Barcelona said – yesterday, Monday – that it had finalized a financing deal worth one billion and 450 million dollars that would enable the club to renovate the “Camp Nou” stadium and the surrounding area, after renegotiating the initial terms.
Barcelona added that the club had signed an agreement with 20 investors, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan.
The Spanish club is scheduled to pay the money back to investors in gradual installments after 5, 7, 9, 20 and 24 years, in a flexible framework with a grace period.
This means that Barcelona will finish paying the debt 6 years earlier than previously agreed, after renegotiating what was initially a 35-year deal that was approved in a referendum of club members in 2021.
And Barcelona revealed – in a statement on its official website – that it “will start paying the cost as soon as the work on the stadium is completed, using the income generated by the Spotify Camp Nou stadium, which is expected to amount to about 247 million euros.”
The club added that it will hold a press conference to give more details about the financing deal in the coming days.
The announcement comes 24 days after the previous deadline for reaching an agreement, which was March 31, expired. The club said at the time that negotiations were still ongoing.
The ratings agency, Kroll Bond, said in reports posted on its website that the initial debt structure has since been revised.
The agency added that the revised structure included additional refinancing and interest rate risks. As a result, the financing scheme has been downgraded, making it less attractive to investors.
The Camp Nou is the largest football stadium in Europe and the fourth largest stadium in the world in terms of capacity, with 99,354 seats.
But the Catalan club said that its stadium no longer provides the fans with an integrated benefit on match day.
