Metropolis has successfully completed a new fundraising of 60 million euros and reaches the growth target established in its ambitious strategic plan for the period 2018-2022.
The fundraising operation has been advised by the investment bank GBS Finance and Banca March. And with the entry of this capital, the company consolidates a total fundraising of 137 million euros during these four years, a magnitude close to the value of the company itself at the beginning of the plan.
"Meeting the size and value creation objectives, thanks to the excellent performance of our current investment portfolio and the recent acquisitions in Spain, have been decisive and explain the high internal subscription of this increase and the success in attracting new partners, which could be expanded in the immediate future", explains Pere Bosch, director general of Metrópolis.
The 2018-2022 strategic plan set the objectives of significantly increasing the size of the property portfolio and reinforcing its geographic diversification. And, after raising capital, the company is now preparing to make one or more acquisitions in Europe.
According to Bosch, "restrictions on access to international markets during the pandemic have forced us to focus our recent investments on the Spanish market; hence our latest purchases at 22@ in Barcelona, of which we are very satisfied with their contribution to meeting growth targets. However, after the opening of international markets, "now we can refocus our focus on Europe, where we have proven expertise," he says.
To achieve these objectives, the investment strategy will be completely reoriented towards the acquisition of office assets with a core and core+ profile in the main European capitals. "Although they are assets whose markets offer somewhat more restrained returns than those of recent purchases, they add geographical dispersion to the assets and allow us to meet the diversification objectives demanded by our shareholders", explains the CEO of Metrópolis.
Currently, the company has a portfolio of twelve properties and some 100,000 m² of leasable area, valued at more than 600 million euros, and has a presence in the markets of Spain, France, Germany and Poland. The relative weight of its international business, in terms of value and turnover, is currently at a balanced 50%.
Transformation into a public limited company
The recent capital increase of Metrópolis, partially subscribed by the current shareholders, has been preceded by a transformation of the company into a public limited company, to allow the incorporation of new partners to the board of directors.
This board of directors, made up of a broad representation of businessmen, is chaired by Oriol Tomás Carulla and the vice-chairmanships are Juan Manuel Soler and Javier Carrasco. And it will now be expanded with two representatives appointed by the new partners: Mirling Europe and Punto Salud.
