Extraordinary General Assembly approves the sale of a minority stake in BLM to one or more investors

The FC Barcelona virtual Extraordinary General Assembly held on Thursday, June 16 has approved the authorisation of the purchase of a minority stake in the share capital (up to 49.9%) of the company, Barça Licensing & Merchandising, s.l. (BLM).

This was the second item on the Agenda and the first of two votes during the Assembly regarding approving the two financial operations proposed by the Board of Directors with the aim of returning the Club to a sound financial footing. During the question and answers section, president Joan Laporta indicated that this sale of a stake in BLM could bring in 200 to 300 millon euro in income.

The results of the vote were 568 in favour, 65 against, and 13 blank votes.

Vice-president Juli Guiu's presentation

The Vice-president for the Marketing area of FC Barcelona, ​​Juli Guiu, presented this item on the agenda regarding BLM. He emphasised the strength and impact of this company owned outright by FC Barcelona, which is responsible for negotiating the Club's licences and merchandising.

BLM was and remains a significant source of income for the Club, with major potential for improvement due to the strength of the Barça brand with millions of fans worldwide. There has already been a post-pandemic recovery due to the return of tourism, games played in the stadium, and the Club's online sales using e-commerce.

Support for growth and expansion

Vice-president Juli Guiu highlighted that the commercialisation of the entire Barça brand involves physical stores, online sales, sales to wholesalers, and over 2,000 licensed products. He stated that 75% of the BLM business is in the local market, “which is why we should open ourselves up to the world and find a partner to help raise our profile and grow in new markets, so we are asking you to approve the search for the best partner in order to grow alongside them in new regions where they already have a presence and so they can help us expand”.

Juli Guiu completed his presentation with three very important aspects relating to this sale: "the new investor will always have a minority stake, the new partner will help us grow and the Club will always have the option to repurchase this minority stake".