September 24 – LaLiga’s Real Betis has received €125 million in a deal brokered by Goldman Sachs to restructure its debt and provide financial stability.
The club said that the improved arrangement over the next 10 years will provide “it with sufficient liquidity, solvency and financial depth for the coming years”.
The new deal also has the flexibility to be extended if required. “The covenants package of the new financing preserves flexibility and autonomy in the future management of the Club, even allowing its expansion should it prove necessary,” said a club statement.
The new arrangements don’t just provide the club with financial stability but clear the way “to tackle new important strategic projects such as the construction of the new Benito Villamarín Stadium.”
Betis is working with Bibium Capital and Goldman Sachs on the financing of the stadium, which it says will generate an increase in income that will make “it self-financing without undermining the Club’s resources”.
Federico Martínez Feria, corporate general manager of Real Betis, said that the roadmap set out in the 2022 – 2026 Strategic Plan for the financial consolidation of the club, puts the new stadium as the key route to generating new income.
“In the Strategic Plan we also have included the optimisation of costs and the increase in income with new lines of business. Here the Stadium is a fundamental pillar that will allow us to increase this income. It will have independent financing that will be paid with the increases in income that will be generated and, consequently, it will not affect this restructuring of the debt,” he said.
Betis has recently opened its new Rafael Gordillo Sports City training complex and sports city which consists of 11 training fields and an office building. The next focus is the €60 million renovation of its Benito Villamarin Stadium.
The club’s home since 1929, it has a capacity of 60,379 that will be retained under the new plans which predict to increase stadium income from €30 million to €50 million annually.
Betis finished seventh in LaLiga last season and qualified for the UEFA Conference League. The club currently lies 11thin LaLiga after six matches.
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