23 Nov 2017, 01:05
Don't be surprised if AC Milan changes hands again soon at a bargain price.
In August, Silvio Berlusconi sold the Italian soccer team to a group led by Yonghong Li for $828 million. Li needed real money to put into the team, as the Berlusconi era ended with AC Milan close to $85 million in losses.
But Li's purchase appears to have not solved the team's problems.
My colleague, Bobby McMahon, questioned the Li deal over a month ago, pointing out despite the team's financial situation it was spending heavily. "With a net transfer spend of over $200 million AC Milan was, for the first time in years, one of the continent’s big spenders."
At the root of the problem for AC Milan is that Li relied heavily on high interest debt to buy the team.
As the Guardian reported: "When promised investment failed to materialize, Li instead turned to the U.S. private equity fund Elliott Management-–which has been described as a vulture fund owing to its tendency to buy up debt owed by failing companies and states including Peru, Congo-Brazzaville and Argentina at knockdown prices-–for a loan of €300m, with €180m set aside to help complete the purchase of Milan and the remainder earmarked for buying players. Repayment of the whole loan is due in October 2018, with interest rates for the larger sum set at 11.5% and 7.5% for the rest..."
ESPN reckons that AC Milan "needs to conjure up some $350 million by October 2018 to make Elliott Management go away." And the Sun just reported that Uefa are investigation AC Milan finances after takeover from Li. Meanwhile, the NY Times reported last week that some are questioning whether Li actually has the money to run the money-losing team. "The mines that he (Li) told AC Milan he controlled have been owned by four different people since last year, according to Chinese corporate records. The business changed hands twice for no money, the documents show."
To me it seems that AC Milan, which will likely miss the lucrative Champions League again next season, will be sold again, sooner rather than later--and for less than what Li paid. Another, perhaps more important consideration: where were the soccer authorities when Li was putting pen to paper to buy the team?
26 Nov 2017, 16:56
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29 Nov 2017, 09:16
randoulou a écrit:Il a pas fait que de la merde comme coach ?
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