Club Brugge will travel to Euronext Brussels on 26 March at 17.5 to 22.5 euros per share. That fork values the national champions football at a maximum of 258 million, a lot less than initially expected.
Since De Tijd published Club’s stock exchange plans a few weeks ago, it has become apparent that the appreciation against which bankers are putting the company on the market is sky-high. There was talk of at least 400 million euros. For comparison: the listed Ajax Amsterdam
was worth $ 292 million on Tuesday night.
How can you subscribe to the Club Brugge IPO?
Club Brugge will go to the stock exchange next Friday. Due to its well-known name and popularity, perhaps thousands of private individuals will want to acquire shares in the football club. How does such an IPO work?
The valuation at which blue-black eventually goes public is much lower: 229 million euros in the middle of the price range and 258 million at the top of the same range. The center of the fork corresponds to 9 times the net profit of Club Brugge in the 2019-2020 season (24.5 million euros) and 1.7 times the annual turnover, in line with Ajax or Borussia Dortmund (see table below).
Blue-black will note under the name ‘CLUB’. The first trading day is scheduled for March 26.
Based on the published price range, the operation to the shareholder group involving chairman Bart Verhaeghe (including CEO Vincent Mannaert and directors Jan Boone and Peter Vanhecke) will yield between 57 million and 105 million. In the middle of the price range, it comes to 75 million. As expected, no new shares will be sold on the IPO.
Depending on the demand for shares, Bart Verhaeghe & co. sell a minimum of 30 percent and a maximum of 40 percent of the Club shares. Their joint interest in the club will drop from 94.34 to 53.6 to 66 percent.
Individuals
As always with IPOs in Belgium, at least 10 percent of the shares offered are sold to private investors. Supporters of Club Brugge will therefore be able to own a not insignificant part of their favorite club – which will be listed under the ‘CLUB’ sticker.
Important practical information for the small investor: the subscription period runs from 17 to 25 March and when demand is high, there is a preference for those who subscribed via Belfius. The state bank, a sponsor of Club Brugge, is responsible for the retail section of the operation. Credit Suisse, JPMorgan and Berenberg are the other facilitators of the IPO.
Club Brugge will not publish quarterly results, but will only communicate its financial figures every six months. After the IPO, the board of directors will consist of seven members. In addition to the members of the shareholder group around Bart Verhaeghe, these are Sangeeta Desai, Lucy Quist and Cind Du Bois. The three women will serve as independent directors.
