Chinese investors close to AC Milan stake buy - China Daily

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese investors are close to agreeing an 80 percent stake buy in football club in AC Milan and will acquire the remaining 20 percent in the next two to three years, the China Daily newspaper reported on Friday. "Two parties are discussing the 80 percent takeover by the Chinese investors and the negotiations are still continuing," the newspaper quoted an unidentified person familiar with the talks as saying. Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose family holding company Fininvest owns AC Milan, opened exclusive talks in May with the Chinese consortium about selling a majority stake to try to inject new capital into a club which has failed to win a major competition in the past five years. Reuters reported at the time that the Chinese were valuing the club at up to 750 million euros (£624.8 million), including debt, and that talks had envisaged an initial sale of 70 percent. The source also told China Daily that Fininvest is confident that a final agreement can reached in the next week, although some important legal and financial details had still to be agreed and would need approval by Berlusconi. Chinese electronics retailer Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd last month agreed to buy nearly 70 percent of the club's Italian rivals Inter Milan for 270 million euros, in the highest-profile takeover of a European team by a Chinese firm. (Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Stephen Coates)