FC Barcelona Monday introduced that they’ve efficiently closed a financing deal value 1.45 billion euros ($1.6 billion) to renovate their beloved but antiquated Camp Nou stadium and its environs.
The membership revealed that they have been capable of renegotiate the unique phrases to safe this settlement.
Barcelona added that they signed the settlement with 20 buyers, together with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
The Spanish membership are set to pay again buyers in progressive tranches – after 5, seven, 9, 20, and 24 years – with a versatile construction, together with a grace interval.
This means Barca will end repaying the debt six years sooner than beforehand agreed, after renegotiating what was initially a 35-year deal accredited in a referendum of membership members in 2021.
“The club will start to repay the operation once work has been completed on the stadium, using income generated by the Spotify Camp Nou, which is forecast to be around 247 million euros,” Barcelona stated in an announcement on their official web site.
The membership added that they’d maintain a news convention to present extra particulars on the financing deal within the coming days.
The announcement comes 24 days after the earlier deadline to succeed in a deal, March 31, elapsed. The membership stated on the time that negotiations have been nonetheless ongoing.
The preliminary debt construction has since been revised, the Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) stated in studies printed on its web site.
KBRA stated the revised construction included extra refinancing and rate of interest threat. As a outcome, it downgraded the financing plan’s ranking from BBB+ to BBB, making it much less enticing to buyers.
Later, KBRA stated it had transformed its preliminary ranking to unpublished from printed on the membership’s request.
Camp Nou is the most important soccer stadium in Europe and the fourth-largest on the planet by capability, with 99,354 seats.
But Barcelona have stated it now not gives a full match-day expertise for followers.
The membership estimates that the revamped stadium will enable them to generate greater than 200 million euros of extra income yearly via sponsorship and naming rights, ticketing, catering, VIP packing containers, hospitality, conferences and occasions.
Turkish building firm Limak has been tasked with the renovation, with works set to start in June.
Club president Joan Laporta, who presided over one in all Barca’s most profitable intervals from 2003 to 2010, was re-elected two years in the past after the earlier board resigned because of the membership’s worsening funds and different points.
Laporta inherited a membership deep in a monetary disaster exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since taking on, he has tried to enhance Barca’s monetary scenario, turning the membership’s belongings into money and bringing in new sponsors.
In March 2022, the membership signed a shirt and stadium sponsorship cope with the audio streaming platform Spotify in an settlement value 280 million euros.
Barcelona have additionally agreed to promote a 25% stake of their La Liga TV rights for the subsequent 25 years to U.S. non-public fairness group Sixth Street for 607.5 million euros and accredited the sale of a minority share of their audio-visual division to Socios.com and Orpheus Media for 200 million.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
