The industrial group Michelin, based in Clermont-Ferrand, has become the sole shareholder of the city’s rugby club, ASM Clermont Auvergne, the club and the company announced on Friday June 16 in a press release. The training capital was previously held “overwhelmingly” by an association, ASM Omnisports.
This movement is explained by the complicated financial situation of the Auvergne club. He lost this year 6.5 million euros, his own funds “were at zero, the cash too, or almost”reveals Jean-Claude Pats, president of ASM Clermont Auvergne since 1er June, in an interview with the regional daily The mountainFriday. ” [Au minimum]the club was going to be relegated, at worst it could disappear”, he summarizes. Mr. Pats specifies that the Michelin group has injected eleven million euros into it.
“New Foundations”
The formation hopes that the investment of the manufacturer, which moreover remains one of its main sponsors, will make it possible to “build new economically stable foundations”. The aim is in particular to “reduce our expenses wherever possible, and [de] reclaiming the ASM brand and the stadium to develop our recipes”says Mr. Pats to The mountain.
In its press release, the club insists that “the Michelin group is not intended to remain the sole shareholder of ASM Clermont Auvergne” : “Once sporting performance and economic results have been restored”both the training and the manufacturer wish to open up the capital to other partners in the territory.
A position of general manager has been created within the club and entrusted to Benoît Vaz. He will be responsible for “the management and operational development of all the activities of ASM Clermont Auvergne”.
On the sporting level, Clermont had a mediocre season, notably failing to qualify for the final stages of the French championship, for the second year in a row. He is currently seeking to break the contract that binds him to the pillar Mohamed Haouas, sentenced to a year in prison for violence against his wife and who was to join the Auvergne club in July. This procedure could be expensive for ASM Clermont Auvergne.
