the club already owes three times more money than it can generate in a year

2023-04-24 18:17:22

BarcelonaThis Monday, Barça made official the financing agreement for the comprehensive reform of Camp Nou. It’s 1,450 million euros in three installments to cover one of the historical shortcomings of the entity, which nine years ago approved the Espai Barça project via referendum and has only been able to inaugurate the Johan Cruyff stadium. Now, with Joan Laporta in the presidency, the board has between eyebrows to carry out the club’s most important heritage project, which is to reposition its football field among the best in the world with an expansion of capacity, the coverage of all localities, plus areas vip, the modernization of the facade and the adaptation of the surroundings, among other things. There is no news from the Palau Blaugrana.

The works at the Camp Nou will start in June, when the current season ends, and will cause the first football team to play at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium at least until the end of 2024. The forecast is that the Camp Nou will reopen to the public in the middle of the 2024-2025 campaign and that work is completed in the spring of 2026. The Turkish construction company Limak will be in charge of making the new stadium a reality, which will have 105,000 seats and, at full capacity, promises an annual income of 247 million, according to the forecast of the American company Legends. It is considerably more than what was billed in the 2018-2019 academic year, the most prolific in Barça’s history in this aspect. A trend that confirms the club’s determined commitment to continue monetizing the face-to-face consumption of football.

This increase in income linked to the exploitation of the Camp Nou will be the only guarantee that Barça will provide to return the almost 1,450 million that it has raised to pay for the renovation of the stadium. The deal, managed by Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, is structured in three tranches. The first is 500 million in bank credit and 100 from investors that will serve, initially, to wipe out the bridge loan that Goldman granted a few months ago to the entity to carry out the partial demolition of the south goal of the stadium, among other things. The second is a bond issue of 500 million to investors, and the third, 400 million more investors (in total, 20 participate). ARA can confirm the figures advanced by RAC1.

“The maturities are 5, 7, 9, 20 and 24 years with a flexible structure,” says the club’s statement in relation to the return terms. The forecast of the current board is that the money will be returned only with the activity of the Camp Nou. It is 1,450 million in debt without counting interest, which could mean another 600 million (5.5% on average).

The negative impact of the Negreira case

The agreement was signed a few days ago despite the doubts that existed on the Barça board: there were managers who wanted to freeze Espai Barça and wait for a better time to sign such an important credit operation. This cautious sector argued that the financial context was too demanding due to the rise in interest rates and the reputational impact of the Negreira case, two variables that have made the agreement with Goldman and JP Morgan more expensive to place it in a medium interest of 5.5% (Madrid’s for the new Bernabéu is 2.5%). Finally, however, the criteria of Laporta and his circle prevailed and the works will begin this summer with the consequent exile to Montjuïc.

The financing has been closed and announced with the club obliged to sell assets (the levers) to square its ordinary balance sheet. And it is that in the last budget approved in the assembly, ordinary income rises to 855 million, while expenditure stands at 981. Despite this worrying picture, aggravated by the premature elimination in the Champions League, Barça embarks on the most important and risky credit operation in its century-long history. With the operation of Espai Barça and other pre-existing financial agreements, the club has a debt greater than three times the amount that its business generates in a whole year: more than 2,800 million. However, Laporta insists: “The ownership model is not in danger.”