AC Milan's Chinese takeover officially postponed

The proposed takeover of AC Milan by a Chinese consortium has been postponed, club CEO Adriano Galliani has confirmed.

A shareholders' meeting was scheduled for early on Friday as Milan directors attempted to finalise the protracted sale of the club to Sino-Europe Sports.

However, speaking to the media after the discussions, Galliani confirmed that the deal with SES has not been closed.

"Closing cannot take place today [Friday] because the conditions of the contract with SES have not been met," said the 72-year-old.

"We are considering the possibility of entering into an agreement with SES for the sale of Milan shortly."

SES' attempt to buy the club is rumoured to be under threat because members of the consortium are claimed to have walked away, leaving central figure Yonghong Li as the sole investor.

Any prospective takeover must be approved by Milan shareholders but, with Silvio Berlusconi's company Fininvest owning a significant majority stake, an agreement is expected to be a formality once conditions are met.

Berlusconi's brother Paolo stated last year that the club did not expect SES to pull out of the deal entirely as they have already made a €200million payment.

SES are said to be required to make pay a further three installments in order to complete the purchase from Fininvest.