Sole 24 Ore: Milan and Inter’s finances compared as Cardinale and Zhang seek capital | OneFootball

AC Milan and Inter are in very different financial situations but the owners of both clubs are seeking capital to fuel their ambitions, a report claims.

In a report for Il Sole 24 Ore, the journalist Carlo Festa lays out the differences between the situations of the Milanese clubs. In just five months, Inter’s debts – contracted with the American fund Oaktree – must be repaid.

The €275m lent in May 2021 has now increased to over €350m due to the interest to be paid at expiration. Steven Zhang aims to refinance the loan and the sale of Inter is not on the table for now, except if a huge offer comes in and at the moment there are no concrete negotiations with potential buyers.

The was an attempt by BC partners in 2021 and some discussions with Persian Gulf funds, but nothing concrete came from them. Even in recent meetings with Goldman Sachs, the trusted bank of the Chinese family, they were asked to build the financial architecture of the new loan.

Goldman would have given their willingness to refinance, with a subsequent syndication of the new line with large credit funds and hedge fund. However, the road for Zhang is not without obstacles because a loan of this type is not easy to structure.

New guarantees are needed to protect a loan that could rise even higher together with the interest, so much so that Oaktree has already been contacted by potential new buyers, in case the Californian fund finds itself having to enforce the pledge on the club.

The chances that the same movie seen at Milan will be repeated at Inter, with Elliott becoming owner to the detriment of Yonghong Li, are concrete. The difference is that Oaktree has no intention of running the club.

In recent weeks, some events have brought a little more confidence in the outcome of the operation. On the interest rate front, the majority of analysts indicate that the peak has been reached and cuts by central banks are foreseeable in 2024.

Furthermore, the recent ruling of the EU Court on the Super League – even if in a completely theoretical way at the moment – is causing the valuations of the major European clubs to rise on the basis of prospective revenues higher than the current ones.

Italian teams, including Inter, have announced that they do not want to participate in the new format, however the feeling has been created that the future cake to be divided is becoming larger. Things like a new stadium can help, too.

In recent weeks it is not just Inter that have been in the spotlight. Gerry Cardinale of RedBird has been exploring potential partners who can provide resources at the top of the ownership chain of the Rossoneri.

On a recent trip to several countries in the Persian Gulf, the opportunity for an investment was presented to various sovereign funds (from PIF to Investcorp).

Although in a very different situation from that of Inter, Cardinale’s objective would be to repay Elliott’s vendor loan of over €600m in advance (as opposed to the expected expiry in two years), which costs around €50m per year in interest.

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