There has been no shortage of talk about Gerry Cardinale’s position at AC Milan in recent months, and questions have swirled about how he intends to move forward with the club after seeking investment from the Middle East. Today, some shares have been put on the market, and the reasoning has been revealed.
With every passing day, we are getting closer to the expiry date of the vendor loan provided by the Elliott Fund, and that is not the only big financial offset that Gerry Cardinale and RedBird must be aware of, according to La Repubblica (via Calciomercato.com).
It is believed that the amount owed to the previous owners will reach €700 million when it is due to be paid at the end of August 2025, an eyewatering figure in itself, but we also must look at the future of the stadium, with it seeming increasingly likely that Milan move to San Donato.
At present, RedBird owns around 96% of the club, but since May, Cardinale has offered around 22% of the shares for sale, which has come to light due to ‘a commercial document that Washington Harbour, an investment and financial consultancy company, began circulating’.
The document reads ‘[the shares are] selling at cost base price [no gain] up to 150 million of the initial investment capital of 681 million, given the company’s need to lower the investment amount to rebalance the portfolio’.
It is also stated that the document references investing in a new stadium – with the investment costing €1 billion, but with €900m of the cost financed, and the works would begin in October 2025 – and also the sporting aims of the club – guaranteed third place for the next three years, a play-off place in the Champions League this season, with the Round of 16 being expected in the two following years.
Furthermore, it is believed that Cardinale would not be against selling ‘several minority stakes’ to Arab funds with a sale in 2027 to a ‘sovereign wealth fund or billionaire family’ possible and this would be done to ‘provide liquidity for investors wishing to sell before the completion of the new stadium in 2029’.
Finally, there is the topic of bonuses to the management, and as expected, they are lucrative. In the document, there is a Management Incentive Plan – guaranteed bonuses for different scenarios happening. It is believed that the bonuses for Cardinale, Giorgio Furlani and Paolo Scaroni range between €569m (yes, half a billion) and €0 if the project fails.