By Chelsey Dulaney
Blackstone Mortgage Trust Inc. said Monday that it plans to sell
17.5 million shares to help fund its purchase of some of General
Electric Co.'s commercial mortgage loans.
Blackstone Mortgage Trust, a publicly traded company that
private-equity giant Blackstone Group LP restructured in 2013, is
buying $4.6 billion of the GE loans as part of a larger $23 billion
deal announced on Friday. GE is selling the real-estate assets to
Blackstone Group LP and Wells Fargo & Co. as part of an effort
to pare down its massive finance business and focus on
industrials.
Blackstone Mortgage Trust said some affiliates of Blackstone
Group have expressed interest in buying $37.5 million of its class
A shares, while it has reserved another $20 million in class A
shares for Blackstone employees.
Blackstone Mortgage said it would offer underwriters an option
to buy up to 2.6 million shares. Citigroup, BofA Merrill Lynch,
J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo Securities are joint book-runners on
the offering.
Blackstone Mortgage's shares have gained 6.4% this month and
closed at $30.18 on Friday.
Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com
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