– Received Repayments of $1.1 Billion in the Quarter and $4.0 Billion for the Year –

GREENWICH, Conn., February 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Starwood Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: STWD) today announced operating results for the fiscal quarter and year ended December 31, 2023. The Company’s fourth quarter 2023 GAAP net income was $71.0 million, or $0.22 per diluted share. Distributable Earnings (a non-GAAP financial measure) was $189.4 million, or $0.58 per diluted share. The Company's full year 2023 GAAP net income was $339.2 million, or $1.07 per diluted share, and Distributable Earnings was $662.6 million, or $2.05 per diluted share.

“When we created STWD more than 14 years ago, we set out to build an enterprise that would be durable and so we diversified into multiple business lines to raise our return on equity, provide some consistency to our cash flows, and enable us to selectively deploy capital as risk and reward in the markets changed. The commercial real estate industry faces a balance sheet issue that was not created by a lack of discipline per se. Rather, the issue arose from a rapid and unprecedented increase in interest rates meant to halt inflation that was largely caused by multiple COVID stimulus packages followed by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. These well-intended programs hit a tattered supply chain which caused prices to increase. We will continue to face headwinds in real estate both in the U.S. and abroad until the central banks lower short-term rates to more accurately reflect spreading weakness in the private economy.

However, with our strong balance sheet and multiple investment cylinders, we are able to allocate capital to our highest returning verticals like energy infrastructure lending, and we are well positioned to navigate the challenging environment,” commented Barry Sternlicht, Chairman and CEO of Starwood Property Trust. “We are not out of the woods, particularly in domestic office markets, but there is light at the end of the tunnel as inevitably the Fed’s data catches up with the realities of declining housing costs which represent almost one-third of CPI.”

“Our full year results demonstrated the strength of our diversified platform, which has allowed us to maintain low leverage and strong access to liquidity,” added Jeffrey DiModica, President of Starwood Property Trust.

The Company has published supplemental earnings schedules on its website in order to provide additional disclosure and financial information for the benefit of the Company’s stakeholders. Specifically, these materials can be found on the Company’s website in the Investor Relations section under “Quarterly Results” at www.starwoodpropertytrust.com.

The Company will host a live webcast and conference call on Thursday, February 22, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.  To listen to a live broadcast, access the site at least 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time in order to register, download and install any necessary audio software. The webcast is available at www.starwoodpropertytrust.com in the Investor Relations section of the website. The Company encourages use of the webcast due to potential extended wait times to access the conference call via dial-in. 

Dial in at least 15 minutes prior to start time.

Domestic: 1-877-407-9039

International: 1-201-689-8470

Domestic: 1-844-512-2921

International: 1-412-317-6671

Passcode: 13740779

The playback can be accessed through March 7, 2024

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD), an affiliate of global private investment firm Starwood Capital Group, is a leading diversified finance company with a core focus on the real estate and infrastructure sectors. As of December 31, 2023, the Company has successfully deployed over $97 billion of capital since inception and manages a portfolio of over $27 billion across debt and equity investments. Starwood Property Trust’s investment objective is to generate attractive and stable returns for shareholders, primarily through dividends, by leveraging a premiere global organization to identify and execute on the best risk adjusted returning investments across its target assets. Additional information can be found at www.starwoodpropertytrust.com.

Statements in this press release which are not historical fact may be deemed 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.  Forward-looking statements are developed by combining currently available information with our beliefs and assumptions and are generally identified by the words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate” and other similar expressions.  Although Starwood Property Trust, Inc. believes the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained.  Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s expectations include, but are not limited to, completion of pending investments and financings, continued ability to acquire additional investments, competition within the finance and real estate industries, availability of financing, and other risks detailed under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, as well as other risks and uncertainties set forth from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the SEC.

In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurances that the results referred to in the forward-looking statements contained herein will in fact occur. Except to the extent required by applicable law or regulation, we undertake no obligation to, and expressly disclaim any such obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events, changes to future results over time or otherwise.

Additional information can be found on the Company’s website at www.starwoodpropertytrust.com.

Contact:
Zachary Tanenbaum

Starwood Property Trust

Phone: 203-422-7788

Email: ztanenbaum@starwood.com

Distributable Earnings, a non-GAAP financial measure, is used to compute the Company’s incentive fees to its external manager and is an appropriate supplemental disclosure for a mortgage REIT. For the Company’s purposes, Distributable Earnings is defined as GAAP net income (loss) excluding non-cash equity compensation expense, the incentive fee due to the Company’s external manager, acquisition costs for successful acquisitions, depreciation and amortization of real estate and associated intangibles, any unrealized gains, losses or other non-cash items recorded in net income (loss) for the period and, to the extent deducted from net income (loss), distributions payable with respect to equity securities of subsidiaries issued in exchange for properties or interests therein. The amount is adjusted to exclude one-time events pursuant to changes in GAAP and certain other non-cash adjustments as determined by the Company’s external manager and approved by a majority of the Company’s independent directors. Refer to the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 for additional information regarding Distributable Earnings.