You would think that buying Newcastle United would be enough for the Public Investment Fund, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
As soon as the takeover of the Magpies was completed, stories emerged the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund were looking to purchasing Inter off the Suning Holdings Group.
However, the rumours surrounding this potential next acquisition were a mixed bag, with some pushing it as going to happen, while others dismissed it entirely.
The latest on this, from TuttoMercatoWeb’s Enzo Bucchioni, however, is very much in the former group, as the former director of Quotidiano Sportivo believes it could happen.
In essence, he explains that the Newcastle owners ‘have not at all abandoned the idea of acquiring control of the share package’ of Inter, and the ‘rumours that had already leaked in September have been confirmed regarding an agreement in the pipeline’.
He believes ‘the interest was there and still is’ and the ‘goal remains to close by the end of the year’, with it believed the main hurdle is the €270m loan Inter took out with Oaktree Capital Management.
As for the amount that would be paid, the belief is ‘the agreement reached would be very close to the figure initially requested by the Zhangs’, which is ‘around €1bn’.
This would allow them ‘an economically acceptable farewell’, seemingly also allowing them to pay off their Oaktree debt.
For Bucchioni, these rumours appear to be true, because if they had ‘no basis, the official denials would have already arrived’ since ‘the world of finance works like this’.
So, it seems the Newcastle owners are busy on many fronts, but as long as they still give the Magpies enough attention and help them grow, we’re not sure the St James’ Park faithful will care all that much.
