Spanish football first hit the stock markets with the start of the listing of Intercity de San Juan (Alicante), the second RFEF club, in BME Growth, the growing business market in which it debuted on Friday. at € 1.20 per share. , valued at 5.56 million euros.
A club born in 2017, which has chained three promotions in four seasons and aims to continue to develop in professional football, is also a pioneer in entering the markets, which had not happened until present in Spanish football.
“We have the impression of being footballers who are going to play a promotional ‘play-off’,” revealed its president, Salvador Martí, a few moments before the bell of the Madrid Stock Exchange, where he described the operation of “reclassification of category”. the level of transparency “and” a new path for shareholders and football fans “.
With an initial subscription price of 1.20 euros per share, which represents a total valuation of the group at 5.56 million euros and the distinctive ‘City’, the Alicante group allows any investor to participate in its capital from this Friday.
“The club was created with the objective of growing without debt. We believe that the capital is much cheaper than the debt and generates less risk”, defended the president of Intercity, who counts among his advisers l former footballer of Atlético de Madrid and the Spanish team Juanfran. Torres.
Their next challenge is to get this season promoted to First RFEF, the last step before entering professional football, and they do not rule out investing in infrastructure. “Depending on the funding we get on the stock market, we want to build a stadium that we own and a sports city,” Martí said.
THE NEW “TRANSFER” OF BME’S GROWTH
As of this Friday, the Alicante group has been part of the stocks listed on BME Growth, a market formerly called the Alternative Stock Market (MAB), designed to facilitate the jump to the markets of small and medium-sized companies for which the continuous market is very far away.
“It is aimed at companies with lower turnover, where requirements and costs are much more affordable. It tries to motivate companies to take the step that allows them to achieve greater size and generate more jobs and growth, ”Joaquín Robles, analyst at the markets company XTB, told EFE.
The attractiveness of this market is that it allows companies to obtain “financing and liquidity” in a simpler way, at the same time as it gives visibility to their activity, even if it also requires a transparency effort, less than companies listed on the continuous market.
“For a small business, this gives you liquidity, your investors will be able to buy directly from the market without having to look for outside buyers. Visibility too, as many people can see your accounts, know your business and invest in yourself without negotiating unilaterally And at the same time, it gives you an assessment: you have your business valued at all times, ”Robles explained.
RATED CLUBS, SOMETHING NORMAL IN EUROPEAN FOOTBALL
Intercity opens an unexplored path in Spain, but common in other major European leagues, such as the English Premier League, the German Bundesliga, the French Ligue 1, the Italian Serie A or the Portuguese League. Clubs like English Manchester United, German Borussia Dortmund, Italian Juventus, French Olympique Lyonnais, Portuguese Benfica or Dutch Ajax are listed.
“Spain was an anomaly, from the countries of the five major leagues, it is the only one that does not have a club listed. Now we have one, even if it is not in professional football. “Spain is a more than interesting country, because of its excellent financial control, which LaLiga has done,” Luis García, Director of Investments at Mapfre AM, told EFE.
García is not talking about hearsay. He manages a fund, the Mapfre Behavioral Fund, which holds positions at Borussia Dortmund, Ajax and Olympique Lyon, so he knows first-hand the attractiveness for investors of these clubs and the impact that the rating a for teams.
“Sports management does not need to have a difference, apart from opening up creative methods of remuneration. Olympique de Lyon during the pandemic compensated for the drop in salaries during the pandemic with actions for the men’s teams and female, ”said the manager.
The fact that a club has all of its shares on the stock market does not necessarily mean that management is left to the discretion of whoever buys the shares, since the group of companies or the foundation that controls the management of the club may keep a percentage. majority of the shares so as not to lose the management of the entity. “In the case of Ajax, its foundation owns more than 70% of its shares,” Garcia recalled.
DOUBT ABOUT CALLING EFFECT
Intercity’s IPO raises the question of whether other Spanish clubs will follow their path. Its president was convinced. “I don’t think so, I’m sure it’s a business that will take less and less time. Partners and shareholders want more and more transparency and this is a way of financing all football clubs,” Martí defended himself.
However, the specialists consulted by the EFE consider it complicated. “Football has complex shareholding structures and it is a business in which it is difficult to be profitable,” said Joaquín Robles, analyst at XTB, who considers it unlikely that there is a ripple effect. .
The case of Intercity, for the specialist, has the particularity of being a recently created club, which is why it is “much healthier” and which “has greatly facilitated access” to the market.
In addition to this circumstance, in the case of 38 of the 42 professional clubs in La Liga, which have just benefited from financing by employer agreement with the investment fund CVC Capital Partners, which will provide 2,100 million euros in exchange of 9% of the audiovisual rights of the competition for 50 years.
“Going public to have access to more investors could be interesting for more clubs, but we are at a time when the financing needs of these have already been covered, except in a very advantageous way, at 50 years old and with a type of zero People might cheer themselves up, but this is a time when professional football clubs are funded, ”said Luis Garcia, director of investors at Mapfre AM.
Miguel Angel Moreno