SBB owns, among other things, Sara kulturhus
Late last night, SBB held a specially convened board meeting and decided to cancel the share dividend, while also scrapping plans for a new issue of D shares worth 2.6 billion kronor. The reason for this was an acute deterioration in the company's financial position, caused by a credit rating downgrade by S&P. This has resulted in a noticeable increase in interest costs, estimated by an anonymous analyst to be as high as 20%.
According to a press release by SBB on Monday evening, the market's reaction made it impossible to successfully carry out the rights issue on the intended terms. Consequently, the company must now try to sell assets to afford the increased financial costs, with several large bond loans due in the near future. However, the lenders do not seem to be waiting in line.
"SBB continues to work on previously announced sales to strengthen the company's financial position," the press release stated.
The price of SBB shares crashed on Tuesday morning, following a steep fall of 20% on Monday.
SBB is a major player in Skellefteå, alongside Sara kulturhus. At the end of 2020, SBB acquired 766 rental apartments and 123 nursing and care apartments in Skellefteå from Skebo for approximately 1.3 billion kronor.
In addition, SBB was awarded land instructions for possible new construction in a number of locations in the municipality. It was previously reported that SBB planned to invest 3 billion kronor and build 1,500 new homes.