US entrepreneur DiBenedetto close to takeover of Roma

US entrepreneur Thomas DiBenedetto has reached an agreement for the takeover of Serie A side Roma that should be signed in the next couple of weeks.
Italian media reported that DiBenedetto ended two days of negotiations with Unicredit Bank and Italpetroli on Tuesday night and was set to return to the US.

Unicredit is a creditor of Italpetroli, an oil company owned by the Sensi family, who have controlled Roma since 1993.
"We cannot sign now, but things are going well," a Unicredit official said. "The financial agreement is defined. There is no distance between demand and offer."

DiBenedetto, who showed his thumb up at the end of the talks, is due back in Italy after lawyers define legal and fiscal aspects of the deal.

He is the president of Boston International Group, one of several bidders that Unicredit shortlisted since Italpetroli agreed in July to place the team on the market to allay the company's debts.

The bank reportedly set the club's value at 150 million euros (211 million dollars).

Under the agreement, DiBenedetto is to acquire 60 per cent of the club's shares, while Unicredit could sell the remaining 40 per cent to Italian investors.

DiBenedetto is also a shareholder of Fenway Sports Group, a US company owning baseball club Boston Red Sox and English Premier League club Liverpool.