Argentine football star Lionel Messi’s real estate investment fund debuted on the Spanish market at 57.4 euros (R$369.33) per share, giving it a capitalization of 223 million euros (R$1.4 billion) .
Inter Miami player and former Barcelona striker, Messi is listed as chairman of the board of the company Edifício Rostower Socimi in documents published by the European alternative exchange Portfolio Stock Exchange.
The sole shareholder of Edificio Rostower is the Messi family’s investment holding company, Limecu Espana 2010, according to the documents.
However, the fund told the stock exchange that it plans to open up to new investors, Portfolio Stock Exchange executive president Santiago Navarro told Reuters, without elaborating.
Messi’s fund has not yet done business. The exchange, launched in 2023 and supervised by the Bank of Spain, allows trading only when a company seeks to sell shares or increase its capital, Navarro said.
Edificio Rostower did not respond to a request for comment initially about its debut on the stock exchange, which took place last Monday (30).
The company owns seven hotels in Spain and Andorra, three offices and five apartments in Spain, as well as apartments in London and Paris, according to the documents.
Founded in 2013, the company reported a loss of 1.7 million euros (R$11 million) in 2023, according to records published by Portfolio Stock Exchange. The company makes the majority of its investments in the Spanish region of Catalonia, where Messi, 37, moved to in 2000 when he was 13 to play for Barcelona’s youth teams.
He lived in the region until 2021 when he unexpectedly left Barcelona to sign for Paris Saint-Germain after the debt-ridden Catalan club said it could not keep him due to La Liga’s financial fair play rules.
