AC Milan confirm shareholders´ meeting amid talk of more takeover delays

AC Milan have announced that a shareholders’ meeting will take place on Friday as the club look to finalise a takeover by a Chinese consortium.

The Sino-Europe Group is expected to buy Silvio Berlusconi’s majority stake in the club but the protracted deal has been beset by delays in recent months.

Further speculation emerged on Tuesday that a number of investors from the prospective buyers have pulled out of the deal, casting doubt over whether the takeover will go ahead.

March 3 was set as a deadline for the process to be completed and Milan have confirmed that shareholders will convene at Casa Milan on Friday at 0930CET.

Any prospective takeover must be approved by shareholders, but with Berlusconi’s company Fininvest owning a significant majority stake of the club, an agreement is expected to be a formality.

Sino-Europe Group’s attempt to buy the club is rumoured to be under threat because members of the consortium are claimed to have walked away, leaving central figure Yonghong Li as the sole investor.

Speaking last month, Paolo Berlusconi – the brother of Silvio – said €200million had already been paid by Sino-Europe Group, making any collapse of the deal unlikely.

“The completion date is March 3 and they have already paid us €200m, and the Chinese look very relaxed about it all to me,” he told Sky Sport 24. “There are no black clouds on the horizon.

“I don’t think there is anybody who, after spending €200m, suddenly turns round and says ‘sorry, we made a mistake’.

“Maybe somebody is hoping that will happen, considering that Milan could now have become even more interesting to investors with the new youngsters coming through, but I’ve never seen anybody give you €200m and then pull out.”