Chapter 694: Land Grabbing
“Welcome to Milan’s House!”
At the gate of the office building C in Piazza Gino in the Portello district of Milan, AC Milan vice-president Barbara Berlusconi, dressed in a bright red dress, accompanied by bald manager Galliani, extended her hand to the guests who had just got out of the car.
This Audi is a special car used by AC Milan to entertain distinguished guests.
And this time, the guests it picked up were the acquirer from the United States, Tohir and the team behind him!
"Hello, Barbara!" Tohir's eyes widened when he saw Barbara, who was dressed up carefully.
Jason Levine and Steven also got out of the car, but most of them looked up at the six-story building with a glass curtain wall.
Strictly speaking, it is a four-story building, because only half of the fifth floor is usable, and only a small part of the sixth floor is usable.
This is an irregular inverted trapezoidal building with a roof slope of nearly 30 degrees. On it are models of five athletes running and sprinting, which reflects the spirit of enterprising sports.
The overall exterior wall is the same gray as Building A and Building B in Kino Plaza, but with the tip of the top floor as the center, a red and black circular pattern of different colors is painted. It can be considered a decoration, and it is quite good.
"Everyone, please come in!" Barbara was obviously full of confidence in the team's new headquarters.
Such a headquarters is second to none even in the entire European football world.
After all, the headquarters of most teams are located in their home stadiums. Only some Serie A teams, which do not own their home stadiums, will build a headquarters somewhere other than the stadium.
Inter Milan's headquarters is at 24 Via Durini, while AC Milan's old headquarters is at 3 Via Turati.
Although it has just moved in, the new headquarters has been carefully decorated.
The ground floor is a fan shop, bar, and restaurant. The basement is also fully utilized and arranged as the team's museum and trophy display room. The second to fourth floors are all office floors. The higher you go, the higher the level.
So, Barbara, Berlusconi, Galliani, Braida and others were all on the fourth floor.
The fifth and sixth floors are not in use due to space constraints.
When new guests come, it is natural to follow the convention and take them to the museum and trophy room for a thorough tour, and also to visit the team's restaurant and fan shop.
During the visit, Tohir also bought several souvenirs, saying that he would give them to his children when he returned.
“What a great office space!”
Walking into the bright conference room on the fourth floor, Tohir felt deeply moved.
He had also been to 24 Rue de la Tourigny, and compared with this place, it was really shabby.
Of course, some people may say that it is very charming, but it is not keeping up with the times at all, right?
Steven, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly said something without any context, "If I remember correctly, Kino Plaza should be the work of the famous Italian designer Pietro Valle. The planning began in 1998 and has not been completed until now. It includes a fan-shaped plaza and three office buildings."
Both Tohir and Jason Levine were puzzled by Steven's words. Why did he suddenly show off his knowledge?
Could it be that this bicycle boy has a crush on Barbara?
No way?
Doesn't he like riding bicycles? How come he likes women?
But Jason Levine quickly realized the problem and immediately opened the document just handed over by the AC Milan staff, which included this building as AC Milan's fixed assets.
But it is obvious that this is leased by AC Milan!
Even though they have always claimed that this is the asset of their club!
No wonder when I turned in just now, I saw two buildings outside that were decorated almost exactly the same as this one, but one of them had been rented to South Korea's LG Electronics as its Italian headquarters. So that's what's going on!
Barbara was also a little embarrassed, but she reacted quickly and laughed immediately. "We have signed a long-term lease contract with Kino Plaza, and as you can see, the value of the surrounding land has been increasing recently, and the rent has also been rising steadily. So, we think that the prospects of this asset are also very good."
Is this a reasonable explanation?
Obviously not, but if you want to continue the conversation, you can't dwell on this point!
"Ok!" Tohir also understood, "Then let's talk about it."
Barbara nodded and smiled at Tohir, "Then let's get started!"
Everyone found their own seats and sat down. The bald manager Galliani didn't say a word from beginning to end, but had a very hypocritical and foxy smile on his face.
"We have been in contact with each other before, and our opinions are very clear. We can only sell 49% of the shares at most, no more, because we have the responsibility to ensure that AC Milan is still controlled by Italians. Otherwise, it is difficult for us to predict how intense the fans' reaction will be!"
At this point, Barbara smiled slightly, "I believe you have also seen that not long ago, Inter Milan was acquired by investors from China, and the fans immediately caused a riot, which almost became out of control. We don't want the same thing to happen to AC Milan, which will damage our brand value!"
After hearing this, Jason Levine and Steven leaned back and laughed.
How can this be said in such a high-sounding way?
"Barbara, I think you are quite clear about our sincerity. One billion euros is completely in line with your and the outside world's valuation of AC Milan. We also have enough financial resources to complete this acquisition."
Tohir's words made Barbara, who was sitting opposite him, shake her head slightly. It was obvious that AC Milan would not agree.
"Of course, if you ask us to sell only 49 percent of the shares, we can totally agree to that, but we have one request."
"What request?" Barbara suddenly became interested.
Berlusconi introduced foreign investment and originally planned to use the rich man's money to run AC Milan. How could he give up the controlling stake?
Therefore, in this negotiation, as long as it does not involve controlling stake, everything else can be discussed.
"We hope that you can follow Inter Milan's way and divide the acquisition funds into three parts, one part to repay the team's debts, one part to strengthen the team's recruitment and strive to appear stably in the Champions League, and the other part to build a new stadium."
Nowadays, all football investors are well aware that the Champions League and new stadiums are the biggest pieces of fat.
"We hope to acquire a piece of land in downtown Milan through Mr. Berlusconi. In addition to building a new stadium, it will also include other supporting facilities. We will be responsible for buying the land and building it. After completion, the stadium will belong to the club and the other supporting facilities will belong to us!"
This is also a big piece of fat!
Think about it, a new stadium can accommodate about 50,000 people. On average, there can be about one game a week. And on every game day, a series of supporting commercial facilities such as shopping malls, hotels, and restaurants will bring huge profits.
Jason Levine, who has experience in NFL and NBA operations, knows this better than anyone else.
And he recently used this set of chips to successfully persuade American real estate tycoon Steven Ross to agree to invest in his acquisition team. The latter is also very interested in bargaining in Italian real estate projects.
Barbara sat there, her brows slightly frowned, but she was silently calculating in her heart.
According to the acquisition strategy of Thohir and others, the Berlusconi family could hardly get even a penny.
Not only will you not get it, you may even have to invest more money to operate a new stadium.
Otherwise, their shares will be diluted and we will lose the controlling rights.
But this is not the point. The real point is, where does the land in Milan come from now?
"Mr. Tohir, I still need to discuss your latest proposal with my team, but I think it will be very difficult if the land you require must be in the city of Milan!"
"Why?" Tohir was a little surprised.
"Because there is no extra land in Milan."
"That piece of land across from the old World Expo site..."
Barbara immediately understood that these guys were eyeing that big piece of fat meat.
He is so brave that he even dares to snatch the meat that Yang Huan is already eating!
"I guess you didn't pay attention to yesterday's newspaper news."
Tohir, Jason Levine and others all showed concerned looks.
"The Milan International Fair Foundation announced yesterday that because there was only one company from China bidding, the land had already been won by the other party. So, I can only say that you are late!"
"What?" Jason Levine couldn't sit still anymore.
"Didn't they say that they still need to assess qualifications and make public announcements? Isn't it so fast?"
Barbara smiled secretly in her heart. Her father was right. Jason Levine was the protagonist of the acquisition team.
"Yes, that was supposed to be the case, Mr. Levin. However, you should understand that plans can never keep up with changes. The early bidding was unanimously agreed upon by all members of the General Council of the Milan International Fair Foundation."
"Why?" Steven was also frustrated.
They had a hard time convincing the investors, who came just for that piece of land.
Originally, I wanted to use Berlusconi's connections and relationships in Italy to snatch the land from Yang Huan, but who knew that guy would act so quickly and get it done in advance!
"According to the explanation of the chairman of the board, Benettini, the other party plans to complete the construction and start operation before the Milan Expo two years later!"
"What?" Jason Levine almost laughed out loud, "How is this possible?"
Barbara, however, did not find it amusing at all, "No, Mr. Levine, that is absolutely possible!"
When the three big men opposite had all looked over, she smiled and said, "Because they contracted the project to a construction company from China!"
At this moment, everyone present fell silent.
If there is one infrastructure industry that can repeatedly create miracles, it must be infrastructure companies from China.
Jason Levine was extremely depressed, but he found it funny.
It’s not that Yang Huan is funny, but this group of guys are funny.
Who is Yang Huan?
I just sold 10% of the company to Apple and made $20 billion. I have so much money that I don’t know where to spend it.
Just a few days ago, the headlines of all Italian newspapers, big and small, were all about Inter Milan. They brought in star players one after another without blinking an eye.
And now?
Only Yang Huan could be so willful as to build such a huge commercial city in less than two years!
But just think about it, if such a huge commercial city is built in such a prime location, how amazing will its potential value be in the future?
Just thinking about it makes me jealous!
It’s a pity that I wanted to grab territory from others in the first place, but what’s the result?
It's so embarrassing that I've even brought shame upon myself!
Whenever Jason Levine thought of this, he seemed to be completely bored and uninterested.
Because from the beginning to the end, they didn't think that AC Milan was worth 10 billion euros.
With such an outrageous price, whoever buys it will be a rich man!
But if they don’t buy, will the investment team that we have worked so hard to recruit and build fall apart?
Especially Stephen Ross, he promised a huge sum of money himself, so how could he not want it?
When he thought of this, Jason Levine's heart warmed up again.
Never mind, let’s just leave it as it is!