Berlusconi family plan to sell club shares

Family of Silvio Berlusconi is considering selling a stake of between 20 and 30 per cent in AC Milan

Italian former prime minister and owner of AC Milan, Silvio Berlusconi. AFP

The family of Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian premier, is considering selling a stake of between 20 and 30 per cent in AC Milan, the football club he bought in 1986 and took to the top of the European game.

The club’s co-chief executive, Barbara Berlusconi, a daughter of the media magnate, said yesterday the family is seeking partners and she would travel to the Middle East and later to the United States as part of the process.

Rumours have been circulating for some time that the Berlusconis were seeking new investment in a team that is struggling in mid-table of Serie A.

Italian football has been hit hard by hooliganism and match-fixing scandals and has not seen the kind of heavy foreign investment that clubs in England and France have enjoyed.

However, there are signs that could be changing.

The Indonesian business tycoon Erick Thohir and partners bought a majority stake in Milan’s city rivals Inter last November in a deal that reportedly valued the club at about €350 million (Dh1.77 billion). Roma, another Italian club, are controlled by an American investment group.

After buying AC Milan, Berlusconi quickly turned them into the top team in Italy and Europe, winning Serie A in 1988 and the European Cup, the forerunner to the Champions League, in the following two seasons.

Milan’s success helped Berlusconi build his profile and launch into politics in the 1990s with a party with the football-inspired name “Forza Italia” (Go Italy).

Milan have not won Serie A since 2011 and have seen some of their best players depart in recent seasons, showing how the balance of financial power in European football has swung away from Italy.