Serie A side AC Milan has "put back the proposed sale of the club to a consortium of Chinese investors until March 3 with funds to complete the deal yet to arrive," according to Ben Gladwell of ESPN.com. The Sino Europe Sports group, heading the negotiations to buy the club from Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest company, was "due to complete the takeover by Dec. 13," the date for which a board meeting had been called. However, delays in releasing and transferring the funds from China have seen the consortium request and obtain an extension, with the club announcing on Wednesday that "an additional two-and-a-half months have been set aside for the finalisation of the transaction." A joint statement released by Fininvest and SES announced that they have "reached an agreement which puts back until March 3 the deadline by which the sale of Fininvest's stake in AC Milan is to be concluded." As part of the agreement, the Chinese investors will transfer a further €100M ($126M), in addition to the €100M they already paid when the preliminary agreement was signed. Berlusconi last week "allayed fears that the deal may fall through, although he did admit that he would not be unhappy were he to be forced to extend his 30-year ownership of the Rossoneri" (ESPN.com, 12/7).
