(Reuters) - The billionaire chairman of Chinese drinks maker Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co has knocked back reports he is planning a bid for struggling Italian soccer giants AC Milan, currently controlled by Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Zong Qinghou, worth an estimated $19 billion according to the latest annual Hurun rich list, said reports in Italian media that he was planning to purchase up to 75 percent of the Italian team were "sheer fiction".
"We have no intention of getting into the soccer sphere, and have not made any contact with AC Milan," Zong said on his official Sina Weibo microblog account on Thursday.
Reuters could not reach Wahaha for further comment.
Speculation has swirled around the Italian club, one of the country's most prestigious teams, but which has struggled since last winning a league title in 2011.
Thai businessman Bee Taechaubol said in February he had held "cordial and private" discussions with the club, prompting Berlusconi to respond that he was not interested in selling his controlling stake.
China's billionaires have been starting to snap up sporting assets outside the country's borders.
In January, property conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group bought 20 percent of Spanish soccer champions Atletico Madrid for 45 million euros ($48.45 million), becoming the first Mainland company to invest in a top European club.
Media reports in China had suggested Wanda may also be interested in taking a stake in AC Milan as part of plans to deepen its push into sports and entertainment.
Zong, however, said Wahaha would prefer to look within China's borders rather than overseas.
"Even if we wanted to buy a soccer club, we would only consider a domestic team," he said.
($1 = 0.9288 euros)
ASIAN TAKEOVER: CHINESE AND THAI IN RACE TO BUY BERLUSCONI’S MILAN SHARES
Thailand’s Bee Taechaubol & a Chinese group, believed to be represented by Richard Lee, are reportedly in talks with Milan President Silvio Berlusconi over purchasing portions Milan.
Yesterday morning (Thursday) AskaNews reported that Berlusconi has confirmed inprivate meeting that the sale of Milan to Chinese owners is basically a done deal and it seems to be some truth in the reports of the Italian news agency.
A denial arrived but it wasn’t directly from Fininvest. It was made through another news agency, ANSA, who wrote that ‘sources close to Berlusconi’ deny the existence of talks and ‘the hypothesis is fictional and will be denied in the future’ adding that ‘a real value assessment of the club has never been made’.
However, the AskaNews piece turned out to be true, at least part of it, as yesterday there was a meeting between Silvio Berlusconi and a guy said to be the face of a Chinese consortium interested in buying Milan. Sky’s cameras caught Richard Lee leaving Berlusconi’s Arcore villa at around 21:50.
The Hong Kong businessman was Berlusconi’s guest at San Siro on October 26th but it still unclear who he represents with the potential names being Zong Qinghou, who yesterday denied his interest in getting involved in football or maybe Poe Qiu Ying Wang Shuo aka Mr. Pink.
Patrick Kluivert (2nd r) speaks as Bee Taechaubol (l), CEO of Thai Prime Co. ltd., Fabio Cannavaro (2nd r) and Maichael Owen look on during a Global Legends Series media event on October 27, 2014 in Malaysia. (Photo by Charles Pertwee/Getty Images for GLS)
But the Chinese are not the only ones that (reportedly, still) want Milan as Bee Taechaubol is still very much in the ‘race’ and Sky are led to believe that he’s in pole position to acquire Milan. Taechaubol acted first and he has already signed a letter of intent as well as a memorandum of understanding. Sky reports that Bee plans to take over Milan within a year, first by buying 20% for €195 million, which makes Milan’s value estimated at €950m; and with the €250m debt taking into account, the whole operation would cost €1.2 billion. Bee wants to own 65% of Milan within a year.
Taechaubol’s intention is apparently to keep both Barbara Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani, who are acting as joint-CEO’s and Vice Presidents at least for the first year, also due to the construction of the new stadium. Sky claims that at the moment Bee has a clear advantage over the Chinese group.
The month of April will be decisive as according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, a due diligence (which essentially means analysis the accounts and budgets) is being performed by both Bee and the Chinese and should be done by late April, early May. After that part is over, a concrete offer should arrive within 15 days. Gazzetta believes that every scenario is possible at this point.
In April Milan will also receive an answer from Fondazione Fiera to see if they can build the new stadium in the location where they want it. Milan look set for changes in the not so distant future.
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