A private equity consortium has told Serie A it plans to present an updated proposal to buy a stake in the media business of Italy's top soccer league as it remained interested in a deal, three sources said on Thursday.
Serie A agreed in October to enter exclusive talks after a consortium including CVC Capital Partners, Advent International and Italian fund FSI offered 1.7 billion euros ($2 billion) for a 10% stake in its newly-created media business division.
But the deal has been repeatedly postponed and last month seven soccer clubs, including champions Juventus, said they did not see the sale as a viable option.
That effectively blocked the deal, which needs the approval of at least 14 of the 20 top-flight clubs to proceed.
However, nine clubs have been insisting on pursuing the sale, which could give them a fresh injection of cash, prompting Serie A executives to ask for further talks, the sources said.
In a letter to the Italian league on Thursday the consortium told Serie A it aimed to present an updated proposal. In the letter the funds say they are ready fine tune some aspects, while keeping the structure of the deal unchanged as they are convinced of the value of a partnership, the sources said.
"We are very pleased to know that there is a desire not to waste the efforts made", the private equity firms said in the letter, which was quoted by one of the sources.
"The same applies to the consortium," said the letter, which was presented at a Serie A meeting on Thursday attended by two of the sources.
The private equity funds are now due to present their updated proposal, which is not expected to include any economic improvement, at a Serie A meeting next week, the sources said.
In a statement after Thursday's meeting, Serie A said the clubs would meet again next week to discuss a number of issues, including the potential deal with the funds.
(Reporting by Elisa Anzolin and Elvira Pollina. Editing by Alexander Smith and Mark Potter)
