Ponte Preta legal director says club is close to bankruptcy, why | OneFootball

Ponte Preta’s members prevented the approval of the creation of the club’s SAF at last Saturday’s Extraordinary General Assembly meeting. The opposition mobilized to ensure that the board would not secure the two-thirds majority needed to approve what, for many, is the club’s only way out as it faces a deep financial crisis.

José Henrique Specie, Ponte Preta’s legal director, spoke out after the members rejected the creation of the SAF. In the executive’s view, the club is heading toward bankruptcy, especially after last Saturday’s move.

“Ponte Preta’s financial situation is very dire (…). The club, as is publicly known—not only among the members—is living in a very delicate financial situation, a situation of practically near insolvency (…). There aren’t many ways out,” said José Henrique Specie.

The investor group was expected to inject R$ 1 billion into the club. According to an audit, Ponte Preta’s debt is around R$ 320 million. The club also has other debts related to property tax (IPTU), totaling around R$ 20 million. In addition, the monthly deficit is close to R$ 2.8 million.

“There is consolidated debt in the hundreds of millions that was not created now; it has been building up over decades, and has now entered a stage of enforcement. Creditors are knocking on our door every day. So the revenue we currently have available is not enough even to pay the enforced debts, much less the club’s ordinary obligations. So we are going to assess this scenario and seek, in the best possible way, to balance the club’s financial situation within this existing context, which is one of near insolvency for Ponte Preta,” the director said.

Ponte Preta will seek mechanisms to survive

“I believe this financial planning would be much more productive if we had this indication regarding a possible implementation of an SAF in the future, right? So, given this result, we will have to look for planning mechanisms to ensure the club’s sustainability within the possibilities the club currently has.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.