Property company Realia, which is jointly owned by Caja Madrid, a savings bank, and FCC, a construction and services group, hopes to defy the downturn in the Spanish market by raising more than €1bn ($1.34bn) in an initial public offering on Wednesday. Financial Times
Last month, there was panic selling of property shares in Madrid after irregular asset sales were uncovered at Astroc, a small, listed property group in Valencia.
Despite a partial recovery analysts agree that Spain’s long property boom is over.
Last year, the top five listed real estate groups – Colonial, Metrovacesa, Fadesa, Urbis and Inmocarral – rose 132% in value, and before the crash, the sector traded at a 20% premium to net asset value.
Realia is placing 120m shares, 43.44% of its total share capital, on the market at a maximum price for retail investors of €8.8 a share.
Foreign institutions are being offered 52% of the shares, local funds 15.6% and retail investors 32%.
JPMorgan and Caja Madrid acted as global co-ordinators for the listing.