A Chinese consortium including State Development Investment Corporation SDIC clinched a preliminary agreement to buy nearly all of Italian soccer heavyweight AC Milan late on Friday, just hours after private investor Guochuan Lai sealed a deal to take over British football club West Bromwich Albion.
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is set to sell his 99.93% stake in the seven-time European champions to an investment vehicle called Sino-Europe Investment Management Changxing Group, which has backing from Haixia Capital, SDIC and little-known businessmen Yonghong Li and Han Li.
The consortium will pay 740 million $820 million for the Italian football club, after estimating AC Milan's...