Inter’s new minority owners LionRock Capital have backed Suning’s plans to knock down San Siro and replace it with a more modern stadium.
Il Sole 24 Ore today published an analysis of the Hong Kong-based private equity fund who acquired a 31.05% stake in the club in January.
LionRock’s founder and managing director Daniel Tseung and Canadian businessman Tom Pitts, another representative, attended Inter’s preseason match against Tottenham on 4 August.
On Inter and AC Milan’s plans to build a new stadium, the pair were quoted as saying: “San Siro is famous around the world, a footballing monument, but it’s no longer appropriate today. It’s too old and obsolete.”
Tseung and Pitts refused to be drawn on whether the clubs would be able to carry out their plans in the desired timescale, but added they were ‘confident’ an agreement would be reached with the Municipality of Milan.
The article suggested it was unlikely they would have agreed to invest in Inter six months ago without receiving ample reassurance on the club’s future plans.
LionRock’s plans for Inter involve creating a ‘sporting empire’ through sponsorship deals with Italian businesses, with a particular interest in sportswear stores and nutritional or dietary companies.
Tseung confirmed they were looking for ‘interesting but small’ family firms who were not active in the Chinese market and needed help improving their turnover.
“From watching matches on TV to buying merchandising, football is what people are prepared to pay for,” Pitts added.
“Football, and sport in general, is a passion and we want to transform that passion into business. We want Inter supporters to spend for their passion.”
Among LionRock’s own key shareholders is Chinese sports company Li-Ning, another consumer giant which was founded by a former gold medallist from the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
The company boast 7,000 consumer stores at present, creating huge opportunities for Inter to collaborate on various projects.
Inter president Steven Zhang has also appointed both Tseung and Pitts to the club’s Board of Directors, giving the pair a say in key business decisions.
Tseung said: “We had a lot of discussions before accepting Zhang’s offer to join Inter because coming in as minority shareholders presented several key issues. The club’s governance works extremely well though.”
