As has been known for days, Milan are about to go through a change within their ownership. Note carefully: ownership, not management. From a governance standpoint, little or nothing will change, as Giorgio Furlani will remain chief executive officer and Paolo Scaroni president.
The details
On Monday, a Board of Directors meeting was held at Casa Milan to define the so-called "approval", a technical step required to announce the entry of the new investor. The name is already known: it will be Manulife Comvest, a private credit platform focused on the North American mid-market and based in Toronto, Canada. Manulife Comvest will exercise the creditor substitution, replacing Elliott in RedBird’s financing. In the coming days, between the end of this week and the start of the next, the refinancing is expected to be made official. With financial support from Manulife, Gerry Cardinale will pay Elliott €557 million, €489 million related to the vendor loan, with the remainder made up of interest.
The changes
At that point, Elliott’s representatives on Milan’s Board of Directors will step down. Both Gordon Singer, Elliott’s number one, and Dominic Mitchell, Associate Portfolio Manager at Elliott’s London office, will leave their positions. Their seats will be filled immediately, not necessarily by Comvest representatives, but also by trusted executives selected jointly by the new lender and the majority shareholder, as relayed via Milan News.
