Elliott Management have officially responded to the claims from Blue Skye that they were misled during the sale of the club to RedBird Capital.
Calcio e Finanza recalls how Blue Skye lodged an urgent appeal that will be heard in the Court of Milan as the Luxembourg company asked to block the sale of the club to Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital, with whom closing was finalised at the beginning of September.
Blue Skye (led by Salvatore Cerchione and Gianluca D’Avanzo) and its parent company Luxembourg Investment Company complain that they were ‘never allowed to obtain any information on this sale, in which they were directly interested’.
Their appeal – with similar proceedings having already started in Luxembourg and New York – will be discussed today in a hearing before Judge Angelo Mambriani.
In the Milan civil lawsuit filed against the Elliott fund, as stated in the act signed by lawyers Maurizio Traverso, Emanuele Breggia and Federico Cerboni, Blue Skye and its parent company, which entered in 2017 into Project Redblack (a company set up for the investment operation in AC Milan), contest ‘fraudulent conduct’ to their detriment in the sale of the Rossoneri from Elliott to RedBird.
“For this reason, the request is for the ‘radical nullity and ineffectiveness of all acts’ and first of all of the agreement of 26 May last year ‘for the purchase of the shares’ between Elliott and Cardinale’s fund,” the document reads.
Elliott have now responded to the claim and have reaffirmed that they are confident they acted in the most propriety manner.
“Blue Skye owns nothing more than a small indirect stake in AC Milan, whose vast majority is made up of capital controlled and paid up by Arena Investors, which in turn strongly and publicly condemns Blue Skye’s actions,” their response reads.
“The transaction with RedBird fully respects this interest, all necessary corporate approvals have been obtained at every stage of the transaction, and Blue Skye will receive all sums to which it is entitled. Elliott and Arena Investors will vigorously defend each of their interests against Blue Skye’s frivolous and vexatious actions and fully expect to prevail.”
Dan Zwirn – the co-founder of Arena Investors in 2015 and current CEO of the company – underlined all his disappointment with the actions carried out by Blue Skye.
“Unfortunately, we do not understand the reasons for this action as Elliott has done nothing but add value to the club, and they have always operated transparently and professionally,” Zwirn said.
“It was no secret that the ownership was negotiating with various parties as the newspapers were full of the details about these discussions. Anyone who wanted to pay more [for AC Milan] would have been more than capable of getting in touch with us, including anyone who missed the opportunity to buy Chelsea. The idea that somehow there was no opportunity for other parties to come forward is not credible.”
Sounds like Blue Skye wants more money than they deserves as a minority stake.