Wells Fargo & Co. is paying an undisclosed sum for a $6 billion loan portfolio from German lender WestLB AG, a state-controlled lender that was bailed out during the financial crisis and agreed to be broken up.
The transaction is expected to close later this week, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo said on Monday.
The subscription finance portfolio includes short-term loans to private equity funds and real estate investment trusts, or REITs, mostly in the United States, and has about $3 billion in commitments outstanding.
WestLB has been slashing its organization after the European Commission ordered the breakup of the troubled Dusseldorf bank last year.
Wells Fargo, which has a major presence in the Twin Cities, said in its statement that the WestLB portfolio gives Wells Fargo a way to expand its subscription finance business, which it has been growing organically for years.
A Wells Fargo spokeswoman described the loans in the WestLB portfolio as "high quality performing loans" and said the portfolio has never suffered a loss.
Separate from the transaction, Wells Fargo hired Dee Dee Sklar, former head of WestLB's subscription finance group, to run Wells Fargo's subscription finance business.
Sklar will lead a unit of 14 people, including 8 former WestLB employees, in Wells Fargo's New York office.
