China's top soccer club seeks listing on start-up board

Xu Jiayin, left, chairman of real estate developer Evergrande, which backed  Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club together with Alibaba, watches the match between Evergrande and Beijing Guoan at the Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou, June 25, 2015. [Photo/IC]

BEIJING - A top soccer club in China is a spot on the country's start-up board amid current stock market frenzy, filings made public on Wednesday showed.

Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club, 2013 AFC Champions League winner and four-time Chinese Super League champion, will seek listing on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), which was launched in late 2012 and known as the "new third board" .

Despite the club's stellar record, filings showed Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao has been losing money. It registered losses of 576 million yuan ($ 92 million) and 482 million yuan in 2013 and 2014.

NEEQ uses a trading mechanism comparable to the OTC Bulletin Board or pink sheets trading system in the US, an easier option for some companies which may instead spend more than a year to get the regulators' nod for listings on the main stock exchanges.

Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao is backed by Evergrande, a leading real estate developer and Alibaba, an e-commerce giant, which respectively own60 percent and 40 percent stakes in the club.