RedBird have confirmed the acquisition of Milan for €1.2 billion.
ReDBird had reached an agreement with Elliott over the last few months, but the closing arrived in the last few hours and has been confirmed by the Rossoneri with an official statement.
“RedBird Capital Partners (“RedBird”) today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Associazione Calcio Milan (“AC Milan”, “Milan” or the “club”) for €1.2 billion.
“For one hundred and twenty three years AC Milan has been synonymous with championship level football. Since its founding in 1899, AC Milan has won 19 Serie A Championships, 7 Champions Leagues/European Cups, 7 Supercoppa Italianas, 5 Coppa Italias, 5 European Super Cups, 3 Intercontinental Cups, 2 European Cup Winners’ Cups, and 1 FIFA Club World Cup.
“As the new owner of AC Milan, RedBird will continue to invest in all the key areas that will advance the Club’s sporting and commercial interests, building on last season’s achievements that culminated in the club’s Serie A championship. RedBird’s experience in operating and building global sports businesses will ensure that the next chapter in AC Milan’s storied history will build on its current momentum.
“Priority areas of focus include supporting the club’s sporting and business leadership to ensure that the team is consistently competitive at the highest levels of football; ensuring that it has the infrastructure and facilities befitting one of the world’s most prominent sporting organisations; and strengthening the Club’s women’s and youth teams, as well as its charitable arm, Fondazione Milan.”
New club owners have confirmed that they have been joined by other notable co-investors such as Yankee Global Enterprises, owner of the New York Yankees.
“The deal will also see Yankee Global Enterprises (YGE), owner of the New York Yankees, one of the world’s most valuable sports franchises, enter into a strategic partnership with the club with a minority equity stake in AC Milan.
“RedBird has a longstanding relationship with the Yankees and the Steinbrenner family, with whom it is a co-owner of the Yankees Entertainment Sports (YES) Network, the most-watched regional sports network in the United States.
“The completion of the purchase of Milan takes RedBird’s assets under management to approximately $7.5 billion and adds AC Milan to RedBird’s portfolio of global sports and entertainment investments that include Fenway Sports Group (Liverpool FC, Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins), Toulouse FC, the Rajasthan Royals, the YES Network, the SpringHill Company, Skydance Media, the XFL, OneTeam Partners and Dream Sports.”
RedBird founder and Managing Director visited the club’s headquarters and training ground in June, weeks after Milan’s first title win in 11 years.
“It’s incredibly inspiring. The first thing I have to say having seen the history is what an honour and privilege it is for me to be welcomed into the Milan family,” Cardinale had told Milan TV at that time.
“Particularly after last weekend, seeing this historic Scudetto, I am very much looking forward to embracing this history and making sure that we have an equally impressive future. That’s very important.
“I feel a tremendous responsibility to continue that going forward.”
He had attended title celebrations among fans in Milan city centre after the Rossoneri’s 3-0 win over Sassuolo in May.
After 31 years of Berlusconi’s presidency, the club was sold to Chinese entrepreneur Li Yonghong who remained in control of the club for barely one year, selling his stakes to Elliott in 2018. The American fund has reportedly lent €600m to RedBird to complete Milan’s takeover.
Stefano Pioli’s Milan won the first Serie A title in 11 years last season and have qualified for the Champions League for the second season in a row after missing out on Europe’s elite competition for seven years.