Swedish real estate group SBB says creditor drops lawsuit (updated)

Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget I Norden AB

13/01/2025 12:45

* 
      Hedge fund drops claim for early debt repayment, SBB says
    

        * 
      Fund had claimed SBB breached bond clause
    

        * 
      SBB shares rise on liquidity reprieve
    

  
 (Updates throughout, adds CEO, analyst in paragraphs 8, 10-11)
       STOCKHOLM, Jan 13 (Reuters) - 
    Sweden's SBB  SBBb.ST  said on Monday it had learned that
one of its creditors, U.S. hedge fund Fir Tree Partners, will
end remaining legal proceedings against the real estate group,
boosting its share price.
    Fir Tree has since 2023 sought immediate debt repayment from
SBB, citing what it said was a breach of a bond clause, a claim
rejected by the Swedish group.
        SBB's share price rose 5.8% by 1210 GMT on Monday.
  
    Fir Tree did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
        Built on a public property buying spree that included
social housing, government offices, schools and hospitals, SBB
stood at the centre of a Swedish real estate bubble that 
    unravelled
     from 2022 to 2023 when inflation and interest rates soared.
  
        Fir Tree earlier this month, through two of its funds,
dropped two other claims, SBB said.
  
        Fir Tree entities at one point held 46 million euros in
notes subject to the proceedings, although only 7.5 million
euros ($7.67 million) remained in the final lawsuit, according
to SBB.
  
        "We can now put this behind us and devote all our time
to the business and to preparing SBB for the future," the
company's CEO Leiv Synnes said in an emailed comment to Reuters.
  
        SBB last month won approval from a majority of creditors
to restructure key parts of its bonds, giving the group greater
flexibility to divest property and to reduce its overall debt, 
    management said
     at the time.
  
        Fir Tree's decision removes some of the short-term
liquidity problems for SBB, Carlsquare analyst Bertil Nilsson
said.
  
        "That said, SBB still has short-term debt to be
refinanced in 2025 that significantly exceeds current cash, so
that will obviously have to be resolved before it can fully
exhale," Nilsson said.
  
    
($1 = 0.9775 euros)

 (Reporting by Marie Mannes, Greta Rosen Fondahn, writing by
Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Stine Jacobsen, Terje
Solsvik and Sharon Singleton)
 ((Louisebreusch.rasmussen@tr.com; +45 21 27 97 79;))