Valencia confirm cash boost
Monday, August 24, 2009 @ 12:32 PM
Loan agreement set to ease financial woes
Valencia have been handed a major financial boost which they hope will stabilise the cash-strapped club.
President Manuel Llorente has confirmed that a loan of 74million euros (£64.3m) has been secured with a view to acquiring a 72.5 percent stake in the club.
Local bank Bancaja has agreed to lend the cash to the club's charitable foundation, with the loan being guaranteed by the Valencia regional government, the Generalitat.
The foundation plans to buy the remaining 1.53million shares available in a capital increase which, the club added, has already raised around 18.75m euros (£16.3m).
"From this point a new era of stability begins and the players can concentrate fully on their game," Llorente said in a statement on the club's official website.
"We have saved a very difficult and worrying situation."
Valencia's foundation plans to make shares available to those who had not been able to take part in the initial phase of the capital increase.
"At last the club is being returned to the Valencia fans," Llorente added.
Valencia finished sixth in the Primera Liga last season to qualify for the Europa League.
But their financial woes forced a halt to construction on a new stadium and officials said they might have to sell prize assets such as Spain internationals David Villa and David Silva.
Valencia's debts of some 500m euros (£434m) rival those of Real Madrid and Barcelona yet they lack the vast earning power of the two Primera Liga giants.
Source: Sky Sports