Watford FC Offers Fans Stake In Club
Watford FC has announced it is looking to sell 10% of the club to fans and investors via the digital economy.
The EFL Championship football club is seeking to raise £17.5m by allowing fans to buy a minimum of four shares at a cost of £12.44 each.
Watford has described the ‘exciting step’ as an opportunity to ‘grow as a club and a community’ and makes them one of the ‘first major English clubs to offer true ownership to fans and investors alike’.
The offerings will be hosted by Republic, an online investment platform that has previous experience of offering digital equity offerings in football. Shares will be available for purchase on both the Republic platform and Seedrs, Republic’s platform in Europe, in either sterling or dollars with no necessity to purchase via cryptocurrency, like traditional share sales.
Seedrs has previously worked with AFC Wimbledon and Dorking Wanderers on similar projects.
Watford have been owned by Italian businessman Gino Pozzo since 2014 and have twice won promotion to the Premier League in that time, as well as reaching the FA Cup final in 2019.
In a statement, the club said, ‘Part of the funding will be channeled into recruitment to strengthen Tom Cleverley’s playing squad as we seek a return to the Premier League. We believe this project can form a key strand of football’s future finance, where investors and supporters alike can enjoy the fruits of the club’s future success.’
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