Fibra Inn will not go public after offers to buy CBFIs

Fibra Inn, a real estate investment trust in the hotel sector, will not delist from the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV); It will continue to be a public company in the event that the two groups of investors interested in acquiring, separately, up to 80% of its titles, successfully complete their offers, the director of Administration and Finance of the real estate trust, Miguel Aliaga, assured in an interview. .

“There are two totally independent groups, one from the other, that have an interest in being relevant in the company and if that interest materializes it does not indicate that Fibra Inn is privatized because in a privatization it is sought to have 100% of the company,” clarified the executive.

Therefore, he reiterated: “we do not perceive that the intention of either of the two groups is to unlist the company, but to participate in a company where they see an area of ​​opportunity.”

On Monday, December 19, Fibra Inn reported that two groups of investors are interested in buying a significant number of real estate trust stock certificates (CBFI), which would have significant influence on the real estate firm.

The first group represented by the firms Origin Patrimonial and Factoring Azteca intends to acquire up to 30% of the outstanding titles directly from the stock market.

The second, made up of Comercial Hotelera Mexicana de Occidente, Hotel Financing Found and Ernesto Fernando Echavarría Salazar, seeks to obtain between 40 and 49% of the real estate trust, for which they will launch a Public Acquisition Offer (OPA).

The news caused a rise in Fibra Inn’s price on the BMV. In three days it registered a yield of 18.61%, climbing to 6.18 pesos per CBFI.

Miguel Aliaga stressed that if the purchase that each group of investors seeks to make is successful, the papers of the issuer would only be changing investors or holders.

Regarding when the operations could take place, he commented that it is difficult to know how long this process would take, but there could be clarity around the first half of next year.

“It is uncertain to set a time because it will depend on the speed with which the first group buys the certificates in the market and the second group will have to launch an OPA and follow the process before the National Banking and Securities Commission, but what is reasonable could be during the first semester of 2023, to set time for both of them”, he considered.

He added that the purchase price of the CBFIs, object of the public offer, is still unknown, it is yet to be set by potential investors. Although he said that a price higher than the price of its titles would help to achieve the objective of obtaining between that 40 and 49 percent.

“The price level that they will offer in the OPA remains to be seen, we do not know it, but each current investor has the freedom to choose whether or not to sell at that price, if they do not sell, they keep their participation in Fibra Inn,” he said. .

Regarding the request of the group of investors that is going for up to 30% of the real estate trust, he clarified that they will buy the CBFIs in the stock market, as the holders of the titles usually do.

Miguel Aliaga explained that the interest that the two groups of investors have in achieving a relevant participation in the firm is positive, since “it speaks well of the work of Fibra Inn. The results have been increasingly favorable and I think that this is what was missing, that current and potential investors had more clarity about the future of the company”.

He recalled that the hotel company has managed to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the worst crises in the world. Their numbers already reflect a recovery when compared to 2019, the year before the health emergency.

The person in charge of finances at Fibra Inn assured that “the pandemic helped them improve and be more efficient than they had been in 2019 because many of the later comparative figures are better.”

The income of the real estate trust grew 9.7% in November of this year, when compared to the same month of 2019, to 147.5 million pesos, considering the operation of 31 hotels in operation. Occupancy closed at 67.4% against the level of 66.4% prior to the pandemic.

New growth strategy

For the general director of Signum Research, Armando Rodríguez, if 100% of the offer materializes, Fibra Inn will have new investors who could present a new growth plan, since they would reach an important position and would have the power to appoint new directors.

“This speaks of the fact that they are seeing attractive prices in the market that are not necessarily in line with the fundamentals, both the operational and financial recovery that has been observed in fiber, are good news for fiber and for the hotel sector in general,” I consider.

Rodríguez explained that with this acquisition, Fibra would not be a smaller public company, since the results of the offers that could take place until next year still need to be known.

judith.santiago@eleconomista.mx