Next November 20th could be a before and after for the Sestao Rivera team that plays in the First Federation, the third category of football. The board of directors of the Biscayan club has called for that day an extraordinary general assembly in which the green and black members will be put on the table and informed of the possibility that the entity could become sports limited company (SAD). A process that, as ABC has learned, would mean the entry of the well-known Bilbao businessman José Antonio Jainagaowner of the Sidenor steel group and with a fortune close to 400 million euros, as the majority shareholder of the Las Llanas group.
Up to date with Social Security and without debts to suppliers, Sestao River, which has 2,500 members, does not have financial problems, but the expenses in First Federation have skyrocketed, among other reasons due to the demand for the payment of a minimum annual salary to footballers of 20,000 euros. The club is up to date with its players, although it is aware that its ability to grow in infrastructure, human resources or work tools is limited.
The club chaired by Ángel Castro understands that in the current scenario, the possibilities for Sestao River’s sporting growth are also scarce and on November 20 it will inform its partners of the possibility of converting the entity into a sports limited company, an option to try to make an institutional leap that must have the approval of the partners.
A possible change of course that its neighbors in the area already undertook at the beginning of 2023 Barakaldocurrently third in Group I of the First Federation. Unlike the case of the Gualdinegra entity, in which the conversion process into SAD was motivated by a penalty of 1.2 million euros for non-payments to Social Security, Sestao River (in relegation positions to Second RFEF) thinks in that formula as a way of economic and sporting growth for the entity.
Precedent of the Sestao Sport
A management formula that, however, is not unknown in this Biscayan town because in 1992, the then Sestao Sport had to become SAD since the Higher Sports Council (CSD) forced all First and Second Division clubs (in which the green and blacks were active) to adopt that legal form. Four years later and with an accumulated debt of 250 million pesetas at the time, the Sestaota entity was forced to dissolve the sports corporation. The team then started from scratch in the Second Regional, under its current name of Sestao River, a journey through the desert that many members do not forget and that can hinder the initiative of the board chaired by Castro, who has personally guaranteed 200,000 euros of a budget current 1.4 million euros.
The conversion into SAD of Sestao would be well seen from the spheres of the PNV since on the horizon the renowned businessman José Antonio Jainaga (70 years old), owner of the Sidenor steel group and whom the Basque Government supports to take over, would appear as a majority shareholder. control of the Talgo railway company. For weeks now, all eyes have been on this Bilbao businessman as a possible savior of this leading company.
Jainaga wanted to introduce himself to Athletic elections in 2018but that year the metal sector was experiencing a major crisis and the PNV did not welcome the businessman occupying the presidential seat in San Mamés. Currently linked to football through Amorebietaa club that he has sponsored since 2020 with a contribution of 100,000 and which he tried to convert into SAD, although he was met with the refusal of Jon Larrea, president of this team.
For Sestao to become SAD, a process that would take more than a year to complete the three phases for the acquisition of shares, Castro and his board would need the minimum support of two-thirds of the general assembly of partners and the approval of the Higher Sports Council (CSD).
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