If the negotiations fail, Ūkio Bankas will initiate the process of liquidation of the football club, the bank has said in a press release on Monday.
“I can repeat that we are doing everything we can to save the club functioning. However, I am obliged to protect solely the interests of Ūkio Bankas and its creditors. If no feasible offer with terms and conditions acceptable to Ūkio Bankas’ creditors is achieved, Ūkio Bankas will have only one solution – liquidation of Hearts of Midlothian and enforcement of the standard security over Tynecastle stadium,” Gintaras Adomonis, Ūkio Bankas’ bankruptcy administrator, said in a press release.
It means that Ūkio Bankas would try to sell the Tynecastle stadium as a stand-alone asset instead of selling it in a package with the football club.
According to the press release, BDO, Hearts administrator, received three offers from investors, none of which were acceptable. Last week, the potential investors presented improved offers; however, the main creditor’s expectations were still not met.
Ūkio Bankas approved the administrator’s proposal to continue negotiations with two potential investors. Talks with the third potential investor, HMFC Limited, were terminated. The identities of two other potential investors have not been revealed officially.
Ūkio Bankas, which has a pledge over 29.9 percent of shares in Hearts of Midlothian, is the biggest creditor of the company.
Vladimir Romanov, former owner of Ūkio Bankas, began investing in Hearts in 2004 and acquired a majority stake in the club in the same year.
