believe that, at the pricing of the offering, the nominating and corporate governance committee will meet the requirements for independence under, and the functioning of the committee will comply with, current rules of the NYSE, taking into account the relevant transition rules for IPO issuers.

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

Our board of directors has established a code of business conduct and ethics that applies to our officers, directors and employees and to our Manager’s officers, directors and employees when such individuals are acting for or on our behalf. Among other matters, our code of business conduct and ethics is designed to deter wrongdoing and to promote:

	•	honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships;

	•	full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable disclosure in our SEC reports and other public communications;

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	•	compliance with applicable governmental laws, rules and regulations;

	•	prompt internal reporting of violations of the code to appropriate persons identified in the code; and

	•	accountability for adherence to the code.

Any waiver of the code of business conduct and ethics for our executive officers or directors may be made only by our board of directors or one of our board committees and will be promptly disclosed as required by law or stock exchange regulations.

Director Compensation

Any member of our board of directors who is also an employee of our Manager is referred to as an excluded director. Each excluded director will not receive additional compensation for serving on our board of directors. Each non-excluded director will receive an annual fee for their services of $45,000. The chair of our audit committee will receive an annual fee of $10,000 for his service in such capacity. Each non-excluded director will receive a fee of $500 for attendance at every in-person meeting of the board of directors or committee of the board of directors and a fee of $250 for attendance at every telephonic meeting of the board of directors or committee of the board of directors. Fees to our non-excluded directors will be paid in cash or shares of our common stock at the election of each director. We will also reimburse our directors for their travel expenses incurred in connection with their attendance at full board and committee meetings.

Our non-excluded directors will also be eligible to receive restricted common stock, option and other stock-based awards under our equity incentive plan.

We will compensate only those directors who are independent under the NYSE listing standards. We have not made any payments to our independent director nominees in 2007.

Executive Compensation

We have not paid, and we do not intend to pay, any annual cash compensation to our executive officers for their services as executive officers. Our executive officers will be compensated by our Manager. Our Manager has informed us that, because the services performed by these executive officers or employees in their capacities as such are not performed exclusively for us, it cannot segregate and identify that portion of the compensation awarded to, earned by, or paid to our executive officers by our Manager that relates solely to their services to us.

Equity Incentive Plan

We will adopt an equity incentive plan to provide incentives to our independent directors, employees of our Manager and its affiliates, including Annaly, and other service providers to stimulate their efforts toward our continued success, long-term growth and profitability and to attract, reward and retain personnel. The equity incentive plan will be administered by the compensation committee of our board of directors. Unless terminated earlier, our equity incentive plan will terminate in 2017, but will continue to govern unexpired awards. Our equity incentive plan provides for grants of restricted common stock and other equity-based awards up to an aggregate of         % of the issued and outstanding shares of our common stock (on a fully diluted basis and including shares to be sold to Annaly concurrently with this offering and shares to be sold pursuant to the underwriters’ exercise of their overallotment option) at the time of the award, subject to a ceiling of          shares available for issuance under the plan.

Our equity incentive plan will permit the granting of options to purchase shares of common stock intended to qualify as incentive stock options under the Internal Revenue Code, and stock options that do not qualify as incentive stock options. The exercise price of each stock option may not be less than 100% of the fair market value of our shares of common stock on the date of grant. The compensation committee will determine the terms of each option, including when each option may be exercised and the period of time, if any, after retirement, death, disability or termination of

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employment during which options may be exercised. Options become vested and exercisable in installments and the exercisability of options may be accelerated by the compensation committee.

Our equity incentive plan will also permit the granting of shares of our common stock in the form of restricted common stock. A restricted common stock award is an award of shares of common stock that may be subject to forfeiture (vesting), restrictions on transferability and such other restrictions, if any, as the compensation committee may impose at the date of grant. The shares may vest and the restrictions may lapse separately or in combination at such times, under such circumstances, including, without limitation, a specified period of employment or the satisfaction of pre-established criteria, in such installments or otherwise, as our compensation committee may determine. During such time as shares awarded under our equity incentive plan are under restriction, any dividends paid on our common stock will be paid directly to holders of restricted common stock as if such shares were unrestricted.

Unrestricted shares of common stock, which are shares of common stock awarded at no cost to the participant or for a purchase price determined by the compensation committee, may also be issued under our equity incentive plan. The compensation committee may also grant shares of our common stock, stock appreciation rights, performance awards, dividend equivalent rights, and other stock and non-stock-based awards under the incentive plan. These awards may be subject to such conditions and restrictions as the compensation committee may determine, including, but not limited to, the achievement of certain performance goals or continued employment with us through a specific period. Each award under the plan may not be exercisable more than 10 years after the date of grant.

Our board of directors may at any time amend, alter or discontinue the incentive plan, but cannot, without a participant’s consent, take any action that would diminish any of the rights of such participant under any award granted under the plan. Approval of the stockholders, however, will be required for any amendment that would, other than through adjustment as provided in the incentive plan:

	•	increase the total number of shares of our common stock reserved for issuance under the incentive plan;

	•	change the class of eligible participants under the incentive plan;

	•	reprice any option or stock appreciation right; or

	•	otherwise require such approval.

Our equity incentive plan provides that the compensation committee of our board of directors has the discretion to provide that all or any outstanding options and stock appreciation rights will become fully exercisable, all or any outstanding stock awards will become vested and transferable and all or any outstanding performance shares and incentive awards will be earned, all or any outstanding awards may be cancelled in exchange for a payment of cash or all or any outstanding awards may be substituted for awards that will substantially preserve the otherwise applicable terms of any affected awards previously granted under the equity incentive plan if there is a change in control of us.

Under our equity incentive plan, a change in control is defined as the occurrence of any of the following events: (i) the acquisition of more than 50% of our voting shares by any person; (ii) the sale or disposition of all or substantially all of our assets; (iii) a merger, consolidation or statutory share exchange where our stockholders immediately prior to such event hold less than 50% of the voting power of the surviving or resulting entity; (iv) during any two year period our directors, including subsequent directors recommended or approved by our directors, at the beginning of such period cease to constitute a majority of our board of directors; (v) stockholder approval of our liquidation or dissolution; or (vi) the adoption by our board of directors of a resolution to the effect that, in its judgment, as a consequence of any transaction or event, a change in control has effectively occurred, except, in the case of clauses (i) through (vi), if the change of control results from a transaction between us and our Manager or an affiliate of our Manager or from a termination of the management agreement for cause.

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Equity Compensation Plan Information

The following table presents information as of August 15, 2007, with respect to compensation plans under which shares of our common stock are authorized for issuance.

Plan Category

Number of Securities to be Issued upon Exercise of Outstanding Options, Warrants and Rights

Weighted Average Exercise Price of Outstanding Options, Warrants and Rights

Number of Securities Available for Future Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans(1)

Equity Compensation Plans Approved by Stockholders

—

—

—

Equity Compensation Plans Not Approved by Stockholders(2)

—

$

—

—

Total

—

$

—

—

(1)	The amount gives effect to the              shares of restricted common stock issued to our Manager’s employees and restricted common stock issued to our independent directors under our equity incentive plan.

(2)	Equity compensation plans approved by the board of directors.

Restricted Common Stock Awards

Upon completion of this offering, we intend to grant shares of restricted common stock, which is equivalent to         % of the shares of common stock to be sold in this offering, to our officers and certain officers and employees of our Manager, and our independent director nominees. This award will be subject to forfeiture restrictions that will lapse in equal one-third increments on the first three anniversaries of the closing date of this offering.

Indemnification and Limitation on Liability; Insurance

Maryland law permits a Maryland corporation to include in its charter a provision limiting the liability of its directors and officers to the corporation and its stockholders for money damages, except for liability resulting from:

	•	actual receipt of an improper benefit or profit in money, property or services; or

	•	active and deliberate dishonesty established by a final judgment and which is material to the cause of action.

Our charter contains such a provision which eliminates directors’ and officers’ liability to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law.

Our charter also authorizes our company, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law, to obligate our company to indemnify any present or former director or officer or any individual who, while a director or officer of our company and at the request of our company, serves or has served another corporation, real estate investment trust, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or other enterprise as a director, officer, partner or trustee, from and against any claim or liability to which that individual may become subject or which that individual may incur because of his or her service in any such capacity and to pay or reimburse his or her reasonable expenses in advance of final disposition of a proceeding.

Our bylaws obligate us, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law, to indemnify any present or former director or officer or any individual who, while a director or officer of our company and at the request of our company, serves or has served another corporation, real estate investment trust, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or other enterprise as a director, officer, partner or trustee and who is made, or threatened to be made, a party to the proceeding because of

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his or her service in that capacity from and against any claim or liability to which that individual may become subject or which that individual may incur because of his or her service in any such capacity and to pay or reimburse his or her reasonable expenses in advance of final disposition of a proceeding.

Maryland law requires a corporation (unless its charter provides otherwise, which our charter does not) to indemnify a director or officer who has been successful, on the merits or otherwise, in the defense of any proceeding to which he or she is made, or threatened to be made, a party because of his or her service in such capacity. Maryland law permits a corporation to indemnify its present and former directors and officers, among others, against judgments, penalties, fines, settlements and reasonable expenses actually incurred by them in connection with any proceeding to which they may be made, or threatened to be made, a party because of their service in those or other capacities unless it is established that:

	•	the act or omission of the director or officer was material to the matter giving rise to the proceeding and (i) was committed in bad faith or (ii) was the result of active and deliberate dishonesty;

	•	the director or officer actually received an improper personal benefit in money, property or services; or

	•	in the case of any criminal proceeding, the director or officer had reasonable cause to believe that the act or omission was unlawful.

A court may order indemnification if it determines that the director or officer is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnification, even though the director or officer did not meet the prescribed standard of conduct or was adjudged liable on the basis that personal benefit was improperly received.

Under Maryland law, however, a Maryland corporation may not indemnify for an adverse judgment in a suit by or in the right of the corporation or for a judgment of liability on the basis that personal benefit was improperly received, unless in either case a court orders indemnification and then only for expenses. In addition, Maryland law permits a corporation to advance reasonable expenses to a director or officer upon the corporation’s receipt of:

	•	a written affirmation by the director or officer of his or her good faith belief that he or she has met the standard of conduct necessary for indemnification by the corporation; and

	•	a written undertaking by him or her or on his or her behalf to repay the amount paid or reimbursed by the corporation if it is ultimately determined that the standard of conduct was not met.

We are in the process of obtaining, and expect to obtain before the closing of this offering, a policy of insurance under which our directors and officers will be insured, subject to the limits of the policy, against certain losses arising from claims made against such directors and officers because of any acts or omissions covered under such policy in their respective capacities as directors or officers, including certain liabilities under the Securities Act.

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PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS

Immediately prior to the completion of this offering, there will be 1,000 shares of common stock outstanding and one stockholder of record. At that time, we will have no other shares of capital stock outstanding. The following table sets forth certain information, prior to and after this offering, regarding the ownership of each class of capital stock by:

	•	each of our directors and director nominees;

	•	each of our executive officers;

	•	each holder of 5% or more of each class of our capital stock; and

	•	all of our directors, director nominees and officers as a group.

In accordance with SEC rules, each listed person’s beneficial ownership includes:

	•	all shares the investor actually owns beneficially or of record;

	•	all shares over which the investor has or shares voting or dispositive control (such as in the capacity as a general partner of an investment fund); and

	•	all shares the investor has the right to acquire within 60 days (such as shares of restricted common stock that are currently vested or which are scheduled to vest within 60 days).

Unless otherwise indicated, all shares are owned directly and the indicated person has sole voting and investment power. Except as indicated in the footnotes to the table below, the business address of the stockholders listed below is the address of our principal executive office, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2902, New York, New York 10036.