The saga is over: the investment fund Park Bench buys Girondins de Bordeaux from Gérard Lopez
An agreement was signed overnight between on Tuesday and Wednesday about the investment fund Park Bench and Gérard Lopez. The Girondins de Bordeaux football club is being sold by the businessman for a symbolic one euro.
The saga is finally coming to an end. The summer for Girondins de Bordeaux has been turbulent at a moment, but now the future of the club is now settled: it has been bought by the English investment fund Park Bench, which signed an agreement with Gérard Lopez on the night of Tuesday, as revealed by Ici Gironde early this morning and subsequently confirmed by the club.
The deal is expected to go through the under the conditions revealed on last week. The sale would therefore be accompanied by a renegotiation of the club’s debts, with a continuation plan spread over twelve years instead of ten years. The amount of debt, which was €26 million, would reduce to approximately €13 million. Lopez would have to sell his shares for a symbolic one euro and waive his claims and the clause for repayment if the club’s financial situation improves better. The deal includes a reduction in debts owed to the French government (50% for VAT on an the amount of just over €5 million and the same percentage for social security contributions on a sum of €4.2 million).
First trip scheduled on October 17th
The commercial court had set Thursday for deadline before a request to terminate the plan could be filed, so the first step towards the club’s liquidation. Girondins have therefore avoided this scenario. They must now appear before the regional club control committee of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Football League (LFNA) to approve the 2026-2027 budget and assess the takeover plan to new owner.
After that, the 32 members of the LFNA steering committee, the twelve District presidents and the 20 running mates of François Grenet, The president of the LFNA, will decide in which Division the Marine and White will start from, a priori, the Regional 1 pool B. The Bordeaux team should start their Championship with a trip to the Basque Country on Sunday October 17 by 15:00p.m. against the reserve team of Aviron Bayonnais.
The squad managed by Arnaud Cormier will only be able to field five federal contracts, while it currently has thirteen players on contract already and only two transfers, meaning players who were registered elsewhere by last season. Some of the players present last year are expected to remain with the club. The names of defenders Ruben Droehnlé and Léo Jousselin, and forwards Baptiste Guillaume, Soufiane Bahassa, and Steve Shamal have been mentioned from the club.
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