The new investment offer launched today by Watford means fans can, once again, become ‘shareholders’ in the Hornets.

While it is called digital equity and involves investing via an online platform it is, in effect, a share issue similar to those that have happened before at Vicarage Road.

Digital equity simply means equity that is held in uncertificated form (ie. non-paper).

Indeed, for less than £50 Watford supporters can get involved and purchase the minimum commitment of four shares.

With the 10% stake valued at £17.5m, and a share price of £12.44, it means there are some 1.4m shares being made available.

However, those 1.4m shares represent 10% of the club’s total equity – owner Gino Pozzo retains 90% of the club.

Therefore, he still has 12,600,000 of the 14,000,000 shares in the Hornets, who have valued themselves at £175m.

A supporter purchasing four shares at a cost of £49.76 would therefore have ownership of 0.000028% of the club.

So, how do those interested in becoming part of this digital equity offering from Watford actually get involved?

Watford have chosen to partner with American digital investment platform Republic, who are one of the world’s largest operators in their field.

Republic has a proven track record for conducting equity sales of sports teams. English football clubs including AFC Wimbledon, South Shields FC and Altrincham FC have previously worked with Republic and/or its affiliates with great success.

In the UK, shares are available for purchase through Seedrs, Republic's European affiliate. Prospective eligible investors can buy shares at www.seedrs.com/watfordfc.

If oversubscribed on Seedrs, UK investors may also participate through the Republic platform.    

In the US, Europe, and more than 150 other countries around the world, interested investors should buy shares at www.republic.com/watfordfc.

Those who are considering taking part can pre-register their interest from today (June 4), with the deal going public on Thursday (June 6).

With the Seedrs platform specifically, there is a 24-hour waiting period required by law from the time someone registers until they are permitted to make an investment.

For UK investors purchasing shares via Seedrs, the price per share has been set at £12.44 and the minimum investment is four shares totalling £49.76.

For accredited investors in the United States and international investors purchasing shares via the Republic platform, the minimum purchase amount will be eight shares totalling £99.52.

Watford is not selling fractional shares, so all purchases will be in whole numbers of shares.

After purchasing shares, there may be the option to receive tokens associated with those shares, and these tokens may enable investors to have exclusive benefits (although the tokens themselves are not ‘equity’).

Watford has the right and the intention, but not the obligation, to mint and distribute tokens to shareholders from this offering.

It is intended that benefits these tokens will enable supporters to enjoy will include priority ticket access, private tours and special access to select stadium areas, and unique matchday experiences.

A number of football clubs have offered different versions of ‘digital assets’ before, including NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and fan tokens, so what is different about the Watford offering?

They stress the most important is that what the Hornets are doing enables true ownership of equity shares in the club, which is not the case for NFTs or fan tokens.

Investors are purchasing actual stock in the club with the equity simply held in digital form.

In contrast, most NFTs and fan tokens are not connected to real assets, are not regulated by financial authorities, and have no tangible market value.

NFTs and fan tokens usually require payment in cryptocurrency, which means prospective buyers must purchase cryptocurrency in order to buy the actual token.

Investors in Watford’s digital equity sale can acquire shares with standard currencies, such as British pounds or US dollars.

Cryptocurrency is not required to participate in what the Hornets are offering.

There will be a ‘lock-up period’ after the closing date of Watford’s equity offering, which means no trading will be allowed for 12 months.

Certain financial regulatory standards required this, and Watford and Republic collectively decided to apply this across all geographies allowed to participate in this offering.

Of course, as with any investment, there is risk attached.

Equity investments are subject to market fluctuations, company-specific risks, and general economic conditions. Prices can be volatile, and there is risk of losing the invested capital.

With the value of any club heavily linked to its performances on the pitch and league position, clearly a better season in 24/25 might mean the value of the equity would rise.

Of course, a season like the last couple and it may be a different story.