a Milan court ordered Fininvest to pay 560 million euros in damages to Compagnie Industriali Riunite in a long-running legal dispute. On 5 August 2016, Fininvest announced the signing of a preliminary agreement to sell all of their shares of A.C. Milan to Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management Changxing Co.Ltd. The deal was scheduled to be finalized by the end of 2016. On 13 April 2017, Berlusconi sold Milan to Rossoneri Sport Investment Lux for a total of €830 million after a 31-year reign. Political career Berlusconi rapidly rose to the forefront of Italian politics in January 1994. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time and appointed as Prime Minister following the 1994 Italian general election, when Forza Italia gained a relative majority a mere three months after having been launched. His cabinet collapsed after nine months due to internal disagreements among the coalition parties. In the 1996 Italian general election, Berlusconi was defeated by the centre-left candidate Romano Prodi. In the 2001 Italian general election, he was again the centre-right candidate for Prime Minister and won against the centre-left candidate Francesco Rutelli. Berlusconi then formed his second and third cabinets, until 2006. Berlusconi was the leader of the centre-right coalition in the 2006 Italian general election, which he lost by a very narrow margin, his opponent again being Prodi. He was re-elected in the 2008 Italian general election following the collapse of the Prodi II Cabinet and sworn in for the third time as Prime Minister on 8 May 2008. After losing his majority in parliament amid growing fiscal problems related to the European debt crisis, the resignation of Berlusconi as Prime Minister came on 16 November 2011. Berlusconi led the People of Freedom and its right-wing allies in the campaign for the 2013 Italian general election. Although he initially planned to run for a fifth term as Prime Minister, as part of the agreement with the Lega Nord, he would instead plan to lead the coalition without becoming Prime Minister. Berlusconi's centre-right coalition gained 29% of votes, ranking second, after the centre-left coalition Italy Common Good led by Pier Luigi Bersani. Subsequently, Berlusconi's allies supported the Letta Cabinet headed by Enrico Letta of the Democratic Party, together with the centrist Civic Choice of former Prime Minister Mario Monti. Berlusconi was criticised for his electoral coalitions with right-wing populist parties (Lega Nord and the National