Helpless, Inter Chairman Zhang Kangyang's refinancing plan failed!
And just yesterday, Zhang Kangyang also publicly issued a statement, he believes that it is because of Oaktree Capital's unilateral legal threats and obstruction that Suning's refinancing negotiations with PIMCO broke down.
To tell the truth, it doesn't make much sense to blame Oaktree Capital for playing too "black" now, after all, Zhang Kangyang signed a black-and-white agreement when he talked to Oaktree Capital about financing cooperation in 2021. This means that if Zhang Kangyang fails to repay the loan on time, Oaktree Capital can directly take over Inter and sell it.
It is worth mentioning that Suning successfully acquired 65.88% of Inter's equity for 263 million euros in June 2016, and then invested nearly 1 billion euros in order to help Inter pay off debts, introduce reinforcements and improve the team's hardware.
Unfortunately, unlike the Agnelli family behind Juventus, Suning itself has begun to decline in recent years, and they have no way to directly inject huge amounts of money into Inter Milan or provide some low-interest or even interest-free loan guarantees.
Therefore, under the influence of the global virus, Zhang Kangyang, as the president of Inter, had to rely on external forces to maintain the operation of the club.
Although Zhang Kangyang has many channels to choose from, it is nothing more than making sacrifices in interests. At that time, perhaps Oaktree Capital was still the best choice for Zhang Kangyang, with a 12% interest rate and a three-year buffer period, Suning thought it was still possible to help Inter find a suitable buyer, and the most "powerful" thing about Oaktree Capital was that it inserted the clause of profit sharing and also installed two members on Inter's board of directors.
This means that Zhang Kangyang received a loan of 275 million euros at a relatively "favorable" price, but the precondition is that he needs to sell Inter in the future and also needs to share the profit difference with Oaktree Capital.
More importantly, the two members of Oaktree's board of directors at Inter also have a lot of influence on the team's major decisions, which is perhaps one of the most important reasons why Lautaro, Barella and Inzaghi Jr. have been unable to secure a contract extension for Inter.
Of course, our fans have also mentioned before that Zhang Kangyang can pay off his debts by selling star players! To tell the truth, if it is a normal team, it may indeed be a good way to survive with a broken arm, but selling star players must be a major decision, Zhang Kangyang alone said that it doesn't matter, the board of directors must pass, Oaktree Capital must agree, how can they do this? The star players are all sold out, the value of Inter will definitely fall, and the profit available to Oaktree Capital when Inter is sold in the future will be virtually reduced.
It is worth noting that when Inter Milan achieved good results at the competitive level and financially, Suning did have an idea, and they also tried to use Inter's own hematopoiesis to successfully repay the loan by delaying time, so as to maintain the helm of Inter. However, Oaktree Capital could not give Zhang Kangyang a chance to counterattack, and finally rejected his refinancing request of 275 million euros, and now looking back, Oaktree Capital's acquiescence to Zhang Kangyang's refinancing plan at the end of last year was completely confusing Suning and wasting time.
After being completely rejected by Oaktree Capital in February, Zhang Kangyang seemed to suddenly realize that he left Italy and began to look for other financing channels, which proved that Zhang Kangyang was still too tender in front of Oaktree Capital, not only was they unwilling to refinance and lend to Zhang Kangyang, but also had the ability to make other financing institutions retreat, and even used legal means to do so.
What is certain is that after PIMCO withdrew halfway through, with only one day before the repayment date, Zhang Kangyang seemed to be unable to do anything other than make an announcement to express his anger.
And after May 20, the initiative began to be completely in the hands of Oaktree Capital, he can choose to take over Inter immediately, or he may continue to wait for Zhang Kangyang to negotiate with them, after all, before finding a suitable buyer, it is not a good thing for Oaktree Capital to let Zhang Kangyang withdraw from Inter now.
As long as Zhang Kangyang continues to serve as the chairman of Inter for the time being, stabilizes the morale of the army, makes appropriate reinforcements in the summer window, and plays well next season, Inter may be able to attract more buyers and get higher offers, which is the most beneficial to Oaktree Capital.