FC Barcelona Reaches Financing Deal for Stadium Revamp

FC Barcelona has reached a deal with lenders and investors to finance the redevelopment of its iconic football stadium, according to people familiar with the matter.

(Bloomberg) — FC Barcelona has reached a deal with lenders and investors to finance the redevelopment of its iconic football stadium, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Catalan club was seeking to raise €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) for its Espai Barça project, which also includes developing new facilities for other sports such as basketball and handball. Some of that will be provided by private placements and another part by a loan.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. led the arrangement of the private placements, in which JPMorgan Chase & Co. participated, the people familiar said, asking not to be named discussing private information. JPMorgan provided the biggest amount for the loan, with Goldman Sachs and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. also lending, they said.

The private placements will pay less than 6% interest, said one of the people. That’s slightly higher than the 5.1% interest sought when the negotiations started earlier this year, due to higher interest rates and also idiosyncratic risks: the club now has problems signing new players due to its financial position, while Spanish prosecutors formally accused it last month of corruption in both business and sport.

Investors asked to have additional guarantees, such as using the stadium as collateral and Barcelona putting more money aside in case of problems. However, the club and its advisers pushed back on those and instead the guarantee is being based on the additional revenue expected to be generated from the redevelopment, the person said. 

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Barcelona spokespeople declined to comment, with the club saying it will provide a statement when the deal is formalized. A MUFG representative did not immediately reply to calls seeking comment. 

Spanish news website El Confidencial first reported the completion of the financing deal. 

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