Juventus Sets $474 Million Capital Hike After Pandemic Hit

(Bloomberg) -- Italy’s Juventus Football Club SpA, the team of superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, is planning a capital increase of up to 400 million euros ($474 million) to shore up its finances after the coronavirus pandemic hit sales.

The proposed capital increase is set to be approved at the soccer club’s next board of directors meeting in September, the company said in a statement Wednesday. The Agnelli family’s holding company Exor NV, which has a 64% stake in Juventus, “has expressed its support” for the transaction, the company said.

The company said it expected a negative impact of 320 million euros in the 2019-2022 period from the pandemic.

Shares in Turin-based Juventus fell as much as 3% in Milan on Thursday, giving the company a market value of 935 million euros.

Juventus also named Maurizio Arrivabene as its top executive overseeing “all of the football business and any related powers,” the company said. Arrivabene was named team principal of the Ferrari racing team in late 2014 and was later replaced in that role in 2019 by Mattia Binotto. He’s also a former Philip Morris International Inc executive. One of Arrivabene’s most important tasks will be boosting the club’s sales.

Juventus, widely known as Juve, is owned by Italy’s billionaire Agnelli family, founders of the Fiat auto empire. Chairman Andrea Agnelli was one of the leading architects behind the so-called European Super League, a rebel organization that crumbled just days after its launch as teams pulled out amid backlash from sports authorities and fans.

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