FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - World Cup - South American Qualifiers - Paraguay v Argentina - Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asuncion, Paraguay - November 14, 2024 Argentina's Lionel Messi during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Cesar Olmedo/File Photo
MADRID (Reuters) -A real estate investment trust owned by Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi made its Spanish market debut at 57.4 euros per share, giving it a market capitalisation of 223 million euros ($232.12 million).
Messi, the Inter Miami player and former FC Barcelona forward, is named as chairman of Edificio Rostower Socimi's board in documents published by the Portfolio Stock Exchange, a small European alternative market.
Edificio Rostower's only shareholder is Messi's family investment vehicle, Limecu Espana 2010, the documents showed.
But the trust has told the exchange it plans to open up to new investors, the chief executive of Portfolio Stock Exchange, Santiago Navarro, told Reuters without elaborating.
Messi's fund has yet to trade.
The exchange, launched in 2023 and supervised by the Bank of Spain, only allows trading when a company seeks to sell shares or increase its capital, Navarro said.
The approach allows greater flexibility and control as well as lower costs compared to traditional initial public offerings, he said, adding any purchase request order must first be approved by shareholders.
Edificio Rostower did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its stock market debut, which took place on Monday.
The company owns seven hotels in Spain and Andorra, three office spaces and five apartments in Spain, as well as apartments in London and Paris, the documents said.
Founded in 2013, the company posted a 1.7 million euro loss in 2023, according to records the Portfolio Stock Exchange published.
Most of the company's investments are in the Spanish region of Catalonia, where Messi, 37, moved in 2000 when he was 13 years old to join FC Barcelona's youth teams.
He lived there until 2021 when he unexpectedly left FC Barcelona to sign for Paris St Germain after the indebted Catalan club said it could not afford to keep him because of La Liga's financial fair play rules.
The eight-times Ballon d'Or winner has long said he plans to return to live in Barcelona with his wife and three children after he retires from soccer.
Messi's wife, Antonela Roccuzzo, is the board's vice-president. The other members of the board are Alfonso Nebot, who runs Messi's family office, and Ramon Adell, who is a board member of Spanish energy company Naturgy.
Spain's government last month said it planned to increase the corporate tax rate paid by real estate investment trusts, which is lower than for other companies.
But it has failed so far to garner support in parliament for its approval.
($1 = 0.9607 euros)
(Reporting by Joan Faus; editing by Charlie Devereux and Barbara Lewis)
