‘The difficulty remains’ – Longoni provides negative outlook after RedBird loan refinancing | OneFootball

The news that has emerged about RedBird Capital refinancing their vendor loan agreement with Elliott Management still does not provide certainties, according to Andrea Longoni.

When Gerry Cardinale’s fund bought AC Milan from Elliott in 2022, he only paid €650m for a deal that was valued at a total of €1.2bn. The remaining €550m came through a vendor loan, granted by Elliott to RedBird, with an interest rate of around 7%.

What that means is that the full amount – including interest – was due in August 2025. However, after reports circulated in the media suggesting a possible refinancing, it was announced on Friday that the repayment deadline has been pushed back to 2028.

Longoni spoke about the issue during his weekly column for MilanNews which was published this morning, and he does not think that the news has been received positively.

“The news of the refinancing of the vendor loan was not exactly greeted with enthusiasm by those who have Milan in their hearts. Some, however, described it as a victory for Cardinale. The ones who are really enjoying it are Elliott, who will be able to count on sizeable new interest payments,” he said.

“It should be noted, for those who have not understood, that RedBird did not pay the Vendor Loan 8 months in advance, but simply obtained refinancing given the impossibility of sustaining the commitment.

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“They will therefore have more breathing space, but the first plan for repayment by August 2025, in fact, has failed. The difficulty remains and is evident. That said, it must be acknowledged that today Cardinale is not selling, something that the Rossoneri fans, including lately the Curva, are loudly demanding.

“In this scenario, with no great possibility of this Ownership leaving the scene at the moment, the real hope must therefore concern a change at the management level.

“The hope is that Cardinale understands that it is necessary to inject experience and competence into the control room, starting perhaps with the figure of the sporting director, whose importance has been incredibly ignored since he acquired the Club.”