Soccer-FC Barcelona sells bonds, restructures stadium-revamp debt
A silhouette of a woman walks past behind a FC Barcelona's logo at Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/Albert Gea
MADRID (Reuters) -FC Barcelona said on Friday it was selling 424 million euros ($498 million) in bonds as part of a deal to restructure the debt it contracted for its Camp Nou stadium renovation that allows it to postpone the first repayment to 2033 from 2028.
The Spanish football club had secured 1.45 billion euros ($1.70 billion) in financing in 2023 from 20 investors including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan to overhaul its ageing stadium. The men's first team is scheduled to play a friendly at Camp Nou on August 10 in a partial reopening.
The club said in a statement that Goldman Sachs, acting as financial adviser, had facilitated the restructuring of the 424-million-euro debt tranche, allowing the full debt to be repaid from 2033 to 2050.
Under the original 2023 deal, the club had been due to pay back investors in progressive tranches - after five, seven, nine, 20, and 24 years.
"The club is fulfilling the necessary steps to ensure a gradual and staggered repayment," FC Barcelona said. The average cost of the refinanced amount stands at 5.19%.
Barcelona expects the modernised stadium to boost annual revenues by more than 200 million euros through sponsorship deals, naming rights, ticket sales, catering, VIP services, and events.
($1 = 0.8521 euros)
(Reporting by Inti Landauro and Corina Pons; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Putin says Russia plans to cut military spending from next year
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting dedicated to the foundation of cultural, educational institutions and museums via a video link at his residence outside Moscow, Russia, June 25, 2025. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS/ File Photo MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia was looking to cut its military expenditure from next year, contrasting that with NATO's plan to ramp up defence spending over the next decade. NATO allies on Wednesday agreed to raise their collective spending goal to 5% of gross domestic product in the next 10 years, citing what they called the long-term threat posed by Russia and the need to strengthen civil and military resilience. In his first reaction to that move, Putin told a press conference in Minsk that the NATO spending would go on "purchases from the USA and on supporting their military-industrial complex", and this was NATO's business, not Russia's. "But now here is the most important thing. We are planning to reduce defence spending. For us, next year and the year after, over the next three-year period, we are planning for this," he said. Putin said there was no final agreement yet between the defence, finance and economy ministries, "but overall, everyone is thinking in this direction. And Europe is thinking about how to increase its spending, on the contrary. So who is preparing for some kind of aggressive actions? Us or them?" Putin's comments are likely to be greeted with extreme scepticism in the West, given that Russia has massively increased defence spending since the start of the Ukraine war. The conflict shows no sign of ending and has actually intensified in recent weeks, as negotiations have made no visible progress towards a ceasefire or a permanent settlement. Putin said Russia appreciated efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to bring an end to the war. "He recently stated that it turned out to be more difficult than it seemed from the outside. Well, that's true," Putin said. Trump said this week that he believed Putin wanted to find a way to settle the conflict, but Ukraine and many of its European allies believe the Kremlin leader has no real interest in a peace deal and is intent on capturing more territory. Putin said Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were in constant contact, and Moscow was ready to return the bodies of 3,000 more Ukrainian soldiers. ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN Russia is seeing a sharp slowdown in economic growth as the budget comes under pressure from falling energy revenues and the central bank is trying to bring down inflation. Russia hiked state spending on national defence by a quarter in 2025 to 6.3% of gross domestic product (GDP), the highest level since the Cold War. Defence spending accounts for 32% of total 2025 federal budget expenditure. Defence plants have been working round-the-clock for the past several years, and the state has spent heavily on bonuses to attract soldiers to sign up and on compensation for the families of those who are killed. Putin acknowledged that Russia had paid for the military spending increase with higher inflation. The finance ministry raised the 2025 budget deficit estimate to 1.7% of gross domestic product in April from 0.5% after reducing its energy revenues forecast by 24%, and it plans to tap into fiscal reserves this year to balance the budget. The next draft budget is due to appear in the autumn. (Additional reporting by Lucy Papachristou, Maxim Rodionov, Anastasia Teterevleva, Anastasia Lyrchikova and Elena Fabrichnaya; writing by Mark Trevelyan and Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Cricket-Suryavanshi fireworks guide India Under-19s to ODI win over England
(Reuters) -India's 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi narrowly missed out on a half-century but played an entertaining knock that allowed the tourists to chase down England's lowly total in 24 overs in their first Under-19 one-day international on Friday. Chasing 175 for victory, Suryavanshi opened the batting for India and immediately made an impact as he smashed 48 runs in just 19 deliveries as India cruised to a six-wicket victory to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match ODI series. England had limped to 174 in 42.2 overs after Rocky Flintoff, son of England great Andrew Flintoff, crafted a patient 56 from 90 deliveries but his disciplined knock was quickly overshadowed by Suryavanshi's fireworks. In his debut season in the Indian Premier League, Suryavanshi had justified the hype around him by scoring 252 runs in seven matches, including a century which made him the youngest player to score a hundred in men's Twenty20 cricket. The 14-year-old prodigy only burgeoned his reputation as he relied on his IPL experience, smashing three fours and five sixes at Hove, where India were going at nearly 10 runs an over. He scored 21 runs in the sixth over from Jack Home when the Indian teenager cleared the ropes three times before he went after James Minto, with both bowlers immediately taken out of the attack. Suryavanshi eventually fell to spinner Ralphie Albert when he skied an effort to point, but he had laid the foundation for the chase before Abhigyan Kundu (45 not out) guided India over the line. (Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Bezos and Sanchez to exchange wedding vows in star-studded Venice party
VENICE (Reuters) -Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sanchez were set to exchange marriage vows at a ceremony in Venice on Friday, part of a three-day wedding extravaganza that has attracted dozens of celebrity guests but also protests by local activists. Bezos, 61, and Sanchez, 55, will exchange rings on the small island of San Giorgio, opposite St Mark's Square, accompanied by singing from Matteo Bocelli, son of the famous Italian pop-opera tenor Andrea Bocelli. The ceremony will have no legal status under Italian law, a senior city hall official told Reuters, suggesting that the couple may have already legally wed in the United States, avoiding the bureaucracy associated with an Italian marriage. The festivities, estimated to cost around $50 million, culminate on Saturday with a party in a former medieval shipyard where Lady Gaga and Elton John are reportedly set to perform. Bill Gates, Orlando Bloom, Tom Brady, the queen of Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Kris Jenner and Kim and Khloe Kardashian as well as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner and Domenico Dolce from Dolce & Gabbana are among the 200-250 guests. Amid tight security, there have been glimpses of the celebrities moving around town, the women in summer dresses and high heels stepping somewhat gingerly off boats ferrying them around the city's canals. Celebrations began on Thursday evening in the cloisters of Madonna dell'Orto, a medieval church in the central district of Cannaregio that hosts masterpieces by 16th-century painter Tintoretto. "This magical place has gifted us unforgettable memories," the bride and groom said on their wedding invitation, in which they asked for "no gifts" and pledged charity donations for three Venetian institutions. Their donations are worth 3 million euros ($3.5 million). 'GIFT-WRAPPED' VENICE Businesses have welcomed the glitz and glamour but it is being resisted by a local protest movement whose members resent what they see as Venice being gift-wrapped for ultra-rich outsiders. Bezos is No. 4 on Forbes' billionaires list. Giulia Cacopardo, a 28-year-old representative of the "No Space for Bezos" movement, complained that the needs of ordinary people were being neglected in a city that is a tourist magnet and fast depopulating largely due to the soaring cost of living. Venice's city centre has less than 50,000 residents, compared to almost 100,000 in the late 1970s. "When you empty a city of its inhabitants, you can turn it into a stage for big events," Cacopardo told Reuters. "(But) the money that Bezos spends on this wedding does not end up in the pockets of Venetians. The owners of luxury hotels are not Venetians." Cacopardo was one of 30-40 activists who staged a protest in St Mark's Square on Thursday, chanting "We are the 99%" as a masked couple posed as bride and groom and one man climbed a pole to unfurl a banner reading "The 1% ruins the world". Police intervened, forcibly removing the protesters. The anti-Bezos front is planning a march on Saturday, and their activities have already led authorities to step up security and move the location of Saturday's party to a more secluded part of Venice, the Arsenale former shipyard. But politicians, hoteliers and other Venice residents are happy about the wedding, saying that such events do more to support the local economy than the multitudes of day-trippers who normally overrun the city. "We are happy and honoured to welcome Jeff Bezos and his consort Lauren Sanchez," said Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who sent white roses to the bride and a maxi-bottle of Amarone luxury red wine to the groom. Italy's Tourism Ministry said it carried out a study estimating at 957 million euros ($1.12 billion) the overall economic impact of the wedding, including an 896 million euro benefit from "media visibility", and the rest coming from direct or indirect spending related to the event. Bezos, Amazon's executive chair, got engaged to Sanchez in 2023, four years after the collapse of his 25-year marriage to MacKenzie Scott. ($1 = 0.8545 euros) (Additional reporting by Yara Nardi, Ali Kucukgocmen and Cristiano CorvinoEditing by Frances Kerry)
