Co-written by Marco Iaria and Football Benchmark. An earlier version of this article appeared in the newsletter Sport&Business of La Gazzetta dello Sport on 17 October 2026. This translated and expanded version incorporates additional Football Benchmark analysis to examine FC Internazionale’s financial progress and the potential return for Oaktree should the fund decide to sell.
For months, FC Internazionale has been a topic of conversation in high-finance circles. Private investors, particularly foreign ones, have quietly expressed interest in acquiring a minority stake from Oaktree.
Nothing concrete has emerged so far - only persistent rumours, including recent reports about a Qatari fund that, according to Corriere della Sera, is Al Mirqab, the family office that manages the wealth of Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, a cousin of the emir of Qatar. Oaktree, naturally, has not commented. The principle it set out in May 2024, when the California-based fund took over Inter, remains unchanged: “Oaktree is committed to achieving the best outcome for Inter’s long-term prosperity.” And further: “Oaktree’s mission is to ensure operational and financial stability for the Inter group, maintaining the parent company’s competitiveness so that it remains one of the world’s leading football clubs, enabling it to achieve prestigious sporting results and expanding its commercial presence globally.”
This is not a short-term undertaking, but a medium- to long-term plan. That said, it is in a fund’s nature to limit the duration of an investment and, sooner or later, realise a return. All the more so for one that found Inter in its portfolio almost by chance.
It is worth recalling that Oaktree is an alternative investment manager that also specialises in lending to companies in financial difficulty (stressed and distressed debt), through transactions riskier than conventional ones. It has approximately $206 billion in assets under management and was recently acquired in full by the Canadian group Brookfield. Oaktree owns 99.6% of Inter through the Luxembourg entities Grand Tower and International Sports Capital; the remaining 0.4% belongs to minority shareholders.
It became the club’s owner after the Zhang family failed to repay a three-year loan that fell due in May 2024, with a total outstanding balance of €395 million. Following the Chinese owners’ default, Oaktree enforced its pledge over the shares and took control of Inter. Leaving aside rumours of purported interest from Arab investors, one thing is already clear: when Oaktree decides to sell all or part of its stake in Inter, it could make a very substantial profit. Let us explain why.
Over the five seasons from 2021/22 to 2025/26, the club achieved significant sporting success while substantially improving its financial performance. The run to the Champions League final in Istanbul in 2022/23 coincided with operating revenue rising to €386 million from €322 million in 2021/22, with UEFA competition revenue climbing from €62 million to €100 million and matchday revenue from €44 million to €82 million. The net loss almost halved year-on-year from €140 million to €85 million.
Oaktree’s takeover in May 2024 came near the end of a 2023/24 season in which the net loss had already further narrowed. The first full season under the new ownership, 2024/25, coincided with Inter’s second Champions League final in the last three years. Operating revenue reached a peak of €546 million, including €168 million from international competitions: the exceptional Champions League run and FIFA Club World Cup participation. More than €100 million was generated from matchdays, and for the first time in many years, the club returned to bottom-line profitability with a €35 million profit after tax.
In 2025/26, lower income from international competitions pulled operating revenue to €462 million. Nevertheless, continued cost discipline, along with a lower interest burden and €22 million of extraordinary income from the IMG settlement with Serie A, helped Inter record a €23 million net profit, its second consecutive profitable year. Over the five-season period, operating revenue grew by 44%, with commercial and other revenue increasing by 54% to €197 million. On the cost side, squad costs (staff cost + amortisation) on revenue fell from 109% to 68%, highlighting a more sustainable cost base alongside continued sporting competitiveness.
Net debt decreased by 16% since 2021/22, from €350 million to €293 million, while interest expense fell by 45%, from €50 million in 2021/22 to €28 million in 2025/26, thanks mainly to the refinancing completed in 2024/25 by the Californian investment fund. Taken together, the figures point to a stronger financial base despite the 2025/26 revenue slowdown, largely attributable to the unexpected elimination by Bodø/Glimt in the Champions League knockout phase play-offs.
This financial progress has been accompanied by a substantial increase in Inter’s estimated value. Football Benchmark’s latest valuation puts the club’s enterprise value at €2.1 billion as of 31 December 2025, up 70% from €1.3 billion at the end of 2022.
Enterprise value is the value of a business calculated as the sum of the value of its equity and its net financial debt. Football Benchmark’s valuation methodology uses a revenue-multiple approach, adjusted with an algorithm that weighs five factors: profitability, popularity, sporting potential, management of television rights, and stadium ownership.
Once enterprise value has been established, the value of the shares is derived by subtracting net financial debt from enterprise value to arrive at equity value. From the seller’s perspective, the transaction produces a profit if the price received exceeds the amount invested in the asset sold. Otherwise, it results in a loss.
For Oaktree, its exposure to Inter essentially consists of the amount of that unpaid loan. The American fund subsequently injected €52 million in new capital. That brings the total to around €450 million, the figure on which to base the calculations. Inter, which was already worth far more in 2024 than the loan the Zhang family failed to repay, has grown considerably in recent years.
As of 30 June 2026, the Nerazzurri had net debt of €293 million. Deducting this amount from the latest available valuation published by Football Benchmark, which relies on the financial statements for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons, implies an indicative equity value for Inter of well over €1.8 billion. Based on current estimates, Oaktree’s gain could already exceed €1 billion compared with Inter’s estimated valuation in December 2025. If the club maintains its recent years' sporting performance, further increases in revenue and profitability are likely to support additional growth in valuation. Moreover, investors should not overlook another important catalyst: the new San Siro project, which could materially strengthen the club’s long-term value creation in the years ahead.
With the dismissal of legal challenges to the City of Milan’s sale of the site to Inter and Milan, the project has cleared a major hurdle. For Inter, this opens up the prospect of another leap forward, not only in infrastructure but also financially. Once built, the new stadium will be a strategic asset for both clubs and offer the opportunity to increase revenue significantly.
In 2024/25, Inter’s matchday revenue reached €104 million (€96 in 2025/26), figures that could rise significantly with the new San Siro operating at full capacity. For context, during the 2025/26 season, the Santiago Bernabéu generated €363 million in revenue for Real Madrid, more than double the pre-renovation seasons.
The timetable of the new home of the two Milanese clubs calls for construction to begin in 2027 and the stadium to open in 2031, in time to host matches at UEFA Euro 2032. By then, Oaktree may already have cashed in on its investment and handed over to a new owner. Or it may decide to stay with Inter until that milestone and benefit from a further increase in value. Either way, if the project meets its schedule and expectations, the new stadium will take Inter to a much higher level. And the already massive profit that Oaktree could potentially make today may become significantly higher.
