Yesterday, AC Milan confirmed their new Board of Directors in the first Shareholder meeting to take place since RedBird Capital bought the club from Elliott Management.
Calcio e Finanza writes how there are a total of nine members of the new board of directors, five of whom are Elliott’s and previously present (president Scaroni, CEO Gazidis, as well as Stefano Cocirio, Giorgio Furlani and Gordon Singer).
Outgoing are Marco Patuano, Alfredo Craca (founder and managing partner of FIVELEX Studio Legale) and Massimo Ferrari (General Manager Corporate and Finance of Webuild, formerly known as Salini Impregilo).
These have been replaced by four RedBird members, but who are they? The first is Gerry Cardinale, a name already well known as the founder RedBird Capital and the man who took on the operation to buy the club that was completed at the beginning of September.
The second is Alec Scheiner, the right-hand man of Gerry Cardinale. Scheiner appears in the corporate vehicle documents that were created for RedBird’s purchase of the Rossoneri. Alec Scheiner is a Partner at RedBird and leads its investment activity in Sport and Media.
In his current role, Alec helps oversee the firm’s investments in Fenway Sports Group, OneTeam Partners and RedBird FC (consisting of Toulouse FC, Rajasthan Royals and Zelus Analytics) and is actively involved in the firm’s investments in Dream11, The SpringHill Company, Collector’s Universe and RedBall Acquisition Corp.
Alec led OneTeam’s growth to 10 times its initial earnings within two years and helped build the company’s partnerships with Electronic Arts, Dapper Labs, Fanatics Trading CardCo and DraftKings.
Under Alec’s leadership, Toulouse was the best performing Ligue 2 team and in less than a year, Fenway Sports Group added another American franchise in the Pittsburgh Penguins. Prior to joining RedBird, Alec had a successful career in sports as from 2012 to 2016, he was president of the Cleveland Browns and, under his leadership, the team set records for season ticket sales and corporate partnerships.
The team increased box office revenues by nearly 20 per cent during this period and posted one of the largest growths in commercial revenues in the entire NFL. Alec joined the Browns after spending eight years with the Dallas Cowboys, initially as general counsel and then as first senior vice president.
While at the Dallas Cowboys, Scheiner helped design the sales strategy for the $1.2 billion AT&T Stadium and was instrumental in structuring and negotiating the stadium’s public and private financing during the financial crisis.
The third new figure is Isaac Halyard, vice-president of RedBird. In his current role, Isaac is actively involved in managing and overseeing investments in SpringHill Company, Fenway Sports Group, OneTeam Partners, RedBall Acquisition Corp., RedBird FC, Skydance Media, Wasserman Media Group and YES Network (which recently signed a deal with AC Milan).
Previously, Isaac Halyard was an analyst in the Investment Banking division of The Goldman Sachs Group, where he advised a variety of clients within the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group.
The latest name is that of Niraj Shah, one of the directors of RedBird, a figure who focuses on investments in Sports and Media.
In his current role, Niraj is actively involved in each of the company’s sports and media investments to date, representing over $1.6 billion in invested capital, including those in Dream11, Fenway Sports Group, Rajasthan Royals, The SpringHill Company, Toulouse Football Club, Wasserman Media Group and the YES network.
Niraj also plays a central role in overseeing XFL, RedBall Acquisition Corp. and Skydance Media, as well as RedBird’s former investment in On Location Experiences with the NFL. Prior to joining RedBird, Niraj was an associate at Apax Partners, a global private equity firm, where he evaluated investments in the media and business services sectors.
Niraj began his career as an analyst in the Investment Banking division of Goldman Sachs, where he advised a variety of clients within the Consumer Retail Group on mergers and acquisitions, and leveraged buyouts.
On the philanthropic side, Niraj is part of The Opportunity Network, an organisation whose mission is to provide low-income students from underrepresented backgrounds in the New York area with practical college preparation services and professional education.
