SILVIO BERLUSCONI has sold AC Milan to a Chinese investment group for £628million, bringing his 30-year tenure as owner to an end.
The deal will see the seven-time European champions’ £187m debts wiped and back onto a platform where they can compete with the elite clubs on the transfer market once again.
And leading Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, report boss Vincenzo Montella has already targeted a £25m bid for Chelsea’s Juan Cuadrado.
The Sino-Europe Investment Management Changxing group — headed by Han Li and Yonghong Li — now own 99.93 per cent of Milan, who had been valued at £619m by Forbes earlier this year.
Super-agent, Jorge Mendes, attempted to buy the club with a failed bid at the 11th hour.
An official statement by Finnivet, Berlusconi’s holding company, read: “Mr Silvio Berlusconi, chairman of AC Milan, has approved the preliminary contract signed by Mr. Danilo Pellegrino, CEO of Fininvest, and Mr Han Li, representative of a group of Chinese investors, concerning the purchase of the entire stake owned by Fininvest in AC Milan equal to 99.93 per cent.
“The binding contract between the parties will be completed by the end of 2016, subject to the obtaining of applicable authorisations from the Italian and Chinese authorities.
“The agreement values AC Milan at €740million (£628m) with an estimated indebtedness of approximately €220m (£187m).
“The agreement requires the acquirers to undertake significant capital increases and liquidity injections aimed at strengthening AC Milan’s financial structure, for a total amount of €350m (£267m) over a three-year period.
“The agreement also requires the acquirers to make a €100m (£85m) deposit, confirming the commitments assumed, of which €15m (£13m) is payable upon signing and €85m (£72m) within 35 days of signing.
“During the entire negotiation process, the signature of the contract and the undertakings assumed thereby, Fininvest has always had as a priority the objective which was clearly stated by Mr Berlusconi: to provide AC Milan, through an appropriate ownership structure, with greater financial resources now more essential for competing with the top football clubs of the world.”
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Berlusconi, who bought the Serie A giants in 1986 and will stay on as honorary president, added: “It was a painful but necessary decision. I sold Milan for passion and commitment.
“I have asked the Chinese to invest.”
In his tenure, the Rossoneri were the dominant force in Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s — and won the league eight times, one Italian Cup, the Italian Super Cup six times, the European Cup/Champions League a staggering five times, the Uefa Super Cup five times, the Intercontinental Cup twice, one Fifa World Cup Cup.
In a recent interview, former boss, Fabio Capello, who beat Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona Dream Team in the 1994 Champions League final, admitted Berlusconi was “the greatest president of any football team.”
Berlusconi broke the world record transfer fee on three occasions.
In 1987, he signed Ruud Gullit from PSV Eindhoven for £6m.
While, three years later he broke it twice — making Marseille’s Jean-Pierre Papin the first £10m player, before paying £13m for Gianluigi Lentini.
He has splashed out over £1billion during his time at the club’s helm.
Manuel Rui Costa was the former Italian Prime Minister’s most expensive signing when he paid Fiorentina £37m for the Portuguese playmaker.
Despite breaking world transfer record on 18 of the 23 times it was smashed from 1952 to 2000, Italian football fell on hard times.
And Berlusconi only broke the £30m-barrier on one other occasion — to sign Filippo Inzaghi from Juventus in 2001.
Milan finished seventh last season and have not featured in the Champions League since 2014.
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