GE Commercial Finance Forms $1B Partnership in Japan

No financial details on the venture, including the level of investment planned by GE Commercial Finance or Shinsei Bank, Limited were released. GE officials state that the partnership will leverage Shinsei Bank's presence in Japan with GE Commercial Finance's "strong asset management capabilities of purchased assets." At deadline, no investments by the newly formed partnership were announced.

"The formation of our partnership with Shinsei Bank underscores GE Commercial Finance Real Estate Japan's commitment to investing in and growing our presence in the Japanese commercial real estate market," commented Yoshiaki Fujimori, chairman GE Commercial Finance Real Estate Japan. "This partnership combines GE's capital strength with Shinsei's strong commercial banking relationships, which will enable us to build a strong, diversified, commercial real estate portfolio in Japan."

GE Commercial Finance Real Estate, which is headquartered here, more than 30 offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. The firm is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Electric Co.

Shinsei Bank has more than $58 billion in assets and 29 branches throughout Japan (non-consolidated, as of September 2004). On Jan. 27, Shinsei Bank reported consolidated net income for the third quarter 2004 ended Dec. 31 of 51.3 billion yen, an increase of 10.4% from the previous year.