(ECNS) - Zong Qinghou, the billionaire chairman of the drinks giant Wahaha Group, denies that he is planning a bid for Italian soccer club AC Milan or any business related to the sport.
Several Italian media outlets claimed that Zong would start buying a small stake in the Italian club before purchasing up to 75 percent over three years.
"We have no intention of getting into the soccer sphere, and have not made any contact with AC Milan," Zong said via his official Sina Weibo microblog account on Thursday.
He called the Italian media reports "sheer fiction."
Zong also said Wahaha would only consider a domestic soccer club if there were plans to buy a team.
"We will continue in the industriral sector in a down-to-earth way," Zong wrote.
AC Milan is currently controlled by Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who in February said he was not interested in selling control of the club.
