FRANKFURT (S&P Global Ratings) Sept. 23, 2019--S&P Global Ratings said today that Vonovia SE's (BBB+/Stable/A-2) plan to acquire 69% of the voting rights and 61% of the share capital of Sweden-based Hembla AB is aligned with the company's asset portfolio and its strategy to expand into regulated markets outside Germany. In our view, the integration of the €3.1 billion portfolio should strengthen Vonovia's presence in Sweden. The assets, located mainly in Stockholm, consist of about 21,000 units, where we estimate vacancy rates are low and comparable with that for Vonovia's overall portfolio (2.9% as of June 30, 2019). Stockholm enjoys healthy economic and demographic trends, which will likely support stable rents over the long term. Nevertheless, we envisage only a
