Italian financier Giulio Gallazzi "is seeking binding commitments from a series of hedge funds to finance a proposed takeover" of Italy’s oldest football club, Serie A side Genoa, sources said, according to Barbaglia & Canepa of REUTERS. If successful, the deal, which could be worth more than $141M, "would make Genoa the first club in Italy to be entirely owned by financial investors." It would also mark "the latest in a series of foreign takeovers of high-profile Italian clubs competing in Serie A." Bologna-born Gallazzi, who controls London-based advisory firm SRI Group, has until Saturday to "sweeten an initial bid which was submitted earlier this month." Gallazzi has been in talks with Genoa Owner Enrico Preziosi since the start of the summer and his bid on Sept. 1 "was rebuffed by Preziosi," who publicly said that it "undervalued the business." Preziosi, an Italian tycoon who controls "one of the country’s biggest toy manufacturers, Giochi Preziosi," resumed negotiations with Gallazzi on Sept. 18 but the parties "are still struggling to reach an agreement on price." Among the "main sticking points is the valuation of Genoa’s football players and its credits to other Serie A clubs," one of the sources said (REUTERS, 9/27).
