Vibrac Corporation is registered in the British Virgin Islands so it is not known who its ultimate owners are. However, it is providing football clubs with what amounts to a form of payday loan secured against future income, although presumably not at similar rates of interest. Indeed, the terms must be judged to be reasonable as four Premiership clubs have used the facility.
Everton obtained a one year loan of £14m in 2011 and it is believed that they may have used the facility again. Southampton have also used it, although more details are not available.
Vibrac Corporation is registered in the British Virgin Islands so it is not known who its ultimate owners are. However, it is providing football clubs with what amounts to a form of payday loan secured against future income, although presumably not at similar rates of interest. Indeed, the terms must be judged to be reasonable as four Premiership clubs have used the facility.
Everton obtained a one year loan of £14m in 2011 and it is believed that they may have used the facility again. Southampton have also used it, although more details are not available.
West Ham struck a deal in September 2012 which allowed them to borrow against all of the coming season’s television income, although by March of this year they had used just £10m. It is believed that they used this to repay historic debt. The club has debts of around £70m.
Mohamed Fayed arranged a facility of up to £16m in April, secured on Craven Cottage and future Premier League payments. The Vibrac facility was repaid within days of the takeover by Shahid Khan and could have been part of the unstated purchase price.
All this is, of course, legal and a short-term facility of this kind is evidently useful to some clubs. However, it does not meet calls for greater transparency in football finance.