A new eyebrow-raising Chinese statistic: one of the country’s top football teams may carry a value US$1 billion (S$1.4 billion) more than famed Manchester United.
Based on one measure made public this week in Beijing, China’s Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC is worth 21.9 billion yuan ($3.37 billion), far more than the $2.35 billion market valuation of Manchester United Ltd., as many Chinese media outlets pointed out Wednesday.
The value for the Chinese team is derived from transactions recorded this week on a Beijing exchange where fractional shares in the Chinese football team changed hands.
Transactions in the team’s shares are rare, prompting some observers in China to extrapolate: If all shares in the Chinese team were valued at the steep premiums paid this week, Evergrande Taobao would be worth more than some of the best known teams in the world.
Named for two of China’s best known brands, Evergrande Taobao is a five-time Chinese Super League winner but has lost money since 2013. It is 56.71 per cent owned by property developer Evergrande Real Estate and 37.81 per cent by Jack Ma’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.
The valuations assigned to the game of football have appeared increasingly out of whack in China. Credit generally goes to President Xi Jinping who, by virtually ordering the country win a World Cup, has sent power brokers scrambling to buy teams and staff them with world renowned players and coaches.
Evergrande Taobao has spent lavishly. Last year, it hired Brazil’s 2002 World Cup winning coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, and put in Brazilian forward Robinho, formerly of Real Madrid.
Perhaps that helps explain the valuation.
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