Why Investcorp (and Bahrain) decided to focus on Milan: the questions to better understand the negotiations of the moment

Reaching the top of the Barhain Sovereign Investment Club is a historic event not only for club Milan, but also for all Italian football. Let’s try to understand the situation, developments, the future and what lies behind this new acquisition point by point.

Who is Investcorp and why is it so powerful?

Why do you want to invest in sports?

And why in AC Milan and Italy?

But isn’t Investcorp investing in sports yet?

He did it in a simple way, just to experiment. In fact, this would not be an absolute debut in European football, given that the Bahraini sovereign investment fund acquired 20% of the shares of Paris FC, a company from Paris that currently plays in Ligue 2, a little less than two years ago. Start, but Milan presents a very impressive opportunity.

How much will the investment be and what will it entail?

The number is what we are talking about these days and was confirmed directly with a tweet from the Bahrain embassy in the UK: “Investcorp, a Bahrain-based asset manager, is in exclusive negotiations to buy Italian club AC Milan for $1.1 billion.A very large amount, but it is “harmless” for such a fund.

The Italian example of Gucci about 30 years ago

Investcorp has already set foot in Italy, and knows our country and our traditions. The separation with the famous high-fashion brand Gucci lasted for nine years: he entered the fund in 1987, quickly becoming the largest shareholder and re-launching under the creative direction of Tom Ford and the managing director of the then advertising company Domenico De Sole. In 1994, he bought 100% of Gucci, paying about 300 billion lira; Two years later, at the time of the last stock sale, the Florentine fashion house was worth ten times its value. Financially amazing operation.

Future Scenarios: From the stadium to the big players, Milan will target the big names in Europe

If Investcorp acquires Milan, it does so with one purpose. Invest to relaunch the club, take it to the top in the world, and possibly resell it at its brightest moment. Money brings money, and vision brings vision. And in the last ranking of the richest teams drawn by Forbes magazine in 2021 in the lead was Barcelona, ​​with a value of 4.76 billion dollars, then Real Madrid (4.75) and Bayern Munich (4.215). The Italians were among the top ten, and even Juventus, worth 1.95 billion, were chasing from afar. Investcorp aims for this: to bring AC Milan to that elite, improve international marketing and merchandising, complete the stadium rhetoric and acquire the best players who bring the devil back to what he was fifteen years ago. Ambitious, but by no means impossible, given the catchment area of ​​the Rossoneri and the number of fans in the world.