Zhang Kangyang does not need to be regretted

Business figures

2024-05-23 20:02Posted on the official account of Beijing Business People

Author: Guo Ruyi

来源：商业人物（ID：biz-leaders）

Suning Shao advocated Kangyang, but still lost the Inter club.

Failing to repay more than 300 million euros of loans at the last minute, the control of Serie A giants Inter Milan was changed and taken over by Zhang Kangyang's creditor Oaktree Capital. According to the process, Oaktree Capital is likely to reshuffle the management and erase all the marks of the Suning era.

Suning took over Inter Milan in 2016 for 270 million euros to acquire a 70% stake. In 2021, Suning's liquidity crisis broke out, and in order to alleviate the pressure on the club's operation, it borrowed a three-year loan from Oaktree Capital and used Inter's equity as collateral. Since last year, news of Suning's inability to repay the money on time has flowed out from time to time, and the ownership of Inter has aroused concern. Until last month, Zhang Kangyang was infinitely close to financing success and solved Oaktree Capital's troubles in one fell swoop, but his wish was disappointed.

In fact, Suning's withdrawal from Inter is not unexpected. Compared with the wealth at the time of the acquisition, Suning has had a hard time in recent years, and even the founder Zhang Jindong had to take a back seat. Although Zhang Jindong quietly made a comeback this year, Suning's financial situation is still difficult. A week ago, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a letter of inquiry to Suning.com, asking it to explain the relevant issues of the 2023 financial report within a time limit, including the reasons for the decline in revenue for four consecutive years and the large loss.

Many people are lamenting that Zhang Kangyang lost Inter, which can be regarded as a sign of the end of the era of Chinese investment in European football. The attitude of Inter fans towards the young president should be very divided - on the one hand, he has led the club to good results with limited financial conditions, but on the other hand, the image of "not paying debts" for many years has made the face of the century-old club also disgraceful. Thanks to Inter Milan winning several championships in recent years, Zhang Kangyang still retained a trace of face when he was swept away.

However, does Zhang Kangyang need other people's pity?

Let's imagine this scenario: Zhang Kangyang successfully financed and repaid the loan from Oaktree Capital on time, and he continued to hold the chairmanship of Inter. Then the next thing to face is still the debt management club, and the big uncertainty of the results. For example, the chance to reach the Champions League final like last year is certainly not many in Inter's current squad. If you don't get good results consistently, it will naturally affect Inter's valuation - from a cash-out point of view, it is not cost-effective.

Therefore, when the club is most valuable, instead of continuing to borrow money and "borrowing to support loans", it is better to take advantage of the situation and leave. After all, according to the agreement between the two parties, Oaktree Capital will also pay Zhang Kangyang's side the difference between the market price of Inter and the arrears after deducting the arrears. In other words, the higher the market price of Inter, the more favorable Zhang Kangyang will be.

It's a subtle clause. If the belly is black and loses the ownership of Inter, maybe the Zhang father and son will be happy to see it. They don't necessarily have enough motivation to go out of their way to find new financing, as the news reports have shown. When Suning invested in Inter, Zhang Jindong took a fancy to the help of the Inter brand to Suning's internationalization. Now Suning is too busy to take care of itself, and there is no way to mention internationalization, even if it continues to hold control of Inter, the bonus effect on the parent company Suning is minimal. And if it is only regarded as a ticket project of Zhang Kangyang, it will be too expensive, not to mention that Suning can't afford to burn it.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of being unable to repay the loan when it expired, Zhang Kangyang and Suning behind him could almost get out of the way. If they get it right, they can also get the difference and avoid the tedious process of finding a buyer for the club themselves. In the process, they lose ownership of a club that is insignificant to their business, but what they gain is a complete escape from this debt or even a return of money (ideally). In addition, there are many feelings of Inter fans, and this invisible support may be more able to warm the "lonely" heart.

Despite being the owner for eight years, Zhang Kangyang has relied on a professional team to manage the team, and Suning is more of a financial investor than a character who can inject soul into Inter. After the exit, I don't know how much Zhang Kangyang's feelings for Inter are left, he has shed tears for the team, cared for the club's staff, and expressed his determination to defend Inter's values, but this experience should teach him a valuable lesson - true love is valuable, but sometimes in the face of the test of money, it is still too fragile.

*Header Picture | Visual China

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