GE Commercial Finance names Greco head of European leveraged finance

By Susanna Moon

Chicago, March 10 - GE Commercial Finance said it appointed Thomas Greco as head of its European leveraged finance group.

In that role, Greco will oversee strategy and development throughout the region and be responsible for driving growth through its lead arrange and participations business.

Most recently, Greco was senior managing director for GE Real Estate in North America and has held several executive positions over his 13 years with General Electric. Before joining GE, he worked for JPMorgan, NatWest USA and Chemical Bank in a variety of senior banking roles. Greco has a finance degree from Albany State University in New York and an MBA from Fordham University.

GE Commercial Finance said that despite the credit crunch its leveraged finance activities have grown significantly in Europe and continue to expand.

Since August, GE Commercial Finance said it has been awarded a mandated lead arranger position in about 15% of all new European leveraged deals and purchased £1 billion of assets in the secondary market.

Roles in key European deals include:

• Global coordinator and bookrunner on $395 million senior and mezzanine facilities for the acquisition of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients by 3i;

• Joint mandated lead arranger and bookrunner on £845 million senior and mezzanine facilities for the acquisition of the business-to-business assets of EMAP by APAX and Guardian Media Group;

• Global coordinator, mandated lead arranger and bookrunner on €421 million senior and mezzanine refinancing facilities and acquisition of Breeze Industrial Products Corp. by Norma Group, owned by 3i;

• Joint mandated lead arranger and bookrunner on £450 million senior facilities for the acquisition of Firth Rixson by Oakhill Capital Partners;

• Mandated lead arranger and bookrunner on $215 million senior and second-lien facilities for the acquisition of GDT by Bridgepoint;

"2007 was a great year for GE's European leveraged finance team, winning a raft of lead arranger roles on major transactions in a wide variety of countries and sectors - demonstrating GE's ability to complete transactions and support sponsors and borrowers during a period of market turmoil," Greco said.

GE Commercial Finance is a Stamford, Conn.-based unit of General Electric that offers lending, leasing and other financing for industrial and commercial sectors.

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