The former AC Milan owner Yonghong Li has been declared bankrupt over money that he owes to creditors, a report claims.
According to official Hong Kong court documents seen by Calcio e Finanza, the Chinese businessman was declared bankrupt last July due to unpaid debts of $280m, with a liquidation hearing scheduled for next January.
In fact, the decision came last July at the end of a proceeding brought by five investment funds based in the Cayman Islands, indirectly controlled by China CITIC Financial AMC International Holding Limited, a Chinese state-owned group listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Yonghong Li declared bankrupt
At the heart of the case is a debt of $289.17m (approximately €250m) relating to the personal guarantee Li signed in 2017 in favour of the funds for the issuance of $150m bonds, which financed the purchase of Milan from Fininvest.
The company issuing the bonds was Rossoneri Advance Co. Limited, one of the offshore structures used by Li to control the club, which has officially been requested for liquidation in recent days. Eventually, Elliott Management would take over Milan, with loans not repaid.
According to the ruling, the Hong Kong Court dismissed the challenges filed by the former Milan owner. Li had attempted to challenge the bankruptcy order, arguing that: 1) He had never been served with a ‘valid demand for payment’, and 2) that the amount of the debt had been incorrectly calculated.
The court deemed both arguments ‘baseless’, adding that the guarantee signed by Li provided for liability as a principal debtor, and therefore not subject to any written request. Even any discrepancies in interest calculations or payments already made do not affect the substance of the matter: the debt remains well above $160m, and the debtor has not demonstrated he has the means to repay it.
This led to the request for liquidation of Rossoneri Advance Co. Limited , one of the holding companies based in the British Virgin Islands through which Li controlled Milan. The holding company was placed into liquidation in recent days at the request of creditor General Fantasy Limited.
As a reminder, we had an exclusive interview with Yonghong Li a few years ago in which he shed some light on how things went with the Rossoneri, and now it seems there is some closure to the whole wild adventure.
Back then that Thailand businessman wanted to buy then suddenly Berlusconi choose this guy for whatever reason, the process is faster as well. Quite shady
Thai investor Mr Bee Taechaubol came closer than most in 2015, when he had a deal with Silvio Berlusconi to buy 48 per cent of AC Milan. But it fell apart when Berlusconi, recovering from a heart attack, decided he wanted to give up a 100 per cent stake instead. Milan were sold to Chinese investor Li Yonghong this instead
Why Mr? His name is Bee Taechaubol, you don’t write Mr Silvio Berlusconi. 😀
Just redirecting 😁
Berlusconi sure did his due diligence on that sale, didn’t he…
It didn’t matter. As long as the cash Berlusconi was getting was guaranteed, he was made whole and whatever happened after was not his problem. A sad end for his era. When he decided to end his ownership it became all about getting the max out of the club. A counter-argument is that he deserved to get as much money out of the deal as possible given how much he’d spent out of pocket on the club in 30+ years. But as a fan I wish that he’d sold to more solid owners, even if the better bids were probably lower than Li’s.