VALENCIA Football Club has been put up for sale by Bankia over a multi-million-euro debt and the 'impossibility' of any 'viable' way of paying it off, reports the management.
The Valencia FC Foundation owes the financial institution over 85 million euros and Valencia Football Club itself is in the red with Bankia by over 200 million.
As a result, investors are being sought to 'guarantee the social, economic and sporting success' of the premier league team.
Bankia's decision to sell the Club to 'rid itself of inherited debts' from Bancaja – one of the two entities, the other being Caja Madrid, which formed the State-owned bank – coincided with the shareholders' AGM in which chairman Amadeo Salvo said they were seeking ways of restructuring the debt to avoid its sale.
He stressed that whoever bought the Club would have to be someone 'prepared to create a great team', 'wipe out the debts' and 'finish off building the new Mestalla stadium' which has been left at half-mast for many years due to lack of funds.
But Bankia has said Valencia FC has so far failed to come up with a sound plan to deal with its massive deficit.
The money owed to the finance firm relates to various loans taken out to provide capital to the Club.
However, Salvo insists that it is not Bankia's decision – nor that of the regional government – whether or not the Club will be put up for sale because 'they do not own it'.
“If anyone is wants to sell it, they will need to convince the shareholders here present since, unless and until a court judge rules otherwise, all shares in Valencia Football Club belong to us,” the chairman stated.
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