The calculator of José Danvila and his collaborators smokes. They change the batteries every day. Since his accession to Levante’s command chair, his concern has been to face the payments that are suffocating the entity. The CEO’s first measure has been to contribute ten million of his personal assets for current expenses. There is already some outstanding debt that has been settled (including a payment of 900,000 euros for an embargo on the transfer of Moses Simon). “This money is being rationed to be responsible,” they say from the club. But the big problem is the loans requested in previous years, both from Edmond de Rothschild and from Gedesco and OLB Bank. That is where the new board of directors is tightening the negotiation to have the capacity to pay them without strangling the future of Levante. And when the financial link with the banks is redirected, the rest of the claims that exist with other clubs, agents, footballers and creditors will be attended to.
The Edmond de Rothschild group lent 60 million to Levante to carry out the two phases of the stadium renovation and the construction of the Nazareth Sports City. Half of that total has already been used. Now Danvila wants to refinance the rest of the money, in addition to increasing it by 16 million more with a maturity of 15 or 20 years, so there would be an annual payment of between 2.5 and 3 million euros. Rotschild has agreed to sit down to negotiate after verifying the guarantee offered by the CEO with the financial injection given to Levante and with the forecast of expanding the participatory credit (which replaces the purchase of shares from the Foundation) from 10 to 20 million.
And what are those new 16 million needed for? To deal with different debts. One of them, which expires on June 30, is with OLB Bank, a German firm very present this last year in LaLiga and European football, where it has also financed Real Sociedad, Tenerife, Valladolid and Benfica, among others, with a guarantee. to CVC funds. But the loan that is most worrying is the one contracted with Gedesco, “which has extreme conditions,” Granota sources highlight. The Valencian financing company – it sponsored the Orriols club in the 2021-2022 season – granted eight million to Levante at 15% interest with collateral guarantees. These payments are due this year (short-term debt) and Danvila has asked the firm to give them a margin of time to meet them despite the lender’s insistence. “This is a dog-eat-dog negotiation because this mortgage is a drain on the club,” Levante sources say.
At the moment, an internal audit is also underway to know exactly the financial health of the entity and the reality to which Levante in the Second Division must adjust. For this reason, Danvila has asked to delay the signing of the restructuring plan and the entry of greater liquidity to November 30. The objective is to reduce the wage bill and adjust income and expenses. The projection made by LaLiga is that another 30 million euros would be needed by June 2024, a figure that logically must be reduced as assets (players) are sold or the debt is refinanced.
2023-10-24 22:32:17
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