Pan Asia deal looking increasingly unlikely as time passes
A considerable amount of time has passed on the Pan Asia-Panathinaikos takeover front, with the outstanding form of the team on the pitch papering over what has descended into an utter farce off it.
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Only a few months ago, the deal was all but done with Pairoj Piempongsant attending a Panathinaikos home match and outlining his plans for the future. He also invested 700,000 Euro after Giannis Alafouzos confirmed he would be selling his shares.
However, since then he has practically disappeared and all contact with Alafouzos has ceased. This comes as the Thai has been embroiled in an alleged money laundering scandal with Mouscron (the club he owns in Belgium). It is now looking increasingly unlikely that his proposed acquisition of Panathinaikos will eventuate.
A 10 million Euro payment is due in just under a month’s time on January 21. It was planned that Piempongsant would make this payment but it is now virtually impossible. The only saving grace is that there are contingency plans in place with Alafouzos set to cover this payment and continue his investment in the club out of necessity (it was only 12 months ago he stopped contributing any funds towards the club himself with players going unpaid for months).
At the moment, a high degree of uncertainty still exists with respect to Alafouzos’ relationship with Piempongsant even though it appears to be fractured. The only certainty is that club management has been meeting its monthly obligations with creditors and will continue in seeking to do so.
An interesting insight has emerged from Belgium after Mouscron won their battle to stay in the Belgian top flight amid the aforementioned controversy, with the club’s President shedding some light on the situation as a whole. He stated that Piempongsant’s “promises were impossible to implement” at Mouscron. On top of this, he stated that Piempongsant is “looking for a new investor to purchase Mouscron” and “talks with Panathinaikos have been unsuccessful so far”.
