Sunday, January 5, 2025, 14:04, UK
Nottingham Forest have avoided having to pay market rate on Evangelos Marinakis’ loan after converting £82m into shares.
This is the view of financial expert Stefan Bolson, who exclusively told Football Insider that the Premier League side would have lost around £8m a year without the Greek businessman’s investment.
Companies House filings on December 23 revealed that Marinakis converted loans worth £82m into 82bn shares worth 1p.
The 57-year-old has made a series of debt-to-equity moves since securing the City Ground takeover in 2017.
The injection follows the Premier League’s recent legal battle with Manchester City, following confirmation that shareholder loans must be submitted as related party transactions (APTs) and subject to a fair market value assessment. It was done.
Nottingham Forest avoid fresh PSR blow after latest injections
Bolson revealed that it was essential for Forest’s owners to convert the loan into equity to ensure the club did not take a financial hit.
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He told Football Insider: “Marinakis appears to be overhauling its balance sheet every year to either eliminate debt or increase equity, so the balance sheet appears clean at the end of the year.
“He did so in June last year and it was imperative that he do so now that changes have been made to the related party transaction rules relating to shareholder loans.
“Otherwise, we would have to pay market interest rates on our £82 million debt.
“This will probably be around 10%, which means it will cost PSR more than £8 million a year on its income statement.
“Obviously they don’t want to do that, so that was the easiest thing to do.
“I think it’s just cleaning up the balance sheet.
“In any case, since he owns 100 percent, those loans are effectively equity, so I don’t see them as anything particularly important or unexpected.”
In other news, Nottingham Forest star is set to agree a new contract soon.
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