GGC Will Debut On MAB As Spain’s 2nd Largest Socimi

29 June 2017 – Expansión

A new real estate company is preparing to debut on the stock market: next Tuesday, General de Galerías Comerciales (GGC) will become the thirty-ninth Socimi to trade on the Spanish stock exchange.

Like the majority of the listed real estate investment vehicles, this company will make its stock market debut on the MAB, an index designed for small businesses looking to expand that demands fewer requirements for trading. Nevertheless, given its size, General de Galerías Comerciales could compete with any of the firms on the main stock market, given that this Socimi will make its stock market debut with a market capitalisation of €2,054 million.

This value means that it will be the largest company to debut on the Alternative Investment Market ever. Until now, that position was occupied by the telephone operator Masmóvil, which, with a market capitalisation of €1,277 million, has just approved its transfer to the main market.

General de Galerías Comerciales will not only exceed the large Socimis on the MAB, including the property developer backed by the Montoro family, GMP, whose market capitalisation amounts to around €819.5 million, it will also outrank some of the large Socimis that trade on the main stock market.

In this way, the market capitalisation of General de Galerías Comerciales (€2,054 million) will exceed that of Hispania, which was the second largest Socimi on the Spanish stock market until now, with a market capitalisation of around €1,582 million. Meanwhile, Axiare and Lar España, the other two Socimis on the main market, are worth around €1,180 million and €727 million, respectively. Only Merlin Properties, with a market capitalisation of more than €5,273 million, will be larger than GGC.

What is GGC and who is its owner?

General de Galerías Comerciales is the owner of six shopping centres: Gran Plaza, in Granada; Mataró Parc, in Barcelona; La Cañada, in Marbella; Las Dunas, in Cádiz and Mediterráneo, in Almería. La Socimi is controlled by a majority shareholder, Tomás Olivo López, who also serves as the firm’s CEO.

This Murcian property developer, who has been based on Marbella for many years, founded General de Galerías Comerciales in 1995, together with his brother Ramón and Sandra Ravich (both hold minority stakes) and, since then, he has created a large real estate group, through both the development and purchase of properties.

Besides the six shopping centres, the Socimi also owns 19 urban or buildable lots of land, 17 rural plots, a commercial building, as well as several warehouses, homes, premises, offices and garages, the majority of which are located in Andalucía.

The jewel in its real estate portfolio is the La Cañada shopping centre, which, with a gross leasable area of more than 108,000 m2, is worth €675 million. The Socimi receives rental income of €24.86 million per year from this property, according to information provided in its IPO prospectus. GGC’s other large asset is the Nevada shopping centre, which it owns in Armilla (Granada); that property is worth €520 million and generates annual rental income of €32.5 million.

GCC will make its stock market debut at a value of €79 per share, a price that was fixed after CBRE performed a real estate valuation of the company’s assets, and which values its real estate portfolio at more than €2,000 million.

The most recent Socimis to debut on the stock market have been Albirana Properties, with residential assets controlled by Blackstone; Colón Viviendas, managed by Azora and Optimum III, which debuted on the stock market on 16 May with a portfolio comprising six residential buildings and a valuation of €54.03 million.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake