Aurelio Martinez:
“We are convinced that what we are doing is the right thing. I promised to explain a sale at a general assembly, well here I am. We voted Peter Lim’s offer as the best by he manner of raised hands. We agreed this after everyone knew the offers. I would like to thank the patronato for it’s professional behaviour. The sale process has been a great success. The reason is that it was we who decided who would buy the club. The first offer was 94 million euros in July. Then in December there was an offer for 150 million. Peter Lim’s first offer was 200 million. Then we initiated the sale process and got 7 offers, 6 of which were valid for further considerations. 4 offers were brought into the Fundacion patronato. Lim’s offer at the moment after negotiations with Bankia is 500 millions. Not bad, is it?
The evaluation of the offers has been done by an internationally renowned consultancy who has independently chosen the best offer according to the criteria we presented. The process has been transparent because all the bidders new what we would be evaluating at the end. The most regrettable part has been the filtrations of information from the bids. I disapprove of these forms. That is not the way to carry out these tasks.
We did not come here to sell the club. We were here to refinance the loan, generate income and reduce the loans, finish the stadium. But the pressure from the investigations into government support and that the loan was due. We considered 20 criteria when selected. Meriton fulfilled 18 of these. The others less. One of the most important parts is the assets. With Lim Valencia would have 28 millions in debt after 5 years, the second best 106. The third increased the debt to more than 300. The fourth even more.
Fundacion 100 millions; all debt with Bankia, Generalitat + 6 million to Fundacion. To strengthen Valencia’s assets, Lim will sell the old Mestalla, which non other do. The consequence is that it will Valencia will keep the money from the sale. Valencia with the new stadium will get new ways of income. With Lim these will go to Valencia. Lim offered 200 million with 0% interest, 95 for loan, 35 for running costs, 60 for players. Bankia and Lim has reached an agreement with some details left to iron out.
The offer made by another bid team after he 5th was denied as invalid after a discussion in the Patronato. If there was any better offer, the Patronato would have voted for it, I promise you. If we didn’t appreciate any of the offers, we would have turned them all down and not sold. I am disappointed that the Valencianistas are divided. Valencia have spoiled a chance to be among the best. It is difficult to get there, but easy to stay. By selling our stars and not having a vision, we lost it. The new team will have the task to restore the club to that level. The new owner, Peter Lim has put in a lot of money with the dream of making that happen.
There is a lot of people with money and power. We who don’t have that luxury only have our word. I have given mine and I have to keep to it. That is why I have to leave.”
Amadeo Salvo, received with an enormous applause:
“I think Aurelio has explained this very well. We have shown with effort, tenacity and support we, Valencia, have power. Behind us up here are thousands of bats who love the club. There is a future still to write, but it will be written by us Valencianistas. I want to thank Peter Lim for holding out, even suffering all these rumours, critics and false accusations. He knew this is Valencia. He knew there is a great potential here. Even this year we have increased the attendance by 10%. Without Champions. You have seen this video Past Future. Our past is great and is also the future we aspire to. This was an obsolete club, with good professionals, but obselete structure. Far from the world level club that Valencia is. This board will make this the most modern club in Spain.
We have defended that Valencia have a bote and a voice in the process. But also we did not want the process to break. That is why we opened up for improvements to the 5th of May. All the offers presented improvements, except Wanda. Meriton only presented an improvement for Fundacion, nothing for Valencia. Peter Lim’s offer was the best. Salvo; The offer Zolotaya Zvezda has assets 203 euros. It is information from the financial registry of Russia. There was no proof that the companies cited to support the offer did actually did. No letter from the CEO stating that; we xxxx support the offer from Zolotaya. There is also the aim to increase the income for the club by 150 million. But they want to reduce the wage budgets for players. If we would want to increase income, was it not to be able to increase spending and get a better team? Zolotaya presented an envelope the day of the vote. Outside the process, and without any guarantees.
But now we need to stand united as Valencianistas. We need build a great team together. Whenever there is a match at Mestalla it should be a happening. We will have a new owner who has suffered to be here, who has persevered even suffering the insults like that he presented an offer in a folio. Millions of bats united, we will make our Valencia respected and invinsible. Amunt Valencia!”