The embattled landlord at the center of Sweden’s property crisis has initiated a strategic review that may lead to a sale of the company.
SBB — as Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB is more commonly known — will now consider various options including “a sale of the company, business segments, or specific assets, as well as other strategic transactions,” it said in a statement. The Board of Directors added that new share issuance is not in the scope of the review.
The development comes three days after SBB saw its credit rating cut to junk for a second time. Late on Friday, Fitch Ratings lowered its rating on the landlord one step, to BB+, citing high debt leverage and “material upcoming bond maturities in 2023 and 2024” as some of the grounds for its decision.
The downgrade matches a similar move by S&P Global Ratings on May 8, which sparked a panic among investors and led to a 40% slump in the share price. In the wake of that rating cut, SBB postponed its dividend and scrapped plans for an emergency sale of shares to shore up its liquidity.
That uncertainty continues to weigh on the share price, which is down more than 90% from a peak toward the end of 2021. On Friday, the stock closed at 4.9 Swedish kronor ($0.45) per share, its lowest level in nearly six years.
“The Board of Directors views the intrinsic equity value of the business as significantly higher than SBB’s current market value,” SBB said in the statement.
Having amassed an $8 billion debt pile, SBB’s credit rating and access to the debt capital markets had been essential to its strategy of aggressive growth. But with borrowing costs jumping higher, this important financing route has all but closed for the Stockholm-based company.
As part of the review, SBB said it hired JPMorgan Securities Plc. and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB as financial advisors.
