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Inter Milan’s value collapsed by 75 per cent before distressed debt investor Oaktree Capital seized control of the Italian football club from its Chinese owners last year.
Delayed accounts for 2022 show that Inter’s former owner, the Chinese retailer Suning, slashed the value of a 68.55 per cent stake from €586mn to €148mn as it struggled to keep hold of the club.
The accounts, filed in October by Los Angeles-based Oaktree on behalf of one of Inter’s holding companies, underscore the depth of the financial difficulties facing one of the world’s most famous clubs.
The writedown put the value of Inter’s equity at just €215mn — little more than half of the €400mn Suning owed Oaktree when the credit powerhouse took control in 2024. Accounts for 2023, filed alongside the 2022 figures, show no change to the valuation.
One of the oldest specialists in chasing companies for unpaid debts, Oaktree was co-founded in 1995 by Howard Marks and Bruce Karsh and has since grown to $202bn in assets under management.
But when Oaktree seized control of Inter in May 2024 after Suning failed to repay a €400mn loan on time, it was the first time the credit investor had ever owned such an asset.
Inter had suffered years of losses, even before the pandemic ravaged the finances of football clubs.
Those losses peaked at almost €250mn in 2021, the year that Oaktree’s involvement with Inter started.
Oaktree supplied a €275mn emergency bridge loan to help Suning repair the club’s finances by injecting fresh capital.
Rather than aiming to take control of Inter, Oaktree anticipated that Suning would sell the club and structured its loan in such a way that it would share in the profits from a successful sale. The club has since narrowed its losses, to €36mn for the latest financial year.
But the loan carried an annual interest rate of more than 12 per cent, and, by the time Oaktree took control of Inter, the amount outstanding had increased to almost €400mn.
The rising debt made it more complex to find bidders to buy out Suning.
Bankers at US boutique bank Raine Group — which handled the record-breaking £2.5bn auction of Chelsea — and Goldman Sachs began the search for a buyer for Inter in 2022, but no deal was reached. An attempt by Suning to refinance the club’s debt with Pimco also failed.
Inter’s financial troubles contrast with its success on the pitch. The club sits at the top of Italy’s domestic league table, Serie A, and is one of the eight teams remaining in the Champions League, the world’s most lucrative football competition.
There are parallels between Oaktree’s ownership of Inter and the fortunes of the football club’s closest rival, AC Milan.
In 2018, activist hedge fund Elliott Management seized control of AC Milan — which shares a stadium with Inter — after its Chinese owner failed to make a payment on a high-interest loan.
Elliott sold AC Milan to US investment group RedBird Capital for €1.2bn in 2022.
Oaktree declined to comment.
Additional reporting by Samuel Agini
https://www.ft.com/content/66012933-f141-4f2c-add8-827c8982943f
