Real Madrid have taken a step closer to redeveloping the Santiago Bernabeu stadium after Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan agreed loans of €575 million ($650 million) for the project.
The US banks will be joined in the deal by Santander and CaixaBank, but their Spanish counterparts will play a minor role in the financing operation, which is believed to be a 30-year loan with an annual interest rate of 2.5%.
Madrid’s president and strongman Florentino Perez has long wanted to redevelop the Bernabeu, but in the past failed to find naming rights partners for the stadium to fund the project. Potential investors were put off by the idea of revamping the old stadium instead of building a new ground.
In September, Madrid’s extraordinary general assembly approved the financing plan for a redeveloped stadium with a 90% majority and in November Real partnered with sales agency Legends in a sponsorship deal to help secure additional funding for the project.
“The Bernabéu’s renovation will cost €550 million but it’ll allow us to revalue our assets and optimize our resource even more,” said Perez. “Today it’s convenient to be at the forefront of new technologies. We’ve already started to be world reference in this sense.”
Madrid want to generate €150 million a year in additional revenue with a modernised Bernabeu. The modernisation project will include a retractable roof, a titanium facade and a 360-degree videoboard, though no significant increase in stadium capacity.
This weekend Madrid suffered a shock 1-2 defeat at home against relegation-threatened Girona in La Liga. The slip-up left Madrid nine points behind league leaders Barcelona, but in the Champions League Santiago Solari’s team have all but secured their berth in the last eight after a 2-1 win away to Ajax Amsterdam last week in the first leg of the round 16 tie.
