CF: Moment of truth as Cardinale seeks €600m to repay Elliott’s vendor loan

Gerry Cardinale is continuing talks with two companies over financing for the AC Milan project, which would allow him to repay the vendor loan to Elliott Management. 

Before Christmas, it was reported that Cardinale was looking for financing to repay the vendor loan, which amounted to €523m in June last year. Since then, the Milan owner has continued to evaluate is option and currently, talks are ongoing with two companies.

According to Calcio e Finanza, the first company is Manulife Comvest, which has already worked closely with RedBird and Cardinale on the iCreditWorks project (both are investors). As the report states, it’s one of the fastest-growing FinTech platforms in the United States.

The second company is unknown for now, but the name will likely emerge if Cardinale were to deepen the talks with said company. In any case, for the Milan owner, the discussions with these two companies will tell him two things:

1) If he will be able to get the €600m that he’s looking for and 2) at what terms, including interest rates, repayment deadlines and so on.

Clearly, the goal is to get better terms than the Elliott deal, and Cardinale is confident that he will get this thanks to the financial growth of the club, as well as the approval for the stadium project. Then, in the future, it remains to be seen if he will take out loans or sell a minority stake in the club.