Silvio Berlusconi has agreed to sell AC Milan to a state-backed Chinese group — ending a three-decade-long stewardship of the football club that launched him from a little-known local entrepreneur to prime minister of Italy.
Fininvest, the holding company controlled by Mr Berlusconi, said on Friday that it had signed a “preliminary contract” with a group of Chinese investors for a 99.93 per cent stake in AC Milan that valued the club at €740m including debt of €220m.
News of the sale ends month of speculation over whether Mr Berlusconi would part ways with the club and for the first time revealed the identity of AC Milan’s Chinese suitors.