Mysterious Maltese investors seek shares in Catania football club

A group of anonymous Maltese investors have helped shore up the Catania football club in neighbouring Sicily, which was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Several reports in local newspapers have been documenting the interest of Maltese investors in the football club since May, however no names have been mentioned so far.

Talks for a complete takeover of the club had been going on for weeks but failed after the Maltese investors initially sought an outright takeover but wanted the club’s debt to be written off.

However, early last week, as Catania faced the deadline to apply for readmission in Italy’s third-tier league – Serie C – the Maltese investors reportedly pledged €500,000 to help the club reach the financial target of around €2.1 million to be eligible for the competition.

The financial target was also met thanks to a crowdfunding initiative among Catania supporters that raised some €150,000. The rest of the money came from sponsors and the company that runs the football club, Sport Investment Group Italia (SIGI).

None of the reports in Sicily have indicated who the Maltese investors are or what businesses they may be involved in, or even their number. The investors appear to be known only to the owners of SIGI.

Questions sent to Catania football club remained unanswered by the time of going to print.

Influential Italian sports newspaper, Il Gazzetta dello Sport said last Wednesday that the Maltese investors were discussing taking up a shareholding of between 20% and 30% in SIGI. The newspaper did not name the investors.

Multiple sources in the Maltese football community were unaware of who these investors are and former prime minister Joseph Muscat quashed rumours that he was involved in any way.

“I was never involved in any negotiations regarding Catania, neither as a facilitator nor as an investor. I also do not know who these investors may be,” Muscat told MaltaToday.

Muscat said last year that after politics he will be dedicating time to sport and football in particular, which is probably the reason why his name was floated about by our sources.

SIGI is made up of 11 shareholders that include a mix of Italian individuals and companies that have equal shareholding.

According to news reports from last year when SIGI took over at Catania, the company’s share capital amounted to €55,000 with each of the 11 shareholders forking out €5,000.

The Catania football clubs runs a 130,000sq.m sports village known as Torre del Grifo that includes training grounds, a hotel, swimming pools and commercial outlets.