Business and Organization

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Business and Organization

Business and Organization

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust Inc. (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, referred to throughout this report as the "Company", "KREF", "we", "us" and "our") is a Maryland corporation that was formed and commenced operations on October 2, 2014 as a mortgage "real estate investment trust" ("REIT") that focuses primarily on originating and acquiring senior loans secured by commercial real estate ("CRE") assets.

KREF has elected and intends to maintain its qualification to be taxed as a REIT under the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"), for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As such, KREF will generally not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on that portion of its income that it distributes to stockholders if it distributes at least 90% of its REIT taxable income, determined without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and excluding any net capital gains. See Note 14 regarding taxes applicable to KREF.

KREF is externally managed by KKR Real Estate Finance Manager LLC ("Manager"), an indirect subsidiary of KKR & Co. Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, "KKR"), through a management agreement ("Management Agreement") pursuant to which the Manager provides a management team and other professionals who are responsible for implementing KREF’s business strategy, subject to the supervision of KREF’s board of directors. For its services, the Manager is entitled to management fees and incentive compensation, both defined in, and in accordance with the terms of, the Management Agreement (Note 12).

As of December 31, 2019, KKR beneficially owned 22,008,616 shares of KREF's common stock, of which 2,008,616 shares were held by KKR on behalf of a third-party investor.

KREF's principal business activities are related to the origination and purchase of credit investments related to CRE. Management assesses the performance of KREF's current portfolio of leveraged and unleveraged commercial mortgage loans and commercial mortgage-backed securities ("CMBS") as a whole and makes operating decisions accordingly. As a result, management presents KREF's operations within a single reporting segment.