AC Milan investor drops efforts to freeze club sale in Italian court

Blue Skye Financial Partners, a minority investor in Italian soccer champions AC Milan, have dropped efforts in an Italian court to try to suspend the 1.2 billion euro ($1.20 billion) sale of the club, legal sources said on Tuesday.

Earlier this month U.S. private equity fund RedBird Capital Partners announced it had closed a deal to buy AC Milan from U.S. fund Elliott.

Blue Skye, which held an indirect stake of about 4% in AC Milan, had filed a petition with a Milan court for a precautionary halt to the sale and a hearing was conducted on Tuesday.

The request was dropped as the sale of the club has now been concluded, the sources said. However, Blue Skye is still challenging the deal in other jurisdictions.

Blue Skye had accused Elliott of violating its rights by engaging in "behind closed doors" talks to clinch a sale of the seven-time European champions.

The U.S. fund, which took over the club in 2018, billed Blue Skye's legal actions as "frivolous and vexatious".