FC Barcelona is seeking to raise €1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) from private debt investors to finance the revamp of its iconic Spotify Camp Nou stadium.
(Bloomberg) — FC Barcelona is seeking to raise €1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) from private debt investors to finance the revamp of its iconic Spotify Camp Nou stadium.
The club is courting investors in the US private placement market to raise long-term financing, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. An FC Barcelona spokesperson confirmed the talks.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are arranging the sale, according to the people familiar. Representatives for both banks declined to comment.
The Catalan soccer team has plans to renovate its historic home venue and develop new facilities in a broader project known as Espai Barca.
The financing plan consists of three €500 million tranches of senior notes maturing in 2032, 2045, and 2052, according to a note from Kroll Bond Rating Agency, which has a stable outlook on the club. The proposed terms include securing the offering against new or incremental revenues with an understanding that there will be no mortgage on the stadium, per Kroll.
ESG ratings and research firm Morningstar Sustainalytics certified the notes that the club will issue on the American market as green bonds, Barcelona’s president Joan Laporta said in a press conference on Thursday. “We are expanding our market of potential investors, as well as the possibility of obtaining financing at a better price,” he said.
Read more: FC Barcelona Seeks to Turn Page on Turmoil With Stadium Revamp
Big-name football clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur have previously used the US private placement market, which counts large pension funds and asset managers as key investors, to raise long-term debt.
The credit is typically secured on the stadium it is financing, meaning that the investors can become the owners of the venue if the club fails to repay the debt.
Barcelona has tapped the US private placement market in the past, when it raised €525 million euros with broadcasting revenue as collateral. Part of that debt has already been repaid as a condition to reach a deal with US fund Sixth Street to sell it a slice of its TV rights for 25 years.
(Updates with comments from Barcelona’s president in 6th paragraph.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.