The Bordeaux commercial court has given its agreement to the takeover of the Girondins de Bordeaux by Gérard Lopez, who officially becomes the new owner of the football club, announced on Friday July 23, his lawyers from August Debouzy.
The takeover by the Spanish-Luxembourgish businessman is the last step in a process that began in April, when the current shareholder, the King Street investment fund, decided to no longer support the club and that its president, Frédéric Longuépée, had placed it under the protection of the commercial court. An ad hoc representative had been appointed and the Rothschild bank was tasked with selecting the candidates for the takeover.
The specter of a receivership was lifted in June after the announcement of an agreement between Gérard Lopez and King Street. On July 12, the national management control department, the financial gendarme of French football, had lifted the main obstacle to the sale of the club by giving the green light to the Lopez project and to maintaining the Girondins in Ligue 1, by matching it however, a framework for its payroll.
Appointment of a technical director
Gérard Lopez, former president of Lille, from which he was ousted in December for financial problems, had previously succeeded in convincing the elected officials of Bordeaux Métropole, owner of the Matmut-Atlantique stadium, of his ability to pay the rent of the stadium ( 4.9 million euros).
The Girondins, with a coach – Jean-Louis Gasset – and players who do not yet know the fate reserved for them by the new owner, play Saturday in Pontivy (Morbihan) a friendly match against Lorient (L2) and start a training camp. a week in La Baule (Loire-Atlantique).
The only appointment made to date by Mr Lopez is that of a technical director, the Portuguese Admar Lopes, with whom he was already working. He was to hold a press conference late Friday afternoon.
