The recent turbulence in the financial markets has contributed to the banks becoming more restrictive to lend to real estate financing. Deleveraging in Europe's banking sector has also contributed to banks reducing their leverage and increasing capital adequacy to meet the new requirements. Loan-to-value ratios in real estate loans have fallen while banks' interest margins have increased, which has made property investors to look for alternative sources of funding in the capital markets. The two most interesting forms of financing for real estate right now is bonds and preferred shares as they fit property companies that generate stable and predictable cash flows. A bond is an interest-bearing debenture certifying that the purchaser has lent money to the company that issued the bond. It's a very safe security since the only reason you would not be able to get your money back is if the company goes bankrupt. Preference shares structure is something between an ordinary share and a bond. The preference share generates an annual fixed predetermined dividend paid before common shareholders receive dividend which makes it much more predictable and stable relative to an ordinary share. Demand for investing in bonds and preference shares is considered good since equity investors have shown strong interest and these securities offer a good risk adjusted return The property companies that has issued both bonds and preferred shares have been selected to be further examined in this paper. The property companies currently consist of Corem Property Group, Fastighets AB Balder, Klövern AB and Sagax AB. Since 2007, all of these companies diversified their financing primarily through the issuing of preference shares and bonds, and the majority has moved towards a greater proportion of equity. It is clear that alternative sources of financing such as preferred shares and bonds will become more common in the future as it is abroad. / De senaste årens oro på finansmarknaden har bidragit till att bankerna har blivit mer restriktiva till att ge krediter till fastighetsfinansiering. Skuldnedväxlingen i den europeiska banksektorn har också bidragit till att bankerna minskar sin skuldsättningsgrad och ökar kapitaltäckningen för att möta nya krav. Belåningsgraderna vid fastighetskrediter har sjunkit samtidigt som bankernas räntemarginaler har ökat vilket har fått fastighetsinvesterare att söka sig till alternativa finansieringskällor på kapitalmarknaden. De två kanske mest intressanta finansieringsformerna för fastigheter just nu är obligationer och preferensaktier då de passar fastighetsbolag bra som genererar stabila och förutsägbara kassaflöden. En obligation är ett räntebärande skuldebrev som intygar att köparen har lånat ut pengar till det företag som emitterat obligationen. Det är väldigt säkra värdepapper då den enda anledningen till att man inte skulle kunna få tillbaka sina pengar är om företaget går i konkurs. Preferensaktiers struktur befinner sig i det närmaste mellan en vanlig stamaktie och en obligation. Preferensaktien ger en fast årlig förutbestämd utdelning som betalas ut före stamaktieägarna får utdelning vilket gör att den är mer förutsägbar och stabil i förhållande till en stamaktie. Efterfrågan på att investera i obligationer och preferensaktier får anses god då investerare vid emissioner har visat ett starkt intresse och nämnda värdepapper erbjuder en bra riskjusterad avkastning De fastighetsbolag som har emitterat både obligationer och preferensaktier har valts ut att undersökas närmare i denna uppsats. Dessa fastighetsbolag består i dagsläget av Corem Property Group, Fastighets AB Balder, Klövern AB och Sagax AB. Sedan år 2007 har alla dessa bolag diversifierat sin finansiering främst genom emitterande av preferensaktier och obligationer och majoriteten har gått mot en större andel eget kapital. Det kan konstateras att alternativa finansieringskällor som preferensaktier och obligationer kommer bli vanligare i framtiden vilket det är utomlands.

Several researchers have over the past decades criticised the efficient market hypothesis as several studies have presented evidence of causality and co-integrating relationships in  inancial markets. As preference shares have become increasingly popular, in recent years, as a mean of raising capital in the Swedish real estate sector, this study investigates the causal relationships between common shares and their corresponding preference share of nine listed Swedish real estate companies. By using daily closing prices over the period Dec 2014 – April 2016, we find weak support for short-run causalities in five of the nine examined pairs but no long-run cointegrating relationships. Further, we find causality running from the largest five firms to the four smallest in the sample firms. These findings violate the weak form of the efficient market hypothesis, which state that asset price fluctuations are random and not possible to forecast by the use of historical asset prices.

Dans l’épure de la classification traditionnelle des sociétés, l’intuitu personae est considéré comme une notion inutile, absente du fonctionnement des sociétés par actions. Pourtant, sous l’effet des considérations financières des fonds d’investissement et des fonds de pension qui apportent des capitaux importants, l’intuitu personae fait étonnement son retour dans le droit des sociétés. L’intuitu personae, locution latine qui désigne « la considération de la personne » est une notion polymorphe. Ainsi, son identification dans les opérations de capital n’est pas aisée et oblige à analyser les techniques mises en place par le législateur par le biais des clauses d’agrément, des actions de préférence ou des opérations de transmission universelle de patrimoine. La notion révèle ainsi ses forces et ses faiblesses au contact de la contractualisation du droit des sociétés. Cette redécouverte de l’intuitu personae oblige également à s’interroger sur son rôle dans les nouvelles orientations du paysage sociétaire. L’intuitu personae fragilise les critères de définition de la société, affecte les fonctions traditionnelles du capital social et s’impose comme un facteur de mutation. Son impact est considérable dans le contexte d’un droit des sociétés traversé par des courants contradictoires. Dès lors, cette étude propose de conceptualiser les bouleversements opérés par l’intuitu personae dans les opérations de capital. À cet égard, l’intuitu personae contribue à la modernisation du droit des sociétés. / In the blueprint of traditional classification of companies, the concept of intuitu personae is considered a useless concept in regard to corporations’ transactions. However, due to financial considerations of investment funds and pension funds that provide important capital, intuitu personae astonishingly makes a return into Corporate Law. Intuitu personae is a Latin expression meaning “the reputation of the person”. It is a polymorphic concept. Consequently, it’s identification in capital operations is not easy task and requires the analysis of techniques implemented by the legislator through approval clauses, preference shares or universal transmission of wealth operations. The concept reveals its strengths and weaknesses in regards to Corporate Law. This rediscovery of the concept of intuitu personae also raises questions about its role in the new directions of the societal landscape. Intuitu personae weakens the definition criteria of the company. It affects the traditional functions of capital shares and establishes itself as a mutation factor. Its impact is significant in the context of Corporate Law crossed by conflicting currents. Therefore, this study proposes to conceptualize the changes made by intuitu personae in capital transactions. In this regard, the intuitu personae contribute to the modernization of Corporate Law.

The Swedish economy is currently characterized by a low interest environment, which has contributed to a thriving real estate sector in Sweden. The property companies’ financial costs are extremely low and in the search for yield, many investors have shown an interest in real estate. Due to the high demand on the real estate market there has been an increasing demand for funds. Historically, the balance sheet of Swedish property sector has been comprised of common shares and a large share of bank debt. However, in recent years real estate companies have diversified their capital structure and the use of bonds and preference shares has become increasingly common. This master thesis aims to investigate the development of the capital structure of the listed real estate sector in Sweden and examine the driving forces. Furthermore, the purpose of the study is to identify and analyze what will drive the use of different financing options in the future. Consequently, the effect on the capital structure of the listed sector will be investigated. The study has been conducted primarily based on interviews conducted with key actors active in the real estate sector, the bank sector as well as the institutional and non-institutional investors. The study suggests that the access to financing will be increasingly dependent on the firms’ size and vice versa. Secondly, due to regulations of the banks, the listed real estate sector will have a growing need of financing through the capital markets. However, the thesis has identified a number of obstacles on the Swedish corporate bond market, such as illiquidity. Given the current conditions on the Swedish corporate bond market, the listed sector will be unable to acquire the funds needed to support a growth of the real estate sector. The final finding relates to the capital structure theories and concludes that access to different financing options will be more important than the capital cost. The study shows that there is a clear trend of growing real estate companies. The larger companies are beginning to approach the Swedish major institutional stakeholders in size and reaching a size which makes them more competitive on the international capital markets. Access to funding will therefore increasingly depend on their size and vice versa. In line with previous studies, the listed property sector has a growing need for financing through the capital market due to regulations of the banking sector. Consequently, the distribution between bank and market financing in Sweden will change. Due to the current conditions on the corporate bond market, the  listed sector is unable to access the resources needed to support a strong growth of the property sector. The elementary conclusion of this study is that an access to various financing options will be more important than the capital cost. The result is therefore not support by the already established capital structure theories. To explain the growing need for a diversified capital structure and the importance of access to multiple markets, the results of this study suggests a new capital structure theory. The optimal capital structure is first and foremost a question of optimal access to various funding sources. Thereafter the company should regard the cost of capital and the impact on the rest of the capital structure. / Den svenska ekonomin präglas idag av en lågräntemiljö, vilket har bidragit till en välmående fastighetssektor i Sverige. Fastighetsbolagens finansiella kostnader är extremt låga och på grund av investerarnas jakt på avkastning har intresset för fastighetsinvesteringar ökat. Till följd av den höga efterfrågan på fastighetsmarknaden har det behovet av finansiering ökat. Historiskt sett har balansräkningen i de svenska börsnoterade fastighetsbolagen utgjorts av stamaktier och en stor andel banklån. På senare år har dock fastighetsbolagen diversifierat sin kapitalstruktur och användningen av obligationer och preferensaktier har blivit allt vanligare. Examensarbetet syftar till att undersöka utvecklingen av kapitalstrukturen inom den noterade fastighetssektorn i Sverige och de bakomliggande faktorerna. Vidare är studiens syfte att identifiera och analysera drivkraften bakom användningen av olika finansieringsalternativ i framtiden. Följaktligen kommer den framtida kapitalstrukturen i de noterade fastighetsbolagen att undersökas. Studien är främst baserad på intervjuer med aktörer verksamma inom fastighetssektorn, banksektorn, institutionella och icke-institutionella investerare. Studien visar att det finns en tydlig trend med växande fastighetsbolag. Portföljen hos ett antal större bolag börjar närma sig de svenska stora institutionella aktörer i storlek och på så sätt börjar dessa bolag uppnå en storlek som gör att de är slagkraftiga på internationella kapitalmarknader. Tillgången till finansiering kommer därför i större utsträckning att vara beroende av företagens storlek och vice versa. I linje med tidigare studie har den börsnoterade fastighetssektorn ett växande behov av finansiering genom kapitalmarknaden på grund av regleringar av bankerna. Följaktligen kommer fördelningen mellan bank- och marknadsfinansiering i Sverige att förändras. Emellertid har studien identifierat ett antal hinder på företagsobligationsmarknaden, såsom bristande likviditet. På grund av de nuvarande förhållandena på företagsobligationsmarknaden, kommer den noterade sektorn inte kunna tillgå de medel som krävs för att stödja en stark tillväxt i fastighetssektorn. Den grundläggande slutsatsen i denna studie är att en tillgång till olika finansieringsalternativ kommer att vara viktigare än kapitalkostnaden. I resultatet finns därmed inte stöd för de etablerade kapitalstruktursteorierna. För att förklara det växande behovet av en diversifierad kapitalstruktur och vikten av tillgång till flera marknader finner denna studie grund för en ny teori avseende kapitalstruktur. Den optimala kapitalstrukturen är först och främst en fråga om optimal  tillgång till olika finansieringskällor. Därefter bör ett bolag se till alternativets kostnad och påverkan på den övriga kapitalstrukturen.

Denna uppsats behandlar hur fastighetsbolagens finansiering har utvecklats efter finanskrisen, hur finanskrisen specifikt har påverkat fastighetsbolagens finansieringsverksamhet samt i vilken utsträckning fastighetsbolagen har börjat använda alternativa finansieringssätt i sin verksamhet. Detta ämne är intressant då finanskrisen har haft en stor inverkan på det ekonomiska klimatet världen över vilket också inkluderar de svenska fastighetsbolagen och de svenska bankerna. Uppsatsen kombinerar en kvantitativ undersökning av alla svenska börsnoterade fastighetsbolagskapitalstrukturer med en kvalitativ undersökning bestående av ett antal intervjuer medrepresentanter från flera fasighetsbolag och banker. Den kvantitativa undersökningen visar att det skett stora förändringar i fastighetsbolagensfinansiering. Användningen av alternativa finansieringssätt, såsom preferensaktier, obligationer,MTN- och Certifikatsprogram har blivit vanligare i fastighetsbolagen. En stor anledning till detta är att bankerna i många fall har velat begränsa sin utlåning till fastighetsbolagen samtidigt som kreditmarginalerna har ökat på grund av bland annat högre kapitaltäckningskrav för bankerna. Utvecklingen av fastighetsbolagens finansiering kommer fortsätta framöver och alternativa finansieringssätt kommer i större utsträckning användas som komplement till banklån och stamaktiekapital. / This paper deals with how the financing in real estate companies has developed after the recentfinancial crisis, how the financial crisis specifically has affected the financing in real estatecompanies and to what extent real estate companies have started to use alternative ways to finance their operations. This subject is of high interest because the financial crisis has had a huge impact on the global economic climate, which also affects Swedish real estate companies andbanks. The paper combines a quantitative survey of the capital structure in all Swedish publicly listed realestate companies with a qualitative survey consisting of a number of interviews withrepresentatives from a number of real estate companies and banks. The quantitative survey shows that big changes have occurred in the financing of real estatecompanies. The use of alternative ways to finance them, such as preference shares, bonds, MTN and certificate programs have become much more common in real estate companies. A big reason to this is that banks in many cases have wanted to restrict their lending to real estate companies whilst the credit margins have increased due to, among other things, higher capitalrequirement rates for the banks. The fast development of financing in real estate companies will continue for years to come andalternative ways to finance real estate companies will continue to get stronger as a complement to bank loans and common stock equity.

One of the objectives of the Securities Regulation Code on Takeovers and Mergers ("the Code") was to achieve neutrality of treatment of minority shareholders in takeover situations irrespective of the method employed to effect the takeover. This objective has not yet been achieved despite the inclusion of Rule 29 in the Code. Different levels of minority protection apply depending on the method used to effect a takeover. Asset takeovers are also excluded from the ambit of the Code. It is suggested that capital reductions and security conversions be prohibited to effect a takeover unless the Code is applicable to the transaction. The scheme of arrangement procedure, with certain suggested amendments, should be retained as a takeover method. It is further suggested that section 228 of the Companies Act be amended to ensure greater minority shareholder protection but that asset takeovers not be included within the ambit of the Code at this stage. / Private Law / LL.M.

One of the objectives of the Securities Regulation Code on Takeovers and Mergers ("the Code") was to achieve neutrality of treatment of minority shareholders in takeover situations irrespective of the method employed to effect the takeover. This objective has not yet been achieved despite the inclusion of Rule 29 in the Code. Different levels of minority protection apply depending on the method used to effect a takeover. Asset takeovers are also excluded from the ambit of the Code. It is suggested that capital reductions and security conversions be prohibited to effect a takeover unless the Code is applicable to the transaction. The scheme of arrangement procedure, with certain suggested amendments, should be retained as a takeover method. It is further suggested that section 228 of the Companies Act be amended to ensure greater minority shareholder protection but that asset takeovers not be included within the ambit of the Code at this stage. / Private Law / LL.M.