Woes of Swedish property landlord SBB reflect rate hikes

The landlord, which mainly owns public-sector buildings, lost its investment grade status in early May and has been racing to close a self-identified cash shortfall of $740m over the next 12 months

SBB has become emblematic of how a year of central bank rate hikes have upended property firms in the biggest Nordic economy.

SBB, the landlord at the centre of Sweden’s commercial property crisis, was slammed with a downgrade of five steps further into junk by Fitch Ratings in a fresh blow for its new chief executive’s efforts to stabilise finances.

Fitch slashed the issuer default rating of the company to B-, which is one step higher than peer S&P Global Ratings, which last month lowered its credit grade on the company to CCC+, with a negative outlook.