BarcelonaFC Barcelona is facing decisive hours to find out if Espai Barça will be carried out as it appeared in Joan Laporta’s plans before the Negreira case broke out in mid-February. The Blaugrana executive president, a staunch supporter of lifting the comprehensive reform of the stadium even if the club continues to lose money and needs asset sales to balance its balance sheet, will hold a board meeting this Thursday to deal with this matter, which has been complicated in recent weeks by the rise in interest rates and the reputational damage resulting from the payments to the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Arbitrators.
If, as published by the ARA, before the facts were brought to court there were already investors who left their participation in the operation in abeyance, the prosecution’s complaint and especially the UEFA investigation has increased their anxiety . Through Goldman Sachs, the main responsible for placing the 1.5 billion euros of debt, the lenders have urged Barça to place itself in the worst scenario, which is none other than being excluded from the Champions League during one or more seasons. In addition, the American investment bank, the entity’s main creditor, wants to meet with Laporta to learn first-hand details about the payments of more than 7 million to Enríquez Negreira, in which the current manager is involved in his first mandate (2003-2010) and for which he will have to testify as a witness during the investigation of the case. So far the leader has not offered any press conference to talk about it, although he is considering holding one in mid-April.
Official Barça sources consulted by the ARA confirm Laporta’s meeting with Goldman Sachs emissaries to deal with all the doubts that the Negreira case casts on the financing of Espai Barça, but decline to specify whether it will be before or after the meeting of Thursday’s meeting, in which the managers will be informed of the negotiations to obtain the money to tackle the Camp Nou remodeling project. Among the members of the summit there are supporters of slowing down the works plan, which foresees an exile in Montjuïc from June and at least until the end of 2024. There are also those who would directly postpone a credit operation and asset of this magnitude until the club is able to generate enough ordinary income to be sustainable without having to activate levers.
All in all, the most likely scenario is that Laporta gets the green light to go ahead with the deal with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, negotiate the fringes during April and move in the summer. According to SER Catalunya, there is a plan B ordered by Key Capital, Anas Laghrari’s bank: 650 million over five years with 5.5% interest, a second loan of 666 million over 35 years at 5% of interest and a third subordinated loan of 650 million for 30 years.
“Now we have awarded the works and we already have the financing, but we are studying alternatives to improve the conditions and we have given ourselves until the end of the month”. That’s how forceful the Barcelona manager was in an event held at the Círculo Ecuestre 21 days ago. While the asterisk exists to polish the fine print of the loan operation beyond this Friday, the March 31 deadline has a reason that is associated with UEFA. And not because of what he can conclude about the Negreira case, but because this is the deadline he sets for the clubs to say in which stadium they will play at home in the Champions League next season.
Limak, aware of the critical moment, remains optimistic
If the board approves the financing of Espai Barça, the club will inform the European body that Xavi Hernández’s team will compete at the Olympic Stadium and Limak, who is very much waiting for everything, will be able to start the bulk of the works this summer. The Turkish construction company, which has already moved 40 professionals to Barcelona, needs to know that it will have liquidity to confirm its landing in the city. Although he is aware of the critical moment the project is experiencing this week, the company remains optimistic about starting work when it is time.
So far, the rating agency KBRA has published two possible financing structures for the 1,500 million that Laporta’s directive needs for Espai Barça. In the first, prior to the outbreak of the Negreira case, three bond issues of 500 million each were considered. And in the second, following the publication of the arbitration scandal, five bond issues and a bank loan of 200 million. The change caused KBRA, which forecast that debt interest would thus increase by 200 basis points, to downgrade the project’s rating from BBB+ to BBB.
This information was public until a few days ago, when the agency explained that Barça had asked it for confidentiality. For this reason, no further note regarding the project’s financing structures has been issued. Despite these gestures that indicate nervousness and the information that assures that Goldman Sachs has gone so far as to demand a 10% interest to finance Espai Barça, sources familiar with the negotiations affirm to this newspaper that Laporta and his team remain hopeful with to close the deal in three tranches below 6%, a strong participation from the bank and with room to renegotiate the terms when the new stadium is at full capacity and the markets are less hostile.
