Al-Ahly players pose for a group photo before a recent match (Photo: Al-Ahly official website)
Egypt's largest sports club Ahly plans to establish a joint-stock football company making it the country's first independent club in order to meet FIFA standards for professional football teams on budget transparency and financial sustainability.
Ahly club, which was founded in 1907, is owned by the state and hence cannot be traded, board member Mohamed Abdel-Wahab told Ahram Online.
"This is why we are creating a new football company to become a subsidiary of the club," he explained.
Cairo-based investment bank CI Capital will arrange the Initial Public Offering (IPO), board member Emad Wahid told Ahram Online.
The IPO will only be possible after the new parliament ratifies a new sports bill, he added.
A draft sports law was prepared by the ministry of youth and sports late last year. Article 43 allows sports associations to establish companies and raise capital on the stock exchange.
A new parliament is set to be elected in two stages in March and April of this year.
With an initial name of Ahly Professionals Company, ten percent of the company's stocks will be offered to the club's employees, a share to Ahly Media Production Company, a quota for members, and public offering to investors, Wahid said.
The company will build a new stadium, a sports complex and a medical complex to attract investors according to Wahid.
The Ahly IPO is part of a boost of activity on the Egyptian stock exchange, which had suffered from political and economic turmoil since the January 2011 uprising.
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