Juventus Have Valued Themselves At Up To $387 Million
TURIN, December 6 (DS) - Juventus FC have valued themselves at up to E437m (387 million dollars) as it began a roadshow yesterday for its planned stock market listing on December 20, the Financial Times reports.
The Italian club will be the third Italian club to get a stock market listing, alongside AS Roma and S.S. Lazio.
Juventus, which claim more fans than any other in Italy, are pressing ahead with the flotation to raise cash to develop their non-footballing businesses despite a sustained slump in the price of football club shares.
Club board and bankers advising it on the initial public offering shrugged off the disappointing performance of football club shares. They declared they evaluated Juventus as a "special situation" given its huge following in Italy.
Juventus have set a price ranging from E3.50 to E4.20 for the 38.7m shares being offered to investors. Italian institutions and fans of the club are likely to be the vast majority of buyers of the stock.
If Juventus can sell them at the top end of that range, their value will put it close to that of Manchester United, the English club that generates the most revenue among the world's leading sides.
Some 17m of the shares on offer are new, while more are being sold by interests of the Agnelli family, which controls Fiat. Ifi, an Agnelli holding company, owns 99.6 per cent of shares of Juventus. That will be diluted after the IPO, which should see around one third of the club's shares held by other shareholders.
Yesterday Juventus chief executive Antonio Giraudo stated that the club would use the proceeds of the IPO to diversify its businesses, including the building of a new sports centre on the outskirts of Turin, where it is based, and redeveloping its Delle Alpi stadium.
More than half of Juventus' revenues are now generated from broadcasting agreements.
Analysts said the club, known as the Old Lady of Turin, was relatively cushioned against any serious downturn in football's fortunes because of its lucrative contracts with Italian television companies to broadcast its games.
But the club have had mixed results so far this season despite paying some of the highest transfer fees and wages in world football to secure star names.
Arsenal FC beat 3-1 Juventus in the Champions League on Tuesday. Success in that competition is critical to the financial health of participating clubs.
It is also off the pace in Serie A, the domestic league, lying five points behind Inter FC in fifth position.
