General Electric Co.’s real estate unit said it agreed to acquire commercial-property debt valued at 1.4 billion pounds ($2.3 billion) from Deutsche Postbank AG to expand its refinancing and new-loan business.

The loans are mainly to U.K. borrowers and are performing, GE Capital Real Estate said today in a statement. Many of the loans have near-term expirations that will give GE access to new customers, the Norwalk, Connecticut-based company said.

“This transaction supports GE’s plans to grow our core commercial real estate lending business globally,” Mark Begor, chief executive officer of the unit, said in the statement.

GE Capital’s real estate unit, among the biggest commercial-property investors globally before the financial crisis, shifted its focus back to lending in 2010. The unit has assets of $40 billion, according to today’s statement.