Juventus Owner Rejects Tether’s $1.2 Billion Acquisition Offer, Sending Team’s Stock Soaring

Shares in Italian soccer club Juventus rose than 17% after Exor, a holding company with majority ownership, rejected an all-cash offer from stablecoin giant Tether. 

Tether’s all-cash offer to Exor on Friday was reportedly valued at €2.66 ($3.13) a share—a value around 21% higher than Friday’s closing price, according to data from Yahoo Finance. The offer valued the club around €1.1 billion in total ($1.29 billion).

“Exor N.V. announces that its Board of Directors has unanimously rejected an unsolicited proposal submitted by Tether Investments to acquire all of the shares of Juventus Football Club owned by Exor,” the holding firm said in a Saturday statement.

“Exor reaffirms its previous, consistent statements that it has no intention of selling any of its shares in Juventus to a third-party, including but not restricted to El Salvador-based Tether.” 

The firm’s true market capitalization now sits around €924 million ($1.08 billion), as shares were recently changing hands €2.56 ($3.01) at the close of European markets. Despite Monday’s gain, shares are down around 19% in the last year and more than 62% in the last five years. 

Juventus, which plays in Italy’s top soccer league—Serie A—last claimed a league title in the 2019-2020 season. It remains unclear whether or not Tether, which purchased a minority stake in the team in February, will submit a new bid after the market has re-rated following the initially rebuffed offer.

A representative for the USDT issuer did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment. 

The stablecoin giant has flexed its investment muscle heavily of late. Last week it joined the $81 million seed round of an Italian robotics firm, and in November it added another 1 million shares of YouTube rival, Rumble, expanding its total position to around $679 million at current prices. 

The USDT issuer is also reportedly seeking investment, aiming to raise around $20 billion at a $500 billion valuation as stablecoins continue gaining steam.