Monza, Fininvest sells to the American fund Beckett Layne Ventures
It's official. Monza Calcio changes hands. The agreement for the sale of AC Monza from Fininvest to the American fund Beckett Layne Ventures, which was almost completed in recent days as anticipated by Il Sole 24 Ore , has been signed. The operation will take place in two stages: 80% of the shares will change hands by the summer, while the remaining 20% will be sold by June 2026.
It was 2018 when Silvio Berlusconi, after saying goodbye to the triumphant Milan, decided to get back in the game. He did it his way: by buying Monza, the club from his Brianza. Today, that story ends. And it is not just the sale of a football club. It is also, evidently, the definitive sunset of the Berlusconi-branded sporting epic.
Two years after the death of the former knight, the football history of the Berlusconi family ends. A history that had the red and black color of Milan and then, in recent years, the red and white of that Monza that represented, after all, a homecoming. An expensive one, for goodness sake. The latest balance sheet of Monza, at December 31, 2024, reports a value of production that rose in one year from 68.3 to 82.9 million euros, but with a loss of 48 million euros, after the 60 million red of 2023 and the -65.4 million recorded in 2022. Now the relegation has also forced a devaluation in the accounts of Fininvest.
The family holding company has thus signed the agreement for the sale of 100% of AC Monza's capital to Beckett Layne Ventures, an American fund based in the United States, led by financier Brandon Berger. A passing of the baton that feels like a watershed. The operation, as mentioned, will take place in two stages. In the meantime, Fininvest will keep a foot in the club with a representation on the Board of Directors "in line with its residual shareholding", as stated in the press release from the same holding company, but it is clear that the future speaks another language. And that future has a markedly Yankee accent.
Who are the new owners? Beckett Layne Ventures, a fund with strategic interests in sports, media and global entertainment. Brandon Berger is leading it. But for the Monza operation, in fact, Mauro Baldissoni, former director of Roma, a name known to insiders and a guarantee of a bridge between the logic of US business and the complexities of continental football, is also in the driving seat.
ilsole24ore
