(Bloomberg) — Advantage Capital Holdings LLC started a legal challenge in a bid to block the recapitalization of Genoa Cricket & Football Club, which made a Romanian investor the majority shareholder of Italy’s oldest football club.
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An entity controlled by New York-based insurer A-Cap, the largest lender to Genoa’s former owner 777 Partners LLC, filed an injunction in an Italian court on Monday, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News.
The complaint alleges that the capital increase approved in December by Genoa’s board sidestepped A-Cap in order to transfer ownership to Dan Sucu, undermining the rights of the creditor. The insurer claims it had enforced a pledge granted by a 777 unit over the club, and was entitled to participate and vote in the shareholders’ meeting that approved the recapitalization process.
“Any such actions are completely groundless,” Genoa’s Chief Executive Officer Andrés Blazquez said in an email statement. They “will be vigorously challenged and have zero chance of success.”
The correctness of the procedure was confirmed by the board of statutory auditors and by the notary in his role as public official, he said. The deal is “irreversible as carried out in full compliance with the law.”
Representatives for A-Cap and Sucu didn’t respond to requests for comment.
On Monday, the team known as Il Grifone officially named Sucu as its president, according to a statement on its website. The Romanian investor, who also controls Rapid Bucharest football club in his home country, was in the stands of the Genoa stadium on Sunday where he saw the team win a domestic league match against Parma.
A-Cap’s filing marks an escalation in the fight over the ownership of the historic Italian football team, which broke out in December after Genoa announced Sucu had completed a €45 million ($46 million) recapitalization to become the controlling shareholder. Founded in 1893, Genoa is Italy’s oldest consistently running football club and competes in Serie A, the country’s top football league.
Genoa was bought in September 2021 by 777, a Miami-based multi-club football investor with a background in everything from re-insurance to film studios. 777 has since collapsed under media scrutiny over its financing strategy.
A-Cap’s complaint says ACM Delegate — a unit owned by A-Cap — provided a €440 million loan to 777 in 2023. ACM was granted “irrevocable proxy of the exercise of the voting rights and all other rights in relation to the companies subject to the control of the borrowers,” including Genoa, according to a legal filing.
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When 777 collapsed, A-Cap hired bankers at Moelis & Co. to review its portfolio, which also included Vasco da Gama in Brazil, Hertha BSC in Germany and Paris-based Red Star FC, Bloomberg previously reported.
–With assistance from Irina Vilcu.
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