Everything seemed to be going well in the negotiations between Investcorp and Elliott for the acquisition of the AC Milan, but things have taken a turn.
According to Tuttosport (via MilanNews), the Bahrain fund have sent an ultimatum to Elliott Management, which is a gesture that can be interpreted in various ways. The negotiations between the Arab fund and the Singer family begun with an exclusivity of two weeks in which the figure of €1.18bn was all agreed, and the due diligence of the accounts was carried out.
There was no hitch in the period of exclusivity and at the end of the two weeks, around the end of April, we were already talking about signing and closing, but the first problems appeared with the financial structure of the offer: €800m of equity and €400m of various loans.
Then, last week, the interest of RedBird Capital arose and they launched a rival bid, which has led to an ultimatum being issued by Investcorp who are obviously on edge about the possibility of their deal being scuppered.
Investcorp’s move could have different meanings. The first could be that they have put their offer on the table for a month now and have respected the process in all its steps, so a ‘take it or leave it’ choice must be made by Elliott.
Another view could be that of competition. Investcorp are wondering if there are really other subjects at stake interested in the acquisition of Milan or is it even an Elliott strategy to raise the price.
The third interpretation could be that Investcorp want to pull back out of the running and want to make a bit of a fuss before they retire from the race.
I heard, next week one more “player” will come with offer to Elliot. If Elliot is smart, and I think they are, they should wait that we win Scudeto. Than price we will go little up.