Blackstone Mortgage Trust Announces Closing Of $1 Billion Commercial Real Estate CLO

NEW YORK, Dec. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE: BXMT) (the "Company") today announced the closing of BXMT 2017-FL1, a $1 billion Collateralized Loan Obligation ("CLO"), which is the largest commercial real estate CLO issued post financial crisis. The CLO transaction finances pari passu participation interests in 31 of BXMT's portfolio loans at an effective advance rate of 81.75% with a weighted average coupon at issuance of L+1.21%. Proceeds from the CLO issuance were used to repay BXMT credit facilities.

Steve Plavin, President and CEO of BXMT, said, "The closing of BXMT 2017 FL-1 represents a significant expansion of our credit capacity and a further diversification of our funding sources. The innovative structural features enabled market leading efficiency while preserving our flexibility as a balance sheet lender. The scale and quality of our loan portfolio uniquely positioned us to execute this highly attractive financing."

Wells Fargo Securities acted as sole structuring agent. Wells Fargo Securities, Citigroup and BofA Merrill Lynch acted as co-lead managers and joint bookrunners. Société Générale acted as co-manager.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Blackstone Mortgage Trust
Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE: BXMT) is a real estate finance company that originates senior loans collateralized by commercial real estate in North America and Europe. Our investment objective is to preserve and protect shareholder capital while producing attractive risk-adjusted returns primarily through dividends generated from current income from our loan portfolio. We are externally managed by BXMT Advisors L.L.C., a subsidiary of Blackstone.

About Blackstone
Blackstone (NYSE: BX) is one of the world's leading investment firms. Blackstone seeks to create positive economic impact and long-term value for its investors, the companies it invests in, and the communities in which it works. Blackstone does this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Blackstone's asset management businesses, with over $385 billion in assets under management, include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis.

Forward-Looking Statements and Other Matters
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "outlook," "indicator," "believes," "expects," "potential," "continues," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "predicts," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "anticipates" or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. The Company believes these factors include but are not limited to those described under the section entitled "Risk Factors" in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016, as such factors may be updated from time to time in its periodic filings with the SEC which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this release and in the filings. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward‐looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events or circumstances.

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SOURCE Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc.