Chinese internet company Baidu Inc. "denied reports that the firm," or its billionaire chair Li Yanhong, "are involved in a deal" to buy AC Milan, according to Panja & Ramli of BLOOMBERG. China state broadcaster CCTV said that Li was "part of a group" close to acquiring the team for $437M. The club "is close to being sold to a Chinese group, according to former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi." A Chinese consortium has since April "been in exclusive talks about taking over Milan, which suffered from a lack of investment and success in recent years." Baidu spokesperson Whitney Yan said that group does not include Baidu or its CEO, who is "also known as Robin Li." If a sale of AC Milan goes through, "the city’s two top teams would both be owned by Chinese investors." In June, a unit of Suning Holdings Group Co. bought about 70% of Inter Milan for $306M (BLOOMBERG, 7/18).
ONE-WEEK DELAY: FOOTBALL ITALIA reported Chinese buyers will take over all of AC Milan's shares immediately "instead of just a majority, but the sale is deferred again." In spite of Berlusconi's "return to business activity, there still has been no decisive move for the sale of the club." According to the Corriere dello Sport, the sale has been "delayed again by approximately one week." This "may be due to the fact that the terms of the deal have reportedly changed." Berlusconi was initially expected to sell 70-80% of the club's shares immediately, "and the remaining amount" within the coming two to three years. Instead, "he may now sell the entirety of the stock in one go" (FOOTBALL ITALIA, 7/19).
