How did A-CAP lose control over Genoa and who actually owns the club now? Romanian Dan Şucu’s takeover faces a legal challenge, but is he only a front to hide the real owners?
By Philippe Auclair and Paul Brown, with additional reporting by Emanuel Roșu
So the statement published by Genoa CFC and 777 Partners on 27 November was correct: despite what everyone had been saying, including Genoa's own CEO Andrés Blazquez, the Italian club was not for sale, unlike the other assets in 777's football portfolio; and no 'sale' has taken place.
Yet, since 18 December, the 'not for sale' club has a new majority owner, Dan Şucu, a Romanian multimillionaire who made his fortune manufacturing and selling furniture in his home country through his Mobexpert company. Şucu had previously acquired a majority stake in Romanian phoenix club Rapid Bucharest (*) in May 2022.
It's fair to say nobody had seen this coming, starting with Kennneth King's A-CAP, until then the de facto owner of the Grifone after taking over the football assets of their debtor 777 Partners. De facto, but not more than that, and not less: to understand why the ownership of Genoa is so complicated, and now disputed, it is first necessary to understand the current relationship between A-CAP and 777 Partners. As senior secured lender, A-CAP has seized control of Nutmeg Acquisitions LLC, the company which holds all of the football assets in the 777 Partners portfolio. It does not own Nutmeg, and therefore does not own a stake in any of the clubs. But while A-CAP does not hold any shares in Genoa themselves, 777 Partners cannot allow for any change of control at the club witho...
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