Metrovacesa Halts Split From Gecina

Allan Saunderson is managing editor of Property Finance Europe and a contributor to GlobeSt.com.

PARIS-Spain’s struggling quoted property group Metrovacesa has announced that it will accept a stop to the separation agreement with French REIT/SIIC Gecina, calling a halt to a long-running dispute between the two firms. In a related development, Gecina, embroiled in a number of controversies over actions by its senior officers, also said the Paris Appeals Court has overturned a lower court ruling that had appointed a judicial officer to chair its AGM on 15 June.

The separation agreement was signed in February 2007 between former Metrovacesa shareholders and senior officers Joaquín Rivero Valcarce and Bautista Soler Crespo – now the major shareholders of Gecina, of which Rivero is CEO – and Román Sanahuja Pons, head of the family that pushed the two out after a long-running boardroom struggle. “Metrovacesa has acknowledged, after analyzing the overall situation and without prejudice to its consequences, that it is not possible to complete the performance of the Separation Agreement, which involved transferring certain office assets owned by Gecina .. to Metrovacesa,” the Madrid group said in a statement. It will remain a shareholder, with a 26.9% stake, and recently appointed five directors.