SBB Races to Raise Money With Real Estate Firm Stake Sale
Views: 3153
2023-07-05 00:53
Troubled Swedish landlord Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB sold its entire stake in sector peer Heba Fastighets AB in

Troubled Swedish landlord Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB sold its entire stake in sector peer Heba Fastighets AB in the latest move to generate capital and strengthen its balance sheet.

Shares in SBB closed almost 16% higher in Stockholm following the announcement, while Heba’s shares gained 6%, giving it a market value of 4.6 billion kronor ($429 million).

SBB, as it’s more commonly known, owned 24.8% of Heba according to its earnings report for the first quarter. On June 29 it sold all directly held shares and now controls 0.74% of votes through financial instruments, according to a filing on Tuesday.

The Heba divestment took place via the sale of shares in SBB’s subsidiary, SBB Industricentralen Holding AB, to AB Industricentralen, a family-owned real estate firm, according to a statement from Heba. SBB declined to comment when reached by Bloomberg News. A value for the deal was not disclosed.

SBB, which has become the face of Sweden’s property crisis, must roll over $1.6 billion of maturing bonds within the next three years, though its debt pile is much larger.

The landlord was first cut to junk by S&P Global Ratings in early May, a move which sparked a free-fall in the company’s share price and led to the suspension of its dividend and a scrapped rights issue. Since then, the company has been downgraded a further two steps by S&P and it has hired banks to explore a full or partial sale of the firm. It’s also divested holdings, including properties.

(Adds details on the deal, no comment from SBB in fourth paragraph.)

Tags rel bon alltop europe hebab ss stk world sbbb ss wwtop markets cos wwtopeu business eurtop fin industries