Italy’s Berlusconi family in talks to sell Il Giornale daily

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s Berlusconi family is in talks to sell the loss-making conservative newspaper Il Giornale to healthcare entrepreneur and politician Antonio Angelucci, Paolo Berlusconi was quoted as saying on Friday.

When asked about news reports that a sale was near, the brother of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and majority owner of Il Giornale said talks with Angelucci had been going on for a year, AdnKronos newswire reported.

“Things happen in due time,” he was quoted as saying when asked if a deal could be closed within a month.

A member of parliament for Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, Angelucci already owns dailies Il Tempo and Libero.

Founded in Milan in 1974 by journalist Indro Montanelli, Il Giornale is more than two-thirds owned by Paolo Berlusconi’s holding company PBF, while the Berlusconi family’s publishing company Mondadori owns another 18.4%.

(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Alvise Armellini and Deepa Babington)