Colony Financial declares
fIRST quarter 2010 dividend

Los Angeles, CA, March 24, 2010/Business Wire/ - Colony Financial, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) (the "Company") announced today that the Company's Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per common share for the first quarter of 2010. The dividend will be paid on April 15, 2010, to stockholders of record on April 5, 2010, with an ex-dividend date of April 1, 2010.

About Colony Financial, Inc.
Colony Financial is a real estate finance company that is focused primarily on acquiring, originating and managing commercial mortgage loans, which may be performing, sub-performing or non-performing loans (including loan-to-own strategies), other commercial real estate-related debt investments, CMBS, REO properties and other real estate-related assets. Colony Financial intends to elect and qualify to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes. For more information, visit www.colonyfinancial.com.

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, that may cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Statements regarding the following subjects, among others, may be forward-looking: the ability to pay dividends in the amounts described herein in a timely manner or at all.

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 final prospectus relating to the Company's initial public offering filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 24, 2009, and other risks described in documents subsequently filed by the Company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investor Contact:
Colony Financial, Inc.
Darren Tangen
Chief Financial Officer
(310) 552-7230

Addo Communications, Inc.
Andrew Blazier
(310) 829-5400
andrewb@addocommunications.com

Media Contact:
Kristin Celauro
Owen Blicksilver P.R., Inc.
(732) 433-5200
kristin@blicksilverpr.com