Sweden’s Oscar Properties reaches deal with creditor to avoid bankruptcy, ET RealEstate
STOCKHOLM: Sweden‘s Oscar Properties avoided bankruptcy on Monday after reaching a settlement over financial claims made by a housing association, a lawyer representing the creditor said.
The creditor, housing association Innovationen, owner of a residential tower in Stockholm that Oscar Properties developed, requested last month that the company be declared bankrupt over unpaid claims of around 15 million crowns ($1.4 million).
“We recall the bankruptcy application after the parties reached an agreement,” said Patrik Kalman, lawyer for the housing association.
He said that under the deal reached on Monday, the association will receive part of the money claimed, a sum deemed sufficient to withdraw the bankruptcy application. He did not specify the sum.
Overall, the Swedish property market is starting to recover somewhat after many companies struggled for years due to weaker demand and soaring debt costs.
The battle for survival for Oscar Properties, a relatively small player in the sector and one of the hardest-hit, is however not yet over.
The Stockholm district court, which had been scheduled to rule on the bankruptcy application on Monday, has yet to process another one from the tax authority, which on Aug. 1 requested Oscar Properties be declared bankrupt over an unpaid tax bill.
“Now we have some breathing space,” Oscar Properties said in a statement, adding that the company was working on a recapitalisation plan.
($1 = 10.5332 Swedish crowns) (Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, additional reporting by Marie Mannes, editing by Stine Jacobsen and Tomasz Janowski)
