Caixa Econômica Federal is willing to renegotiate for the second time in less than three years the debt of Corinthians for the construction of the club’s stadium in the East Zone of São Paulo, Neo Chemistry Arena.
The main amount of the debt was R $ 688 million (without adjustment), before the club’s main organized crowd campaign, Gavião da Fiel, which slaughtered about R $ 30 million of the amount due in financing.
The information about the renegotiation was anticipated by ESPN and confirmed by the bank’s president, Carlos Vieira, in an interview with Sheet.
Vieira proposes that Corinthians enter Neo Chemistry Arena in a heritage fund and then sell quotas to fans for $ 100.
“If you launched such a idea, you would quickly solve the problem. The Corinthians fan is a fanatic, he’s in love,” he said. He estimates that the club can raise $ 1.5 billion in the operation.
Asked if it would not be early for a new renegotiation, the president of Caixa stated that the warranties given by Corinthians are solid and that the purpose of a future operation is to solve the problem.
“Renegotiation is made to resolve the issue,” he said. “If this is the proposal, there is neither early nor late.”
In an interview on the afternoon of Monday (8), the chairman of the Corinthians Deliberative Council, Romeu Tuma Júnior proposed that the club will stop paying the debt to focus on more important debts.
“Stop paying the stadium, will pay the debts we have are more urgent to avoid blocking,” he said, pondering that the decision is not up to him. “Stop paying, it’s over. It starts there. We have to look for a solution, we have no money.”
In the financial statements of 2024, however, Corinthians cites increase in revenues and claims to be able to honor the debt. “The general conditions for compliance with payment flow are adequate to generate business revenues.”
Corinthians total debt is calculated at R $ 2.6 billion, according to a report.
Corinthians began building their stadium in 2011, using money raised on bank loans and development incentive certificates. Performed by Odebrecht (current Novoonor), the work also benefited from tax benefits granted by the City of São Paulo.
At that time, the club was chaired by Andrés Sanchez, businessman, former federal deputy for the PT and friend of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT), who is a Corinthians fan. In January this year, the Chief Executive made a donation via Pix in the amount of R $ 1,013, in reference to the PT number (13), as part of the campaign to pay the arena debt in Itaquera.
In 2013, the club signed a loan agreement with Caixa, in an operation that used funds from BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) to build World Cup stadiums in Brazil in 2014.
Frequent presence in Brasilia, Andrés was already with Lula during the third term of the petista and with representatives of the bank to discuss the theme of the renegotiation of the arena debt.
In addition to the financial difficulties, the club is experiencing a political crisis, with three former presidents under investigation by the São Paulo Public Prosecution Service for non-aggravated misappropriation, theft qualified by the competition of agents, abuse of trust, estelionate, ideological falsehood and criminal association.
In August, the agency asked the court to break the confidentiality of corporate card invoices during the management of Andrés Sanchez, Duilio Monteiro Alves and Augusto Melo. The latter was deprived last month and replaced by his deputy, Osmar Stabile.
