The preliminary debt structure has since been revised, the Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) said in reports published on its website. KBRA said the revised structure included additional refinancing and interest rate risk. As a result, it had downgraded the financing plan's rating from BBB+ to BBB, making it less attractive to investors. Later, KBRA said it had converted its preliminary rating to unpublished from published at the club's request.
Camp Nou is the largest football stadium in Europe and the fourth-largest in the world by capacity, with 99,354 seats.
But Barcelona have said it no longer offers a full match-day experience for fans.
The club estimates that the revamped stadium will allow them to generate more than 200 million euros of additional revenue annually through sponsorship and naming rights, ticketing, catering, VIP boxes, hospitality, meetings and events.
Turkish construction company Limak has been tasked with the renovation, with works set to begin in June.
Club president Joan Laporta, who presided over one of Barca's most successful periods from 2003 to 2010, was re-elected two years ago after the previous board resigned due to the club's worsening finances and other issues. Laporta inherited a club deep in financial crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since taking over, he has tried to improve Barca's financial situation, turning the club's assets into cash and bringing in new sponsors. In March 2022, the club signed a shirt and stadium sponsorship deal with audio streaming platform Spotify in an agreement worth 280 million euros. Barcelona have also agreed to sell a 25% stake in their LaLiga TV rights for the next 25 years to U.S. private equity group Sixth Street for 607.5 million euros and approved the sale of a minority share of their audio-visual division to Socios.com and Orpheus Media for 200 million. ($1 = 0.9055 euros) (Reporting by Fernando Kallas in Jerez de la Frontera and Corina Pons in Madrid; Editing by David Latona and Ken Ferris)
