As the days path and negotiations between the parties continue, more information emerges about Investcorp and their plans for AC Milan.
Calciomercato.com provide some information on the deal from a ‘hyper-qualified anonymous source’ who has had the dossier on the table from Investcorp for weeks. This is the ‘key week’ in the negotiations as per the source because the due diligence phase is complete and there should be signatures soon.
The figure of €1bn has been enough to convince Elliott Management to sell, with the American fund having injected over €700m into the club’s coffers since 2018. Offers of €800-900m came forward but a bit more was needed to be able to convince Singer because of how healthy the accounts look now.
Investcorp are ‘looking at Milan with a view to sustainable development’ and they plan to make ‘significant investment that leads to a young team’, but with a ‘couple of names of international appeal’.
There is also the idea to create a ‘strong academy’ to develop players to make the jump to the the first team to generate value and then eventually cash too. There will be ‘no crazy spending’ and the approach used by the Bahrain fund is analytical.
The source adds that ‘there is still a lot of room for improvement’ in Milan’s accounts despite the positive path of the last couple of years. On the cost containment front ‘wages make the difference’ which suggests the investment horizon envisaged is long-term.
Investcorp’s plan is to have a ‘multi-purpose stage, to generate new sources of income and ancillary services’, so we can deduce that the new stadium topic will be the first pillar on which the project of Mohammed Bin Mahfoodh Alardhi will be launched.
An internationally recognised brand such as AC Milan can guarantee those new sources of income mentioned above and Investcorp ‘seem to have all the managerial skills’ needed to exploit it.
Bahrain and football, Mohammed and developing new talents. Sound optimistic.