Inter for sale? Absolutely not. After yesterday’s rumours, Corriere della Sera clarifies everything: “Suning bought Inter just two years ago, investing 600 million into the club, a very high figure.
“Now, after six years, the club has finally returned to the Champions League with the new slogan ‘see the stars again’, influenced from Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri to launch the new season ticket campaign. Which has also redrawn the financial line that the club must now stay above.
“Inter must be able to support themselves with their resources (in this sense, look back to the €300 million bond announced before Christmas) as opposed to relying on injections from their Chinese shareholders.
“Suning’s figurehead, Jindong Zhang, is working to become more powerful within the Beijing Government but there are some hurdles to work through.
“Suning is definetly not selling their shares but they are looking to replace minority shareholder Erik Thohir. The Indonesian is still formally known as the Inter President, although he is drifting further and further away from club responsibilities. He owns 30% and Suning have no intention of buying him out, especially after he asked for a figure between €150-200 million.
“The former owner intends to make as much capital gain from his remaining shares as possible, since the qualification of Champions League. Suning would welcome a new partner with open arms who could remove Thohir from his position and work more with Suning. Then, Inter might be able to truly see the stars again”.
