DLA Piper advises on €332M financing of Valencia CF’s Stadium

DLA Piper has advised a consortium of institutional investors and banking entities, led by Goldman Sachs as global coordinator and placement agent, on a landmark €332 million financing transaction to support the construction of the Nou Mestalla, the future stadium of Valencia Club de Fútbol.

The financing has been structured through a Spanish securitization fund in a novel and complex transaction, where the club’s entire future business operations related to the Nou Mestalla have been securitized. The deal also takes into account the anticipated adjacent developments surrounding the new stadium.

This transaction adds to a broader financing package recently secured by Valencia CF, including a long-term €121 million corporate credit line and a €65 million short-term bridge loan, strengthening the club’s strategic roadmap and accelerating its ongoing transformation (read here the news).

The Nou Mestalla is set to meet FIFA’s highest stadium category standards, with a planned capacity exceeding 70,000 spectators. It will offer a wide range of matchday and non-matchday services, aligning with the latest generation of multi-functional sports venues seen across Europe.

DLA Piper’s cross-border, multi-disciplinary legal team was led in Spain by Andrés Lorrio (pictured left), partner in Capital Markets in Madrid, and in the UK by Charlotte Lewis-Williams, partner in the Finance department in London. The deal also involved Tony López, senior counsel (New York), Jesús Zapata, Finance partner (pictured centre), Francesco de Micheli and Alberto Rubio, senior Finance associates, Natasha Chong, Simran Bal, and Sara Espina, Finance associates as well as Diego Sánchez, Capital Markets associate.

Addit ional support was provided by José María Oliva, Real Estate partner, Pablo Gamboa, Real Estate associate and María Alonso, Tax counsel.

Andrés Lorrio commented: “This ambitious project reflects the growing trend of modernizing football stadium business models, transforming them into state-of-the-art, multi-purpose infrastructures. Securitization is the optimal structure for long-term financing of this kind.”

DLA Piper’s European Sports Finance team, led in Spain by Lorrio, forms part of the firm’s Media, Sports and Entertainment practice, co-chaired by Peter White, who oversees strategic client relationships with global sports industry leaders including Goldman Sachs.