Valletta’s largest property owner seeking to raise capital from new investors

​Valletta property owner Valletta Boutique Living has announced a review of its strategic options, in a bid to expand its core market by raising capital from new financial investors

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Valletta property owner Valletta Boutique Living has announced a review of its strategic options, in a bid to expand its core market by raising capital from new financial investors.

VBL said the prospective equity transactions could result in a change to the shareholding structure.

The company said it had started discussions with local and international advisors to map out potential opportunities.

“As part of this process, the company will explore and perform a comprehensive evaluation of strategic options and initiatives to unlock and maximise shareholder value going forward. No decision to the selection of specific strategic options has been made so far and there is no certainty if and when such decisions will be made in the future,” the company said.

It said any specific decisions would be announced to the market. “This announcement was made to inform and assure all shareholders that, while the financing of the current development cycle is secured, the company wishes to begin to review the possible strategies and plans for the next development cycle.”

VBL’s market operation is Valletta, where it owns a considerable stock of real estate geared towards the tourism and entertainment market. The company said it will still focus its operations on Valletta and remains involved in the full process of real estate acquisition, integrated real estate development, property management, operations, rental and the occasional disposal of non-strategic properties.

VBL is today the largest private owner of real estate in Valletta with a diversified portfolio of residential, hospitality, commercial and office space.

Today the Group has three major business lines: acquisition, development, and operations.

VBL's overall business model is simple: it acquires property, conceptualise sit, regenerates it and then operates the final product using its market share and economies of scale to outperform independent operators.

The company listed all of its shares on the Malta Stock Exchange in 2021 and since its IPO, continued to implement its declared expansion along its announced plan.

At the time of the IPO, shareholders holding 10% or more of the shares undertook not to transfer their shares for a period of twenty-four months from the date of listing.

The issued share capital of VBL as of 31st December 2021 was 244,471,217 ordinary shares of a nominal value of €0.20 per share.  All shares are listed on the Malta Stock Exchange and hold the same rights.

As of 31st December 2021, no single shareholder owns 25% or more of the company.

In its Interim Consolidated Financial Statements for January to June 2022, VBL reported revenue of €894, 884, of which approximately 16% was not hospitality related.

This was an increase of 315% on the previous year's comparative period.

VBL achieved an EBITDA of €47,907 for the period of the interim report.

This compares to revenue of €203,499 and a negative EBITDA of €207,408 in the corresponding period of 2021.

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