Hearts have moved a major step closer to exiting administration after majority shareholder UBIG agreed to transfer its stake to the fans.
Administrator BDO confirmed it had concluded negotiations with its colleagues in Lithuania, who are dealing with the bankrupt financial institution.
The Foundation of Hearts had a Company Voluntary Arrangement offer accepted by the club's creditors on November 29 and is now a significant step closer to a takeover.
This will be completed by Bidco, a group of Hearts-supporting business people who have raised the capital for an immediate purchase, before the club is transferred gradually to Fanco, the 7,800 supporters who have begun paying monthly direct debit payments to the Foundation of Hearts.
A statement from BDO read: "The administrator of UBIG has confirmed they will transfer for an undisclosed sum their 78.97 per cent shareholding in Heart of Midlothian FC to Bidco to enable the CVA to conclude.
"This means that transfer of the club to Bidco can now go ahead with a timescale of eight to 10 weeks for completion of the sale and purchase agreement subject to the deal being ratified through the Lithuanian courts and/or creditors."
Joint administrator Bryan Jackson added: "This is welcome news for the club as it means that the transfer of ownership can go ahead. While there remain some technical issues to resolve the process is now gaining some momentum.
"I would again like to thank the fans, the staff and the players for their continued patience during this time. For all of those involved with Hearts, on and off the pitch and on the terraces, it has been a very difficult period and their assistance and support has been greatly appreciated."
The news is a much-needed lift for the Hearts fans after their team's League Cup semi-final shoot-out defeat by Inverness on Sunday, which came after they led nine men with 94 minutes gone.
Foundation of Hearts chairman Ian Murray said: "This is very welcome news from BDO. We are edging closer to getting the club out of administration and we are now talking about when rather than if.
"This is a very significant hurdle overcome and we are delighted but more work is required.
"Let me continue to stress that we encourage every supporter who has not yet done so, and is able, to set up their monthly contribution at www.foundationofhearts.org."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article