Inter president Steven Zhang is torn on what to do when it comes to selling the Nerazzurri, according to an Italian media report today.
As per Corriere dello Sport’s print edition, Zhang must decide whether to sell the majority of the club immediately or a recruit a new minority shareholder to replace LionRock Capital.
Zhang would be very keen to leave Inter after winning the Scudetto in order to go down in the club’s history, while it would also be a good way to leave Italian football after having invested so much throughout Suning’s time in charge.
Whether the sale of a minority stake is feasible remains to be seen, but it is certainly not something that BC Partners are interested in, with the British-based firm – who reportedly submitted a final offer to Suning for Inter last night – insistent that they want a majority stake.
Due to their many impending financial deadlines, Inter’s current corporate issues will have to be resolved shortly, one way or another.
Earlier this week, Suning leaked that they had stopped talks with BC Partners, but the Rome-based publication suggested this could be a ploy to get BC Partners to speed up negotiations and increase their offer.
However, it could also be because Suning have an ace up their sleeve, in the form of another interested party who has already carried out due diligence prior to BC Partners.
The consortium formed by Fortress and Mubadala is described as not being a concrete prospect yet, while Arctos Sports Partners – who could enter Inter with Ares Management and Temasek – and EQT have all also been linked with potential investment in Inter.
If a fund wished to complete due diligence starting now, it would take until at least mid-March, which might be too late for Suning to meet all their economic requirements.
The report from CdS goes on to explain that it is also difficult to imagine a supporters consortium such as Interspac getting involved at Inter, because Suning intend to go in another direction.