‘€110m reduction’ – Raimondo offers update on Elliott-RedBird vendor loan after refinancing

RedBird, the owners of AC Milan, owe a substantial amount to the Elliott Fund for the purchase of the club, via a vendor loan.

The workings of a vendor loan are nothing new. In fact, they are part and parcel of large-scale interactions, such as buying a football club in this case. So, the one taken out by RedBird is well known at this stage.

However, the figures have changed a few times due to interest and whatnot.

Value of the Vendor Loan

The latest changes arrived recently, thanks to Gerry Cardinale refinancing the loan, which was agreed in December 2024. At the time of purchase, the businessman paid €650 million, rather than the €1.2 billion that the club was valued at.

Gerry Cardinale and Gordon Singer [Elliott]

Then, the rest was to be paid back in a vendor loan scenario with an interest of 7%; however, it was refinanced until June 2028 due to the 2025 repayment deadline being unreachable. Today, Felice Raimondo, an expert on the situation, has provided an update on his Substack, via MilanNews.

“It must be considered that the previous interest, calculated on the annual instalment from June 30, 2023, to June 30, 2024, costs €50 million annually, and the refinancing took place in December (halfway through the year). Therefore, the amount actually refinanced at the end of December 2024 will have been 634 + 25 = €659 million. If we subtract the €170 million refinanced by Cardinale from this figure, we arrive at €489 million (exactly the amount cited in the press release).

“As of June 30, 2025, the sum had risen from €489 million to €523 million due to new interest, which, for half the year (from January to June), cost €34 million. Considered over the entire year, this amounts to approximately €68 million (slightly up from the previous €50 million). This, calculated on the remaining €489 million, corresponds to an interest rate of approximately 14% per annum, likely including potential brokerage and insurance costs, up from the previous 8%. (The exact amount will be known from the updated Luxembourg financial statements of Project RedBlack, ACM Bidco’s creditor, based on the latest official figures for 2023.)