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Bloomberg
Blackstone Group LP agreed to buy a 32 percent stake in Swedish residential landlord D. Carnegie & Co. AB from three of the company’s biggest shareholders.
Blackstone, through its subsidiary Vega Holdco Sarl, will acquire the shares in the Stockholm-based company for 100 Swedish kronor ($11.8) each, Blackstone said in a statement this week. This will give the company 40 percent of the voting rights. The sellers are Svensk Bolig Holding AB, Kvalitena AB and Frasdale Int. BV.
“D. Carnegie & Co. has a proven business model and an excellent history of social engagement,” James Seppala, head of European real estate acquisitions at Blackstone, said in the statement.
Swedish home prices, which have been soaring due to low interest rates and a shortage of homes, are showing signs of cooling after values reached levels that are unaffordable for many buyers and the financial regular introduced mandatory amortization requirements.
Stockholm apartment prices, which have risen 40 percent in the past three years, fell 2.7 percent in May, their biggest decline since late 2008, according to an index from Valueguard. Nationwide housing prices slid 0.6 percent, slowing the annual increase to 10.5 percent.
D. Carnegie rose as much as 4.5 percent to 104 kronor in Stockholm trading on Friday, the steepest intraday advance since July 8. The stock traded up 4.3 percent at 103.75 kronor as of 9:06 a.m. local time.
The Blackstone Group LP is an American multinational private equity, investment banking, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in New York City. As the largest alternative investment firm in the world, Blackstone specializes in private equity, credit and hedge fund investment strategies, as well as financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A), restructurings and reorganizations, and private placements.
Blackstone’s private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyout transactions over the last decade, while its real estate business has actively acquired commercial real estate.