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MILAN-For the third time in 18 months, GE Real Estate hassecured a major pool of non performing loans here, buying a$3.8-billion portfolio from Banca Antonveneta and Interanca in a50/50 partnership with Pirelli RE/Calyon. The investment was madethrough two subsidiaries, GE Real Estate Italia and GE CorporateFinancial Services.

"This transaction is evidence of our commitment to grow our NPL(non performing loan) business and our proven ability to executelarge deals even in more unsettled markets," says GE Real EstateEurope president Olivier Piani in revealing the agreement. Thepurchase is the second tranche of a portfolio that GE and itspartners committed to acquire last year, and it follows the closingof the first piece in January for $2 billion. The total packagecomprises more than 20,000 loans covering a range of commercial,corporate and real estate assets across Italy.