Football clubs turn to the Stock Exchange – 03/10/2024 – Sport

Continuing a practice that began in the 1980s, the action of Grupo Ollamani, owner of Club de Fútbol América and the mythical Azteca stadium, debuted on the Mexican Stock Exchange on February 20th.

Reflecting the euphoria that gripped investors and fans, the shares, which started their first session worth 11.50 pesos (R$ 3.40), ended the day quoted at 29.98 pesos (R$ 8.86), a high 160%.

“America’s fans, characterized by their loyalty and dedication, can now be, together with us, shareholders of this extraordinary team”, declared Emilio Azcárraga, president of Televisa and Grupo Ollamani.

The operation aims to finance the renovation of the Azteca stadium, budgeted at around US$150 million (R$746 million). Stage of the 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals, the stadium will host the opening of the 2026 World Cup.

Led by Brazilian André Jardine, América ended a five-year drought last season and lifted the Mexican Championship trophy for the 14th time.

“The share practically tripled in size in a few days, and this is largely due to the results that the team has been delivering”, says Victor Bueno, analyst at Nord Research.

Using financing via the capital market to invest in the stadium, pay debts and reinforce the squad is a strategy that began in the 1980s, in England.

The first club to do an IPO (initial public offering) was Tottenham, in 1983.

The biggest IPO for a football club was in 2012, when Manchester United launched shares on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange), raising around US$230 million (R$1.14 billion). The objective was to raise funds to pay off and renegotiate debts.

The “Red Devils” operation surpassed the record that had been in place for more than a decade by Juventus, which made its US$130 million (R$647 million) IPO in 2001 to renovate the Delle Alpi stadium.

As a rule, clubs that have made their IPOs are controlled by family or corporate holding companies that sell a portion of the business, but remain majority shareholders.

In addition to titles and relegations, transfers of big players can influence shares. In 2018, the year in which the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo was hired by Juventus, the shares of the “Old Lady” jumped around 50% on the Milan Stock Exchange.

In the case of the Manchester team, over the last 12 months, the shares have depreciated by around 35%. In addition to the lack of results on the field, the performance reflects the uncertainty about the club’s direction after the acquisition of a stake in the team by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe.

In South America, three Chilean clubs —Colo-Colo, Universidad Católica and Universidad de Chile— have their shares traded on the Santiago Stock Exchange.

In Brazil, there is no club with shares on B3, the São Paulo Stock Exchange. Last year, the then administration of Duílio Monteiro Alves, from Corinthians, even considered selling part of the stake in Neo Química Arena to investors on the stock exchange. With the change in presidency, the project did not move forward.

As the shares are traded in markets outside the country, Brazilian investors who want to invest in shares need to have an account abroad and consider the risk of exchange rate variations, says William Eid Júnior, director of FGVcef (Center for Studies in Finance at Fundação Getulio Vargas).

To trade shares on the Stock Exchange, the investor issues through his broker an order to buy or sell a specific share for a defined price, which is carried out when a counterparty accepts the proposal. “The IPO of a sports company is like any company. You have to understand the prospects of the business.”

It is necessary to pay attention to the team’s financial balance to make sure that the offer aims to grow the operation, says Alberto Amparo, head of analysis at Suno Research. He adds that the investor must take into account the club’s revenue generation and profit, as well as the level of debt.

Although they do not have access to shares in Brazilian clubs, local investors have options related to sports in the cryptoactive market.

The MB platform (Market Bitcoin) launched the Vasco Token in 2020, a digital asset that remunerates the investor when a player revealed by Gigante da Colina is sold.

The income involves a pre-defined basket of players and arises from the FIFA (International Football Federation) solidarity mechanism, which provides for the payment of up to 5% of the transfer value to the clubs that revealed the athlete. “The proposal is to invest with passion and reason”, says Reinaldo Rabelo, CEO of MB.

When midfielder Philippe Coutinho was sold by Aston Villa to Al-Duhail, token holders received R$625,000, or R$1.24 per token. Since the asset was issued, around 3.6 million have been distributed, or R$72 per token, below the initial value of R$100.

In addition to investors being able to buy and sell the token as a share through the platform, which influences the price, Rabelo explains that digital assets also suffer a proportional discount when the dividend is distributed, in the same way as a share. on the Stock Exchange when the company pays periodic income to shareholders.

In 2021, MB launched the Vila Token with the same proposal. When Neymar was traded by PSG (Paris Saint-Germai) with Al Hilal, token holders received R$18 million, or R$29 per unit. In total, the Vila Belmiro club token distributed R$20.3 million, or R$34.64 per token, below the initial R$50.

In 2024, the platform launched a new token related to motorsport. The profitability of the asset depends on the on-track performance of driver Emmo Fittipaldi, son of two-time Formula 1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi.

In 2024, the 16-year-old will compete in the Middle East Regional Formula and Eurocup-F3 seasons. If he obtains victories that qualify him for F1 in the coming years, the holder of the EMMOF01 token will have a profitability that could reach 40% per year, in the optimistic scenario. The pessimistic projection indicates that the token could result in a loss of up to 5% per year.