Barcelona made official this Thursday the first of the ‘levers’ (sale of assets) to close the year without losses, by confirming the sale of 10 percent of its television rights for a period of 25 years and entering 217 million dollars ( €205 million). The deal was closed with Sixth Street, an American investment fund that owns, among others, 20 percent of the San Antonio Spurs and which, likewise, also invested with Real Madrid.
This is the first step, urgent and essential, of the Barça club in the economic area. Both to avoid closing the course with losses for the third consecutive year and to enter the new year, starting on July 1, focused on negotiating the sale of 49 percent of his marketing company, BLM, which will mean about 300 million dollars and the transfer of another 15 percent of the television rights, also for 25 years, which will represent another income of more than 315 million.
The agreement is considered “optimal” from the Camp Nou, considering that this signature supposes practically the same income that Barça would have obtained in the case of accepting the LaLiga proposal with CVC last year… Being the term of 50 years, twice as many as agreed now.
In fact, Joan Laporta’s board of directors finally refused to sign an agreement with CVC apart from what was agreed by the rest of the clubs, avoiding the conflict of interest that this would have entailed, and they also did not reach an agreement with Goldman Sachs, a group that already owns 11 percent of the club’s television rights as a guarantee for the $555 million loan that was approved at an assembly in June 2021 and that was used at that time to meet the most urgent needs, such as the payment of the sports salaries of players.
The sale of BLM was stopped in recent weeks after being close to an agreement with Fanatics and Investindustrial due to the conditions demanded by this group, both in management and, above all, the transfer of the contract with Nike, something that Laporta considered non-negotiable, in the same way that it is considered indisputable to be able to repurchase this percentage as soon as the benefits reach a value set by the board of directors.
With both operations, Barcelona will be in a position to go to the transfer market and register its new footballers without problems, complying with the fairplay regulations of LaLiga, which on July 31 will make official the new maximum amounts that First Division clubs can use and Second Division.
ASSOCIATED WITH REAL MADRID
Sixth Street, which according to its public reports has about 64 billion dollars in assets, closed in May an agreement with Real Madrid valued at 380 million dollars for which it will obtain 30 percent of the income it generates. the new Santiago Bernabéu for the next 20 years and that will be used by the merengue club to improve the operation of its stadium.
Beyond Real Madrid and San Antonio Spurs, the North American fund also invested in Spotify, which from July will become Barcelona’s main sponsor and maintains close ties to renewable energies, with a close relationship with the company Audax, whose vice president is the also vice president of Barça, Eduard Romeu, a character who is considered key in the signing of this alliance.
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