Ellington Financial LLC concludes corporate conversion

Mortgage-backed security investor Ellington Financial has completed a conversion to a limited liability corporation, the company has announced.

The company said it does not expect any material tax or financial changes from the conversion since it had already chosen to be taxed as a corporation for US federal and state income tax purposes effective Jan. 1.

The conversion of the existing shares to fully-paid share of common stock did not require any action from shareholders, according to the company.

“Each existing common share of Ellington Financial LLC was converted into a fully paid share of common stock, $0.001 par value per share, of Ellington Financial Inc. without any action required by shareholders,” Ellington Financial said in its announcement.

“We are pleased to complete our state law conversion, which we’ve done in conjunction with our conversion to a REIT,” said Laurence Penn, chief executive officer and president of Ellington Financial. “We believe that our conversion will broaden our base of potential investors, enhance the liquidity of our stock, and provide us with the additional benefits of potential index fund inclusion. With this milestone complete, we expect to maintain our core investment and hedging strategies and focus on driving attractive risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders.”