By Anna Italia
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Italian Soccer Serie A

Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio S.p.A. (“Atalanta” or the “Club”) announces on Saturday 19 February 2022 the signing of a Partnership Agreement between the Percassi family and a group of investors led by Stephen Pagliuca, Managing Partner and Co-owner of the Boston Celtics and Co-Chairman of Bain Capital, one of the leading investment funds in the world.

As reported by Atalanta Official Website, the agreement provides for the entry of the new investors with a 55% total stake in the share capital of La Dea Srl (“La Dea”). The Percassi family will retain a 45% stake. La Dea is the sub-holding of the Percassi family, holder of about 86% of the share capital of Atalanta.

The Percassi family will remain the single largest shareholder and the governance will reflect an equal partnership: Antonio and Luca Percassi will retain their respective roles of Chairman and CEO of the Club, while Stephen Pagliuca will be appointed Co-Chairman of the Club.

The group of new investors includes prominent professionals with an in-depth experience in football and the sport sector in general. For this reason also, the partnership aims to strengthen both the Club and the management team, with the intention of achieving a further improvement of the sporting and economic results – in addition to the remarkable ones – achieved so far.

The commitment is to ensure that the Club’s future is even more international, expand the brand awareness outside the European borders, broaden the network of talents to which Atalanta has access and open the doors to new opportunities for commercial collaborations as well as the use of innovative technologies for the sporting and financial management of the Club.

All this in the declared will to never loosen the strong roots of Atalanta in the Bergamo area and its close relationship with its world-class fans.

Antonio Percassi, Chairman of Atalanta, declared: “My family and I, have taken this opportunity to partner with a group who shares our vision to continue the growth and success of our team, choosing to remain committed to the Club that over the last ten years has delivered exceptional results, that perhaps no one would have expected from a so called “provinciale”. Atalanta, in whose ranks I played in the ’60s, is and will remain in my heart as it is in the heart of thousands of fans who support it. Great challenges await us and my conviction is that the Partnership with such high profile investors will speed up our path of growth.”

Stephen Pagliuca, future Co-chairman of Atalanta, commented as follows: “We are thrilled to partner with the Percassi family and to support the future development of the Club. Atalanta and Boston Celtics share the common sports values: teamwork and an extraordinary relationship with the fans and the community. We believe that the Percassi family has built very solid foundations on which to work together to strengthen the brand globally, with the aim of encouraging further diversification and growth of revenues, allowing the club to become more and more competitive on Italian and international scene.”

The Percassi family was assisted by BofA Securities as financial advisor, Studio Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici as legal advisor and Deloitte as business advisor.

The group of investors has been assisted by Legance and Kirkland & Ellis as legal advisors, Alvarez & Marsal as commercial and financial advisor and Pirola, Zei, Pennuto & Partners as tax advisor.

Photo via twitter.com/Atalanta_BC