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Scaramucci Expects Decision on SkyBridge Sale to HNA Within Week

Scaramucci Expects Decision on SkyBridge Sale to HNA Within Week

(Bloomberg) -- Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci said U.S. officials will make a decision “this week or early next week” about whether to block the sale of his SkyBridge Capital to a group of buyers led by China’s HNA Group Co.

“It’s coming to an end," Scaramucci said Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington. “I’ll respect that decision, whatever it is," he said, adding that he’s uncertain whether the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., the panel that’s reviewing the transaction for national security reasons, will recommend blocking the deal.

Scaramucci agreed in January 2017 to sell his ownership in SkyBridge as he prepared to accept a role in President Donald Trump’s administration. The deal valued the New York-based fund-of-hedge-funds firm at $180 million or more depending on performance. But it’s been held in limbo as the secretive national security panel probed HNA’s ownership and sought further details. The committee began its formal review process in February.

SkyBridge wouldn’t be the first HNA deal to collapse. Earlier this month, the Chinese firm shelved a planned initial public offering of aircraft ground-handling company Swissport Group about two weeks after abandoning a similar plan for its Swiss airline caterer Gategroup Holding AG. In December, HNA’s proposed acquisition of Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.’s asset-finance business in New Zealand was rejected by regulators because of its opaque ownership structure.

Scaramucci, 54, has repeatedly expressed misgivings about the review, saying he doesn’t understand why the transaction would pose a national security risk for the U.S.

“There’s no whining in life," he said Thursday. “If it works, great. If it doesn’t work, I’ve got a great little company.”

--With assistance from Andrea Snyder and Derek Wallbank

To contact the reporters on this story: Simone Foxman in New York at sfoxman4@bloomberg.net, Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Steven Crabill, Sara Forden

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