June 25 (Reuters) – Swedish real estate company SBB (SBBb.ST) said on Sunday it has entered discussions to sell the company’s remaining 51% of EduCo, the education subsidiary of SBB, after having recently received interest from Brookfield Asset Management (BAM.TO).
Brookfield bought a 49% stake in SBB’s education portfolio in November last year for 9.2 billion Swedish crowns ($858.1 million) in cash.
SBB said that under the terms of the transaction SBB would retain the right to acquire shares in EduCo in the future.
SBB added that it is also discussing a repayment of the intercompany loan of 14.5 billion Swedish crowns ($1.35 billion) from EduCo to SBB.
The Stockholm-based company has been fighting for survival as its shares plunged amid concerns over its financial position and refinancing debts of billions of Swedish crowns in the coming years.
SBB postponed its 2023 dividend payment for a year, which has been paused since May when the company scrapped a planned rights issue after its credit rating was downgraded to junk status on concerns over its liquidity and short-term debt.
“A sale of EduCo would entail that SBB enhances its liquidity and is able to reduce its indebtedness,” SBB CEO Leiv Synnes said regarding the sale of EduCo.
In addition, Sweden’s Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) is investigating whether the company broke accounting rules in its 2021 annual report.
($1 = 10.7216 Swedish crowns)
Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker
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