Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez is set to propose opening the club to private investors at the November 23 general assembly. The plan would see 5 to 10 percent of the club sold through a new company structure whilst maintaining the traditional socio ownership system that has defined the club since its founding.
The President of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, will be presenting to the club’s general assembly of Nov. 23 a plan to open the ownership up to private investors, El País reports.
According to the Spanish daily’s anonymous sources, the latest draft of Pérez’s proposal would establish a new company through which to sell off 5 to 10 percent of the club – an arrangement that, Pérez argues, would preserve the old ways.
As we detailed last month, Real Madrid has since its founding been under the ownership of what it calls socios, and many in the present generation of socios – who number about 100,000 – are reportedly not keen to let in outside investors.
Under the proposal, as Palco23 explains, the bulk of the club’s equity would remain in the hands of the socios, who would be limited to single shares. A socio could sell his share but only to a fellow socio who did not already possess a share – for instance, a new socio: that is, the child or grandchild of an existing socio.
The entry of new investors would set a value on the club. Current estimates have it at €6 billion, but Pérez thinks the true value closer to €10 billion, as he reportedly (Palco23) claimed during the previous general assembly.
Included in all this is a change in corporate structure. Real Madrid is one of four exceptions (along with FC Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna) to a Spanish law requiring every sports team to become a sports corporation – or, in Spain’s parlance, a Sociedad Anónima Deportiva (SAD).
To make Real Madrid into a SAD Pérez will need a strict majority vote at an as yet unscheduled extraordinary general meeting.
