Juve sets share price

December 10, 2001 Posted: 1307 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- Italian soccer giant Juventus has announced the price of its shares at which it will sell its stock to the public for the first time.

The Turin-based club, which has been in the hands of the Fiat-owning Agnelli family since the 1920s, is selling shares worth 162.5 million ($144.6 million), at a price of 4.20 each, the top end of a indicated range.

Juventus, known as the Old Lady of Turin, is Italy's most successful and best-supported club, having won a record 25 Italian league titles as well as two European Cups -- in 1985 and 1996.

The offering values Juventus at 508 million ($450 million) – almost three times the value of domestic rival Roma but slightly less than the world's richest club, Britain's Manchester United.

The 38.7 million shares on offer include 16.9 million new shares. The rest of the shares on offer come from the 99.6 percent stake owned by the Agnelli family's holding company Ifi.

Del Piero (front) is one of Juventus' top earners

It has also set aside an extra 5.8 million shares, which will be sold if demand from the general public and investment banks exceeds the 39 million stocks on offer, adding an extra 24.4 million to Juve's coffers.

Juventus Chief Executive Antonio Giraudo told Reuters foreign investors had "acknowledged the value of our company," which made a 5.8-million net profit last year.

"(The value) is based on a positive bottom line for the next five years and two projects that will enable us to grow further, relying on a sound asset base, continued profitability and creating shareholder value," Giraudo said.

The offer period runs until December 14, with shares expected to start trading on December 20. Juventus said the minimum block of shares investors could buy would be 500.

It will be the third Italian club to get a stock market listing, after Roma and Lazio.

Football shares have had a disappointing time of late with concerns growing about multi-million dollar player transfers, spiralling wages and mounting debts.

Juventus is one of the biggest spenders in Italian soccer, with top earners such as striker Alessandro del Piero picking up salaries worth more than $100,000 a week.

The club also splashed out more than $100 million on players before the start of the season, although that outlay was partially covered by the record $66 million the club received from the sale of Zinedine Zidane to Real Madrid.

Juventus is offering the shares to raise money to boost its off-field activities, including the building of a new sports centre on the outskirts of Turin, where it is based and the purchase and redevelopment of its Delle Alpi stadium.

On the field, Juventus remains sixth in the Serie A league after scoring a controversial penalty to draw 1 – 1 with AC Milan at the weekend.