Associazione Calcio Milan (AC Milan) has confirmed via a club statement that American private investment firm, Redbird Capital Partners has acquired the Italian football club in a takeover worth €1.2billion. Yankee Global Enterprises, owner of the New York Yankees, also enters into a strategic partnership and acquires a minority equity stake.
The announcement comes after Redbird Capital Partners entered into a ‘definite agreement’ with fellow US investment firm, Elliott Advisors UK Limited to acquire the Italian football club back in June.
Elliott Advisors UK Limited was expected to keep a stake in the Italian football club prior to the announcement made by the Italian club in June. However, the minority stake has been bought by Yankee Global Enterprises, according to Financial Times.
What you should know about the deal
- The completion of the purchase of AC Milan takes RedBird’s assets under management to approximately $7.5 billion and adds the football club 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.
- The Yankee Global Enterprise (YGE) is the owner of New York Yankees baseball team which comprises of the Steinbrenner family, and Main Street Advisors, the LA-based fund that counts among its investors, basketball star LeBron James, famed music producer Jimmy Iovine and rapper Drake, who will all become shareholders in the Serie A team.
What they are saying
- Gerry Cardinale, RedBird Founder and Managing Partner, said, “Our vision for Milan is clear: we will support our talented players, coaches and staff to deliver success on the pitch and allow our fans to share in the extraordinary experiences of this historic club.
- “We will look to leverage our global sports and media network, our analytics expertise, our track record in sports stadium developments and hospitality to deliver one goal – maintaining Milan’s place at the summit of European and world football,” he added.
- On the partnership with YGE, Mr Cardinale said: “We have a multi-decade relationship with the New York Yankees and the Steinbrenner family that has resulted in the creation of some of the most successful businesses in sports, entertainment and hospitality.
- “We are very pleased to continue our partnership with them and will look to explore opportunities together to broaden our fan reach and expand commercial opportunities that are only available to franchises that operate at the highest levels of sports globally.”
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.’
