Bought by local investors, Pau-Orthez regains hope for its future: the Élan Béarnais in the professional world?

“An important step has been taken, welcomed the mayor of Pau (Modem) François Bayrou. At the end of this incredible period, the club finally no longer belonged to the Americans. It will be taken over by the French“.

Among the buyers of the nine-time French champion are Sébastien Ménard, president of the Eat4Good group and Beautysané, and the former Minister of Sports Thierry Braillard.

Heard Monday by the fed

For the Élan Béarnais, an institution of French basketball, this sale comes at the right time, since it will be heard on Monday by the French Basketball Federation after appealing its demotion.

It marks the end of an American era, which lasted only one season, not very glorious financially with an accumulated deficit of more than 2 million euros, more at the sporting level with a semi-final in the championship and a victory in the Coupe de France.

The management of David Otto, president of Counterpointe Sports Group (CSG), this American investment fund yet welcomed with great fanfare a year ago by François Bayrou, ended up exasperating in Béarn.

Whether at club level with strong internal tensions or at institutional level, which until then blocked the payment of a planned subsidy of 1.2 million euros.

New guarantees

With the change of owner and the payment of the subsidy from the Pau-Pyrénées agglomeration community, the Pau club will appear before the appeal chamber on Monday with new guarantees capable of satisfying the requirements of the financial policeman of the National League. basketball (LNB).

They concerned the refloating of the current account, the spreading of the debt over three years and the presentation of a more realistic provisional budget for the 2022-2023 season (a little less than 5 million euros against 7, 8 million euros last season). Enough to be reinstated in Elite?