Arsenal take out £120million loan to offset financial impact of Covid-19

Arsenal have taken out a “short-term” £120million corporate loan from the Bank of England to help offset the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

During August, the Premier League club announced plans to make 55 roles redundant across several departments because of the financial damage suffered during the coronavirus crisis.

The majority of Arsenal’s players had also earlier agreed to a 12.5 per cent pay cut to help keep other staff at the club keep their jobs.

On Thursday, Arsenal confirmed the club were utilising a Bank of England scheme to bring in significant additional revenue, with matches at the Emirates Stadium now once again being played behind closed doors.

A club statement read: “As we continue to work through the implications of the global pandemic on our finances, we can confirm today that the club has met the criteria set by the Bank of England for the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF).

“As a result, we are taking a short-term £120 million loan through this facility to partially assist in managing the impact of the revenue losses attributable to the pandemic.

“This is a similar approach to that taken by a wide variety of major organisations across many industries including sport, and is repayable in May 2021.

“The CCFF is designed to provide short-term finance at commercial rates during the pandemic to companies that have strong investment ratings and which make significant contributions to the British economy.

“The CCFF is in addition to the loan provided by our owners Kroenke, Sports & Entertainment that enabled us to refinance the debt on Emirates Stadium in August last year.”