Business crisis and negotiated composition: evolutionary model and the Sampdoria case

This thesis investigates the dynamics of corporate crisis and restructuring with a specific focus on the Italian legal framework and its recent evolution. The first chapter reviews the legislative development of the concept of crisis in Italy, examining the transition from traditional insolvency procedures to the new “Codice della Crisi” and the introduction of the negotiated composition procedure, which aims to facilitate early intervention and preserve business continuity. The second chapter proposes an analytical model describing the progression from underperformance to liquidation, identifying the key economic and financial factors that characterize each stage. This model is tailored to the specific context of football clubs, highlighting the peculiarities of their revenue structure, asset valuation, and debt management. The final chapter presents an in-depth case study of the Italian football club Sampdoria, detailing its entry into the negotiated composition process and analyzing the steps taken to manage its financial distress. The overall objective is to understand how legislative tools and financial analysis can interact to address corporate crisis, offering insights into best practices for restructuring strategies in sectors with unique economic features such as professional sports.