Posted on November 24, 2021 at 11:30 am by Arthur Montagne
Despite the announcement of Roland Romeyer and Bernard Caïazzo, who declined the offers of Olivier Markarian and Jean-Michel Roussier, the sale of ASSE is not canceled. Far from it even since four new candidates would be in the running. And not least.
Since April 14, the ASSE sale process has been launched. And in recent days, he has even experienced a hell of a boost. Indeed, after having set November 8 as the deadline for submitting an offer, the audit firm KPMG , in charge of studying all the proposals as well as the solvency of the candidates, had left until November 23 to render its verdict on the offers received in order to present it to Roland Romeyer and Bernard Caïazzo . Two candidates were still in the running: Olivier Markarian , businessman from Valence in the Drôme and leader of a local project as well as Jean-Michel Roussier which relies on funds based in Switzerland and which had already entrusted the sports component of its project to Mathieu Bodmer . However, KPMG representatives, who met with ASSE leaders on Tuesday, concluded that “guarantees of investment in club development or guarantees of the origin of the funds have not been provided to date ”. Consequently, “none of the candidates can therefore enter into exclusive negotiations”, as the press release specifies. Olivier Markarian and Jean-Michel Roussier are not out of the game, but the shareholders assure that they “will continue the sales process with the first candidates if they provide KPMG with the financial and legal guarantees requested. “
Four new candidates including a billionaire
However, there is a good chance that Jean-Michel Roussier and Olivier Markarian never see their project succeed. And for good reason, in this same press release, Roland Romeyer and Bernard Caïazzo add that “new candidates presented themselves with files which meet the criteria requested by KPMG. According to information from L'Equipe, there are four of them. All considered more serious and already validated by KPMG . Terrapin Partners is one of them. The American investment fund, already mentioned to take over the ASSE in 2018, resurfaced. For the moment, no offer has been sent given the sporting situation of the Greens which is causing concern. The men of Claude Puel are however in the process of raising the bar and have just won two consecutive victories against Clermont (3-2) then in Troyes (1-0). A recovery that should also appeal to another candidate for redemption. If the name of the latter has not filtered, L'Equipe ensures that a very rich businessman would also have positioned himself. He is even said to be one of the richest men on the planet. A resident of the famous Forbes ranking which brings together the greatest fortunes in the world, this billionaire now represents the best sales prospects for the current owners. Long reluctant in the face of projects that he did not consider ambitious enough, Bernard Caïazzo worked to attract investors capable of taking ASSE to a new dimension . For the moment, no other information has filtered about this mysterious billionaire, but the owners await “with serenity the recommendations of the audit firm about these candidates whose financial capacity is indisputable with a desire to conclude in the as soon as possible ”, according to the press release released Tuesday. In other words, the ASSE sales process is experiencing a new twist. But that one might turn out to be some big news.