Aroundtown Has No Easy Options for $21 Billion of Real Estate Debt
Germany property firm Aroundtown needs to sell assets to repay maturing bonds.
Aroundtown has put its Center Parcs resorts up for sale.
Photographer: Levin Den Boer/AFP via Getty Images
Spare a thought for the other AT1 crowd — not investors in Additional Tier 1 securities extinguished in Credit Suisse Group AG’s rescue, but shareholders in Aroundtown SA, the Frankfurt-listed property firm with the same stock-market ticker. The capital markets of yesteryear allowed the company to amass a sprawling real-estate empire valued on its books at €28 billion ($30 billion). The markets of today are forcing an unravelling.
Founded in 2004 and listed in 2015, the firm hoovered up offices, hotels and residential accommodation, mainly in Germany. Today, Aroundtown is a favorite for short sellers. Its market capitalization has shriveled to just €1.7 billion, representing a near-90% discount to net asset value — one of the lowest valuations in the European sector.