Tether saw its bid to buy Juventus rejected, with majority shareholder Exor telling the stablecoin giant its stake was not for sale.
Tether fails to acquire leading Italian football club Juventus
On Friday, Tether announced that it had submitted a proposal to acquire Juventus, one of the biggest soccer brands in the world. The stablecoin company previously acquired a 10% minority stake in the club, and with this new plan, it intended to complete a full buyout.
The first step included a proposal to Exor, the holding company of the Agnelli family and majority shareholder of Juventus. According to Reuters, Tether had offered the company 2.66 euros per share, a notable premium to the closing price of 2.19 euros.
In a press release, Exor responded to Tether, saying its board of directors unanimously rejected the offer for its 65.4% majority stake in Juventus. “Exor reaffirms its previous and consistent statements that it does not intend to sell any of its shares in Juventus to any third party, including but not limited to El Salvador-based Tether,” the company noted.
Founded in 1897, Juventus has established itself as one of the greatest football clubs in the world, with a particularly memorable period of success in the 2010s, during which it won nine consecutive titles in Serie A, the top division of Italian football.
While Exor declined the deal, the USDT issuer will have to reconsider its approach to the club commonly nicknamed The Old Lady. So far, Tether has not released any statement in response.
In the initial announcement, Tether said that if the company was successful in acquiring Exor’s stake, it would proceed to acquire the club’s remaining shares through a tender offer at the same share price. This would bring Juventus’ total valuation to around $1.17 billion.
Tether also indicated that if the transaction was finalized, it would also be ready to invest 1 billion euros in the football club. “Tether is in a position of good financial health and intends to support Juventus with stable capital and a long-term horizon,” said CEO Paolo Ardoino.
While The Old Lady has had a strong period over the past decade, the 2020s haven’t been as kind. Since winning the title in the 2019-20 season, Juventus are far from becoming Italian champions, with their best result being third place in the 2023-24 season. Juventus were also involved in a financial scandal in 2023, with Serie A punishing them with a 10-point deduction for false accounting. So, Tether’s interest came when the club was in bad shape.
USDT, Tether’s stablecoin, has seen growth recently, with its market capitalization hitting a new record high of $186.23 billion, according to data from DefiLlama.
The trend in the market cap of USDT | Source: DefiLlama
Bitcoin Price
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $89,700, down 2.5% from last week.
The price of the coin has retraced some of its recovery | Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
Featured image of Dall-E, defillama.com, chart by TradingView.com
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