A purchase price of more than one billion euros is under discussion, reports AP, Reuters, Bloomberg and L’Équipe. It would be the first takeover of a Serie A club by a Middle Eastern investor. The Bahrain-based venture capital firm’s talks with AC Milan have reportedly started this month.
Milan is currently owned by the American investment company Elliott Management Corporation. The club did not want to comment when asked by Reuters, so a spokesman only said: “AC Milan remain focused on improving their performance on the pitch and developing the club.” Milan’s board member and club icon Paolo Maldini explained in a TV interview on the sidelines of the encounter with Genoa that the sale of such a club under certain circumstances “normal” would. However, he did not know when such a deal would be on his club’s agenda.
Berlusconi’s Milan via China into American control
AC Milan is one of the most successful clubs in Italy, but the best days are longer. Milan won the last of their 18 championships in 2011, and the club last won the Champions League in 2007. The club celebrated these successes under Silvia Berlusconi, who controlled Milan for a long time, but sold them to the Chinese investor Li Yonghong in 2018 for 740 million euros including debt. Elliott later took over the club because the Chinese investor partially failed to repay loans.
The team around Zlatan Ibrahimovic was eliminated from the Champions League in the 2021/22 season after the group stage. In the previous seasons it was usually only enough for the Europa League, in the meantime the club had been banned for a year for violating UEFA’s financial fair play. In Serie A, however, Milan is promising for the championship this season.