NEW YORK CITY-Annaly Capital Management, Inc., the largest mortgage REIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange, will offer an underwritten public offering of 120 million shares of its common stock at a price per share of $17.70, for expected gross proceeds of approximately $2.1 billion before expenses, the company said earlier in the week.

Under this transaction, Annaly has also granted underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 18 million shares of common stock solely to cover overallotments. The company expects to use the proceeds of the public offering to purchase mortgage-backed securities for its investment portfolio and for “general corporate purposes,” which Annaly said in a statement “may include additional investments” and “repayment of short-term indebtedness.”

Several players are involved in the offering, including Credit Suisse Securities US LLC acting as the lead book-running manager, while Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS Investment Bank and RCap Securities, Inc. will serve as joint book-running managers. Annaly has also filed a shelf registration statement and prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission.