Swedish debt collector Intrum AB has reached an agreement with a majority of its bondholders to address its €5.4 billion ($5.8 billion) debt pile, including a forced loss on credit investors and pushing out the notes’ maturities, Bloomberg News reported. As part of the deal, the company’s existing unsecured notes will be exchanged into four series of new bonds with maturities between 2027 and 2030, but only at 90% of their original value, according to a statement on Thursday. In exchange for the haircut, bondholders will get 10% of Intrum’s equity.
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Coloreel Group AB, the Swedish company known for its instant thread dyeing technology, has filed for bankruptcy, PrintWeek.com reported. In an announcement today (10 July), Coloreel said that the decision comes “after the company’s inability to develop its business volume quickly enough and, related to this, secure the necessary financing”. The business said that despite many in-depth discussions with financial investors and potential industrial partners to secure additional funding, it had been unable to overcome its financial hurdles.
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June marked a significant uptick in the number of employees affected by corporate bankruptcies in Sweden, reaching the highest level recorded in the past five years, MENAFN reported. Approximately 1,400 employees were impacted by the bankruptcy of automotive components firm IAC Group Sweden alone, according to data, citing insights from Credit Safe, a leading credit information provider. Overall, the total number of employees affected by company bankruptcies across Sweden in the past month surged to 3,500.
Sweden’s central bank held its key policy rate at 3.75% and said it could cut the policy rate two or three times during the second half as long as the outlook for inflation holds, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Riksbank last month became the second central bank from a rich, advanced economy to begin its easing cycle following the post-pandemic surge in inflation, when it lowered its key interest rate for the first time in more than eight years to 3.75% from 4.0%. Switzerland’s central bank was the first to move in March.
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Struggling Swedish landlord SBB is preparing to lay the groundwork for an initial public offering of its entire residential portfolio by shifting bond debt from the parent level down into Sveafastigheter AB, Bloomberg News reported. Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB — as the company is formally known — is inviting existing bondholders to exchange their notes for a new issue sold by the residential unit totaling no more than 2.5 billion Swedish kronor ($240 million), according to a statement on Thursday.
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Swedish manufacturing activity rose to its highest level in two years as the largest Nordic country is emerging from an economic slump, Bloomberg News reported. A purchasing managers index for the industrial sector rose to 54 in May, from 51.9 in April, which is the highest level since May 2022. The uptick was mainly driven by an increase in new orders, according to Swedbank/Silf, which conducts the survey. “The May outcome strengthens the picture of a brighter manufacturing outlook,” Swedbank analyst Jorgen Kennemar said in a statement.
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Scandinavian airline SAS posted a second-quarter pretax loss that more than doubled from a year earlier on Thursday, while pledging to complete its restructuring this summer, Reuters reported. The company's chapter 11 plan of reorganisation was approved in March. It filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection in 2022 after years of struggle with high costs coupled with low customer demand, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. "We look forward to emerging as a competitive and financially stronger airline with a stable equity structure," CEO Anko van der Werff said in a statement.
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Scandinavian airline SAS posted a second-quarter pretax loss that more than doubled from a year earlier on Thursday, while pledging to complete its restructuring this summer, Reuters reported. The company's chapter 11 plan of reorganization was approved in March. It filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection in 2022 after years of struggle with high costs coupled with low customer demand, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. "We look forward to emerging as a competitive and financially stronger airline with a stable equity structure," CEO Anko van der Werff said in a statement.
Swedish homebuilders should start to recover later this year, boosted by the central bank’s decision to cut interest rates before its Eurozone and U.S. peers, Bloomberg News reported. The value of orders is expected to tick up for Sweden’s three largest homebuilders, Skanska AB, Peab AB and NCC AB, brightening the outlook for the industry in the Nordic country. “I would expect new starts to gradually pick up through 2024,” Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Albin Sandberg said in an email, while cautioning that it will “probably take some time” before that turns into stronger demand for new builds.
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Sweden’s central bank lowered its key interest rate for the first time in more than eight years on Wednesday, underlining the readiness of European policy makers to move ahead of the Federal Reserve as inflation cools, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Riksbank cut its key rate to 3.75% from 4.0% becoming only the second central bank from a rich, advanced economy to begin its easing cycle following the post-pandemic surge in inflation. Switzerland’s central bank was the first to move in March. This century, Europe has typically followed the U.S. in lowering borrowing costs.
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