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It was recently confirmed that Silvio Berlusconi has agreed to sell a 48 percent stake in the club to Indonesian investor Bee Taechaubol - or Mr. Bee, as he has become known. The two released a joint statement the club's official website, as reproduced below:
JOINT STATEMENT FROM FININVEST-MR. BEE TAECHAUBOL
President Silvio Berlusconi has approved the agreement signed by the Fininvest managing director Pasquale Cannatelli and Mr. Bee Taechaubol that plans to negotiate exclusively for a period of eight weeks over a partnership with AC Milan.
During this time, Silvio Berlusconi, who will continue to remain as President, and Mr. Taechaubol will work together on a great and ambitious economic and sporting project to take Milan back to the highest levels of Italian and international football that are in line with the club's history, prestige and results.
As part of this, the draft agreement, which will be examined in detail, foresees that control of the club remains in the hands of President Silvio Berlusconi and Fininvest, which will have an absolute majority share of 52%. The consortium represented by Mr. Taechaubol will acquire instead a minority stake of 48%.
The draft agreement has as its objective the promotion and commercialisation of the AC Milan brand, in particular in Asian countries, in order to receive a large boost in revenue and consequently the financial resources needed to take, thanks to a decisive technical and sporting project, AC Milan back to competing with the established clubs in world football.
That means that the hypothetical collaboration with Doyen Sports is has now become reality. Milan's transfer budget will increase as a consequence of Mr. Bee's investment. Fininvest has already decided to add €150 million to the club's finances. Milanisti must wait for the final details of the agreement to be revealed, but the most important thing is that the long months of negotiations have yielded a result, and a new era beckons for the Rossoneri.