Spezia On The Verge Of Becoming Fifth Serie A Club With American Owner

It seems that Spezia will be the next club to add to American influence in Italian Serie A – Italy’s top-flight soccer league.

According to Sky Sports Italy journalist and transfer market pundit Gianluca Di Marzio, Spezia Calcio is in advanced talks with a U.S. fund over a majority stake.

The deal is in a very advanced stage and could be finalized already ‘within the next few days’, Sky Sports Italy reports.

The negotiations started already last December but the deal entered the final stages only last week, with the closing of the sale set to be ‘imminent’, the report claims.

A representative of the U.S. fund interested in the takeover is allegedly in Italy to conduct the due diligence, given the two parts have reached a preliminary agreement, Italian daily Corriere della Sera reports.

Contacted by Italian wire service ANSA, the Ligurian side did not confirm nor reject the allegation, fueling the rumor over a potential takeover.

“We were not aware of that, we just heard the news a few hours ago”, told Spezia coach Vincenzo Italiano to Sky Sports after the 0-1 loss against Udinese last Sunday.

Initially, the identity of the U.S. fund interested in taking over Spezia was a real mystery.

The Italian media were vaguely referring to a ‘U.S. consortium which already had experience in sports investments’, without specifying its name. 

However, last Sunday Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport revealed that one of the names behind the investors is MSD Capital, an American private investment firm that manages the capital of Micheal Saul Dell, CEO and founder of Dell Technologies
DELL
, one of the world’s largest technology infrastructure companies.

According to Forbes, the Texas-based company has a net worth of $35.9 billion. Founded in 1984, it employs more than 165,000 people in the U.S. and around the world.

The report, however, does not specify whether or not the mysterious investor is the MSD Capital itself or one of the founders of the firm.

Should the rumor be confirmed, Spezia will become the fifth Italian soccer club in the hand of an American owner, following AC Milan, Parma, AC Fiorentina, and AS Roma.

The Rossoneri were the first Italian club to be purchased by an American fund, when in 2018 Elliott Management Fund, owned by U.S. billionaire hedge fund businessman, took over from Chinese tycoon Yonghong Li.

In June 2019 ACF Fiorentina followed suit when Italian-American Rocco Commisso, CEO of Mediacom – the fifth largest cable television company in the U.S. – purchased the club from former Italian owner Andrea Della Valle.

In 2020 the Friedkin Group, a consortium run by U.S. billionaire Dan Friedkin, purchased the majority share of AS Roma, while only last September Iowa-based Krause Group jumped into Italian soccer with $100 Million-plus Parma purchase.

MORE FROM FORBESU.S. Businessman Dan Friedkin Takes Over AS Roma For Reported $700 Million

Spezia, owned by Italian businessman and tycoon Gabriele Volpi – is doing unexpectedly well in his first season in Serie A after 114 years.

The Ligurian side is currently sitting in 16th place – 3 points on top of the relegation zone – and is fighting to avoid Serie B, the country’s second division.

Spezia were promoted to Serie A for the first time in their history last season and currently sit 15th in the table, with 18 points in 20 games.

However, it is not the first time that current 77-years-old Gabriele Volpi – an Italian businessman whose assets range from oil services in Nigeria to luxury and fashion companies – is reportedly trying to reduce his investment in soccer by selling the club.

According to the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, in 2015 Volpi was close to the purchase of US Sampdoria, his favorite soccer club, but eventually, the deal fell short.

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