Franco Vanni, journalist from Repubblica, spoke on the FcInter1908 Twitch channel to talk about Inter’s corporate future
Franco Vanni, journalist from Repubblica, spoke on the FcInter1908 Twitch channel to talk about Inter’s corporate future. Here are his words starting from the possible financing granted by the Pimco fund to Steven Zhang: “Pimco is not forever: the fact that Zhang finds funds does not mean that he wants to keep Inter forever. Carlo Festa went out of his way to say that it would of a bridging loan towards a sale: I don’t have this evidence, in the sense that we will have to see how the operation will be structured once it is closed. Zhang pays a lot of interest every year and cannot go on forever: there is a part of the debt that Inter contracted with a listed bond and weighs on the club and is a brake, then there is that of Oaktree which is on the company through which Zhang controls Inter.
It is unlikely that Zhang will want to continue to control a company by paying interest after interest: it is more likely that one day he will find someone who will give him the money he wants. An important banking executive I know told me that Zhang would have to get a billion and a hundred more or less to get out without getting hurt. The Zhang family is still very rich and can even decide to go out and lose something, but first of all they have to want it, and to me they seem in love with Inter and their work, and then they have to find someone who will put in a billion and a hundred. The problem is that the funds pay little: they don’t give gifts, they make their own interests.
So on the sale we will have to see how the operation is structured, the conditions under which the financing will be closed and the duration: if I were to bet one euro, I would bet on the fact that in three years Zhang will have sold, but it is my idea. But already in 2021 I thought he could find a buyer, it didn’t happen and it was good for Inter. Inter at Oaktree? There are possibilities but not probabilities: Zhang knows very well that this can happen if he arrives in May without a financier. But he has very high profile advisors, it would be surprising. Then the division in the Oaktree fund that dealt with Inter is that of debt, of risky loans classified as unlikely to pay: Oaktree expects and hopes to get the money back plus 100 million in interest. Since the fact that he could take over Inter is a known risk, Zhang will find the alternative and is working on this: either reschedule with Oaktree, or refinance with another entity, I don’t see him ending up like Yonghong Li.”
