Silvio Berlusconi sells existing stake in Milan

ByFootballItalia

Updated 05/06/2015 at 18:26 GMT

Silvio Berlusconi has given his blessing to a deal to sell 48 percent of soccer club AC Milan to a group led by Thai businessman Bee Taechaubol, a historic change for the team which the former Italian prime minister has owned since the 1980s.

Silvio Berlusconi - Milan (Imago)

Image credit: Imago

Taechaubol has eight weeks of exclusive negotiations to finalise the accord which aims to relaunch the AC Milan brand, especially in Asia, and boost its revenues, Berlusconi's holding company Fininvest said in a statement.

AC Milan, seven times European champions, has been a central part of Berlusconi's media and political empire for three decades. But it has lost some of its shine in recent years and has been unable to compete with richer European rivals.

"Berlusconi, who will stay on as chairman, and Taechaubol will work together on a big and ambitious business and sports plan to bring Milan back to the top levels of Italian and international soccer," Fininvest said in a statement.

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No financial details of the deal were disclosed but a person close to the matter said it valued the club at almost 1 billion euros.

The club won the most recent of its 18 Serie A championships in 2011, racked up debts of 250 million euros ($278 million) and made a loss of 91 million euros last year.

Taechaubol, executive director of private equity group Thai Prime, flew to Milan early last month to discuss a deal. A source close to the matter said earlier on Friday Taechaubol had returned to Italy and had met the Italian media tycoon.

Berlusconi, whose political fortunes have faded in recent years as rivals have fought to take over leadership of his centre-right party, has said that one family alone was not able to meet the challenge posed by the rising investments required to run a soccer club.

The deal over Milan follows the sale in 2013 of leading Italian soccer club Inter Milan to a group of Indonesian investors, ending the reign of the Moratti family over the club

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