(Football news) American investment firm RedBird Capital has completed the takeover of Italian Club AC Milan from Elliot Advisors for a sum of 1.2bn euros (£1bn). As part of the deal, Yankee Global Enterprises, the owners of New York Yankees will own a minority stake in the club. RedBird Capital, who have a portfolio worth $7.5bn (£6.5bn) have stakes in Fenway Sports Group (the owners of Liverpool FC and Boston Red Sox) as well as Ligue 1 team Toulouse and Indian Premier League team Rajasthan Royals. As per the agreement, Elliot Advisors will retain a minority stake in the Italian club as well.
RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale said “Our vision for Milan is clear: we will support our talented players, coaches and staff to deliver success on the pitch and allow our fans to share in the extraordinary experiences of this historic club. We will look to leverage our global sports and media network, our analytics expertise, our track record in sports stadium developments and hospitality to deliver one goal – maintaining Milan's place at the summit of European and world football." Cardinale also said that the Group’s partnership with the New York Yankees would help them "explore opportunities together to broaden our fan reach and expand commercial opportunities globally".
AC Milan are the reigning champions of Italy, having won the Serie A for the first time in 11 years and are currently unbeaten in third place behind arch rivals Inter Milan and league leaders AS Roma, winning two games and drawing twice out of the opening four games so far. The club are considered one of the most prestigious in Europe and were a dominant force under the ownership of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. However, things have fallen off in the last decade or so with their last Champions League victory coming back in 2007. The new ownership will look to restore AC Milan back to the summit of European football and maintain it's legacy as a powerhouse in both Italy and abroad.
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