Yutang Weekly (11.9-11.15)

Guangzhou Evergrande officially becomes first listed Asian soccer club

Chinese Super League (CSL) five-time winner Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC officially became a listed entity after listing its shares on the New Third Board last Friday. The National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) has approved the club’s application for its listing on the New Third Board, seeing the CSL giants, which are money-backed by Chinese billionaires Xu Jiayin and Jack Ma, stand out as the first listed soccer club in Asia.

Legend Holdings invests in sports

Formed in April 2001, Legend Capital, also known as Lenovo Capital, an independent Venture Capital investment subsidiary under Legend Holdings, set up its culture and sports industry fund to focus on the pan-culture layout at a high-profile forum co-held by Zero2IPO Group on October 29th 2015.

Chinese shareholder of Espanyol launches a sports unit

China’s Rastar Group has announced that it has set up a sport unit, EZ Sports, after its Hong Kong unit’s 64.348 million euro acquisition of 50.1 percent stake in Spanish football club Espanyol, according to a news reports from Enorth.com.

LeTV Sports teams up with WRC to promote the event in China

WRC Promoter has signed a multi-year agreement with LeTV Sports to promote the returning World Rally Championship in China alongside the Federation of Automobile Sports of China, according to news reports from AutoSports. 

Valencia CF and Shanghai to team up on football development in China

Spanish top football division side Valencia CF is reportedly to cooperate with Shanghai on football development in China, according to online.shanghai.  Peter Draper, Valencia CF Commercial and Marketing Director, visited Shanghai on November 2 and had talks with representatives from Shanghai including Zhou qiwei, Deputy Director of Pudong Sports and Education Bureau, Ma Chunfu, head of the Sports Department and Sun Ji, founder of a Chinese football company. 

TAG Heuer sues CBA agent Infront China

TAG Heuer, a CBA timekeeper and wristwatch partner, was forced to suspend the partnership to start a suit because of contract-breaking of Infront Sports & Media China, the CBA’s exclusive agent in China, announced the wristwatch brand Monday on November 9th.

Huawei announces Robert Lewandowski as brand ambassador

Robert Lewandowski, the captains of Polish national team and Bayern Munich soccer star, has signed a personal endorsement deal with Huawei. Under the deal, the Polish international striker will serve as the brand ambassador for Huawei and promote the Chinese brand and its products, especially smartphones, tablets and wearable devices in Poland, Central and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. The financial terms of the deal have not been released. 

Pac-12 and LeTV announce expanded partnership in China

The Pac-12 Conference and LeTV Sports, a fast-growing sports media and technology subsidiary of LeTV, announced an expanded partnership deal at a press conference held in Shanghai yesterday.