Italian soccer club Juventus said today it would price shares in its stock market flotation at between €3.50 and €4.20, valuing the company at up to €437 million, according to its IPO prospectus.
Of 38.7 million shares on offer, 16.9 million would be new shares and the rest would come from the 99.6 per cent stake in the club owned by Ifi, a holding of the powerful Agnelli family whose empire includes carmaker Fiat.
At least 13.5 million shares, or 35 per cent of the offer, would be reserved for individual investors with a maximum of 400,000 shares reserved for employees.
Juventus, one of the greatest names in world soccer, wants to capitalise on its record at the most successful club in Italian soccer history to raise cash developing its off-field business activities.
The IPO will make the Turin-based club a stock market competitor to the world's richest soccer club, Manchester United.
United's market valuation currently stands at around £340 million sterling, way down from over £1 billion in 2000, hurt by tough conditions for media companies and more recently a slump in form on the field.
Juventus has won 25 league titles, nine Italian cups, two European cups and three UEFA cups. They were beaten 3-1 by Arsenal in a European Champions League game last night.