China's Guangzhou Evergrande: world's most valuable club
China's Guangzhou Evergrande were proclaimed the holders of an unlikely title by the official news agency Xinhua on Wednesday: the world's most valuable football club.
China's Guangzhou Evergrande were proclaimed the holders of an unlikely title by the official news agency Xinhua on Wednesday: the world's most valuable football club.
A transaction in the club's shares on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), the obscure over-the-counter Chinese market where it is listed, gave it a market capitalisation of $3.35 billion, Xinhua said.
"Guangzhou Evergrande tops world clubs in market value," it trumpeted, as money pours into the Chinese game with President Xi Jinping pushing to turn the country -- ranked a lowly 96th by FIFA -- into a footballing power.
The deal Xinhua cited, for 36,000 shares at 55 yuan apiece ($8.50), represented a jump of nearly 40 percent from the 40 yuan each at which the club sold shares in a fundraising only two months ago.
The implied market capitalisation narrowly surpassed the $3.26 billion Forbes magazine said Real Madrid was worth when it named the Spanish side the world's most valuable sports team in 2015.
矢志不渝，广州队我撑你！#Guangzhou pic.twitter.com/I2oiAXTssS
— GZ Evergrande FC (@GZEvergrandeFC) March 3, 2016
It also bested Premier League club Manchester United, whose New York-listed stock closed at $14.32 on Tuesday for a market capitalisation of $2.35 billion, according to the US exchange.
On Wednesday, Evergrande's stock traded a fraction higher on NEEQ, with deals at 55.10 yuan.
The club is majority-owned by property developer Evergrande, with e-commerce giant Alibaba holding a stake of nearly 40 percent.
But it lost around $75 million in 2014, according to previously released results.
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The reigning Asian champions have started the new season slowly, with a draw and a defeat in their first two AFC Champions League matches, and went down 2-1 to little-known Chongqing Lifan in their opening Chinese Super League game at the weekend.
The club splashed out 42 million euros ($46 million) on Colombian striker Jackson Martinez in the recent transfer window, when Chinese clubs spent a world-leading 331 million euros, according to the Transfermarkt website.