An enormous amount of money was needed to buy AC Milan. In a year Yonghong Li has to repay a large figure to his creditors.
As it is well known, Yonghong Li has lent 300 million euros from Elliott Management Corporation. That debt must be repaid by October 2018 with lots of interest (but not exaggerated).
Of this money, 180 millions were used to finance Milan’s acquisition from Fininvest via the Rossoneri Sport Investment Lux. The American fund then granted another 120 millions through two bonds to the red and black club. Considering interests, there are over 300 million that the Chinese businessman has to repay.
CEO Marco Fassone recently said that Elliott could be reimbursed in early 2018. The maneuver to achieve this goal has already begun. Carlo Festa of Il Sole 24 Ore through his blog The Insider explains that Yonghong Li’s advisors are working to refinance the debt from Paul Singer’s hedge fund. From the news emerged, it seems that preliminary contacts with two business banks have already begun: the Americans Goldman Sachs and BoA Merrill Lynch.
The discussions are still informal at this stage, so the argument has not yet emerged officially either with Elliott Management Corporation nor even at the meeting of AC Milan’s Board of Directors on Monday. We’ll see if in the coming weeks and next months something will be officially announced about this situation. It is possible that a new subject replaces Elliott as creditor. We have already seen in Inter and Roma cases that there has been a refinancing of debts with Goldman Sachs as the protagonist.
