2   (#1 Direct)
GE Real Estate
Ronald Pressman
President and Chief Executive Officer




2006 Gross Revenues: $1.8 billion
2007 Projected Revenues: $1.0 billion
Number of Transactions in 2006: 1337
2006 Transaction Value: $ 14.9 billion
Number of Offices: 45
Number of Employees: 1900

GE Real Estate has come a long way since completing its first transaction in the 1950s. The real estate unit, which offers a range of debt and equity financing products across most asset types, was formally established in 1972 as a division of GE Commercial Finance. It posts an average growth rate of 28%per year and currently hasmore than $62 billion in assets. Alec Burger, senior vice president of North America lending, attributes the company’s growth to its ability to recreate its businesses to adapt to market shifts, as well as hiring knowledgeable executives and having long-standing client relationships. An example of GE’s ability to change is its addition of services such as flexible fixed-rate lending and hospitality lending when the firm anticipated turmoil in the CMBS market, Burger notes. “If you can’t shift your focus or develop new business lines tomeet the needs of your customers and react to or prepare for changes in the industry, there’s no way you can be successful,” the executive says. “I think being able to do that has helped us to grow as we have.” That growth has led the Stamford-based firm to broaden its operations to 32 countries throughout North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. Its expansion overseas and in developingmarkets has contributed significantly to its success, with 66% of GE’s net income noworiginating outside theUS. “We really have come a longway and have seen tremendous growth,” Burger adds. The company,which experienced a change in leadership earlier this year, also has a significant ownership portfolio.