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Berlusconi says still looking for an investor in AC Milan

Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi delivers a speech from the stage in downtown Rome in this file photo taken on November 27, 2013. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian media tycoon and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is still looking for a co-investor in AC Milan to help revive the fortunes of the Serie A football club which he has owned for nearly three decades. "I am looking for somebody willing to share with me the future financing needs of 'my' Milan that I don't plan to abandon," Berlusconi said in an interview on state broadcaster RAI's tv show Che Tempo Che Fa. Berlusconi said that one family alone was not able to meet the challenge posed by the rising investments required to run a football club. Berlusconi's holding company Fininvest, which also controls broadcaster Mediaset, said earlier this month he could sell a minority stake in AC Milan. Over recent weeks Berlusconi has discussed a potential sale of the club to Thai businessman Bee Taechaubol but the talks have been unsuccessful. AC Milan, seven times European champions, has been a central part of Berlusconi's media and political empire since he became president of the club 29 years ago. But the club has lost some of its shine in recent years. It won the most recent of its 18 Serie A championships in 2011, has racked up debts of 250 million euros and made a loss of 91 million euros last year. (Reporting by Valentina Za and Isla Binnie; Editing by Greg Mahlich)