Colony Financial, Inc. (the “Company”) (NYSE:CLNY) today announced it plans to commence a public offering of 15,000,000 shares of common stock. The Company also plans to grant to the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 2,250,000 shares.

The Company expects to use a portion of the net proceeds from this offering to repay amounts outstanding under its revolving credit facility, and to use the remainder of the net proceeds from this offering to acquire its target assets in a manner consistent with its investment strategies and investment guidelines, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

BofA Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, Barclays, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank Securities will act as the joint book-running managers for this offering. The underwriters may offer the shares at prevailing market prices or otherwise from time to time through the New York Stock Exchange, in the over-the-counter market, through negotiated transactions or otherwise.

The offering of the shares will be made under the Company’s automatically effective shelf registration statement, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and prospectus, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A copy of the prospectus supplement and prospectus related to the offering can be obtained, when available, by contacting BofA Merrill Lynch at 222 Broadway, New York, NY 10038, Attention: Prospectus Department or by emailing dg.prospectus_requests@baml.com, J.P. Morgan at c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717 or by telephone at (866) 803-9204, Barclays, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, telephone: (888) 603-5847 or by email at Barclaysprospectus@broadridge.com, Credit Suisse at One Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010, Attention: Prospectus Department, by telephone (toll free) at (800) 221-1037 or by emailing newyork.prospectus@credit-suisse.com, or Deutsche Bank Securities at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Attention: Prospectus Group, 60 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005, by telephone (toll free) at (800) 503-4611 or by email at prospectus.cpdg@db.com.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any offer or sale of any securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Colony Financial, Inc.

Colony Financial, Inc. is a real estate investment and finance company that is focused on acquiring, originating and managing a diversified portfolio of real estate-related debt and equity investments at attractive risk-adjusted returns. Our investment portfolio and target assets are primarily composed of interests in: (i) real estate and real estate-related debt, including loans acquired at a discount to par in the secondary market and new originations; and (ii) real estate equity, including single family homes held as rental investment properties. Secondary debt purchases may include performing, sub-performing or non-performing loans (including loan-to-own strategies). The Company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” or “potential” or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or phrases which are predictions of or indicate future events or trends and which do not relate solely to historical matters. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and contingencies, many of which are beyond the Company’s control, and may cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.

All forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s good faith beliefs, assumptions and expectations, but they are not guarantees of future performance. Furthermore, the Company disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, of new information, data or methods, future events or other changes. For a further discussion of these and other factors that could cause the Company’s future results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements, see the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2014, as amended by Amendment No. 1 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 27, 2014, the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 12, 2014 and other risks described in documents subsequently filed by the Company from time to time in the future with the Securities and Exchange Commission.