Spanish property developer Metrovacesa plans stock market listing

[MADRID]Spanish residential developer Metrovacesa, which was taken over by creditors during the country's property crash, said it plans to list on the stock market, highlighting renewed investor faith in Spanish real estate.

Residential construction in Spain is now thriving with foreign investment pouring into developments in cities and coastal resorts, a decade after a property bubble burst and wreaked havoc on the country's financial system.

The sector has become one of the hottest in Spain for investor activity in recent years. House builder Neinor Homes listed last year, the first flotation by a Spanish residential builder in a decade.

Metrovacesa, with a net asset value of 2.7 billion euros (US$3.2 bln), has already appointed banks for its IPO and said the flotation on Spanish stock exchanges was aimed at widening its shareholder base to ease access to capital markets and financing for projects.

The company did not say in the statement when it intended to list, but a source close to the matter said it hoped to float in early February.

The company, which owns the largest land bank in Spain, will look to sell existing shares owned by Spanish banks Santander and BBVA in the offering, it said in a statement released to the market regulator.

Santander and BBVA own the majority of the company which they obtained in 2009 in exchange for Metrovacesa's massive debt, built up during an unsustainable expansion during Spain's decade-long property boom.

BBVA, Santander, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley are acting as the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the offer.

Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale are acting as additional joint bookrunners, the company said in the statement.

REUTERS