New York-based business lawyer behind moves to gain a controlling share of the Stormers

The New York-based man behind moves to gain a controlling share of the Stormers is a high flying business lawyer with a penchant for human rights issues.

Marco Masotti‚ who heads MVM Holdings‚ has offered US$6-million (almost R100-million) for a 51 percent stake in the Stormers‚ Independent Media has reported.

Masotti‚ who graduated at the University of Natal‚ is said to be one of leading lawyers in the alternative asset management industry in the United States.

His company profile reads: ‘Marco serves as President of the Friends of the Legal Resources Centre‚ South Africa’s largest pub­lic inter­est‚ human rights law clinic‚ and he is part of the Founding Advisory Board for the Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice at the City University of New York School of Law. Marco was awarded a Fulbright Placement Award upon graduating from the University of Natal School of Law.’

In the news report Masotti explains that under the terms of the proposed deal‚ $4m will go to the Stormers and $2m to WPRFU.

The organisation needs all the money it can get.

The organisation recently raised cash that should see them serve their most immediate debt and trigger their move across town to Cape Town Stadium.

Having an additional R100m may allow them to retain some of their top talent but that cash injection for the controlling share of the franchise seems at the lower end of the valuation scale.

WP Rugby have had their backs to the wall for a while and the general sentiment in the market may be that they are desperate.

Whether MVM’s offer‚ which was made on the 8th of July‚ will be accepted is moot. The clubs who make up the WPRFU are unlikely to sanction the deal as they have fastidiously held onto control of the organisation.

The clubs who make up the WPRFU are unlikely to sanction the deal as they have fastidiously held onto control of the organisation.

SA Rugby‚ on the other hand‚ will likely to countenance an equity deal as it will give one of their top affiliates greater financial independence.

Almost all the provincial unions have for some time been in financial dire straits and the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated matters.