Crypto giant Tether tests Agnelli family resolve with all cash bid for Juventus

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By Giulio Piovaccari

MILAN, Dec 12 (Reuters) – The Agnelli family has no intention of selling Juventus to crypto group Tether or anyone else, sources close to the family’s holding company Exor said, after Tether bid for Italy’s most historically successful soccer club.

Tether said on Friday it had submitted an all-cash proposal to Exor to buy its entire stake in the Turin-based Serie A club.

It is offering Exor 2.66 euros per share, a separate source said, valuing Juventus at just over one billion euros ($1.17 billion).

The price offered provides a 21% premium over Juventus’ closing share price on Friday of 2.19 euros.

Juventus has not made an annual net profit for almost a decade, and its shares are down 27% so far this year.

TETHER IS ISSUER OF STABLECOIN PEGGED TO DOLLAR

Tether, the issuer of a U.S. dollar-referenced stablecoin dubbed USDT, has already built a stake of more than 10% in Juventus this year, becoming its second-largest shareholder after Exor.

Its proposal contemplates the acquisition of Exor’s entire shareholding in the club, representing 65.4% of the total share capital, Tether said in a press release, without officially disclosing the price at which it would buy the shares.

It added that it would make a public tender offer for the remaining Juventus shares at the same price offered to Exor, and that it planned to invest one billion euros to support the club if the acquisition is completed.

Juventus declined to comment on the offer. Exor and Tether were not immediately available for comment.

Exor CEO John Elkann said in November that the Agnelli family had no intention of selling shares in Juventus. The family’s ties with the club date back to 1923 when Edoardo Agnelli became chair.

Investors, led by Exor, have poured around one billion euros of fresh cash into Juventus in the past seven years through a series of capital increases.

Tether’s USDT accounts for more than half the market of stablecoins pegged to the US dollar, according to the Bank of Italy.

JUVENTUS HAS STRUGGLED IN LAST FIVE YEARS

Tether’s CEO Paolo Ardoino is an Italian national and Juventus supporter.

Juventus has won the Italian championship 36 times, more than any other club, but has struggled since winning a ninth consecutive title in 2020. It currently sits in seventh place in Serie A.

The USDT had a market capitalization of around $186 billion as of Friday. The company’s token is backed by U.S. dollars and U.S. Treasuries, and Tether is one of the 20 largest holders of U.S. government debt.

Stablecoins are digital tokens that aim to maintain a stable value through a one-to-one peg to a traditional currency and are back by reserves, mostly in the form of government bonds or deposits.

($1 = 0.8519 euros)

(Reporting by Devika Nair in Bengaluru, Giulio Piovaccari and Elvira Pollina in Milan; editing by Gavin Jones)