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Former Goldman Sachs executive Gerry Cardinale is in talks to acquire AC Milan, challenging asset manager Investcorp in a more than €1bn takeover battle for the Serie A football club.
Cardinale’s RedBird Capital Partners, which owns a minority stake in the parent company of English Premier League side Liverpool FC, is looking to buy AC Milan from US hedge fund Elliott Management, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Investcorp had been in exclusive talks to acquire the Italian team or take a minority stake. That period of exclusivity has lapsed, allowing Elliott to engage other buyers.
A person close to Elliott said that after having rejected multiple takeover approaches in recent years, the US hedge fund was now keen to sell the club and a deal could be reached within weeks.
Investor interest in AC Milan shows the enduring appeal of one of the most illustrious teams in world football. The Rossoneri, nicknamed after AC Milan’s red and black striped shirts, have won Europe’s top club competition seven times and are the best performers after Real Madrid, although the club’s last victory was in 2007.
AC Milan has not won the league title since 2011, having fallen behind rivals including the Agnelli family’s Juventus and city rivals Inter Milan. However, it is currently at top of the league, two points ahead of Inter with three games to play.
Elliott has overseen a turnround at AC Milan, which this year returned to the Deloitte Football Money League ranking of European clubs by revenue for the first time since 2017-18. The club was 19th with €216mn of revenue in the 2020-21 season.
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi had owned the club for two decades until he sold it to Chinese businessman Li Yonghong in April 2017.
That takeover was funded with more than €300mn of high-interest loans from Elliott, which seized control in 2018 after Li defaulted.
RedBird’s interest in AC Milan was first reported by Sky News.
RedBird took a minority stake in Fenway Sports Group, which owns Liverpool FC and the Boston Red Sox baseball team, in March last year.
The investment firm, founded by Cardinale in 2014, also owns 15 per cent of the Rajasthan Royals cricket team, which plays in the Indian Premier League.
Toulouse FC, the French football team owned outright by RedBird, won promotion to the country’s top division last month.
In October 2021, RedBird’s special purpose acquisition company agreed a merger with online ticketing search engine SeatGeek.
RedBird and Elliott declined to comment.
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