China-based HNA drops deal to buy Skybridge Capital

The Mooch is out of luck, again.

A group of Chinese investors is dropping its bid for Anthony Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital — leaving the one-time White House communications chief out of about $100 million, according to a report.

The Chinese conglomerate HNA Group is walking away after the federal government held up the transaction for more than a year on national security concerns, Dow Jones reported Monday (paywall).

The deal has been under review since January 2017, when the former Wall Street executive left his firm to eventually become the White House communications director, a job he held for 10 days.

HNA declined to comment. Scaramucci didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.

While the takeover deal is dead, HNA and Skybridge could pursue a partnership deal that would likely require less regulatory scrutiny, according to Dow Jones.

Any potential deal is still liable to fall apart.

HNA’s murky ownership structure had raised concerns from US regulators that the Chinese government would have a stake in SkyBridge, which was valued at $180 million in the proposed sale.

The sale, if it went through, would have netted Scaramucci about $100 million before taxes, according to Forbes.

The regulatory panel, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, only started to review the takeover this February, more than a year after it was first announced, according to Bloomberg.

The news that the deal collapsed comes four days after Scaramucci had signaled that CFIUS could make its decision as soon as this week.

“It’s coming to an end,” Scaramucci said in Washington last week, according to Bloomberg. “I’ll respect that decision, whatever it is.”

Mooch plans on returning to the company, which helps clients invest in hedge funds, as co-managing partner, according to Bloomberg.