Please note that I  need "general information"  about the information
provided in the following webpage address of Colony Capital  LLC  or 
http://www.colonyinc.com/profile/history.html

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Clarification of Question by shoaib-ga on 20 Feb 2005 05:47 PST

celtic_rice-ga commenter you have stated below  that I should be more
specific about my above mentioned question so therefore I am now 
asking  from you or any other commenter or researcher  the following
statement  stated in that webpage address:

 "Our private international investment firm  has been one of the
world?s largest independent acquirers and financiers of real
estate-related assets",

 I want to know that what is the "meaning" of above mentioned statement ??

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Clarification of Question by shoaib-ga on 21 Feb 2005 10:35 PST

All of the below mentioned commenters please note that I am satisfied
with your comments below but I also want to know that what is the
'meaning' of   following  statement:  "world's largest  independent
acquirers and financiers of real  estate-related assets" in the above
mentioned  sentence ??

What exactly is your question?  Can you be more specific please?!

To clarify further- What parts of the statement are not clear to you? 
One interesting part of the statement as I read it is "Our private
international investment firm  HAS BEEN one of the
world?s largest...".  If this statement is true- it technically means
that at at some point any time in the past- for maybe a moment in
time- this firm was ONE of the world's largest.  Without knowing what
defines the set "Worlds' largest" for them - you don't really know
what they are claiming to have once been a part of.  They are not
claiming to be a part of the world's largest today - regardless of the
definiton of the set.

In response to dancingbear's remark, the verb could mean "has been and
still is" and not "was," especially if there is an adverbial
expression of time preceding it; e.g., "For ten years . . . has been .
. ." would not mean that it once was but that it had continously been
<whatever> from ten years ago straight through to the present time.

Archae0pteryx

shoaib, please note that none of these comments were made by GA
researchers.  So far no researcher has taken your question. 
Commenters can't fill in the "Answer" box.  These are just remarks
from passersby, meant to be helpful but not exhaustive.

If I were a researcher, I would not know how to answer you.  The
quoted statement is a claim about the scope and standing of the
business.  Are you looking for a definition of each of the words in
that expression? a restatement in other words of the entire
expression? a legal interpretation?  Maybe you'd do best to ask
someone with whom you can discuss it in person so they can help you
learn what you are trying to find out.

Archae0pteryx