Chinese consortium clinches AC Milan in extra time

The largest ever Chinese-backed MA transaction in the European football sector is scheduled to close today Thursday as a Chinese-led consortium purchases Associazione Calcio Milan, otherwise known as AC Milan, for 750 million $799 million including debt.

The deal is completing one day earlier than anticipated given April 14 is an unlucky number in Chinese, but a number of months later than originally expected following the Chinese government’s imposition of capital controls.

This forced the acquirer consortium, led by entrepreneur Li Yonghong, to seek expensive financing from US hedge fund Elliott Management Corp to bridge the rest of the purchase price and provide loans to...