Tether, the crypto firm behind the world’s largest stablecoin, USDT , is aiming to acquire popular Italian football club Juventus FC, boosting its minority stake to 100%.
The firm said Friday that it has submitted a binding proposal for majority shareholder Exor’s 65.4% stake in the club in an all-cash offer, according to a Friday blog post. If that deal goes through, Tether intends to make a public tender offer for the club’s remaining shares at the same price. Juventus FC SpA is a publicly-traded company, with a market capitalization of $925 million at Friday’s closing price.
Tether said it’s “prepared” to invest $1 billion in the club if the transaction is completed.
“Our interest in Juventus comes from deep admiration and respect,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, a lifelong fan of the team, said in a statement. “Tether is in a position of strong financial health and intends to support Juventus with stable capital and a long horizon.”
The bid comes as Tether is expanding beyond its crypto roots, investing in artifician intelligence, payments, robotics and even sports. Its flagship token, the $188 billion USDT, is the dominant token in the fast-growing stablecoin sector and increasingly popular as a payments and savings vehicle in emerging countries. The company said its net profits surpassed $10 billion in the first nine months of the year, mostly from the yield on the U.S. Treasury bills backing USDT. The firm also holds 116 tons of gold — a dragon’s hoard that exceeds the holdings of some mid-sized nations.
Tether currently holds a more than 10% stake in Juventus, but expressed its intention earlier this year to seek a more active role in the Torino, Italy-based club.
The fan crypto token of Juventus, dubbed JUV (JUV), surged 30% on the news.