Lyon: OL Groupe completes the funding of the Stade des Lumières, work to begin on the 01/08/2013

OL Groupe (the holding company of Olympique Lyonnais) has finalized the funding of the Stade des Lumières (capacity: 58,000), the company announced on the 27/07/2013.

Overall funding for the €405m enclosure, driven by Foncière Montout, 100% subsidiary of OL Groupe, is structured along the following lines: €135m in equity contributions, €112m in bond issues, €144.5m in bank borrowings and finance leases and finally €13.5m secured revenues during the construction phase.

Olympique Lyonnais' president Jean-Michel Aulas has announced work will officially begin on the 01/08/2013 (the excavation of the site, which began on the 22/10/2012, is almost finished). For the club, the economic impact of the Stade des Lumières is estimated at "hundreds of millions of euros over the next twenty years" or "70 to €100m in annual additional resources," according to OL's president.

"We must finish the construction of the stadium. It takes 30 months and it should be completed during the second half of the 2015/16 season. Before, it will be difficult, but OL will enter into a new dimension," said…