Suning risk losing Inter, but Oaktree don’t want the club

Suning are running out of time to agree a new loan with Pimco to repay the €395m to Oaktree by Monday, so they risk losing Inter, but unlike Milan in 2018, this fund doesn’t want a club.

When taking out the refinancing deal for €275m in 2021, it was secured against Suning’s stake in Inter, but that sum plus 12 per cent interest has blown the total figure up to €395m and the due date is May 20.

The Zhang family had been close to agreeing a new loan with US bond giant Pimco at an even higher interest rate, in the high teens according to the Financial Times, but those talks have dragged on and now they really are going down to the wire.

If Suning cannot repay the full €395m by Monday or agree different terms, then Oaktree will be able to effectively repossess Inter as an asset to cover the unpaid loan.

Why Inter scenario differs from Milan

It would be a very similar situation to the one their city rivals Milan found themselves in back in 2018, when Yonghong Li failed to keep up repayments on a loan he had used to purchase Milan a year earlier and Elliott Management took over.

However, while Elliott seemed ready to take on AC Milan and rebuild them before selling on, there is very little sign that Oaktree would have similar ambitions.

Indeed, the Financial Times report that Oaktree are concerned Suning raising further debt with a third party would reduce the chance of selling Inter.

“There was always the expectation that there’d be a sale of the club,” the source was quoted as saying.

So if Oaktree do repossess the Nerazzurri from Suning, it is unlikely to remain with them for long, leading to more uncertainty and the potential dismantling of the squad while a buyer is found.