Inter passes to Brookfield, who are now the beneficial owners
The sale of the Meazza Stadium to the two Milanese clubs Inter and Milan, what will now change in the ownership structure
by Stefano Elli
The Oaktree fund is no longer the owner of Inter Milan. In an operation under the radar, the maxi Canadian fund Brookfield has taken over 26% of the Oaktree fund for 3 billion dollars and with it has also acquired 100% of the company Inter Fc. In reality, Brookfield already held full control of Oaktree: the operation would therefore be nothing more than the completion of an acquisition process that had already begun in 2019. What is interesting is the timing of the deal, which is completed on the eve of a delicate and important operation for Milan, such as the sale by the City to Inter Fc and Milan Ac of the Giuseppe Meazza stadium and surrounding areas.
The deadlines for San Siro
The deadlines call for the completion of the main technical steps by 10 November: these include the payment of the first instalment (EUR 73 million) out of a total of EUR 197 million. The next step will be the passage in front of the notary who will have to draw up the deed and, finally, the material transfer of the sums to the municipality's accounts in one or more credit institutions. Then the boss will have it.
What changes
What has changed with respect to the previous situation? Little in substance, a lot in form: in fact, the actual beneficiary of the operation has changed: no longer Oaktree, but another entity, a superfund of Canadian origin, listed on the New York Stock Exchange and on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with two trillion dollars of funds under management and ramifications everywhere, including the Cayman Islands.
The Relationship
Nella relazione redatta dall’avvocato Alberto Toffoletto, consulente per il Comune milanese nella vicenda della cessione dello stadio si erano infatti individuati dieci persone giuridiche beneficiarie effettive dell’operazione, tutte lussemburghesi: per la precisione la Grand Tower Sarl, la Grand Sunshine, Sarl, la Lionrock Zuqiu Ltd, la Great Horizon Sarl, l’Ocm Luxembourg Sunshine, la Ocm Luxembourg Opps Xb Sarl, la Ocm Luxembourg Xi Sarl, la Ocm Luxembourg Vof Sarl, la Oaktree Opportunity Fund Xi (Parallel 2) e la Oaktree Opportunity fund Xi GP con l’indicazione, per ciascuna società, di cinque persone fisiche indicate nel registro lussemburghese dei beneficiari effettivi. Al momento non è dato sapere quale sarà la catena di comando della nuova entità né quali saranno i beneficiari effettivi della nuova compagine societaria. Anche se, da verifiche effettuate da Plus24, molte società indicate nella relazione Toffoletto, erano presenti anche in passato e dunque non è detto che spariscano.
The structure
Even in the era of the Chinese tycoon Zhang, for example, the organisational chart included Lionrock Zuqiu ltd, which held 100% of International sports capital, which in turn held 31.05% of Inter. However, its headquarters were not in Luxembourg but in the Cayman Islands. And that's not all: the Zhang-era organisational chart also included Grand Tower Sarl, Inter's majority shareholder (68.55%).
