Ligue 1: “May our fall be less painful”, Montpellier is looking for investors
Laurent Nicollin, president of MHSC, currently last in the championship, has launched an appeal for help and therefore wishes to partially disengage from the club.
By Le ParisienThe economic situation in Montpellier has prompted Laurent Nicollin, its president and owner, to make a decision. The latter is openly looking for investors, as Challenges revealed in its columns this Wednesday.
According to the economic media, the son of Louis Nicollin, founder of the group of the same name of which Laurent is the co-director, sent "a document of about ten pages to the main French investment banks". He thus cites the crisis of the TV rights of Ligue 1 to justify this desire.
"We are throwing a hook into the sea," explains Laurent Nicollin. "It can go quickly, and we can find something before July. But it can take time, because sometimes nothing bites. Our fall must be less painful at the end of the year." So there is no question of selling the entirety of the 2012 French champion, but it is not out of the question that the current owner will find himself in the minority.
Currently last in Ligue 1, seven points behind Reims, the first non-relegation team, MHSC is heading straight for relegation. This is why its president has also decided to anticipate: "We can't put money back ad vitam aeternam. Before, we were doing well financially. But we were missing more than 30 million at the start of last season. We will still have to sell players next year."
Le Parisien
