Sole 24 Ore: How Milan and Inter’s new stadium will be finances and the banks interested

More details continue to emerge regarding AC Milan and Inter’s new stadium project, and now the banks in the running to finance it have emerged.

Earlier in the week, it was confirmed that the City Council had voted to approve the sale of San Siro to Milan and Inter. The road is not free of obstacles yet – with several appeals expected – but multi-year project looks more likely than ever to begin.

Who will finance it?

According to Il Sole 24 Ore (via MilanNews), the purchase of the current stadium and surrounding area will cost €197m. The overall cost of the new stadium project for the two Milanese clubs is expected to be around €1.5bn.

Many of the world’s leading banks are vying to contribute to the construction of this new facility with financing of around €1.2bn. The remainder of the cost, of course, could be provided by other investors or the clubs themselves.

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

Which banks are in the running to finance the new stadium? Those in pole position are the American banks, namely Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Bank of America, each of whom already have significant interests in European football.

The dossier is also on the table of the Japanese Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group as well as BancoBPM. Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit are currently not expected to be part of the running.

The financing will take the form typical of large sports infrastructure projects, with equity and debt, and the creation of a special purpose vehicle with 50% ownership by Inter and Milan. It is also expected that a smaller bridging loan may be provided before the large loan is granted.