Milan, new era begins: official sale for 1.2 billion euros

AC Milan switches from the hands of Elliott Fund to those of RedBird Capital Partners: here is the official announcement

RedBird Capital Partners (“RedBird”) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of AC Milan Football Association (“AC Milan,” “Milan” or the “Club”) for 1.2 billion euros.

For 123 years, AC Milan has been synonymous with soccer at the highest level. Since its founding in 1899, AC Milan has been Italian Champions 19 times and has won 7 Champions Cups/Champions Leagues, 7 Italian Super Cups, 5 Italian Cups, 5 European Super Cups, 3 Intercontinental Cups, 2 Cup Winners’ Cups, and 1 FIFA Club World Cup.

As the new owner of AC Milan, RedBird will continue to invest in all key areas to promote the Club’s sporting and commercial interests, building on the results achieved last season, which culminated in winning the Serie A championship. RedBird’s experience in managing and building global sports activities will ensure that the current momentum will gain further momentum in the next chapter of AC Milan’s legendary history.

Priority areas of focus include supporting the work of the Club’s sports and business leadership to ensure that the team is consistently competitive at the highest level of soccer; ensuring that it can rely on infrastructure and facilities equal to one of the world’s leading sports organizations; strengthening the Club’s women’s and youth teams; and the Milan Foundation, the Club’s institution dedicated to projects supporting the most fragile groups.

Gerry Cardinale, Founder and Managing Partner of RedBird, said, “Our vision for Milan is clear: We will support our talented players, coaches and staff in their efforts to achieve success on the field and to enable our fans to share in the extraordinary experiences of this historic Club. We will ensure that we leverage our global sports and media network, our expertise in data collection and analysis, and our track record in sports stadium and hospitality development to achieve one goal: to keep Milan at the top of European and world soccer.”

The agreement will also see Yankee Global Enterprises (YGE) — owner of the New York Yankees, one of the world’s top sports franchises — enter into a strategic partnership with the club with a minority stake in AC Milan. RedBird has a long-standing relationship with the Yankees and the Steinbrenner family, with whom it co-owns the Yankees Entertainment Sports (YES) Network, the most-watched regional sports network in the United States.

On the partnership with YGE, Cardinale said, “We have a decades-long relationship with the New York Yankees and the Steinbrenner family that has led to the creation of some of the most successful businesses in sports, entertainment and hospitality. We are delighted that our partnership with them will continue, and we will look together to explore opportunities to expand our ability to reach the widest possible number of fans and expand business opportunities accessible only to companies operating at the highest levels of world sports.”

The completion of the AC Milan acquisition brings RedBird’s assets under management to approximately $7.5 billion, with AC Milan adding to RedBird’s global investment portfolio in sports and entertainment, which includes Fenway Sports Group (Liverpool FC, Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins), Toulouse FC, the Rajasthan Royals, YES Network, SpringHill Company, Skydance Media, XFL, OneTeam Partners and Dream Sports.