A billion for Milan, the Chinese link on crowdfunding – Yahoo Eurosport UK

Beijing, April 9 (AdnKronos / Xin) – A Chinese company has launched an initiative to crowdfunding to raise at least one billion euro (about $ 1.08 billion) to buy the football club AC Milan. According says Fu Yixiang, vice president of the China-Italy Chamber of Commerce, five companies would be interested in a possible acquisition of the club. Four are Chinese and one is Thai. Chinese companies are the Wahaha, the beverage giant, the real estate group Wanda, who recently purchased Infront, the advisor of Premier League and the Football Federation, the telecommunications giant Huawei, which is already a sponsor of AC Milan, and the company Alibaba , specializing in e-commerce, and another Thai company, reports Xinhua.

According to Fu, who has sources in Italian football, no company is willing to pay a billion individually for the Rossoneri, because they make a profit quickly appears seems impossible. “So you are in a capital raising in China,” said Fu. “A consortium of several large companies that will pay half of the one billion euro, while the rest will be raised through a crowdfunding, in which each share will cost no more than 10,000 yuan, about 1,500 euro.”

speculations are games when the Hong Kong billionaire, Richard Lee, began to negotiate the purchase of Milan, after meeting with the current owner, Silvio Berlusconi, last week. “There are a lot of rumors about this every day,” said Fu. “Berlusconi wants to sell the club, and it’s no secret. The issue is that there is no consensus within his family as to when to sell. Some want to sell as soon as possible, arguing that it is a financial burden, while others would prefer to keep it until the construction of the new stadium, so you can ask a high price, “said the vice president of the China-Italy Chamber of Commerce.

It was, however, is convinced that this is a good opportunity for Chinese investors to buy a European club football this importance. “If the Chinese funds are able to obtain ownership of the club, it will not be difficult to make a profit in the long run,” he said Fu. UEFA has imposed ‘Financial Fair Play’ and the English Premier League is already able to profit after the organ of the European government has strengthened the injection of money into the club. “For a club like Milan, is a concrete goal to make a profit, given the huge potential market value.”