UpdateScaramucci drama has no bearing on pending SkyBridge sale, says Chinese buyer HNA

Anthony Scaramucci’s swift exit as US President Donald Trump’s communications director on Monday has no bearing on the pending sale of the firm he founded, SkyBridge Capital, parties involved in the deal said.

“The transaction remains on track and is expected to close by the end of the summer,” said Robert Rendine, a spokesman for HNA Capital US, a subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate HNA Group.

HNA, along with holding company Ron Transatlantic EG, in January announced an agreement to purchase a majority stake in SkyBridge, the New York-based hedge fund investment firm.

The sale came as Scaramucci planned to join the Trump administration, although it took months for a role to materialise and was not the one he initially anticipated.

Fallout from Scaramucci’s abrupt dismissal on Monday has focussed on a crude tirade against White House colleagues in an interview with the New Yorker.

But the Skybridge sale may also have given Kelly and Trump pause. US officials are examining HNA’s proposed purchase of SkyBridge, which Scaramucci had ironically hoped would free him of potential conflicts of interest before an official appointment.

The sale – believed to be worth US$250million – is being held back pending a reported review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the agency charged with evaluating the impact on America’s national security of the sales of US businesses.