- AC Milan could never recover the glory of the times when it was under the leadership of Silvio Berlusconi.
- It was in the hands of Chinese and American businessmen.
- Now it was bought by the fund that has investments in English Liverpool and American baseball.
The investment fund of the United States RedBird Capital Partners reached an agreement for the purchase of AC Milan for 1,210 million euros (about US $ 1,300 million).
It is not a minor acquisition: AC Milan are the reigning champions of Serie A and one of the winningest teams in the history of that tournament, and of European football.
Under the terms of the deal, the current owners, Elliott, another US investment firm, will retain a minority portion of the club and seats on the board of directors.
Milan’s triumph was highly anticipated, as the powerful club from the northern Italian city had not won the title for more than a decade.
RedBird co-founder Gerry Cardinale said in a statement that they will return Milan to its rightful place at the top of Italian, European and world football.
Italian clubs are a great investment
RedBird already has business in world sport.
For example, is an investor in Fenway Sports Group, the company that owns Liverpool and the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
The US fund also has majority stakes in the French soccer team Toulouse.
Italy’s soccer teams are the focus of investment funds because are considered “cheap” compared to clubs in the English Premier League or the rest of Europe.
AC Milan became very powerful in the Old Continent when it was under the leadership of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, however, the last Champions League they won was in 2007.
The idea of the buyers is that the agreement ends in the second half of 2022.
Berlusconi sold AC Milan to Chinese investor Li Yonghong in 2017 for €750m, including debt. And then it passed into the hands of Elliott.
AC Milan: a sleeping giant
To buy AC Milan, RedBird had to “fight” with Bahrain Investcorpa fund that wanted to become the first Arab investor to land in a big club in Serie A.
Investcorp was not a minor buyer. The Middle East fund manages more than $40 billion in assets across a diverse range of businesses.
It invests in private capital, real estate, infrastructure, credit companies and strategic capitals.
The institution that came to win two Champions in this century reported losses of almost 100 million euros in its last fiscal year (ended July 31, 2021).
Past year had lost 195 million euros.
Other Italian clubs in the hands of foreigners are Inter Milan, owned by the Chinese company Suning Holdings Group, and AS Roma, owned by the United States company The Friedkin Group.
Fiorentina and Atalanta are also under the command of US capitals.
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