Gerry Cardinale agreed on a €550m vendor loan when he bought AC Milan from Elliott Management in the summer of 2022. A loan that has been the foundation of controversial reports, which Cardinale now has clarified.
The takeover was completed in August 2022 and the total price of the club ended up being €1.2bn, with €550m consisting of the vendor loan. If you are unfamiliar with the term, it’s a loan that the buyer takes out from the selling party, often used to facilitate high-value purchases.
Instead of raising funds/getting a loan from a third party, Cardinale decided to go with the vendor loan at a 7% interest rate as Elliott Management were open to this solution as well. In his interview with Corriere della Sera, which you can read in full, Cardinale spoke on the matter.
“I’m the one who wanted it, because Elliott did a great job. Nobody put a gun to my head. You can disagree with my strategies, but don’t invent stuff about them. I’m a corporate finance expert, so it’s baseless to assume that I’m experiencing difficulties 18 months after making these choices.
“It would be better to stimulate debates on how to bring Serie A back to being a reference league, or on the importance of modern stadiums for clubs,” he stated.
The loan had been the foundation of some reports in recent weeks, suggesting that the American was willing to sell the club early and repay the loan. However, as we have said on our Substack as well for a long time, Cardinale could raise funds but he doesn’t want to sell the club.
