For years, AC Milan have cut costs. They sold big players and chopped wages and looked for every discount on the market: free transfers, loan deals, cut-rate acquisitions.
Yet they are still in debt. They finished the 2013-14 season with €15.7 million in net losses, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Forza Italian Football). Whatever cost-cutting measures Milan have used, they are not working.
It is a big paradox. Milan don’t appear to have the money they once did, but president Silvio Berlusconi is worth $7.1 billion on Forbes.
Of course, it is really his holding company Fininvest that controls Milan and other properties, and they have been struggling. Fininvest posted a 2013 loss of €428.4 million, per Bloomberg, and they were forced to sell shares in broadcaster Mediaset last month to quell some of the debt. A lawsuit worth hundreds of millions against Berlusconi also put the company in further danger.
So there really is no better time to sell a stake in Milan, his crown jewel, a commercial behemoth sagging under the weight of Berlusconi’s debt and mismanagement.
Reports of a potential Thai investor, Bee Taechaubol, hit the right chord. Taechaubol has eyes on a 30 percent share of the team, according to Gazzetta (h/t Football Italia), with the intention of taking over completely in a few years.
Berlusconi was pictured on a Romanian website signing documents last week with a separate Chinese businessman, Poe Qui Ying Wangsuo, or Mr. Pink, as he is nicknamed.
Fininvest denied the deal, per ESPNFC, but for the first time they did not dismiss the possibility of ceding a minority stake to an outside interest.
Any kind of sale is good for the team. The obvious blessing is the new cash: with more of it, Milan can do more on the market.
But any deal with Taechaubol or Mr. Pink has a lot more implications. It could have implications in the Asian market, a large area of interest for football clubs.
Manchester United’s worldwide fame has a lot to do with their foothold in that side of the globe. They went on a pre-season tour in Asia in 2013, and they even have an official noodles partner.
That is something an internationally recognized club like AC Milan could do to even greater effect with an Asia-Pacific investor.
Then there is the influx of new ideas to go along with the money. Taechaubol could call Paolo Maldini back to the Rossoneri, according to Gazzetta (h/t Football Italia).
Maldini has largely been residing on the periphery of football since retiring, and he has yet to take a position at Milan due to a fractious relationship with joint-CEO Adriano Galliani.
A fresh vision and a clean slate: two things Milan need. Bringing back Maldini is a no-brainer—long overdue, really—and Taechaubol could make it happen.
The possibilities here go on. An outside investor like Taechaubol, and everything that comes with him, could save Milan.
Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2396664-ac-milan-why-time-is-right-to-sell-minority-stake
No comments:
Post a Comment