who is behind the 50 billion dollar Bahrain fund – Corriere.it

The indiscretion about a possible change of ownership of Inter at the end of the 2022/23 season, even more so in the event of non-participation in the Champions League, is becoming more and more resolute. According to Only 24 Hoursanother name would appear among the interested parties, not so new since it is Investcorp. It is, in fact, the private equity fund of Bahrain who would be aiming to buy the Milanese team since the failure of the negotiation to get Milan before RedBird.
In short, the fund of the emirs tries again: with Milan gone, the Arab billionaires would have prepared a plan to arrive at the purchase of the Nerazzurri club. Not alone, however: InvestCorp, according to rumors collected by the financial newspaper, would be inclined to take the lead of a consortium of investors revolving around the small but powerful kingdom of Bahrain.

The interest of the Bahraini fund

The financial group has been trying for a long time to transfer part of its interests to European football and, if it succeeds, it would be the first coup by a Bahraini company in a sector already plundered by American funds (Manchester United and AC Milan, for two examples). ), Qataris (Paris Saint Germain) and Emiratis (Manchester City, owned by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi). The proposal for Milan was made last summer. Having failed, after the head-to-head loss with the American fund RedBird, in November 2022 it expressed its interest in Inter, bringing to the table the hypothesis of an operation involving a consortium of investors. The dossier was closed temporarily in late December, as other foreign investment funds started to come forward, but it would return to Investcorp’s plans in recent weeks. According to Only 24 Hours, the main obstacle was and remains the current black and blue president Steven Zhang, who has always denied his intention to sell the company, to which the current owner attributes a valuation of around 1.2 billion euros. However, the deadline by which Zhang will have to repay the three-year loan of 275 million euros to the Oaktree fund remains set at May 2024. A figure that does not take interest into account (at 12%). Refinancing, already attempted by the Chinese entrepreneur, does not seem to be an option due to the continuous increase in interest rates.

Who Investcorp and what are its investments

Accepting a possible offer from Investcorp (and its consortium) could be a valid alternative to pay off the debt, since also Mohammed Mahfoodh Alardhi, banker, entrepreneur and chairman of the fund since 2015, has often confirmed his willingness to invest in Serie A. Investcorp is an investment management company founded in 1982 in Bahrain but with offices all over the world, New York, London, Abu Dabi, Singapore, Mumbai. Its main activities are in the sectors of private equity, real estate, credit management and strategic capital and infrastructure. NoIn 2023, the fund has approximately $50 billion in assets under management. In Italy he has interests above all in fashion: in 1993 he acquired 100% of the shares of Gucci since 1993, an operation with which the famous group was saved but the founding family was totally ousted from the property. Until March 2022, the fund owned Daniese, an Italian company that produces technical equipment and protection for sports such as motorcycling and winter activities. He then sold it to the Carlyle group for 630 million euros. In the past it also acquired the Corneliani menswear brand. One of his largest and most famous investments, however, was in the luxury jewelry brand Tiffany. At the top of Investcorp, in addition to Al Ardhi, are the two CEOs, Rishi Kapoor and Hazem Ben-Gacem.