By Paolo Biondi and Simon Webb
ROME/BANGKOK (Reuters) - AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi will hold talks with Thai businessman Bee Taechaubol later on Wednesday to discuss the sale of a stake in the Serie A soccer club, two sources close to
the matter said.
A source close to the former Italian prime minister said the meeting may not be decisive but would be "certainly very important".
A report in Italian financial daily Sole 24 Ore on Wednesday said Bee, who travelled to Italy earlier this week, planned to present a 500-million euro (£358.1 million) offer for a 51 percent stake in AC Milan.
The Thai businessman is part of a consortium that includes other investors from China and the United Arab Emirates, the paper added. A source close to Bee confirmed Wednesday's meeting without elaborating.
Bee, executive director of south-east Asian private equity group Thai Prime Company Limited, said in February he had held talks about buying a stake in the Milanese club after media reports that he had made an offer of one billion euros for a controlling stake.
Berlusconi bought AC Milan in the 1980s but speculation has mounted that he may be ready to sell as the club has struggled to compete financially with the top teams from other major European leagues.
Milan, which has debts for about 250 million euros, is owned by Berlusconi through his Fininvest holding company that also controls broadcaster Mediaset.
The club lost 91.3 million euros in 2014.
One of Italian soccer's most prestigious clubs, seven-times European champions AC Milan last won Serie A in 2011. They have since been selling some of their best players and are having a particularly bad season, standing 10th in Serie A.
If a deal on selling AC Milan is reached, the club would follow their city rivals in being bought by south-east Asian investors after Indonesian tycoon Erick Thohir headed a group which acquired a 70 percent stake in Inter in 2013.