Gerry Cardinale, RedBird's founder and managing partner, is looking forward towards building a bright future for AC Milan, his firm's latest acquisition (a deal will be closed officially in September).
Here are Cardinale's words to Financial Times about purchasing the majority shares of the club and meeting with Paolo Maldini and the rest of the technical management:
"It was very important to me that I did that. We ended up spending three and a half hours together... it was fantastic."
On the deal with Elliott and getting a loan of 600 million euros at an interest rate of 7%:
"This enabled us to move on a dime, get a deal done, enable them to continue to participate in a way that they like to participate."
However, the sale process has drawn criticism from AC Milan board member Salvatore Cerchione, whose Blue Skye holding company owns just under 5 per cent of the club...
"Blue Skye has been unhappy over the opacity of the disposal process. We are confused about the real motives behind the disposal of the club, especially when such a bright future is ahead."
Gerry Cardinale on improving AC Milan:
"A brand of this scale, like AC Milan, should have infrastructure that is indicative of its football prowess and global potential. We’ve had a lot of experience with stadium projects in the US. Milan and Italy deserve a world-class stadium that houses the best of sports and entertainment on a global scale."
He added:
"There’s a huge opportunity at the macro level with Serie A. There should not be this kind of revenue differential on the media side between Serie A and the English Premier League."
Gerry Cardinale's first contact with Paolo Maldini was thanks to Maverick Carter, businessman and associate of Lebron James at production company SpringHill.
Maverick Carter told FT the following:
"I connected him (Gerry Cardinale) with Paolo because I knew how important and valuable that partnership [would be]."
Source: FT.com
