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Jakarta Post

Bali United goes public, lists shares on IDX

An unusually cheerful atmosphere filled the Indonesia Stock Exchange’s (IDX) main hall on Monday morning, with people banging together red-and-white inflatable clapping sticks and blowing whistles as the trading bell rang, just as if it was the kick-off for a soccer match

Riska Rahman (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, June 18, 2019

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Bali United goes public, lists shares on IDX

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span>An unusually cheerful atmosphere filled the Indonesia Stock Exchange’s (IDX) main hall on Monday morning, with people banging together red-and-white inflatable clapping sticks and blowing whistles as the trading bell rang, just as if it was the kick-off for a soccer match.

It turns out they were not cheering on a soccer match, but they were the management, stakeholders, players and loyal supporters of soccer club Bali United FC, who had come to the IDX to celebrate the listing of the club’s management company, PT Bali Bintang Sejahtera, on the stock exchange.

The company, listed under the appropriately chosen ticker code BOLA (the Indonesian word for ‘ball’), is the first ever sports club to make its shares available to be traded publicly on a bourse in Southeast Asia. It is also the second sports management firm to go public in Asia after China’s Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC in 2015.

Spokesperson Ngurah Wirya Darma said on Monday the listing had been met with much enthusiasm from investors, with the shares 110 times oversubscribed during the public offering period.

President director Yabes Tanuri told reporters that fans had also joined in the excitement, saying they also rushed to buy some of the 2 billion new shares, sold at Rp 175 (1.2 US cents) per share.

“A 12-year old boy even came to the public offering event, saying that he took all of his savings from his piggy bank to buy some of our shares to show his support for his favorite club,” he recounted, adding that the buzz proved that the fans were keen to support the club, known as the Tridatu Warriors, on and off the field.

The excitement surrounding the company’s public offering also seemed to extend to its first trading day, with the stock’s share price jumping 69.14 percent to Rp 296 when it opened and remaining in that position throughout the day.

Finance director Yohanes Ade Moniaga said the firm was able to gather Rp 350 billion through the IPO.

According to its prospectus, the company plans to use 19.1 percent of the funds for capital expenditure (capex), in particular to upgrade the I Wayan Dipta Stadium in Gianyar, Bali, as well as the club’s training facilities and the children’s playground at the stadium and the Bali United stores, in addition to developing its own mobile app.

It also plans to designate 60.5 percent of the funds for working capital, while the remaining 20.4 percent will be used for the capex of its subsidiaries, which include a sports agency, a café and restaurant, as well as its e-sports team.

Given the company’s diversified business interests, along with its success in the country’s premiere Liga 1 championship, president commissioner Pieter Tanuri said he was upbeat about its future in the stock market.

“We’re not just managing a soccer club, we also go beyond this business, so I think we have good prospects in the future,” he said.

This sentiment was echoed by Yohanes, who said he projected the firm’s revenue to reach Rp 159.5 billion this year, up 69.7 percent year-on-year, mainly from the club’s sponsorships and its sports agency business.

He also projected this year’s operating profit to increase to Rp 10 billion from Rp 9.24 billion in 2018, while he said its profit before tax was projected to total Rp 19.5 billion, up from Rp 8.04 billion from last year.

Pieter also expressed hope Bali United’s listing would help people realize that sport was a profitable industry that could make a positive contribution to the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Meanwhile, Indonesia Soccer Association (PSSI) acting chief Iwan Budianto said the club’s listing on the bourse would motivate other soccer clubs to follow suit.

IDX assessment director I Gede Nyoman Yetna said the bourse was currently in talks with three other of the country’s top clubs, namely the Malang, East Java, based Arema FC, Persib FC from Bandung, West Java and the Jakarta-based Persija FC.

“So far, Arema FC has voiced its interest to follow in Bali United’s footsteps,” he said. “We’re currently helping them to get all the information they need to conduct an IPO so it can hopefully list its shares this year.”

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