Wells buys British real estate loan portfolio

Wells Fargo will buy a $6 billion real estate loan portfolio in the United Kingdom from Germany's second-largest bank, Commerzbank, Wells said Tuesday.

The real estate was described as "high quality" and centers around London. Wells will finance the sale of another $2 billion portfolio of distressed real estate to Lone Star Funds.

Wells will also bring in one of Commerzbank's executives to lead its London commercial real estate office.

The San Francisco bank is no stranger to buying foreign loan portfolios, at a time when many of its peers are scaling back their acquisitions of so-called "non-core" assets. Wells bought a similarly sized portfolio from another German bank last summer. Last February, it bought an energy finance portfolio from BNP Paribas of France.