More reports from reliable sources continue to confirm that RedBird Capital will very soon be announced as AC Milan’s new owners.
MilanNews report that Gerry Cardinale’s arrival in Milano is scheduled for today and it will be the penultimate step towards the change in ownership. The signing has already taken place (probably in recent days) which indicates that the formal process has become.
The report adds that an official announcement should come tomorrow over a deal that is worth an initial €1.3bn and will see Milan transfer from American ownership to their compatriots. It is a third change of ownership for the club since Silvio Berlusconi sold in 2017.
The same page then cites ANSA in reporting that the signatures have been signed on a preliminary agreement for the sale of the club. Cardinale is not in Italy at the moment however contrary to reports, but now only the official announcements are awaited, which will arrive in the next few days.
€1.3bn for 70 % of ac milan ? something isn’t right about this deal ,
Has to be because surely one of the most recognised and successful footballing teams in the world who have just been crowned Italian champions and are almost clear of debt are not worth half of what Chelsea is worth?!?!?
Seems fishy
Compare it to the 4-5B€ Chelsea deal and I’d say it’s pretty OK.
And if anything the Chelsea deal seems fishy – not the Milan one.
Neither are fishy.
Pretty sure people making these purchases are not the type of people who don’t know the value of their acquisition
One could assume they know a thing or two about finances. Or are just so damned rich they don’t care. Either way…
30% owned by Elliot which is makes sense because they wants to make sure RedBird don’t messed up with Milan financial who already debt free and turn quite profitable.
More and more buyers of companies (in all industries) want the sellers to retain some percentage after the deal — it is because the buyers are more comfortable that what they are buying has real value if the sellers are willing to hold onto a significant minority piece of the ownership. If a seller of a company really desperately wants to sell all 100% of the ownership, then buyers can worry that maybe there’s some hidden problem with the company that Seller is not sharing.
So, I think Elliot retaining 30% is just standard and normal business practice these days and really more to make Red Bird comfortable than it is for Elliot to make sure RedBird doesn’t “mess up” — why would Elliot care if they sold 100% and get cash and make money? They’d wash their hands of the deal and the team and that’s that. It doesn’t make sense that Elliot would want to stay to make sure RedBird doesn’t “mess up”. It’s possible that Elliot thinks that Milan’s value will continue to go up and then one day in the future they can sell the remaining 30% and make even more money? THAT would make sense.
Also, the difference in valuation between Chelsea and Milan does make sense because the Premier League is the best league right now and the Barclay’s TV contract has provided a ridiculous amount of money/revenue streams for all 20 teams in the PL. So they’re all very rich and on average have a lot more money to spend on great players than the teams in La Liga, Serie A or Bundesliga.
Chelsea have won 2 champions leagues since the last one Milan won and have won more trophies in the past 10 years than Milan. So, the much bigger valuation makes perfect sense.