Zhang from two stars to rags: he doesn’t pay his debts and Inter becomes American

The club ends up in Oaktree. Malagò: "This happens to those who go into certain seas, those of loans and funds"

ROME – “This happens to those who go into certain seas, those of loans and funds“. This – in the metaphorical summary of the CONI president Giovanni Malagò, guest of Radio Anch’io Sport – is the Inter that changes ownership: it will pass from Zhang to the American fund which had granted the Chinese property a loan of 275 million euros (plus a hundred in interest) to stay alive.The loan has expired, and with a pawn shop operation, the Italian champions will change hands. “On the one hand, relatively little changes for Inter fans, you move from one ownership to another, paradoxically more of a guarantee because you have the capital – explains Malagò – So a fan finds himself from morning to evening with only another ownership because there is a financial operation going on. These are the risks of those who play those games.”

Meanwhile, for those who still believe that there is a glimmer of hope for an emergency refinancing – further debt to cover the debt… – they come from China the precedents of the Nerazzurri president, to give an outline to the story that is about to end. Repubblica wrote about it this morning. “If he didn’t refund the money to a Chinese state bank, what hope do we have that he will return it to us?”. This is the question that the managers of a large investment fund asked themselves last February in their London office, while examining the financing request presented by Steven Zhang’s advisors.

The China Construction Bank, to which Zhang owes 320 million euros, is a credit institution under public control. According to MarketScreener, 59.31% of the bank’s capital is held by the China Investment Corporation (CIC), the sovereign fund that manages the currency reserves of the People’s Republic of China, managing assets worth 1,350 billion dollars at the end of 2023. In short Zhang is not solvent. Which explains the reluctance of institutional investors to grant him new credit.

The ruling of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong which obliges Zhang to return the 320 million to the bank controlled by the state fund is dated 16 September 2022. Since last March, by decision of the Court of Appeal of Milan, this ruling is also valid in Italy. The adventure of Chinese Inter is in the final credits: from two stars to rags it’s a moment.

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