Approval of 525 million debt refinance proposal

The General Assembly of Delegate Members has approved the proposed refinance of the debt for an amount of 525 million euros.

The club plans to sign this operation next August with one or more stable operators in the financial market, through the company Goldman Sachs, in order to meet the club's financial needs.

The club's economic vice president, Eduard Romeu, explained that the club's provisional adjusted debt has risen to 1,044 million euros, which will probably be even higher, and has stressed that "Covid is not to blame for everything,things were going badly before."

Romeu highlighted that this operation will allow repayment of the bridge loan of 80 million euros advanced this June by Goldman Sachs to cover the treasury obligations for a period of 90 days, renegotiate the Senior Notes signed for an amount of 200 million euros at a much higher financial cost, and will provide the necessary liquidity over the next 24 months to be able to implement the Strategic Plan without treasury tensions.

The club is proposing an operation with a maximum term of 15 years, with the aim to obtain an interest of 3%. This will require the Fitch rating agency to grant the club's debt an investment grade rating.

When answering questions from members, President Joan Laporta stressed that "the loan is necessary to give the club breathing space and not to take anything from the members' pockets."

The refinancing proposal was approved by a large majority of 588 votes for (89%), 28 against (4%) and 43 abstentions (7%).