Zhang Kangyang, don't be sorry

Author: Guo Ruyi

Source: business figures (ID: biz leaders)

Suning's young owner Zhang Kangyang still lost the Inter Milan Club.

Due to the failure to repay the loan of more than 300 million euros at the last moment, the control of Serie A giants Inter changed and Zhang Kangyang's creditor Oak Capital took over. According to the process, Oaktree Capital is likely to re wash the management and erase all the marks of Suning era.

Suning joined Inter Milan in 2016 and spent 270 million euros to take 70% of the shares. In 2021, Suning's liquidity crisis broke out. In order to ease the pressure on the club's operation, it borrowed a three-year loan from Oaktree Capital and pledged the shares of Inter Milan. Since last year, the news that Suning could not repay the money on time has been flowing out from time to time, and the ownership of Inter Milan has aroused concern. Until last month, Zhang Kangyang had been infinitely close to the success of financing and solved the problems of Oaktree Capital at one fell swoop, but his wish failed.

In fact, Suning's withdrawal from Inter is not surprising. Suning has had a hard time in recent years compared to the big money when it was acquired. Even its founder Zhang Jindong had to retreat to the second tier. Although Zhang Jindong returns quietly this year, Suning's financial situation is still difficult. A week ago, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange sent a letter of inquiry to Suning Yigou, asking it to explain the related issues of the 2023 financial report within a time limit, including the reasons for the decline of revenue for four consecutive years and the large loss.

Many people are regretting Zhang Kangyang's loss of Inter Milan, which can be regarded as the symbol of the end of the era of Chinese investment in European football. The attitude of the fans of Inter towards the young chairman should be highly differentiated - on the one hand, he led the club to achieve good results under the limited financial conditions, but on the other hand, the image of "unpaid debts" for many years made this century old club look disgraceful. In recent years, thanks to several championships won by Inter Milan, Zhang Kangyang was swept out of the house and kept a little face.

However, does Zhang Kangyang need others' regret?

Let's imagine this scenario: Zhang Kangyang succeeds in financing and repays Oak Capital's loan on schedule, and he continues to be the chairman of Inter Milan. Then the next challenge is still running clubs in debt and the great uncertainty of achievements. For example, the chances of reaching the Champions League final like last year are certainly not many in terms of the current line-up of Inter. If we can't continue to achieve good results, it will naturally affect the valuation of Inter Milan - from the perspective of cash flow, it is not cost-effective.

Therefore, when the club is most valuable, it is better to take advantage of the situation and leave rather than continue to borrow money to operate and "support loans with loans". After all, according to the agreement between the two parties, Oaktree Capital will pay Zhang Kangyang the difference between the market price of the rice and the arrears after deducting the arrears. In other words, the higher the market price of Inter, the more favorable Zhang Kangyang will be.

This clause is exquisite. If you lose the ownership of Inter Milan, maybe Zhang's father and son would like to see it succeed. They may not have enough motivation, as shown in the news reports, to make every effort to seek new financing. When Suning invested in Internazionale, Zhang Jindong was interested in the help of the brand of Internazionale to Suning's internationalization. Now Suning is too busy to mention internationalization. Even if it continues to hold control of Inter Milan, it will have little effect on the addition of Suning, the parent company. If it is only used as a ticket game for Zhang Kangyang, it will cost too much money, not to mention Suning.

Zhang Kangyang and Suning, who are behind him, can almost get out of the business by taking the opportunity of failing to repay when the loan is due. Well done, they can also get a balance payment and avoid the tedious process of seeking buyers for the club. In this process, what they lost was the ownership of a club that was unimportant to their own business, but what they got was to completely get rid of the debt and even return the funds (ideally). In addition, there are many feelings of Inter fans. This invisible support may warm the "lonely" heart.

Although Zhang Kangyang has been the boss for eight years, he has always relied on professional teams to manage the team. Suning is more like a financial investor than a role that can inject soul into Inter. After being out of the game, I don't know how much affection Zhang Kangyang has left for Inter. He has shed tears for the team, cared for the staff of the club, and expressed his determination to defend the values of Inter. But this experience should teach him a valuable lesson - true love is valuable, but sometimes it is too fragile in the face of the test of money.

*Head picture | Visual China

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