Sweden

A group of bondholders in Essity AB are asking for their money back after arguing the Swedish personal care products maker has defaulted on its debt, Bloomberg News reported. The creditors sent a letter to the company last month saying it had breached a so-called cessation of business clause in its bonds by agreeing to sell its majority stake in tissue maker Vinda International Holdings Ltd., according to people with knowledge of the matter. That followed the firm signing an “irrevocable undertaking” in December to sell its 51.6% ownership of Vinda to Indonesian tycoon Sukanto Tanoto.

Textile recycler Renewcell revealed Sunday that it intends to file for bankruptcy, after failing to secure additional funding and consecutive quarters of slow sales, WDD reported. The Swedish company, a pioneer in textile-to-textile recycling and maker of the Circulose fiber, was due to report its full fiscal year earnings Friday, but postponed that release until Thursday.

Two of the most high-ranking executives of Oscar Properties Holding AB are leaving the beleaguered Swedish property developer as it struggles for survival amid a dramatic financing crunch in the Swedish real estate sector, Bloomberg News reported. Chief Executive Officer Carl Janglin and Chief Financial Officer Magnus Thimgren said Monday they will leave their respective positions after less than a year. Janglin will remain with Oscar Properties until a successor is in place. Oscar Properties has been hit with two separate bankruptcy claims from creditors in recent weeks.

The chief executive officer of Castellum AB warned that the rental market will weaken more as the Swedish landlord reported that the value of newly signed contracts was lower than terminated leases in the fourth quarter, Bloomberg News reported. “The property industry has a tough year behind it, and we should expect a weaker rental market going forward,” CEO Joacim Sjoberg said in the company’s earnings report, cautioning that more tenants — consisting of Swedish businesses and the public sector — may be impacted by a waning economy.

SBB said on Tuesday that one of its creditors had started legal proceedings against the Swedish property group for debt recovery, citing a breach of a bond clause, Reuters reported. Although the company did not disclose the name of the bondholder, it said the combined debt owned by the party represented 46 million euros ($49.43 million). Reuters reported in November that U.S. hedge fund Fir Tree Partners was accelerating its notes and starting proceedings against SBB for debt recovery, the first such official demand faced by the landlord.

Sweden's central bank could cut rates as early as the first half of this year, but there are risks that inflation might prove stubborn, delaying policy easing, the minutes of the central bank's most recent meeting, published on Wednesday, showed, Reuters reported. The Riksbank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 4.00% on Feb. 1, but said it could start loosening policy much earlier than its previous forecast.

Scandinavian airline SAS said it would file a second amended chapter 11 plan of reorganization with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday and said it had obtained the support of the unsecured creditors' committee, Reuters reported. The company said it expected about $325 million to be allocated to general unsecured creditors as part of the amended plan, consisting of up to $250 million in cash and $75 million in new equity.

Swedish electric motorcycle company Cake has filed for bankruptcy, Tech.eu reported. Founded in 2017, the company designs and manufactures high-performance electric on and off-road motorcycles. It has released five adult motorcycles and one child’s bicycle, with a wide variety of users and applications, including commercial use for last-mile delivery and other short-haul urban transportation. It has sold about 6000 bikes. It opened a 2800-square-metre factory in Sweden in 2020 and planned an additional factory in the US.

The head of Scandinavian airline SAS, opens new tab criticised the European Commission on Monday for taking a "cautious" approach to consolidation in the industry at a time when the EU is adding to the cost of flying, Reuters reported. Anko van der Werff, whose long-struggling carrier is the largest in Scandinavia, listed the European Union's flagship scheme to help curb greenhouse gas emissions as among the reasons why the EU "clearly wants flying to be more expensive".

Scandinavian airline SAS AB will cancel and redeem all of its common shares and commercial hybrid bonds when it emerges from chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. around June, Bloomberg News reported. “SAS reiterates its expectation that there will be only a modest recovery for general unsecured creditors, no recovery for subordinated creditors and no value for SAS AB’s existing shareholders,” the carrier said in a statement released at 11 p.m. Stockholm time on Tuesday.