Thai businessman says in talks with AC Milan

MILAN (Reuters) - Thai businessman Bee Taechaubol says he has held "cordial and private" discussions with Serie A side AC Milan, following media reports that he had made an offer for a controlling stake in the club. "I would like to personally clarify some wrong or misleading information that appeared on Italian media in the past two days, re-stating at the same time that I have never released any interviews in my own country," Taechaubol said in a statement. "I do not deny the interest for a possible share acquisition into such a prestigious club such as AC Milan, but at the moment it's only cordial and private discussions with representatives from the AC Milan group. "No decision....has been taken nor has any agreement been signed off." On Monday, media reports said Taechaubol, executive director of southeast Asian private equity group Thai Prime Company Limited, had offered 1 billion euros (£742.6 million) for AC Milan and was confident of completing the deal within a month. But former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said later that day he was not interested in selling control of the club. Fininvest, the Berlusconi holding company that owns AC Milan, said in a statement there were no talks about selling the club, which Berlusconi has owned since the 1980s. No longer able to compete financially with top teams from the other major European leagues, seven-times European champions AC Milan have struggled since winning Serie A for the last time in 2011. They finished eighth in Serie A last season and look set to miss out on the Champions League again this term as they lie a modest 11th. Coach Filippo Inzaghi is their third in just over a year and his job is also on the line after a poor run of results. (Reporting by Brian Homewood; editing by Toby Davis)