Suning Praying For Last Minute Refinancing At Inter Milan – Oaktree Capital Ready To Keep Club & In No Hurry To Sell

Suning are at the stage of praying for a last minute solution to refinance their debt to Oaktree Capital, who are ready to take over Inter Milan.

This according to today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera, via FCInterNews. The newspaper anticipate Oaktree won’t be in any hurry to sell the Nerazzurri.

The time is now at hand. This week, Oaktree could already begin the process of taking over Inter from Suning.

Today is, technically speaking, the deadline for Suning to repay their debt to the US-based fund.

Suning owe around €380 million to Oaktree. That is the total amount including both the €275 million loan from the spring of 2021, and all compounded interest.

Should the current Inter owners default on repayment, then their shares would pass into the hands of Oaktree.

Suning had been hoping to refinance their debt to Oaktree.

The Nerazzurri owners have been in talks with another US-based fund, PIMCO, on a new loan reportedly worth around €430 million.

However, those talks collapsed a few days ago. This has left Suning with few options to maintain control of Inter.

Suning Pray For Last Minute Solution – Oaktree Ready To Keep Control Of Inter

The last few days since the collapse of the talks with PIMCO have been frantic ones for Suning.

The Inter owners have been desperately searching for solutions to prolong their time as Inter owners.

A new fund emerging to offer a similar loan to the one PIMCO had been in talks for, or an agreement to extend the deadline with Oaktree, would be the two possibilities in that sense.

But if Suning were to come up with anything now, it would truly be a last minute solution.

Oaktree cannot claim Suning’s controlling stake of Inter just yet.

The reason is that today is a public holiday in Luxembourg, where the holding company via which Suning maintain their shares in Inter is based.

But in the next couple of days, Oaktree can get the ball rolling.

The US fund have every right to immediately start claiming Suning’s share in Inter, per the terms of the 2021 loan agreement which saw Suning put them up as collateral.

The Corrriere della Sera report that Oaktree have every intention of doing so immediately.

No Reason For Oaktree To Sell Inter Right Away

Moreover, the newspaper anticipate, the US fund will not sell Inter right away.

The main reason why is that Oaktree would still owe Suning a sort of sale price for the club.

The current Inter owners will not let the club go for free. Oaktree will have to reimburse them with an amount equal to the fair market value of the club as determined by an appraiser – minus, of course, the debt they owe.

Therefore, an immediate sale would not necessarily be in Oaktree’s best interest.

The US fund would be unlikely to be able to obtain a sale price that is that much higher than what they’d be paying Suning.

On the other hand, Oaktree believe that they can continue to increase Inter’s market value.

That has already been the trajectory of the past few years. Inter have improved their financial situation, with positive results on the pitch, increasing brand value, and commercial revenues.

Meanwhile, the Nerazzurri’s liabilities have decreased.

Oaktree plan to keep hold of Inter for some time and continue this process.

Moreover, the US fund could aim to oversee a long-overdue new stadium project. If that project finally goes into action, there would be another big jump in the value of Inter.

Therefore, Oaktree are ready to run the Nerazzurri for the foreseeable future.