This Thursday, November 7, at the Raoul-Barrière stadium, at the end of the press conference formalizing the takeover of ASBH by Irish and English investors, Robert Ménard expressed his satisfaction: “It's a wonderful happy ending”, he comments. Interview.
Who owns the ASBH club now?
It belongs to a consortium which brings together former players, names in rugby and also people from professional sport, not just from the world of rugby. We sold them 75% of the club's capital.
Can you name these new shareholders?
Andrew Mehrtens, a fly-half that everyone knows, who was with the All Blacks for years; Bobby Skinstadt, a former South African player, winner of the 2007 World Cup in France; Eddie Jordan, the legendary boss of a Formula 1 team which bore his name and then two or three other people who are less known, English and Irish.
Negotiations took several months. But little was learned today about the amount of the transaction. What guarantees did they give you?
They gave us all the guarantees we needed. I have said it again and again: a certain number of negotiations are private matters. No, it is not up to me to say the amounts that were committed. We asked them for sums of money, they responded exactly to the sums of money we asked of them. The City invested in the SCIC (Cooperative Society of Collective Interest) which owned the club. This SCIC borrowed money from the City and all of this will be repaid, as with other shareholders. Today, all the people who lent money to keep the club active and surviving will be reimbursed. Some have already been. That's what I wanted. We didn't make any money. Then, we wanted commitments for the future and we have commitments for the future.
What will be the role of the City in the future?
She will have 2 to 3% of the club. It is enough, with the agreements we have, to have a right of inspection. Because I still remember what happened in previous years, at the start of my mandate, so as not to do that again. And in the agreements with this group, the City will be present on the supervisory board and a certain number of decisions cannot be made without the agreement of the City's representatives. This is exactly what we wanted. Today is a wonderful happy ending.
France
