Starwood Property Trust has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire GE Capital’s Energy Financial Services’ project finance debt business and loan portfolio for $2.56 billion, including $400 million of unfunded loan commitments.
The acquired business will leverage the extensive experience of the company’s affiliate, Starwood Energy Group, which specializes in comparable energy infrastructure equity investments and has executed transactions with approximately $7 billion in asset value since its inception in 2005.
GE’s Energy project finance debt business includes a vertically integrated platform with a seasoned leadership team and 21 full-time employees across loan origination, underwriting, capital markets and asset management. The loan portfolio consists of 51 senior loans secured by energy infrastructure real assets.
“It has been our intention since we began Starwood Property Trust to build a multi-cylinder finance company, with the thought that we should never overstay our welcome in any one business line and always have opportunities to deploy capital into only those verticals where reward clearly outweighs risk,” said Barry Sternlicht, Starwood Property Trust’s chairman and CEO.
