ARA: Negotiations ongoing as Laporta tries to come up with €125m guarantee

ARA: Negotiations ongoing as Laporta tries to come up with €125m guarantee

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The Barça president-elect is having problems finalising the guarantee needed to take over

Joan Laporta's negotiations with Sabadell bank for a guarantee of €124.6 million are taking longer than expected, according to Diario ARA.

Barcelona president-elect Laporta needs the guarantee to present to La Liga before Wednesday and to be able to take over at Camp Nou after winning last weekend's election.

According to the report, Laporta and his board have only managed to get €50m of the counter-endorsement that the bank are demanding to give access to the necessary finance. Sabadell will not accept shares, so around €70m is still said to be missing.

That should come from Audax Renovables, the company of vice president Eduard Romeu, chosen as the replacement for Jaume Giro to oversee the club's finances. But Laporta's fears that would give Romeu and his company excessive power within the club and has caused him to rethink his plan.

Laporta has two alternatives if he decides not to go with Romeu and Audax Renovables. The first is his initial idea of partnering with the North American investment fund HPS Partners, who would cough up the counter-guarantee in exchange for five percent of the total amount of the operation. Translated into money, about €6m a year.

The other alternative is to extend the board with the incorporation of five new directors, who weren't part of his original candidacy, per Catalunya Radio. Among them would be the president of Vilafranca, Joan Soler.

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