CEO of MFO claims Investcorp guaranteed €300-400m investment in Milan’s squad

By Oliver Fisher -

Investcorp would have invested hundreds of millions into AC Milan to help improve the playing squad, according to the head of a company involved in the potential takeover.

Towards the end of last season, Investcorp emerged as the most likely company to buy Milan from Elliott Management, but then reservations over how the deal would be financially structured slowed proceedings down considerably.

The emergence of RedBird Capital Group as a buyer then occurred and they seemed to close the deal with Elliott very quickly, officially completing the acquisition of the club at the end of August.

Today’s edition of La Repubblica has an interview with Carmine Villani, who is the managing director of MFO (Multi Family Office Equity Partners), a company that allegedly supported Investcorp in their offer for the acquisition of Milan.

“I can’t go into details, but I can confirm that our consortium was committed both to acquiring all the majority stakes in Milan and to guaranteeing the subsequent investment on the market of 300-400 million, to immediately bring the team back to the highest level in Europe, as its history deserves. It was all equity. If Elliott had wanted to, we would have left him the minority stakes,” he said (via SempreMilan.it).

It is totally different scenario compared to what happened with the arrival of Gerry Cardinale and RedBird, who ended the winter market with zero signings made except for the arrival of the young Colombian goalkeeper Vasquez.

Tags AC Milan

53 Comments

  1. These guys don’t even understand business properly. You can see Chelsea, they spent over 300M€ without damaging their books really, most deals will be paid only over a period of 5-10 years. They will balance it by selling a few players but nothing spectacular. Last transfer window that can be done, before the new UEFA rules and Milan couldn’t try to get Zaniolo and pay him for 3-4 years or anyone else the club wanted to sign. No, stay cheap and try to get out of CL as well, so there is 100M less in the income bracket next year and even less money for signings…

  2. Ha ha 😂 👍.
    First, if Investcorp had so much money, and actually had all the money available, why didn’t they close the deal for the purchase, because they were way ahead in the process before RedBird got involved, according to reports.
    2nd, Yonghong Li invested over 200 mil in his 1st summer with the club and he was broke. Something we are still paying for 6 years later.
    It’s easy to talk after the fact, especially now when the squad is going thru a tough time and play on fans emotions, but you had the exclusivity during negotiations to buy the club and you failed for whatever reason.

        1. Yeah, Arab funds are usually fake and guys who collect money at fundraisers are legit. Useless argument, everyone knows they would bring in a sponsor like all the Arab owners did. Pumped in money to get the team back up within’ 2 years. Same thing happened at City, PSG and Newcastle. Exactly the same thing, you don’t have to be smart to see the patern.

          1. I’m not saying they have fake moneys but it’s crystal clear you don’t understand the big difference between assets and money ready in the bank.

            Also, it’s foolish to think all investors from Arabs are the same.

    1. HAhahaahahahahahah, wow, genius! Good thing you’ve explained to us that a 35 billion dollar fund doesn’t have money. Quite easy to check that in 2023. 3 seconds. They could have got this deal without the loan that currently in-debts Milan even more and invested extra. But you need to understand that is less money for the seller as they get interest rates on the loan given to Redbird. Hahahahahahaha, you made up something random about one of the oldest investment funds that exist. Google it genius.

      1. Genius, Investcorp, just like RedBird are an investment fund. The 35 bil you talk about are assets worth they have under their management, . They are managing someone else’s money, just like RedBird.
        And if you were following the news while their negotiations were happening with Elliott, Investcorp was also looking for loans to buy Milan, they didn’t have the money just like RedBird. RedBird offer was higher and they were getting their loan through Elliott.
        Would benefit Elliott to be the one giving the new owner the loan, absolutely.
        Also, this guy is just talking about investing 300-400 million in the market, but he isn’t specifying if it’s in the same market or over 5 years.

        1. There’s a lot of irony in the air when people claim they would have had hundreds of millions to spend on transfers while they couldn’t even buy the club in the first place. 😀 😀 😀

          Some people still believe in Santa Clause too.

          1. Here we go again – uneducated comments from @bb (not surprising) and now @20&8? To say Investcorp didn’t have the money to buy our club is asinine. You clearly didn’t do your homework of who Investcorp is and who they are supported by. Second, purchasing an asset is also different than investing in that asset after purchase. Everything has its value. They offered market value for Milan (1.2B) and unlike Redbird, they didn’t need to ask Elliot for a loan of 600M at 7% interest. So you want to know why Elliot sold to Redbird over Investcorp? Well it’s right there donkey. 7% interest off the 600M plus keep a oversized minority share (30%) with seats on the board. So basically Elliot CONTROLS Milan. That is what they wanted and as you can see from the same spend and same continued policies (wage caps) – that will continue under Redbird. Why because Elliot practically owns Redbird until that debt is paid off. Ya going with Redbird has been great thus far…I mean who would want Investcorp and all that “dirty oil money” anyways right? LOL. I’m sure Newcastle hates their life right about now LOL. I mean Investcorp backed (and owned) by Mubadala Investment Company worth about 300 BILLION DOLLARS only wanted to turn us into Man City – new stadium, practice facilities, youth center,…I mean who would want that right @bb? Ya I think it’s great we went with Red$hit – we can keep hoping we get a new stadium by 2067 and can pick up a few free agent signings that nobody wants or maybe we can coax a few players out of retirement to help us out – I mean they would have to play for free but we must keep that wage cap in place at all costs lol. 300-400M investment to improve the squad? Nah! As Paolo and Pioli and everyone else towing the company line “we are fine as is” 🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪

          2. I mean were you born yesterday? They would copy the model from City or PSG and bring in a sponsor. It benefits the club and it benefits that sponsor if they are a top team, wining titles and gaining fans. Another thing, look at Chelsea. They got a US owner and he spent 300M in January. What, impossible? Oh, yeah, they will pay it within’ the next 5 to 10 years, but they brought everyone they wanted and overpaid. FFP, what? You have no idea how business works. Buying a good player is an investment…

        2. @Juro
          If Investcorp had issue with getting a loan from Elliott at 7% for 600 mil, they could have still done that loan with Elliott and then if they are so rich they could have paid off the loan towards Elliott in full once the closing of the deal happened, so they won’t have to pay that high interest rate.
          Or if they didn’t have the money to pay off Elliott right away, they could have gotten a loan from another lender at lower interest and use that money to pay off Elliott and get them out of the way.
          There are many ways to get the deal done under Elliott conditions and still quickly get them out of the picture.

      2. Investcorp only was putting around 800 mil for the purchase of Milan. The rest was coming through loans. So if they needed loans to buy the club, where do you think the 300-400 mil for transfers would have come from? More loans.
        So your statement that they would have bought the club without putting us in debt is complete nonsense..

        1. Redbird took half of the money as loan from Elliot. What are you talking about? Money is brought in through sponsors, they can’t directly put in 300M€ and spend on transfers, of course. But you think a 35 billion dollar fund from the Arab world doesn’t have money to pump in through a sponsor? C’mon, you can’t be serious, their whole culture is bragging and showing of with their money. You think they would come to Europe and look cheap? Nonsense, actually whatever you write is nonsense, you just don’t know or understand enough…

          1. @Jesus
            “They could have got this deal without the loan that currently in-debts Milan even more and invested extra”.
            There are your words which are complete and utter nonsense, that were proven wrong by me and several other people on here who told you that Investcorp was asking for loans of 400 mil to complete the purchase of the club, which means they would have put Milan in debt, totally opposite of the nonsense you wrote.
            And I don’t care if they brag or show off with their money. Most people that brag or show off are usually the ones that are broke.

    2. Elliot sold to Redbird, because they finance them (600M), and make 7% extra profit. Also, they (Elliot) keep 30% of club. At the end, total price is around 2B, for a club that is worth about 1B.

    3. What are you saying you have no idea who it was being backed behind a Saudi person of importance….I am from middle-east it well known how this fund operates and how companies under their ownership change hands in few years to concerned buyers…..why elliot didn’t want to sell well Mr singer can clarify this…after Qatar ppl in middle east are spoiled for further sports that’s why you keep hearing about Saudi world cup bid and beside making an investment aside holding a brand like Milan would have been icing on cake for them….and making their brand thrive in sporting success would have helped them achieved more sporting wise…..and than ppl say omg we will be kicked from champions league by breaking ffp as if right now come next season we already are hanging by a thread

      1. Exactly, no one from Arab world would come to Europe, buy a club and be cheap. This is the culture there, they are not Americans looking to profit but basically advertise for their country etc. Easy to understand.

      2. Exactly, anyone thinking a fund from that part of the world would by Milan and be cheap is a fool. You have real world examples to know how they would put money in the club but people bought into the sustainable story that works for 1 to 2 years until best players start leaving. If you don’t have a top recruitment team and you aren’t ready to pay top dollar for world class talents, how will that be done? Milan is offering 50% of fees other clubs are offering and hoping we will get the player. :DD

  3. Yes, it’s questionable how did they sell quickly to RedChicken wings, despite Investcorp was firstly apply to buy AC.
    But, everything will be seen soon. Juventus fans cancelling TV rights due to 15 points docked. I bet Milan fans will stop watching Milan if this RedChicken sh*t continues.

  4. Elliott are not fools , they took the best deal that was more advantageous to them and Milan, Investcrop should have structured a better deal, and even when Redbird got ahead of them, and finalized a deal with Elliott, they could have still partnered with Redbird, because Cardinale had to run around to look for money to close the deal, which took him weeks to do, it’s still not too late, I am sure with a very good offer, they could still get some shares in Redbird itself..

  5. Good morning forza Milan This is what am saying take look at Investcorp now is ready to spend money on Milan and the owner of Milan was not ready to spend is better for Gery Cardineli to sold Milan for person that ready to spend money. Tnk u

  6. Gerry Cardinale has no money and plans to run Milan with its pedigree. Milan has been a great club which requires a firm with great taste and ambition to acquire. I remember Florentina CEO saying the money isn’t Cardinale’s money yet Elliott gave the great club to them
    With Milan’s status we deserve players with greater quality who can turn things around with their skills and vision for the game.
    Qualifying and going far in the champions league regularly will bring much needed funds to the club But our owners want to get all these without investing. Football is all about MONEY so Cardinale and his Low Cheap group have to get these into their dry skulls

  7. There’s a lot of irony in the air when people claim they would have had hundreds of millions to spend on transfers while they couldn’t even buy the club in the first place. 😀 😀 😀

    Some people still believe in Santa Clause too.

    1. Couldnt 😁😁😁 … its wouldnt genius !!
      As of december 2022 their assets is worth 50 billion not redbird 7billion … investcorp three weeks ago invested 2 billions 1 in saudi arabia and 1 in indonesia so yeah sure they dont have money !! … they didnt complete the milan purchase bcoz of elliot conditions not lack of money !

      1. ” they didnt complete the milan purchase bcoz of elliot conditions not lack of money !”

        Enough money on the table and the conditions change. They didn’t have that. 🙂

    2. Elliot showing thier vulture sides, Its already explain, the negotiation supposed to be in secrets but Elliot making it public, elliot suddenly request large upfront payment and drag the negotiation.. Invescorp opt to loan for liquidity (they already have the money to pay, while redbird need to find investor to pay loans), then Elliot refuse that loan money.. suddenly Redbird come with many suspicious terms unfavourable to them..

  8. Only a fool would believe Elliott turned down a better offer of Investcorp to sell to Redbird. Everybody’s saying Elliott is only interested in their own pockets, so if Investcorp didn’t put enough on the table to fill them and Redbird did. Perhaps Investcorp are talking about the money they would have had if they got the club for free and spend it all on transfers. That would mean they had 300 mil available to buy the club. Not enough.

    1. The offer were the same money wise .. the difference is redbird took the loan from elliot (600m) with 7% intersest which means elliot can still have a say in milan (3 member on the board)if redbird pay the money back lets say in 5 years they would get 210 million extra in intrest if not they would take over milan again .. the sale to redbird is better for elliot not for milan

    2. Perhaps you don’t get that even if they had 3 billion they can’t just put it into the club and spend on transfers. But they certainly know the ways, you can watch PSG or City and see how it works. You are claiming stupid things, what revenue did PSG have???? They had nothing, less than Milan. They brought it up and now have Neymar, Messi and Mbappe in the team, along with a few other amazing players. How? BY INVESTING. Let me know which club got there by being cheap.

      1. Jesus PSG had got nowhere so far. Winning their Mickey Mouse competition every year was not the goal. They bought PSG to win thr Champions League. So far they didn’t get anywhere near that. If they don’t win it soon, it will all have been wasted money. Or do you think another league title makes their fans happy? Their big money has ruined the French competition the same as Juve’s cheating has ruined Serie A. Nobody wants to see a non-competition with the same winners for 10 years in a row. Not even their own fans who are bored to hell and frustrated by their empty CL trophy shelf. So far PSG is a failed project. The fact they can’t even win it with all their stars makes it even a bit silly.

  9. For all the ppl here, Elliot changed terms for 3 times. Well milan was theirs so they wanted max out of it and about investcorp it was 800 m out of their own pocket and 400 loans which are common in every business nothing to be scared about that and rest squad investment and to sum it up it was a complete take over…..and all this was done with a person tied with Newcastle ownership and they were using a fund to get their transaction done…..majority of the ppl here doesn’t even know the basics of how middle Eastern investors operate…..and now catch this they own Newcastle the same family investing in Liverpool it will happen in one year time and next will be inter….same family but different people associated with different companies……

    1. Exactly. Talking that Investcorp doesn’t have money when the current owner didn’t have even half, they had fundraisers to try collect even the half of the money, other half came from loans.

  10. I think they look at the comments and then put out an article in favour of each one of us based on what we write. Hence………enjoy Juro,.it’s your turn 😂😂😂😂

    1. Hahahahaha! @IKWYDLS…..LMAO. Can’t stand uneducated comments from the usual donkeys like @bb – “Investcorp didn’t have the money” LOL. Such a stupid and uneducated comment but not surprising coming from that kid. It’s simple Elliot chose Redbird not for what’s best for Milan but what was best for ELLIOT. Smart business move. They keep 30% of the club PLUS give a huge loan of 600M at 7% interest? genius deal for Elliot. Not so much for us fans. That means the club has to pay 42 MILLION dollars per year to Elliot before we do anything…- and you wonder why we have no money to spend on transfers?? LOL. Are ppl that fkn blind? Investcorp (owned by Mubadala) would never have given Elliot such a huge minority stake of 30% and would NOT have taken a loan from their MINORITY stake holder (Elliot) like Redbird did. Investcorp would have secured any loan (if needed) from their parent company Mubadala (which is worth 300 BILLION) on favorable terms – because that’s how finance works and that’s how business works when you OWN BOTH companies. So fools like @bb or @20&8 who spout this fake garbage that Investcorp couldn’t afford to buy Milan are plain idiots who can’t or won’t educate themselves on the facts. And that, just like Redbird’s current investment in our squad, is PATHETIC

      1. Yes, Redbird is paying for the club by the clubs money and the investments are impossible because they don’t have the power of that fund to bring in top companies as sponsors with huge money coming in that way. They are ridiculous in comparison. Instead of 40-50M extra for transfers the club will repay a loan to Elliot.

      2. “Can’t stand uneducated comments”

        Funny – especially coming from the kid whos comments no one bothers to read. Even I stopped after the first sentence.

        Grow up kiddo and perhaps use paragraphs like adults do to make it look you’re not just doodling here. 🙂

  11. Elliott was the owner of the club and they decides who to sell their property to, it’s that simple.
    Time will tell if they sold it to the right party or if it was for their own best benefit or the club.
    Since they already saved the club and turned it into something respectable, they deserve the benefit of the doubt.
    And , this guy is just trying to trigger most fans now because he sees most are on edge because of the situation Milan is on the field.
    But as Pioli once said , winners celebrate, losers explain. His group lost , so now he is trying to say if Elliott wanted to keep a minority stake in the club, we would have let them. To late champ

  12. Obviously people here will take the words at face value and believe it, already forgot about stupid Yonghong Li and his dumb investments, fyi its because of him we cant spend much atm.

    An owner having money doesnt make us magically exempt from FFP rules and no I dont want my club bribing its way to the top like PSG and City, maybe you do.

    1. Milan flourish under Berluscony filty money, Li & Gary similiar.. they rely on other people money@ fundraising only that the china policy cut his fund..

      1. That was before FFP. Look up FFP, look up the settlement agreement Milan signed with UEFA. Also Silvio abandoned the club once he realized how much money he was losing. Silvio is no great father of Milan, in the end he picked his hookers over Milan and left the club in the hands of an idiot.

        1. Dont always shout FFP like no one else understand.. there are lot of ways to bypass that rule if you really have the money.. look at bayern juve madrid barca.. with their suspiciously legit transfer

  13. The timing of this quote reeks of pettiness. Li Yonghong tried the exact same thing and failed horribly. If these guys were so rich how come they got outbid? Sounds like Milan dodged a bullet to me.

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