NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE: KREF) today announced the Company closed KREF 2018-FL1 Ltd., a $1.0 billion managed Commercial Real Estate Collateralized Loan Obligation on November 28, 2018. The CRE CLO finances pari passu participation interests in 24 of KREF’s portfolio loans and provides KREF with match-term financing on a non-mark-to-market and non-recourse basis. The CRE CLO features a two-year reinvestment period with an 81% advance rate at a weighted average running cost of capital of L+1.36% (before amortized costs).

Chris Lee and Matt Salem, Co-Chief Executive Officers of KREF, stated: “The closing of our inaugural CLO transaction represents an important franchise building milestone for KREF and an important step in diversifying our financing sources and increasing our total non-mark-to-market financing capacity. The scale and quality of our loan portfolio positioned us to execute this market leading financing at an attractive cost of capital.”

Wells Fargo Securities, KKR Capital Markets LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC served as co-lead managers and joint bookrunners.

About KREF

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (NYSE:KREF) is a real estate finance company that focuses primarily on originating and acquiring senior loans secured by commercial real estate properties. KREF is externally managed and advised by an affiliate of KKR & Co. Inc. For additional information about KREF, please visit KREF’s website at www.kkrreit.com.