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Milbank LLP has advised Oaktree Capital Management (intl) Limited and its affiliate entities (“Oaktree”) in assuming ownership of Italian football club, F.C. Internazionale Milano S.p.A. (“Inter Milan”).
In May 2021, Oaktree provided a 12% fixed rate €275 million three-year loan to Inter Milan’s Luxembourg holding company, Grand Tower S.à.r.l. The loan was backed by guarantees and security from several entities within the holding structure and became due and payable on May 21, 2024 with an outstanding balance of approximately €395m.
Following non-payment of the loan, the transfer of ownership was achieved by way of enforcement over the security granted over Inter Milan’s Luxembourg holding chain, which holds 68.55% of the shares in Inter Milan, and a receiver sale of the shares of the Cayman holding company LionRock Zuqui Limited, which indirectly holds 30.01% of the Inter Milan shares. Oaktree now indirectly owns 99.6% of the share capital of Inter Milan.
Milbank acted as lead international counsel and advised Oaktree on all aspects of the transaction. Milbank’s co-counsel were A&O Shearman in Luxembourg and Hong Kong, PedersoliGattai in Italy, Maples Group in Cayman Islands and Quinn Emmanuel.
Inter Milan is one of the most successful Italian football clubs, having earned its 20th “scudetto” title and historic second star, and recently reaching the UEFA Champions League final for the first time since 2010.
The Milbank team was led by partners Sinjini Saha, Mona Vaswani, Sarah Levin and Tim Peterson, and included associates Damilola Odetola, Paavani Garg, Ollie Winters, Gabriel Steinberg, Rosy Villar and Thomas Deakin, special counsel Seyda Duman and trainee Eamon MacDonald.
