Lionel Messi Lists Real Estate Assets on Small Spanish Stock Exchange

Lionel Messi ended the year putting his real estate portfolio on a small Spanish stock market. 

The Argentine soccer star, who currently plays for Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami, listed the properties under a real estate investment trust (REIT) called Edificio Rostower Socimi on Dec. 30. The REIT is valued at $232 million. The share price was set Monday at $58.89 on a digital-only Spanish platform called the Portfolio Stock Exchange. The stock has yet to start trading. (REITs are companies that own and typically operate income-producing real estate or related assets, which individual investors can invest in.)

Its prospectus lists the company owning seven hotels, three commercial spaces for retail stores, and several apartments. The properties are concentrated in the Spanish region of Catalonia, but are also in London and Paris, according to documents filed to the PSE website. Rostower suffered losses in both 2022 and 2023. 

Messi spent most of his life and career in Spain before heading to MLS. Born in Argentina, he moved to Catalonia as a 12-year-old to play for FC Barcelona’s youth teams. He spent two years with Paris Saint-Germain before signing with Inter Miami in 2023. 

Rostower’s path to getting listed on the exchange came quickly. The company was named a REIT on Dec. 16, days after Spain’s government failed to increase taxes on real estate trusts in parliament. Messi chose to list the company on PSE, which is a smaller and less known platform than the Bolsa de Madrid, Spain’s largest stock exchange. 

REITs currently have a special tax rate that’s lower than those of other companies in Spain. Similarly in the U.S., REITs don’t have to pay taxes on their profits as long as they distribute a certain amount in dividends annually, according to Suryansh Sharma, an equity analyst for research firm Morningstar. 

REITs tend to be listed to meet the requirements for the tax break, raise capital, or publicly trade their holdings. The 2022 World Cup champion is listed as the Rostower’s chairman, and his wife, Antonela, also has a board seat. 

In 2017, Messi and his father, Jorge, were found guilty of tax fraud, avoiding $4.3 million from 2007 to 2009 in Spain. Both men were sentenced to prison time, but later saw their sentences changed to fines. 

Messi’s net worth is reportedly $600 million according to Forbes, and his contract with Inter Miami is an MLS-record $20.5 million. He has over $1 billion in career earnings. His major endorsers include Adidas, Mastercard, and Pepsi, among others.