Real Madrid were due to open the SkyBar at the end of the 2023-24 season, but it remains closed. Problems and scandals are piling up, and we learned today that members of the club’s office tried to enrich themselves thanks to this project.
The final details of Real Madrid’s renovation of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium continue to drag on. Between the two parking projects stopped and the soundproofing of the stadium still insufficient, the project is still not finished. This is also the case of SkyBara VIP bar which must overlook the enclosure.
Debts accumulating with suppliers
This addition should allow Real Madrid to generate millions of euros in profits each year, but its exploitation is still far from being relevant. The work experienced several slowdowns, in particular because the service providers responsible for the project defected.
The latest is the Anastia Gourmet Hostelería group. After taking over the project from the García-Delgado group, they contracted a debt of 4 million euros with the companies carrying out the work, without being able to pay them. As a guarantee, the companies did not sign the documents and reports related to the work they carried out, documents which are nevertheless mandatory to obtain an operating license. Anastia Gourmet Hostelería therefore finds itself in a bad position: without funds to reimburse the work and dependent on an operation that is impossible as it stands.
All roads lead to the Real Madrid offices
But the story doesn’t end there. The group is a newly created company with a share capital of barely 3,000 euros, providing no guarantee of its solvency. It is owned by the company Mandalore SL, formerly Bribón de Madrid SL, managed by Julio Mañas Martín-Camuñas and his partner Javier Utande. Anastia has just been bought by the García-Delgado group at 51% for 250,000 euros, but the latter does not intend to cover the debts. On the other hand, he launched a dispute against Real Madrid, demanding 16 million euros from the club, which he accuses of preventing him from operating the SkyBar premises.
The service providers and suppliers who carried out the work do not understand how Real Madrid could trust the Anastia group. However, the digital newspaper The Confidential reveals that this choice would have been motivated by personal interests. Julio Mañas Martín-Camuñas and Javier Utande are said to be close to Manuel Redondo, who is not the former footballer, but the “head of the club presidency” and “the trusted lawyer of Florentino Pérez”. It was he who would have signed the first contract with the García-Delgado group and brought Mañas and Utande back into the project on the orders of Florentino Pérez.
To add even more complexity, Anastia goes through a law firm to manage employee payroll, Eduardo Fernández de Blas SA. However, Eduardo Fernández de Blas is none other than the second vice-president of Real Madrid and close to Florentino Pérez. This firm would receive nearly 60,000 euros per year for salary management.
Management of the SkyBar project remains pending. The suppliers hope that the club will take charge directly and settle the debts for the work or choose a more reliable investor to rent the premises and cover the costs. In the meantime, the documents related to the work have still not been signed, which prevents any exploitation and harms the image of Real Madrid.
François Simonin.
