Sale of AS Saint-Etienne (Ligue 2): Towards a failure of the exclusive negotiation with Blitzer

AFP revealed the information on Friday evening, citing the entourage of ASSE shareholders. Indeed, the negotiation initiated between the shareholders of AS Saint-Etienne (L2) and the American businessman David Blitzer for the takeover of the club would have failed.

“The exclusive negotiation period, which began 45 days ago, ended at midnight on the night of Thursday to Friday without reaching an agreement… It was not extended“, declared to AFP a close friend of the shareholders, Bernard Caïazzo and Roland Romeyer who have owned the Saint-Etienne club for almost fifteen years.The sale process continues … The club will communicate on this subject on Monday“, says the same source about the operation carried out for more than a year with the assistance of the audit firm KPMG, responsible for selecting the candidates.

The American businessman David Blitzer holds stakes in several football clubs in Europe (England, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium). Candidate for the takeover of ASSE, which will evolve next season in L2, the Drôme entrepreneur Olivier Markarian, member of the supervisory board of AS Saint-Etienne, which met on Thursday, meanwhile recently announced to abandon the project.

“I am absolutely not in the situation to make a new file for the takeover of the club. My offer was refused in November 2021 and I turned the page on this project“, he wrote on his twitter account.