Inter’s owners Suning are evaluating an offer from American fund Fortress worth a quarter of a billion euros, according to an Italian media report today.
As per Il Sole 24 Ore’s print edition, Fortress have offered €250 million, which will be paid in two instalments, in the shape of hybrid loans and an agreement could be reached by the end of this month.
A similar type of negotiation is also being carried out with Bain Capital, already linked with investing at Inter in previous weeks.
Suning would be able to remain as Inter’s owners with a solution of this nature.
When it comes to the sale front, BC Partners appear unwilling to increase their offer believed to be in the region of €750-800 million.
The paper also said that the link between Inter and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was ‘cold’, meaning not much was happening on that front.
Chinese investment bank Citic have also expressed an interest in Inter, but time is moving quickly and there are to be deadlines met by the end of this month.
If Suning were to sell Inter, even just 35%, the ‘change of control’ clause would be activated in their €375 million bonds which need refinancing.
The report explained that this meant bondholders would have the right to sell the bond to the new owner at face value, or the shareholders could try and obtain a waiver from the bondholders to activate this clause.
