Castellum launches two share buyback programmes capped at 8.0 billion kronor from disposal proceeds
Key Facts
Castellum's board announced the launch of two share buyback programmes with a combined cap of 8.0 billion Swedish kronor in a statement issued on 22 October 2026. Chief Executive Pål Ahlsén said the amount allocated to buybacks represented 60% of proceeds from the disposal to Wihlborgs, linking share repurchases to asset sale proceeds. DNB Carnegie Investment Bank is managing purchases under the programme subject to European safe harbour rules, according to the company's statement. The bank makes decisions on the timing of purchases independently of Castellum under the programme's execution arrangements. The extraordinary general meeting's authorisation limits purchases so that Castellum's holdings of its own shares do not exceed 10% of total issued shares after each purchase.
Castellum announced an agreement in June 2026 to sell its Skåne portfolio to Wihlborgs at an agreed property value of 13,320 million Swedish kronor. That was below the portfolio's approximate book value of 13,926 million kronor as of 31 March 2026, according to the transaction announcement. The plan for using the sale proceeds included allocating about 40% to debt repayment to maintain the loan-to-value ratio. The company previously completed two other share buyback programmes in September 2026 at a total cost of 3.0 billion kronor, compared with the higher cap for the two new programmes. Castellum purchased a total of 22,596,587 shares under the previous programmes, according to its statement announcing the completion of purchases.
The buyback decision comes as Castellum's property management income fell to 1,126 million kronor in the third quarter of 2026, according to its corrected interim report. The company recorded property management income of 1,253 million kronor in the third quarter of 2025. Total income also declined to 2,246 million kronor in the third quarter of the current year. Total income in the corresponding period a year earlier was 2,407 million kronor, according to the same report. Net leasing turned negative at 5 million kronor in the third quarter of 2026. That compared with positive net leasing of 16 million kronor in the corresponding period of 2025.
For the first nine months of 2026, net profit after tax rose to 2,873 million kronor, according to the corrected interim report. The company compared that result with net profit of 1,050 million kronor for January to September 2025. The property portfolio was valued at about 129 billion kronor at the end of September 2026, compared with 137 billion kronor at the end of September a year earlier. In another capital measure, the extraordinary general meeting in October 2026 approved the cancellation of 46,541,184 treasury shares held by the company. The approval was accompanied by a resolution to increase share capital through a capitalisation issue, without issuing new shares, to restore share capital following the reduction resulting from the cancellation.
The reorganisation plan Castellum announced in September 2026 includes reducing the number of its organisational regions from 4 to two. The company aims to cut administrative costs by 15% under the plan, according to the reorganisation announcement. That reduction represents targeted savings of about 100 million kronor, according to the company's estimate when it announced the plan. Ahlsén linked the cost cuts to the shrinking property portfolio, saying: "When the portfolio shrinks, our administrative costs must fall accordingly." The reorganisation plan thus makes a smaller regional structure and lower administrative costs part of the company's response to the portfolio's contraction, according to the rationale outlined by the chief executive.
In further disposals, Castellum signed agreements during October 2026 to sell 6 properties in Linköping and Umeå, according to a company statement. The agreements were signed with Emilshus and Rikshem at a combined underlying property value of 258 million Swedish kronor. The announced value covers the properties included in the agreements in both cities, while the company set a separate closing date for each transaction. The Linköping property transaction is scheduled to close on 2 November 2026, according to the timetable in the disposal announcement. The Umeå property transaction will follow on 1 December 2026.