Oaktree’s Inter Milan Takeover Wipes Out Ex-Billionaire’s Wealth

23/05/2024

(Bloomberg) -- Oaktree Capital Management’s takeover of Inter Milan has left its former Chinese boss with a net worth close to zero, the final blow in the collapse of the onetime billionaire’s sprawling empire.

Zhang Jindong was worth about $6 billion when he bought almost 70% of the Italian football club in 2016. His company, Suning Holdings Group Co., lacked the name recognition of Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. or Hui Ka Yan’s China Evergrande Group, but Zhang was close to both founders and no less ambitious.

Buying Inter Milan would “raise the standards of local football, and also raises Suning’s profile as it expands globally,” Zhang said when he announced the deal.

But Zhang was borrowing heavily to fuel Suning’s expansion, making him vulnerable when China’s growth sputtered. Following a failed investment in an Evergrande subsidiary and slipping sales at its retail arm, Suning defaulted on a €395 million (428 million) debt to Oaktree, leading the investment firm to take over the marquee Italian team and wiping out Zhang’s fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Zhang was raised in China’s eastern city of Nanjing by an older brother after his parents died when he was a teenager. After graduating from university with a degree in Chinese literature, he started working as a clerk at a state-owned company and opened a cafe as a side gig.

While searching for a cheap air conditioner for that business, he became friendly with a local distributor and began selling AC units full time in 1990, eventually establishing thousands of retail outlets selling home appliances. He wanted Suning to be the “Walmart plus Amazon of China,” Zhang told Stanford University students in a 2013 speech. At its peak in 2015, his wealth surpassed $11 billion.

amazon, oaktree’s inter milan takeover wipes out ex-billionaire’s wealth

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As Suning invested in companies including Alibaba, it faced mounting competition from online vendors like JD.com Inc. and the headwinds of a slowing Chinese economy. Suning’s retail arm received an 8.8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) state-backed bailout in 2021. Months later, the firm’s 20 billion yuan investment in Evergrande went sour when the property giant defaulted.

Since then, revenue at publicly-traded subsidiary Suning.com Co. has plunged, and one of the group’s entities is now facing a winding-up petition in Hong Kong.

Inter Milan, worth $1.1 billion according to Sportico, had remained a bright spot in the empire. With Zhang’s son serving as its president, the team won Italy’s Serie A in the 2020-21 season, breaking an 11-year drought, then reached the UEFA Champions League final last year.

But despite the on-field success, Suning was forced to turn to Oaktree for a loan in 2021 after the pandemic shut stadiums. In recent weeks, Suning had been in talks with Pacific Investment Management Co. to refinance the debt but couldn’t agree on a deal in time.

Zhang might own assets that aren’t tracked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Most of his holdings in Suning Holdings, Suning.com and Suning Real Estate Group Co. are pledged as collateral, according to filings.

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