The portfolio is comprised of 18 senior first mortgage A-notesand 2 junior first mortgage B-notes, secured by 4.5 million squarefeet of retail and office assets across 10 states. The property iscurrently 96% occupied and anticipates 5.7% and 5.2% tenantturnover in 2010 and 2011, respectively. The weighted average debtyield on the portfolio is 17.7% for 1.7 years and a weightedaverage coupon of 7.75%.

"With the acquisition of this high quality loan portfolio,Starwood Property Trust will have deployed approximately $800million of the capital we initially raised in August," explainsBarry Sternlict, CEO of Starwood, in a statement. "That focus ofour investments is safety and yield, and this investment's highdebt yield and relatively short duration should allow us toreinvest capital as the loans mature or provide a built-in pipelineof originations. Almost 20% of this portfolio will mature within ayear and as such these assets are an extremely attractivealternative for cash. They also can be modified, extended or rolledinto new term debt and can be levered short term, ifnecessary."

All the notes originated before 2003 and, according to Starwood,the assets are "predominantly publicly traded entities andwell-known real estate private equity firms. The deal is expectedto officially close by 2010.