The change of ownership in Real Zaragoza could become a reality over the next month of January, once a new investment group, of which the director and minority shareholder of Betis, José María Gallego, is an intermediary, is negotiating an agreement with the Alierta family, through Fernando Sáinz de Varanda and Juan Uguet de Resayre, to gain control of the main sports corporation in Aragon. The talks began a little over two months ago through the Cuatrecasas law firm, of which Antonio García Lapuente is a partner in Zaragoza, secretary of the board of directors of the Zaragoza entity.
At this time, we are waiting for the completion of the ‘due diligence’, or external audit commissioned by the intermediary of the buyer group on the statement of accounts of Real Zaragoza, whose net debt still amounts to 67.9 million euros. This intermediary has an exclusivity, extended for one month, to negotiate with the Alierta family that ends on January 16, 2022, when there are still two weeks to go until the end of the winter market.
“We have requested an audit, but out of respect I cannot comment on anything else. Sorry, but I shouldn’t go into more details. I can only say that I know Fernando Sáinz de Varanda, that we have talked about Real Zaragoza and that I know the situation of the club. Zaragoza is in a delicate moment and if there is a possibility of helping a historic club, we will be there. I have just bought -through the company Odemira Capital- 80% of the shares of Amora, a club in the third division of Portugal, in exchange for one million euros, and I know the world of football well ”, said AS José María Gallego, a minority shareholder (1.1% of share capital) and director of Betis by co-option since April 2018.
José María Gallego Moyano, a 45-year-old from Seville, has a diploma in Labor Relations and a master’s degree in Business Management and Administration from the San Telmo Institute. And he is the founder of Clínicas Dental Company.
This new investment group intends to acquire, through a payment of 3 million euros, the shareholding package of the Alierta family (50.56% of the share capital), in addition to paying another 3.8 million euros corresponding to a personal equity loan of the former Chairman of Telefónica, since it is susceptible to being converted into shares.
For its part, the buyer group would have to face around another 11 million euros corresponding to loans personally endorsed by the four largest shareholders of the club with Caixa-Bank.
It remains to be seen whether this group also decides to make an offer for the shares of the Yarza family (13.46% of the capital stock), Carlos Iribarren (13.46%) and Juan Forcen (13.46%).
Throughout 2021, Real Zaragoza has received purchase proposals from the international group CVC and the Spain Football Capital society and attempts to enter its management from Ander Herrera, but none of them, for different reasons, could be completed.