Parma have finally completed their sale to Russian-Cypriot conglomerate Dastraso Holding Ltd and announced Fabio Giordano as the temporary president.
The troubled Serie A side has witnessed a chaotic turn of events recently over matters concerning club ownership and naming of new executives, as previous patron Tommaso Ghirardi insisted the deal had been finalized and named Italian businessman Pietro Doca as the new president.
However it is reported that Pietro Doca’s inability to handle media pressure has lead the Serie A side to finalize Fabio Giordano as interim president for a period of three months.
“The paperwork has all been signed and a deal reached. For three months I will be the president in a technical capacity,” said Giordano in a press conference.
“The new buyers are reliable and well-known people, but at the moment I cannot reveal their names. I signed a confidentiality agreement. Many clubs are controlled by foreign holding companies and ours is certainly not on any black list. The investors are 60 per cent Cypriot and the rest are Russian.
“I saw some names in the papers and a few are accurate. From March onward’s they will be open to revealing their identities, but this is the decision of the majority shareholder.
“Doca has resigned as administrator, as he was a little frightened by the media pressure. I will be President for three months in a caretaker capacity, then move to vice-president. We’ve decided to keep faith with Pietro Leonardi as director general and he’ll have full powers.
“I thank president Ghirardi, who sold Parma for the good of the city and the foreign holding company has his utmost faith. The moment the two parties got to like each other, the deal was practically done, then of course it required the time to complete the paperwork.
“The objective of the club is to stay in Serie A. The interest for Parma was motivated by it being a wonderful city in the North of Italy, the classier end of the football spectrum. The fans are good people and this is an interesting club.
“I don’t know the exact sum that will be invested on the transfer market, but the books have to be balanced. I now have to sit down and study the figures. We certainly don’t want to go into Serie B.
“The new board of directors will be chosen by the old board, I think on December 27. Many of the nominees have been chosen by me and are professionals who can support me in this adventure. They are mostly Italian.”
Dastraso Holdings Ltd, the new Russian – Cypriot owners of Parma are mainly into the oil extraction business.
