Is KKR Real Estate Finance Trust a Buy?

KKR Real Estate Finance Trust (NYSE: KREF) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in acquiring and originating senior loans secured by well-capitalized commercial real estate properties (CRE) in liquid markets with strong underlying fundamentals. Along with those kinds of properties, the REIT uses mezzanine loans, preferred equity, and other debt-oriented instruments, with the goal of providing investors in this real estate stock with what it calls attractive risk-adjusted returns and capital preservation. The New York-based REIT has about $16 billion of assets under management (AUM) and is managed as part of the global real estate group of KKR & Co. (NYSE: KKR), a global investment giant with more than $252 billion in AUM.