Reports suggesting BC Partners are out of the running to become Inter’s new owners could be premature, a leading Italian journalist has claimed.
Earlier on Monday, Gazzetta dello Sport and ANSA both said Suning had rejected the British firm’s interest to buy into Inter after deeming BC Partners’ valuation for the club to be too low.
However, La Repubblica reporter Franco Vanni has not ruled out further developments as far as BC Partners’ interest is concerned.
“Sources close to BC Partners have pointed out three things,” he tweeted this afternoon.
“Firstly, the exclusivity agreement for BC Partners to negotiate with Suning has expired.
“Secondly, they have not submitted an offer to Suning yet.
“Thirdly, BC Partners’ due diligence of Inter’s accounts turned out to be more complex than they expected due to the club’s financial situation.”
BC Partners reportedly finished their analysis of the Inter accounts on Friday and were expected to submit an offer to buy shares in the club early this month.
Should they fail in their pursuit to enter Inter, numerous other international private equity funds could come into contention, such as Swedish-based group EQT, American fund Arctos Sports Partners and Singapore-based Temasek.
In a separate tweet, however, Vanni had an alternative explanation for the stories suggesting Suning had ended their negotiations with BC Partners, arguing things might not be as straightforward as they seem.
“BC Partners were assuring this morning that they would have made Suning an offer for Inter within seven days,” he began.
“Now Suning are letting people know that they suspended talks 10 days ago.
“There are two possibilities: either Suning are trying to hurry BC Partners and want a higher price for Inter, or somebody else has promised them a lot of money.”
