Born more than a century ago, in 1918, Metrovacesa is living history of Spanish brick. It has been the promoter of emblematic buildings such as the one that presides over the Plaza de España, in the center of Madrid, and it was badly damaged when the Great Recession hit in 2008. After getting rid of assets that went to Merlin and incorporating his capital to the creditor banks Santander and BBVA, the new chapter of his business journey now looks good: he is the largest owner of building land among the Spanish listed companies and the object of desire of the Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, one of the richest people in the world. world.
The company, with a stock market value of more than 1.1 billion euros, has a valuable asset for any other competing promoter. It has 5 million buildable square meters that, once the previous real estate crisis was digested, have regained their shine. Only in Barcelona, it has valuable land in Sant Adrià, in the old La Seda facilities or in El Prat de Llobregat, near the airport. “Final land is scarce,” and that gives shine to the assets, the company itself indicates.
Slim already saw the new cycle coming two years ago, in 2022, when he detected that the stock was trading at a discount. At that time, he launched a takeover bid for Metrovacesa with the objective of reaching 29.9% of the capital and placing himself on the verge of taking control. The operation failed because the two main shareholders, Santander and BBVA, refused to sell their stakes.
The takeover bid was launched at 7.8 euros per share, but the company's internal calculations put the value of the assets at more than 2,000 million, which gives a price of 13.3 euros. In other words, Slim should raise the stakes if he wants to climb the stakes.
Financial sources indicate that Metrovacesa is not an investment “with strategic value” for banks. However, Santander and BBVA “are in no hurry to sell,” especially now that they have managed to greatly reduce their exposure to brick. “It won't come out if it's not at an attractive price,” they add.
Santander, owner of 49.49% of the developer, values this participation in its financial statements at 899 million euros, well above the 584 million that it would have obtained with Slim's offer. The sale would have meant a strong capital loss for the bank, and that is anathema to any financial director.
For BBVA, book valuations are closer. His 20.8% in Metrovacesa, according to its latest annual report, is valued at 259 million euros, only slightly above the 245 million that he could have taken with Slim's offer. For this reason, analysts believe that the businessman would have no difficulty buying the bank's stake at a somewhat improved price, above 8 euros per share.
The truth is that the Mexican businessman has responded to the banks' disinterest by discreetly increasing his capital. The takeover bid allowed it to reach 20% and, at the end of last year, it rose to 20.9%, surpassing BBVA as the second shareholder. Through Inversora Carso, he has also managed to seat a representative on the board of Metrovacesa, Juan Antonio Franco Díez.
These movements, peaceful but persistent, are reminiscent of those that Slim has been carrying out at FCC and Realia. In the first he already has 72% of the capital after his agreements with Esther Koplowitz, who now only retains 3.2% in the construction company. In Realia he has 77%, which encourages speculation about a possible plan to merge it with Metrovacesa.
Aside from the disputes over the shareholding, Metrovacesa is developing its own project under the direction of its CEO, Jorge Pérez de Leza, who took office in 2016 and took it public in 2018.
The company is aware of the housing deficit in Spain and that less than half the rate of home creation is being built. It has even begun to invest 90 million euros in buying more land. Despite the shortage, buildable land has not actually become much more expensive in recent years, around 10% in accumulated terms. Construction costs and deadlines are those that have increased, which puts pressure on the final price.
