...NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Jan. 24, 2018--S&P Global Ratings today said it assigned its '##-' debt rating to Starwood Property Trust Inc.'s proposed offering of $400 million of senior unsecured notes due January 2021. The debt rating is one notch below our '##' long-term issuer credit rating on Starwood Property Trust Inc. because the company's priority debt is greater than 30% of adjusted assets, although unencumbered assets comfortably cover the unsecured debt. The company intends to use all or substantially all of the net proceeds from this offering to pay down the $370 outstanding of convertible senior notes due 2018, and to use the remainder to pay down secured repurchase facilities. We expect the issuance will be leverage neutral, with debt to adjusted total equity of about 2.0x, consistent with our expectation that the company will operate with leverage of 1.75x¡2.5x. We view the related unencumbering of assets pledged to secured financing facilities favorably. RELATED CRITERIA...
