Italian Journalist Marco Bellinazzo: “BC Partners Buying Inter Would Be Difficult But Never Say Never”

Italian journalist Marco Bellinazzo has refused to rule out the possibility of BC Partners buying a majority stake in Inter, but he believes negotiations to buy the club would be ‘difficult’.

For the past week or so speculation has been rife about the fund being interested in investing into Inter, as a minority or even a majority shareholer.

In a long exclusive interview with Italian news outlet FCInter1908.it, part one of which can be read here, Bellinazzo has addressed the recent speculation and started by being asked whether Inter owners Suning looking for new investment is a sign of weakness on their part.

“It is a sign of rationalisation of investment in football,” he began.

“Suning must redesign their priorities according to the new financial situation, but it should not be considered a sign of weakness.

“They have put €650 million into Inter in four years, these are important investments.

“In the Massimo Moratti era, or rather in 18 years, more than €1 billion was invested.

“If they sold now, Suning would lose a lot of money.

“If someone arrives tomorrow morning and offers Suning €900 million for Inter, I think the owners would think about it.

“But there is no one on the horizon who can offer this money for Inter and Suning do not want to sell.”

Bellinazzo proceeded to discuss whether a potential new investor could simply buy LionRock Capital’s 31.05% stake in Inter, or even a portion of Suning’s stakes in the club.

“Yes, it depends on the type of agreement,” he continued.

“There is interest in doing so, as long as a slice is sold which is small enough to allow Suning to remain at the helm.

“Suning will never make themselves the minority partner after having injected more than €650 million euros into the club, it would be financial madness.”

Bellinazzo also addressed the speculation with regard to international investment fund BC Partners being interested in Inter and was asked whether he could rule out the possibility of them even doing so on a majority basis.

“There could be many different dynamics during talks, never say never.

“What can be said is that Suning’s mandate to the financial advisors was not to sell Inter, this is evident.

“It may be that some subjects have asked some advisors to test the waters with Suning about the possibility of acquiring Inter.

“It’s like in the transfer market: there is a difference between when a club puts a player on the market and when other teams ask for that same player.

“A fund would not come into a club just to inject money, it also asks for guarantees in terms of governance and control of the company.

“For this reason, beyond the money side of things, it would be a difficult negotiation between BC and Suning.”