Official: Parma sold to Dastraso

Parma have finally completed the sale to Russian-Cypriot Dastraso Holding Ltd with Fabio Giordano as temporary President.

“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.

Dastraso Holding Limited are believed to be made up of Russian and Cypriot investors involved in the oil business, but there is still very little known about them.

“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 onwards they will be open to revealing their identities, but this is the decision of the majority shareholder.”

The last few days have seen absolute chaos around the club, as previous patron Tommaso Ghirardi insisted the deal had been finalised, but named new President Pietro Doca denied that was the case.

“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.”

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