Suning’s long-term future at Inter remains uncertain despite solving the Nerazzurri’s short-term financial issues, according to a report in the Italian media today.
Corriere dello Sport’s print edition reported that Suning had secured a €240-250 million loan from Goldman Sachs, enabling the club to cover all its payments until the end of this season.
However, the nature of that loan (a bridge loan which needs to be repaid fairly soon) means the speculation over Suning’s future has only been delayed by a couple of months.
Steven Zhang has found the resources needed to remain in charge until the summer, but at that point Suning will again need to decide if they wish to sell a minority or majority stake in Inter.
Goldman Sachs themselves are still exploring the market for investors on Suning’s behalf, but there remain two key options.
BC Partners remain a possibility as Inter’s new owners, despite them continuing to value the Nerazzurri at much less than Suning, while Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) could yet enter as minority shareholders.
PIF are also distant from Suning on their valuation of Inter, but this might be less of an issue than with BC Partners (who want to buy the club outright) because the Saudis only want to buy shares of up to 30%.
That said, PIF would have the end goal of taking control at Inter after entering initially alongside Suning.
