MADRID, 11 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
This Saturday, the members of Real Madrid authorized the club’s Board of Directors to take on additional debt of up to 370 million euros for a period of 30 years, so the total investment will be 1,170 million, as stated and approved in the Assembly. Extraordinary General of the Madrid entity.
With 1,569 votes in favor, the members of the merengue club gave the green light to additional debt of up to 370 million euros for a period of 30 years and under the market conditions that exist at the time the loan is signed at the current rate. Real Madrid Board of Directors to undertake the remodeling of the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
“The new Santiago Bernabéu stadium is going to change the history of Real Madrid. And this work, one of the most important in Europe at the moment, and one of the most difficult to execute, is also already an emblem of our city and our strength. All together we must value the effort we have needed to make to reach this goal,” highlighted Florentino Pérez.
The president asked the partners “to be aware of the adverse circumstances” in which the work on the new Bernabéu has been undertaken, an “immense challenge” for the entity. Among these obstacles, the president listed some such as the pandemic, the global raw materials crisis due to the war in Ukraine or the rise in energy prices and other supplies “that have generated unprecedented inflation in recent decades.” .
“We have had to undertake the most ambitious remodeling of the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in the midst of one of the worst historical situations in the world economy,” lamented Pérez, who also recalled that these circumstances also generated a “historic rise” in the review rates of prices.
Thus, Pérez explained that they have had to carry out new actions “not initially planned” to “increase income and improve the final result of the investment.” “That is, to make our stadium even more productive,” he remarked.
Among these new actions, the improvements added to the technological facilities stand out, such as a new 11-meter video scoreboard, four large screens in the background – with a reinforcement of the roof structure that weighs 330 tons and includes three kilometers of maintenance walkways – , in addition to specific sound installations to “offer the best possible acoustics for large international concerts.”
The club will also install “spectacular” lighting for the façade, and ‘videomapping’ on the Castellana and Padre Damián façades that will allow the development of light and sound shows complementary to the Museum and the Bernabéu Tour.
Within the Bernabéu Tour, the museum will be “much larger” and with “more attractive” spaces. And Florentino Pérez reported that the new VIP spaces will be “one of the main sources of income for the stadium”, with outdoor seats in all the rings, renovated Hospitality spaces, as well as others that allow players to be seen in the locker room tunnel. .
“In order to face all these investments and additional expenses, we have decided to finance it in the long term so as not to have to impact the activity and the excellent financial balance of the club in the short term,” said Pérez, reporting that the budget for these new investments is 370 million euros, in “favorable” financing conditions thanks to “the economic solvency that Real Madrid enjoys.”
Thus, and in accordance with the statutes of Real Madrid, the partners approved the authorization to the Board of Directors to go into debt in order to finance these investments and works not initially foreseen in the transformation of the stadium for an amount of 370 million euros and a period maximum of 30 years.
This new debt will bring the cost of the renovation of the Bernabéu to 1,170 million euros, at a fixed 3%, double what was initially budgeted by this Board of Directors. In the words of the president of Real Madrid, the payments will be around 60 million euros per year between principal and interest, “less than half of the new annual profits that we are going to have after the completion of the works.”
“The transformation of the stadium is the starting point towards our future. The history of Real Madrid has been forged in this world temple of football, it is the pride of all Real Madrid fans, it is part of our lives and it will be our strongest ally to achieve all our dreams,” Pérez thanked.
The merengue club thus faces “one of the most extraordinary challenges” that aims to “change the present and future of Real Madrid”, a project that started four years ago and will culminate this season. “The temple of Real Madrid is now definitively preparing to become an avant-garde and modern reference in world football and the epicenter of entertainment. We are facing one of the largest and most complex works that are underway right now in Europe,” he concluded. he.