Media tycoon and former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Friday brought down the curtain on a magical era for AC Milan when he agreed to sell the club to a consortium of Chinese investors.
The 79-year-old Berlusconi has sold the club to a purpose created company called Sino-Europe Investment Management Changxing, which has bought a 99.9 per cent holding for €740 million, a price that includes picking up the tab for €220 million of debt.
This sale comes after a year of on-off negotiations with at least three different China-based groups when at times it seemed that Berlusconi was reluctant to sell.
Having bought the debt-ridden club in 1986 for approximately €8 million, Berlusconi presided over a golden era when the club won five Champions Cup/League titles.
When he entered politics in 1994, he opted to remind the Italian electorate of his football success by calling his new party “Forza Italia”, a fan chant which until then had meant only “Up Italy”.
Electoral rival
He spoke of “taking to the field” and, lest people did not get the point, he even taunted his electoral rival in the Roma 1 constituency in the 1994 election, economist Luigi Spaventa, by saying: “Before running against me, go and win yourself two Champions Cups.”
In that context, Berlusconi was clearly reluctant to sell off one of his greatest success stories. However, the last decade of Italian football has been dominated by Milan’s two great rivals, Juventus and Internationale, while the club has haemorrhaged money. In April, it reported an €89.3 million loss for the financial year of 2015, a result which increased family pressure to sell.
