Juventus Set For Stock-Market Flotation
Wednesday 5th September 2001
Juventus members decided on Tuesday to float on the Milan stock exchange. A 35 per cent stake in the club will be sold off, with IFI, a company owned by the Agnellis, retaining the remainder.
Juventus will buy the Stadio delle Alpi and finalise plans to build a huge sports and commercial centre to be known as Mondo Juve before becoming the third Italian club listed on the Bourse.
They will then fulfil the criterion laid down by the Bourse that football clubs must own property - the rule being an attempt to offset the fluctuations in a team's value caused by performances on the field.
Neither step, though, will be easy. Juve have argued with the Municipality of Turin in the past about the value of the stadium and its future use. Discussions with the new mayor, Sergio Chiamparino, are certain to be heated.
Mondo Juve will be a far more ambitious project, built in the Vinovo and Nichelino area and comprising playing fields, training facilities, cinemas and restaurants.
The project cannot be started until permission has been granted by the district government.
It was also decided that general manager Luciano Moggi will become a member of the board, as will factory-owner Giancarlo Cerutti, business consultant Caudio Saracco and IFI general director Virgilio Marrone.
