Documents show Sino-Europe Sports paid another €30m of their €100m deposit today using a new offshore company in the British Virgin Islands.
The takeover has been repeatedly postponed and the closing pushed back to a rumoured new date of April 14.
Silvio Berlusconi was only prepared to accept further delays if another €100m deposit was paid by the end of today – and they are still €50m short.
Documents show Sino-Europe Sports paid another €30m of their €100m deposit today using a new offshore company in the British Virgin Islands.
The takeover has been repeatedly postponed and the closing pushed back to a rumoured new date of April 14.
Silvio Berlusconi was only prepared to accept further delays if another €100m deposit was paid by the end of today – and they are still €50m short.
Sino-Europe Sports have been forced to make a patchwork of financing deals to get the €100m together, as Chinese authorities are clamping down on funds leaving the country.
They created a new offshore company based in the British Virgin Islands – Rossoneri Advanced Company Limited – which funnelled money to Rossoneri Sport Investment in Hong Kong.
According to official documents received by Calcio & Finanza, “Rossoneri Advanced Company Limited provided €103M of capital to Rossoneri Sport Investment (864.5M Hong Kong dollars).
“This took place on Feb. 20, 2017, which was a few days before March 3 (original date for the closing). The transaction formally closed on March 9, and received regulatory approval in Hong Kong only on March 21.
“If all goes according to plan, Fininvest will receive the third deposit soon and then a new agreement will be signed to delay the closing to a future date.”
However, the fact that so many loopholes are required to simply fund a deposit when the takeover was meant to be months ago will raise serious questions over how reliable this company can be for guaranteeing their future.