Oaktree might already have Inter buyer lined up

According to Il Sole 24 Ore, Oaktree already have a buyer lined up to purchase Inter if Suning and the Zhang family fail to repay the €395m loan on Monday.

US fund Oaktree granted Suning the €275m loan in 2021 with a 12 per cent interest rate and the due date for repayment is on May 20.

Suning had hoped to get a deal in place with Pimco to take out a different loan at an even higher interest rate to pay that off, but this agreement seems to have fallen through.

If the loan is not repaid, Inter will effectively be repossessed, as it was used as collateral to secure the loan.

The Financial Times reported yesterday that, unlike Elliott Management with Milan when repossessing the club from Yonghong Li in 2019, Oaktree have no desire to run a football team.

Inter could be repossessed

Now Il Sole 24 Ore confirms that, which is why they believe Oaktree have already got a buyer lined up to take over Inter once they repossess it.

There had been several interested parties over the past three years, largely from Saudi Arabia, but Suning were confident they could keep hold of the club and just bring in investors.

That plan failed and they are now on the verge of losing the club that has just won the Serie A title.

Meanwhile, there is at least some good news for Nerazzurri supporters, because Il Sole 24 Ore also reports that the repossession should not affect the agreement of new contracts with players or even transfer deals.

This is because for several years now Beppe Marotta has already been running a net zero transfer campaign, paying for any new signings with sales that made profits.