The property tycoon at the center of Sweden’s real estate crisis traveled to the City of London this week in the hope of finding investors to save his $13 billion empire.
(Bloomberg) — The property tycoon at the center of Sweden’s real estate crisis traveled to the City of London this week in the hope of finding investors to save his $13 billion empire.
Ilija Batljan, the founder and chief executive of Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB — better known as SBB — spoke to a number of investors about selling individual assets as well as the whole company, said a person familiar with the process, asking not to be identified as the meetings weren’t public.
The window for SBB to find cash continues to narrow with the share price closing Thursday at its lowest level since its stock market debut in 2017. The embattled CEO has already paused some hybrid bond coupons, scrapped a dividend and emergency rights issue and has even hired the services of JPMorgan Chase & Co and SEB AB to drum up some support.
But with an $8 billion debt pile the company has so far failed to arrest the slide in its stock price. Over the next three years SBB must roll over $1.6 billion of maturing bonds, making it a test case for European property companies that have borrowed heavily in the era of easy-money.
A representative for the Stockholm-based company declined to comment on the process when contacted by Bloomberg News.
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