While AS Saint-Etienne has more or less ensured its maintenance in Ligue 1 by winning its last two games, the club of Forez have just been put up for sale.
For several years, Bernard Caïazzo and Roland Romeyer have sought to sell their club. In 2018, ASSE was almost bought out by Peak 6, an American investment fund, but a final disagreement turned the deal upside down. It must be said that the distribution of the club’s capital is rather vague. While the ASSE Groupe holding company is owned by two companies for 44% each, Cesse Foot for Caïazzo, and Croissance Foot for Romeyer, 12% are owned by ASSE. Except that half of the shares of Croissance Foot are still confiscated by the State, because of a legal problem dating from 2017. Suffice to say that the future buyer will be difficult to find, even if the presidents would only claim 20 ME to sell ASSE. While the supporters want “A new lease of life at the head of the club”, Florian Gazan finds it hard to believe in a good end for ASSE …
“Saint-Etienne, it’s too good for it to become that”
“I have the impression that Caiazzo and Romeyer are selling the club, not for the good of the club, but for their own good… Ultimately, they are mainly looking to get rid of the club, because the situation is complicated. But who will they sell to? At what price ? If it is to make Saint-Etienne a new Bordeaux, that is to say a club dying after being sold to a pension fund which does not have the means to invest… Saint-Etienne , it’s too good for it to become that. It’s good to buy a club. But when you’ve bought it, you have to invest. If the future owner does not put 150-200 ME on the table, ASSE will remain a small club that will survive before being sold in 2-3 years. If that’s the project … “, said the RTL consultant, who knows that the search for a new buyer could take several months. Especially when we know that ASSE has multiple debts, and that a deposit of several million euros will have to be put directly into a blocked account at the request of the DNCG.