The Bahrain government has confirmed that a private finance firm based in the Gulf state is in talks to buy prestigious football club AC Milan.
Bahrain’s embassy in London said via Twitter that “exclusive talks” were underway to take over the Italian league leaders for $ 1.1 billion (around one billion euros). Investcorp was founded in 1982 and manages assets of more than 42 billion dollars worldwide.
Club director Paolo Maldini had previously only said to the rumors of a change of ownership that it was normal for the traditional club to be sold in the future. He doesn’t know when that will be. If Investcorp’s purchase of Milan went through, it would have been the first time a Middle Eastern investor has taken over a Series A club.
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gave control of the club to a Chinese owner in 2017 after more than 30 years. A change took place in 2018. Since then, the American investment company Elliott Management Corporation has been the owner of the four-time winner of the European Cup and three-time winner of the Champions League.