The market value for Chinese Super League club Guangzhou Evergrande is $3.35B after it finished the first transaction in China's National Equities Exchange and Quotations on Tuesday, surpassing Real Madrid's $3.26B and ManU's $2.35B, according to XINHUA. Evergrande's transaction per share is valued at $8.5, selling 36,000 shares for $300,000 in the club's first trade after being listed in November. In this price, Evergrande's market value amounts to $3.35B in a total of 396.73 million shares. Before the Asian champion's public transaction, the most valuable listed club was ManU, which is listed on the NYSE. According to the price of $14.31 per share when U.S. markets closed on Monday, ManU's valuation was $2.35B. Extending the value rankings to all clubs, Real Madrid's worth is estimated at $3.26B. But in revenue, Evergrande is not in the same caliber with the top European clubs. Evergrande's average earning in the last three years is $61M, much less than ManU's $400M in the same period (XINHUA, 3/9). The AFP reported Guangzhou Evergrande is majority-owned by property developer Evergrande, with e-commerce giant Alibaba holding a stake of nearly 40%. But it lost around $75M in '14, according to previously released results. The club splashed out $46M on Colombian striker Jackson Martinez in the recent transfer window, when Chinese clubs spent a world-leading €331M ($364M) (AFP, 3/9). In N.Y., Jie & Areddy reported 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." No matter that "only 36,000 shares were exchanged for the team on Tuesday" and 17,000 more on Wednesday, deals worth a total of "only about 1/100th of its total shares." There is "more transparency in the value" of some better known football teams. Forbes last year used stadium deals and other metrics to estimate Real Madrid was the world’s most valuable team, with a value of $3.26B. Little is known "about the sellers and buyers in this week’s trades in Evergrande Taobao." A team spokesperson "declined to comment" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3/9).
