Two U.S.-based investment funds are "reportedly among the seven bidders who have made offers" to buy La Liga side Valencia, according to Dermot Corrigan of ESPN. Those who "submitted an official proposal to take over the heavily-indebted La Liga club" are U.S.-based investment firms Cerberus Capital Management and GEM, Chinese multinational Wanda Corp., Singapore businessman Peter Lim, Russian entrepreneur Mikhail Bosco, an Arab investment fund and a seventh bidder "which has not been identified." Each party "had to submit a proposal outlining how they would deal with" the club's €220M ($303M) debt to lender Bankia and the €90M ($124M) owed by the club's foundation. They also had to "put forward a plan to resolve the situation that sees Valencia currently own two stadiums -- one of which sits half-finished after the club ran out of money following a reckless property gamble made just as Spain's property bubble burst." Majority shareholder VCF Foundation "released a statement which did not confirm the names of the bidders, but did say it expected a decision to be made on the club's future before the end of April" (ESPN, 4/2).
