Journey to the bottom of Inter: who is really behind Oaktree

From China to Canada via the USA: by 2029 Oaktree will be 100% owned by Brookfield, which manages almost one trillion dollars

ROME – The era of names and surnames ended a long time ago. Of the Massimos and the Morattis, but even of the Stevens and Zhangs. Of people, of faces. Inter too from today it belongs to a fund. All that is missing is the bureaucratic “enforcement of the pledge”. And then we understand who is really down there, in the depths of the new ownership of the new Italian champions. Oaktree, the US fund that can take possession of the club’s shares from today – given that the Zhang family has not repaid the 385 million loan (including interest) due – is one of the main global alternative investment management companies with experience in credit strategy with an “opportunistic” approach. The fund itself explains it (as far as possible) on its website.

As of March 31, 2024, Oaktree had more than $192 billion in assets under management, with 65 of the 100 largest U.S. pension plans, more than 500 companies worldwide, 39 of the 50 state pension plans in the United States, 275 global endowments and foundations, and 15 sovereign wealth funds. Overall – ricord Calcio e Finanza – the fund has more than 1,200 employees with offices in Los Angeles (headquarters), New York, London, Paris, Dubai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai and Sydney.

The fund already owns Caen. And Steven Kaplan, one of the co-founders, is co-owner of Swansea and a minority shareholder of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, while another of the co-founders, Bruce Karsh, is a minority shareholder and on the board of directors of the Golden State Warriors.< /p>

But bottoms are interlocking boxes, very complicated. Behind Oaktree there is in fact Brookfield, a Canadian fund that owns 72% of it, but should reach a 100% share by 2029. In turn, Brookfield Asset Management is one of the main alternative asset managers globally with over $900 billion in assets across real estate, infrastructure, renewable energy, private equity and credit. Among Brookfield’s major shareholders there are also institutional investors, such as the Royal Bank of Canada.