HYPO Real Estate Holding AG shares yesterday fell as much as 5.6 percent in Frankfurt trading after Standard & Poor's cut its rating on three subsidiaries of Germany's second-biggest commercial-property lender, citing a weaker earnings outlook.
Hypo Real Estate stocks dropped as much as 98 euro cents to 16.66 euros (US$26.42), its lowest since March 31. They have fallen 54 percent this year, valuing the company at 3.4 billion euros, Bloomberg News reported.
S&P on Wednesday lowered its long and short-term counter-party credit ratings on the lender's subsidiaries over "weaker earnings prospects."
"This downgrade may make it eventually more expensive for Hypo Real Estate's units to refinance their business in the long run," said Konrad Becker, an analyst at Merck Finck & Co in Munich, who rates the shares a "sell."