RedBird, the owners of AC Milan, owe a substantial amount to the Elliott Fund for the purchase of the club, via a vendor loan.
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The workings of a vendor loan are nothing new. In fact, they are part and parcel of large-scale interactions, such as buying a football club in this case. So, the one taken out by RedBird is well known at this stage. However, the figures have changed a few times due to interest.
Value of the Vendor Loan
The latest changes arrived recently, thanks to Gerry Cardinale refinancing the loan, which was agreed in December 2024. At the time of purchase, the businessman paid €650m, rather than the €1.2bn that the club was valued at.
Then, the rest was to be paid back in a vendor loan scenario with an interest of 7%; however, it was refinanced until June 2028 due to the 2025 repayment deadline being unreachable. Today, Felice Raimondo, an expert on the situation, has provided an update on his Substack, via MilanNews.
“It must be considered that the previous interest, calculated on the annual instalment from June 30, 2023, to June 30, 2024, costs €50m annually, and the refinancing took place in December (halfway through the year).
“Therefore, the amount actually refinanced at the end of December 2024 will have been 634 + 25 = €659m. If we subtract the €170m refinanced by Cardinale from this figure, we arrive at €489m (exactly the amount cited in the press release).
“As of June 30, 2025, the sum had risen from €489m to €523m due to new interest, which, for half the year (from January to June), cost €34m. Considered over the entire year, this amounts to approximately €68m (slightly up from the previous €50m).
“This, calculated on the remaining €489m, corresponds to an interest rate of approximately 14% per annum, likely including potential brokerage and insurance costs, up from the previous 8%. (The exact amount will be known from the updated Luxembourg financial statements of Project RedBlack, ACM Bidco’s creditor, based on the latest official figures for 2023.)
“Therefore, barring further more precise corrections, we can consider that the refinancing will cost Cardinale:
– €34m for mid-2025
– €68m for 2026
– €68m for 2027
– €40m until July 2028
Total cost of the refinancing = approximately €210m.
“Provided that a new partner does not enter before the deadline, who can further refinance the debt or even eliminate it.”
Considering that the club could well be sold in the future, it remains to be seen how the vendor loan situation would be handled.