Brickmaker Moves Out of Construction And Into Old Masters Investment, Buying a $75m Michelangelo Painting

THE ART NEWSPAPER
By Anna Brady

Company paid $75m for a painting described as a Michelangelo pietà Courtesy of Millennium Fine Art

Many would argue that the construction business is more lucrative than investing in art. But in a bizarre example of the boom in fractional ownership of works of art, the new US owner of a Chinese building materials company has eschewed brickmaking in favour of art. It has bought a $75m Michelangelo painting by issuing shares and, earlier this month, suspended trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange until it has changed its name to Millennium Fine Art. The unusual move comes under the company’s new executive chairman Daniel McKinney, who did not answer the question of why he has bought a Chinese construction business in order to start a US-based art investment business. [More]