Top Brookdale shareholder to sell 11M shares

Brookdale Senior Living says its largest shareholder, Fortress, will sell 11M shares

• On 1:14 pm EST, Monday November 9, 2009

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The largest shareholder in Brookdale Senior Living Inc. is selling off a chunk of its stake, the company said Monday.

The senior living community operator said funds managed by Fortress Investment Group will sell 11 million Brookdale shares. The underwriter of the offering, BofA Merrill Lynch, will have the option to buy another 1.1 million shares in the next month, Brookdale said.

The company will no receive any proceeds from the offering.

At the end of 2008, Fortress funds owned 60.9 million shares of Brookdale, or about 57.8 percent of common stock. That means around Fortress is selling around 20 percent of its stake in the company, and about 10 percent of all Brookdale shares could change hands. Around 118.6 million shares were on the market as of Oct. 30.

In afternoon trading, Brookdale stock skidded $1.24, or 7 percent, to $16.51.