Almost 90 million euros. It is the total investment of the Montezemolo family in family funds Skew Base, at the center of legal disputes in at least four countries after the liquidation of five out of 23 sub-funds of the Luxembourg fund. But if 75 million were invested in two of the liquidated sectors, triggering the lawsuits by the Montezemolos and their companies, another 15 million were invested in a sector with underlying real estate assetswhich made in three years – from December 2018 to December 2021 – 22.8%, or 7.6% per year.
Fund returns
According to what has been reconstructed, the return of the other two sectors in which the Montezemolos had invested was between 3% and 6% per year until March 2020, when in conjunction with the market crash due to the Covid crisis, five sectors were were liquidated and for two others the sole subscriber requested full redemption. At the end of 2019, as official documents report, the Skew Base funds had raised around one billion from investors.
High risk investments
Skew Base funds, specialized in investments in certificates of various types (structured products with one or more underlying assets, at high risk), with short or very short residual maturity, from a few months up to a maximum of three years. The funds started raising in 2017 and the Montezemolo companies, such as the British Gi Globinvest and the Italian Emmediemme, were among the first investors.
It was Montezemolo who directed Montezemolo towards the Skew Base funds Daniele Miganifinancial consultant specialized in assisting large clients: “ultra high net-wort individuals”, i.e. people with at least $30 million in investable assets, or treasuries of large companies. Migani operated through the Xy Ers Uk, then through Xy Deutschland to overcome the limitations imposed by Brexit. Migani itself is controlled by Switzerland Twinkle Capitalthe Skew Base sarlgeneral partner of Skew Base funds.
Migani’s defense
According to the civil case initiated in Great Britain, Migani declared its independence from the Luxembourg funds, keeping quiet about being their de facto general partner. Accusation rejected by Migani, who underlines that the information on the ownership structure was in reality well known.
“It is unrealistic to think that the Montezemolo have not carried out adequate investigations before investing almost 90 million euros in a newborn fund, without a track record and, above all, unknown ignoring who the partner with powers was, given their financial experience and that of the trusted professionals who assisted them in investment decisions”, explains Xy.
The lawsuit also highlights how to 22.5 million euros in commissions paid by the fund, as many as 22 million had ended up, for various reasons, to companies attributable to Migani himself. Xy replied that of what Montezemolo invested “only a few hundred thousand euros” ended up in commissions.
The lawsuits in four countries and the Milan investigation
According to what is written in the balance sheet of the Skew Base funds, relating to 2019 but approved only at the end of 2023, what caused the liquidation of the sectors was the financial market crash of February-March 2020, coinciding with the Covid pandemic. At the beginning of March, Vp Bank – the institution that managed the funds and provided liquidity, also brought to trial in the case initiated by the Montezemolos, requested the reinstatement of the guarantees due to the multi-million dollar losses recorded by the financial instruments, causing the need to put the sectors into liquidation most affected. Of the various lawsuits initiated by investors in Switzerland, Great Britain, Luxembourg and Italy, some have already closed without any charges for the fund promoters. A criminal investigation was also launched in Milan, based on a series of complaints from investors – which however do not include the Montezemolos – which is currently still in an initial phase.
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