Swiss Estates AG: Sale of properties in Zurich
At the end of the year, the company sold the Badenerstrasse 288-296 complex in Zurich and reduced its non-current and current financial liabilities by more than CHF 30 million.
Swiss Estates AG announces the sale of the properties at Badenerstrasse 288 - 296 in 8004 Zurich to a privately held public limited company with effect from the end of 2024. According to the BX Swiss-listed real estate company, the properties were acquired in the 2007 financial year and have been continuously developed since then, resulting in a considerable increase in value, which has now been realized. The transaction has reduced the company's non-current and current financial liabilities by more than CHF 30 million and significantly strengthened its liquidity.
The reasons given for the sale are, on the one hand, that the management is of the opinion that the value appreciation cycle for these properties is essentially complete and, on the other hand, that the focus will be on purely residential use in future, particularly as financiers lend on buildings with partial or full commercial use much less attractively than is the case with purely residential use.
As the completed transaction will result in a profit of several million Swiss francs for the 2024 annual financial statements at the level of the Swiss Code of Obligations, the company believes it is in a position to distribute a dividend. However, the exact amount of the annual profit at the level of the individual financial statements can only be calculated once the real estate gains tax has been legally determined by the tax office of the City of Zurich and is expected to be communicated in the first quarter of 2025, Swiss Estates added.
The final result of the consolidated financial statements in the 2024 annual report will also depend on how the market values of all of the company's properties develop at the end of 2024, although it can be assumed that these values will be positive due to the encouraging decline in the Swiss National Bank's key interest rate (currently 0.5%). The management anticipates - without guarantee - increases in value in the range of three to five percent of the previous market values.
Swiss Estates AG is currently conducting concrete negotiations regarding the acquisition of a total of five properties for purely residential use. If successful, these transactions are scheduled for the first half of 2025. (bw)
