Posted on December 8, 2021 at 8:30 p.m. by Arthur Montagne
Behind the scenes, the sale of ASSE seems to be taking a new turn. While the American investment fund 777 Partners would have withdrawn from the race, two other colossal projects would stand out, including the Russian project which would have had access to the Data Room.
If the process of selling the ' ASSE was launched on April 14, it was not until November 23 to see a first notable advance. Indeed, it was on this date that KPMG , an audit firm responsible for judging the financial soundness of candidates, rejected two offers, namely those of Olivier Markarian and Jean-Michel Roussier including “the guarantees of 'investment in the development of the club or guarantees of the origin of funds have not been made to date. Consequently, “none of the candidates can therefore enter into exclusive negotiations”, added the press release. Not enough to call into question the sale of the club so far since Roland Romeyer and Bernard Caïazzo added that “new candidates presented themselves with files which meet the criteria requested by KPMG. Their identity was initially kept secret, but L'Equipe recently revealed that four projects were in the pipeline: Total Sport Investments , Smart Good Things , 777 Partners and Terrapin Partners . And behind the scenes, the situation would settle down.
Two projects stand out, one withdraws
Indeed, this Wednesday, RMC Sport takes stock of the ASSE sale process, revealing first of all that a project had withdrawn. These are 777 Partners. this American investment fund, led by Steven Pasko and Josh Wander , would have taken a step back in this file, despite its intention to continue its establishment in Europe after having bought 99 , 9% of Genoa and invested in Sevilla FC . One less candidate for the takeover of ASSE , but this project was not favored by the shareholders. And for good reason, two other projects stand out like the one carried by Total Sport Investments . The Russian company, led by Roman Dubov , who was present at Geoffroy-Guichard in order to witness the defeat of the ASSE against the PSG (1-3), in the company of Michel Salgado , his sports advisor, would have had access to the Data Room. A significant step since it means that KPMG considers this project credible. It must be said that it relies on the financial power of billionaire Sergeï Lomakin , 986th world fortune according to Forbes. It remains to be seen whether the information collected in the Data Room will push the Russians to submit a takeover offer. At the same time, the local project led by Serge Bueno , president of Smart Good Things , could gain momentum since the Franco-Israeli businessman could associate with Olivier Markarian who confirmed in the columns of L'Equipe that he was still in the race with the capacity to inject “immediately between 40 and 50M € in the cash flow to allow the club to settle the problem of the CAN during the winter transfer window and the maintenance. Therefore, the sale of ASSE takes a new turn.