Franco Sensi, a very wealthy Italian businessman, became the ‘boss’ of the ‘red and blacks’ for reasons unrelated to football. In reality, his passion was AS Rome, as he was the son of the club’s founder in 1927.
He became a co-shareholder with another figure from the Roman construction galaxy, the Mezzaroma family, who represent the backbone of the Italian capital’s economy, land and ‘mattoni’ (bricks) as the Urbe inhabitants call them.
Then Franco Sensi, president since 1993, became the sole owner of the club, a club whose management gradually swallowed the assets of a family that at that time was worth at least the equivalent of 1 billion euros.
The Sensi family was a matriarchal family, with ‘sior’ Franco surrounded by the representatives of the ‘gentle sex’: his wife, his sister-in-law, and three daughters, the eldest of whom, Rossella, became his main collaborator and succeeded him after his death in 2008.
Meanwhile, the business was no longer as profitable as before, and financing issues with banks became the order of the day.
But with tenacity that today seems illogical, the family gradually sold off family jewels to meet cash flow needs while preserving ownership of the football club.
A dangerous passion
Despite increasing pressure from their main creditor, Unicredit (the largest Italian bank), which held a credit position of 325 million euros, the family held together.
Last year, Rossella Sensi allowed herself to refuse an offer of 250 million from the Soros group, the Hungarian-American speculator.
But every fable has an end, and on July 26, 2010, the Sensi family threw in the towel and signed an arbitration agreement that put all the properties the family still owned in the hands of Unicredit in exchange for the cancellation of the debt. Only a few buildings, including the family residence, Villa Pacelli, the former home of the late Pope Pius XII’s family, with an estimated value of 30 million euros, would remain at the disposal of the ‘Signore (ladies)’ Sensi.
Unicredit has already mandated the financial and advisory firm Rothschild to sell AS Rome. The transaction is estimated at around 150 million euros.
Rossella Sensi remains the club’s president during this transition period, but the management will be subjected to the oversight of Unicredit’s delegates until the new owner is appointed.
What a modern story reminiscent of times past, full of passion and sadness!
