Five companies are working together to buy Milan but the Berlusconi family has yet to decide when the sale will happen, it’s stated today (Thursday).

Every day there are new rumours and it’s clear that there are two groups of investors reading to give their money to Silvio Berlusconi to take over Milan – one is represented by Richard Lee and the other by Bee Taechaubol.

No one knows for sure who are the other investors involved with Lee and Taechaubol but according to Fu Yixiang who spoke to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, five companies have been linked to a possible takeover of the club. Yixiang vice president of the Italy-China Chamber of Commerce.

According to Yixiang (as written on Xinhua’s website on Thursday), four of the five companies are based in China: beverage maker Wahaha, real estate developer Wanda, telecommunications giants Huawei and e-commerce magnate Alibaba, while the other interested is a Thai company.

Fu, who has sources in Calcio, said that no company is willing to pay €1bn individually for the club as making a quick profit from the investment looks impossible. “So, a crowdfunding move is under way in China,” he said. “A consortium formed by several big companies will pay half of the €1bn and the other half will be raised through crowdfunding with one share expected to cost no more than 10k Yuan ($1.6k).

“Hong Kong billionaire Richard Lee? There are a lot of rumors like this every day. Berlusconi wants to sell the club, it’s not a secret. The question is that there is no consensus within his family on when to sell it. Some want to sell it as soon as possible arguing that it is a financial burden, while the others prefer to keep it until construction on the new stadium is completed so that they can demand a high price.

“If Chinese funds can secure the ownership of the club, it is not hard to make a profit in the long run UEFA has imposed ‘Financial Fair Play’ from 2013-14 season. Now the English Premier League is already able to profit after the European governing body has tightened the total money injection into clubs.

“For a club like AC Milan, it’s a tangible target to profit so long as you can tap its huge potential market value,” added Yixiang. Taechaubol is still considered to be in pole position to buy Milan.