...October 19, 2020 NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Oct. 19, 2020--S&P Global Ratings today assigned its 'B+' issue rating to Starwood Property Trust Inc.'s (STWD) proposed $300 million senior unsecured notes due 2023. We expect the proposed issuance to be leverage neutral. The company will use the proceeds from the issuance to pay down the remaining balance of its existing senior notes due February 2021, and the remaining proceeds to pay down its secured repurchase facilities. We rate the company's senior unsecured notes one notch below the issuer credit rating of '##-' because priority debt exceeds 30% of adjusted assets, and the company maintains unencumbered assets greater than the amount of rated unsecured debt. Pro forma for the proposed issuance, the company maintains approximately $2.9 billion of unencumbered assets on its balance sheet, largely consisting of commercial real estate (CRE) commercial mortgage-backed securities and residential mortgage-backed securities investments, and...
