China firm hit by new forgery claims in AC Milan deal

AFP, SHANGHAI: The Chinese consortium that agreed to buy AC Milan in a multi-million dollar deal this summer has been hit with new forgery claims, local media said Friday.
In August, Silvio Berlusconi agreed to sell more than 99 per cent of AC Milan to a little-known Chinese consortium named Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management Changxing.
The deal valued the club at 740 million euros (then $825.4 million) including debt.
But the Chinese group provided a forged bank statement to prove its financing abilities, China’s respected business magazine Caixin reported.
The consortium provided a statement issued by the Bank of Dongguan, a regional commercial lender based in the southern province of Guangdong, saying it would provide assistance to finance the deal.
But Bank of Dongguan denied they ever provided such a document to the Chinese group, Caixin cited the lender as saying. 
The Chinese consortium includes businessman Yonghong Li, the Haixia Capital group, and other private and public Chinese companies.
Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management Changxing Co has already paid 100m euros to Fininvest, the holding company of AC Milan owner and president Berlusconi, who is expected to sign off on the 740m euro deal by the end of the year. 
The news comes just two days after Bloomberg News alleged that other false documents were used in the initial negotiations of the deal.

 

China firm hit by new forgery claims in AC Milan deal

AFP, SHANGHAI: The Chinese consortium that agreed to buy AC Milan in a multi-million dollar deal this summer has been hit with new forgery claims, local media said Friday. In August, Silvio Berlusconi agreed to sell more than 99 per cent of AC Milan to a little-known Chinese consortium named Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management Changxing. The deal valued the club at 740 million euros (then $825.4 million) including debt. But the Chinese group provided a forged bank statement to prove its financing abilities, Chinas respected business magazine Caixin reported. The consortium provided a statement issued by the Bank of Dongguan, a regional commercial lender based in the southern province of Guangdong, saying it would provide assistance to finance the deal. But Bank of Dongguan denied they ever provided such a document to the Chinese group, Caixin cited the lender as saying. The Chinese consortium includes businessman Yonghong Li, the Haixia Capital group, and other private and public Chinese companies. Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management Changxing Co has already paid 100m euros to Fininvest, the holding company of ACMilan owner and president Berlusconi, who is expected to sign off on the 740m euro deal by the end of the year. The news comes just two days after Bloomberg News alleged that other false documents were used in the initial negotiations of the deal.