The theme of corporate restructuring returns to the center stage of AC Milan. With the third-place position in the crucial Champions League secured for now and the winter transfer market underway, albeit with Torino's veto on Buongiorno for now, a new rumour from the Middle East emerges: the growing interest of potential Arab investors, following talks last November, in entering the club.
The novelty this time is that the investors themselves have been spotted in Milan. They are said to be representatives of PIF, the Saudi government fund, interested in acquiring short-term shares of the club from the majority shareholder, American entertainment manager Gerry Cardinale, owner of RedBird Capital, the controlling entity of Milan. According to Saudi financial sources, Cardinale, after the blitz for the match against Roma and the motivational speech to the team in the presence of his consultant and shadow executive Ibrahimovic, was expected in the Persian Gulf, while some Riyadh envoys reportedly remained in Milan.
Their goal would not only be a minority stake close to 50%, equal to the debt (550 million euros plus interest) contracted by RedBird in the summer of 2022 with the Anglo-American Elliott fund of the Singer family, which acquired the club from the defaulting Yonghong Li in 2018, who, in turn, took over from Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest in 2017.
Now, investors linked to Saudi Aramco (the hydrocarbon branch of the government) are reportedly exploring the possibility of acquiring majority shares of the club by the end of the season.
In August 2022, at the time of the share transfer from Elliott to RedBird (Gordon Singer, however, retains decision-making power in Milan's Board of Directors), the club was valued at 1.2 billion euros, and with a positive balance and a new stadium plan on the horizon (approved by the San Donato council), it is now estimated to be worth no less than 1.6 billion euros.
"Only financial and commercial strategies"
Yesterday, it unofficially leaked again that there is no intention to sell Milan and that Middle Eastern talks are part of financial and commercial strategies—both for the club and RedBird—in a market with great prospects. It implies that the decision for the coach for the 2024/25 season (Conte, Motta, De Zerbi, or the challenging reconfirmation of Pioli) would remain on the shoulders of Cardinale (and Ibrahimovic). While two months ago, Cardinale and Milan's CEO Giorgio Furlani traveled to Arabia for meetings—with PIF from the Saudi government, Investcorp based in Bahrain, and an American fund with a branch in Dubai—now the reverse journey of PIF-Aramco envoys would signify a significant development in the story.
Furlani was absent from the stands at Milan-Roma due to illness, but the most active in this phase is RedBird's owner, associated by the French press (RMC and L'Equipe) with another football operation: the sale of Toulouse to the friendly company Otro Capital (sports and media), created by three former RedBird employees and close collaborators of Cardinale. Alec Scheiner, Isaac Halyard, and Niraj Shah resigned from Milan's Board of Directors in July 2023, shortly after leaving Toulouse's board. Despite the customary denial from the French club, there is also a UEFA aspect: Milan and Toulouse, both under RedBird, will have to play Europa League playoffs in mid-February. Last summer, Nyon established that the rule on multi-ownership was respected but conditioned the French team's Europa League entry to a ban on market and technical (blocking Eric Allibert, the goalkeeper coach favored by Maignan) or commercial agreements with Milan, which was relegated to the Europa League in December. Furthermore, until the end of the season, a change of ownership for Toulouse will only be possible if all club shareholders (RedBird has 85%) agree. Meanwhile, nothing prevents the highly active Cardinale from engaging in negotiations on multiple fronts.
This was relayed from La Repubblica in their website.
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