The documents confirm: there was a plan for the very rich Saudi fund to enter the company
The idea of a global Milan, that is, with ownership divided between America and the Middle East, was not a journalistic indiscretion. In the search decree against the four suspects, the reality emerges in detail. Numbers in black and white, the Pif fund indicated as the investor destined to enter into the ownership of the club. In a specific document (“Ac Milan Investor Presentation”) reference is made to a financier, Pif, who would receive “41.7% of the shares through the repurchase of 80% of the Vendor Loan for 487.5 million dollars” . Two specifications are needed: Pif, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has a net worth of 861 billion dollars (10 of those managed by RedBird) and the objective of reaching one trillion by the end of 2025 thanks to investments in various areas economies of the kingdom. In 2021 Pif took over Newcastle for €350 million and has control of the big four clubs in the Saudi Pro League. Two: the Vendor Loan is a 550 million loan, repayable over 3 years with an interest rate of 7%, which RedBird received from Elliott; it means that Cardinale, by the end of 2025, will have to return approximately 665 million to Singer’s fund, including interest. The share that Pif would have acquired from Elliott would have been converted into equity – a possibility that does not appear in the documents -, making the Saudi giant Milan’s second largest shareholder.
the front figc
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Other disputes present in the search document that interest the AC Milan fans are those that see Gazidis and Furlani interfacing with the FIGC and UEFA. Institutions that verify the financial solidity of those who control the companies, and must be informed of changes in ownership. Milan would not have been so punctual. “On 27 May 2022, in the resolution approving Ac Milan’s quarterly report communicated to the FIGC, the circumstance that just the previous day, 26 May, a preliminary sales contract had been signed was not mentioned.” Furthermore, the Prosecutor’s Office “analysed the corporate structure of the buyer provided to the Milan board after the closing on 31 August 2022 and compared it with that communicated to the FIGC on 15 September 2022, revealing significant differences”. To arrive at “the hypothesis that the Elliott fund retains substantial control of the company where the actual transfer of the properties in favor of RedBird would have been represented to the FIGC supervisory authority”, in general “with a non-exhaustive and transparent communication to the FIGC “. This is what could lead to consequences such as fines or penalties.
the UEFA front
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A circumstance which, if ascertained, would conflict with UEFA regulations. “It would determine a situation of conflict of interest since the Elliott fund appears to have a dominant influence on another French football club Lille registered in the same European competitions as Milan. Control over the two clubs would violate the provisions of Article 5 of the UEFA regulation on continental competitions which prevents the same person from exercising control or influence on multiple clubs registered in European competitions”. Who owns the capital? Again from the order: “The Milan shares would have been purchased through Footballco Intermediate Cooperatief with capital provided by funds managed by RedBird. RedBird itself had allocated approximately 600 million to the purchase operation of the Milan shares and that of this amount approximately 200 million would have been provided by Kaiser Permanente, an American consortium in the medical sector based in Oakland, California; the remaining part, 400 million, by a further private fund managed by RedBird… In other words, the circumstance would appear to emerge that the majority of capital used for the sale of Ac Milan comes from a corporate vehicle not referable to RedBird”.