Former AC Milan owner Yonghong Li declared bankrupt

Former AC Milan owner Yonghong Li, who bought the Serie A club from Silvio Berlusconi in 2017 and lost control a year later, has been declared bankrupt.

The Chinese businessman raised eyebrows when he purchased the Italian team from Berlusconi in April 2017 at a cost of over €500m.

This was largely achieved thanks to a loan worth €303m plus a very high interest rate from Elliott Management.

When Yonghong Li failed to keep up repayments on that loan, US-based vulture fund Elliott effectively repossessed AC Milan in July 2018.

The entire process was one that left plenty of unanswered questions.

Now a tribunal in Hong Kong has made a bankruptcy order against him, regarding a debt worth $280 million (circa €250m), and a hearing is set for January 2026.

Calcio e Finanza analysed the paperwork and noted that five investment funds had taken action against the Chinese businessman.

Specifically, the Rossoneri Advance Co. Limited was a business used to provide bonds during the purchase of AC Milan in 2017, and that is the company declared bankrupt.